Have you ever known a murder victim?

I honestly don't know. In short, it was a "is it me or him?" "Him" *BAM BAM BAM* I heard the gunshots (at least I think I did: I distinctly remember hearing a boom that night and I lived not too far from the site) but didn't know what they were until I heard the details of the murder.

She didn't go to our school.

 

I don't personally know them, but my family has lots of small-town ties to the family in Clinton, Ill., where the mom drowned her three children. Both the mom and the children had been in my aunt's sunday school class.

 

A couple off the top of my head. One Greek guy I went to high school with, dated the skank that lived across the street from me, got involved in the fur business in Toronto which is notoriously rife with scumballs, gamblers, etc beaten to death after a poker game (probably). Never solved.

A cousin in Baltimore in a hold-up. Brutal because he was one of three sons and the two others were twins with spinal bifida who died very young.

 

My dad's best friend and his family were murdered by an adopted son.

 

1, Kent Heitholt. 2, A woman who was in journalism school with us in Tennessee in the 1970s was abducted and killed by two people in 1985. The man convicted of the killing died while on death row a year or so ago, which balances the books after a fashion.

 

Got a FB birthday reminder for Darryl Hamilton this morning. That was a little eerie.

 

My cousin.

 

Cast of characters:
Mike - Victim
Denise - Mike's wife
Brian - Mike's best friend
Cheryl - Mike's mom

Very long story -- 18 years in the making, but here's the short version:
Mike, an avid hunter, disappeared. Denise pushed, and succeeded, to have him legally declared dead within the year, saying he'd been eaten by alligators. Collected $2m policy on him. Brian wrote the insurance policy and then married Denise. Subsequently, Brian and Denise divorced; Brian was convicted for domestic violence and imprisoned. (I lived overseas for all of this and miss some subplots but have followed most of it very closely.) Mike was missing for 17 years. At points in time, Cheryl, who never believed her son drown, kept Mike's name in paper, pressing police (with the help of Tallahassee Democrat journalist Jennifer Portman) to continue to investigate. Denise forbade her and Mike's daughter to see her grandmother, calling her a "crazy old lady" and telling her "never to mention" Mike's name again. Seventeen years after his disappearance, Brian, from prison, confessed to killing him. He implicated Denise as co-conspirator. Late last year, Denise went to trial for murder and was convicted (decision came, IIRC, the day before the 18th anniversary of the day he disappeared). She was sentenced to 30 years. (Insurance fraud trial pending.)

Mike's mom is a hero. I hope the movie that will surely be written comes from her point of view, because she is the one who kept the search going.

I followed the case since Mike's disappearance; all three of them graduated a year behind me from the same small high school. A couple of my classmates testified at trial or were interviewed for Dateline or whatever other shows highlighted the case. I remember Mike and Denise from church and Brian from sports - he ran track. Years later, he also shot his best friend in the face.

Last year would have been the 30th high school reunion. I wondered if there was one, because there certainly would have been a lot to talk about.

 

Of all the threads to get updated after 3 1/2 years, this is completely off the wall random.

And no.

 

I've come across this story in the news of late and was following it a bit. Slow wheels of justice.

And no, I have never known a murder victim.

 

My high school band director. Murdered in cold blood a couple of months before graduation. Gave a new meaning to wanting to get out of there.

The man who did it was found and put away within days. But since he pleaded insanity, under state law, he was put in a mental institution until he finally confessed to it a couple of years later.

Still remember a very good friend of mine leaving a message telling me that the man confessed. The end of two rotten years.

 

So strange that this thread was resurrected. An old HS classmate of mine was murdered a couple of weeks ago. We were both class of '80 and her younger brother was a very good friend and basketball buddy as well. Still not sure what happened.