Yahoo Lifestyle 31 People Who Have WILD Connections To Famous Crimes Are Revealing Their Chilling Experiences
We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the time they met or interacted with someone connected to a well-known true crime case. Here are their eerie responses:
Warning: Graphic content ahead, including mentions of murder and rape.
1.The Zodiac Killer (serial killer): "I’ve been WAITING for this to come up! My grandfather was the responding officer to the Zodiac murder that occurred at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California, in the late '60s. When he retired, my father took over the case. I got to see the car door with the Zodiac’s sign in the sheriff’s department when I was a teenager. In the Netflix documentary that came out at the end of 2024, my grandfather is interviewed (about 9 minutes in). It was amazing to see him so young! He passed away in the early '90s. My dad always thought that the Zodiac killer had died years ago. My dad passed away seven years ago. I would’ve loved to have heard his take on the documentary."
—Anonymous
The "Zodiac Killer," a self-given pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer, operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. His crimes are widely considered the most famous unsolved murder case in American history. Known for using cryptic messages that he sent to the media, as well as for taunting police and reporters with ciphers, the Zodiac claims to have had 37 victims. However, authorities have only ever identified five confirmed victims.
2.Jeffrey Dahmer (serial killer): "I went to school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and took a handful of forensics classes while I was there. One of the people I got to speak with in that field was one of the detectives who worked on investigating Jeffrey Dahmer's place. (This detective's boss was also a neighbor to a close family member for a time!) He shared his experiences with Dahmer and how chilling it was because even in the police station, he was a perfectly polite and well-spoken guy. The detective even mentioned that there are certain foods/brands he can't eat anymore because they were found in Dahmer's apartment, intermingled with all the horror, so even seeing those products in his house makes him feel a little sick. It was kind of fascinating to hear a firsthand account, but definitely not something everyone could handle."
Jeffrey Dahmer confessed to violently raping, killing, and murdering at least seventeen young men between 1978 and 1991. He was also known to have engaged in necrophilia and cannibalism with some of his victims. He was initially convicted of only 15 murders (due to lack of evidence in the other cases), with a 16th conviction coming later. He was ultimately sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences. While in prison, Dahmer was beaten to death by inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994, allegedly for having a "disturbing sense of humor."
3."I worked on a case of copyright infringement with Jeffrey Dahmer’s father. Extraordinarily creepy man. He wrote a book and didn’t want it made into a movie. He had no case but wanted to try to stop it and paid us to do so. The movie got made 🤷🏻♀️."
4.Dennis Rader (serial killer): "Growing up, I lived next door to a kid a few years younger than me, who lived with his dad. He told me when he was a baby, his mom was found murdered while he was in the house. His dad has always been the top suspect, but they never convicted anyone of the murder. I spent years side-eyeing that man. One January, the most famous serial killer from my state suddenly resurfaced. And how did he do it? He mailed my neighbor's mom's driver's license to our local newspaper. That's how we found out my neighbor was innocent and his wife was murdered by Dennis Rader, aka BTK."
—Anonymous
"BTK" — an acronym for "bind, torture, kill" — was the method in which Dennis Rader killed his victims. Rader was responsible for a series of murders that took place over a long period of time from 1974 to 1991. However, Rader was not caught until three decades later, in 2005. In total, he killed 10 people and was known for dressing up as his victims and taking photographs of himself that way. Rader is currently serving 10 consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison in Kansas.
5.John Wayne Gacy (serial killer): "John Wayne Gacy was my Aunt's neighbor and was the clown at my four cousins' birthday parties several times. The house was torn down after he was convicted. A very old couple moved into the house that was built on the lot."
John Wayne Gacy, known as the Killer Clown — a moniker given because of his public appearances as a clown before the discovery of his crimes — was a serial killer active in the Chicago area in the 1970s, with at least 33 victims. He would rape and torture his victims — young men and boys — before killing them either by asphyxiation or strangulation. Gacy was executed by lethal injection in May 1994.
