People Who Knew Murderers Before Their Crimes Describe What They Were Like

Redditor /u/WolfiePatronus:

I let a strange girl use my cell phone late at night at the train station to call someone to pick her up. The person who picked her up liked how I looked and started texting and calling me. He seemed nice enough; it is a small town, so I agreed to a date.

The date turned into hanging out at his house. He showed me photos of his newborn baby and asked if I wanted to be its new mother. I left as fast as I could.

For three months, he followed me on my walk home from work. He sat out front of my workplace or house. He got into taxis with me, forcing me to end the rides in public places to get a new taxi. I called the police; that was the last thing I heard from him.

A year later, he received a life sentence for ending a tourist...

Redditor /u/SharpShanks:

At that time, this guy faced a thorough investigation for ending someone's life, but nothing happened. Everyone thought he was innocent. He was a friend of my husband's family. He attended our wedding, went to church with us, met our kid, and ate meals with us. He seemed very normal. He was friendly and spoke well. My father-in-law told me that if this guy had actually done it, he would never have been caught.

Eight years later, he was arrested and charged after an anonymous tip. He forced his son to help him dispose of the remains under threat, and the son finally came forward with evidence.

Redditor /u/Auntie_Ahem:

Around the time I started middle school, my family moved one state over. A woman from my parents' old church asked if I wanted to return for a week to help with vacation Bible school. I liked kids, missed my friends, did not like my parents, and she was an amazing human being. So, I said yes.

I met her baby—the cutest baby ever—and her husband. Her husband was nice and cordial. The teacher and her mother-in-law were positive, smart, witty, funny, and happy. I thought it was strange that he seemed unhappy about everything. He brightened when they mentioned the house they were building. He was sweet to his child.

I recently found a journal from that summer. I read a paragraph I wrote: "Her husband kind of makes me feel... freaked out? I don’t know. He’s fine. But his eyes lack light. It is like a part of his soul is gone. He walks around with this air of despair. Hahaha, that rhymes."

A year or two later, he had an affair and ended his wife's life. He went to prison. He will be out soon.

Redditor /u/byobeer:

Frankie was a drinking buddy. He told me that "Jimmy" was annoying him, and he deserved to perish. I did not think much of it; the beer was talking. A week later, Frankie was in jail, and Jimmy had passed. Frankie served 16 years.

Redditor /u/HiMyNameIsTyler:

Middle school, I wasn't popular. Kids picked on me for being poor and wearing hand-me-down clothes. Jon, who was cool to me, saw me get messed with constantly. He talked to the bullies. They never bothered me again after that.

I moved to another city between middle and high school, but not far. I still heard things. Jon got busted for shooting and robbing a dealer two years into high school.

Redditor /u/MrPrisonShanks:

I liked my dad's close friend. He was kind and always helped people. He was also a strange guy. One day, he shot someone he disliked and covered up the act for years.

Redditor /u/somedude456:

My sister's friend ended a classmate's life and tried to hide the remains.

She seemed fine from age 12 to 14. Maybe eighth or freshman year, she started with the goth kids, which means nothing. She had a fake personality. This girl had an evil, plotting face. Some minor substance use, drinking, maybe fighting, and she went to an alternative school.

She was the 'cool' kid there, the new one. Later, a new kid got more attention. She invited another girl to lunch, strangled her in a Taco Bell lot, and used two friends to try and hide her remains. That only resulted in 45 years in jail. One guy got 45 years, and a third got five years for lesser charges.

Redditor /u/Nikkinack17:

A few years ago, I took personal growth seminars and paired up with a partner. He was a troubled kid, much younger than others. I felt his parents signed him up to fix his life. He resented the work, and he seemed angry about his parents' control.

A few months ago, he attacked his parents and brother. His mom perished. The others survived. I did not expect this; it was not a surprise.

Redditor /u/ihateyourmustache:

An older guy from high school bullied me constantly for some reason. I would not accept it. I confronted him physically, turned the tables, and made him look foolish in front of all his friends.

I lost track of him. Two years later, I learned he ended a guy he had a feud with.

Redditor /u/justme_allthetime:

I knew three of the four.in this caseTwo of them were nice guys, best friends, always together. They had a strange vibe, but they were super sweet. It seemed like a front to stop people from getting close, but once you did, they did anything for you. This included ending a life, I guess.

The other one followed others and did not care who he stepped on, as long as he was liked. I felt devastated hearing about this. I stopped hanging out with that group a year prior; it shocked me. I could not believe those two seemingly kind, funny, giving guys were involved in something so terrible. They all got their due; they are not the people I knew.

Redditor /u/DreamsAndChains:

My mom’s family loved our local rabbi. He led all our weddings, bar mitzvahs, and baby-naming ceremonies. He often came over for dinner with my grandparents. He appeared in many family photos, and many were framed on our wall. His family lived right down the street. His wife was sweet and a role model for my mom and her sisters when they were young. No one ever saw anything wrong with them. He was a pillar in our community.

Then one day, his wife was found dead in their home. Everyone thought it was a bad break-in or random home invasion. Nobody suspected our rabbi, who had a solid alibi.

My family went to the funeral and then returned to their house for shiva. Things felt strange as soon as they entered the house. Soon, we found he had a girlfriend on the side. He wanted his wife out of the picture to marry the mistress. He paid two synagogue members to do it. After setting the date, he got his mistress officially converted to Judaism so he could marry her quickly once the wife was gone.

He is now in prison. We all despise him now. We took down all the family photos with him in them. New people now run his temple. Unfortunately, he stays in all our family albums because he is central to most of our wedding/bar mitzvah pictures. What a scumbag. We had no idea.

Redditor /u/slowmar_r:

I met him via a cousin. We played Xbox together. He played video games all day. In high school, he smoked weed constantly. He got angry at everyone when we smoked. He lived in the suburbs. He led a normal life until he took out his father.

Redditor /u/SylkoZakurra

As a first or second grader, we lived across the street from Dale and his family. His son and I were close. We went camping with this family, and I saw Dale had a temper. Dale and his wife had been married and divorced a couple of times, but they remained a toxic couple.

My parents saw Dale and his wife on the news during a trial. The wife was an ex-wife having an affair with her boss. Cops thought Dale shot the boss in a jealous rage; his ex-wife helped him hide it. Dale's quick temper showed someone consistent with my parents' view of him.

We did not learn if he was convicted until a true crime series covered the case, changing the names. The show said Dale and his ex-wife claimed the boss threatened her, and she shot him in self-defense; Dale only helped cover it up. The jury saw reasonable doubt. Both men served a couple of years and went free with normal lives. My mother felt Dale was guilty because of his terrible temper and their toxic relationship.

From Redditor /u/865wx:

Dale was a nice guy, using substances, but I did not see aggression in him. He was always good to me. The girl he took to senior prom is one of the nicest people I know; their different life paths are amusing. He just fell into the wrong crowd after high school. The incident he was in sounded like a fight over a substance deal.

From Redditor /u/5firtrees:

Dale was a normal guy. We liked the same music and stayed up late on AIM talking and sharing troubles. He dealt with typical teen angst poorly. He asked for my advice often when he got his first girlfriend, whom he loved but scared off by her trenchcoat style. I saw him as a younger brother who would leave his edgy phase.

I left for college while he was a senior. We lost contact during the first few months of the semester. He came home for winter break, and he ended someone's life. I still cannot believe it happened. To me, he seemed like any other goth dude I knew—a little whiny, a little too edgy, but normal. Ninety-nine percent of the guys I knew like that become regular men. This guy was the exception. I will never figure it out.