Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Friends Of Killers Share Their Thoughts After Finding Out

Woman holding a gun in the dark
woman in black leather jacket standing on street during night time
Make us preferred on Google

CW: Murder, death, and kidnapping.

It's truly shocking when you think you know someone inside out, only to discover something about them which truly throws you for a loop.

Even friends you've known for your entire life might be harboring a shocking secret you would never expect they were capable of.

Up to and including, murder.

Needless to say, learning you were friends with a killer is enough to make you reevaluate your entire friendship, and wonder if you missed the obvious signs all along.


Redditor Ornery_Pop6860 was curious to hear how people processed that they were friends with a killer, leading them to ask:
"Friends of killers what were your first thoughts after finding out/Did you think they seemed off before?"

The Silence Was Telling

"I knew something had happened, WAYYY quieter than he usually was."

"He kept zoning out/ staring into space."

"For context it was an accident but he was scared and covered it up, not very well though because the cops found the body."

"He was suspiciously invested in the case, I was actually with him watching TV when the news announced they had found the body, he started sobbing and I was like 'dude did u know her' 'no it’s just really sad that family lost their grandma', I chalked it up to him losing his own grandma a mo. or two prior."

"It didn’t even occur to me that it happened like 2mi from his house."

"He was doing a bad job at work and kept getting distracted."

"When the police showed up at our work, they came over to him and said they had some questions to ask him and they didn’t even get another word out before he collapsed, started bawling and spilled everything out that happened."

"He confessed everything right there on the shop floor."

"It would later come out that he’d written a 2 part apology letter and put it in a ziplock bag and gone back to leave it with the body."

"They asked the front office for a document with his handwriting on it and it was a perfect match."

"There was damage to the front of his pickup along with DNA in the bumper."

"The family understood it was an accident and did feel sorry for him."

"He got off with a couple years in prison, which he only served half."

"When he got out the first thing he did was have his pickup destroyed at a junkyard."

"He said he couldn’t bare to look at anything from that night."

"He wasn’t a bad guy, it was just an accident."- DecentCupid96

Spiraling Downwards

"Not my friend but my older sister's closest friend through childhood and high school, so she was like a second sister to me."

"Both developed major drug problems starting their mid-teens."

"My sister eventually decided she couldn't have her in her life anymore for the sake of her recovery."

"Years go by and she suddenly gets arrested for killing an old lady she was shoveling snow for."

"Apparently the woman confronted her about having stolen her credit card and she beat her to death."

"There was never anything off about her."

"Just a normal teenage girl."

"Honor student, multiple sport athlete, well liked, and unlike my sister never got in trouble at school."- Iztac_xocoatl

Stages Of Processing

"He wasn’t a friend of mine, but I hung out a few times with Robert Long, who set fire to Palace Backpackers in Childers, Queensland, Australia, when we both stayed/ worked out of there."

"Fifteen people died in the fire he set.'

"I moved on in my travels two days before he set the place on fire."

"First thoughts were obviously 'Holy F*cking Sh*t!'"

"Then you fear for the people you knew and had made friends with, scared for their safety."

"Then reality hits and you realize how close you yourself were to possible death."

"Then disbelief hits, as names of those murdered start being released and you realize you knew many of them, and had worked alongside them."

"Then it gets personal."

"You follow the news nightly as he goes on the run."

"You will the police to find him."

"You hope they kill the son of a b*tch as he attempts to flee."

"And when they finally catch him and throw him in jail for the rest of his life, you say good, I hope you rot in there."

"And then you forget about it all, because you were lucky and neither you or any of your friends died."

"And then, years later, when you have kids of your own, it all comes back to you occasionally."

"Like when your kid starts talking about traveling one day and staying in backpacker hostels."- scarajones

Not Just The Fellow Outsider...

"Went to school with a dumba** we’ll call Jeff."

"Wasn’t a killer, but was always creepy af."

"He would also always say and do dumb sh*t to get a ruse out of people."

"I wouldn’t really say he was a friend, but being both kinda loser kids we hung around the same circles."

"One day, he said 'huh huh I got a lady locked in my basement huh huh'."

"It being Jeff, everyone just shrugged it off or called him a dumba**, thinking he was just being an idiot."

"1 yr later."

"News story breaks."

"Turns out him and his uncle had a lady living at their house against her will."

"No sh*t."- KFDM_guest

A Victim Of Circumstance

"Friends older brother was a loose cannon (huge understatement)."

"I'd heard how much abuse his mum, younger brother (my friend) and himself were given frequently by his mums partner (she was vulnerable mentally and physically handicapped)."

"One day his brother and mum were beaten by said partner and he snapped."

"To this day I don't feel like he is a bad person for what he done, just a young man who was failed by everything that was supposed to protect him and who felt it necessary to protect his mum and brother."

