A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people. Ed Gein was a serial killer whose urges lead him to kill. Every individual has experienced the feeling of an urge, whether it is squeezing the detergent out of those squishy Tide pods, or screaming out loud in a quiet library. Ed Gein was not the only serial killer who was lead by urges. Throughout history, there has been many excuses by killers that lead them to kill.
The most common killers were raised up with a bad background in their early childhood. These backgrounds are similar to child abuse. The scary thing about this type of killer is that anyone could be called one from this view. For me, I've actually known a killer. Scary, but he wasn't scary at the time.
I was in kindergarten living in Phoenix, AZ, next to a little boy who was two years older than me. His full name was Antonio Cruz, but I use to call him Tony for short. No one really like him. I remember at school, everyone was scared of him because he use to always get into fights, so he only had one friend. I use to be scared of him until one day my mom forgot to pick me up so I walked back to my house which was a block away. I was scared because there were a lot of people walking around, but Tony walked back with me, so I wasn't really freaking out. Since then, we became walking buddies.
After schools were awesome. I use to quickly do my work then play outside with Tony. We'd go to this little park by our house every day. But there was always an odd feeling around him like he was sad or something. I also noticed bruises. But I never said anything. I don't think I had ever saw him without any marks at all. I didn't think much of it until one day when I asked him about them. All he said was that he always gets in fights with his older brother. I knew he felt kind of weird about the subject, so I didn't ask about it anymore after that. My mom saw his bruises, but she knew how he use to fight other boys at school. I always wondered why she still let me hangout with him.
One day, I saw him crying outside after school, but my mom told me to leave him alone. I remember telling my mom if we could buy him something, so that night we went to Walmart and got him some Lego toy. When we were heading back we noticed there were cop cars outside their house. My mom asked the cops what happened and they told her that Tony stabbed his two older brothers and his parents because he was getting abused. I've never saw Tony again. Not even that night. It's so weird how it all happened. Everything changed so fast after that. We moved back to the rez and my mom became involved in our social lives.
I still can't believe that I was friends with a killer. I always wonder where he is to this day. I try to research him but nothing comes up. Whenever I told people, they always thought I was lying. This isn't the first time I'm writing about Tony. This is probably like my tenth time I think. It takes a lot to make someone do crazy things. Now that I understand, it makes me sad that he was getting abused by his family. No wonder why, he spent most of his days outside. No child should think that killing is their only way out.
This is such a sad story. I feel horrible for Tony. Horrible that he was abused, horrible that he thought he needed to kill, and I feel horrible to think what his life has been like since then. I'm glad that you could have been his friend. Even if you were the only good influence in his life, you must have impacted him in some positive way.
ReplyDeleteI have always found the concept of serial killers intriguing. It is frightening to know that, for one to earn the title, they must disguise their urges and mingle with those that would see them behind bars or as dead as their previous victims. A wolf among the sheep, if you will.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, your Anthony was not a serial killer; he must have had a significant break between his killings to be dubbed such. That does not diminish the severity of what he had done.
Nor does it diminish the severity of what was done to him.
Abuse is a terrible thing. It is dominance, intimidation, and an attempt at control through fear and pain.
Revenge, however, can be even worse. I am a firm supporter of self-defense, but once one person died, I doubt the others would have stayed to face his wrath. At what point did Anthony go from self-defense to hunting, I wonder? That instance is what makes a murderer.
Wow. This was such a sad story to read. I couldn’t help but feel really bad for Tony. We always hear stories of adults killing people, but we don't hear much of children doing these things. It’s sad to think Tony was getting abused, which led him to think stabbing them was the only option he had. It must have been hard for you since he became your friend.
ReplyDeleteThat would be interesting for you to get in touch with him again, maybe someday you will!
Wow. I am speechless. Thanks for sharing this story. What an incredibly sad story. I feel so bad for Tony. I think it is so sad to hear about how others grow up. How horrible for Tony. I believe sometimes people are prompted to do things at the right time, and I think it is amazing that you went and got him something that night. I think that is wonderful. I think this story goes to show that you never know what others are going through. We need to be kind to everyone.
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