Teachers Reveal Their Craziest 'This Student's Gonna Be A Serial Killer One Day' Experiences
We've all known someone who genuinely creeped us out, whether we could pinpoint exactly why or not.
But teachers see a lot of weird and creepy things after serving classroom after classroom of students, sometimes they will meet a student who gives them big serial killer vibes.
Redditor Advanced_Bad4443 asked:
"Teachers of Reddit, what was the moment you realized, 'This kid is gonna be a serial killer one day'?"
Impulse Control
"I was in my office one day when a kid I’d never met before strolled in. Very quickly I recognized by his behavior that he was a BD (behavioral deficit) student who somehow got out of his class."
"He started a conversation with me asking who I was and what I did. I could tell he was trying very hard to get under my skin as he emptied a box of tissues one by one. So I didn’t react."
"He then kicked over a number of trash cans, but I didn’t react. He went into my office bathroom while talking to me with the door open (not to use it), and started messing with the supplies in there."
" I walked over so I could get a clear view, and he then tried to pull the sink off the wall while telling me that he has compulsion issues and has a really hard time not doing the things he thinks about but knows are wrong."
"He said last year he was expelled from his school because he threw his desk at another student. He told me sometimes he imagines what it would be like to brutalize and murder someone."
"Eventually, he tired and realized the sink wasn’t coming down. I kept talking to him and asked if he would like to help me clean up the mess on the floor or if he wanted to go back to class. He helped me clean and then I took him for a walk back to his class."
"That kid took a lot of work over four years by a lot of people, therapy and medication included. He eventually learned impulse control and learned the differences between craving negative and positive attention from people. He left BD and got to be in general classes, became an athlete, got some real friends, and graduated."
"I honestly cried when I saw him get his diploma. I hope he stays healthy."
- PantsIsDown
Not Going Places
"A nine-year-old chasing an eight-year-old with a brick in each hand trying the smash the other kid's skull in. When I stopped him, he was screaming something about how he was going to kill the other kid..."
"He's probably 13 now and I suspect in jail or killing animals for fun."
- free_crude_oil
Positive Influence
"Preschool teacher for a very wealthy community. I have a three-year-old who is physically violent. The first day I had him in my class he attacked me."
"I tend to get down on the floor and play with the kids. Seeing an opportunity he latched on to my ear and tore little bits of flesh with his tiny fingernails. I bled."
"I tried talking to his Mom. She said, 'Yeah, he gets rowdy...'"
"Just this past week I had him in my room again. He delighted in making another boy cry. Refused to participate in our activities. Only wanting to throw toys directly at my face."
"Once I did convince him to participate, he clung to me. It was bizarre and honestly made me very sad."
"I talked to some other teachers who've known them longer. Apparently, Mom and Dad are serious alcoholics. He is an only child and desperate for attention."
"They all know about his outbursts and violent tendencies, but there's really nothing anyone can do because he is three."
"I'm just going to try my best with him. Maybe a positive influence and some consistency will give this little guy some reassurance.
I know that there are people who are mentally ill and born with issues beyond their control, but I think this kid just has s**t parents. Wish me luck, friends!"
- MissSassifrass1977
Disturbing
"I have an eight-year-old student in my class this year. All his time at school he has been a troublesome kid, hurting other kids without being provoked, having unpredictable mood changes, and he's really hard to read. Lots of teacher colleagues say he looks dead in the eyes, with no expressions of joy or any other emotions."
"The moment that really shocked me, was when another student had found a fly in the playground. The fly was hurt and couldn't fly anymore. So this student gave it a name (Henkie) and started to care for it, very sweet."
"Lots of classmates joined in taking care of the fly and helping it (making a house out of leaves, etc). I gave the kids some magnifying glasses so they could take a nice look and encouraged the kids' curiosity and gentleness."
"This kid also came over to 'take a look' and was told to be careful, because Henkie was the other students' friend. He looked for 2 secs, grinned, and stomped on it."
"The worst part is that Henkie didn't even die (or at least it was still twitching). So the other student kept on trying to nurse his little buddy back to health. He even took it inside to read it a story. My heart just broke by the love this student was showing for this little creature, but the kid didn't seem to care at all about what he did."
"This was a couple of months ago, and he still even kind of brags about when he (almost) killed Henkie. This kid just gives me the chills."
