People are killed every single day. Some are murdered in horrific fashion, feeding the insatiable appetites of true crime fanatics but traumatizing the victim's surviving family members.
Many murders happen in cities of course but others happen in small towns, which many people consider idyllic safe havens from urban crime. Of course, you or your loved ones can be the victim of a crime at any time. A sad and scary fact.
People shared some info with us after Redditor RookTheBlindSnake asked the online community,
"What's your small town murder story?"
"They broke in at night..."
"The Stove Top Murder."
In Northern Ontario, in the '40s, four men got it into their heads that an old woman had a bunch of money hidden in her house. They broke in at night and tortured her for the money's location by pushing her face onto a hot stove top. She didn't have any money and died later at the hospital. Three of the men were hanged and one got life in prison."
RookTheBlindSnake
This is horrific. That poor woman.
"No one saw enough of the person..."
"An elderly woman's house was broken into and she was beaten to death inside. Nothing was stolen, she didn't have any living family to suspect, and according to neighbors she was very kind but generally kept to herself.
No one saw enough of the person leaving her house to be much help. The only info the police got was "probably male" and "left in a car or suv no one recognized". No updates or news stories on the case since about a month after it happened."
jupiter-mint
This is incredibly heartbreaking for the victim's family.
"There was an old woman..."
"There was an old woman in a small town just north of Toronto who was decapitated and her house set on fire. They still don't know who did it and this was just a couple months ago."
ToastedMaple
Scary! The killer is likely still out there, barring extraordinary events.
"He was murdered..."
"In the 90s I went to elementary school with Kirsten Hatfield- an 8-year-old girl who was abducted from her bedroom while she slept next to her three-year-old sister. The girls’ mom was on drugs and hung out with sketchy people so the community wrongly assumed her mom had something to do with her disappearance."
"In 2015, Kristen’s neighbor Anthony Palma was arrested for her abduction and murder after her bloody panties were found buried in his backyard. In 2019, two years after being sentenced to life in prison, Palma was found dead in his cell. He was murdered by another inmate."
CinnyButta
This is awful. That poor child.
"Johnny Cash's great niece..."
"Johnny Cash's great niece was murdered next to my grandma's house. Dude stuffed her body into a box."
Reddit-username-here
And the family is still seeking answers in the murder case.
"My parents..."
"My parents got a good deal on a house because the lady that lived there killed her two kids, sister and herself in a very very small town."
i-love-uwu
That's often how it works. Many people don't want to live in homes where murders occurred.
"In 1988 William Mellin, the man who owned and ran the general store in the very small town of Millican, OR was murdered by a shot to the back of the head."
"Not really a particularly remarkable story except for the fact that Millican was such a very, very small town. So small, in fact, that the official population was "1" - William Mellin. And then, after his demise, the population of Millican was "0."
JuzoItami
Wonder how in the world that happened. How will we ever know?
"I was good friends with..."
"I was good friends with the mayor's son growing up, but after he left office, the former mayor got on heavy drugs and was later murdered by his sex worker's pimp."
CoolJeweledMoon
This was a rollercoaster ride!
"I'm about 15 minutes away..."
"I’m about 15 minutes away from Delphi, IN. The murders of Abby Williams and Liberty German in 2017 are still unsolved and will probably remain that way. Such a sad and scary case."
andronicus_14
This is a remarkably creepy case and it's so disturbing that there haven't been any significant developments.
"I remember helicopters..."
"Poughkeepsie Killer - Kendall Francois was a serial killer from Poughkeepsie, New York, convicted of killing eight women, from 1996 to 1998. I remember helicopters hovering over my neighborhood for days when he was arrested."
Upyours
Terrifying.
Francois died in prison in 2014 of an AIDS-related illness at the Wende Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
Chances are your own town has secrets of its own. It's awful when a town's claim to fame is something so horrific and painful.
Have stories of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!
People Explain Which True Crime Cases Live In Their Head Rent-Free
I wish I could forget...
I use to think I was the only person obsessed with true crime tales. I've been an avid watcher of Dateline NBC, 20/20, 48 Hours, etc, for over a decade. In fact when I've moved cable providers the last few times, I chose the plans that only included the ID Discovery channel. I can't even begin to tell you amount of shows I watched there. Then of course I'd top it off with a marathon of Law & Order: SVU. And this was all before the podcast frenzy. And I tell you, I've never had a peaceful night's rest since. Why do I do this? Correction... why do WE do this?
Redditor u/KyrieEleison_88 wanted everyone to compare notes about which blood curdling cases they can't shake off by asking... What true crime case lives rent free in your head and why?***WARNING - THE FOLLOWING STORIES CONTAINS SOME INFORMATION THAT REALLY SHOULD ONLY BE READ BY THOSE OVER 17***
So many of the stories I've followed have left me shook to the core. Some because they were never solved, which always keeps me on high alert, because who knows then where these psychos are. And mostly because these tales aren't fiction. True evil does exist and it just casually walks among us. These stories make you confront the fact that... none of us are ever really safe.
