25 Stories From Close Friends Of Convicts Who Were Arrested For Horrendous Crimes

These stories fromAsk Reddit prove that you never know who a person REALLY is.

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1. My father murdered my mother

“My father killed my mother when I was 7 years old. Apart from the fact that I was crying a lot, I didn’t really understand what happened. Only now when I’m older I’m starting to realize the magnitude of that event. Still not sure how to react.” — BronzeEloHell

2. A girl I went to high school with beat her child to death

“In high school, this guy and girl I knew had a baby. I bunked with the girl at six grade camp, and I had known the guy since sixth grade. He was in marching band with me. The guy dropped out of school to get a job and support them. I met the baby a couple times. She was beautiful.

Fast forward a couple of years, the couple breaks up, and the mother takes their baby across the country with her to move in with her new boyfriend that she met on World of Warcraft (whom she had only ever spoken to in a chat room). She does this without telling anyone, and the father is frantic, not knowing where his baby girl is.

A few months later, we found out that the mother and her, now husband, had beaten the little girl to death. They simultaneously whipped her with leather belts, put her head under water, and then picked her up by her hair and threw her across the room. Then they put her body in a bin and dumped it into the river. They were only able to identify her from a police sketching, and the paternal grandmother is the one who recognized her. She was only two.

The investigation and trial lasted two years. They both got life in prison. She will be eligible for parole after 38 years, and he will never be eligible.

I found out about this on the news while I was at college. I was in complete shock, because the girl seemed so normal. She was never into alcohol or drugs, and she always seemed like a goody two shoes. I went to the memorial service, and I talked to the father. He held it together well, but it was so obvious how exhausted he was (emotionally and physically), and you could tell he was an absolute wreck inside.

Fast-forward nine years, the father is now married with three children. He is a truck driver, and he recently started his own trucking company and named it after his daughter.” — Serverindisguise

3. My cousin killed someone from his high school

“My cousin got caught killing a friend/acquaintance from his HS and stealing his car. He hasn’t been tried yet, but there were eye witnesses to him dumping the body on the side of the road from the kid’s car… in broad fucking daylight. He was always a little hell raiser and never obeyed directions, we all thought he would have some issues but we never thought anything like this. I still remember my grandma yelling at him when we were like 8, ‘You’re gonna be thrown in jail one day!’ Holy shit was grandma right.” — Kinnyk30

4. My best friend cut a rapist’s throat

“My best friend ‘Dave’ was the hardest motherfucker I’ve ever known. I saw him beat multiple people up at a time, multiple times. He didn’t take shit from anyone and was a real fucking gangster.

A guy rapes our friends sister. Dave finds out about it and goes to the guys apartment. Knocks on the door. Rapist answers and promptly gets knocked out. Dave then drags the dude into a closet and ties him up. While he’s waiting for the guy to wake up, he goes into the kitchen and makes himself some food, sits down on rapists couch and watches TV. Rapist finally wakes up. Dave cuts the guys throat, not badly, just enough to make the guy believe he’s about to be killed and then beats him unconscious again. Then pisses on the rapist before he leaves. Cops get called and they figure out it was Dave. Dave goes on the run. When he’s finally caught, the rapist had been caught raping another girl. Note girls come forward with rape charges, including our friends sister. Dave only gets 9 months. He was looking at 15-25yrs. How’d it make me feel? Good. I knew if anyone fucked with my family that justice would be delivered regardless of the courts.

Dave is dead now. Its been 10 years and I still miss him.” — pjmcflur

5. My sister’s ex kidnapped her and tried to kill her

“My sister’s in-the-process-of-divorce-soon-to-be-ex abducted her and tried to kill her.