- Snackicu
Just a Matter of Time
"I'd like to say there wasn't one defining instance but more of a long list of them that when everything was over and I had time to relax and process everything did I come to the realization that in 20, maybe 10, years time, I'd see this little boy as a teen or a man on the news for murder."
"I had this one student, let's call him Timmy (age 4 at the time). Timmy was prone to extremely violent outbursts for little to no reason at all and they were so unpredictable that I had to set up a Timmy evacuation protocol with my other students incase I felt their lives were in danger. These are some of the times I had to use this protocol."
"Before Timmy was banned in my room from using pencils and safety scissors, he went on a rampage with a pencil. He was trying to stab another classmate because I helped her with her writing before him."
"He was doing his writing just fine, and seconds before that, I had told him, 'Great job, Timmy, I love how you are keeping your letters on the lines.' He didn't need help, and he never once asked for it."
"Thankfully, the little girl was not hurt as I was right there and was able to throw my hand in front of her face where he was aiming. However, he did get me and the pencil lead was left in my hand."
"Timmy attempted to choke another child because that child was using a red crayon, so instead of getting an identical red crayon from the bucket in front of him he tackled that child out of his chair and put his hands on his neck while screaming like a banshee."
"About a week after the choking incident, he was upset because he wanted to be the only one in class, so he pushed a shelf that I, as a grown adult, have trouble moving over in an attempt to in his words 'squish' his classmates who were working on the carpet. (Thankfully, I was able to hold it up while they ran.)"
"He proceeded to destroy my entire room, to the point where I decided to just move classrooms for the day as it would have been impossible to clean it up and frankly I didn't want my already traumatized students to come in and witness it."
"Every single day, this child would have a violent meltdown. Some were more contained to himself, a small area, or me personally."
- VanillaRose33
Preventative Care
"My wife thinks her best friend’s son is going to grow up to be a serial killer, and, while I think she tends to overstate things, it’s hard to deny that there is cause for concern."
"I’ve gotten creepy vibes from this kid since he was a toddler, less than a year old."
"He’s probably six or so now but was kicked out of most of the preschools in their area for being violent towards other kids. At one point a couple of years ago, he got very fascinated by death, squishing bugs to see what would happen and talking about stabbing himself."
"The mom (my wife’s friend) is concerned and has taken him to doctors to try and discuss, but hasn’t gotten much in the way of help. But I don’t think they’ve pursued strongly much in the way of psychiatric/psychological specialists."
"The dad (who has become VERY right wing) seems to not be overly concerned, and his solution seems to be either Catholic or Military School when the kid gets older. Which to me sounds like it would do more harm than good."
- justahominid
Flip of a Switch
"She was a little angel student when my boss was in the room, but the second the door closed, she tilted her head, stared at me, and said, 'I want to hurt you.' Her eyes were absolutely lifeless. She was eight."
"She was also very frequently violent to me and other students/teachers."
- TheUnpunctualWizard
No One Home
"This is chilling to recall. I’m also a teacher, and while nothing violent happened with this kid, I also looked into a kid’s eyes one time and saw absolutely nothing. It was like there was no soul in there."
"He was a run-of-the-mill disrespectful child, with a reputation for being a troublemaker, but I never actually had an incident with him. However, I have never forgotten the day I made eye contact with him, and the coldness and emptiness in his eyes scared me so bad. I have never felt so creeped out."
- cml678701
Wrestling Match
"Not a teacher but used to have a friend that had a cousin in the same school and this cousin had an almost disconnected link to other people."
"The first time I was introduced to him he started the conversation with, 'If I kill someone, I'll get away with it because they say my head's different.'"
" This was during high school where everyone is finding themselves so I just thought he was trying to be a tough guy. Just nodded my head and stepped back."
"He was the type that if people were play fighting or wrestling he'd invite himself and make it a real fight. Once getting me in a wrestling move called the 'Boston crab' and just kept adding more pressure as I was screaming for help and clawing at the floor, genuinely thinking my back was going to break."
"No remorse or thought he was taking it too far, only stopped when several people were yelling at him to let me go."
"The look on his face as I was getting away, like he was disappointed he had to stop haunted me for years. Stayed as far away from him as possible after that."
"Last I heard he's admitted now due to refusal to take medication and constant violent outbursts."
