# Would you be a reasonable suspect in anyone's murder? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 8, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874 "2012-08-08T16:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/21 "2012-08-08T18:06:44Z")
No, I highly doubt it, other than the aforementioned spouse thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/22 "2012-08-08T18:20:56Z")
Yes. One SO (that I have not ever quarreled in public with, and whom I do not stand to inherit from, but I’d be a reasonable suspect on general principles), also two coworkers who are loud persons, and I am well known to suffer from their noise. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/23 "2012-08-08T18:30:12Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Apart from her I can’t think of anyone else who presents a reasonable motive. Really, **Inigo Montoya**? No one at all? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/24 "2012-08-08T18:36:18Z")
Let’s see I have an exwife who gets half my income, has my kids most of the time, refuses to move closer so I can see them, dumped me by email when I was in Iraq after 15 years. And everyone knows that veterans are ticking PTSD time bombs waiting for the next messed up order at the BK drive thru to explode. So no, can’t think of anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/25 "2012-08-08T18:47:11Z")
I’m a mild-mannered 50-year-old non-profit accountant with a long-term happy marriage, no enemies or rivals, and no-one I would inherit any money from, so other than needing to eliminate me as a suspect in a spouse death, nope. Which is why I have this idea for the perfect murder… ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/26 "2012-08-08T19:01:47Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Really, **Inigo Montoya**? No one at all? - **FAIL** \* :smack: I really need to change my Dopename. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/27 "2012-08-08T20:05:03Z")
Hmmm - I voted for coconut pie and was surprised that so few people wanted that, then I reread the OP. Since I’m married, and the spouse is always the first one they suspect, my answer should change to the second one. Maybe the third: I’ve got kids and I suppose the mother makes the short list but I don’t think we’re automatic suspects like with a spouse. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/28 "2012-08-08T20:21:56Z")
I can’t help but wonder if **Skald** is simply taking notes and plotting the demise of all of the folks referenced in this thread. If there is a sudden uptick in the percentage of Dopers in jail, I think we’ll have our prime suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/29 "2012-08-08T20:49:45Z")
No one. Sure, if someone I live with or spend a lot of time with turned up dead (god forbid) the police would check me out, but there’s not a single person anyone would be able to say I harbor violent ill will towards. Plus I have no criminal record, and no history of violence. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/30 "2012-08-08T20:50:46Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I can’t help but wonder if **Skald** is simply taking notes and plotting the demise of all of the folks referenced in this thread. If there is a sudden uptick in the percentage of Dopers in jail, I think we’ll have our prime suspect. He just seems to be collecting a list of married Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/31 "2012-08-08T20:54:29Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I can’t help but wonder if **Skald** is simply taking notes and plotting the demise of all of the folks referenced in this thread. If there is a sudden uptick in the percentage of Dopers in jail, I think we’ll have our prime suspect. Your lack of trust wounds me. 'Sides, several posters have mentioned wives & ex-wives, and everybody knows Rhymers don’t do violence to women except in self-defense. Rest assured that if I ever find it needful to frame you for a crime you did not commit it will not be for murdering **jsgoddess** but for something like … Well, never mind, no need to discuss that. > [@TriPolar](#): > > He just seems to be collecting a list of married Dopers. I actually started to specifically rule out spouses in the OP, but I decided that everybody would ignore that anyway so I edited it out. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/32 "2012-08-08T22:00:30Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Before you answer, please consider the folllowing. I am _ **not** _ asking if you would commit murder; I’m not even asking if you’d kill in self-defense. I am _ **certainly** _ not asking if you have ever committed murder, and anyone who has is invented to keep that fact to his or her own damn self. I am asking if there is any person who, if they were found dead under suspicious circumstances, a competent & unbiased police detective would quickly decide that you were a reasonable suspect and should be investigated. > > Wow, that’s an awkward sentence. > > [SIZE=2]Anybody? > [/SIZE] Well, I answered the poll question w/o reading the OP, so my “No” answer should be a “Yes”. If my wife or daughter turned up murdered, there would be a period where it is reasonable to consider me a suspect in their murders merely because of my relationship to them. On the other hand, out of all the people I know who have passed I don’t know of a one who has been murdered, so there is no way I can be reasonably considered a murder suspect (the question I actually answered in my head.) ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/33 "2012-08-08T22:09:07Z")