I was surprised, but not surprised if that makes sense. This is the type of shit that only happens in movies and other people right? The year they were separated, he started on a downward spiral of stalking her/drugs/etc. I never thought it would ultimately end up the way it did, but maybe it was the only way to get him to finally leave her alone. She ended up escaping, and over a year later, many court dates, he’s been sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Right now I feel like fucking good riddance. He’s one of those types that I believe can’t be rehabilitated/there’s just no fucking hope. I hope he dies in prison because otherwise we’re in for another shit show once he gets out.” — MiaK123

6. My husband’s uncle killed his own father

“This is my husband’s family – his uncle, the youngest of 6, had an undiagnosed mental disorder and grabbed a baseball bat one day and decided he was going to kill both his parents and my husband’s mother who was staying at the house that day. He ran in and bashed his father’s head in, killing him. He then went and attacked my mother-in-law, but she had metal curlers in her hair and they took the impact of the bat so she was able to fight him off and lock the door. I guess her room adjoined to their mother’s room so she was able to get her mother and the two of them escaped out a window and got a neighbor who called the police and then came over with his gun and talked him down a bit.

The son was put in a mental institution instead of jail and apparently the mother even went and forced the other kids to go and visit him often. My husband’s mother was never happy about going and didn’t see the point in forgiving him so easy. A lot of his aunts and uncles still see him often and speak fondly about him. My husband doesn’t really mention him, he said the whole ordeal really traumatized his mother so much that he still doesn’t feel comfortable being around him.” — beautifuldisasterxx

7. My sister’s boyfriend murdered our mother

“The boyfriend of my sister murdered our mother. When I got the call I thought she was making a sick joke but I rushed to the house I was gone at the time it happened. When I entered the street and saw all the police cars and ambulance I felt numb. I did not know how to react I was not crying and I was not angry. I just stood there before they escorted us to the police station to get interviewed. I cant say to much about it at this time since its so recent and it is not been to court yet. Now we feel lost and we start to miss our mother it are the small things like the grandchildren laughing. And doing something fun we know she loved to see and them asking for grandma well it sucks.” — Createan

8. My cousin was arrested for murder

“Cousin got 30 for murder. He’s a schizophrenic and had a mental break after going off his meds.

He had gotten clean from heroin for a few months or maybe a year, and reconnected with an old female friend who had also gotten clean (according to her). She convinced him that there was a man who had raped her as a child who was going around town picking up 13 year old girls, getting them stoned and then raping them. I guess being off his meds made him miss all the red flags, like the fact that this girl said they couldn’t go to the cops because they wouldn’t do anything about it. She told him that he had to be the one to do it, and over the course of a few weeks got him back into getting high.

She then set up a drug deal with the guy, and had my cousin go with her and bring his grandfather’s shotgun (grandparents owned a farm, so it was probably just in the barn or whatever – easily accessible). My cousin shot the guy, but he didn’t die right away so he beat his head in with the butt of the shotgun and then went into hiding. I actually saw him during this time at my grandma’s funeral. He was acting really weird but I knew he was schizo so I figured it was just his condition. He later got caught, but refused to testify against the girl because she had a son and the father was absent. He’s since told us that he just couldn’t deal with the though of making that kid an orphan, even though his lawyer begged him to tell the full story since he was facing the death penalty. Apparently (according to his lawyer), if he had told the full story she would have been absolutely charged as well, which would have reduced his sentence.

To be honest, I feel truly sorry for him. He’s shown extreme remorse and has since become very religious, although in his letters he says he knows he is most likely already condemned to hell and there may be nothing he can do about that. He knows he made his bed, and he seems prepared to lie in it. There’s actually more to the story, so if anyone cares to hear it I’ll add to this post.” — AnalyticInk

9. My best friend raped an infant

“One of my best friends from school. He was always really chill and just a really cool guy. We lost contact after school and a couple of years ago I found out he had admitted to and been convicted of possessing indecent images of children, illicit behavior with a 5yo female and raping an infant.

I was absolutely shocked. It really taught me you really don’t know people.” — Hawkilicious

10. A drinking buddy stabbed a girl nineteen times

“I had a drinking/party buddy I made right after I got out of the Navy (1988). I’ll call him Bob. Met him at work. He seemed a good guy. I got pretty close with him and his brothers. We would go fishing and generally drank and partied a lot.

One time he hit his GF in front of me in a gas station parking lot. We all had been drinking and I got up in his face and pulled him away. He was angry and told me it was not my business and during our arguing his GF got in her car and left.

I met my wife while he and I were still close. Bob would bust my chops about having gone MIA due to hanging with my GF all of the time. He said I was pussy-whipped etc. It was always in a joking manner.