- KingOfFlukes
Hopefully All Talk
"I’ve taught PreK (four and five-year-olds) for years. Only one kid has ever really scared me and I wish I knew what happened to him, he’d be high school age by now."
"He used to talk about hurting animals a LOT, we had several conferences with his family but they swore he never did that at home and never hurt an animal despite so many times of him talking about it at school."
"He had zero affect most of the time, no smiling or laughing. He would be sneaky about hurting other kids, pinching or things like that, and have no remorse when he did something wrong and wouldn’t deny it either. Completely dead behind the eyes."
"I’ve never had another kid like that, even the violent ones who have hurt me or destroyed my room have had emotion and remorse at some point. Not him."
- waughwaughwaugh
Too Fascinated
"There was a kid in my elementary school who used to abuse small animals. In high school, he got super obsessed with serial killers and was caught trying to make poison brownies and give them to kids at our school."
"I was one of those kids (as were two of my classmates in one class), but we didn’t eat the stuff he offered us."
- Gulbahar-00
It Starts at Home
"He wrapped both his hands around her throat unprovoked, he laughed about it, and his mom defended his behavior. He was eight years old."
- nniicholee
Shocking Reveals
'"I think about hurting people all the time. I dream about it every night,' was said by the sweetest, most polite girl in one of my ninth-grade classes."
"I turned that over to the counselors immediately. Hope she got the help she needed but knowing the public school system my guess is they didn't even address it."
- little_shop_of_doors
No One Listening
"Kid in fifth grade (11 years old) very intelligent and in gifted classes. He would torment the other gifted kids. The only time I ever saw his creepy, dead-eye, jack-o-lantern smile was when he made another kid cry."
"He would do things like finish a book over the weekend that the other kid was reading just so he could come in and spoil the ending. He researched some country that this kid's grandparents came from and called him a nazi (it wasn’t Germany - can’t remember)."
"The other kids' parents did the nice kid thing: just ignore him. And god love them, these kids tried."
"He would chase them on the playground just to say creepy s**t. Anyway, I came in 1/2 way through the year. I called a meeting with the parents and school social worker. They said the other kids bullied him!"
"I kept a bunch of papers that he wrote about blowing up the school, blowing up the White House, and making way for a new species of human. He is definitely going to kill prostitutes or hide bombs somewhere."
"After he went to middle school there were a bunch of bomb threats. I notified the principal about his behaviors and sent copies of the papers he wrote. Awkwardly, his father worked at the middle school. Anyway, the threats stopped soon after that."
"He would have graduated by now and I have no idea where he is. But when he kills people, I’m going to the news with all my documentation and show that I tried to get this sick little s**t some help and no one cared. What else can you do?"
- troismanzanas
Social Influence
"Not a teacher but the meanest, most malicious, vindictive, manipulative child I ever knew growing up did not become a serial killer. Nope. She became an 'influencer.'"
"I’m kind of scared of what she’ll become when she’s no longer relevant as an influencer, or when her looks fade and fail to bring her the attention she craves."
- SuddenYolk
These stories are absolutely chilling, and it's no wonder that there were concerns about who these people would grow up to be, or what they would do when they came of age. Hopefully at least some of them received the care they needed, so they could turn their lives around for the better.
History has shown us the sinister capabilities of mankind, especially serial killers.
The most terrifying thing about them is that murderers can be anyone in our midst–from a seemingly "friendly" acquaintance or a complete stranger who seems to have a good reputation in their community.
You never know if you're an eventual target or someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
While there are sadly countless evildoers in the world, there are still those who continue to haunt us long after they've been caught.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Relative_Plantain_29 asked:
"Who do you think is the worst serial killer in history?"
These were not the brightest, but nonetheless, despicable.
Plumbing Problem
"Dennis Nilsen. He lived in a London apartment building. The way he disposed of bodies was grinding them up and sending them down the plumbing. Eventually the drains for the building clogged and someone called and complained so a plumber was called to the building. The plumber ended up finding the sewer line for the building clogged with ground human meat."
"Twist: it was Dennis Nilsen who called to complain about the plumbing issue."
– Clcooper423
Dead Giveaway
"'Worst' like really bad at it? Peter Goebbels really wasn't anywhere near sophisticated and quite dumb. On his days off he'd find a woman in a secluded place and then choke them. He was immediately caught because he accidentally left his ID at a crime scene."