6.Dr. E. Scott Sills (convicted killer): "He was one of my doctors. I was being treated for fertility issues by one of several doctors at a practice in Georgia, and over the years, I saw one of them, Dr. E. Scott Sills, a few times in the course of my treatments. Fast forward to more than a decade later, I’m watching one of those true crime series, and there he is. He’d married a woman, and they moved to California, where he strangled her and staged the scene (badly) to look like an accident. He’s in prison now."
Dr. E. Scott Sills, a fertility doctor operating in San Clemente, California, was sentenced to 15 years to life in 2024 for fatally strangling his wife, Susann. Her body was found at the foot of the stairs in their home in what was revealed to be a staged accident. Authorities found blood stains on the wall, curtains, and a clump of Susann's hair in the room where she'd been sleeping.
7.Tricia Pacaccio (murder victim): "I was friends with Tricia in high school. She was murdered outside of her house in Glenview, Illinois. I believe it was the first murder that Michael Gargiulo committed. My friend dated Michael’s brother, Ken, and I was in his car with him several times! Michael Gargiulo eventually moved to California and murdered several other women — including a woman Ashton Kutcher was seeing. His nickname was the 'Hollywood Ripper.' Freaky, I was so close to him. He killed Tricia because she was the sister of one of his friends!"
Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
—Anonymous
Michael Gargiulo, aka the "Hollywood Ripper," a serial killer, was convicted for the 2001 stabbing death of Ashley Ellerin (the woman Ashton Kutcher was dating) and the 2005 killing of Maria Bruno, a young mother of four. Gargiulo was also found guilty of the attempted murder of a young woman in 2008. Kutcher actually testified in that trial, and Gargiulo was sentenced to death. In 2024, Gargiulo was extradited to Illinois for the 1993 murder of Tricia Pacaccio.
8.Ted Bundy (serial killer): "Ted Bundy stole my wife’s purse from a hotel cloakroom during a company banquet in Tallahassee, Florida. He used our credit cards for gas and a hotel room in Lake City, Florida, where he killed a young girl. We did not find out that it was Bundy who had our credit cards and my wife’s ID for several months. I was working evening and midnight shifts at the time. If we’d realized who had been the thief, we probably should have moved!"
Ted Bundy was a serial killer who kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least 30 young women and girls in the '70s. However, many believe there may have been over 100 victims.
Bundy's trial received widespread media coverage, not just because of his horrific crimes but also because many young women, self-proclaimed admirers, would show up to the courtroom. Bundy eventually married one of these admirers, Carole Ann Boone, and they even had a child, Rosa Johnson, while he was incarcerated. After many years in prison, Bundy was executed by electric chair in January 1989.
9.Aileen Wournos (serial killer): "I grew up in The Ocala National Forest in the '80s. My family knew this family around the way, like three trailers down. The mom babysat me once in a while. Time passed, and their little family divorced, leaving the dad alone in the family’s double-wide up at the top of the field next to a shortcut to the Jiffy store. Everyone was aghast (quietly) as the father got a little wilder, and he shacked up with this weird blonde lady. Rumor was they were partying and being loud, and she was just odd and loopy and aggressive at their friends and family get-togethers. I remember walking the shortcut on the way to get a slushie with some kids in the neighborhood, and she just stood there smoking a cigarette in the shadows of the screen porch. The lady was Aileen Wournos. After her arrest, the paper interviewed the divorced dad because he survived her wrath. I’m pretty sure he split soon after that. Oh, the Forest."
Aileen Wournos, aka "The Damsel of Death," was a serial killer who murdered and robbed six men (and possibly a seventh) while doing sex work in Florida from 1989 to 1990.
Wuornos initially claimed she acted in self-defense. However, an investigator in the case later said that after her first conviction, the murder of Richard Mallory, Wournos then pled guilty to all her other killings. After some time, she started to say she wasn't a victim and that she actually robbed and killed her victims to gain their personal property and money. Wuornos was executed on Oct. 9, 2002.
10.Christopher Watts (murdered his family): "My friend's husband was best friends with Chris Watts. They grew up together — they had sleepovers, played baseball on the same Little League team, etc. After high school, they shared an apartment in college. Her husband was also a groomsman in the wedding of Chris and Shanann. On the Netflix special, you can even catch a glimpse of my friends dancing at their wedding. They drifted apart when the Watts family moved from North Carolina to Colorado. After two decades of friendship, I asked her, 'Did your husband EVER have any inkling Chris was capable of doing something so horrific?' She said no. He never knew him to be anything but genuinely nice. Something inside him just snapped. They have had zero contact since the killings."
