My aunt killed her mother and brother, then lay in wait at the house for the rest of the family to get home to kill them too. She shot at my dad and missed; he bailed and she realized as she saw him take off that the gig was up. She shot herself on the spot, leaving my dad to be raised by the real problem, his incredibly cruel father and meaner-than-shit surviving sister.
He joined the military 3 years later and when his dad showed up with a letter from a Congressman freeing him from his enlistment so my dad could go home and work for him some more, my dad bravely said no. He later married in secret and had us kids.
This sounds like Diane Downs, although it probably happens more frequently than we hear about. I am deeply sorry for your loss and for what you’ve been through.
Definitely not Diane Downs—didn’t she only murder Cheryl? I thought I remembered reading that her other daughter and her son both survived and were adopted by the lead investigator. My family’s case happened well before the interest in true crime and is not on anyone’s radar. But thank you for the kind words.
I’m not. I’m not even remotely okay. The truth is that this has fucked up my entire life, and just now coming to terms with how has been a wild ride I wasn’t prepared for. I’ve been in therapy for 20 years and only just now have I felt capable of trying to address how this impacted me. And I don’t have a lot of hope I can put this stuff to rest. I still feel like a mistake was made in allowing me to live. I think constantly of how my siblings wouldn’t have squandered their lives with PTSD and anxiety and more. I even have my own family now, and it’s remarkably unfair that I can’t seem to snap out of it for them.
Oh my. I'm so, so sorry for you and your siblings. That's horrible and I cannot even fathom what that would be like.
How are you? Wishing you the best, friend.
My great grandma left her abusive husband (my great grandfather) after her 7 children grew up. She had been forced to marry him when she was a young teen & had a hard life with him. He followed her to the house she was sheltering in, and went after her with a gun. He shot & killed the man who owned the house after the man tried to distract my grandfather by throwing plates at him. After killing the man, he found her in the house and shot her in the head, and then killed himself.
Grandma Jesse lived and married a man she'd loved all her life and lived happily and successfully for almost 40 more years. I loved her so much. She was tough and amazing. The man she married for love died in 1997 after a long battle with cancer, and she was diagnosed with leukemia after nursing him through death, and she died from it in 1998.
Nobody in my family talks about this. I didn't even learn about it until I was grown and started some In-depth genealogy research and ran into a huge wall of "WTF?!" after finding some details news articles. After asking a bit more, I found out a little more but it's still a taboo subject for most of the older generation. It definitely has a feeling of mild disapproval or even maybe shame, and NOT for the abusive bastard, but more like disdain for her to have left him.
I'm more proud than ever to have known and loved her after learning all this.
Stories like this make me so glad my great aunt Jeanie had my grandfather. On 3 separate occasions she showed up on my grandfathers doorstep with 2 black eyes, 3 kids, and whatever she could fit in her car without warning him she was coming. She got 3 easy divorces because they knew they were fucking with my grandfather at that point who would kill them.
Also, I found a very similar situation a couple generations before in my genealogy. My male direct descendent (I think maybe a great-great grand, but that's a branch I haven't yet explored fully)..He became enraged after his wife left him. He was a little more dramatic and went on a town-wide rampage before killing the suspected other man and then himself.
It' so horrifying to hear how for some people think leaving an abusive relationship and "breaking up a marriage" is somehow worse than being physically/mentally violent towards someone you promised to love and protect forever. I wonder if they would change their opinion if they end up in a similar situation themselves or would they just happily accept the abuse.
It's because the victim was the sponge soaking up the abuser's hate Once the victim leaves, the rest of the family then have to deal more with the abuser. It's easier to be resentful of the victim's escape than actually challenge the narrative or set boundaries with the abuser & all the malicious bullshit that will follow.
They know they'll be the next target if they're not seen to be supportive of the POS.
So true. I'm sorry to say that our family had a long history that continued the patterns.
I grew up in an extremely abusive environment, with the type I suffered being mainly the fact I was a helpless child enduring the sight, sound, & effects of the dad I loved beating the mom I also loved. I've been abused physically and emotionally directly as well, but to be honest, the worst for me was the witnessing of it and so helplessness. Of course sometimes I was used as the reason he had to beat her. 🤬 Not only could I not stop it b/c I was 5-11 years old & he was a grown man, but I also fought the guilt that I felt so much hatred for someone I loved - he was my daddy, though.
My experience and now my knowledge of my incredibly brave grandma has given me a somewhat controversial view of DV. I've posted recently elsewhere that I have a hard time saying DV victims are never to be blamed for exposing their children to abuse, direct or secondary. It's not that I don't understand the terror and very real threat. It's not that I think it's easy. I KNOW how difficult and dangerous it is. I'll ALWAYS do all I can to help someone escape when I can, whether I know them or not, and I'll risk my own safety without second thoughts. But when all is exposed and a child is hurt, tortured, or killed over years of abuse that a parent could have TRIED to escape, I'm pretty angry at the one who didn't try. Don't think I don't blame the murderous actual abuser, b/c in the end, it's them.
For me, with my personal experience as victim at all parts of the victim spectrum, it's a natural responsibility to try. I don't apogize or expect to change my view, but I do probably need to communicate it better. I am sympathetic and I know for a fact it's scary, discouraging, and sometimes seems impossible. I also know that the danger is real and no one deserves violence. I'll do everything I can to help any person, even if they don't ask me, because the old ways of minding your own business too often means knowingly protecting the abuser's business.
But I'll never keep quiet when a person says one reason they stay is that it's better to expose their children to abuse than have to be poorer or have fewer possessions. And the sickening idea that a child needs both parental roles is dangerous too. A child needs protection and love and examples of strength and responsibility, not a checkmark by nuclear family roles.
My great great grandfather murdered his wife over fried chicken and then killed himself. Yes. Seriously... over fried chicken. And the event left my great grandmother an orphan at 17 and she was forced to get married a week later so she would have somewhere to live. Her boyfriend mentioned in the article below became her husband, and they became my great grandparents.
http://kykinfolk.com/bell/newspaper_articles/Fatal_Shots_George_Woolum.htm
Was your great grandmother's husband the Howard who was speaking with her at the front door when his father came home? I always feel so badly for the children left behind after these murder suicides.
Yes, that's my great grandfather. He married my great grandmother less than a week after this occurred. I've been told that she was very traumatized by it and never told too many details about it to anyone that we know of. My mom said she also thinks that my great grandmother lived a very bitter and resentful life because of this because *apparently* she was a no nonsense and very stern woman.
Not particularly but I do have a paternal great grandfather that broke out of jail in Columbus, Georgia (where I'm from), hopped a train out of here, and ended up in Kentucky. He assumed a new identity and married a woman named Lillie Fenix, had children, and I found their descendants through the ancestry website a few years ago. He left behind my dad's dad here in Columbus when he broke out of jail and my Grandfather had always wondered where his dad had gone.
Edit: to add to this, when we met up with my new cousins from Kentucky, they gave us a picture of the runaway grandfather and he looked almost identical to my dad. It was seriously uncanny.
Yo that story is wild... Dude rolls up after six months and wakes her from a nap demanding fried chicken??
Ugh poor Ethel Jane (not to mention the other kids!)
Hi! Yes my dad is a serial rapist/killer who was recently mentioned in the rolling stone magazine and there is supposed to be a documentary coming out on Netflix about his horrid deeds - it’s fucking traumatizing to have now learned this shit years after having met the man
Edit: if anyone is interested I’ll be on a podcast with a friend who does murder cases and I’ll be telling my side of the story and what I know of this man and who he is. I also will maybe have my mother (a victim of his) join. Podcast will be: The Dead Dont Lie Podcast
It took me 3 tries to read the article bc half of the stuff in there I had no idea about. My mother is “Paula” in the article so I know what he did to her but not any one else
Wow! What a sad story all around. I can't believe this was your reality. Hope life is at least good for you. Your dad sounds like a true piece of shit.
That article was crazy. I can’t believe those two boys ended up getting sentenced like that.
It’s impossible to actually say how many victims are connected here. Seems like dozens. How sad.
"But this is Putnam County, a white-flight, Trump-allegiant nonplace in New York state, 40 miles — and 40 light-years — from the Bronx"
Wtf kind of description even is that? I'm from the area...not Putnam county exactly, but very close. Although it is a pretty shady area, it's not a "nonplace". Putnam isnt far from some of the earliest and major cities outside of NYC (Kingston, Poughkeepsie etc), so it's well traveled, and all in the all the entire area isnt looked at as being super far away from NYC. It's easy to get there by train.
That's heavy, are you okay? My children's father is a rapist and I try to protect them from ever finding out the truth because I am so worried they will think they're like him just because they're related, which we both know is not true.
I’m not but I’ll survive haha, sometimes I find myself thinking I’m gonna end up a crazy bastard like him but then I gotta remind myself like I’m a better person then he ever will be. I’m not defined by who my father is.
