Ten years ago, we talked about being all BFF [sub](and shit)[/sub] with the perpetrators of horrific crimes. One of the events I added to the discussion–the shooting, freezing, and storage of a rich old lady–is being made into a movie, so I zombified the thread to mention that. It’s closed now, but others have indicated that there may be a whole new batch of stories out there [sub](I’m looking at you, Ferragamo Jackbooted Girl…)[/sub]
So, as was asked in the original thread, has anyone ever known the perpetrator of a really horrific crime (or been the perpetrator of such a crime themselves)?
I must not have had this one in the thread, because I think the crime happened after that thread died…
I had a study-buddy in one of my psychology classes. She was an older lady, a nurse at an old folk’s home, working on getting a master’s in psych. She was engaged to a guy she’d met on the internet. I would go to her apartment in the afternoons and we’d cram for tests. She had a daughter who was 13, who she was just glowing-proud of.
The class ended and we lost touch.
Then one evening several years later I was watching the evening news, and there was a headline story about a local murder… and my old study-buddy in handcuffs. Her internet boyfriend had, in the intervening years, moved to town, married her, then left her for another MUCH younger and MUCH more attractive woman.
They were in the process of getting divorced and he was living with the other woman when my study buddy showed up at his apartment one evening on her way home from work. She shot him once in the chest, then as he turned to run away, she shot him again in the back. Then she drove herself home and phoned her daughter at school to tell her that she had murdered him and was turning herself in.
In high school, I had a friend who was known for her musical talent, beautiful eyes, and long long hair. I was friendly with her younger sister as well. Their oldest brother was goth-cool. I didn’t know their youngest brother so well, but that was probably good as he was one of these guys.
My wife sat in front of RobertFisher at church every Sunday. I briefly spoke to the man a few times.
He killed his two children, 12 and 10 years old, by cutting their throats. He killed his wife by shooting her in the head. Then, he rigged a gas leak to cause the house to explode, while he made his escape. He is still wanted, and on the FBI’s top ten most wanted list.
The friend of a brother in law. I ate next to him once and chatted with him, seemed like a nice guy if a little angsty.
He was running a Ponzi scheme with a partner. Their accountant got nervous and was going to go to the cops. The guy and his partner went to his office and strangled him. Left him there. I don’t know what they were thinking.
My female cousin was involved in the Hell’s Angels. Had a boyfriend who was an affiliate of the HA. I didn’t know he was and when the topic of his job came up during Christmas parties, he had a good cover story. Then they broke up and she got a boyfriend from another gang. She went to a drug cache to steal some drugs. Her HA affiliate ex boyfriend shot and killed her the same night.
Not really horrific but not a Disney tale either.
When I was a kid, a family (parents, daughter) moved in next door and my sister and I became friends with the daughter. We were all in elementary school, if I recall correctly.
Her father was really scary. Several people on the street (including my family) had managed to get on his bad side (my mom asked if they would move their horse manure pile from up against the fence bordering our driveway) and the result was years of dead animals in the driveway (we got a deer head once) and slit tires (we never got our tires slit, fortunately, just dead animals). I didn’t interact with him much, but his daughter seemed to be uneasy around him and I think we picked up on that. We avoided him when we were over at her house. I saw him really tear into her one time, but I can’t remember any other similar incidents.
Apparently they had been in a car accident (or maybe only he had, I don’t remember) and he had suffered a head injury and was never the same after. Pretty sad, really.
Anyway, after they’d been living on our street for several (or more, don’t recall) years (this was after my sister and I had stopped hanging out with the daughter), he had an affair with a married woman down the street, they moved in together a couple of miles away, and pretty soon thereafter, he shot her and then himself to death. Supposedly she had been planning to leave him.
The bodies were discovered when no one came to pick up the woman’s little boy from preschool and someone went over to the house to investigate. I feel so badly for him, and for my former friend. I hope they’re doing okay.
A couple of my childhood friends had gangster cousins, uncles, and fathers, so I’m sure I spent some time around cold-blooded killers.
In my early teens I was in a “gang” that mostly burglarized cars and food stands and skipped school to get drunk or sniff glue(good for a developing brain!) and, of course, fight other kids. It was really small-time stuff and pretty common where I grew up. However, there was one member we called Nicky Thump(because he sometimes carried what we called a “thump”: a gym sock filled with gravel and used as a bludgeon) that was an actual psychopath. I don’t know if you can diagnose a 14-year-old kid as being a psychopath but, for example, he liked to use a stick to fling burning rags dipped in Sterno at stray cats. His dad was crazy too and apparently beat him for any reason, like bedwetting or cursing. Nicky was our friend but even we kept him at arm’s length because of his hair-trigger temper.