—Anonymous
In August 2018, Christopher Watts murdered his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. Although Chris initially claimed he was innocent of these crimes, he eventually confessed to detectives that he killed Shanann via strangulation and drove with her dead body and his two daughters (who were still alive at that point) to a nearby oil storage site, where he used a blanket to smother the two girls and then dropped their bodies into an oil tank.
In November 2018, Chris was charged with nine counts — including five counts of first-degree murder — and pleaded guilty to all charges. He was ultimately given five life sentences without the possibility of parole.
11.Andrew Cunanan (serial killer): "When I was working as a DJ, I was introduced to this good-looking guy, and we hit it off pretty well. We hooked up a few times and he was nice enough, but something felt off. He would tell me something about his life and then totally change what he said. He told me he worked in a bank, and then he said he was a realtor and would ask for money. My bullshit detector kept going off, so after several dates, we went our separate ways. It was amicable, and we stayed in contact with each other through phone calls and letters. I was now living in Seattle, Washington, and I began to see flyers in the bars and on street poles from the FBI to be on the lookout for this guy, and it was the same guy I was with. It was Andrew Cunanan, and he had killed Gianni Versace."
—Anonymous
Andrew Cunanan was a serial killer who murdered five people in different cities over three months in 1997. His first victim was a naval officer who was bludgeoned to death with a hammer. Next, Cunanan shot and killed an architect. Apparently, his first two victims were long-time associates of Cunanan. The third victim was a 72-year-old real estate developer, and the fourth was a cemetery worker. Both were strangers to Cunanan. Finally, Cunanan famously shot and killed fashion designer Gianni Versace outside of his home in Miami Beach, Florida. Cunanan died by suicide just days after murdering Versace in July 1997. His motivations remain unknown.
12.Richard Ramirez (serial killer): "Luckily, we didn’t meet him, but I was about 6 months old when the 'Night Stalker' (Richard Ramirez) attacked someone near our home in Orange County, California. My parents and I slept in the living room with a baseball bat until he was caught. My dad’s best client lived a few doors down from another one of the victims, too. So scary!"
Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker, was a serial killer and sex offender active in California from 1984 to 1985. His crime spree affected residents throughout Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area during this time. He would often use weapons as a means of beating or torturing his victims before killing them.
After being caught, Ramirez was convicted of 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries. He died of complications from cancer while on death row at San Quentin State Prison in 2013.
13.Nicholas Godejohn (Gypsy-Rose Blanchard's ex-boyfriend and convicted murderer): "I used to work for the prison system. I've met several of the most recently executed offenders in Missouri. The one that everyone loves hearing about is having met and talked to Gypsy-Rose's ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn. He's not as mentally disabled as the shows have made him out to be. He is a little delayed, but not much. I also knew a couple of guys that were featured on I Am a Killer and American Monster."
—Anonymous
In 2018, Nicholas Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Gypsy-Rose's mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard in 2015. He was sentenced to life without parole. Gypsy-Rose, meanwhile, was sentenced to ten years with eligibility for parole and released in December 2023.
14.Ken McElroy (convicted attempted murderer): "I worked in a library, and my coworker was planning a program on the unsolved Ken McElroy murder in Skidmore, Missouri. She was talking about theories and if he deserved it, etc., when a woman came up to the desk and told us she overheard our conversation. She said that Ken was her father… She doesn’t talk about programs at the desk anymore."
Ken McElroy was known for "terrorizing" the town of Skidmore, Missouri, in the 1950s. Over many years, he was accused of several crimes, including assault, theft, rape, and others. He gained notoriety as the "town bully." He was eventually convicted of attempted murder in 1981 but released on bond not long after. It was reported that residents got so "fed up" with his crimes that they organized an "extrajudicial killing," shooting him to death as he exited a bar in July 1981.
