People Who Personally Knew A Murderer Share Their Bizarre Story
It sounds scary to know a murderer—someone who has actually, physically ended someone’s life. While murder itself is a premeditated act that occurs outside of the law, sometimes lives are lost completely by accident; without the intent. For instance, you might fatally hurt someone in a car crash, or follow through with assisted means to ease someone’s pain from a terminal illness.
That being said, ending a life is never a good thing. These internet users tell their crazy stories of how they came to know a murderer. Many of the stories you won’t recognize, but some you will. In any case, for those of us out there who don’t know any murderers personally, most of these tales will likely make us feel pretty glad for that.
Don’t forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 Some People Have Good Reasons
A friend of mine hurt his father when he was 16-years-old with a kitchen knife in self-defense. His father was a dealer, had many issues with police, and was abusing him and his mother regularly. One day, it was simply too much. Now, my friend now has a normal family and he’s a totally cheerful guy. If you looked at him now, you would never guess that he had ever done something like that.
#2 Not So Decent After All
My friend went on one date with a guy. I talked to him for a while and he seemed decent. He was a bit of a braggart, but not terrible. About a year later, he ended his girlfriend’s life. It was totally unexpected. It just goes to show that you really don’t know people until they show their true colors. Needless to say, my friend does not talk to that guy anymore.
#3 Murderers Can Also Have A Good Side
My older sister is six years older than I am, so she was out of the house by the time I was in junior high. We were never really close but I’d see her every couple of years. She married a man who murdered his first wife. He spent several years in prison and met my sister after he got out. His mother was friends with my grandmother. I did invite them to my wedding and my sister was a bridesmaid.
Her husband got angry that he couldn’t go to another couple’s reception that was being held at the same venue. He wanted to take advantage of their open bar instead of ours, so he left and drove several hours back to the city they lived in. He left my sister and the kids to find their own way home. I’m just happy he didn’t cause more trouble.
I never knew how he came to get rid of his first wife, but he was an addict so I assumed it happened in a rage of some sort. I got curious a couple of years ago and Googled him (he’s been dead for 20 years). It turns out, they had married as teenagers (she was 16 years old). They had two kids and then she left him, took the kids and went home to live with her parents. She worked as a carhop at a drive-in restaurant. One day at lunch, he drove up to the restaurant and she, not knowing it was him in the car, came out to take his order. He pulled out a weapon and used it on her, essentially in an ambush.
I don’t really know what his relationship with my sister was like, but I do know he treated her better than my parents did. They continually called her ugly and stupid and they made her do all the housework and cook all the meals. They did other terrible things too. Her husband, the murderer, encouraged her to go to college, where she got her bachelor’s and then her master’s in social work. He told her she could do anything she set her mind to.
#4 A Late Conviction Is Better Than No Conviction
My wife recently received a call from one of her family members. Her uncle was arrested in Michigan for a murder that happened 20 years ago. Apparently, an illegal deal went bad and he had ended this woman’s life before fleeing the state. For the next 20 years, he was completely normal, despite being investigated and questioned on two separate occasions. He was able to keep the entire debacle a secret from the family. He recently returned to Michigan and was arrested due to DNA linking him to the murder. He’s now on a $1 million bond.
#5 Just One Of Those Girls Who Will Do Anything For A Baby
I knew this girl in school for about a year. She really wanted a baby, so she lured a pregnant lady to a motel with the promise of selling baby clothes, then tied her down and tried to take the baby. When I knew her, she was nice; maybe just a bit snooty. She was much closer to my friend than me, but if I was given a line-up of everyone I went to school with, she wouldn’t have made it as one of the top-ten potential murderers. She served eight years in prison and has since been released.
#6 Not The Worst Reason To Set The Bed On Fire
My grandmother got rid of her ex-husband. I’m not entirely sure about the details, but my family has said that he was an abusive drinker. My mother even said that he hurt her in one of his rages. My grandma claimed he was actually possessed by something and said she set him aflame in their bed to purify him. She was imprisoned for a number of years.
#39 One Two Many Head Bangs Into The Sidewalk
I got into a fight after school with a jock who later put another guy in a coma. After a few weeks, the guy in the coma passed away, so the jock went to prison for it. He was your standard bully; a big guy. He literally went up to the guy and started banging his head into the sidewalk. Don’t bang heads into sidewalks, kids.
