If you think about it, you might just know someone who committed murder and got away with it. After all, people getting away with criminal activity is so commonplace, even the most public members of society can escape punishment. Is it all that much of a stretch to say these sort of things happen all the time to ordinary people?
Below are unsolved mysteries involving disappearing neighbors, shady suicides, and deep, dark family secrets, where no one technically has been found guilty. But the circumstances surrounding these instances suggest that somebody should have. The cases here, all disclosed on Reddit, will make you realize that justice is blind to many, many things.
23 People Discuss Suspected Murderers Who Walk Free,
Convinced The Rapist Is Also A Murderer
From Vievelegen:
"My grandma lived next to the family of a man who was convicted for multiple rapes (he was living across the country at the time) in the '70s. He went to jail, moved back to his family's home, then promptly raped another woman and was caught again. He went to jail for 10 more years. My dad is convinced he is the murderer in an unsolved case in our city from maybe 10 years ago."
The "Self-Defense" Defense Of Murder
From sdh_92:
"My dad killed my mom in an argument when I was 16. But since they were separated at the time and they were at my dad's house, my dad claimed self-defense and the court ruled in his favor. He shot her four times but in my home state we have BS "king of your castle" laws so I guess that makes it okay."
Runaway Rich Guy
From RussianBobsled:
"A rich guy who owns a construction company in my town ran over a homeless dude and killed him while driving drunk. He ditched the company truck back at the yard and fled to Mexico. He took a couple years off down there until the heat died down and came back to town. Totally got away with it."
New Neighbors With Some Smokey Habits
From JeevasCrow:
"I used to live in a subdivided Victorian house. It looked pretty sweet, had a flower bed nobody used out front and a whole back patio that was considered common space. It looked like it had been used frequently maybe a decade before I got there, but had been reduced to some broken strawberry pots surrounded by a fence and old vine arches.
I lived there happily for a month or so before the new neighbors moved in. Flag number one was that I never noticed them move in. There had been a frumpy old man who lived there that my boyfriend had met once when he accidentally rang the wrong door bell, and presumably he left when the new people moved in. We never technically saw him move out, but we sort of assumed he had.
Once they showed up the patio was pretty much gone because they brought with them a big smoker. That wasn't so bad though, because it smelled really good. They had it going all the time, it even had a little pilot flame on it that you could see when you pulled up in the parking lot. On days when it wasn't cooking something that little flame was still lit, waiting. Even in the rain that little light was going, and the rest of the time it had smoke pouring out of the little chimney pipe. I would say this was the second flag. We never saw them out there, to this day I don't know what they looked like. But they sure smoked a lot of meat, even though they never had a party on the patio or anything. When it was smoking, they were never out there either.
After a couple weeks of just smoker they got rid of the rest of the patio space by bringing in a log splitter. Not that we had any logs to split. We were downtown and the only trees around were the type ringed with sidewalks. This was flag number three.
We became pretty convinced they were chopping up people and cooking them in the smoker. How else would they get so much meat, without constantly hunting? It's not like their car left regularly. It was always there, and the smoker was always running. When they left, the log splitter never went with them, but the barbeque did."
His Son Was Shot On "Accident"
From NickDanger55:
"Someone I know had a father who was just a really mean SOB. One day the father was going about his usual routine of getting drunk and beating everyone up when the oldest boy who had just turned 17 decided to stand up to him.
About a week later the father suggested a father-son hunting trip. Off they went, but only the father came back. He said he shot his son by "accident." Every single person in that family knew immediately that he'd killed the boy in cold blood.
Police did not even investigate. Just took the father at his word, called it an accident and closed the case."
Grandpa Escaped Execution
From usernamealreadytook:
"My great-great-grandfather was convicted of murder and executed in Kentucky. He had three kids at the time.Then my great-great-grandmother moved to Oklahoma and re-married, and had two more kids.
My grandfather was one of the first three kids. One of my 'cousins' whom I'm pretty close with's grandfather is one of the Oklahoma kids.