– shaka_sulu
Some thought those who have targeted children were the most contemptible.
Gilles de Rais
"Gilles de Montmorency-Laval (Gilles de Rais). Dude killed, assaulted, and ate 100-200 children between 1432 and 1440."
– transzient
"Moon Maniac"
"Albert Fish is disgusting. Read his wiki and it’s baaaaad."
– MontStuart
The Killer Clown
"John wayne gacy legit a serial killer there couldn't be anything worse than this."
– Time_Restaurant_9776
Milwaukee Cannibal
"Jeffery Dahmer for me, he did some truly awful and stomach turning things."
– lonesomeartis
Not The Nurturing Type
"Amelia Dyer. She pretended that she was caring for/adopting out babies from unwed mothers, but really she was just taking the money the mothers provided and killing all the babies. She got away with the scheme for 30 years and she is estimated to have killed up to 400 infants—through neglect/starvation, strangulation, and possibly other means. She just changed names and moved towns when someone got suspicious."
– qwertyuiiop145
Castle Of Terror
"Possibly Elizabeth Báthory? She was a Hungarian noblewoman who lived in the 1500s in a castle and was reputed to have tortured and killed more than 600 young women and girls."
"She was an utterly sadistic creature who thanks to her large wealth & status (which in Medieval feudal Hungaria, pretty much afforded her almost total power over the people in the lands under her care), was able to terrorize the local population unchecked for a very long time. Towards the end, she didn't even bother hiding the bodies (they were simply dumped around the castle to rot in plain sight) but young women in the local area had no power to resist her calls to the castle. The only thing that tripped her up in the end was when she killed a girl she had summoned to her court to sing for her but hadn't realized that the girl actually came from a relatively high status family. Upon their daughter disappearance, it was this noble family who then forced open an investigation at the castle, whereupon the horrifying scale of the psycho noblewoman's years-long killing spree became apparent."
– Creative_Recover
Some thought the methods by which killers committed their unspeakable acts of horror were among the worst
Taking Sight
"Andrei Chikatilo. Reading the dudes wiki pages made me cringe with horror multiple times. Something about stabbing people in the eyes before you kill them is reaaaaal gross to me"
– MonkeyDDeclan
Household Tools Were Weapons Of Choice
"The Tool Box Killers did some absolutely horrific things to their victims as well."
– Greystorms
Lady Killer
"Possibly Elizabeth Báthory? She was a Hungarian noblewoman who lived in the 1500s in a castle and was reputed to have tortured and killed more than 600 young women and girls."
"She was an utterly sadistic creature who thanks to her large wealth & status (which in Medieval feudal Hungaria, pretty much afforded her almost total power over the people in the lands under her care), was able to terrorize the local population unchecked for a very long time. Towards the end, she didn't even bother hiding the bodies (they were simply dumped around the castle to rot in plain sight) but young women in the local area had no power to resist her calls to the castle. The only thing that tripped her up in the end was when she killed a girl she had summoned to her court to sing for her but hadn't realized that the girl actually came from a relatively high status family. Upon their daughter disappearance, it was this noble family who then forced open an investigation at the castle, whereupon the horrifying scale of the psycho noblewoman's years-long killing spree became apparent."
– Creative_Recover
House Of Horrors
"H.H. Holmes. He built a literal murder castle."
– JwSatan
Elusive Malaise
"Cancer. They still haven't caught him."
– Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
For Pure Entertainment
"The Toy Box Killer wasn't the most prolific but he is probably up there with the most terrifying. The way he took his time with his victims and how much he enjoyed it. Most people haven't even heard of him, either."
– Badger_1066
Zodiac Killer
"The dude taunted the police with series of letters Claimed he killed more Made a f*king language that only he would understand and mailed the police Most of the letters aren’t still decoded and so far the ones said to decoded isn’t 100% sure Source: Based on what I’ve seen so I can’t say for sure if he did send the letters"
"But other than that -He hasn’t been caught. -Clean crime scene as he was able to escape swiftly without giving valuable evidence which could lead to his arrest. -Still no definite answer on who the zodiac killer is. Still no solid suspects."
– Scoobys_panacake
The Ripper Of Rostov
"Andrei Chikatilo. Over 200 confirmed victims over 30 years. Avoided Soviet police became he was a government employee and never suspected. This was pre-DNA days. Finally caught, they put him in a cage for his trial. He was sentenced to death."