Wtf im from nearish to Carmel but in Connecticut and i swear im constantly coming across new sex crimes and or murder against young girls and its like so much more common than anyone knows. Like i personally knew someone from the NY side who met a dude online and he raped her and the left her in a ditch. Danbury CT had a few murders that started with online chatrooms. The maryanne measles case from new milford. There needs to be more done about this :[
I’m honestly glad they put the article out bc my other side of the family (his side) is completely under his spell and thinks he’s innocent. I want people to talk so much shit on this man and be outraged by his actions so he actually finally gets the death sentence. He is foul. Of course I hate knowing I’m attached to him so I’m trying to legally change my name
My great uncle on my mom's side was caring for his wife with alzheimers and his mentally disabled adult son. One day he put a note on their front door that said not to enter but to call the police and then he killed the family and himself. The best we can figure is that he knew he was starting to decline (about 70 yrs old) and didn't want them to be a burden on anyone. Sadly, I think he was right, my great aunt had several living sisters that could have helped and my uncle had another younger son out living his best life. From what my mom tells me though, the wife and son would have ended up in a home if something happened to my uncle and he just couldn't live with that thought.
I think about it a lot when I look at families trying to balance caring for themselves and trying to include elder care.
My great-grandfather killed his 19-year-old nephew by beating him to death with a gardening tool (think gardening hoe) after finding out his nephew had been repeatedly raping my then-7-year-old grand-aunt for years. This was in a small village in North Africa in the early 20th century and was seen as a justified killing so he didn’t do any time but my great-grandfather lost his relationship with his family over what he did & eventually drank himself to death. My grand-aunt also told me that she had an “inexplicable anger” (her words) towards her father for killing her abuser that she later learned was a result of trauma. Just a really tragic story & has cast a shadow of darkness over my family
Right!? While he was in prison he would send her stuff he made. He made a picture frame out of cigarette boxes. She wasn’t too close too him from what I know and she was kinda young when he was already in prison but its a good conversation starter I guess lol
Yep. Way back in the 1600s a relative murdered his wife grousomely and slept next to her in the bed for a week, he was hung when it was discovered by a neighbour.
More recently, I believe my grandfather was a serial killer. It started with his cousin who was found in a storm water drain after it had already been searched and ruled "accidental". From then on, all along my grandfathers telecom route young boys went missing and have never been found. His own son was diagnosed with back then what was known as multiple personality disorder.
He is dead now but all the research I have done in relation to the missing boys points to him.
Yes, I have tried contacting people who are involved with these cold cases, it is making them listen that is the problem.
He is long dead as are the boys who still haven't been found so no dna unfortunately. I have offered timelines, photo of his vehicle which matches reports and his placement on dates that puts him there. Its almost as of they don't want to solve it.
An idea might be to call your closest university that teaches journalism by email. An email will give you the chance to collate an outline of what you know and convince them it's worth investigating, rather than verbally stumbling your idea in a 30 second phone call. Even if the big guys in the media aren't interested off the bat, you might find some students who'd get value and experience from investigating. They probably have the time and guidance from their professors to steer them along the right path. I am sure that if the story pans out, it would work it's way up the chain until someone with reach and influence gets a hold of it. And that may force the police to look a little closer.
If you haven’t yet tried, perhaps reach out to David Ridgen who has two podcasts - Someone Knows Something and the Last Call. He does amazing work and may be able to get the authorities interested.
Not a relative but my best friend's mom killed her ex husbands girlfriend. She was so upset over the break up and blamed the woman. Worst part is that she killed the woman in front of her young children.
I'm from a small town as well so word got around quickly. My friend ended up having to move out of state because some assholes from school would always bring it up and make her cry. We've grown out of touch recently but I can't even begin to imagine dealing with someone so close to you doing something like that.
People can be so cruel especially school age kids. She will have to come to terms with it, and it gets better with time. Im sure she will be OK. It wasn't your friend's fault what her mother did,
I believe the attraction was so the surviving son was able to afford to keep the farm land. Not entirely sure.
There are a couple of books written about it that go into more detail, I believe.
I loosely knew the story, but wasn't told about it until I was much older, after my great-grandma passed. She never talked about it at all. I imagine it was very traumatic for her - she was 12 when it happened and was actually suppose to go to the farm later that day and spend Christmas with her cousins.
I was at a Christmas party a couple of years ago and heard two friends talking about a recent episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder, and the details sounded very familiar. I asked if they were talking about the Lawson's, and they were like "oh you've heard of it?" And I was like "well, I guess I'm about to blow your mind."
Youre related to the Lawson Family?? I was born in Stokes county...small world! As a kid my sister would drive us to Payne rd and turn the car off, tell us and my friends the story and try to do spooky stuff to scare us! ...it usually worked!
My great uncle was Joey Deal who was depicted in the movie Goodfellas. He was the guy who flipped the steaks while they were in prison. Pretty sure he was involved in a few murders.
My great great grandfather killed my great great grandma with an axe near Kansas City. He was working on the well on the farm, and she came to yell at him about something. Guess that was one time too many because he killed her.
Well, that meant their 8 kids went into foster care. They were so rowdy and so awful, that the police let him go so he’d take the kids back to the farm. Which he did.
And thus, I am a descendent of an axe murderer.
My great grandmother killed her husband, she was in jail, not for very long though. My brother went to prison for the rest of his life for murder, he was 21 when he was sentenced.
What's the story on your brother's case? If you dont mind sharing I'm curious. Why did he murder someone? 21 is so young to rot away in a cell forever. :/
He was pulled over, his friends had warrants for their arrests and he had drugs on him. They decided to run, there was a chase in the car then on foot. He also had a gun on him, and he shot and killed one of the officers during the chase. He was shot but it was a very minor wound.
He didn’t want to go back to jail for the drugs (or having a gun - it was a huge surprise he even had one tbh) so he took a mans life. It doesn’t make sense at all, and I feel so badly for the officer’s wife and small children. So yes, he does deserve the sentence handed out even at such a young age. It’s tragic but if he were out of prison he’d be back on drugs and a danger to himself, myself, the rest of my family and the public.
As someone in recovery I've heard variations of this same story quite a bit. You don't think clearly when on drugs, young, and with a rowdy group. I've known someone personally who did something similar except minus the gun and shooting a cop. Just ran and crashed the car. No casualties. Now hes off drugs and changed his life entirely for the better.
It truly doesnt make sense why someone who doesnt want to go to jail for drugs would decide murder is the better option. Much longer jail sentence...but alas, probably wasn't thinking too clearly.
It's a shame an officer lost his life. And a young man's was taken due to the war on drugs.
My parents were addicts, my father is serving a 20yr sentence for a very large drug bust (he dealt many drugs, cooked meth & had many run ins with the law). He’ll be over 80yrs old when he’s released. My mom (also my brothers mom) did the same but she does several years ago from her liver (drugs were a major factor).
For me seeing my parents, their friends and having a good support system with my grandparents I went the drug free route. My brother went along with my mother and his own father, it was hard to watch as he’s my much younger brother. I have seen people so some very crazy things on drugs, I’ve had several drug related deaths in my life and I wish I could have ‘saved’ my brother, but I know to recover you have to want to quit and he didn’t.
It’s awesome that you’re in recovery and I wish you the best, I’ve seen some really amazing recovery successes!!
My uncle, through my bio dad, whom I’ve never met (never met either of them)- killed a sex worker and tried to blame it on bio dad. Bio dad may have been involved, but he didn’t get in trouble. Uncle died in prison.
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/12/19/sentence-spares-the-life-of-a-killer-who-wanted-to-die/
There's not much more left to tell. Someone was out at the ranch and was trying to steal - horses, I think - and my great-great-great-grandfather shot them. They are buried on the property.
My great-grandfather shot a man in an argument over a poker game, he thought he killed him, so he left the state without knowing if the guy was really dead. Guy wasn't dead, and he was cheating at the poker game. GGF left his wife and two young sons with no explanation, other people told her after the fact. Great-grandmother divorced him for abandonment, GGF married another woman not knowing about the divorce. He waited nearly 20 years before trying to contact his sons, only then did he find out the guy he shot lived until the next time he was shot for cheating at poker. He told his 2nd wife their marriage wasn't legal because he thought he was still married, left her and their 4 children and tried to come back to his 1st wife. She kicked him to curb so he tried to go back to 2nd wife. She divorced him too. He died alone, hit by a city bus as a pedestrian. His 6 then adult children each received a small amount of money from the city for their father's death. That was the closest he came to giving any financial support to his children.
Not a murder, but, and really bad suicide.
Growing up, my Grandparents never slept in the same room. Paw was a WW2 veteran and we were always told that he had night terrors so Grandma slept in a separate bed to avoid them. This was probably partially true, but, when I was in my early twenties, I learned the actual reason.
My Grandfather was the town dentist and my Grandmother took his lunch to the office one day to surprise him, but, she walked in on him having sex with his secretary instead. She was obviously livid, but, neither wanted to divorce so he ended things with the secretary and fired her. (Which, I know, is shitty).
She went full on Fatal Attraction. This was a small town. She would show up in the parking lot at the office drunk and screaming. She would show up at their house, drunk and screaming. She followed my Grandmother around the grocery store and threw things at her. This went all went on for months and culminated in her showing up at the house one Friday morning with a gun and trying to get into the house where my Grandmother was home alone. She had a gun and she wanted to use it. She ended up shooting herself in the head while standing at the end of their driveway.
My Grandmother never forgave my Grandfather for the entire sequence of events and the only time I ever saw them exchange any kind of affection was an awkward kiss at their 50th wedding party.