15.John Cristie (serial killer): "My son-in-law’s grandmother (who is still alive and in her mid-90s) injured herself whilst at work in London. She received first aid from John Reginald Christie, who was executed in 1953 after being convicted of multiple murders in one of the UK's most infamous criminal cases."
John Christie was a convicted serial killer and serial rapist whose crimes occurred in the 1940s and 1950s in England. He is known to have murdered at least seven people, including his wife. The bodies of his victims were found in various locations around his flat in London, like behind kitchen walls, buried in the garden, and beneath the floorboards. He was executed via hanging in 1953.
16.Courtney Clenney (accused murderer): "She's an Insta Famous OnlyFans model who was accused of murdering her boyfriend in Florida. Just a few years before, she was a repeat client at a defense firm I closely worked with. She would routinely catch serious felony-level DUI and assault charges. She never seemed concerned, posting as if nothing was happening. Her father would bail her out again and again. It was hard to see such reckless enabling; what would normally be a harrowing lesson for most of us never seemed to stick for her. If only her audience at the time knew the chaotic life she lived."
Courtney Clenney was accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend, Christian Obumseli, at their home in Edgewater, Florida, in April 2022. According to the State Attorney, the couple had an "extremely tempestuous and combative relationship." Clenney is currently facing a second-degree murder charge in the case. She has pleaded not guilty.
17.Lyle and Eric Menendez (convicted murderers): "I met Lyle and Eric Menendez in two different prison visiting rooms in the '90s. My ex was being transferred around to California facilities, one of them was in Tehachapi State Prison, the other was in Folsom. It was interesting; there were always different women visiting. I don't think I saw the same one twice. My ex told me that out in the yard, the other inmates would give them a hard time about the strawberry ice cream their parents were eating when they killed them."
—Anonymous
Lyle and Erik Menendez, often referred to as the "Menendez brothers," were convicted of killing their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, at their home in Beverly Hills, California, in 1989. Although initially claiming home intruders had killed their parents, after months of investigations, Erik eventually confessed to the murders to his psychologist. Lyle and Erik were convicted and sentenced to life without parole in January 1994. In October 2024, the Los Angeles County DA announced that he would seek to have Lyle and Erik resentenced, making them immediately eligible for parole. The new case is still under review and ongoing.
18.David Kaneko (lived with his family's dead bodies): "When I was a kid, a scandalous crime — the Kaneko family, Rexburg, Idaho — rocked the small town I was from. A mother and daughter were found dead and partially mummified in the house they lived in. Their family members had requested wellness checks, and the police finally got in and discovered their remains. The husband/father was still alive and lived in the home with them for at least part of the time after they were dead. Here is the wild part — when all of this came to light, my mom said she saw the guy at the grocery store in the air freshener aisle! He had asked her what kind she thought he should get. It seemed innocuous at the time, but after the dead bodies were discovered, it was pretty clear he was buying the air freshener to cover the smell of the decomposing bodies. There were several factors in the case, though, and he didn’t end up serving substantial jail time."
"Several years later, I am a teenage driver who scuffed some of the paint on the family car while learning to drive. I’m sitting in the parking lot, and the guy walks by, staring at the scratched paint on the car and shaking his head. During the trial, he said he didn’t smell the bodies decomposing...but he noticed some paint defects on a tan Ford Fusion?! Yeah, right, buddy."
—Anonymous
David Kaneko, who lived with the "partially mummified" corpses of his dead wife and daughter for years, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2007 for involuntary manslaughter.
His wife, Lorraine Kaneko, and daughter, Laura Kaneko, were found dead in their Madison County home after apparently "following a plan they believed was a divine revelation requiring a restricted diet and complete isolation." The women died from a combination of starvation and sickness, according to autopsy reports.
It was reported, "Authorities conducting a welfare check on June 19, 2004, found the decomposed bodies of Laura Kaneko, 33, and Lorraine Kiyoe Kaneko, 58, side by side on a bed surrounded by hundreds of air fresheners and fans in Kaneko’s mobile home."