His favorite thing to do was to attack younger kids and steal their allowance, or shoes, or whatever they had that he wanted. Most kids would have willingly handed over whatever he demanded, but he actually enjoyed beating the shit out of them and taking it; the loot was just a nice bonus. And these are 8-12-year-old kids so we’re talking small change or their lunch, candy, etc. Anyway, in 1953, when he was 14, he beat a kid to death with a piece of rebar. The kid was 11 years old and spit in Nicky’s face when he was told to hand over his silver saint medallion. Nicky was sent to some sort of psychiatric hospital and was released at 21. As far as I know you can’t rehabilitate psychopaths but I never talked to him again and I don’t know what ultimately became of him.
I also have another story involving a former co-worker, but this stuff is too depressing so I’ll stop with one tragedy.
Not me, but my mother worked as a nurse at a VA hospital in Pennsylvania in the mid-80’s. In 1987 Gary Heidnik was arrested when a kidnapping victim escaped.
At the time of his arrest there were several women were being held in his basement and there were body parts in the fridge.
When the reports were broadcast, she told me that he had been a patient of hers several times.
My best friend’s dad, who worked there as well in the vocational rehab department claimed to have taught Heidnik word processing.
Intersting: I didn’t realize that he was the last person executed in PA. Good.
I’ve mentioned this before, but my aunt was a kindergarten teacher for many years, and one of her students grew up to be a serial killer. My parents knew his family slightly as well, although I never met him.
My aunt said that if she were told that one of her students was going to end up being a murderer, she would immediately know it was going to be him. The kid was in an incredibly messed up home, and was on the path to disaster by the age of six.
Anyone that’s lived in Minnesota the last 20-30 years will know this one: My family knew several people tied up in the Jordan sex allegations scandal. The whole thing was such an unbelievable trainwreckof a mess. Dozens of adults accused, ultimately only one person convicted, but countless lives ruined. To this day none of us know what to actually believe what went on.
Kids that were involved in that scandal are around 30 now, I suppose. I’m actually surprised none of the kids have come out about what (if anything) happened.
Seven years ago, my cousin’s 22-year-old son slashed his girlfriend’s throat, then slit his own wrists, all while their 2-year-old son slept in the next room. By the time the cops showed up the girl was dead, but cousin’s son was still alive. Being out of his head on meth, he went after the cops with the knife. They had to beat him so severely that, even though he would have survived slashing his wrists, he would have been a vegetable. Cousin and his ex-wife had to make the decision to pull the plug.
My uncle on my father’s side, molested me and at least one other cousin when we (the cousins) were small kids. In my case, it only went on for a few days; I don’t know about my cousin.
Anyway, he violently raped all three of his kids, and he’s been in the Illinois penal system since. He will never be let out, as far as I know.
My neighbor across the alley is a sweet 100-year-old lady who’s just wonderful. We joke that she’ll outlive us all. Her grandson was living with her at the time that he, his sister, and his girlfriend murdered his brother. I never met Andy, but our neighbor and good friend talked to him frequently, and my husband had talked to him as well.
It’s too bad for his grandmother, tho’ she’s pragmatic about the whole thing. “I love him, but he has to pay the price for his actions” seems to be how she views it all.
A old friend that I lost touch with 15 years ago, is currently awaiting trial for murdering his girlfriend.
According to his statement, they were arguing and it got out of hand and he strangled her.
The horrific part being that before her landlord grew suspicious and checked, my old friend stayed in his late girlfriend’s home, with her rotting body, for a month.
I’ve got another one, but it’s only a possible case.
A guy I was in the Navy with had an uncommon last name. I haven’t been able to find the guy online anywhere, but I did finally find a reference to someone with his name–a sailor who drank heavily and who liked Filipino women… just like my former buddy.
In 1969, Houston society queen Joan Robinson Hill died from a sudden massive infection. Her husband, Dr. John Hill, was indicted for her murder via neglect. His first trial ended in a hung jury; Hill was then shot to death by a masked intruder in the front hallway of his house.
Investigation led to the arrest and conviction of Lilla Paulus for hiring the shooter as a hit man. Paulus was a madam who ran whorehouses in Houston and Galveston, and turned her daughter out as a hooker in one of them. The daughter turned out to be one of the major witnesses against her and her testimony pretty much nailed the case shut.
I went to high school with the daughter, Mary Jo, and knew her quite well. She was a very sweet kid; you would have never guessed what her mother had done to her.
My friend’s brother strangled a postal worker in a robbery.
My customer was beaten to death by a stalker.
A coworker’s mother was beaten to death with a shovel.
Another coworker did time for trying to kill someone using a metal trashcan as a blunt instrument.
My son’s teacher tried to kill her husband with a garden hose running from the car exhaust to the bedroom window.
His other teacher suicided from a bridge.
His other teacher was shot to death by an unknown person.
My teacher was an infamous molester who died violently in prison (after the headmaster blew his brains out because he knew all about it and took part).
That’s all the horrible stuff I can think of at the moment.