– otcconan
People glorify sadistic torture scenes in movies.
There's something thrilling about watching a crazed masked killer on the loose on the screen because audiences who love horror films can take comfort in the fact they will come out of the experience with their lives intact.
But the real monsters are not of the Michael Myers and Freddie Krueger variety.
The notorious, real-life killers previously mentioned can outrank any of these boogeymen as "the worst," any day.
Serial killers capture the attention of the public.
"Serial killer" is recognized by the FBI as a distinct classification of murderer differing from a "mass murderer" or "spree killer" or "contract killer."
Documentaries, books, TV shows and films have all been made about the lives and crimes of these killers—many of their names are part of pop culture.
But what about the people who lived to tell about their encounter with a killer? What were these killers like day to day?
Redditor LiamTheGuyYaKnow asked:
"People who have encountered or saw a serial killer in their lives, how did it feel? What was the interaction like?"
Adam Strong
"I encountered Adam Strong."
"He used to work at the gas station right around the corner from my in-laws’ house. I saw him there once."
"I was sitting in the car while my (then boyfriend) husband went inside to pay for gas, and Strong came over and stood right by my window, he was just hanging around the gas pumps. I just felt an overwhelming feeling of fear and disgust, I thought he was the grossest thing I’d ever seen, he didn’t even seem human."
"When the news broke of him, my in-laws were shocked. He’d served my MIL at that gas station a million times."
"That gas station is in the same plaza as a Tim Hortons. My brother-in-law used to hang around that Tim Hortons, and smoke outside, and Strong would often join him, they got to know each other. They weren’t friends, but they took smoke breaks together semi often.
"Also, my husband and I were walking through the park/lakefront in Oshawa all day Sunday, right before they found the body of Rori Hache."
‐ di3tc0k3head
Lonnie David Franklin Jr.
"I lived down the street from the 'Grim Sleeper' when I was a child to my early teens (after his active years).
"Whenever I walked my dogs I used to walk past his house and talk to him whenever he was outside."
"I never received serial killer vibes from the guy who murdered 25+ people, he was really nice and always spoke when he saw me."
- SteezMeOut
Ivan Milat
"My sister-in-law encountered Ivan Milat, one of the two men that inspired the Wolf Creek horror movie series. She was travelling the east coast of Australia for a few weeks with her brother."
"One night, her and her brother were having jerky and beer by a campfire when Milat sat down at their campfire. When she first saw him, she thought he was park ranger because of his style of dress. She thought he was going to tell them that they built their campfire in a prohibited area, but instead he commented on what a beautiful evening it was and pointed out some of the notable stars in the sky."
"Ivan never properly introduced himself. He just sat down and started chatting. He asked my sister-in-law where she was from, and she told him Darwin."
"He said, 'What's a Darwin girl doing all the way out here?' My sister-in-law explained that she was on a road trip. She seemed to pique his interest when she told him that instead of doing the usual beach vacation, she wanted to do something a little more rugged, like explore caves, do a little rock climbing, and hike trails that were not popular with the tourists."
"My sister-in-law says that Ivan was friendly, and he had a lot of ideas about places she might like to go, including a cave that had a waterfall inside, which was a bit of a hidden gem not well-known to tourists."
"She felt comfortable talking with him, and when he invited her and her brother to join him at his campsite for some rabbit stew and beer, she would have said yes, but her brother instantly turned him down. Ivan's response to the rejection was a slight 'Well, I tried' shrug of the shoulders."
"He went back to his campsite, and her brother quickly packed their things in their rented Land Rover, and they wound up sleeping in the Rover outside a well-lit gas station that night."
"She said what was so scary about that night is that she felt almost immediately comfortable around Ivan, no red flags whatsoever. He reminded her of one of her uncles that worked construction—one of those rugged but worldly kind of guys, while her brother was immediately suspicious of the charming stranger."
"She kind of wonders what would have happened to her if her brother had not been there that night."
‐ Thorne628
How many?
"This whole thread makes me wonder how many serial killers I’ve met in my 50 years."
- portablebiscuit
FBI estimates are that between 25 to 50 active serial killers are currently in the United States.
But author, researcher and former detective Michael Arntfield believes the number active is as many as 4000 based on the definition of serial killer as a "person who has killed three or more people in a period of more than a month."