I had not seen him in a few months and I ran into his older brother, Rufus. I asked how Bob was and Rufus said he was in jail awaiting trial for murder. He said Bob had been attacked by a different GF and that this GFs uncle and brother had joined in with a bat and during the course of the fight the GF pulled a knife and tried to stab him but he got it away from her and in the ensuing melee she was stabbed and died. He told me about a fish-fry a church was holding as a fundraiser for Bob’s defense the following Sunday and said I should attend. I agreed to be there.

Prior to that Sunday I ran into another mutual friend, Warren, and asked if he had heard about Bob’s self-defense fundraiser. Warren laughed nervously and said, ‘Self defense?’ I said yes and repeated the story Rufus has shared. Warren considered this and then told me Bob had stabbed the girl 19 times.

I was a little floored by this. I did not go to the fundraiser because it seemed way awkward and in my heart it rang true based on the anger issues Bob had displayed before.

This was in 1989 and he is still in Angola State Penitentiary.” — Finum

11. My sister’s boyfriend turned out to be a child rapist

“Moved north after growing up in fl. Was browsing my hometown news one day and saw a story about a man who brought his six year old in to the hospital with severe vagina trauma claiming she’d been attacked by a dog. Spoiler alert: She wasn’t. I was like ‘man, what fucking shit bag.’ Later reports published his mugshot and sure enough it was my sisters boyfriend. I was physically ill- my sister also has a little girl and I was about ready to go down there and murder this dude if he had touched my niece. Niece turned out to be okay, sister is traumatized that a child rapist was in her house near her child, and shitbag is rotting in prison.” — pickthatthingup

12. My father was arrested for child pornography

“Oh shit, something I can talk about.

My father was arrested for child pornography. There had literally been no suggestions of him having an addiction to it before, and when I woke up to the FBI in my house, I was mostly just confused. When they told me what they were searching for, I actually laughed, because I was certain they had the wrong house.

Then, one day coming home from school, Mom pulls the car over, crying, and tells me that my father confessed to her about his collection today, and both of us had been kept in the dark for years about it.

We spent 4 years awaiting trial since they had to search every electronic in the house, including phones and gaming consoles. Then, they put him on trial, where he was sentenced to 2 years, a very light sentence for the crime, most likely since he had never attempted anything sexual towards a child and was kind of your typical middle class man. He self-surrendered, and we drove with him to the prison.

I was never really close to my father, and often wished he would get out of my life when I was young. Being faced with the consequences for his mistakes has objectively made my father a better person, the kind of person I would really respect if I had just met them, but the memories of who he used to be have held me back, and I haven’t visited him in prison once. When he comes back home, I’m probably moving to another city.

All in all, it was the worst on my mother. She had been married to him for a long time, and to have something like that happen completely broke her trust for a while. She also has a lot of guilt issues and feels terrible that she put me through this. Right now, she’s concentrated on keeping the house, and I’ve taken up a part-time cashier job in order to help her. She promises to stay married to him. I don’t agree with it, but it’s her choice.

I’ve gotten used to it now. I might have been shocked for the first few days, but I recover pretty quickly. All I’m trying to do is support my mother for now.” — Kitria

13. A kid from high school murdered his mom

“I knew this guy in high school who murdered his mom. I wouldn’t really say we were friends but we hung out with a lot of the same people so I did know him, he was always quiet and when he did speak to us it was usually some dark/creepy comment about whatever we had been talking about.

One day he asked his mom while they were driving if they had named him after Lucifer, she said no, so he pulled the car over and stabbed her 75 times. I was really sad about it because everyone knew he needed help before it happened and he never got it..

I had another friend in high school who just went to jail for human trafficking. I remember girls used to ask me why I hung out with him because he always tried to get them to have sex with him in the stairwells at school. When I found out he was in jail I was kind of shocked but when I thought about all of those girls that were weirded out by him I was like ok I guess this makes sense.” — huginn-muninn-

14. My mother murdered my uncle

“My mother murdered my uncle when I was 20.

My immediate reaction was, ‘Well, she told me she was going to do it, and I warned him, and he didn’t listen to me, so I’m not surprised.’ Of course I believed it, she told me she was going to do it, and she was caught carrying a bag of the bloody clothes she was wearing when she killed him.