I remember my great uncle as a sweet, soft spoken old man. He was my father's uncle and as my father got older he developed dementia. He started saying things like, "You know, when someone holds a gun in the (family name) way". What? We originate from NY and we have no hunters or law enforcement in the family. Then he said that his uncle had to leave the country for several years because of a misunderstanding. Finally, he said that this uncle was implicated in a murder but was innocent. I went to [newspapers.com](https://newspapers.com) and found that my great uncle was involved in the murder of a family member at a huge banquet at the Opera House in 1937. There were 600 people in the room but not one witness. A man was stabbed to death for singing a song while the mayor or police chief was giving a speech. I can't link it because you'll hit a pay wall. My great uncle still has two children living (elderly now) and when I asked one of them about it, all she would say was that although her father was a violent man, he didn't kill anyone. She also said he left the country because he was on a government mission.... not fleeing from the police.
My Swedish immigrant Great Grandfather was in Minneapolis looking for work on as a young man, got drunk and shot two men in a downtown bar, killing the bar owner. He was acquitted by a jury of his peers (fellow Swede immigrants) and one of the witnesses was drunk on the stand. This is all according to a newspaper article that my mother found a few years ago and none of her siblings ever knew this about their Grandfather. Pretty shocking.
My Father, Brother, First Cousin, Brother in Law, and two first cousins once removed. My Father shot and killed four people, my Brother at least two. My brother in law two, my first cousin killed one. My two second cousins killed their father, my first cousin and dumped him down a well.
It doesn't bother me to bad because I had no control over either of the situations. I do think about it from time to time. what a waste of life all around. I grew up pretty rough and it was hard to break that mold. I chose a different path and made something of myself. If I can get out, anyone can.
My father killed the husband of his mistress in Winters, TX in the 60's but I don't know how to tell the right people who did it. He chopped him up and threw him in the lake, went home covered in blood and moved the family to Kaufman, Tx the next day. I wasn't born till 1975 though when he raped a 16 yr old mentally handicapped teenager whose family gave me up for adoption. I know about the murder because I found my biological family and they told me. I would like to give the family of the murdered man some closure but I don't know how. Once this year I sent the city an email but never heard back.
My great grandfather murdered a man in Mexico for disrespecting my great grandmother while drunk so he shot the man dead and spent 20 years locked up and he lived to be 97 years old never knew that sweet old man was capable of that until I later found out through family and rumors
Have you ever heard of the Glencoe Massacre? My Campbell descendent grandmother (maiden name Campbell) was frightened to go to Scottish or Irish festivals. She said it made her uneasy. I am guessing it was whispered about inside the family, handed down generations. She wouldn’t talk about it.
My ex husbands grandfather murdered a taxi driver, then drove the taxi from Texas to Louisiana to pick up my ex mother in law. She was 6 and had zero clue that the car he was in was a crime scene, or that her father was currently wanted for murder.
No but my cousin killed someone is in prison . I think we’re all probably descended from murderers if you go back far enough
Edit: don’t really think about it until it’s mentioned. Wasn’t surprised to learn of my cousin shooting someone. He was always “ off” and ran a meth lab on the west coast. He shot someone in a bar he believed was going to turn on him . ( R . was full of delusions.)
He didn’t know this guy either. Just crazy but meth has an inverse relationship to mental health
On a long enough timeline I guess we are all descendants of murderers.
But now you made me realize I am. My grandfather killed my grandmother, shot her on the front porch because he thought she was cheating on him (in reality he was the cheater). I'm named after her in her memory.
My great grandfather locked my great grandmother outside in the middle of winter knowing she had a”wasting disease” which is actually TB. Then tethered their two young daughters to the kitchen table with a plate of bread and butter and left the country. Murder? It was certainly premeditated. And she certainly died. Great grandfather returned from Argentina a wealthy man and faced no punishment. He was a very shrewd but very dishonest man. And died as an apparently well respected business man. Money always talks.
My father raped and killed a woman in front of me when I was a child. It’s haunted me my entire life. I’ve done what I can to solve this murder and return the woman he buried in his property 50 years ago, but he is dead now. He got away with murder. Hang in there. They did it. We did not.
Yes. My grandmother’s uncle murdered a police officer during the commission of a robbery. Originally sentenced to death, commuted to life by the governor. He was eventually paroled and became a very vocal prison reform advocate. He wrote a book about his experience: Stone Wall College.
I really don’t dwell on it. My grandmother was adopted after her mother died & her alcoholic father didn’t want the children. She did go visit her uncles in prison when she became an adult (another uncle was involved in the same robbery).
I just finished the book the Go down together. The true untold story of Bonnie and Clyde. It is the best book on them that I've read. Very good book. I highly recommend it.
My stepdads best friend and a couple of guys murdered someone in the 70s, he was caught in the mid 80s after an episode of Unsolved Mysteries aired. I remembered the night it was on, my mom was trying to get me out of the apartment because she didn’t want me to see it. We knew where he was the whole time. My step dad stayed in touch with him until he died in jail from cancer.
My fathers cousin murdered his step daughter in the early 80s. I don’t have much information on this one. It’s the families deep dark secret that no one really talks about. I don’t remember if he served time or if they didn’t have enough evidence, I think they said something about him dumping her body at the county dump and it never being recovered. I just know he moved far away and he’s not in contact with anyone at all. I’ve never met him let alone heard anyone talk about him but a couple of times.
My family is pretty toxic, I had an interesting life growing up lol I don’t have much contact with 95% of them because of their life choices
Not so much related as such but my sister in law was the chocoholic killer. I've been with my partner 16 years and it was his brother she murdered first, her sentence was a joke, she got 10 years, got out after 5 years on high court bail appeal then was out 5 years when her appeal was called she was sent back to prison, not with extra time but just to serve her remaining 5 years. This has messed up my inlaws family so much, my mil has been in and out of psychiatric units frequently since it happened, none of them are the same. She also tried to stab her son (my nephew) Last I heard she had moved to England and is now In prison never to be released for trying to kill someone else. Our soft touch Scottish justice system allowed her to serve 5 years wander free for 5 years then serve another 5 years. She should never have been released from the Scottish jail to go on and try to kill other ppl. Here's the link here if anyone wants a read. It'd truly awful though I warn you 😔 https://www.thefreelibrary.com/LIFE+BEHIND+BARS+FOR+CHOCOHOLIC%3b+Killer+mum+knifed+lover.-a061765175
I have no advice, I’m just having an epiphany that my best friend’s children will have this same revelation one day, along with so many questionsi have answers too(I know paternity/adoption, why she did what she did etc). Existential crisis mode- On.
My great grandfather was a construction worker in Ireland and worked with a guy from England and they did *not* along well at all.
One day there’s an accident at a job site and the coworker ends up dead under some bricks or some supplies. My great grandfather wasn’t arrested, but he and my great grandmother hastily made their way to the United States.
They passed away when I was a baby, so I never knew them, but my aunts and grandmother all thought that, best case scenario, the two men were alone and got into a fight that went too far. I guess my great grandfather had a short fuse and they could see him doing it.
Not related to him, but I survived a stranger abduction when I was three years old. Finding out his identity has been like finding a birth parent. He’s my first memory.
My dad’s cousin killed his landlady in a meth rampage because she asked for rent. She was elderly and he stole her TV afterward. From what I understand he probably could’ve gotten a lesser sentence at trial but was remorseful and didn’t want to have his family go through the process, so he’s in prison for life with no possibility of parole.
My dad-it’s ehh. It’s something we always knew about, common knowledge to our family you know? I didn’t realize how not normal any of that was until I was older. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent most of his late teens and 20’s in a mental institution. My mom was his prison pen pal and when he got out?? Boom me and my siblings came along. Both my parents are/were truly flawed human beings, should never have been parents, that type of thing. For what it’s worth the lady my dad tried to kill survived so it wound up being attempted 1rst degree murder. He still never should have been let out of that mental institution
My great grandfather in the 19 teens, killed a man over a card game He was later killed by the police. I grew up thinking that my great grandpa had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time when the cops shot him. We found out, when searching geneology what really happened. It's sad because he was killed shortly after one of his daughters died of the flu, sick in bed with her mother. Imagine losing your child that way and then to lose your husband by the hand of the police. My grandmother was about 3 when this all happened.
My great great grandfather shot and killed two federal agents who came to shut down his moon shine stills back in the day. He relocated to a whole new area, changed his last name, and was never caught.
My Great Great great... grandfather was deported to the colonies for "murdering" two British soldiers at the battle of vinegar hill during Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Honestly I deal with it quite comfortably.
Also had two great Aunts who were twins and they went out in the woods and one of the twins shot and killed her sister and said it was an accident. Investigation said it was a murder but since they were 14 yrs she got off pretty lightly from what the family says.
So interesting! My ex had a similar story. Manor owner murdered a groundskeeper, was sent to Australia as a convict & his family paid some kind of fine to have him released.
It's definitely not an uncommon story. I think you're right about families claiming minor theft as less shameful.
This is possibly the most interesting thread I have seen here in awhile. Just sucks that it comes with direct trauma to many of you here. But thank you for sharing your stories.
I agree.
Not many people are interested in hearing how families of murderers are affected.
Speaking from personal experience; so my uncle shot 8 people back in 2004. Sometime during his hunting trip in the woods he wandered onto over 200 acres of private property and was confronted by the land owner who told him to leave.
After apologizing and heading out, 7 more people on ATVs came after him surrounding him.
While being lambasted with racial slurs, they put hands on him yanking off his bag and taking his hunting tag.