Angel Maturino Resendiz
"My cousin was killed by the Texas railroad killer in the 90s."
"I never knew her and I was really young, but my mom did. She had stayed with them recently when visiting Texas."
"Karen Sirnic was my first cousin once removed. She and her husband were bludgeoned to death in a church, where the husband was a pastor."
- CamaTatertots
Harry Edward Greenwell
"He was in our small town for 20 years, worked for the Railroad. Grew vegetables which he sold at the local farmers market. Frequented the local diner & liquor store."
"Known throughout the community as an odd guy, but no one expected what he had done. His step kids used to throw parties in high school.
"Just months ago DNA linked him to 3 murders, assaults & 2 attempted murders & assaults in the late 80's, & early 90s. Died of cancer ten years ago."
"Just a surreal crazy feeling for everyone to find out he did such horrible things. Was nice to neighbors & everyone in the community."
"Murders took place several states away. They dubbed him the I-65 killer."
- Ia_corncob-trying
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
"My Auntie was nearly a victim of the 'Moors Murderers'."
"She was walking home from school one day, when a land rover pulled up next to her and rolled its window down. There was a lady driving, she told my Auntie to get in and she'd drive her home from school."
"My Auntie said she didn't get in cars with strangers. The woman said that she was a family friend and my Grandma had sent her to pick her up."
"My Auntie noticed that there was a motorbike parked just up the road and the rider was watching this go on. She had the good sense to run into a nearby shop and didn't come out til they left."
"Sure enough, a year or so later, she saw the woman's face all over the news. It was Myra Hindley. It also came out that while Myra was luring victims into the car, Ian Brady would follow behind on his motorbike.
"My Auntie says she just instinctively felt there was something very 'off' about the situation, and that the woman seemed 'too keen' to get her in the car."
- DendroNate
Bob Berdella
"I grew up about a block and a half from Bob Berdella. He was eventually caught for picking up teenage gay males and torturing and killing them. Prior to that he was, from what I remember, a pretty normal and fairly social person. He was actually part of the neighborhood watch group that my dad was on."
"He ran an 'oddities' shop at the flea market near our house called Bob's Bizarre Bazaar, which I guess is a little weird."
"I still remember the day he was caught. I was over playing at a friend's house whose father was a police sergeant. There was a frantic knocking at the front door and like thirty seconds later my friend's dad asked us to go play at my house for a while."
"One of Bob's would-be victims had escaped by shimmying out of a second-floor window while Bob was at work. The man, basically naked, ran across the street and started pounding on doors and the first people that answered were next door to the house I was playing at."
"They immediately came next door, knowing a cop lived there."
"So Bob lived across from a police sergeant for years, torturing, raping, killing, and burying his victims in dog food bags in his backyard, never being caught."
"This all happened just as school was getting out for the summer and my parents just let us stay home while they worked instead of doing daycare. Most days we'd hang out in the backyard behind Bob's which was slightly elevated above his, watching the cops dig up dead bodies."
"My mom claimed the number of cops in the neighborhood for the next two months was so large that we were probably safer there than at a daycare."
- wildwildwaste
The English term and idea of "serial killer" are generally attributed to FBI Special agent Robert Ressler, who is documented using the term "serial homicide" in 1974.
Credit for making the term official often goes to LAPD detective Pierce Brooks, who created the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) system in 1985.
While some law enforcement sets the threshold for serial killers at 4 or more murders, some require only 2.
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Serial killers in movies feel far away, like pieces of fantasy that couldn't actually be a part of real life. Serial killers on the news inch closer to possible, but still remain at arms length.
But they are out there, and that means some people know them, and knew them before they were caught and began carrying that permanent identity.
A recent Reddit thread asked for stories from those out there who actually knew a serial killer. Particularly, they shared what that person was like before they began killing.
Or, at least, before the news broke. And that's the eeriest part of these responses. Many describe memories of well-adjusted seeming people, but tinged with the belated realization that those memories were made at the same time the person was committing such violent acts.
Ryfi12 asked, "Ex-Friends of a Serial Killer What Were They Like?"
Warning Signs
"He was a jerk. His wife was my friend, and she started slowly telling me a few things about him. They came to our home for some gatherings we held, and he was simply 'off' and very controlling of her social life."