She had had a lot of guns – she used to be a sharpshooter – and I’d slowly, over the course of several years, talked her into giving them all to me. (I just appealed to her during her saner moments and she’d give me another one.) Somehow it never occurred to me that she’d just go out and buy a new one and kill him with it.

I really wish he or my aunt had believed me that she was very dangerous and to him specifically. I’d really rather that he was alive today. But I did what little I could at the time and have no regrets.

I was in hiding for many years, both before the murder and for quite a while after, in case she ever was released. I knew she would want to track me down. I eventually gave up and reentered humanity, because you can only live in hiding for so long before it wears you down. These days, any competent librarian could probably find me in 5 minutes flat. My mother has been released and is on minimal state supervision… I’m essentially trusting that 1) She’s a little too crazy to think to ask a competent librarian to find me, 2) She’s not trusting enough to hire a PI to do it, 3) She doesn’t really have the money to ask a PI to do it, and 4) She’s old enough that she probably doesn’t have the energy to do it. I mean, when her mother was her age she’d been dead for 15 years. And to be honest, 5) That she probably won’t be buying any more guns because she’d fail a background check and won’t have the kind of connections she’d need to buy an unlicensed gun, and if she showed up at my doorstep I’m younger and stronger enough to fight her off hand-to-hand if need be.” — themcp

15. My stepbrother shot someone while high on drugs

“My stepbrother got involved with drugs early on. It can be bad road for some folks. When he got involved with crack it got real bad. He sold pretty much all of his stuff for drug money then moved onto our stuff. Tried everything interventions, programs, changing locks, all of it. It sucked. Takes a toll on the family. My mom and stepdad tried to get him help, but it’s not easy to kick. He sold my Nintendo and all the games.

Anyhoo, when he ran out of our stuff he tried stealing other stuff. Breaking and entering with one of his buddies. This lady a few towns over, lived alone, woke up and his friend got startled (so he says) and shot her. She could have survived, but couldn’t get to the phone and I guess it wasn’t loud enough for the neighbors to hear the gunshot. She bled to death trying to get to the phone. They both went away for a looooong time. Nobody was surprised. I figured they’d find him dead one day. The shame is an innocent woman and you can’t help but wonder did we do enough? My stepdad visited him, my mom rarely did and I’m still sour about the Nintendo and games.” — [deleted] 

16. My sister’s ex molested my niece

“I was really close to my sister’s ex. Even after they split up, we still kept in contact. He was a like a brother/father figure to me. Found out a few years back that he rape and molested my niece (his oldest daughter) pretty much through the entirety of her childhood and teenage years.

I have trust issues now.” — tyjet

17. My father committed armed robbery

“My father committed (and was convicted for) armed robbery. I never really suspected it, as I only got to know him years later when he had mellowed out. He sincerely regretted it, but he knows he was a different person in his twenties.
He was caught up in the music scene at the time–hanging out with Kate Bush; R.E.M. and the B-52’s opening for his band; etc–which involved him taking a lot of drugs and meeting a lot of crazy people. I think he mostly did it to fit in and seem cool to the folk he met back then.
It was shocking to hear (it took him twenty five years to even mention it to me). I took a couple days to figure out how this shaped his character in my eyes, and realized that was so long ago that it doesn’t much effect the man I know today. In fact, I think that event scared him into who he is today. He’s always done right by me, and always been there for me. I wouldn’t change him at all–past or present. It’s just sad to see him pine for what could have been.” — frozenHelen 

18. A friend of mine massacred a group of teenagers

“A friend, though not a close friend, went into a house with two of his friends and massacred the place, killing 4 teenagers (including a pregnant girl) and one of the kid’s moms as well as injuring 5 more, one who was paralyzed as a result. The house was more or less abandoned and had previously been a drug hangout, but had been turned around in the past year to be more of a place for people having trouble with their parents to crash. The three who attacked thought there were still drugs.

All the perpetrators were in their early 20s and had decent jobs, including one as a fireman. I hadn’t seen my friend in several years so I had no idea what a horrible path he was walking down. It was shocking.

The victims were mostly students at my high school. Unfortunately, it was less unexpected that they would have gotten into trouble. :( The house was next door (across a field) from one of my best friends, and he woke up as it was happening because a kid with a gunshot wound tried to climb into his bedroom window to escape.

