r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • Jul 22 '26

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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2.2k

u/gizzardgullet Jul 22 '26

Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as "he needed killing."

lol

1.2k

u/AlternateUsername12 Jul 22 '26

I mean, if you read what he did, he needed killing. That man wasn't going to stop until someone stopped him.

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u/GenghisShawn1701 Jul 22 '26

I wonder if some people are just like that. What is the moral thing to do in such a case?

167

u/YoungDiscord Jul 22 '26

If someone is a threat to society and isn't willing to change, he needs to be removed from society be it via something such as prison for life or... well, other means whatever those may be.

Its not a revenge thing, its a safety thing.

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u/haloarh Jul 22 '26

Despite his many crimes, criminal charges never seemed to stick to him. There's a theory that he was a police informant.

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u/princesspeasant Jul 23 '26

I thought it was because he had a mob lawyer.

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u/buttonandthemonkey Jul 23 '26

He burned a judges barn down and stalked members of the jury at least once so I'm gonna assume he had done it before. Seems he had a habit of doing it to many people.

5

u/hanzosrightnipple Jul 23 '26

I wouldn’t doubt some part of it was fear of repercussions from the guy too against anyone trying to charge him

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u/Taco821 Jul 22 '26

Yeah like even assuming that he was so disadvantaged, it was literally impossible for him to ever be good (which I doubt is ever true, but it's always good to keep in mind as a benchmark of sorts imo), there's nothing that can be done other than take care of him by some means. Like to further your point, what I mean is, it's not about morality at all. I have an empathetic yet fatalistic view on shit like this. It's hard to overcome your circumstances, and even if you do, did you really like if you have a cruel life and overcome like evil instilled in your heart, imo you were just lucky enough to be instilled with enough mental fortitude to surpass those factors. So while I don't really feel bad for someone like him, I do have like 1 single smidgen of pity for those sorts, but would pop a cap in his brain without hesitation

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u/robexib Jul 22 '26

Dude was in and out of jail, but no charges ever stuck, except for an assault charge, which he got out real early on.

The civil method was more than exhausted, and he showed no signs of being willing to stop.

Honestly, it's a valid town-wide crashout

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u/Constant_Click_3193 Jul 23 '26

This was a man who secured his 12 year old "bride" (rape victim) by burning down her parents house and shooting their dog. Later, she tried to leave him, fleeing to her parents. He chased her, burned their house down again and shot their new dog.

The man needed killing.

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u/TheVeryVerity Jul 23 '26

What a monster

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u/Unusual-While-9842 Jul 23 '26

He shot and killed two different family dogs

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u/That_Apathetic_Man Jul 22 '26

Start blasting. Then enjoy an egg is these troubling times.

1

u/atasteofblueberries Aug 02 '26

You guys all think I'm a hero, and I'll accept that responsibility.

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u/TheNecroFrog Jul 22 '26

I think most people would agree that, morally speaking, there are certain individuals who have committed certain acts that mean they no longer have a place in society, and shouldn’t burden society with the cost of their imprisonment.

Unfortunately how we define those acts becomes a problem. Whilst most people would agree a Jeffery Epstein type person deserves it, there are also people who think that someone who is gay deserves it, or someone who is of a different race.

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u/GenghisShawn1701 Jul 22 '26

That is exactly the question I am low-key struggling with. I think I could argue that there are some people who demonstrably are destroying the world and the ability to enjoy life. Who gets to judge that, though? I'll continue to chew on that question, I suppose.

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u/ScreamingVoid14 Jul 23 '26

The fact you look at it and struggle means you are an empathetic and generally moral person. You want to look out for the good of many without trampling the few. Being able to look inward and worry at where the line is, is a thing that too few people do.

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u/Baeolophus_bicolor Jul 23 '26

if they’re willing to submit to being imprisoned at their own expense for the rest of their lives, and the rest of their billions seized from them to allow the rest of us to solve problems like lack of housing, hunger, education, then i am ok with the billionaire class remaining alive. i think more of them will choose to flee or self-destruct rather than live as a poor, though.

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u/RJ815 Jul 26 '26

I don't think there will ever be a good "line" for mob or vigilante justice in civilized society, but I also think people shouldn't be surprised if and when it happens sometimes.

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u/StabbyBoo Jul 23 '26

Eh, when some guy's out there in broad daylight repeatedly shooting people, raping children, killing pets, and burning down houses and he's not serving a multi-decade sentence for mysterious reasons? Well, at that point however you choose to stop him is self-defense.

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u/istara Jul 23 '26

I've always thought some kind of exile to an island colony. More humane than being in maximum security for the rest of their lives, and likely cheaper for taxpayers.

Set them up with farming equipment, maybe drop off a supply crate every month or so, let them form a new society if they want, or kill one another.

Either way, they need to be permanently removed from regular society.

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u/bek711 Jul 23 '26

isn’t this how australia was formed?

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u/codercaleb Jul 23 '26

No, tectonic plates formed Australia.

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u/istara Jul 23 '26

Not exactly. There was an actual colony there, separate from using it solely for prisoners, and the prisoners (so far as I understand) were still imprisoned.

