Have you ever known a murder victim?

There was an interesting sentence in a magazine article I posted in "Journalism Topics," in which the author says that he had "never known a murder victim" until two hikers he knew were killed on the Appalachian Trail.

I'm curious: Have you known one?

I'm guessing a lot of people here probably covered an athlete who was later killed, especially those of us who have covered inner-city preps.

One of the smartest women I went to high school with, a strong acquaintance and sometimes friend, was murdered by her boyfriend while she was a student at Indiana University. The last time I talked to her, about three or four years before that, she called me in my dorm because an ex- of hers had hung himself and she wanted to talk.

 

Yup. Friend from high school was murdered in her apartment a couple years after we graduated, in 1998. Her 2-month-old daughter was also kidnapped that morning. Case is still open.

Another good friend from high school was shot and killed in his house in 1997.

 

Yep. A college friend of mine was murdered in a robbery a few years after we graduated. My wife and I were actually having our rehearsal dinner across town when it happened, which has always haunted me a little bit.

McGowan killer gets life in prison

 

Yea, my cousin and best friend was murdered one month after his 18th birthday (we were the same age). Not even 10 years back now, it's still pretty rough on all of us.

 

Not personally, but a work colleague's brother was murdered.

 

Are we talking acquaintance, or friend/relative?
Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone I knew well who was a murder victim.

 

My cousin's father (I don't really call him my uncle because he wasn't blood and he divorced my aunt when I was like 10 years old) was beaten to death during the course of a robbery at a pawn shop he owned about 5-6 years ago.

My best friend's uncle (whom I met probably twice) was beaten to death during a dispute with an escort and her pimp in around 2001. The murder and subsequent trial was a reasonably big story in the LA Times for a few days. They both got life in prison.

 

Yes, on 9/11.

 

A co-worker and I became decent friends. He was a few years younger than me but had his shit together graduating from university to be a teacher and was then trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. Good guy, quirky with a big social circle, sort of skater dude. I moved to a new city and found out a few months later that he had been shot and killed while working on his car.

The investigation showed that he was murdered as revenge for things his older brother who was involved in the drug trade had done.

 

Don't know anyone who was murdered. Had a friend in high school who killed most of his family a few years after graduation.

 

Yes, a girl I went all through elementary, middle and high schools with was murdered (she was missing for months until her body was found) by a guy who I'd also gone through school with.

 

My first wife's uncle was murdered while working in his auto shop. The slaying was made to look like a robbery, but it was arranged by his wife -- seeking insurance money. She is on death row, but it's California so she will never be executed.