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How strange (and disturbing) would it be to know someone who went on to be a serial killer or a murderer?
You have to think that A LOT of people still remember their days as being friends with someone who went on to commit those types of crimes from school and work, right?
Well, we’re about to dig into some stories about what these folks were like from people who used to be friends with them.
AskReddit users weighed in on this very odd topic.
1. Wow…
“I wasn’t friends with him but he wanted to be friends with me!
I moved to another town when I was 10, it was a neighborhood. My neighbors were friendly so were people on the street. My next door neighbors and the neighbor across the street, Bill. When I was 10 my house burned to the ground and when I was crying out front with the firefighters and insurance workers Bill approached me and talked with me.
He was gentle, kind, an older man with grey silver hair and a beard to match. He told me he knew I was often alone at home because my mom works and told me I was allowed to come over at any time. He even mentioned having games to play and movies to watch. I told him thank you.
As I grew older, I didnt pay much attention to Bill. I never went over but every day I walked home Bill was out doing something in this lawn or garage. He had a bike and often had a younger gentlemen in his 40’s who visited a lot.
One night Bill’s packing up a huge Uhual by 11 PM on a weekday. I was 13 then.
A month or so passed, we found out from one of our neighbors that she might of done something bad. Neighbor finds Bill on Americas Most Wanted (this woman is a stay at home mother who doesnt believe in the outside world products and stuff. Tons of free time).
She said it looked exactly like him, so much so that the next time she saw him outside she told him so. She casually went up the man and told him she saw someone who looked exactly like him on Americas Most Wanted.
The very single next day is the day I saw them moving out at 11PM.
When I asked what the crimes were, she told me looking sick that he and his brother have been kidnapping young girls, raping them, and killing n throwing them out as they move separately or together to find another spot. They’ve been wanted for decades.”
2. A big brother.
“He was like a big, goofy, brother.
I loved him to bits but fell out of contact with him when I split with my ex. Last year his ex (we were friends through him) sent me an article via FB
Messenger detailing how he murdered his new wife and her three young kids then set the trailer they were all living in on fire.
The pictures of him in the article chilled me to the bone, the guy I knew back then wasn’t there. There was just a cold blooded emptiness in his eyes. He’s still waiting to be put on trial.”
3. Fairly normal…
“He was fairly normal.
My ex gfs brother. Nobody had a clue until the police gave their theory and then the whole family pretty much agreed it was him.”
4. Very friendly.
“My mom used to work with Dana Sue Gray and was friends with her. (My mom didn’t know her middle name was Sue until the murders, btw) my mom really liked her but she was very materialistic.
Whenever I saw her she was very friendly and would talk to me about Ren and Stimpy as I was 9 and obsessed the cartoon at the time. What was really weird was that we lived in a decent sized city, but one of her victims that lived and later helped ID her, Dorinda Hawkins, was our next door neighbor.
There was no other connection she had to Dorinda and she strangled her in a storefront downtown.”
5. Killer couple.
“Not me but my old boss used to babysit Karla Homolka for several years before she was old enough to not need a babysitter, but she would still come over to her house and hang out with her kids all the time.
She said she was a sweet girl, and that her kids were very close friends with her. She also knew Paul Bernardo because of Karla but she never mentioned him much other than she believed he brainwashed her into aiding him with all the murders.”
6. Mass shooter.
“The Dark Knight killer who shot up the theater in Colorado grew up right behind my aunt’s house in San Diego.
She would frequently babysit the kids in her neighborhood, this was mid 90s to early 2000s. I’d come over a lot to visit my cousins, there were always lots of kids over playing, usually older than me and he was one of them. He went to high school and college with my cousins as well but I personally only ever met him as a very young child and I can’t personally remember any interactions.
My one cousin however did know him as a normal, extremely intelligent person, very interested in the brain and science. Come college he was so invested in his studies they grew apart and eventually moved away cutting all contact.
Wish I knew more or had more to say, all I remember is being in the backyard playing with the dogs by the pool being rambunctious little ones never thinking one day down the road that kid would dye his hair orange and be a murderer.”
7. This is crazy.
“Played D&D with a guy on deployment for a few months while I was in the Navy. We hung out in the same group of people.
I stopped playing because he kept trying to rape all the female NPCs/player characters. When we got back from deployment the FBI and NCIS were pier side waiting for him. Him and some other guys had raped and killed a woman who’s husband was on deployment. Also had some friends who tied up an old man who they suspected of molesting one’s younger brother when we were teenagers.