Signs
Kermit The Frog Reaction GIFGiphyZodiac. We've cracked one cypher. Will we ever know who it was? Did they actually make a cypher with their name, or is it just another cryptic cat and mouse game? Are they still out there? To be so bold to give us messages, cyphers, and yet leave no evidence of who did it.
Shivers...
The Hinterkaifeck murders. It just makes *me so, so uncomfortable that multiple people in the house noticed things were strange or amiss in the days before they died but they brushed it all off.
The note that send shivers down my spine was when the father mentioned seeing footprints in the snow coming to the farm, but couldn't find any prints leaving.
No Words...
Ok here's something that is gonna traumatize you. I live in Greece so I doubt anyone else outside of here knows about this. A father killed his 4 year old daughter cause her mother loved her more than she loved him. We don't know how he killed her but after he did, he cut her up into pieces, boiled them with other ingredients and tossed that into the toilet and to garbage bins around the city to make it seem like thrown out food and so that stray dogs would eat it.
Sometimes I think about it and it makes me sick to my stomach. He says that he didn't kill her and that she just found her dead and that he did all that to avoid being targeted as the killer but come on... no one ever believed that.
Horror
The murder story of Junko furuta, it's extremely disturbing. I can't get it out of my head. And all of them got away with it. It shows how messed up this world is.
His mother vandalised her grave as well and said she ruined her son's life. You know... The guy who tortured her for like 48 days simply for rejecting him.
No Justice
50 cent smh GIFGiphyThe murder of Shanda Sharer. The girls who murdered her are so evil, and all free.
A group of girls killing their own "friend" and getting nothing more than something akin to a slap on the wrist? Sounds totally fair to me.
The wiki article on her led me to the case of Bobby Kent, who was killed by his former best friend he started bullying.
Oof, I remember several of those stories and now they'll be back to the forefront of my psyche. It makes no sense. Well, tonight's sleep is ruined. We might as well continue...
In Australia...
The backpack murders in Australia. Saw some true crime documentaries years ago and this one disturbed me the most. Je, Ivan Milat, picked up hitchhikers and then brutally murder them. I remember he stabbed a guy in the back, paralyzing him, and then beat and killed his girlfriend. He did something similar with 2 girls: stab one and then shoot the other a dozen times in the head (target practice).
Parts
There was a torso found sealed in a barrel in the woods in my hometown. Never any explanation. Literally no one ever talks about it.
Apparently some guy also stalked a lady and then set himself on fire and died when he got caught.
They found a torso, arm and a leg (don't quote me on that) in my hometown in the late 1800s on the banks of the thames. Murders go unsolved to this day all I can remember is that there were 4 victims and only 1 was identified.
Years Ago
Delphi murders. They have video and audio of the perpetrator, yet no arrest in four years.
Definitely this case! Since it happened I check up on this regularly; it horrifies me how with video and audio they still have not found this guy, and based on what we've seen from ISP I doubt they have anything else to go on.
Rusty
Andrea Yates drowning her five kids because she thought they were full of sin and needed saving. Rusty took her off the meds and they had another child despite doctor's warnings about her condition.
He should have been held criminally liable for all of this. He treated her like a broodmare. He was specifically told to not leave her alone with the kids; so he makes all of them live in a freaking SCHOOL BUS. He goes to work and leaves her alone w/ the kids. All day. Every day. Pulls her meds. Keeps impregnating her.
All the warning signs were there. I mean, I have to wonder if on some level he wanted this to happen??? Because it was very clear for a very long time that this was exactly how it was gonna end.
Not to mention that someone in her state of mind, likely wouldn't be able to truly consent. She was very very sick.
My heart breaks for that woman and her kids. But her husband should be rotting in prison.
That Guy!
Mad Season 1 GIF by The Good PlaceGiphyChris Watts. I don't know why I am so invested in it. I just can't wrap my head around a seemingly normal person can murder his whole family and think that he's going to start a new life with his girlfriend.
Now there a few new ones I'm going to have to read up on. Also, I'm going to go join a karate class, just in case. The last thing I want to be is a victim in one of these stories.
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People Who Were Friends With Someone Who Became A Murderer Describe What They Were Like Beforehand
Every one of us harbors evil and malicious intent. It is completely normal to have dark thoughts. The difference between the everyday person and a psycho is intent and lacking empathy. It's frightening to realize that someone you may have spent a significant amount of time with could take a life with cruelty, but it happens more often than we want to realize.
When I was 18 I used to play in a weekly game of pool, I was awful, still am. My friends would sneak me into this bar/club in Ft. Lauderdale that was 21 and up. We met an enormous amount of fascinating people.
One couple in particular (let's call them Jack and Dave) always stuck out. They were hilarious, great pool players and genuinely in love. One night "Dave" and I had a heart to heart about him and "Jack". He wanted to get more serious but wasn't sure "Jack" was on board. I forget the drunken advice I gave and the rest of the conversation, that's what stuck out. I remember them leaving together with grand smiles, hugs, and the $200 pot from their winnings. I also remember thinking... they're so good together, hope it works out.