But a long standing family legend is that great-great-grandpappy Jim actually was never executed, and managed to get to Oklahoma and re-marry his 'widow.' So a few years ago our grandfathers had genetic testing done, and they're full siblings.
So apparently my great-great-grandfather did indeed kill a man, escape execution somehow, and re-marry his own widow. He lived to be 98. I met him once when I was two."
The Child Mysteriously Fell Down Some Stairs
From lakebiglake:
"A cousin of mine's ex used to let her new boyfriend babysit their kid. The boy died after 'falling down' some stairs. Police refused to arrest the new boyfriend even though the child had been taken to the ER several times with mysterious injuries. The boyfriend's family had money, and this is a small town."
Friend Was Killed By Her Husband
From Jmfree:
"My friend's husband killed her and made it look like suicide. I know this for sure but can't prove it.
Edit: Explanation - in response to my post about my friend's husband killing her. This happened about 30-years-ago. She and I were women in a male work environment and we stuck together at work and became friends. She was very open and her favorite topic was herself so I knew a lot about what happened to her in her past and how she thought.
I have to explain my friend led a flamboyant life. She was married and divorced six times, she dressed quite nicely and with flair, she was vain with good reason being quite attractive. She also told me she bought a gun.
She was on her own with her 10-year-old son when she decided to make another new beginning. She sold her house, bought a great car, moved to another state, met and married husband number seven.
They opened a nail salon together and she was a whirlwind. The few times I heard from her things were good. Then out of the blue I heard she was dead, having committed suicide. I don't know if anyone else knew about the things she told me over the years, but I knew her as a survivor, not a victim. What I could imagine was her waving a gun around in an emotional tirade, she was the kind who could do that and still have a calculating mind.
I found out she supposedly put the gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger during an argument with her husband.
My evidence for why she did not commit suicide is weak. My belief about what really happened (ie. her husband pulled the trigger), came to me the moment I saw her in her casket. Her fingernails were in horrible condition. There was no nail polish, her nails were wavy, she was badly in need of a manicure.
There is no way this woman would leave the world by her own hand without looking perfect. I'm serious. She staged most everything. She would have been very conscious of how she would look dead. I'm really serious. She would not have committed suicide with her hands looking like that.
It's odd that the fact she left behind a son isn't what struck me most. Her son's father had died some years before and her death left him an orphan. I don't think she would leave him behind like that but I honestly don't know for sure. What I do know is she was just one of those people who made her personal appearance a priority and her death would be an occasion to dress up and look perfect.
So you see, I hold this strong belief that my friend's husband murdered her, but I don't have much to go on that would make a difference to an investigator. I just knew her well."
Dad Did It, Twice
From LordArkana:
"In Columbia, my father badly beat up some guy when he got drunk and the guy wanted to fight him because my dad was the leader of a street gang. After beating the guy up, my dad bailed. Years later, some lady tells him the guy died. Nobody knows if it's because of his injuries or unrelated.
Another similar story, again in Columbia. My dad and his friend took something to eat from a deep fried food stand. The owner chased after them angrily with the box of oil. My dad, in order to protect his friend, threw a brick at the owner and sent the burning oil box on his chest. The guy died a while later, once again nobody knows the actual causes. I'm surprised after all these years, nobody came looking for my dad."
Uncle Died Of Suspicious Circumstances
From forgottenanswers:
"I think my aunt did something to her husband. I'm not sure but I'm fairly certain. She had power of attorney over him and apparently he was in bad enough shape that he needed someone there 24/7. She left him alone for the weekend and came back to find him dead. She started out saying he had a heart attack or a stroke, but later on it was diabetes, now it apparently was cancer. There was never an autopsy although I believe there should have been one. He was morbidly obese and other than that, I, along with everyone in my family, had never been told that he'd had cancer or diabetes.
In the months leading up to his death, his health drastically changed for the worse. He apparently was also on a ton of different medications. I will never know for sure, but I'd bet money she did something to him or quit giving him his medicine. If he was in such bad shape that 'he needed around the clock care' (her words) why would she leave him alone for a weekend?"