17 Innocent People Share What It’s Like Being Accused Of A Grisly Murder You Didn’t Commit
On June 12, 2010, I found my wife dead in the shower. It was the very morning she was planning to fly back East with my three children for two months to "spend time with her parents to try and figure out how to get her life in order." You couldn’t imagine a worse “bad…
1. Accused of killing his wife
My wife and I had been going through a rough stretch of our marriage. We had been married for 23 years. Most of it was wonderful. But the past few years she began to suffer from the effects of Borderline Personality Disorder. Unbeknownst to me, she had started talking to an Attorney about divorce. She had apparently talked about it to several other people.
On June 12, 2010, I found my wife dead in the shower. It was the very morning she was planning to fly back East with my three children for two months to “spend time with her parents to try and figure out how to get her life in order.” You couldn’t imagine a worse “bad luck” scenario.
That morning the Detectives wanted to talk to me about the events that happened. I, knowing my rights, simply said “I don’t talk to police officers. I don’t know what happened. It’s your job to find out why my wife died.”
The Detectives became visibly irritated with me. Several “neighbors” went to the cops and accused me of having something to do with my wife’s death. Based on this, the Sheriff and the District Attorney launched a 3-month investigation of me. That 3-month investigation tore my personal life apart.
I was slandered online, I lost all my clients from my Digital Agency and the gossip in our small community became downright toxic. People rushed to judgment without knowing what happened. What some people assumed what happened and the truth couldn’t have been any more different. It was all I could do to maintain my silence throughout the investigation.
I was shunned by my in-laws at my wife’s funeral. It was that bad.
The Autopsy report showed she mercifully passed quickly due to an undiagnosed genetic heart ailment. Death was by natural causes. There was absolutely no foul play.
I learned about the release of the coroner’s findings only through reading about it in the newspaper. They never even had the professional courtesy to call me beforehand.
Today, I’m happy to say my three children are thriving. I’m still struggling to regain my client base, but things continue to get better.
2. An Old Acquaintance Is Stabbed To Death
I was briefly, 12 years ago.
A guy I knew from school was stabbed to death on his front porch in the next cul-de-sac to mine.
By pure coincidence, we had both moved to the same neighborhood, several hundreds of miles from our hometown – yet we had never bumped into each other once.
When the cops came knocking on doors looking for witnesses, I admitted I knew the victim.
I was questioned, but it was fairly obvious I had nothing to do with it. I had an alibi and no motive whatsoever (I hadn’t seen him in years).
It turned out the victim was a prison officer and was probably dealing drugs inside, messed with the wrong guys and got silenced by professionals.
3. Scariest Moment Of His Life
One time murder suspect here. In 1996 I worked at a news agent in Taylor Square, Sydney for about 6 months. I was 18 and had moved out of home straight after high school. Anyway, later that year a woman went missing on a night out after being at night club called DCM about 1km down the road from where I worked. The police had a mannequin dressed like her on the street for days in an attempt to jog people’s memory and generate leads. Fast forward a few more weeks her body was found and I had moved back home for a while and I get a knock on the door from a detective with the murder squad who said I had been identified as a suspect. He said within a minute that I wasn’t the guy they were after as I had no ear piercings but someone had said the guy who worked at that news agent looked like who they were after. Scariest confusing fucking minute of my life until he said it was all good. He just asked me some routine questions and that was that. Still always fun to bring up when I get asked to tell people something that they wouldn’t know about yourself.
4. Online Death Threats
The West Valley Division of Police (LA?) called me and asked if my plans to murder my roommate were serious after I posted my fantasy of strangling her online. She stole about $2500 from me, let her rabbits get infected with fly maggots because she never cleaned the cages, broke into my room and watched me sleep, broke/stole my stuff, routinely threatened me, dyed my laundry pink on purpose, refused to have the landlord make repairs, resulting in massive bills and flooding, kicked/abused the dog and blamed our black roommates for everything while staging histrionic fits.