It didn't; two days later Jack's body was found under a pile of unfolded laundry by his roommate. He had been stabbed over ten times and his eyes gauged out. And there was a manhunt on for Dave. Dave, the guy I had two days prior listened to about love, cheered with about relationships and admired in his pool game proficiency. You just never know.
***ADULTS ONLY. TRIGGER WARNING. RATED R MATERIAL***
Redditor u/dishnotaman wanted to hear from people who have known evil before it blossomed into tragedy by asking.... People who were friends with someone who later became a murderer, what where they like?
In the Room
Not friends but I worked at a charity with two hilarious guys. A year or so after I left, one killed the other with a car bomb. It feels so unreal, like it was complete fiction. Can't believe I was in a room with them both on multiple occasions. I live in Northern Ireland and it appears that the motive involved some lingering sectarian/paramilitary tensions. That stuff has been quiet for most of my lifetime but there are still wounds.
Normal
He was completely normal from as far as we could tell, just a regular high school kid. Played soccer, was in the advanced classes, kind of quiet but a nice kid.
Then one weekend he and another kid went and murdered a couple of professors with the intent of stealing their money and absconding to somewhere in South America I believe.
They got picked up at a truck stop a few states away a couple days later.
Anyway, we didn't see him anymore and he's in prison for a few more years. Complete waste because he could have had a productive, good life. Don't kill people, kids.
Rodman
I knew a girl that let her boyfriend into her family's home and he killed her sister and brother that were around 10 years old, her brother who was 15, her father, and stabbed the crap out of her mother.
She's in prison for life. She was quiet. I didn't know her as well as I did her other siblings. Her boyfriend didn't attack her older sisters. We had always thought that the sister who was a year older than her was going to be the psycho. Her sister had anger issues.
We used to call her Rodman because she would get kicked out of games all the time because she'd freaking lose it.
Anyway, she let her boyfriend into the house, he killed a bunch of her family, why? Because her dad didn't let them date. She was a senior in high school. They only had to wait a couple more months and she could have just left. Such a waste. So much stupidity.
A Normal Dude
A normal dude. Somebody tried to rob him during a drug deal and he did what he felt he needed to do. Got 10 years for it and was released not long ago. From what I can recall, he was set up. Some neutral guy acted as the buyer, and when he went to make the deal. A few guys he had fought with in the past showed up trying to rob him but had no weapons, they just outnumbered him.
He took offense and began shooting at them. Again, if I recall correctly, it wasn't self defense because he had a chance to leave the situation and shooting wasn't his only option. This was all about 12 to 13 years ago so I might be omitting or mis-remembering some details.
The Roommate
I was childhood friends with a guy who beat his roommate to death with a bat. He was a regular middle class kid who got good grades etc. The roommate's dog was not fixed and was having her period all over the house and the roommate wouldn't clean it up or go to the vet. He just snapped one day and started beating the guy as he slept on the couch.
Hostages
Not friends, but I grew up with a guy (neighbor) who held his dad hostage for hours and then killed both of them. he was a couple years older, so i didn't know him too well, but my brother was closer in age. Said he was quite nice, really quite funny, but obviously doesn't say much.
The Creeps
My boyfriend and his old roommate were friends with this guy who seriously gave me the creeps. He would always try to hit on me, even though it was my boyfriend's house, and was really awkward. One night after a party my boyfriend and I were asleep when I heard his door open. It was the creepy guy. I shook my boyfriend awake and he asked what the guy was doing.
He said, "Oh, uh, I just wanted to say goodbye." After that I refused to go over if I knew he would be there. They eventually lost touch, then a few years later we read in the news that he had shot and killed two police officers, then killed himself.
ISIS
I had a chem lab partner in college in the midwest, 2013 or 2014, he was a very nice guy, very smart too. We were both into the walking dead, so we talked about that frequently. Then one day I saw the news, as well as a campus wide email, and it turned out that he had just been arrested at the airport for trying to flee and join ISIS. So ya, he may not have been a murderer, but I think eventual terrorist fits here.
The Fisherman
Perfectly normal kid. We went fishing and hiking together, and attended the same church. Lost touch after high school. In his thirties he murdered the boyfriend of his ex-wife.
Augustus
So I was friends with Augustus. He was on the quiet side but was into MMA and UFC stuff and I remember driving him to a few amateur fights when he lived at my home. I've known people that I didn't like and even feared but knew they were the kind of people you would want on your side if crap hit the fan, Augustus was that but I never felt I had anything to fear from him. He was a 'gentle giant.' Well he moved away and I hadn't heard from him in several years when another mutual friend told me about the trouble he found himself in. You can read about it here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/montana-man-pleads-guilty-double-murder-putting-bodies-acid-n948196
I do not know any of the other persons involved in the story whatsoever, but I strongly suspect that Augustus was likely manipulated into his involvement. He would not describe him as bright, and I absolutely could understand him acting in violence if someone convinced him. That part isn't elaborated on in the news story but as I know several of his family members and mutual friends its what I've been able to piece together over the years since this occurred.