#8 The Real Meaning Of “Looking The Other Way”
They were a normal family: a dad, a mom, and two children. They lived in front of the house that we moved to when I was around 11 years old. Everything was normal. We weren’t the closest neighbors, but we would always greet them with a smile. When I was around 16 years old, the dad ended his wife’s life, in his house, in front of his children. They were still kids, so I think their imaginations made them think it was a monster who did it. They still love their dad, and they visit him in jail often.
#9 Revenge Can Be Brutal
My grandpa’s friend had a wife who was cheating on him. The husband didn’t really care until he found out that she was leaving him. When the wife came home, the husband got rid of her. The police were called because the guy the wife was cheating on called them. He had been worried about her not coming back to him at a certain time. When the police came to the house, they could see smoke in the back.
#10 Expedite The Cremation Please
My girlfriend’s old boss spiked his wife’s drink with cyanide that he took from his lab. He then tried to quickly get her cremated to avoid scrutiny over the cause of her death. Needless to say, it didn’t work and he’s now in prison for life. It was a pretty big story when it happened since they were both relatively prominent doctors.
#11 He Was Not So Friendly After All
One of my friends I went to high school with joined the Air Force. During a 4th of July cookout, he tried to kiss some other guy’s wife and got rejected. He later showed up at their place on the base and ended both of their lives. He attempted to fatally hurt a third guy who witnessed it, but that person survived. The guy was given the death penalty for the murders and is still on death row. The whole thing really shook me, as he was always extremely friendly at school. Never would have pictured him doing something like that.
#12 When Something Seems Off, It Probably Is
There was a couple who used to come to board game night at our place. They seemed like decent people—he was a veteran and they had adopted a special needs kid when he was like,13 years old. But something always off about the wife though. Their adoptive kid was deaf, and they never let him interact with anyone. She pretended to know sign language when it was clear she was faking it.
Fast forward eight months and we heard their trailer burned down with their adoptive kid inside it. Turned out, it was later discovered that they did it on purpose, and they set the trailer on fire to try and cover it up. One’s in jail, and the other is out on bail but will be back in jail soon, I hope. Trust your instincts on people I guess.
#13 First-Worst Cousin
My first cousin ended my ex-girlfriend’s life, as well as her brother’s. It had something to do with an illegal deal. It’s really awkward when I occasionally bump into her family members.
#14 When Mental Illness Leads To Murder
Our neighbor was an amazing family friend. When I was about three years old, her brother went crazy on their mom. I don’t know how. I remember one day when I went over to help clean out her house. He was schizophrenic and she thought he was going to end her. He went to a mental institution, got properly medicated, and our friend kept close to him.
When our friend passed away, my mom started talking to the brother more often. Our friend had asked her to make sure he was taken care of. He’s actually very sweet. He acts a bit like a child, but in a sweet way. He loves animals and my sister and I work with local pet shelters, so he loves hearing about that. He’s very polite. It’s just unfortunate what happened.
#15 Breaking Up Is Harder To Do Than We Thought
Our 18-year-old daughter’s boyfriend was super quiet. A little odd, but polite. He murdered her because she broke up with him. Today would have been her 19th birthday. I couldn’t believe he really did that to her. I had to hear him say he was the one who took my precious daughter’s life. He didn’t even seem to have any remorse whatsoever. He goes to trial in September and is facing life in prison.
#16 What Happens When Euthanasia Is Not Legal
I’m a nurse. A patient I looked after in the ICU was an elderly gentleman who’d given his terminally-ill wife a fatal overdose before he tried to take his own life the same way. She passed away, but he made a full recovery and was arrested once he was fit for discharge. I’ve never experienced anything so upsetting in my life.
#17 People Really Can Change
I worked with a guy named Gabriel who was always in a good mood. He was always really evasive about the reason, but he did over 15 years in prison before getting out. I found out, eventually, that he was involved in some gang murder. I don’t care what he did though; he was such a good guy and no matter what went down in the kitchen, he was always in a good mood.
