# Do you personally know a murderer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158 "2008-01-19T15:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/61 "2008-01-21T12:40:22Z")
My great, great grandfather (not that I ever met him), was sent to prison for a few years for shooting the scion of a wealthy white family. This was near the turn of the century in Tuscon. They were friends, drank together all day, had an argument, drank some more, then a knife was pulled (allegedly) and the other guy got shot. My antecedent was Mexican and not from a wealthy family, and a knife was never found, but he got a relatively light sentence. There was some insinuation that the deceased was a bit of a dog and got what he had coming to him. More recently, one of my father’s cousins found out his wife was fooling around with someone from her job as a waitress. He ran the guy down with his Cadillac after hours. Cousin Mike got a hefty sentence but didn’t serve it all, as he died in prison. He was not the sort of guy you’d think would survive prison, and neither was his wife the sort of woman one would think would inspire admirers. Go figure. I had met both of them on a couple of occasions, but did not know them too well. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/62 "2008-01-21T15:31:35Z")
only professionally. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/63 "2008-01-21T16:12:37Z")
Just after xmas I went to a funeral with my father. At that funeral were several ex-IRA men. A couple had been in for life but were freed under the the Good Friday Agreement. Also there was the former head of the Dublin Brigade and others for high up the food chain. Lots of blood on their hands. I’ve meet lots of ex-IRA over the years. Never met a non-political/terrorist murderer though. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/64 "2008-01-21T16:25:45Z")
[This guy](http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1663388) waited on me at a restaurant a few weeks before going on his lead-laden joyride. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/65 "2008-01-21T18:07:36Z")
Yes. Two. One was a cousin (a second cousin, I think). Killed his girlfriend and then himself. We were never close, but I’d see him at the occasional family gathering, wakes, weddings, that kind of thing. Another was a guy from the neighborhood. It was a particularly brutal hate crime. He wasn’t a friend of mine, more a friend of one of my brothers, but I knew him. He went to prison for a long time. He’s out now. I haven’t seen him. I’ve heard he’s doing alright, managed to get a decent job, and is living a pretty clean and quiet life. Perhaps there’s hope for some people. Rehabilitation is possible. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/66 "2008-01-21T18:18:45Z")
I know - barely - a guy who is currently awaiting trial for murder. Specifically, [this guy](http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2006/0215/Front_Page/017.html). The funny thing is, I telecommute, and am very seldom asked to come into my office - maybe 4 times a year, tops. The day before the murder took place was one such occasion, and I met him in person for the first (and only) time. Little did I realize that if I had been asked to come in even one day later, he is one fellow employee who I would never have ended up meeting in person at all. I can’t think of anything I might have said that drove him to decide “tonight’s the night I kill my wife”, but the coincidence is too darned creepy. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/67 "2008-01-21T20:20:56Z")
Yeah, I know a woman who was having an affair with her married boss. The woman herself was also married. I guess she decided that if her boss’s wife was dead, she could have her boss to herself. So she shot and killed her boss’s wife (they had kids, too.) It didn’t work out the way she planned. She went to prison, but was released after about 7 years. Amazingly enough, her husband _took her back_ and they are still happily (they seem happy, anyway) married. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/68 "2008-01-21T20:49:37Z")
Yes, two. One I went all through elementary/middle school with, the other I went to high school with. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/69 "2008-01-21T21:08:49Z")
[Clifford Olsen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Olson) came to our house in Maple Ridge a few times in the late 1970s. (He was kind of “buddy-buddy” with my older brother and his friends.) One of the young girls that he killed was a friend of my brothers, too. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/70 "2008-01-21T21:57:57Z")
Just remembered- I was friends with a girl who dated Rae Carruth while he was at the University of Colorado. Lucky girl- she’s still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/71 "2008-01-22T16:06:28Z")
Sort of. There was a gang of four older boys when I was at school, I knew them only slightly. I don’t even remember their names. Anyway, they stole a car and went joyriding. They crashed, and two of them died. The driver survived. The other two, I suppose, were guilty of murder, having caused death during the commission of a crime. Not intentional, obviously, but still probably murder. I don’t know what happened to them, but I didn’t see them again. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/72 "2008-01-22T16:07:04Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Quite a few. Kinda comes with the job. [/QUOTE] Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/73 "2008-01-22T17:04:39Z")
Yes. One of my husband’s ex-friends. He certainly murdered one person (involving a car accident) and quite possibly murdered someone else but that hasn’t been proven. We have no idea where he is now, nor do the police. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/74 "2008-01-22T18:24:54Z")
A guy who was friend of my older brother, and dated, briefly, my sister was convicted of manslaughter in the death of my father. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/75 "2008-01-22T19:44:31Z")
I know a guy who murdered someone, and then went on to rob nine banks, and finally got into a shoot out with the FBI. He’s spent most of his life in prison (and he’s 60 years old). ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/76 "2008-01-22T20:33:10Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/77 "2008-01-22T23:10:10Z")
Yup, part of the job, generally what you would call manslaughter rather than first degree. One of the more notables was one who we expected to come back for a long jail sentence after he was released. Sure enough, he did, I expected it would be maybe 10-15 years for serious drug supply, turns out it was a murder, > **[BBC NEWS | UK | England | West Yorkshire | Four jailed for sledgehammer murder](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yorkshire/3411439.stm)** > > The killers of a man who was snatched from his West Yorkshire home start life sentences for murder and kidnap. By coincidence, I was looking around an older part of town and saw this derelict looking church and was doing some research on it, and it turned out to be the same one as where the vicitms body was dumped. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/78 "2008-01-22T23:37:23Z")
A guy I worked with had his daughter killed by Ted Bundy. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/79 "2008-01-23T03:33:27Z")
My neighbors’ oldest son was a no-good boy. He was a year or two younger than me and his parents kept telling him he should be a good boy like me (showing just how little they knew me.). The boy pulled a knife on his dad once and was sent to live with relatives in Taiwan for a year. Later, while away at college, I heard from my mom that the kid and a buddy tried to get dad to cough up money for their drugs by taking him down in the basement and putting a gun to his head while he knelt. He wouldn’t pay so they shot him through the head. Last I heard the boy was still in prison with only the rest of his life to go. No info on the buddy. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158/80 "2008-01-23T20:02:35Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] A guy who was friend of my older brother, and dated, briefly, my sister was convicted of manslaughter in the death of my father. [/QUOTE] I did _not_ read that correctly. I had your sister killing your dad! :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-personally-know-a-murderer/434158.md?page=5)