"When several of us reached out to her, she happily accepted our help to get her out of the marriage and into safety. Soon after, he showed up at my door one day demanding money, which I did not give him. He left, angry."
"A few months later, he was evicted from his rental in the next town over, and came back into our town, hell bent on killing everyone who helped her and who was associated with the rental situation and another circumstance that he was mad about. I was not home that night, thankfully."
"He hunted down and killed five people, one of whom was a friend of mine. He committed suicide when the police had him cornered. That was nearly 30 years ago."
"Andy, my friend, I still miss you and your goofy grin."
-- cat9tail
"Charming"
"Charming, had lots of friends. I remember sitting on the school bus thinking I should try to be more like him. He was always smiling, and girls would flirt with him."
"About 8-10 years after that, he was arrested along with another guy his age for the burglary and murder of a very old woman and her dog."
Hiding in Plain Sight
"He was fairly normal. My ex gfs brother. Nobody had a clue until the police gave their theory and then the whole family pretty much agreed it was him."
"They estimated 6 sex workers between Maryland and New Jersey."
-- surfpunk622
Likely Caused by Trauma
"I went to school with the guy that murdered Chris Kyle (American Sniper) and Chad Littlefield. He was a pretty normal kid, kinda funny, had ADHD I believe and was in some of the academic assistance programs if I can remember right. Class clown type for the most part, don't remember him getting into a bunch of fights or anything."
"Nothing specific really stands out. His mom was one of our teachers in elementary. He left school early and joined the military. Did a couple tours, including the Haitian disaster relief in the early 2010s. Apparently fishing bodies out of wreckage is what messed him up really bad. After that he had horrible PTSD and developed some bad mental health issues."
"Chris and Chad were doing a range therapy business for veterans. Eddie snapped and murdered him for his truck (big modified diesel) and took off. Horrible story and outcome from someone who was once pretty normal. I knew him from 3rd grade or so until Senior year."
"Not great friends or anything but he seemed like a decent guy. We'd been out of school for about 10 years or so when it happened so a lot changed over that time I'm sure."
-- tamalediet
Suddenly Fell Off the Face of the Earth
"He was so sweet, he was basically my childhood friend. Then one day I stopped hearing from him, 1 or 2 years later he called me and asked me out. I said yes and was so happy. I really did love him. On the way to the restaurant someone hit my car and I wasn't able to go."
"The day before I was supposed to meet him, he got arrested for having 3 bodies of sex that had recently went missing, stored in his basement. all of them severely damaged and beaten."
A Breaking Point
"I worked with a guy who killed his wife and her new boyfriend (they were separated) and then himself. He broke into his wife's apartment (she called cops but they didn't get there in time) and lined them up along a wall, including their kids."
"Didn't shoot the kids thankfully but they witnessed this all, and were part of the lineup probably thinking they were next."
"He was the world's nicest, most easy-going guy. Never had an unkind word for anyone. Hard to believe he could do something like that."
"I think he bottled it up inside until he just snapped. I think losing your temper and spouting off at people who deserve it, once in a while, is probably good for you. Don't always pretend to be happy if you're not. Someday it might be too much for you."
-- Chen__Bot
On the Other Side of it
"Was roommates with one, He was a cool guy. Serial killer in the sense that he was born in crime and killed multiple people in his 'career.' He went to multiple prisons in multiple countries."
"He made a 180 and bettered his life in the way that he sits at home, watches tv all day and enjoys cooking. I was in a dark place during that time and him being able to better his life was a huge motivation to change my life for the better."
"Cool guy. Last I heard he was still on the right path. I still think about him sometimes, only wish him the best."
Tell Tale Warning Sign
"He was the nicest guy in the world. Everyone loved him. There was just one sign. His best friends family went on a week long trip when we were in middle school/early high school. They asked him to feed their bunny. When they got back, the bunny was dead under fairly disturbing circumstances."
"Everyone made excuses because we didn't want to believe it."
-- MTUKNMMT
A Long-Held Secret
"Really great dad. When I was little I wished he was *my* dad. Dirt poor, but always took time - took us sledding when it snowed. Backyard barbecues. Took us fishing at the river once and we found these big old turtles. Beautiful. Probably ancient. And we ran to tell him."
"He came over with a machete and chopped their heads off. Made a game of it. With his 6 year old boys helping pull the head out and laughing. I was pretty traumatized by that incident."