#18 Enough Is Enough
I went to school with a girl who got rid of her father. The father had been abusing her and her older sisters for years and she finally got fed up. He tried something with her one morning, so she fought back in self-defense and ended his life in the process. She was 15 years old at the time. No charges were pressed, and she actually stayed with us for a few days after she left custody to escape the press. My mom was one of her teachers in school and she always said she was a great kid. Hopefully, she’s able to put the trauma out of her head and move on with her life.
#19 ‘Partly’ Negligence
My supervisor from one of my first jobs ended the life of a kid who was in her daycare. It was partly negligence, but it also came out that she was overly harsh with the kids who were in her care. I never would have called her a psychopath or anything like that when I worked for her, but she did seem a little off. She would gaze off intensely and tell jokes that didn’t land. Basically, she seemed a little too gritty to be working with a bunch of teenagers. I was very surprised when she switched to daycare.
#20 Don’t Listen To The Voices
When I met my wife, she was hanging out with this other dude. They were not dating; they just sort of hung out together. He had a motorbike and would take her for rides; at least, that’s what she told me. When I entered the picture, the dynamic changed a bit. The guy started bragging about everything, lying about stuff, and always tried getting into petty contests (like who can drink a beer the fastest). His stories got taller and taller. I got the girl, so I was quite relaxed about his antics. I just brushed it off as typical alpha-male behavior, if you will. My wife was not so amused, so she faded him out.
Anyway, fast forward about 10 years. We had been married for three or four years when suddenly my wife’s cell rang. She answered the phone and all color dropped from her face. It’s this guy. He was calling from a closed mental hospital. Apparently, he settled down, got a girlfriend and they moved into a nice apartment together. One day, he started hearing voices who told him that, in order to save the world, he needed to get rid of his girlfriend.
He called her because he wanted her to meet up with her sometime and watch a movie at his hospital. They had movie nights down there every week. He also wanted to take my wife on a cruise. The call went on for a few minutes and my wife was shellshocked afterward. She is as tough as a bag of nails, normally, so I was quite worried. I called the hospital and they told me that he wouldn’t get out any time soon. He was diagnosed as a schizophrenic (if I recall correctly) after the murder. It seems like he started hearing voices and just snapped.
#21 She Would Do It Again If She Had To
My brother’s co-worker was a lady who ended the life of a man. She went to prison, got out, and ended up working at the pizzeria he’s at. She told him, “He was looking at my kids funny. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”
#22 Beware Of The Compass
I knew a murderer in high school. I didn’t know him well, but I would sit with him in the library during free period. He was artistic and would draw detailed pictures; mostly sci-fi-like spaceships. He was overweight and a bit of a loner but was cool to talk to. At the time, his family moved but he still went to my school. He knew he would have to go to a new school eventually and he wasn’t thrilled about it.
When he finally changed schools, he would go the track and sit in the stands every morning. One day, he ambushed a jogger with a compass in the woods. She was in her mid-30’s and married with kids. Allegedly, he would try to talk to her often and she always blew him off, calling him a fat slob or something similar. He was convicted and sentenced. I’m not sure of the length, but it was at least 30 years.
#23 Money Before Mom
One of my childhood friends is serving life in prison for murdering his stepmother. He was the sweetest kid in the world when we were little, but apparently, when I moved away in middle school, he wound up with the wrong crowd and started stealing stuff when he got older. When he was in his early 20s, he and one of his friends decided they needed some money, so they ended her to get some.
#24 Some People Have It Coming
I have a friend who used to live in a very bad part of town. He was robbed several times by locals. One night, after being assaulted, he went to his place, got a weapon, went to the local bar and used it on one of them. He then turned himself in. He was poorly represented. His parents would not let anyone go to his parole hearings.
He was a model prisoner, staying at a minimum security prison. He was eventually paroled. He is one of the kindest, smartest and most creative people I know. I would trust him to look after my kids. I would trust him with a sack of my money and the keys to my house. He got rid of a violent punk and lost years of his life, but he’s not bitter. He started his own business, lives modestly, and is still creative. I am happy to call him a friend.