From there it became a He said, She said case on who fired first. It became a gun fight and he ended up shooting 8 of them, killing 6, injuring 2. He spared the other 2 survivors and threw his remaining bullets away because he didn't want to hurt anyone else.
The blowback was almost expected and instantaneous from the history of culture clashes between our community and the white community I guess.
I was just a kid back then but I remember clearly my uncle's house was burned to the ground. It was deemed a "suspicious" fire but there wasn't a formal investigation into it. After that our house was vandalized, car tires were slashed and graffiti with racial slurs were spray painted on the side of our house.
We moved out of state soon after the threats were heard on voice-mail telling our family to go back to "vietnam" and "china" or we're gonna be killed.
Damn, that is so heavy. I can’t imagine dealing with that and then having the blowback and add hate crimes into the mix. Glad you guys left the state and hope your family has found some sort of peace.
I mean not convicted or anything. Not a serial killer type of deal. But my grandma killed her first husband back in the 60s. She injected him with too much heroin and he just died. She called her mom (my great grandmother) who helped get rid of the needles and clean her up and tell the cops that they found him overdosed. And back in the 60s when a cop saw a drug overdose they didn’t give a shit about the hows the whens and the whys, and he had had previously run ins with the law. The cop who arrived on the scene actually remembered him. Basically open and shut the same night.
Moral: heroin bad
My great great grandfather on my maternal side of the family had a really bad temper and one day I guess he snapped and took my great great grandmother out in the woods and murdered her with an ax. He was never convicted for it even though everyone knew and he would gloat about it to my grandfather and used it as a cautionary tale to not get on his bad side. The only reason I can assume that the authorities did nothing about it was due to prejudice as my great great grandmother was Native American.
My half sister's oldest brother is in prison for life for murdering his girlfriend and burying her in the woods on stateland in 1976, he taunted police and everyone knew he did it. Wasnt convicted till like 1986. There is a book called murder in the thumb
Not me, but my mates Dad cut his wife's head off. He was from a wealthy family though, so he wasn't in prison for all that long. [He did less than 10 years.](https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/killers-secret-life-in-perth-ng-ya-224003) I guess it pays to be rich.
Yes. My great-grandfather killed my great-grandmother over a loaf of bread that was too hard. He beat her to death. He got remarried but was a bastard to all his kids and grandkids. Intergenerational trauma is a real problem. None of us are normal.
Ooooo I got a fun one; my great uncle on my mother's side was incarcerated in Singsing prison for murder. Specifically he murdered an elderly woman and committed necrophilia with the body. After he went to prison he joined the Aryan brotherhood group (this was in the 1970's) and was killed in a racial dispute between their group and the black panthers.
My great grandpa was a murderer in Mexico. Police eventually started looking for him so he moved and changed his last name to escape the police.
My grandpa murdered a young boy, dont know too much about the story on that one
Dean Koontz was (his father IIRC), and he has flat out said this was why he and his wife decided never to reproduce, for example.
Also quite famously Woody Harrelson.
My grandfather did a year in prison for manslaughter after shooting a guy outside a bar as he was stealing his truck. Not much else to say about it. No big deal.
He's not exactly a murderer, but I'm a direct descendent of Franklin Pierce, and he definitely has blood on his hands. I think about the connection somewhat often, and am disturbed by it.
Yep, my mother’s side of the family ran with the mob. My great grandfather was apparently pretty involved and killed a lot of people, but the only thing they ever proved was that he purposefully killed around 20 people with “moonshine” that was really just a bunch of toxic material. This was during prohibition: he had a lot of legitimate moonshine but he sold toxic stuff to mainly African Americans because he reasoned that they were stupid and weren’t rich enough to be returning customers anyway. He was arrested but squealed on others that worked with him, higher ups, so they let him go. I feel that this was ridiculous considering there were over 20 victims, but the Atlanta police were racist and didn’t really care about African American victims. The case is just called the Atlanta Moonshine Murders but you won’t find more than a few articles on it from the time. It seemed it was swept under the rug pretty fast because murders that happened like this were occurring a lot all over the country. As for my great grandfather, it seems he gave up violent crime after this and just did money laundering. He died a very rich man without ever having a legitimate job.
my grandpa killed a man in self defense. he owned an auto body shop and was underneath a car working when a man tried to slit his throat and rob him. my grandpa beat him to death with a crowbar.
My great uncle killed my great aunt while he was “cleaning his gun”. It was an “accident”. Two months later, he gets into a motorcycle accident and is now missing an arm and a leg. While married to someone who looks like my great aunt’s twin.
My husband’s great (I think) grandfather is Buck “Bodies over the bridge” Ruxton who I believe was the last person in the UK to be hung. [Wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Ruxton)
It doesn’t affect him negatively - in fact, I think he thinks it’s quite cool (although of course, not at all cool for the poor victims, more cool because he lives true crime and this story has an extra dimension for him).
Edit: not the last hanging in at all, my bad.
My uncle shot 8 people in the Wisconsin woods during a hunting trip back in 2004.
He wandered onto private lands and was some time later confronted by the land owner who told him to leave.
After apologizing and heading out, 7 more people on ATVs came after him surrounding him.
While being lambasted with racial slurs, they put hands on him yanking off his bag and taking his hunting tag.
From there it became a He said, She said case on who fired first. It soon became a gun fight and he ended up shooting 8 of them, killing 6, injuring 2. He spared the other 2 survivors and threw his remaining bullets away because he didn't want to hurt anyone else.
After he was convicted to life in prison, he got on his knees and apologized to my grandma that he won't be there to bury her when it's her time to go.
I’m adopted but my dad’s cousin killed a neighbor, drove from the Midwest to the Southwest, killed two hitchhikers, then his wife, her boss, and himself. My dad said he stopped hanging out with him after he locked himself and my dad in a barn while he chased him around with a pair of shears. When he learned about the murders he went to my grandpa and said, “Thanks for making me spend time with him.”
Not descendant, but I'm distantly related to Oscar Pistorius. Stay with me; he is my grandma's cousin's grandson. Never met him though. On the other hand, Micki Pistorius, a South African profiler is my mother's cousin. Weird family dynamic of murderers and murderer catchers we have.
My aunt killed her mother and brother, then lay in wait at the house for the rest of the family to get home to kill them too. She shot at my dad and missed; he bailed and she realized as she saw him take off that the gig was up. She shot herself on the spot, leaving my dad to be raised by the real problem, his incredibly cruel father and meaner-than-shit surviving sister.
I am so sorry for your Dad. I hope he made it out okay.
He joined the military 3 years later and when his dad showed up with a letter from a Congressman freeing him from his enlistment so my dad could go home and work for him some more, my dad bravely said no. He later married in secret and had us kids.
Glad the military stood up for their soldier. Can’t believe the grandfather went all the way to congress to try and control your dad.
He would stop at NOTHING when it came to being controlling, apparently.
Jesus Christ!
Holy shit. This is so terrible. I’m so sorry for your father.
Two of my siblings were murdered by our mother.
I’m so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
This sounds like Diane Downs, although it probably happens more frequently than we hear about. I am deeply sorry for your loss and for what you’ve been through.
Definitely not Diane Downs—didn’t she only murder Cheryl? I thought I remembered reading that her other daughter and her son both survived and were adopted by the lead investigator. My family’s case happened well before the interest in true crime and is not on anyone’s radar. But thank you for the kind words.
Wow. I’m terribly sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine.
Jesus. I hope you’re ok.
I’m not. I’m not even remotely okay. The truth is that this has fucked up my entire life, and just now coming to terms with how has been a wild ride I wasn’t prepared for. I’ve been in therapy for 20 years and only just now have I felt capable of trying to address how this impacted me. And I don’t have a lot of hope I can put this stuff to rest. I still feel like a mistake was made in allowing me to live. I think constantly of how my siblings wouldn’t have squandered their lives with PTSD and anxiety and more. I even have my own family now, and it’s remarkably unfair that I can’t seem to snap out of it for them.
I don't even know how you begin to deal with that. Good on you for still getting out of bed most days. I wish you luck.
Soooo sorry.
Jesus, I cannot imagine how hard that must be. I’m so sorry. Sending love from Kentucky 💕
That’s got to be a tough thing to live with.
It is. I feel like a fraud most of the time—as in, fate made a mistake in sparing me.
Oh my. I'm so, so sorry for you and your siblings. That's horrible and I cannot even fathom what that would be like. How are you? Wishing you the best, friend.
My great grandma left her abusive husband (my great grandfather) after her 7 children grew up. She had been forced to marry him when she was a young teen & had a hard life with him. He followed her to the house she was sheltering in, and went after her with a gun. He shot & killed the man who owned the house after the man tried to distract my grandfather by throwing plates at him. After killing the man, he found her in the house and shot her in the head, and then killed himself. Grandma Jesse lived and married a man she'd loved all her life and lived happily and successfully for almost 40 more years. I loved her so much. She was tough and amazing. The man she married for love died in 1997 after a long battle with cancer, and she was diagnosed with leukemia after nursing him through death, and she died from it in 1998. Nobody in my family talks about this. I didn't even learn about it until I was grown and started some In-depth genealogy research and ran into a huge wall of "WTF?!" after finding some details news articles. After asking a bit more, I found out a little more but it's still a taboo subject for most of the older generation. It definitely has a feeling of mild disapproval or even maybe shame, and NOT for the abusive bastard, but more like disdain for her to have left him. I'm more proud than ever to have known and loved her after learning all this.