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People Who Had A Close Call With A Serial Killer Before They Were Caught Share Their Stories
Evil walks among us. That is a fact that so many of us tend to forget.... or choose to ignore. No one wants to think about it but we should. It's a macabre reality but it's reality. Each and every one of us has in deed crossed paths with a serial killer or plain old one time killer. They don't wear signs and often they're your next door neighbor. Brush up on your Dateline NBC, follow the ID Discovery channel. Stay vigilant.
Redditor u/nbk935 wanted to know who was brave enough to share some tales of survival by asking.... People of Reddit who have interacted with or met a serial killer or had a close call how was the exchange what happened and years or weeks whatever what was your reaction to seeing them on the news?
1-
I was a peace officer/Paramedic at San Quentin on Condemned row. We had 415 on my last day there I knew them all. The serial killers were extremely interesting. I had to walk the tiers, deliver medications, escort the inmates to and from medical and dental appointments and of course respond to all assaults, medical emergencies, shootings and stabbings (so many shootings and stabbings). HenryRN
2-
I was an appellate public defender in Kansas City and we shared offices with the death penalty unit. So my interactions with a few famous killers is in talking to their attorneys and paralegals and listening to their "demands." As a death penalty client you have a huge team working your case (the goal is avoiding the death penalty, not necessarily avoiding conviction).
They are accustomed to getting what they want IRL, so it is a major wake up call once incarcerated. And many of these people are older. They hate the beds, they can't have their dentures, they don't get their preferred whatever. These are not people who adjust well to prison. msscahlett
3-
I had a regular customer at my shop who would come in and buy cigarettes and beer after his shift. He was friendly and polite enough, helped us to catch a shop lifter on one occasion, however did like to stare a little too much at one of my colleagues.
Then a young woman goes missing in my town. It was all over the news as it was completely out of character for her. There was ribbons scattered in trees and lamp posts all over. One day they pull a body out of the river and it was identified as this young woman. Her family was devastated.
A few days later they announced the name of a man they wanted to speak to who had been spotted in a local shop buying cigarettes and beer and later on CCTV trying to talk to her in a park, however he hung himself and was found dead in a local park a few days later.
It was the customer. The Shop footage they showed was from my shop. The cashier had been blurred so we have no way of knowing who served him that time but it gives me the creeps just thinking about it. Glitch_in_the_pink
4-
Back in the 40's my grandparents were on vacation down in Florida. One day they were at a cafe and a man approached them recognizing their Chicago accents and asked if he could eat with them being a Chicago native himself. They had a great time chatting and ended up talking for an hour or two.
When they were departing they realized proper introductions had never been done and promptly introduced themselves. The response "Al Capone it's been great talking with you two"
Not exactly a serial killer but certainly responsible for many deaths and too good of a story to pass up. LittleOrangeBoi
5-
Back in the 40's my grandparents were on vacation down in Florida. One day they were at a cafe and a man approached them recognizing their Chicago accents and asked if he could eat with them being a Chicago native himself. They had a great time chatting and ended up talking for an hour or two. When they were departing they realized proper introductions had never been done and promptly introduced themselves. The response "Al Capone it's been great talking with you two"
Not exactly a serial killer but certainly responsible for many deaths and too good of a story to pass up. LittleOrangeBoi
6-
I grew up next to a family whose eldest daughter dated the brother of Luke Ferguson, (terrible link, sorry) who wasn't a serial killer but was a murderer and a psychopath. He's since killed an inmate since being in jail for his original murder.
There was a big empty lot on our street where everyone in the neighborhood would play baseball and we always hated it when Luke would come. Guy was such a mess, always whining and trying to bully every one else. My buddy Patrick took two beaners from him one day when he was pitching and after the second one charged him with the baseball bat. Luke stopped coming around after that.
Some years later we see him on the news sitting on a damn John Deere tractor being interviewed about his neighbor's murder, saying "Oh it's a horrible tragedy"... only to find out two days later he was the one who did it. None of us were shocked. Patrick texted me that night and said "I should have ran his fat butt down and launched his skull across the street." ickyspinface
7-
Not a serial killer, but still a pretty well known murder. My ex boyfriend's older sister was very close with another girl when they were 14-16. They spent a ton of time together and she was always over at their house. Well, that girl ended up murdering her nine year old neighbor and burying her in a shallow grave in the woods. She wrote in her diary that she did it because she wanted to know what it was like to kill someone. She was caught soon after and is still in prison.