#25 Best To Stay Under The Radar With Psychopaths
I went to high school with a kid that murdered his younger brother. I think it was at the end of our freshman year, so we would have been 14 years old. I think the younger brother was around 10 or 11. Apparently, he did not like the positive attention his brother received at home, so one day, he lured him into a bedroom where he had hidden a butcher knife. He started wrestling with his brother, got him into some sort of hold, and ended his life.
The murderer was a little bit of an outcast. I can’t recall if he was bullied or anything like that. The “funny” thing is that he messed with me once in kind of a bizarre way that I didn’t really figure out until much later. He took a personal item from me and I was convinced I had lost it. Many months later, he returned it to me by placing it near my locker and pointing out, “Hey, isn’t that yours?” with a big grin on his face.
When I got a little older, it dawned on me that he must have taken it and then returned it just to mess with me. In my 14-year-old naive brain, I thought that the lost item must have miraculously sat there for several months without me seeing it. Oh well, it was probably for the best that I was that dumb rather than get further on that psychopath’s bad list.
#26 Worth Every Minute Of Those Three Months In Jail
My grandmother got rid of her husband. Back in the day, neighbors “minded their own business,” so when he’d chase her down the street with a knife, no one would call the police. He broke several vertebrae in her back after throwing her across the kitchen. She’d regularly hide in the woods for days, and the kids would bring her food. One day, she could hear him on the phone, telling someone that he was going to need help getting rid of the body. She finally ended his life for good. My mom and my uncle had to clean up the mess while she served three months for manslaughter.
#27 People Are Not Always As They Seem
My brother ended my mother’s life because, as he put it, he was planning on ending his own and didn’t want my mom to have to find him. He was unsuccessful and is now in prison for 25 years to life. I absolutely never would have thought he could do something like that. Even now, he still seems like my little baby brother. It’s really hard to come to terms with it and it’s something I struggle with daily. How could I not have seen he was capable of that? And it was a particularly violent murder. I was the one that found my mother and the one that called the police. I have PTSD now.
#28 Living Undercover
I lived across the street from a mafia hitman when I was very young. We didn’t know it at the time. He was super nice to us—he would buy my sister and I ice cream from the ice cream man. He would bring over pizza for our family on some occasions, too. Then, one day, he was in the paper after being arrested. I’m pretty sure he passed away in prison.
#29 Student/Murderer
I used to be a TA at a university. A man who had murdered his wife about 20 years prior was taking the course. He was escorted to class by a guard, and I would set aside an hour a week to talk to him on the phone about the class. He was very quiet but seemed genuinely interested in the material. By now, he has probably finished his degree.
#30 A Mother’s Love Is The Most Generous Kind
A woman at church who I worked with frequently was convicted of poisoning her husband. She had suspected him of having an affair. Somebody put a foreign substance in his sports drink. She was quiet, very giving, volunteered, etc. She had two sons from a previous marriage, one of whom had some problems, so I wondered if he did it and she went to prison to cover for him. She was convicted and sentenced to decades in prison.
#31 The Columbine Shooters Weren’t Actually Bullied
I knew both Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (the boys involved in the Columbine massacre). I knew Eric pretty well since he hated my brother and lived next door to one of my best friends. They were horrible people. Everyone says they planned the Columbine attack because they were bullied. Not true at all. They were the bullies. They bullied anyone smaller than them. I’m thankful my brothers and their friends stuck up for us.
#32 Casualty Of War
I’m French and my dad has an old friend from work whose father slayed a German militant during World War II and buried him in his garden. He was never found and the man is still buried there. My dad’s friend still lives in the same house and he has no idea where the body is. He’s been scared to do any work in the garden for the past 30 years in fear of finding an old skeleton.
#33 Divorce Is Harder For Some Than Others
My father was the murderer. He ended my brother’s life and then his own. He tried to get me too, but I survived; though, I was also left blind. He was a completely normal father to me and my brother up until then. As soon as my mother decided to divorce him, I guess he couldn’t handle the idea of living without us.
#34 The Worst Is When They Are Never Convicted
My uncle got rid my aunt 19 years ago. He was never convicted due to there only being circumstantial evidence, but everyone knows he did it. He is a quiet, weird, and eerily intelligent man. He avoided family gatherings, was obsessed with golf and hated kids. Unfortunately, his intelligence is what has kept him free. I hate him more than I have ever hated anyone. We have no idea how he did it, but it was definitely financially motivated.