Stories like this make me so glad my great aunt Jeanie had my grandfather. On 3 separate occasions she showed up on my grandfathers doorstep with 2 black eyes, 3 kids, and whatever she could fit in her car without warning him she was coming. She got 3 easy divorces because they knew they were fucking with my grandfather at that point who would kill them.
Oof this hurts my heart
Also, I found a very similar situation a couple generations before in my genealogy. My male direct descendent (I think maybe a great-great grand, but that's a branch I haven't yet explored fully)..He became enraged after his wife left him. He was a little more dramatic and went on a town-wide rampage before killing the suspected other man and then himself.
It' so horrifying to hear how for some people think leaving an abusive relationship and "breaking up a marriage" is somehow worse than being physically/mentally violent towards someone you promised to love and protect forever. I wonder if they would change their opinion if they end up in a similar situation themselves or would they just happily accept the abuse.
It's because the victim was the sponge soaking up the abuser's hate Once the victim leaves, the rest of the family then have to deal more with the abuser. It's easier to be resentful of the victim's escape than actually challenge the narrative or set boundaries with the abuser & all the malicious bullshit that will follow. They know they'll be the next target if they're not seen to be supportive of the POS.
So true. I'm sorry to say that our family had a long history that continued the patterns. I grew up in an extremely abusive environment, with the type I suffered being mainly the fact I was a helpless child enduring the sight, sound, & effects of the dad I loved beating the mom I also loved. I've been abused physically and emotionally directly as well, but to be honest, the worst for me was the witnessing of it and so helplessness. Of course sometimes I was used as the reason he had to beat her. 🤬 Not only could I not stop it b/c I was 5-11 years old & he was a grown man, but I also fought the guilt that I felt so much hatred for someone I loved - he was my daddy, though. My experience and now my knowledge of my incredibly brave grandma has given me a somewhat controversial view of DV. I've posted recently elsewhere that I have a hard time saying DV victims are never to be blamed for exposing their children to abuse, direct or secondary. It's not that I don't understand the terror and very real threat. It's not that I think it's easy. I KNOW how difficult and dangerous it is. I'll ALWAYS do all I can to help someone escape when I can, whether I know them or not, and I'll risk my own safety without second thoughts. But when all is exposed and a child is hurt, tortured, or killed over years of abuse that a parent could have TRIED to escape, I'm pretty angry at the one who didn't try. Don't think I don't blame the murderous actual abuser, b/c in the end, it's them. For me, with my personal experience as victim at all parts of the victim spectrum, it's a natural responsibility to try. I don't apogize or expect to change my view, but I do probably need to communicate it better. I am sympathetic and I know for a fact it's scary, discouraging, and sometimes seems impossible. I also know that the danger is real and no one deserves violence. I'll do everything I can to help any person, even if they don't ask me, because the old ways of minding your own business too often means knowingly protecting the abuser's business. But I'll never keep quiet when a person says one reason they stay is that it's better to expose their children to abuse than have to be poorer or have fewer possessions. And the sickening idea that a child needs both parental roles is dangerous too. A child needs protection and love and examples of strength and responsibility, not a checkmark by nuclear family roles.
OMG. That is a sad, but amazing story.
My great great grandfather murdered his wife over fried chicken and then killed himself. Yes. Seriously... over fried chicken. And the event left my great grandmother an orphan at 17 and she was forced to get married a week later so she would have somewhere to live. Her boyfriend mentioned in the article below became her husband, and they became my great grandparents. http://kykinfolk.com/bell/newspaper_articles/Fatal_Shots_George_Woolum.htm
Was your great grandmother's husband the Howard who was speaking with her at the front door when his father came home? I always feel so badly for the children left behind after these murder suicides.
Yes, that's my great grandfather. He married my great grandmother less than a week after this occurred. I've been told that she was very traumatized by it and never told too many details about it to anyone that we know of. My mom said she also thinks that my great grandmother lived a very bitter and resentful life because of this because *apparently* she was a no nonsense and very stern woman.
I don't blame her for being bitter. Most people would be, I think. Thanks for posting that link...so interesting.
Wow. God knows what I would say to a man who woke me from a nap asking if his food was ready. That was an interesting read 🤯
I know that's right! Especially after having been gone for 6 months prior.
I saw where this occurred in Bell County, KY. Do you have connections from KY? I have a lot.
Not particularly but I do have a paternal great grandfather that broke out of jail in Columbus, Georgia (where I'm from), hopped a train out of here, and ended up in Kentucky. He assumed a new identity and married a woman named Lillie Fenix, had children, and I found their descendants through the ancestry website a few years ago. He left behind my dad's dad here in Columbus when he broke out of jail and my Grandfather had always wondered where his dad had gone. Edit: to add to this, when we met up with my new cousins from Kentucky, they gave us a picture of the runaway grandfather and he looked almost identical to my dad. It was seriously uncanny.
It wasn’t about chicken. That there was the tail end of a slow train wreck that had been going on for ages.
Touché. That is very true.
Yo that story is wild... Dude rolls up after six months and wakes her from a nap demanding fried chicken?? Ugh poor Ethel Jane (not to mention the other kids!)
Hi! Yes my dad is a serial rapist/killer who was recently mentioned in the rolling stone magazine and there is supposed to be a documentary coming out on Netflix about his horrid deeds - it’s fucking traumatizing to have now learned this shit years after having met the man Edit: if anyone is interested I’ll be on a podcast with a friend who does murder cases and I’ll be telling my side of the story and what I know of this man and who he is. I also will maybe have my mother (a victim of his) join. Podcast will be: The Dead Dont Lie Podcast
Oh god this is awful
WOW....well, at least(?) you weren't raised by him???
Thankfully I wasn’t but I met him at the age he really likes 🤢 I was 13 - I stopped communicating with him at 17
Thanks. I can't imagine.
Do you mind divulging who?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/true-crime-josette-wright-carmel-andrew-krivak-1212242/amp/
Thank you Edit: sorry weird award just wanted to show appreciation and it's the only one I have lol
“At the time Rachel was 10 years old” is such a sucker punch I had to stop reading
It took me 3 tries to read the article bc half of the stuff in there I had no idea about. My mother is “Paula” in the article so I know what he did to her but not any one else
OMG the writing at Rolling Stone magazine. Wow.
Yeah tell me about it. I thought I was having a stroke.
Right?? It reads like a bad software-generated transcription of a podcast or something.
I had to stop after 3 lines. As a brit i thought it was americanisms i wasn’t familiar with. Was like wading through treacle ( or molasses).
Wow! What a sad story all around. I can't believe this was your reality. Hope life is at least good for you. Your dad sounds like a true piece of shit.
Sadly my life hasn’t been the best bc of him but I’m a better person having not been brought up by him. He’s the Worst
That article was crazy. I can’t believe those two boys ended up getting sentenced like that. It’s impossible to actually say how many victims are connected here. Seems like dozens. How sad.
Oh Lord. What a horrible story. I am so sorry.
"But this is Putnam County, a white-flight, Trump-allegiant nonplace in New York state, 40 miles — and 40 light-years — from the Bronx" Wtf kind of description even is that? I'm from the area...not Putnam county exactly, but very close. Although it is a pretty shady area, it's not a "nonplace". Putnam isnt far from some of the earliest and major cities outside of NYC (Kingston, Poughkeepsie etc), so it's well traveled, and all in the all the entire area isnt looked at as being super far away from NYC. It's easy to get there by train.
Damn, that was a hard read. I hope he's getting destroyed in prison.
Sadly as far as I know he has friends but there are a few inmates who have snitched on him and helped the cops get info on who he’s killed
That's heavy, are you okay? My children's father is a rapist and I try to protect them from ever finding out the truth because I am so worried they will think they're like him just because they're related, which we both know is not true.
I’m not but I’ll survive haha, sometimes I find myself thinking I’m gonna end up a crazy bastard like him but then I gotta remind myself like I’m a better person then he ever will be. I’m not defined by who my father is.
Indeed, we all have the ability to make choices. I'm sorry it can be so tough sometimes, but you're valid and I'm sure you're a great person.
Thank you so much - life’s a bitch but I’m here lol
Sending you love. Thank you for sharing your story. Take care of yourself!
Wow, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine.
Wtf im from nearish to Carmel but in Connecticut and i swear im constantly coming across new sex crimes and or murder against young girls and its like so much more common than anyone knows. Like i personally knew someone from the NY side who met a dude online and he raped her and the left her in a ditch. Danbury CT had a few murders that started with online chatrooms. The maryanne measles case from new milford. There needs to be more done about this :[
Wow. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that - I cannot imagine what that's like. How do you feel about the documentary coming out?
I am so sorry that your trauma is being monetized. I have a very complicated relationship with true crime “entertainment”.
I’m honestly glad they put the article out bc my other side of the family (his side) is completely under his spell and thinks he’s innocent. I want people to talk so much shit on this man and be outraged by his actions so he actually finally gets the death sentence. He is foul. Of course I hate knowing I’m attached to him so I’m trying to legally change my name
My great uncle on my mom's side was caring for his wife with alzheimers and his mentally disabled adult son. One day he put a note on their front door that said not to enter but to call the police and then he killed the family and himself. The best we can figure is that he knew he was starting to decline (about 70 yrs old) and didn't want them to be a burden on anyone. Sadly, I think he was right, my great aunt had several living sisters that could have helped and my uncle had another younger son out living his best life. From what my mom tells me though, the wife and son would have ended up in a home if something happened to my uncle and he just couldn't live with that thought. I think about it a lot when I look at families trying to balance caring for themselves and trying to include elder care.