Everyone was shocked when it all came out. It messed up both my ex and his older sister pretty bad, and my ex thinks that she at least considered killing him because he was a similar age to the victim and she had plenty of access to him. retromortem
8-
Not me but my aunt was one of the only ones who wasn't killed when Ted Bundy went to that sorority in Florida because that night her friend asked her to sleep over. She still has never talked about it and I only found out she was in that sorority from a project I did in Psychology and asked my mom about it since I grew up in Tallahassee where it happened. Very wild and still gives me goosebumps, so I can't even imagine how my aunt feels, especially these past couple of years when all these shows and movies came out about him. StarfishBlubBlub
9-
An old employee of mine dated the Phoenix canal killer for a couple years and didn't find out about him till she saw his face on the news. They were no longer together at this point. She came into work the next morning and told me they had arrested him on suspicion of being the killer. The FBI interviewed her and everything. He was eventually found guilty of I think at least 3 murders. She was pretty freaked out about it. xByeByeBlackbirdx
10-
This person only killed one person. But he was very quiet at work, we being a gregarious group were always trying to get him to talk. One weekend he went home and killed our CEO's at the time daughter; practically beheading her; and left her infant son in the bed with her body. Saw it on the news afterwards and "jaw on the floor" is a complete understatement. Hellaintsobad
11....
My dad met Charlie Manson at a motorcycle shop (if I remember right) in Venice Beach in the 60s. Said he remembered a really short (my dad's a foot taller) creepy dude with scary eyes. Didn't think anything of it until he turned up on the news. human-foie-gras
12....
When I was 7, a man knocked on our door at about 8:30 at night. My mom and I were in the living room watching TV. My mom answered the door, and he said something about selling newspapers. She said she wasn't interested, and as she tried to close the door he tried to force his way inside.
She always had the chain latch on and she kicked the door closed on his arm as he tried to grab for her. He ran away and she called the police. About a year later Cleophus Prince Jr was arrested for killing 6 women, mostly in our neighborhood. My mom recognized him as the man who tried to force his way in that night. zoupishness7
13....
My grandmother was a neighbor to John Wayne Gacy for a brief time.
My mother used to talk about a photo they had with him completely unaware of what was going on. Of course after his conviction they were floored.
So I just got off the phone with my mother. She said yeah we were his neighbors and my grandmother said he was a nice man it seemed. They have pictures of him in his driveway as well. Mom is gonna try and find them. Also, my grandmother rode the bus to work with Richard Speck apparently. Lol This was confirmed as well by my aunt. I bet it was bone chilling when they started hauling bodies out of the driveway. welldamnbrother
14....
I went to the same church as BTK. He was always very nice, polite, and helpful. I remember how shocked my family was when he was arrested. He had such a firm handshake. I've met so many people in the Park City area who've had a creepy encounter with him.
My friend's aunt was one of the women who got away. She heard the window break in the living room and saw a hand reaching through to unlock the door. She ran away and then moved out of Kansas permanently. Tyle-Walburn
15....
My aunt was a judicial assistant in Florida back in the 1980's. One day, three well dress men came to see the judge. One was particularly good looking and charming and really chatted her up. She found out later that she had been chatted up by Ted Bundy. prairiediva
16....
I have met two while sitting in jail in lock down protected custody. One was a convicted axe murderer who was waiting on a re-trail as the evidence and testimony against him was in question. He was a decent guy as long as you didn't piss him off by changing the channel when football was on or do anything stupid like singing or kicking the doors at night.
He even cut my hair for me when we got the clippers. I remember he had project innocence lawyers so he might not actually be one who knows. His name was Sherwood Brown
The second one was just crazy he threw all his discovery papers out of the bean hole of his cell and they included pictures of his victims.
He would try to sell dried deodorant from the state issue as "drugs" and was supposedly willing to tell people where he buried the bodies to snitch on him but it sounded like a con and I avoided talking to him out on rec. From what I remember he was sitting in jail for a murder in Mississippi and was just waiting on a transfer. I don't remember his name as I avoided talking to him. lividust
17....
When I was 13, I was living on the streets of Lake Elsinore California and had a lady looking after me that was a druggie. She had a John that really liked her and invited us to his place once. He was a real weird bastard. A year later she turned up dead with a whole bunch of other working girls in the area killed by the I-15 strangler.
When they caught the guy I instantly recognized him as the John. His name was William Lester Suff and the Trailer that he took us to was his Kill Shack. 😳 Red_Dog75
18....
A friend of mine worked with Ted Bundy at the time when the police were reporting a man named Ted with a VW bug was committing the crime. The office workers joked with him that he was the murderer. My friend relates that he joked along with it saying something like "Oh, you got me. I'm the guy. Ha ha." cartoonassasin
19....
Elizabeth Whetlaufer. Was my dad's nurse. She disappeared, saw her on the news about three months later led away in handcuffs for killing several seniors over a period of years.
Reaction: "Holy Crap!" then checking dates of when she was still working, and my dad's date of death (about a month later). Exchanges with her never raised any red flags, just typical visitor/nurse talk. Axle13
20....
Not me, but my best buddy's older brother lived off the grid in northern Yukon in the 70's. Comes home to Edmonton once every couple of years. Due to terrible gravel and dirt roads back then it is a 4 day drive. Starting his journey one time he picks up a hitchhiker, it's the code of the North, people help each other. They hit it off and the hitcher even helps out with the driving duties.