#35 Cults Are Legitimately Dangerous
A guy at my church, while I was in high school, was part of a small cult with his mom and brother when he was eight years old. His mom ordered him to get rid her and his brother, so he ended both of their lives. When I met him, he was 25, and he was a nice enough guy. Genuinely repentant, fervently religious, and chill. But he was just off. Being around him felt completely wrong, and if you ever made eye contact with him, he was just empty. There was nothing there. I feel really bad for him.
#36 The Question Still Remains: Did OJ Do It?
I spent a good deal of time socializing with OJ Simpson. He was a nice guy. I met him through Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister. I never saw the possessive psychopath side of him.
#37 Good Ol’ Dad
When I was a kid, I befriended a girl but was forbidden to ever play with her. I never understood why and it made me really sad. When I was older, I learned it was because her dad ended a woman’s life while her mom stood by him. She took their daughter to visit him in prison all the time. She never knew what her dad did until she was a teenager, so she had no idea why she was so ostracized.
When I went to college, I met the girl again and felt bad for everything that had happened to her. I tried to rekindle our friendship. She invited me to her place, and there he was, on parole and sitting in the kitchen. We had a polite conversation and I left shortly after. I was too freaked out, so our friendship never developed any further.
#38 Perhaps She Should Have Been More Than ‘Meh’ About Him
My high school boyfriend spent a lot of time with his best friend. I was always a little ‘meh’ about him. I appreciated his parents for letting us hang out. After I graduated, I left the boyfriend and never saw either of them again. About two years ago, it was reported that the best friend had a psychotic break and murdered his father. His family was concerned about his well being and had installed cameras. The entire thing was caught on camera.
#39 The Saddest Kind Of Accident
This amazing lady who was so kind, caring and very religious had already been through a lot, with her husband and son passing away. She was dropping her grandson at school and on the way back, she crashed into a mom and son walking to school. The mom passed away and the son survived with injuries. It was an area which our neighborhood had been pushing for traffic control and traffic guards. It was an unfortunate incident. I don’t believe anything legally happened to this lady, but I’ve seen her since and she just holds a lot of pain. It’s just so sad that she lives with this especially as it was an accident.
#40 Did The Punishment Fit The Crime?
I was pumping gas and a guy came up to me. He just started chatting about how beautiful the day was. He apologized, saying he was in such a great mood that he just had to share it with someone. He told me he had just gotten out of jail that morning, where he had spent the last eight years for ending the life of the man that abused his 13-year-old daughter. He was on his way to go see her. He started crying, so I gave him a hug and wished him the best of luck.
#41 You Know What They Say About People Who Hurt Animals
Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, had come into my backyard and hurt a few of my chickens with a pelleting device. He mentioned this in his interrogation and the reporters would not stop knocking at my door.
#42 You’re Not Supposed To Take Joy In It
I worked with a really crazy guy who ended the life of a guy who was robbing a store he was in. I’d call it self defense, but this guy was miserable to work with and took lots of joy in the fact that he had done it.
#43 The Postal Worker, But The Customer
I knew a serial killer. He came into the post office where I worked every day and was one of my favorite customers. He was always nice and never complained. Turned out, that he was picking up young men at a gay bar and taking them back to his house where he had his way with them and buried them. He ended up fleeing to Canada where he committed suicide.
#44 Don’t Forget To Check Inside The Walls
My mom worked with this guy back in the 1980s and his wife disappeared. There was a Dear John letter saying she was leaving him, but it was typed and she never contacted any of her friends and family. Her car was found abandoned in a mall parking lot about a 10-minute walk from their house. Everyone, including the cops, believed he did it, but they could never prove anything.
#45 An Unusual Way For A Driving Incident To Lead To Death
Someone I know unleashed his rage on a tipsy driver once and it was fatal. My friend and his family were in a car crash because of this driver (he hit them), so my friend stepped out of their car and punched the guy repeatedly. On official papers, he passed away because of the force of the crash. My friend is a normal person; very kind and caring. Even though they don’t look like it, they are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. They’re actually interested in how others are, always happy to help, and never ask for anything in return. They would do anything for the people they care about.
