Another MURDER in the family

Before I continue with the post "Finding husband number three", let's go back to my post "Starting over again" where I promised to come back and tell you about my prediction of my brother in law committing murder.


If you recall "S" was married to my younger sister and he was very abusive to her both physically and mentally. She had joined the army after taking all the abuse she could stand in an effort to get away from him. She made it through boot camp and had six weeks to live without him. After graduation she was stationed in Alabama. I became increasingly worried about her after that because I knew this would mean he would be joining her there. Maybe the separation had done them good. Maybe he had realized how awful he had been treating her and would change once they were back together again. However my fear was that he had not changed any and if he had, it would be short live. And because she was so far away from me there was no way I was going to be able to help her. With her in Alabama and me in North Carolina and neither of us having a phone we had to rely on the good old postal service to communicate. The time lapse for us to communicate was frightening. What if he lost it one Friday Night and hurt her real bad. It could be days or weeks before I would know that she needed me. And I was right. He was totally different for the first four or five weeks and then he started abusing her again. So, after six months in Alabama the Army offered her a tour in Korea and she accepted with no questions asked. Again she had found a way to safely get away from him where he wouldn't think she was leaving him, because men like him may not want you but they certainly don't want anyone else to have you either.


As bad as I hated it that she was going all the way to Korea and knowing there would be no way I could see her until she came home, I was grateful that she had managed to get away from him again even if it was just for six months. I wrote to her everyday. And she wrote back as often as she had time to. I sent care packages with goodies I knew she could only get here and did my best to let her know how much I loved and missed her. My hope was that by the time her tour in Korea was over she would be strong enough to stay away from him. As it turned out I wouldn't have to worry about her being strong enough to leave him, his behavior took care of that for me.


I was so excited the day I found out she was headed home. She would be flying into Norfolk and nothing was going to keep me from being there to pick her up. I don't think I slept for days prior to her return. It had been over a year since we had been able to be together and I was now in what appeared to be a good relationship with husband number three and I was ready to help her start her life over. The other half of me was coming home and with her back here in the States we could be together again and my life would be complete. Of course we both knew it would only be a few days after her return that she would be confronted by "S" about her coming home to him.


Okay, now let me tell you what he had been doing while she was in Korea. He had been living in Fayetteville North Carolina with his brother "K" and his new wife "A". Again I am using their initials only. "K" and his new wife had been living with "S" ever since my sister had left for Korea. They were splitting the costs of the household bills in an effort to lighten the load on both families. Within 2 days of my sister being back in the states, knowing she was going to have to contact him, she got word that he was missing. Not because someone had hurt him but because he was being looked for by the police for suspicion of murder. So on day three of her being home we drove to Fayetteville North Carolina to talk to the police there to find out what in the heck was going on. Everything happened so fast once we got there its hard to remember the fine details of that day. We drove to the police department first, to speak to the detective that had contacted my sister upon her arrival home. Once we met him he took us to his office to explain to us what had happened. The first thing he told us was we could not go to the house they had rented because it was a crime scene. He told us there were really no personal belongings left in there. We never did find out where they went, who got them or when the house had been cleaned out. He told us that "S" was gone. That he had not been seen since the night of the double murder. "Double murder?" we thought. "What in the world had happened?" He began to tell us that "S" had murdered his brother and his brother's wife. He said they had been drinking and probably getting high and an argument had ensued over their wives. It appeared that his brother's wife had been having an affair with him for several months and then decided to get back together with his brother. The detective thought they were fighting over her when "S" got really mad and pulled a butcher knife out of the kitchen drawer and just started stabbing his brother and his wife. He told us that she had been stabbed 27 times and his brother had been stabbed twice, one of which was in his groin and that was where they found the knife. "S" was nowhere to be found. We knew he had to be on the run or my sister would have heard from him by now. He was just that possessive of her. We found her car abandoned in a used car lot. The stereo equipment had been stripped out and the speakers were gone. It looked as if maybe "S" had done it in an effort to have something to pawn so he could get some money to run with. I have got to say I was petrified. I was afraid while we were there and I was afraid after we got back to my house the following day. So as more and more days went by and never a word from him we had more and more reason to believe he had committed these horrible murders. There was never a question in my mind from day one. And my fear would be now that he had killed once what reason would he have not to do it again. He would have nothing to loose at this point. My sister was able to get an extended leave from the army in order to have time to try to take care of things before she would report to her next duty station. When her orders came in they were for her to go to California. Lord knows, how much farther can you move away from me and still be in the states. As bad as I hated her being that far away at least I knew where she was and I could get there to see her. And besides, the farther away she was from Virginia and North Carolina the better. It would just make it harder for him to find her if he was looking for her. Several months went by and we heard no word from anyone about the murders. Then one day there was a knock on my door. Two men in suits standing out there waiting for someone to answer the door. As I approached the door I noticed they were holding badges in their hands for identification. I invited them in and they informed me that they were with the FBI and they were looking for "S". They wanted to know if I had heard from him or knew anyone that had. Or if I had any idea where he might be. No to both questions I told them. I wish I knew where he was too. I would have certainly have felt much safer. There was definitely no love loss between the two of us. He knew that I knew what he had been doing all along. I was not someone he would have wanted the police to be talking to because I would have nothing nice to say about him. I had seen the likes of him before and thinking of him and what he had done just gave me nightmares and also brought up a whole string of memories for me. I wish I could tell you more about him. I wish I knew where he was today, or where he had been all these years. Rumor has it that he was picked up and questioned about the murders but never formally charged. I remember hearing that he had confessed to someone off the record that he was responsible for what happened to his brother and his wife. But it doesn't count if you haven't been read your rights and you don't have an attorney present to represent you. And if a prosecutor doesn't believe there is a way to win a case they are not likely to formally charge you due to the double jeopardy laws. So they just sit back and wait for some new evidence. You know what? He could be living right here in the same town I live in now and I wouldn't even know it. Or he could be dead and the days I have spent worrying and wondering could be in vain. The only thing I AM sure of is I saw it in his face the night I looked at him through my front door. He was so angry and if looks could kill I would have been dead that very moment. Our family NEVER talks about him or what might have happened that dreadful night. Out of sight out of mind I guess is how they deal with it. But every now and then, every once in a blue moon I wonder how long people like him actually do hold on to a grudge.



Lesson better left unlearned? If your instinct tells you something, listen to it. What you an think may happen may not happen to you today but sometimes they happen when you least expect it to. Or if someone warns you that they fear for you give them the benefit of the doubt. They could have an instinct about something that could save your life or the life of someone you love.