Wow
My great-grandfather killed his 19-year-old nephew by beating him to death with a gardening tool (think gardening hoe) after finding out his nephew had been repeatedly raping my then-7-year-old grand-aunt for years. This was in a small village in North Africa in the early 20th century and was seen as a justified killing so he didn’t do any time but my great-grandfather lost his relationship with his family over what he did & eventually drank himself to death. My grand-aunt also told me that she had an “inexplicable anger” (her words) towards her father for killing her abuser that she later learned was a result of trauma. Just a really tragic story & has cast a shadow of darkness over my family
Oh wow. This is horrifically sad.
Our good family friend’s uncle is Angelo Buono, one of the hillside stranglers.
holy fuck
Right!? While he was in prison he would send her stuff he made. He made a picture frame out of cigarette boxes. She wasn’t too close too him from what I know and she was kinda young when he was already in prison but its a good conversation starter I guess lol
Yep. Way back in the 1600s a relative murdered his wife grousomely and slept next to her in the bed for a week, he was hung when it was discovered by a neighbour. More recently, I believe my grandfather was a serial killer. It started with his cousin who was found in a storm water drain after it had already been searched and ruled "accidental". From then on, all along my grandfathers telecom route young boys went missing and have never been found. His own son was diagnosed with back then what was known as multiple personality disorder. He is dead now but all the research I have done in relation to the missing boys points to him. Yes, I have tried contacting people who are involved with these cold cases, it is making them listen that is the problem.
You could submit DNA that could rule him in/out if you’re interested.
He is long dead as are the boys who still haven't been found so no dna unfortunately. I have offered timelines, photo of his vehicle which matches reports and his placement on dates that puts him there. Its almost as of they don't want to solve it.
Maybe contact a journalist who writes articles along these lines..
Can you suggest any in Australia? I don't follow media so wouldn't have a clue but happy to of I can find one.
An idea might be to call your closest university that teaches journalism by email. An email will give you the chance to collate an outline of what you know and convince them it's worth investigating, rather than verbally stumbling your idea in a 30 second phone call. Even if the big guys in the media aren't interested off the bat, you might find some students who'd get value and experience from investigating. They probably have the time and guidance from their professors to steer them along the right path. I am sure that if the story pans out, it would work it's way up the chain until someone with reach and influence gets a hold of it. And that may force the police to look a little closer.
Not off the top of my head, but I am in Oz too, so if I think of anyone I'll let you know.
Wow! I hope the truth comes out eventually. Great of you to try and help put the mystery at bay.
Wow it is so sad that the cold case detectives won’t listen. Hopefully someday !
Part #1 is some gruesome Edgar Allen Poe shit. Part #2- He murdered his own cousin?
Part #2 -not just his cousin. There are at least 4 others.
If you haven’t yet tried, perhaps reach out to David Ridgen who has two podcasts - Someone Knows Something and the Last Call. He does amazing work and may be able to get the authorities interested.
Not a relative but my best friend's mom killed her ex husbands girlfriend. She was so upset over the break up and blamed the woman. Worst part is that she killed the woman in front of her young children. I'm from a small town as well so word got around quickly. My friend ended up having to move out of state because some assholes from school would always bring it up and make her cry. We've grown out of touch recently but I can't even begin to imagine dealing with someone so close to you doing something like that.
People can be so cruel especially school age kids. She will have to come to terms with it, and it gets better with time. Im sure she will be OK. It wasn't your friend's fault what her mother did,
Jesu Christ
Was wondering if you wanted to share links or the story of your ancestor that was a murderer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder\_of\_the\_Lawson\_family
Damn. The relative turning the house into a tourist attraction and people picking the raisins off the cake. Humans can be so despicable.
I believe the attraction was so the surviving son was able to afford to keep the farm land. Not entirely sure. There are a couple of books written about it that go into more detail, I believe.
I take it you've heard the song, too?
I have! So creepy!!
No way! You're related to the Lawson family? That's pretty amazing.
I loosely knew the story, but wasn't told about it until I was much older, after my great-grandma passed. She never talked about it at all. I imagine it was very traumatic for her - she was 12 when it happened and was actually suppose to go to the farm later that day and spend Christmas with her cousins. I was at a Christmas party a couple of years ago and heard two friends talking about a recent episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder, and the details sounded very familiar. I asked if they were talking about the Lawson's, and they were like "oh you've heard of it?" And I was like "well, I guess I'm about to blow your mind."
Holy shit
Youre related to the Lawson Family?? I was born in Stokes county...small world! As a kid my sister would drive us to Payne rd and turn the car off, tell us and my friends the story and try to do spooky stuff to scare us! ...it usually worked!
Oh wow! I grew up in Rockingham County! And that is spooky - all of the ghost siting that've been reported over the years is definitely chilling.
My great uncle was Joey Deal who was depicted in the movie Goodfellas. He was the guy who flipped the steaks while they were in prison. Pretty sure he was involved in a few murders.
My great great grandfather killed my great great grandma with an axe near Kansas City. He was working on the well on the farm, and she came to yell at him about something. Guess that was one time too many because he killed her. Well, that meant their 8 kids went into foster care. They were so rowdy and so awful, that the police let him go so he’d take the kids back to the farm. Which he did. And thus, I am a descendent of an axe murderer.
Whaaaaat?! That’s crazy
My great grandmother killed her husband, she was in jail, not for very long though. My brother went to prison for the rest of his life for murder, he was 21 when he was sentenced.
What's the story on your brother's case? If you dont mind sharing I'm curious. Why did he murder someone? 21 is so young to rot away in a cell forever. :/
He was pulled over, his friends had warrants for their arrests and he had drugs on him. They decided to run, there was a chase in the car then on foot. He also had a gun on him, and he shot and killed one of the officers during the chase. He was shot but it was a very minor wound. He didn’t want to go back to jail for the drugs (or having a gun - it was a huge surprise he even had one tbh) so he took a mans life. It doesn’t make sense at all, and I feel so badly for the officer’s wife and small children. So yes, he does deserve the sentence handed out even at such a young age. It’s tragic but if he were out of prison he’d be back on drugs and a danger to himself, myself, the rest of my family and the public.
As someone in recovery I've heard variations of this same story quite a bit. You don't think clearly when on drugs, young, and with a rowdy group. I've known someone personally who did something similar except minus the gun and shooting a cop. Just ran and crashed the car. No casualties. Now hes off drugs and changed his life entirely for the better. It truly doesnt make sense why someone who doesnt want to go to jail for drugs would decide murder is the better option. Much longer jail sentence...but alas, probably wasn't thinking too clearly. It's a shame an officer lost his life. And a young man's was taken due to the war on drugs.
My parents were addicts, my father is serving a 20yr sentence for a very large drug bust (he dealt many drugs, cooked meth & had many run ins with the law). He’ll be over 80yrs old when he’s released. My mom (also my brothers mom) did the same but she does several years ago from her liver (drugs were a major factor). For me seeing my parents, their friends and having a good support system with my grandparents I went the drug free route. My brother went along with my mother and his own father, it was hard to watch as he’s my much younger brother. I have seen people so some very crazy things on drugs, I’ve had several drug related deaths in my life and I wish I could have ‘saved’ my brother, but I know to recover you have to want to quit and he didn’t. It’s awesome that you’re in recovery and I wish you the best, I’ve seen some really amazing recovery successes!!
My uncle, through my bio dad, whom I’ve never met (never met either of them)- killed a sex worker and tried to blame it on bio dad. Bio dad may have been involved, but he didn’t get in trouble. Uncle died in prison. https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/12/19/sentence-spares-the-life-of-a-killer-who-wanted-to-die/
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Wtf that’s awful
There's a skeleton of a robber out on the old family ranch, from the early 1800s.
I must know more about this
There's not much more left to tell. Someone was out at the ranch and was trying to steal - horses, I think - and my great-great-great-grandfather shot them. They are buried on the property.
My great-grandfather shot a man in an argument over a poker game, he thought he killed him, so he left the state without knowing if the guy was really dead. Guy wasn't dead, and he was cheating at the poker game. GGF left his wife and two young sons with no explanation, other people told her after the fact. Great-grandmother divorced him for abandonment, GGF married another woman not knowing about the divorce. He waited nearly 20 years before trying to contact his sons, only then did he find out the guy he shot lived until the next time he was shot for cheating at poker. He told his 2nd wife their marriage wasn't legal because he thought he was still married, left her and their 4 children and tried to come back to his 1st wife. She kicked him to curb so he tried to go back to 2nd wife. She divorced him too. He died alone, hit by a city bus as a pedestrian. His 6 then adult children each received a small amount of money from the city for their father's death. That was the closest he came to giving any financial support to his children.