They tortured him for hours, then killed him and tried to burn the body. Two got life, the other turned evidence and only served a few years. Had another guy I was pretty good friends with get arrested by ATF for trying to blow up the car of our local ADA. He bought fake C4 from and undercover agent, they swarmed him while he was pushing the switch.
As I write this, I realize I’ve been close to some really messed up people. Maybe I’m the one who isn’t right…”
8. A big story.
“I went to school with the guy that murdered Chris Kyle (American Sniper) and Chad Littlefield. He was a pretty normal kid, kinda funny, had ADHD I believe and was in some of the academic assistance programs if I can remember right.
Class clown type for the most part, don’t remember him getting into a bunch of fights or anything.
Nothing specific really stands out. His mom was one of our teachers in elementary. He left school early and joined the military. Did a couple tours, including the Haitian disaster relief in the early 2010s. Apparently fishing bodies out of wreckage is what messed him up really bad. After that he had horrible PTSD and developed some bad mental health issues.
Chris and Chad were doing a range therapy business for veterans. Eddie snapped and murdered him for his truck (big modified diesel) and took off. Horrible story and outcome from someone who was once pretty normal. I knew him from 3rd grade or so until Senior year.
Not great friends or anything but he seemed like a decent guy. We’d been out of school for about 10 years or so when it happened so a lot changed over that time I’m sure.”
9. So sweet…
“He was so sweet, he was basically my childhood friend.
Then one day I stopped hearing from him, 1 or 2 years later he called me and asked me out. I said yes and was so happy. I really did love him. On the way to the restaurant someone hit my car and I wasnt able to go.
A week later, the day before I was supposed to meet him, he got arrested for having 3 bodies of prostitutes that had recently went missing, stored in his basement. all of them severely damaged and beaten.”
10.
“Really great dad.
When I was little I wished he was *my* dad. Dirt poor, but always took time – took us sledding when it snowed. Backyard barbecues. Took us fishing at the river once and we found these big old turtles. Beautiful. Probably ancient. And we ran to tell him.
He came over with a machete and chopped their heads off. made a game of it. With his 6 year old boys helping pull the head out and laughing. I was pretty traumatized by that incident.
But other than that, he was just a guy. Liked drinking. And fireworks. Getting high. He was a little bit drug addled, maybe very mildly retarded. There was a murder and not long after they picked him up for it. And while he was in jail, awaiting trial, he confessed to a bunch of other stuff. Other murders, dozens of rapes.
I’m not convinced he did them all. He definitely did the last one – but the rest – i sometimes wonder if they didn’t get him to confess because he just wasn’t very smart, and was probably easy to manipulate. It was national news. His family had a hard time shaking the stigma, so I don’t want to be too detailed.
I feel like I owe it to them to let that time in our lives be forgotten.”
11. Bad tempers.
“I went to high school with not 1, but 2 murderers. This was a suburban Atlanta high school.
The biggest things, beside murdering a couple of people, they had in common is that they both had nuclear tempers and ran with the redneck crowd.”
12. The janitor.
“Pretty cool janitor at our middle school. Would sometimes play Magic: The Gathering with us when his lunch and our recess lined up.
Was kinda surreal when they found several dead prostitutes in his attic a few years later.”
13. A real charmer.
“Charming, had lots of friends.
I remember sitting on the school bus thinking I should try to be more like him. He was always smiling, and girls would flirt with him.
About 8-10 years after that, he was arrested along with another guy his age for the burglary, rape, and murder of a very old woman and her dog.”
14. A real jerk.
“He was a jerk.
His wife was my friend, and she started slowly telling me a few things about him. They came to our home for some gatherings we held, and he was simply “off” and very controlling of her social life. When several of us reached out to her, she happily accepted our help to get her out of the marriage and into safety.
Soon after, he showed up at my door one day demanding money, which I did not give him. He left, angry. A few months later, he was evicted from his rental in the next town over, and came back into our town, hell bent on killing everyone who helped her and who was associated with the rental situation and another circumstance that he was mad about. I was not home that night, thankfully.
He hunted down and killed five people, one of whom was a friend of mine. He committed suicide when the police had him cornered. That was nearly 30 years ago.
Andy, my friend, I still miss you and your goofy grin.”
Have you ever known a criminal, serial killer, or someone who went on to be notorious?
If so, please share your story with us in the comments!
Thanks in advance!