One time when the hitcher was sleeping, my buddy's brother hears on the radio a police alert about a multiple murderer in the area, he matches the description of the hitcher. As they are still in the middle of nowhere he turns off the radio and he ends up staying with the guy for 2 more days.
When they finally got into a populated area they stopped at a diner and he called the cops. Provincial cops did a traffic stop 30 minutes later and got the guy.
He had killed his wife, kid and her parents. LOUDCO-HD
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People Who've Had A Close Encounter With A Murderer Share Their Experience
We throw around the word luck so flippantly. There are many moments in life fueled by luck and often we're so thrilled to experience it, we're just rejoicing. And that is perfectly fine. But life teaches us, we cannot afford to take luck or life for granted. Luck is an understatement when it comes to being unscathed by evil. True evil, walks among us and we interact with the worst of society on the daily and we never even fully comprehend how close to being snuffed out we are. We're all "almost" walking Dateline NBC episodes.
Redditor lolita-cake wanted to hear the chilling misconnections tales with life's most vile by asking who was willing to share the following...
People who had a close encounter with a murderer/serial killer, how did it go? How did you find out that person was dangerous?
****WARNING*****
Some of the following may not be suitable for younger readers. Trigger warnings below.
"holy crap, did you get the same creepy feeling from him I did?"
"A childhood friend of mine had this boyfriend that nobody liked. She ran off and eloped with him. He cheated on her a bunch and there was constant drama (my wife worked with her, and we were some of her few childhood friends still in the area so we were pretty close). Like, she'd come spend the night on our couch occasionally and stuff. An obviously unhealthy and likely abusive marriage."
"He seemed to mellow out when they had kids. At least there wasn't any more overt drama going on and we think he legitimately stopped cheating. He also got really religious. Something about this creeped my wife and me out and made us hate being around him even more than before. It's like when someone is pretending they're happy but you know it's not real."
"Like all the overt anger and drama transformed into something more subtle. On the surface he's turned over a new leaf and is becoming a better person, but it just seems off in a way we can't quite articulate. We tried to be happy for them and supportive, but once they weren't around it was like "holy crap, did you get the same creepy feeling from him I did?"
"Then one day he murdered her. Their kids were at a friend's house at the time. There was evidence that he'd been planning this for over a year. He's in prison for life now."
"We learned not to ignore any red flags or intuitive creeped-out feelings about people after this. Especially about people married to someone we care about." frumpy_teapot
Do Math not Meth....
"I was in high school with this dude who had a reputation for being very hyper and crazy. A lot of people didn't like him but he was not an outcast. For some reason he liked me, and would occasionally ask me to help him with math which I did."
"He later moved to another school and I didn't think of him much again. Until he showed up on the news for beheading a dog and carrying its head around in public. Turns out he had also held an autistic man hostage in his apartment and tortured him, all of this was done on a meth fueled rampage." asap-curry
James.
"Several years back, I used to work with a guy we'll call James. I never felt unsafe around him, but I don't think he was entirely there mentally. A few years after I quit working there, I ran into my old boss and was talking with him for a bit. Turns out, James had killed his wife, fled the scene, and barricaded himself in a barn. Police surrounded the barn, and he had no way of escaping. When police entered the barn, he pointed a gun at a officer, and the police opened fire on him, killing him. The gun he pointed at police didn't even have any bullets in it." thegreatestsnowman1
The Bully.
"This one isn't as dramatic but still kinda freaky."
"When I was in high school (uk) there was this guy who just hated me. So damn much. I don't even know why. He was the definition of roadman and just made my life hell whenever he saw me with his bullying. But whatever. He was just a bully with a stupid perm. I could deal."
"Later on in year 10 he ended up getting arrested for attempted murder."
"Wonder if killing me ever crossed his mind." colespot
The Stalker.
"When I was in high school/early uni, I had a stalker. We had briefly worked together at a restaurant and he asked me out at one point when I was fifteen and he was twenty. I turned him down and for the next six years he would pop up intermittently to harass me and my then-boyfriend. He would message me to say he was jerking off to my pictures then immediately apologize and tell me he had changed, or would message my ex to meet him somewhere so they could fight (my ex who, for the record, had never met him and did not ever go fight)."
"Last year, my stalker made the news for committing the first murder of 2019 in our city. I don't know the details, but according to the news he stabbed a friend and then fled, only to be caught soon after waiting for public transit (he was never the sharpest). My ex and I were broken up by that point and boy was that a weird way to reconnect after ~4 months of little contact. It still freaks me out to know that he was capable of murder and that it could have been me or my ex." brighteyeswhitelies
It was 1989....
"It was 1989, my dad was driving down a road late at night. He lived in Florida. As he was driving, he saw a woman on the side of the road trying to hitch hike. My dad, being kindhearted, slowed down to give her a ride."