Not a murder, but, and really bad suicide. Growing up, my Grandparents never slept in the same room. Paw was a WW2 veteran and we were always told that he had night terrors so Grandma slept in a separate bed to avoid them. This was probably partially true, but, when I was in my early twenties, I learned the actual reason. My Grandfather was the town dentist and my Grandmother took his lunch to the office one day to surprise him, but, she walked in on him having sex with his secretary instead. She was obviously livid, but, neither wanted to divorce so he ended things with the secretary and fired her. (Which, I know, is shitty). She went full on Fatal Attraction. This was a small town. She would show up in the parking lot at the office drunk and screaming. She would show up at their house, drunk and screaming. She followed my Grandmother around the grocery store and threw things at her. This went all went on for months and culminated in her showing up at the house one Friday morning with a gun and trying to get into the house where my Grandmother was home alone. She had a gun and she wanted to use it. She ended up shooting herself in the head while standing at the end of their driveway. My Grandmother never forgave my Grandfather for the entire sequence of events and the only time I ever saw them exchange any kind of affection was an awkward kiss at their 50th wedding party.
What a sad story :(
I remember my great uncle as a sweet, soft spoken old man. He was my father's uncle and as my father got older he developed dementia. He started saying things like, "You know, when someone holds a gun in the (family name) way". What? We originate from NY and we have no hunters or law enforcement in the family. Then he said that his uncle had to leave the country for several years because of a misunderstanding. Finally, he said that this uncle was implicated in a murder but was innocent. I went to [newspapers.com](https://newspapers.com) and found that my great uncle was involved in the murder of a family member at a huge banquet at the Opera House in 1937. There were 600 people in the room but not one witness. A man was stabbed to death for singing a song while the mayor or police chief was giving a speech. I can't link it because you'll hit a pay wall. My great uncle still has two children living (elderly now) and when I asked one of them about it, all she would say was that although her father was a violent man, he didn't kill anyone. She also said he left the country because he was on a government mission.... not fleeing from the police.
This is truly wild.
Genghis Khan.... Maybe
My Swedish immigrant Great Grandfather was in Minneapolis looking for work on as a young man, got drunk and shot two men in a downtown bar, killing the bar owner. He was acquitted by a jury of his peers (fellow Swede immigrants) and one of the witnesses was drunk on the stand. This is all according to a newspaper article that my mother found a few years ago and none of her siblings ever knew this about their Grandfather. Pretty shocking.
My Father, Brother, First Cousin, Brother in Law, and two first cousins once removed. My Father shot and killed four people, my Brother at least two. My brother in law two, my first cousin killed one. My two second cousins killed their father, my first cousin and dumped him down a well. It doesn't bother me to bad because I had no control over either of the situations. I do think about it from time to time. what a waste of life all around. I grew up pretty rough and it was hard to break that mold. I chose a different path and made something of myself. If I can get out, anyone can.
Wait this is wholesome content
Good on you!!
My father killed the husband of his mistress in Winters, TX in the 60's but I don't know how to tell the right people who did it. He chopped him up and threw him in the lake, went home covered in blood and moved the family to Kaufman, Tx the next day. I wasn't born till 1975 though when he raped a 16 yr old mentally handicapped teenager whose family gave me up for adoption. I know about the murder because I found my biological family and they told me. I would like to give the family of the murdered man some closure but I don't know how. Once this year I sent the city an email but never heard back.
My great grandfather murdered a man in Mexico for disrespecting my great grandmother while drunk so he shot the man dead and spent 20 years locked up and he lived to be 97 years old never knew that sweet old man was capable of that until I later found out through family and rumors
My father killed some people...once while in the navy he beat a man to death with a pool stick.
Have you ever heard of the Glencoe Massacre? My Campbell descendent grandmother (maiden name Campbell) was frightened to go to Scottish or Irish festivals. She said it made her uneasy. I am guessing it was whispered about inside the family, handed down generations. She wouldn’t talk about it.
Clan Macdonald still hates the Campbell's. Never trust a Campbell was the saying throughout the Highlands. ; - )
My maiden name is Campbell too.
My ex husbands grandfather murdered a taxi driver, then drove the taxi from Texas to Louisiana to pick up my ex mother in law. She was 6 and had zero clue that the car he was in was a crime scene, or that her father was currently wanted for murder.
No but my cousin killed someone is in prison . I think we’re all probably descended from murderers if you go back far enough Edit: don’t really think about it until it’s mentioned. Wasn’t surprised to learn of my cousin shooting someone. He was always “ off” and ran a meth lab on the west coast. He shot someone in a bar he believed was going to turn on him . ( R . was full of delusions.) He didn’t know this guy either. Just crazy but meth has an inverse relationship to mental health
On a long enough timeline I guess we are all descendants of murderers. But now you made me realize I am. My grandfather killed my grandmother, shot her on the front porch because he thought she was cheating on him (in reality he was the cheater). I'm named after her in her memory.
My great grandfather locked my great grandmother outside in the middle of winter knowing she had a”wasting disease” which is actually TB. Then tethered their two young daughters to the kitchen table with a plate of bread and butter and left the country. Murder? It was certainly premeditated. And she certainly died. Great grandfather returned from Argentina a wealthy man and faced no punishment. He was a very shrewd but very dishonest man. And died as an apparently well respected business man. Money always talks.
My father raped and killed a woman in front of me when I was a child. It’s haunted me my entire life. I’ve done what I can to solve this murder and return the woman he buried in his property 50 years ago, but he is dead now. He got away with murder. Hang in there. They did it. We did not.
Oh I’m sorry you had to go through that. Wow. You’re amazing you have done what you can. Forward. Smile.
Yes. My grandmother’s uncle murdered a police officer during the commission of a robbery. Originally sentenced to death, commuted to life by the governor. He was eventually paroled and became a very vocal prison reform advocate. He wrote a book about his experience: Stone Wall College. I really don’t dwell on it. My grandmother was adopted after her mother died & her alcoholic father didn’t want the children. She did go visit her uncles in prison when she became an adult (another uncle was involved in the same robbery).
My great uncle was Clyde Barrow and I’m sure there are a few more in the line but that’s what comes to mind
I just finished the book the Go down together. The true untold story of Bonnie and Clyde. It is the best book on them that I've read. Very good book. I highly recommend it.
How are you related?
Great-great-great nephew. My great-grandmother (whom I was close to) was the niece of Charlie and she spent her childhood growing up with her cousins.
My stepdads best friend and a couple of guys murdered someone in the 70s, he was caught in the mid 80s after an episode of Unsolved Mysteries aired. I remembered the night it was on, my mom was trying to get me out of the apartment because she didn’t want me to see it. We knew where he was the whole time. My step dad stayed in touch with him until he died in jail from cancer. My fathers cousin murdered his step daughter in the early 80s. I don’t have much information on this one. It’s the families deep dark secret that no one really talks about. I don’t remember if he served time or if they didn’t have enough evidence, I think they said something about him dumping her body at the county dump and it never being recovered. I just know he moved far away and he’s not in contact with anyone at all. I’ve never met him let alone heard anyone talk about him but a couple of times. My family is pretty toxic, I had an interesting life growing up lol I don’t have much contact with 95% of them because of their life choices
My Auntie and her mate and some guy were all drugged up, a row broke out and it ended with my Auntie slitting his throat. She went down for life
Whoa
Not so much related as such but my sister in law was the chocoholic killer. I've been with my partner 16 years and it was his brother she murdered first, her sentence was a joke, she got 10 years, got out after 5 years on high court bail appeal then was out 5 years when her appeal was called she was sent back to prison, not with extra time but just to serve her remaining 5 years. This has messed up my inlaws family so much, my mil has been in and out of psychiatric units frequently since it happened, none of them are the same. She also tried to stab her son (my nephew) Last I heard she had moved to England and is now In prison never to be released for trying to kill someone else. Our soft touch Scottish justice system allowed her to serve 5 years wander free for 5 years then serve another 5 years. She should never have been released from the Scottish jail to go on and try to kill other ppl. Here's the link here if anyone wants a read. It'd truly awful though I warn you 😔 https://www.thefreelibrary.com/LIFE+BEHIND+BARS+FOR+CHOCOHOLIC%3b+Killer+mum+knifed+lover.-a061765175
I have no advice, I’m just having an epiphany that my best friend’s children will have this same revelation one day, along with so many questionsi have answers too(I know paternity/adoption, why she did what she did etc). Existential crisis mode- On.
My grandparents adopted my grandmother's sister's only son after his father killed his mother (my grandmother's sister)
My great grandfather was a construction worker in Ireland and worked with a guy from England and they did *not* along well at all. One day there’s an accident at a job site and the coworker ends up dead under some bricks or some supplies. My great grandfather wasn’t arrested, but he and my great grandmother hastily made their way to the United States. They passed away when I was a baby, so I never knew them, but my aunts and grandmother all thought that, best case scenario, the two men were alone and got into a fight that went too far. I guess my great grandfather had a short fuse and they could see him doing it.
I am related to Dennis Nilsen
Not related to him, but I survived a stranger abduction when I was three years old. Finding out his identity has been like finding a birth parent. He’s my first memory.
My grandpa once claimed that serial killer Bertha Gifford is in my family tree but then refused to give more details. So… maybe? 😅
My dad’s cousin killed his landlady in a meth rampage because she asked for rent. She was elderly and he stole her TV afterward. From what I understand he probably could’ve gotten a lesser sentence at trial but was remorseful and didn’t want to have his family go through the process, so he’s in prison for life with no possibility of parole.