I have a former boss that screwed me out of quite a bit of money through a change in his compensation system. I have bitched about it numerous times in threads related to people getting screwed at work, thus providing a trail for detectives that leads back to me. This boss has also screwed many other people in his life, both on a personal and professional level, such that it is reasonable that someone might murder him at some point in the future, but I don’t know if those other people have also bitched about it in a public forum. Ergo, I could be a suspect if it happens, though I could never murder anyone no matter how much I hated them. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/34 "2012-08-08T22:20:26Z")
I voted “yes” even though I had consciously eliminated the “spouse of victim is first suspect” idea. If my rotten, theiving ex ended up bleeding to death from a random chainsaw accident, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the police knocking on my door. Not that I’d have done it, but I did frequently dream of it happening . . . ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/35 "2012-08-08T22:33:15Z")
My daughter’s estranged husband (soon to be ex when my daughter gets her dumb act together and finally files etc), is quite insane. He’s a druggie and alcoholic, and he frequently barrages her with “I love you come back” to “I hate you you @#$#@!!, I will take your child and make your life a living hell” texts and phone calls. A year and a half after they split for good it’s still ongoing, ugly, hateful, and frequent on his part. His mother is also an enabler and somewhat batty in her own right. So it’s possible I could be a suspect if either of them turned up dead. Not that I’d kill them! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/36 "2012-08-09T00:52:43Z")
Sure, pretty much anyone with family is a reasonable suspect if a family member dies. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/37 "2012-08-09T02:09:59Z")
I’d briefly be a suspect if my GF turned up dead – I have opportunity and my DNA’s all over the house (and my parents’ cats’ hair is likely to be on whatever they find her in). But I doubt I’d be a suspect for long; I’m clearly innocent (at this writing) and I have access to good lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/38 "2012-08-09T02:15:29Z")
> [@janis\_and\_c0](#): > > I voted no, b/c I really didn’t understand the question. Change me to a yes. Probably moreso for my Ex\* than my spouse. > (Plus also I less than three coconut pie) > > - Just because of some crap that happened in the past, I’m actually really good friends with my ex & besides that don’t really have it in me to kill anybody. Oh even more than them, my brother. We’ve joked so much about killing each other that if Big Brother really IS listening, they’d come after me for sure! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/39 "2012-08-09T03:06:45Z")
I’m single with no kids and have neither family nor exes in the area, so I don’t think I’d be an automatic suspect in any murders. AFAIK I don’t stand to inherit any significant amount of money from anyone, and no one owes me money either. I also don’t think my name would come up as a possible enemy of any of my neighbors or coworkers, so I’m probably safe from reasonable suspicion. However, like **Johnny Bravo** I am quiet and keep to myself, so if I turned out to be a serial killer it would be kind of a cliche. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874/40 "2012-08-09T03:09:52Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > My daughter’s estranged husband (soon to be ex when my daughter gets her dumb act together and finally files etc), is quite insane. He’s a druggie and alcoholic, and he frequently barrages her with “I love you come back” to “I hate you you @#$#@!!, I will take your child and make your life a living hell” texts and phone calls. > > A year and a half after they split for good it’s still ongoing, ugly, hateful, and frequent on his part. His mother is also an enabler and somewhat batty in her own right. So it’s possible I could be a suspect if either of them turned up dead. Not that I’d kill them! 😃 I have an ex like that (still technically) in the family, and while he’d definitely be at the top of my list when we have to pick our one legal lifetime murder, I doubt I’d be in the top 10 of suspects if he turned up dead. Heck, even the family member he’s still legally married to would probably be well below most of his sketchy acquaintances. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-a-reasonable-suspect-in-anyones-murder/630874.md?page=3)