I answered the phone, the day before Thanksgiving, and upon hearing “West Valley Division” assumed it was Animal Control because I’d reported her for the way she was treating the dog and rabbits. Some random officer told me I was being checked out for making threats on Reddit, and I explained that I was already living back with my parents, what had happened, and that she was the one who needed to be investigated for being a psycho.
Not fun, but I never heard anything else from them.
Goddamn, I hope that bitch is dead now.
—deleted
5. A Coworker Disappears
I was for a few days. In the early days of casinos in Mississippi, the graveyard shift would all go drinking after work, which was at 9 am. You know how that works, amateurs fade out early and we pros stay for the duration. There were a few pros, including “Dave”. One day, Dave did not show up for work. His family started calling and looking for him. Several days later, his body was found in his shot up car a few towns over, in the woods. And what do you know? I was one of the last people to see him alive. And I lived across the street, so no one drove me home to alibi me. I clearly remember being questioned by the cops on my porch on several occasions. Our group of “pros” have our theory, but for a while, I was really scared. I think what took the heat off me was that I was secretly sleeping with someone, well, who the police paid attention to. But it was a weird time. They never found out who killed him. He was a nice guy, but a super weird drunk.
6. Child Killing Drunk Driver
I was suspected of selling drinks to a drunk driver that ran over a child. I was one of 4 bartenders that worked that night. I left at 7 and the woman drank until 2 am. I was the only one not fired. I had to go to court for years and tell my story and who she was with. The one thing that stuck in my mind was that right before I left, I served her a round, opened the check, and was shocked by the amount of booze on it. I didn’t ring it in so my name was never attached to serving her. Something told me to just walk away.
7. Triple Homicide
I was under investigation for almost a month for a triple homicide.
I worked (and still do but at a different location) at a nursing home as a CNA. State inspection was approaching so housekeeping waxed the floors in the corridors. It smelled like paint thinner and burned my throat. They would wax a section at a time and during that time of about an hour to and hour and a half, I couldn’t step on the floor to get to my residents.
When I could go back in the rooms, I found one person dead. Working where I did, I just thought it was natural causes. I reported it to my charge nurse, got them cleaned up and went to the next room and both people were dead. I freaked, went back to my charge nurse and she took my arm and escorted me away from from the residents’ area. I immediately had to leave the facility. An hour later the police were at my door asking questions. I was new in my field and scared to death. There was a huge meeting and everyone had to write a statement separately.
After all the details from every person were the same, the police laid off me but I was still suspended pending the results of autopsies. After almost a month the three results came back of respiratory arrest. I went back to work like nothing ever happened. But they never waxed the floors again.
8. Mass Murder
Not murder per se, but conspiracy to commit mass murder.
When I was in high school, I got called into the truancy officers office and a different cop was there with the regular officer. The extra officer said that I had been implicated in planning a school shooting and that they needed to sample my handwriting.
Told them that since I was a minor, they needed a warrant and my mother’s consent before I would do anything for them. They went to my English teacher and got some old papers from her to compare handwriting between papers I actually wrote and the documents they claimed to have found that I was accused of writing.
They kept me in the office for like 3 hours, but finally let me go back to class. It was pretty sketchy, but considering I had not been to the location where they claimed the documents were found and had proof of that fact, they kinda hit a dead end.
I never found out who set me up for it. I would have liked to, though. Whoever it was out my name and a couple other people I knew on it as well.
Was certainly an interesting day, to say the least.
9. Accused of killing his ex
I was a suspect in this yet unsolved case. Basically, my ex-girlfriend had started sleeping with him during our relationship. I found out, which ultimately led to our break up. Despite this me and her still remained close friends but I was interviewed informally twice and formally at the station twice.
In all honesty, the only interactions I had with him were at first attending his band’s shows. Occasional purchase of drugs. Then eventually myself, him and my ex got together and he taught us how to hunt for magic mushrooms for ourselves on a handful occasions.