"As he slowed down, he had a chill down his spine and had the worst feeling he ever felt. He did not pick up that woman."
"That woman was named Aileen Wournos. She killed a man on that road later in the day."
"My little brother exists today because my dad chose to not pick that woman up." Reddit
"I'm in the medical field. A few years ago I was on a forensic psychiatry rotation and went with the psychiatrist to do an assessment at the prison. There was a man there who had been convicted with undeniable evidence that he had brutally raped and murdered a woman. We were there to try to determine whether or not he qualified as a "Dangerous Offender" - in the Canadian legal system this means someone at very high risk of re-offending. In practice this meant we were trying to determine whether he qualified as "psychopathic" - meaning someone who does not experience empathy."
Probably a Psychopath.....
"So during the assessment he was friendly, extremely relaxed, casual, and even charming. When asked about specifics of the murder he would brush them off or just make very vague statements. At other times he would just smile or say things like "do you really think I could do something like that?" If I had just met him on the street he probably would have seemed like a very nice guy but being aware of his offense he came across as incredibly unnerving."
"TL:DR - met man who was probably a psychopath. He was charming and superficially a nice guy but somehow creepy and unsettling." OGilligan
A Little Different.
"I went to school (elementary - high school) with a guy who showed up at his sister's apartment and brutally murdered her for seemingly no reason at all. I believe he stabbed her multiple times."
"In school he was always a little "different" but was always nice. I had even hung out with him on several occasions at my house, riding dirt bikes, etc. He was in the church youth group with me. He was really into punk music and heavy metal. I think he started smoking pot and drinking towards the end of high school. But that's all fairly normal. There was nothing about him that ever came across as someone who would one day snap and murder his closest family member."
"His sister was a very sweet girl. The saddest part was that her 20 month old son was asleep in his crib in the other room."
"Pretty sure he was the one that called the police and turned himself in." ExistentialCircus
A Bad Apple...
"Many years ago I worked for a large corporation. I became friendly with a couple of the secretaries who were around my age and we would go out, have lunch, hang out on weekends occasionally. The one girl had tremendous self-confidence and was a go-getter and I really admired how unafraid she was to do anything. I wished I had only a tenth of her charisma and fearlessness."
"At least twenty-ish years go by and in that time social media, (FaceBook), became a thing and she was living a great life. She was successful at her corporate career and then changed careers and was also successful there. Got married, had children, big house, got divorced, but still seemed to be doing really well."
"One morning I'm watching the news and there's a story about a cop who was shot and killed by his (estranged) girlfriend and the guy was on his cell phone with his daughter when it happened. It was a headliner for a while however, it took a couple of days before I connected the dots and realized the woman who shot and killed her boyfriend, (the retired cop), was this girl from way back when whom I had admired and envied so much." purplesafehandle
Addiction.
"I was an addict actively using in the area the Seminole Heights Serial killer was active in. I regularly popped into the McDonalds he worked at to use their ATM or bathroom, and one time he personally (with three other female employees) yelled at me to get out of their bathroom. It was less than 5 minutes from my drug dealers house and his MO at the time was to shoot randomly into cars. I regularly waited in mine 30+ minutes to pick up. He was caught and I saw it on the news while taking my meds at my rehab, told the nurses the whole story!" Emma_Stoneddd
Twizzlers.
"There was a time when kidnappings were happening in my home country. I encountered one of the kidnappers at 6 years old, who, true to the stereotype, offered me candy. Lucky for me, the only candy that has ever and can ever entice me to be stupid is Twizzlers. Lucky for me, he only had Nerds and Starburst. I ran off and told him no thanks."
"He picked up another boy that night. He killed him. If he'd had Twizzlers, I'd have paused for at least more than the 15 seconds for him to close the distance. Would I have gone with him for a box? I don't know. Do I question my folks letting me walk home at 6? Kind of. It was 5 minutes from school and things were hard."
"I think about it all the time. That poor kid who probably liked Starburst." RealDegeneracy
Too Interested.
"It was my biological dad's 30th birthday and we decided to throw him a surprise party and invited a bunch of people from his work. My brother and I were in our room playing on the Sega Genesis because it was all adults and we just wanted to stay out of their way. While we were playing together, a dude comes in and sits on our bed to watch us play. He said his name was Danny and asked us a bunch of weird questions. "Do you take the bus to school? How old are you? What's your favorite food?" He gave us a bad vibe and just seemed off somehow."
"Like he was TOO interested in what we were doing. My mom comes in and sees him in there with us and tells us to go watch movies in her room so my brother and I say goodbye and go to her room instead. A couple months later, my parents were watching the news and Danny is on the TV. He ended up being Daniel Conohan Jr, The Hog Trail Killer. He killed over a dozen homosexual men in our area and had tortured them and left them tied to trees in the woods to die." Vaaca_Del_Muerte
In Class.
