# Have You Ever Personally Known A Murderer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228 "2009-12-06T21:01:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/41 "2009-12-07T02:45:25Z")
The nephew of a good friend of mine shot another guy in a drug deal gone bad. He was offered 10 years but decided to turn it down and roll the dice with a jury trial. End result: 25 years I’ve known him since birth. No big surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/42 "2009-12-07T02:45:36Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > I don’t mean to troll but if I knew a murderer and he couldn’t be caught I would dispense justice myself. > > Also did you report the murderers if you knew them? > [@](#): > > What the? Are you serious? Do you mean someone who murdered one of your loved ones or just anybody? > [@Superhal](#): > > If it was a friend of mine, I would talk him/her into turning themselves in. If they refused, I would tell them I’d give them a head start before calling the police, or I could wait with them until the police arrived. > > If it wasn’t a friend, I would be calling the second I had solid proof it was true (rather than just a rumor.) > > If they turned violent on me, I do what I need to do to stay alive. God damn it, _please_ do not feed the trolls in my thread. It was going so fine until it showed up. Can we please get back on topic, I find it very interesting to see how close everyone has come to murderers. **Curtis** , take it to GD or a new thread. When someone reports my post for calling CL a troll, please report his post for hijacking/trolling. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/43 "2009-12-07T03:08:32Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > I don’t mean to troll but if I knew a murderer and he couldn’t be caught I would dispense justice myself. In the case of everyone I’ve known, they were either caught or in the case of the one guy who killed himself rather than be caught, died. I also think you believe that because you are a youngun. If you dispensed the justice yourself, would you turn yourself in being that you would be a murderer too? Getting up in other people’s business is not always advised. Pick your battles. > [@](#): > > Also did you report the murderers if you knew them? The only one I think may have gotten away with it, I had no information on and the police were on a first name basis with him, so I don’t think I would have done anything constructive by putting myself into that mess. The night I found out he and another kid brought the cops to my house, so he was never welcome in my house again after that. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/44 "2009-12-07T03:14:56Z")
One of my former students was convicted of murdering his wife so that he could be with his girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/45 "2009-12-07T03:35:08Z")
Yep, I used to know [this guy](http://wcco.com/local/Matthew.L.2.370087.html). He was my supervisor at my first job out of college, left the company for another one, interviewed me for a job there (didn’t get it), left that job for Target Corporate, and then apparently brutally murdered his wife. I was very surprised as he was a very gentle and nice person the entire time I knew him. At first we didn’t think he did it, but once everybody started to put the story together it became more and more obvious he was guilty (primarily due to the details in the linked article that were slowly leaking out). By the time he was arrested, it was no surprise to any of us. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/46 "2009-12-07T03:43:57Z")
Some in the Houston area may remember the death of Joan Robinson Hill. Big scandal in 1969 and the early 70s. Her husband was arrested for it, got a mistrial and was then gunned down in the doorway of his home in River Oaks. Everyone was convinced Joan’s dad hired it done, but they couldn’t get to him. They did, however, get to the woman that hired the shooter - Lilla Paulus. The major witness against Lilla was her daughter, Mary Jo. I went to high school with Mary Jo and had met her mother a couple of times. Tommy Thompson’s [Blood And Money](http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Thomas-Thompson/dp/0786709472/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260156738&sr=8-1) tells the story of the case in excellent detail. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/47 "2009-12-07T04:32:18Z")
My sister lived with a guy for 5 years. They broke up. He stalked her but finally moved on. Boyfriend then started dating another woman, she wrote him a letter breaking it off, but he read the letter while she was asleep and strangled her. Boyfriend is now on death row. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/48 "2009-12-07T07:17:01Z")
I understand she doesn’t have “blood crimes,” i.e., she was never accused of murder, but a sister of one of my classmates did several years for being part of ETA’s logistic apparatus. I think the specific charges were “accesory to murder,” “conspiracy to commit crimes,” and “aiding and abetting criminals.” ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/49 "2009-12-07T08:27:18Z")
Yeah, I know two. A woman I know, whose in-laws and my parents were very good friends, had an affair with her boss. The woman I know also was married. She decided that she should kill her boss’s wife so she and the boss could be together. Hmm… So she showed up at the boss’s house one day, knocked on the door, the boss’s wife answered the door, and she shot and killed her. She served only 7 years. I’m not sure why she got off so easy. Cough cough white woman! I see her every year or so at a retreat and she seems normal enough now. The craziest thing is that her husband took her back, and they are together. The other one happened way before I knew him – a man I know found his first wife in bed with some other guy, years ago. He shot and killed them both IIRC. He got some time and served it but I don’t know how much. I’ve stayed with him and his second wife several times in their home. He was a nice, happy, blue-collar, older guy, kind as could be. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/50 "2009-12-07T08:33:20Z")