"But other than that, he was just a guy. Liked drinking. And fireworks. He was a little bit drug addled, maybe mentally slow. There was a murder and not long after they picked him up for it."
"And while he was in jail, awaiting trial, he confessed to a bunch of other stuff. Other murders, dozens of assaults on women. I'm not convinced he did them all. He definitely did the last one - but the rest - i sometimes wonder if they didn't get him to confess because he just wasn't very smart, and was probably easy to manipulate. It was national news."
"His family had a hard time shaking the stigma, so I don't want to be too detailed. I feel like I owe it to them to let that time in our lives be forgotten."
-- ifpthenq2
When the Discovery Changes How You See Them
"He was like a big, goofy, brother. I loved him to bits but fell out of contact with him when I split with my ex. Last year his ex (we were friends through him) sent me an article via FB Messenger detailing how he murdered his new wife and her three young kids then set the trailer they were all living in on fire."
"The pictures of him in the article chilled me to the bone, the guy I knew back then wasn't there. There was just a cold blooded emptiness in his eyes. He's still waiting to be put on trial."
Of a Crowd
"Friends with him in high school. Normal kid. Smoked drank like usual delinquents nothing terrible. One day someone was picking on his friend in a park and he beat that dude nearly to death with a bat. Went to CYA for 4years , cal youth authority, until like 18 or 19."
"Saw him on his 2nd day back. He just sat there and watched porn like it was the godfather. Not jerking it or alone in a room. But just sat there quietly and watched porn."
"Anyways fast forward few years he moved to Minnesota or Michigan i forgot. Started some gang had some followers and went on like a 2 week rampage killing cops and store owners and sh**. I think 10 people in 2 weeks. His whole crew got caught and sentenced to hundreds of years."
"I knew he was busted for murder but disnt see the whole story until.it was on some NBC show. Im like thats @#$@"
"Sh** was sureal"
-- Sleepy_green
Grew Apart
"He was one of those people that I looked forward to seeing everyday, one of them that I would be exited to be pairs up with during a project. Then he got roped into drug dealing, and I saw less and less of him everyday. When I did see him, he would be more grumpy, as if he had given up on life."
"One day I was watching a TV show, with not a care in the world, until I saw some commotion going on outside. Opening the curtains slightly, and was aghast to see him being tackled to the ground by the police."
"Apparently, he had stabbed 2 people in the eye and when I saw him being tackled to the ground, that was just when he had come back from hitting a child over the head with a sledgehammer."
Pathological Lying
"A relative. He lied, a lot, but they were always dumb little innocent lies. He babysat us from time to time. He was a 'gentle giant.' He was sent to prison before we even knew he had committed a crime (he committed murder in another country.)"
"He called on Christmas and we all passed the phone around to talk to him, with only his mom knowing he was calling from prison. We all figured it out when we read it in the towns news paper. I found out that his mom had sent him pictures of the family, including my toddler daughter."
"I absolutely lost my sh**. I want nothing to do with him."
-- ICan24
A Facade
"Best friend's dad turned out to be a hit man. I stayed at her house all the time because my parents were pretty bad. He was so nice, he even took us to driving school together so I could get my license. I remember her saying at one point, 'I can't imagine what it would be like to have dysfunctional parents.' "
"They had a seemingly fairytale marriage with four kids and two dogs. Then he randomly got busted for being a hit man and went to prison our senior year of high school. Everybody was shocked."
An Escalating Plan
"Not a serial killer, but I went to school with kids who wrote a kill list. I knew one of them pretty well and we were close. He would pass me snacks in class sometimes and check up on me when I was upset."
"Very caring, but he got rlly on edge the week him and his friend planned to go threw with their plan, he was less talkative and any time we talked he would tell me to be careful from now on and school isn't important rn, even suggested I should miss school one time he ended up dropping me altogether after I kept getting nosy."
"When I tried to talk to him for the first time in days he snapped on me. Once I found out what happened I pieced everything together."
Hiding in Plain Sight
"The most charming and 'innocent' person I have ever met. Only a master of manipulation can get away with any and all crimes."
"Look up psychopathy and narcissism and you will find many great explanations, from the predatory stare to how efficiently they frame others. The most vicious and dangerous people out there are the ones you would N E V E R expect to even harm a fly."
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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