19.Heather Mack and Tommy Schaeffer (convicted murderers): "My niece and nephew went to high school with convicted killers Heather Mack and Tommy Schaeffer, who killed Heather’s mother in Bali circa 2014. They weren’t friends, nor did they run in the same circles, but they knew each other. Their mother, however, was closer because she was Heather’s case manager. Over Christmas, we drove around looking at holiday lights, and my sister took me past the Mack’s old house. It’s a beautiful home that was remodeled. My sister said the home was trashed and that Heather and her mother had a violent relationship. A very sad story that my sister doesn’t like to talk about."
—Anonymous
Heather Mack, is an heiress and convicted murderer from Chicago who, along with her boyfriend, brutally killed her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, in Bali, Indonesia in August 2014. The crime drew a lot of public attention because Mack and her boyfriend stuffed her mother's body in a suitcase. In 2024, Mack pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Sheila with her then-boyfriend to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
20.Joseph 'Joey' Wilson (murderer): "This is kind of a twofer. First, Joey Wilson of the Cellphone Murders of Huntsville, Alabama, in 1997. Joey lived at his dad's house next door to my grandma. My sisters and I would play with Joey and his siblings in the '90s. While visiting my grandma, we would play basketball at my grandma's house. Sometimes, we'd play catch, like toss a ball to each other over the backyard fence. A dealership bought the house where the murders occurred, and it is now part of the car lot. Joey is still in prison."
—Anonymous
In September 1996, four people were shot and killed over a stolen cellphone. A group of men, including Joey Wilson (and Corey Johnson, mentioned below), went to a house to allegedly buy some drugs. They left at some point, returned to take the drugs, then left again. After the incident, one of the people staying at that house, Lamar Hemphill, realized his phone was missing. When he called his cellphone, Joey Wilson answered. Hemphill filed a police report, and sometime later, Joey and some of his friends came back to the house, terrorized the people there over the police report, beat and tortured them, and eventually killed four. Joey Wilson and another accomplice were sentenced to death.
21.Corey Johnson (murderer): "He was part of the same Cell Phone Murders in 1997. Corey, a long-time friend of Joey, and another accomplice in the murders were family friends. When Corey was released in 2016, something happened, and he stabbed his long-time girlfriend Candace 'Candy' Wilson 60 times in the back, face down on a bed. This murder occurred in Joey and Candy's childhood home, still next door to my grandma. Yikes, to be one degree away from two murders is frightening!"
—Anonymous
22.Sammy "The Bull" Gravano (former mobster): "Three or four years ago, I interacted with a very high-profile criminal. Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano. He had just launched a YouTube channel and podcast telling his story about how he came up in the New York mafia. After listening to him, I had an idea for either a movie or TV show and reached out to him via email. I asked him if I could get this project picked up if he would be interested in coming on as an advisor to keep things accurate. While he expressed interest in the idea, he already had his own project in the works. Oh well."
—Anonymous
A member of the infamous Gambino crime family, Gravano had a part in prosecuting John Gotti, boss of the Gambino crime family. In a deal, he testified as a government witness against Gotti and other members. He himself had confessed to being involved in 19 murders, including the killing of his best friend and also his brother-in-law. He ended up serving only five years in prison for his cooperation.
23.The Branch Davidians (cult): "My cousin in San Antonio had a house that was basically a party house. One of his friends was an EMT, and this friend and his partner would hang out with us while on duty. They would get calls to go to car wrecks, etc., and then come back and tell us all the gruesome details. His partner later joined the Branch Davidians (and believe it or not, his last name was Branch). He left the compound before the fire but was arrested for being one of the shooters on the day of the raid. He has since been released from prison."
The most famous member of this cult was David Koresh. Koresh and his followers were part of the famous Waco siege at their compound near Waco, Texas. There was an intense gun battle with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI, ending in a huge fire that killed around 80 members, including children. The siege lasted 51 days.
24.Joseph James DeAngelo (serial killer): "We lived three streets away from Joseph James DeAngelo, known as the 'Golden State Killer,' for many years, and we didn't even know it! My daughter babysat for a neighbor who lived three houses down from him. My two sons and my daughter used to ride their bikes by his house every day. He was also known as the 'grumpy old man' yelling at neighborhood kids to get off the sidewalk or get off his property. Before he was caught, he was very able, not confused, and walking, not in a wheelchair."
