Struggling to understand...

Several years ago, a woman was raped and murdered here.  I didn't know her, but her story was all over the news for weeks.  It went unsolved up until about a month or so ago.

If you were following my blog waaaaaay back in 2011, you may have read this post about Bob.  Why am I bringing this up now, I'm sure you're wondering.  The rapist and murderer?  The teenage son mentioned in that particular post!  The son's name is Pat.  He was already in jail for life for a different heinous crime when police matched his DNA with some found on the murder victim.

I knew this kid when he was a teenager.  I hung out with him regularly, sometimes alone.  He never once made any attempt to hurt me, or made me feel unsafe or uncomfortable in any way.  I liked him and never got any sense of danger from him.  He moved about a month or so after I first met him, and I didn't see him again for a long while.  I just thought he was basically a good kid with a few problems.  He even went to church regularly.

I thought I knew him.  I thought I knew a lot of his history.  Turns out I only knew a very small part of it, and that I never really knew him at all!  I'm still in shock and not sure how to process it all.

After all this went down, I called Bob's ex-wife because I'm nosy.  I figured maybe she would share a bit of gossip, or maybe even shed some light on why he would commit such a horrific crime.  It was an awkward conversation, and the only thing she really shared is that she and Bob tried to turn Pat in back then.  They didn't know for a fact that Pat had done it, but thought the witness sketch looked a bit like Pat.  She also said Pat had been acting "squirrelly" that particular weekend, although she didn't elaborate on that point.  She and Bob went to the police with their suspicions, but the police didn't seem all that interested in talking with them.  She figured she'd done her part and left it at that.

I found out from Bob's ex and from the news that apparently Pat has quite an extensive criminal background.  How does someone who is seemingly so normal commit such an awful, awful crime?  I know he knows right from wrong.  How did he turn out to be such a monster?  How does he live with himself, knowing each day that he took an innocent life?  Does he have no conscience?

This has all been really shocking, and I almost feel obsessed with the case.  I keep trying to find more information about it, which really isn't all that smart of me.  I think I'm just looking for answers to questions that never will be answered.  He's already in prison for life, now prosecutors are considering whether to try for the death penalty on this case.

The biggest lesson I've learned out of all of this?  You can never *truly* know a person or what they're capable of.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Happy Memorial Day!

One more semester down, four more to go!  I'm proud to say that I got 3 A's, a B and a C - and I made the Dean's List again!  This wasn't a particularly difficult semester like the last one, but it was was *VERY* homework intensive.  One professor in particular was insistent on giving us staggering amounts of homework to do before each class.

But now that's over and I can breathe again for the summer!  I'll be working part time, but I suspect that there will be lots of free time which means I'll be able to post regularly again.  And even better, I'll be able to visit everyone more frequently again!  That's the part I'm really looking forward to - catching up with everyone.  What did I miss?  There's always something going on in Blogville!

I have a lot of stuff to take care of today.  Hopefully I'll get it all done and then I'll be able to come around and say hi to everyone.  I've really missed everybody!

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