I spent one night at his house together with my ex as we planned on attending his band’s show but we got too plastered and ended up crashing there whilst he went off and played.
I guess I was a suspect because of the “jealous ex” angle. I had no real alibi as I had finished work at around 8 pm and stayed up at home until some ungodly hour. So no other family could say for certain if I was or wasn’t there since they were all asleep.
To top things off police were asking the public about sightings of a Dark Grey Nissan Primera in the area at the time of the murder. I happened to be driving a Dark Grey Nissan Pulsar at the time. So, pretty similar vehicles.
It was a bit unsettling seeing the police with pages of all my text messaging records and shit. Embarrassing sexual texts and such. Oh well. I didn’t do it.
10. Hit And Run
For about 5 minutes.
I was drinking at the pub across from my house one night and a certain individual was (deliberately) run over and killed. They initially hit him in the car park but the body was across the street after having been driven into a pole.
Let’s just say this certain person owed money to other persons. That’s all I know.
Unfortunately for me, I lived across the road and at the time drove the EXACT same model color of car (even the hubcaps and black/yellow plates matched).
So early on a Saturday morning the police began pounding on the door. My initial thought was “oh fuck – the drugs (used to get rid of a bit of stuff)”. But no, they immediately demanded my ID and that I show my car.
Thank fuck it was parked just around the corner and had obviously not killed anyone the night before. But those fuckers were ready to jump on me if I made one false move.
11. A Teenager With A Bad Rep
Ah hell…
Back when I was a teenager and had a pretty bad reputation with the local police, I was the main suspect in an attempted murder.
It all started when my buddy and I. We were out all night one night in a small town in Michigan, walking around, B.S.ing, and basically enjoying ourselves. After walking around for hours around town, the sun started to rise, and we walked towards Main Street in the heart of the town. As we were walking out of a local park, a cop who knew me saw us walking.
15 minutes later, as we approached town, a drunk guy on a bicycle with a softball bat rode by us. I looked at him, and he got aggressive, asked me what I was looking at. After barely avoiding a fight due to a coincidence of my buddy and this stranger seeming to remember each other from somewhere, we went our separate ways.
Fast forward a week. My buddy and I had been staying at my place for a week, we left that town the same day I described the above. After much snacking and playing of video games, it was time for my buddy to go home. When we drove him back, we had a surprise.
None of my friends were supposed to talk to me, and if they saw me, they were supposed to call the police immediately. Friends being friends, they told me this, and they also said why… I was the suspect in an attempted murder that went down in the park we were walking around in, and we were seen at the scene, leaving, at the time it had happened.
What had happened was a guy had his skull cracked on a bike path as he was out jogging in the morning and robbed.
What makes this WAY worse for me was a fact I was not aware of, but the police were playing the angle anyway. The man who was beaten on the bike path, he was a landlord with multiple apartments in the area. This involves me because strangely enough, I was at TWO of his apartments the same day they burnt down, and I actually woke up in the second apartment AS IT WAS BURNING DOWN. Barely escaped with our lives that day…
But anyway, after I had talked to my friends, we decided to walk into the neighboring town and meet up with my mom, who was at work at the time. On our way, we saw a notice posted to a map of the park we traveled through, asking for anyone with information about the crime to come forward and help the investigation. I saw that, added it up with what I was told by my friends, and realized I saw the guy who did it, maybe not 5 minutes after he had done it. It was the guy riding the bike with the softball bat.
I immediately went to the police station, thinking I had the information they needed. My reward for that was about 4 hours of grilling, followed by my mother, my buddy I was with that day, and I going down to the state police headquarters in Lansing for a lie detector test.
Funny thing, lie detectors. Apparently, according to the lie detector, I beat the living shit out of that guy on the bike path, and my buddy did not participate, but instead stood by and watched it all go down. Of course, this was all bullshit, and apparently, the lie detector was having a problem with lying. I would never do anything like that to another human being unless my life was in danger, or the lives of innocent people.