—Anonymous
Joseph James DeAngelo, aka the "Golden State Killer," committed (at least) 13 murders, 51 rapes, and 120 burglaries throughout California from 1974 to 1986. DeAngelo is currently serving multiple life terms at Corcoran State Prison.
Interestingly, Michelle McNamara, the late wife of actor Patton Oswalt, had a hand in capturing DeAngelo. According to USA Today, "McNamara, who died unexpectedly in 2016, had investigated the assailant and chronicled her search for the killer in a book, 'I'll Be Gone in the Dark,' which was published posthumously in 2018. Her book prompted renewed interest in the case, and DeAngelo was arrested shortly after it was published."
25.Ariel Castro (kidnapper and rapist): "I had a friend in high school whose mom and stepdad were both FBI agents. They were some of the agents who responded to Ariel Castro's house. For those who don't know, he kidnapped three women and held them for around 10 years before one of them, Amanda Berry, escaped and got help. On a sidenote, knowing my friend's mom got my brother out of jury duty once, since she was a witness in the case he was called in for."
—Anonymous
Between 2002 and 2004, Michelle Knight, 21; Amanda Berry, 16; and Gina DeJesus, 14, were kidnapped by a man named Ariel Castro, who went on to restrain, abuse, and sexually assault the three women and girls "over and over."
After roughly 10 years, in May 2013, Castro left his house one day and also left the door unlocked. Neighbors Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero heard Amanda scream for help and kicked the door in, freeing her and her then–6-year-old daughter. Amanda called 911, and responding officers freed Michelle and Gina.
Castro died by suicide in December 2013.
26.Vincent Gigante (mobster): "In the late 1970s, I lived in Greenwich Village off Bleecker Street in New York City. Next to my building was the 'Triangle Social Club.' It was the headquarters for Vinny 'the Chin' Gigante, head of the Genovese crime family. In the summer, you could indeed find 'the Chin' walking the block in his pajamas and robe. But contrary to reports, he didn't seem 'crazy' but carried on conversations outside the club with a variety of characters. You could look inside and see a poster up on the wall that said, 'Don't talk in here, the place is bugged.' I would also see his consigliere, Bobby Manna, an impeccably dressed man, who went to jail for plotting to kill John Gotti. Needless to say, it was an incredibly safe place to live."
—Anonymous
Vincent Gigante, aka the Chin, was a mobster active in New York City from the 1980s until his death in 2005 at the age of 77. He died while serving a 12-year prison sentence after being convicted of racketeering and conspiring to kill other mobsters.
27.John Dillinger (bank robber and gangster): "My father and his friend Mark were visiting South Carolina as guest ministers at a small church. They stayed with Mark’s friend, who is the son of Melvin Pervice, the agent who ultimately captured John Dillinger."
John Dillinger was a gangster in the Midwest who was active during the Great Depression. From September 1933 to July 1934, Dillinger and his gang were responsible for killing 10 people, wounding several others, robbing banks, and staging three jailbreaks — killing a sheriff and wounding guards in the process. Dillinger died in 1934, shot by FBI agents.
28.Rod Blagojevich (former politician who was impeached): "I met Rod Blagojevich while he was still the governor of Illinois (before his prison sentence, obviously). I was part of a group of childhood cancer survivors who were lobbying our local legislature for more funding for pediatric cancer research. I have a picture with him and everything! Of course, it was only a year or so later that he was indicted on federal charges for trying to sell Obama's Illinois senate seat once Obama clinched the presidency."
Rod Blagojevich is a former politician who served as governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. He was convicted of corruption charges over an attempt to sell the Senate seat vacated by then-President Barack Obama. While he was president in 2020, Donald Trump formally commuted Blagojevich's sentence after being imprisoned for nearly eight years.
29.Drew Peterson (killer): "I lived 10 minutes away from Drew Peterson. I was in seventh grade when his wife, Stacy, went missing and he was being investigated for her disappearance and then for his third wife’s death. We’d come to school each Monday and talk about where we’d seen him out and about, since he was super cocky and thought he’d get away with it because he was a cop. We’d see him at McDonald’s, Best Buy, etc., in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Luckily, he was convicted of his third wife’s murder, but to this day, Stacy has yet to be found."