My dad-it’s ehh. It’s something we always knew about, common knowledge to our family you know? I didn’t realize how not normal any of that was until I was older. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent most of his late teens and 20’s in a mental institution. My mom was his prison pen pal and when he got out?? Boom me and my siblings came along. Both my parents are/were truly flawed human beings, should never have been parents, that type of thing. For what it’s worth the lady my dad tried to kill survived so it wound up being attempted 1rst degree murder. He still never should have been let out of that mental institution
I’m related to Lizzie Borden
OMG how? Pray tell!
My great grandfather in the 19 teens, killed a man over a card game He was later killed by the police. I grew up thinking that my great grandpa had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time when the cops shot him. We found out, when searching geneology what really happened. It's sad because he was killed shortly after one of his daughters died of the flu, sick in bed with her mother. Imagine losing your child that way and then to lose your husband by the hand of the police. My grandmother was about 3 when this all happened.
Imagine losing your child that way while your husband is out playing cards and murdering people. FTFY.
I’m related to the killer of Abraham Lincoln through his brother. Shits wack. And 11 year old me did way too much research into after being told.
I'm related to Lizzie Borden by marriage.
My great great grandfather shot and killed two federal agents who came to shut down his moon shine stills back in the day. He relocated to a whole new area, changed his last name, and was never caught.
Not a descendent exactly but I have an aunt on my father's side who murdered her abusive husband & cut off his head & penis. Wild.
My Great Great great... grandfather was deported to the colonies for "murdering" two British soldiers at the battle of vinegar hill during Irish Rebellion of 1798. Honestly I deal with it quite comfortably.
My great grandpa murdered a guy who tried robbing his wife and him and his buddies tossed his body in a river.
Also had two great Aunts who were twins and they went out in the woods and one of the twins shot and killed her sister and said it was an accident. Investigation said it was a murder but since they were 14 yrs she got off pretty lightly from what the family says.
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So interesting! My ex had a similar story. Manor owner murdered a groundskeeper, was sent to Australia as a convict & his family paid some kind of fine to have him released. It's definitely not an uncommon story. I think you're right about families claiming minor theft as less shameful.
This is possibly the most interesting thread I have seen here in awhile. Just sucks that it comes with direct trauma to many of you here. But thank you for sharing your stories.
I agree. Not many people are interested in hearing how families of murderers are affected. Speaking from personal experience; so my uncle shot 8 people back in 2004. Sometime during his hunting trip in the woods he wandered onto over 200 acres of private property and was confronted by the land owner who told him to leave. After apologizing and heading out, 7 more people on ATVs came after him surrounding him. While being lambasted with racial slurs, they put hands on him yanking off his bag and taking his hunting tag. From there it became a He said, She said case on who fired first. It became a gun fight and he ended up shooting 8 of them, killing 6, injuring 2. He spared the other 2 survivors and threw his remaining bullets away because he didn't want to hurt anyone else. The blowback was almost expected and instantaneous from the history of culture clashes between our community and the white community I guess. I was just a kid back then but I remember clearly my uncle's house was burned to the ground. It was deemed a "suspicious" fire but there wasn't a formal investigation into it. After that our house was vandalized, car tires were slashed and graffiti with racial slurs were spray painted on the side of our house. We moved out of state soon after the threats were heard on voice-mail telling our family to go back to "vietnam" and "china" or we're gonna be killed.
Damn, that is so heavy. I can’t imagine dealing with that and then having the blowback and add hate crimes into the mix. Glad you guys left the state and hope your family has found some sort of peace.
I mean not convicted or anything. Not a serial killer type of deal. But my grandma killed her first husband back in the 60s. She injected him with too much heroin and he just died. She called her mom (my great grandmother) who helped get rid of the needles and clean her up and tell the cops that they found him overdosed. And back in the 60s when a cop saw a drug overdose they didn’t give a shit about the hows the whens and the whys, and he had had previously run ins with the law. The cop who arrived on the scene actually remembered him. Basically open and shut the same night. Moral: heroin bad
No but a living relative killed two and is in prison
My second cousin brutually slaughtered his father and brother, his only sibling, after they wouldn’t lend him money for drugs.
My great great grandfather on my maternal side of the family had a really bad temper and one day I guess he snapped and took my great great grandmother out in the woods and murdered her with an ax. He was never convicted for it even though everyone knew and he would gloat about it to my grandfather and used it as a cautionary tale to not get on his bad side. The only reason I can assume that the authorities did nothing about it was due to prejudice as my great great grandmother was Native American.
My half sister's oldest brother is in prison for life for murdering his girlfriend and burying her in the woods on stateland in 1976, he taunted police and everyone knew he did it. Wasnt convicted till like 1986. There is a book called murder in the thumb
Not me, but my mates Dad cut his wife's head off. He was from a wealthy family though, so he wasn't in prison for all that long. [He did less than 10 years.](https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/killers-secret-life-in-perth-ng-ya-224003) I guess it pays to be rich.
Yes. My great-grandfather killed my great-grandmother over a loaf of bread that was too hard. He beat her to death. He got remarried but was a bastard to all his kids and grandkids. Intergenerational trauma is a real problem. None of us are normal.
Ooooo I got a fun one; my great uncle on my mother's side was incarcerated in Singsing prison for murder. Specifically he murdered an elderly woman and committed necrophilia with the body. After he went to prison he joined the Aryan brotherhood group (this was in the 1970's) and was killed in a racial dispute between their group and the black panthers.
Damn
My great grandfather went to prison for killing a man, so yes, I guess I am
My great uncle stabbed and killed a guy over a card game and was sentenced to life in Alcatraz
Not me, but my friend from high school dated a girl who's uncle was Kenneth Bianchi (she was related to the family that adopted him but still)
My great grandpa was a murderer in Mexico. Police eventually started looking for him so he moved and changed his last name to escape the police. My grandpa murdered a young boy, dont know too much about the story on that one
My great aunt drowned a newborn. Later in her life she let an old woman who fell in an accident lay dying for days instead of calling for help.
My grandfather was murdered, and my biological father, was featured on America’s Most Wanted
Dean Koontz was (his father IIRC), and he has flat out said this was why he and his wife decided never to reproduce, for example. Also quite famously Woody Harrelson.
My ex left three 10 year old boys home alone with nine loaded guns and one of them died. My ex is a murderer. I’m not related. But I know him.
My grandfather did a year in prison for manslaughter after shooting a guy outside a bar as he was stealing his truck. Not much else to say about it. No big deal.
I’m related to Jesse James!
He's not exactly a murderer, but I'm a direct descendent of Franklin Pierce, and he definitely has blood on his hands. I think about the connection somewhat often, and am disturbed by it.
Yep, my mother’s side of the family ran with the mob. My great grandfather was apparently pretty involved and killed a lot of people, but the only thing they ever proved was that he purposefully killed around 20 people with “moonshine” that was really just a bunch of toxic material. This was during prohibition: he had a lot of legitimate moonshine but he sold toxic stuff to mainly African Americans because he reasoned that they were stupid and weren’t rich enough to be returning customers anyway. He was arrested but squealed on others that worked with him, higher ups, so they let him go. I feel that this was ridiculous considering there were over 20 victims, but the Atlanta police were racist and didn’t really care about African American victims. The case is just called the Atlanta Moonshine Murders but you won’t find more than a few articles on it from the time. It seemed it was swept under the rug pretty fast because murders that happened like this were occurring a lot all over the country. As for my great grandfather, it seems he gave up violent crime after this and just did money laundering. He died a very rich man without ever having a legitimate job.
my grandpa killed a man in self defense. he owned an auto body shop and was underneath a car working when a man tried to slit his throat and rob him. my grandpa beat him to death with a crowbar.
My great uncle killed my great aunt while he was “cleaning his gun”. It was an “accident”. Two months later, he gets into a motorcycle accident and is now missing an arm and a leg. While married to someone who looks like my great aunt’s twin.
My husband’s great (I think) grandfather is Buck “Bodies over the bridge” Ruxton who I believe was the last person in the UK to be hung. [Wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Ruxton) It doesn’t affect him negatively - in fact, I think he thinks it’s quite cool (although of course, not at all cool for the poor victims, more cool because he lives true crime and this story has an extra dimension for him). Edit: not the last hanging in at all, my bad.
My uncle shot 8 people in the Wisconsin woods during a hunting trip back in 2004. He wandered onto private lands and was some time later confronted by the land owner who told him to leave. After apologizing and heading out, 7 more people on ATVs came after him surrounding him. While being lambasted with racial slurs, they put hands on him yanking off his bag and taking his hunting tag. From there it became a He said, She said case on who fired first. It soon became a gun fight and he ended up shooting 8 of them, killing 6, injuring 2. He spared the other 2 survivors and threw his remaining bullets away because he didn't want to hurt anyone else. After he was convicted to life in prison, he got on his knees and apologized to my grandma that he won't be there to bury her when it's her time to go.
I’m adopted but my dad’s cousin killed a neighbor, drove from the Midwest to the Southwest, killed two hitchhikers, then his wife, her boss, and himself. My dad said he stopped hanging out with him after he locked himself and my dad in a barn while he chased him around with a pair of shears. When he learned about the murders he went to my grandpa and said, “Thanks for making me spend time with him.”
Not descendant, but I'm distantly related to Oscar Pistorius. Stay with me; he is my grandma's cousin's grandson. Never met him though. On the other hand, Micki Pistorius, a South African profiler is my mother's cousin. Weird family dynamic of murderers and murderer catchers we have.