This sister of a girl I kinda dated in high school was killed when a robber walked into the resteraunt she was manager of and shot her point blank in the face with a .44 Grizzly. He killed the other manger when he ran up to help and walked out with the money. Supposedly it was done as some form of gang initiation, but I don’t know if that was true or not.
The other one I knew was a guy I went ot school with in 7th and 8th grade who ended up a fairly big figure in the local drug world. He was gunned down in a parking lot during some kind of gang feud over drugs. His death was less surprising.
One of my best buddies from high school, his mom was shot in the head point blank by her sleezeball douchey boyfriend with a shotgun. He ran off (from Northeast Texas) but they caught him in Tennessee.
Knew a mother and daughter (former neighbors) who were strangled and shot, respectively, in what had apparently been intended as a simple burglary.
Someone I was friendly with, though I knew he was somewhat weird, turned out to be weirder than I realized when he commited sororocide and then suicide.
My cousin Janet was murdered at age 16 in 1971. She lived in the Chicago area and was found in a pile of leaves in a woods. She used to walk in the woods after school and draw pictures.
I was 13 at the time.
They have never caught the murderer.
Someone who was in many of the same classes as me in grade school and high school was killed at a graduation party between our last day of class and our graduation ceremony. Someone at the party him over the head with a baseball bat during an argument. He died after 9 days in a coma. The last news I can find is that the guy was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to 20 years, and was appealing the conviction.
We’re creating quite a cheery thread for the holidays, aren’t we?
Wow. I had no idea when I posted this that there were so many people touched by such tragic events. I’ve read each and every post here and knowing that I’m not alone is really helping me get through it and wrap my brain around it. Thank you everyone. I hope this community will continue to help people as they cope… with whatever it is they’re coping with.
The man who had been my father’s best friend and gave one of the eulogies at his funeral was murdered a couple of years ago. He was quite wealthy and lived alone, and a guy who had been doing some work for him killed him and took his car. That’s how they caught the killer- the victim’s car was sitting outside his house.
A guy I went to high school with, a couple of years after we graduated, came home late one night (he was still living with his parents) and caught someone trying to break into their house. The would-be burglar shot him and got away. He bled to death before the ambulance got there.
A local attorney who I knew to say “hello” to, but did not know well, was murdered by her husband several months ago. He killed her and two other people at an outdoor party- he apparently suspected that she was having an affair with one of the people there, and he confronted both of them. A third person tried to intervene, and he shot and killed all 3 of them in front of many witnesses. His kids were in the car but apparently didn’t see anything. He disappeared and the police found his body a couple of weeks later. He’d shot himself but before he did, went to a lot of trouble to conceal himself so his body wouldn’t be easily found.
Yeah, I remembered two more after I listed the first two. One a cousin of my first husband who was shot by the son of a family friend in a case of misplaced rage. The son was actually looking to kill his own dad. When he couldn’t find him he turned on Kenneth.
A kid I went to junior high with was shot & killed by his own uncle during a card game. He was probably between 12 and 14 years old at the time.
High school friend’s wife was murdered but I never met her. The perp got the death penalty at first but I believe it was reduced to life with no parole.
I just learned that my uncle (by marriage) was murdered last week when someone broke into his family’s house to rob it. My aunt and cousins were out, thankfully.
A girl I knew in school, and her fiance, were the last victims of a husband and wife serial killer team. They were abducted from a restaurant parking lot near Sacramento and one of their friends got the license plate number of the car. The killers were caught, but too late for Marybeth and her fiance.
I’ve read stories about the killers in books on serial murderers. It always bothers me that they refer to her as “Mary”. Her name was Marybeth.
My grandparents’ neighbors and very close friends were murdered under very mysterious circumstances. They were a very elderly couple and were shot to death in their home, though nothing was missing except the husband’s guns (no jewelry, money, electronics.) The police investigated for awhile but then gave up when the likeliest suspect was jailed for something else (he was murdered in prison.) I was with my grandparents at their house when the police came to the door to tell us that their neighbors were murdered. They had been neighbors for over 40 years and had gone to our church, so while I didn’t know them well, we were on a friendly basis. Very sad and scary. I really feel for all of the people here who have had family members or close friends murdered. What a terrifying, sad, and violent way to leave this world.
I fortunately have no personal contribution for this thread…