I was called to be a character witness to try to get him out of the death penalty (which I am firmly against) because I was one of the more responsible and likable people in our circle of friends: I was the kid in pigtails and a pink backpack hanging out with the “goth” kids and the one who went to a well-known college halfway across the country by the time the trial happened.” — charolastra00

19. My uncle robbed a bank

“My uncle Jackie robbed a bank. He did 12 years on a chain gang, got out and never worked a day again, but always seemed to have cash. I adored him.” — Indignantpeach

20. My cousin was convicted of murder

“A cousin of mine was convicted of murder. With premeditation, he tried to rob a friend’s house and killed his friend in the attempt. My immediate reaction was, ‘I knew something was off about him. I can totally see it and believe it.’ He and his family also lived next door to me and moved out about a month before the murder happened. Looking back, I remember he was definitely casing my house and valuables at one point, but at the time I just thought he was a creeper. Now, I feel for the his family. I can’t imagine the thoughts that must run through the heads of his mother, father, brothers, and sisters.” — RapeyLilBill

21. Our drummer molested three young children

“Had an old drummer from a band call me one day. ‘Hey The Red Paw, I am going to need a favor. I got in a little trouble with one of my students…’

On his lawyers advice he would say no more. He needed me to go clean out his apartment as he would not be needing it for a while.

He was a music teacher and he was caught red-handed molesting at least three of the kids, all single digit in age.

He is doing 18 to life. I have not visited him in prison. He can stay there for all I care.” — The_Red_Paw

22. My neighbor raped a teenage girl

“I had a really creepy neighbor, who is a few years older than me. He raped a 17 yo girl in my town, threatened her and landed in jail for rape. A few years later, he got free and raped another teenage girl after a couple of days. His younger brother, now a cop, had to arrest him.

I always knew that he is a pretty fucked up guy.” — Ava210

23. My uncle got locked up for murder

“My uncle murdered someone he knew for some unknown reason (no one wants to tell me). Really surprised me as he has always been nice to me and the other kids in the family. That’s the only crime he has committed and now he’s locked up somewhere in the city. I’m not allowed to see him, only my father and his other siblings are able to do so.

He left his wife and his two boys behind, the oldest is diagnosed with autism. The mother now works full-time and is barely able to take care of their kids. Meanwhile, the big brother is taking care of the little brother, like making food, cleaning the house, walk the dogs out, make sure he goes to school safely, etc. It breaks my heart. What’s even sadder is that were the only ones trying to do our best to take care of them. My cousins and other relatives completely ignore them because they believe that the kids will end up like his father, which is just fucking ridiculous.

My father and I recently brought them on a fishing trip. They really enjoyed it (They caught a lot of fish) and it made me really happy to see them enjoy every bit of fresh sea air.” — rwb993

24. My favorite cousin went to juvie for raping his neighbor

“When my cousin (I’ll call him Steve) was fifteen or so, he raped his neighbor, an eight year old boy. I’m about five years younger than Steve and he was always my favorite cousin. In fact, when I was younger, we used to play hide and seek in the dark in the house. He’d turn the lights off upstairs and I’d hide under the bed or wherever. My dad found out we were playing this and he was furious, said to never do it again. I’m not sure if he saw red flags or if he just thought it was inappropriate, but looking back it is unsettling. For context, I’m female and was about ten when we played this game. Anyways, Steve went to some kind of juvie jail for the rape. He never apologized or showed remorse, so he stayed until he was 21. When it happened I was young enough that nobody wanted to explain child rape to me, so for a while I was just told that Steve did something very bad and was in jail. When another cousin finally explained, I was heartbroken. I haven’t seen him or talked to him since he was arrested. I think he has since been accepted back by some family members, but I have an eight year old daughter and I have no intention of letting him near her.” — Strikercat

25. A close friend was arrested for rape

“A close friend was arrested for raping a 12 year old. At first it was disbelief, then when I read the police report it was utter disgust. He spent 2 years in prison and is now a registered sex offender. We’ve not spoken since the day before his arrest.” — zerbey Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Holly Riordan is the author of Lifeless Souls, available here.

Holly is the author of Severe(d): A Creepy Poetry Collection.

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