—Anonymous
Drew Peterson, an ex–police sergeant, was convicted in 2012 of murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, sometime in 2003. He is also the prime suspect (though has never been charged) in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who has been missing for 16 years. Drew Peterson is currently serving a 38-year sentence.
30.The DC sniper attacks (coordinated shootings): "I had a month off between jobs and decided to work out at the local YMCA every weekday before starting working full time at a desk. One day I walked in, and a horrible odor of old sweat in the air greeted me. After scanning my ID card, I walked toward the back where the locker rooms were. Sitting on a bench near the women’s locker rooms were two males, one middle-aged and one a teenager or in his early 20s, both looking at me. The older man nodded, then the younger one said hello and I said hello back as if he was just another person I had known all my life. They left the gym shortly after, and the bad odor slowly dissipated."
Jahi Chikwendiu / AFP via Getty Images, Afp / AFP via Getty Images
"A month or two later, the DC Beltway snipers were captured, and the news said they had been visiting YMCAs up and down I-95, including the YMCA I had been using. When I saw their pictures, I recognized them as the smelly pair sitting on the bench the day the younger one greeted me, and it sent chills up my spine to think I could have been one of their victims that day."
—Anonymous
The DC sniper attacks, also called the Beltway sniper attacks, were a series of coordinated shootings in the Washington, DC, metro area that started in February 2002 and lasted until October 2002. In total, 17 people were killed and 10 others wounded. The perpetrators were John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. Muhammad was executed via lethal injection in 2009, while Malvo, now 38, is currently serving four life sentences.
31.Finally, Derek Saretzky (murderer): "He murdered three people. I'm in the Crowsnest Pass in Alberta, Canada. It's five small towns that are very close together and have quite an interesting history (mine explosions, one of the most deadly landslides in North America, the largest piggy bank). Derek worked for his dad's company, which is quite well-known locally. I crossed paths with him multiple times, and he came to our business (tattoo shop) as well. Derek murdered a woman named Hanne just a few doors down from where we lived. She was well-known around town for taking in animals and was a no-nonsense kind of person. Before the police identified him as the guilty party, he also murdered a man named Terry and kidnapped Terry's daughter Hailey before killing her as well. At the time, my sister and I were living beside each other, and she phoned me to ask how my visit was. I asked her, 'What visit?.'
"She explained that a guy had been walking down the road, and when he saw my house, he turned up to my front door. She said she was checking because it had been nearly half an hour, and she was curious about how our visit was going.
I was explaining nobody had come to my door; while we were on the phone, there was a knock on her door. She kept me on the phone as we were both single moms. It was Derek. She wasn't sure if he recognized her, but she knew who he was as she had worked for his family's company for years.
This was after the murder of Hanne but before Terry and Hailey.
He said all he wanted was water as he had been walking, so she left the chain on the door (thank goodness) and grabbed him a bottle of water. Once everything came out, we had to speak to the investigators as they were trying to develop a timeline of his activities.
As my sister gave her statement, she told them that it had been nearly 30 minutes since he was either in my yard or hers. I then blurted out that, because we were running a daycare, all our toys were in her yard for the kids, and maybe he was 'shopping' for a child before he kidnapped Hailey. Well, my sister had all the color drained from her face because that hadn't crossed her mind, and the detectives just kind of stared at each other for a minute.
After our interview and her statement, the detective told me I was probably right, and we had no idea how long he was in either of our yards, possibly staring into the windows. Also, I did find hand and face prints on the outside of my kitchen windows, and one of my outside chairs had been moved underneath, so I'm thinking he checked my place before moving to hers. We will never know what was going on in his head, but my sister keeps her chain lock on all the time, and I have my crossbow."
—Anonymous
During a two-hour interrogation, Derek Saretzky confessed to killing two-year-old Hailey Dunbar Blanchette and her father, Terry. Months after being charged with these murders, he also admitted to killing an older woman, Hanne Meketech. Saretzky was sentenced in 2017 to 75 years without parole for the violent murders.
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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