"I was sad for my friend because his brother was the only constant he really had and now he's in prison."- Tygrimus

More Troubled Than They Thought

"I was in a state-run psych ward while awaiting trial."

"I befriended a schizophrenic guy and we hung out daily."

"When he wasn't responding to the voices in his head (usually by cracking up laughing until teary eyed), he was smart, charismatic, friendly and pretty funny."

"Long story short, he got a weekend pass to spend the weekend with his family and murdered them all with a hammer."

"He also murdered the Chinese exchange student staying with them."- Panderino83

She Lived Up To Sad Expectations

"I went to school with a girl who killed someone in a car accident."

"She ran a red light and was drunk."

"Couple years later she gets out of jail and gets in a high speed chase and derails off the interstate and crashes into a dealership killing someone in her vehicle."

"I think the other passengers also passed or were seriously injured, she on the other hand was fine!"

"She was always a troubled kid back in school."

"I recently remembered her after rewatching my quinceañera video and seen her in it."- Popular_Composer_204

One Bad Decision

"My friend's younger brother (teenager at the time) got so high he thought he was invincible."

"He decided he had to test it, so he got in his car and drove into oncoming traffic."

"Hit a minivan head-on and killed a whole family."

"He always seemed like a normal kid."

"Now he's in jail for a long, long time."- Veritas3333

Still Processing

"We had a family friend that I knew."

"He was more my dad's friend but helped out our family with things."

"I also knew his stepson since we had been in school since elementary together though we didn't talk to each other much."

"About 7 years ago my dad told me he had some bad news and that the family friend had strangled his wife to death with a cell phone charging cord."

"After that I kind of just didn't interact with the guy or the step son."

"The step son was in ranger school at the time and last I knew refused to move back to Iowa as he was worried he might kill the man who took his mother's life away."

"It felt and still kind of feels weird."

"I technically knew the victim as well."

"She was pretty nice and I liked chatting with her and how her son and I acted in elementary."

"I think that's what makes it so weird is knowing both of them."- Kain9wolfy·

People have a way of surprising you.

Sadly, not always in a good way.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshots of Jessica Tarlov and Emily Compagno; Abdul El-Sayed
Fox News; Sarah Rice/Getty Images

Jessica Tarlov Has Perfect Clapback After Fox News Co-Host Criticizes Abdul El-Sayed For Not Being A 'Practicing Physician'

Fox News host Jessica Tarlov had the perfect response to her colleague Emily Compagno after Compagno complained that Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is not a "practicing physician."

El-Sayed, an epidemiologist who campaigned on expanding healthcare access, strengthening the economy, and ending unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel, became the first progressive to win a statewide primary in a state carried by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. He is set to face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers during next month's midterms.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tom Holland; Florence Pugh
Jeff Spicer/ Getty Images for Sony Pictures; NBC

Florence Pugh Revealed That Tom Holland Is The Reason She Appears In 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'—And We Love To See It

Florence Pugh has built a career on scene-stealing performances, but her latest Marvel appearance came with one particularly flattering endorsement: Spider-Man himself.

While promoting her latest historical drama, East of Eden, Pugh stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she was asked about her surprise appearance as Yelena Belova in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kelsgordon's TikTok video
@kelsgordon/TikTok

Woman Reveals The Fallout After She Caught Her Sister's Fiancé Cheating Just 2 Hours Before Their Wedding

Some people would rather live in a state of oblivion than know the truth.

TikToker @kelsgordon realized her sister was one of those people when she discovered, just two hours before her sister's wedding, that her sister's fiancé had a whole other romantic relationship in the works—and she intended to go ahead with the wedding anyway.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @maddieogle10's TikTok
@maddieogle10/TikTok

Woman Shares The Biggest 'Red Flags' That A Friendship Is Ending—And TikTokers Are Sounding Off

Most of us have experienced a friendship coming to an end, and while it sometimes comes as a surprise, we can usually look back and see some signs that the end was near.

TikToker @maddieogle10, for example, believes that it's obvious that a friendship is coming to an end when something starts to feel off or like the friend is losing interest.

Keep ReadingShow less
Conservative political activist Peter Thiel arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer Award in Berlin.
Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP via Getty Images

Tech Billionaire Goes Viral For Bonkers Claim That Being Evil Can Actually Be 'Kind Of Good' In Cringey Viral Clip

While everyday Americans are watching the cost of seemingly everything eat away at their bank accounts, the billionaire class continues operating in an entirely different financial multiverse.

Now, tech billionaire Peter Thiel has apparently found another luxury afforded by extreme wealth: redefining whether “evil” might actually be a good thing. The eyebrow-raising philosophy came during a September 2026 appearance on MD Meets, where Thiel sat down with fellow billionaire Mathias Döpfner.

Keep ReadingShow less