"I took a class offered by my local municipality for unemployed young adults. They taught us Digital Marketing and basic web design, and at the end of the class, they were supposed to get us jobs. ANYWAY, a few weeks after that class finished, I saw one of the best students in that class on the TV, being held by police. He had killed his 2 yo by beating her to death for crying. I couldn't believe it! He was very calm and quiet and excelled at everything we did in that class. Never crossed my mind he would do something like that." aballofunicorns
Zodiac.
"Not my own story but some family friends of ours had an experience with the zodiac killer. They were together in their car on lovers lane or whatever the spot was called where couples went to hook up. The wife got a weird feeling in her gut and begged the husband to leave. He was kind of upset because he was in town for one night from the military so this was their one night together. Finally she convinced him to leave. They told the only other couple at the spot that they were leaving because at the time the zodiac was known to be active so people kept an eye out for each other. Years later the zodiac wrote into the newspaper detailing one of his killings on lover lane."
"He described the exact car and said there were two couples left and he was going to take both out before one of the couples went up to the other and gave them a heads up before leaving. Right when they left he killed the couple that stayed. Every detail of the night from the date to the cars to the time of night matched up perfectly so they knew it was them who left just in time." jmill0420
Mum's Friend.
"Years ago I went with my Mum to visit a friend of hers. Sat bored out of my mind while they sipped their tea cups and waffled on all afternoon. The friend's rather weird adult son, quite a bit older than me was also there in the house but didn't really engage much, I barely spoke more than a few polite sentences to him."
"My parents didn't tell me till years later but he started stalking me. They would hear all sorts of sounds at night. I had no idea, just carried on as usual. Biked to school, stayed after for gymnastics, biked to the pool for swimming, etc. I'm not sure how long it lasted."
"FFWD a few years, a young girl in our town went missing after school. A week or so later they found her body dumped. You guessed it, it wound up being the son of my Mums' friend. That's when they told me what had happened. Apparently my Mum finally caught him and a word was had with his parents." MamaBear4485
The Ex.
"When I was a kid my mom was stalked by an ex who eventually killed her, his own 3-year-old daughter, and himself. I knew this guy for 1.5-2 years prior to the murders, but I remember the first time something really struck me as 'off' about him."
"I came home from school and found him in our house (he'd broken in, but I didn't know that at the time) going through things in my mom's bedroom. He was acting kind of manic, like he was ruffling through things but not actually doing anything particular and not looking or taking anything. He kept talking to me about how he thought of me as his daughter (news to me, we got along but weren't close) and blah blah emotional stuff. It was weird but he seemed volatile somehow, like he wasn't all there, so I just acted agreeable and started talking as normally as possible about the chores I needed to do before my mom got home from work and left him in the room alone. He left the house shortly after without another word."
"I told my mom about it when she got home, and she was pretty disturbed. Turns out she had just broken up with him (and taken back his key to our house) earlier that day and hadn't told me yet. We realized he had broken into the house (through the garage, iirc), and at a time when he knew I would be there alone."
"That was the beginning of nearly a year of stalking and several break-ins, eventually ending in him murdering her and his daughter before pulling the classic 'death by cop.' " SteamboatMcGee
Kyle.
"When I was a kid back in the 80's, a friend of mine and his friend up around the corner from me were offered money by a guy to go up the field with him. I can't remember the specifics as it's along time ago and I was very young, but I think he offered him money to pick blackberries."
"My friend said no but the other boy said yes and went with him. His body was found the next day - he had been stabbed to death. He was only 8 years old. I remember the months that followed every parent was super weary about leaving any of us play on the streets."
"The kids name was Kyle Curran. It happened in Waterford, Ireland." throwaway57373662
A Spree.
"This isn't an exciting story, but I used to work at an on campus hotel for a Big 12 University. When classes weren't in session, the entire building would be locked down-- only the desk clerk could let you in or out."
"We had a spree killer stay with us for almost a week. I was interviewed by the police to see if I had any information that would help them. I said he used doors like a normal person." Barflyerdammit
The Phony.
"My dad and step mom at the time allowed a guy to move in with them after he got out of prison for a non violent crime. At first, he seemed grateful to them and would help them out by doing chores or helping my dad in his shop. After being around awhile the guy seemed to like me and would flirt occasionally. He had this fake persona of a Christian trying to turn his life around and after awhile I caught on to his crap."
"After months of my parents treating him as one of their own, he left them with debts and moved out while they were at work one day. After hearing of this and other inappropriate things he said about me and our family in general, I'd had enough and took it upon myself to message him and tell him what exactly I thought and I did not mince words. Two months later, he shot a man at point blank range in the face and walked away as if nothing had happened. I still think about that from time to time and how lucky my family and I are." jadednicole
Neighbors.
"A neighbor during my childhood was convicted over a triple murder. She had been in an argument with some people about a horse she owned. My sister had had sleep-overs with her daughter up until her dogs had killed and eaten another neighbors dog. Her partner, also convicted, intimidated the family who's dog was killed and my parents banned us from going to their house. One day they didn't live there anymore and soon after the murders came to light." AussieArlenBales
These were some very close calls!
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.