Former brother in law. Is doing 15 to life, as far as i know. I saw him shortly after he did it, but I didn’t knowit had happened til awhile after that. By that time, he’d gone into hiding. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/51 "2009-12-07T08:42:13Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > I don’t mean to troll but if I knew a murderer and he couldn’t be caught I would dispense justice myself. Ah, the Christian method. Excellent. ---
**Author:** ![palacheck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@palacheck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palacheck)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/52 "2009-12-07T09:09:59Z")
I spent most of the 50’s hanging out with street kids in Bensonhurst. Several became involved with the neighborhood wiseguys and no doubt did their share of bad deeds. I haven’t lived in Brooklyn in 30 years though, so I don’t know if that counts. Other than that I don’t think I’ve known anyone that was convicted of a murder. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/53 "2009-12-07T09:26:21Z")
Yep. And sadly, it’s the same story I posted in the other thread. My cousin’s son killed his girlfriend, then attempted to take himself out by slashing his wrists. Cops showed up, cousin’s son went after them with the knife, they had to beat him so severely he became brain-dead, cousin and his ex-wife had to decide to pull the plug. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/54 "2009-12-07T14:33:56Z")
I dated this one guy for about 2 weeks when I was about 20. About 1 yr later he was arrested for murder. Creepy. Didn’t pay enough attention to see if he was convicted. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/55 "2009-12-07T14:58:04Z")
I have been involved for a couple of years with Kairos Prison Ministries, which attempts to build Christian communities among inmates. The Kairos program consists of weekend-long retreats and weekly prayer and share group meetings with inmates. The prison I’m involved with is Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, which is a maximum-security facility. I have spent hundreds of hours talking in small groups with inmates. Some of them have told me what they are in prison for, and some of them are murderers. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/56 "2009-12-07T15:34:41Z")
Yep, in my family I have a murder and and attempted murder (different people). ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/57 "2009-12-07T15:49:33Z")
Not me, but the mother of a former friend of mine had the creepiest story about this kind of thing I’ve ever heard. Apparently when she was a child a young girl had run away from home and her father let the girl live in their barn. During the few weeks she stayed there her father (my friend’s grandfather) raped her repeatedly. She left and they never heard from her again. Then they saw the news stories about all the men she had killed and figured out that Aileen Wuornos, the girl who had stayed in their barn and been repeatedly raped by the patriarch of their family, had become a serial killer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Regency_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/58 "2009-12-07T16:09:49Z")
When I worked as a cocktail waitress in Phoenix in the 1990s, I had a regular customer named Larry who worked as the live-in caretaker of a church property next door to the bar. He and his friends would come in on slow nights and tip really well, just a lively, happy, sweet bunch of guys. About a year after I left I found out from the bar’s manager that Larry had moved in with his elderly mother, who lived in a trailer in the desert. For some reason he murdered her, then lived with her body for some days. In summertime. When the crime was discovered Larry apparently went without a fight. After gathering evidence, the trailer had to be burned. I wrote to Larry a couple of times before his trial and he was his usual buoyant self. Excessively weird. I know he was convicted but don’t know the details of his sentence. My own life got very complicated at that point and I quit following his case. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/59 "2009-12-07T16:21:57Z")
I used to hang out at a Houston bar frequented by the convicted couple featured in Clifford Irving’s [Daddy’s Girl](http://www.amazon.com/Daddys-Girl-Campbell-Murder-Pinnacle/dp/0786010568/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260202173&sr=8-16). I knew him by sight but didn’t pursue an acquaintance; thought he was a bit of a drip. Also knew a very bright guy, brother of a very good friend. He moved out to California & I heard he’d become a doctor; but he was involved with a rather weird group. Later, he hit the front page as the doctor at Jonestown; he’d killed some–by mixing the brew–& had died, himself. (Many of the victims didn’t commit suicide; they were shot. But most of them were poor & black, so there wasn’t much of an investigation.) A former co-worker’s son killed his father when he came to pick him up for visitation. It had been a pretty ugly divorce. The killer was a child, whom I’d never met. But I’d known his mother when she was carrying him. Back in the late 60’s, I worked in a law office downtown. Met several murderers there… ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228/60 "2009-12-07T16:23:22Z")
Am a lawyer. Meet many. Including one today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-personally-known-a-murderer/520228.md?page=4)