Anyway, after we were all done with the tests, and they came and said it looked even more likely I had done it, they told me I was looking at a solid 50 years in prison, worse if he died. I was fucking 14-15 years old at the time, and here they were trying to threaten me into a confession. I was fucking terrified. My mother lost her mind, told those cops where to stuff it, and took us home.
Since they were dead set on me as the suspect, we tried our hardest to find out who the guy we saw was on the bike path that day. Even though I was innocent, the cops scared me enough to make me think I had to find this guy, and notify the police of his location.
Never found the guy. I do not know what came of that case, either. All I do know is it was a fairly scary moment in my life.
Strange thing was, a lot of the people in that town thought I actually did do it. I became somewhat notorious. I let them believe it, too.
12. The Last One In
I was the last guy to swipe into my dorm at college before someone jumped off. They thought I pushed him. My lawyer got the case thrown out as they had no evidence against me. People continued to think I was a murderer and I had to switch colleges to avoid the stigma.
13. Best Friends
Had a roommate few years ago who killed himself by drowning in a river. It was sad really. One of the best friends I ever had and a great guy too. Me and my other roommate at the time were top suspects cuz the guy had moved in with us not long before it happened.
14. The Innocent Never Think Of Needing An Alibi
Brighton, UK, 1972. I spent a day with police while they researched my movements and proved I didn’t do it. I was hugely relieved as it was a nasty murder of an old lady by a door knocking ‘vat survey man’.
Thankfully they were able to question people and build up a chart of my movements between known incidents and deduce that the fact that I was in the right area and matched the description was a coincidence. When I got home I discovered that the papers said ‘a man is helping the police with their inquiries’ which, up until then, I had always thought was code for ‘we got him’.
The trouble is that if you didn’t do it you don’t know you need an alibi. I think they did get him later.
15. Good Samaritan At Gunpoint
Very temporarily.
My neighbor’s wife came over screaming at 6 am, “My husband just shot himself!”
My father goes to his room, grabs his gun and a cell, starts the 911 call. I go next door to see if I could render aid. He had shot straight thru under his jaw (placed the gun under his chin and fired straight up) and it had crowned the top of his head but not gone through. One eye had exploded out like a maraschino cherry. But the important thing was not only was he alive, he was sitting indian style on the floor with the revolver back up to his face, seconds away from round two.
I talked him out of it, got him to set the gun down which I promptly took. Set on an end table near the hall, and told his mid-30’s stepson to watch him and make sure he doesn’t do something stupid, like get up and get the gun. Went next door to explain to my dad/neighbor’s wife, went back in and their son was in the back fucking off, gun still on the end table, shooter looked like he was thinking about it even with all his loss of blood. Took the gun next door, covered in blood, and placed it underneath a 5-gallon bucket so it wouldn’t, say, be in my hands when the cops did show up.
Cops came and I spent the next 10 minutes or so on my knees, half naked (I had been in bed), hands in the air with one trained on me while the other cop searched the house.
16. Stabbed To Death On The Front Porch
A friend of mine was stabbed to death 12 times on her front porch. I was one of the last people to see her alive, so I was questioned extensively by police right after the murder and a few years later, as the case went cold. I was good friends with her boyfriend and dating another good friend of hers, and both guys ended up being prime suspects, so I got asked a lot of fucked up questions. Fortunately, we were all out together at the time of the murder so we had tons of alibi witnesses. I have never seen a funeral procession so big.
They just caught her murderer recently after more than 20 years. Turned out to be a serial killer who had been her neighbor and later moved to LA, where he killed Ashton Kutcher’s old girlfriend. The local police really dropped the ball. A crazy story.
17. “Creative” Suicide
While I was on a spur of the moment weekend getaway, my best friend killed himself ‘creatively’ in my apartment. I hadn’t told anyone I was gone, so when suspicion fell on me before the coroner’s report, I had no alibi to back myself up. It felt absolutely horrible, but everything cleared up eventually. I just wished he would’ve left me a note.