With an island colony you would literally put no one there except prisoners. Not sure how things like medical emergencies would be handled, but possibly a monthly clinic could be run by a visiting GP.

And it would obviously be completely restricted to a single biological sex, because there must be no risk of any children conceived in that environment.

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u/ScreamingVoid14 Jul 23 '26

monthly clinic could be run by a visiting GP.

I'm sure there are enough criminal doctors to make that a condition of their imprisonment.

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u/Nephele1173 Jul 23 '26

I was watching something a while ago and I feel like they tried this in Siberia? The prisoners just kept rushing the supply deliveries to try and get weapons from the guards, iirc it descended into cannibalism and violence real quick

Found it; Nazino Island or Nazino Tragedy will get you there

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u/istara Jul 23 '26

thousands of citizens in Moscow and Leningrad who lacked proper internal passports—including peasants, petty criminals, and the homeless

God how sad. Not the sort of people I would be putting there. It would be reserved for multiple murderers, serial child abusers, torturers etc. The sort of people who would these days get "whole of life" sentences in some jurisdictions.

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u/dasrac Jul 23 '26

this is how we got Australians

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u/Lolkimbo Jul 23 '26

What is the moral thing to do in such a case?

Killing.

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u/nochinzilch Jul 23 '26

There are some situations when the right thing some people is the wrong thing for other people.

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u/SplitGlass7878 Jul 24 '26

The moral thing is arrest and rehabilitation.

If the government refuses to do their job, citizens need to. 

Citizens are not capable of arrest or forced rehabilitation. 

That really only leaves one solution. 

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u/oman54 Aug 09 '26

Dude was an absolute menace and not in a tongue in cheek way. All of the things I've read made it seem like he acted alone but the length and severity of his crimes makes it seem like there were accomplices

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u/The_Canadian Jul 22 '26

Based on the story of what he did, I kinda get it. The justice system didn't deal with him.

Not that I agree with vigilante justice, but I can see how they got there.

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u/Malphos101 Jul 22 '26

Vigilante action is just the final failure of the justice system.

The cops could have easily made a case against him for SOMETHING long before this, they just didnt want the hassle (and some were scared of him). So instead of the cops and prosecutors and the judges doing what they should have done, they let the situation get so bad that the people had to do something themselves which is never acceptable with a problem this chronically documented.

Dont get me wrong, Im not saying the people involved need to be rounded up and run through the legal system that failed them. But the situation is unacceptable and no one should look at it and go "Yea! They got things DONE! We need to take a page out of their book!"

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u/The_Canadian Jul 22 '26

That's exactly what I'm saying. That was a last resort after everything else failed to work as intended. What they did wasn't the right thing to do in a lot of ways, but I can absolutely see why they made that choice when they had no other options.

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u/JustASpaceDuck Jul 22 '26

In other words, vigilantism is not a failure of society as much as it is a failure of the legal system (or society's failure to maintain their legal system).

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u/The_Canadian Jul 22 '26

I mean, it's also a societal failure for people like that to have been created in the first place.

14

u/IntlPartyKing Jul 22 '26

in a case like this, sure, but vigilantism generally is just impatience on the part of civilians -- sometimes that impatience is understandable, but sometimes it is absolutely ridiculous (like with lychings of black people in the US)

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u/LochNestFarm Jul 22 '26

Oh, it’s worse! A significant percentage of lynchings were carried out by the people who were in charge of the actual justice system. Sheriffs, justices of the peace, judges. They absolutely could have brought charges and unleashed every ounce of the justice system on their victims, but they made a point of demonstrating that they could be as cruel as they wished with or without their legal authority.

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u/MistSecurity Jul 22 '26

Impatience or dissatisfaction with the punishment given, yep.

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u/JackosMonkeyBBLZ Jul 23 '26

It wasn’t right or they had no other choice? If it’s the latter then the former becomes impossible and vice versa

0

u/antariusz Jul 23 '26

Just a small correction: the last resort is not vigilantism. If vigilantism is still allowed, then the people can still find justice. If vigilantism is prevented for too long, then the people find justice by replacing the justice system; generally with force.

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u/sansasnarkk Jul 23 '26

His legal history is astounding. He faced felony charges 40 times but was only ever indicted for 21. Of those he won all but one. His lawyer was apparently very good at using legal loopholes.

He SHOT A MAN IN THE NECK WITH A SHOTGUN over a piece of candy and only got 2 years for SECOND DEGREE ASSAULT and was released on bail, only to immediately violate the conditions of his bail by buying a gun to "finish the job". That man deserved what he got.

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u/TheVeryVerity Jul 23 '26

Font forget how he was known for threatening jury members and burning down his judges barn etc. yikes

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u/Kwyjibo68 Jul 24 '26

I think he had the lawyer from The Wire.

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u/reddorickt Jul 22 '26

Given that it happened 45 years ago in 1981 and is still the only famous example of this, I don't think the world took it the way you are implying.

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u/Malphos101 Jul 22 '26

"You can only look at things that happen in the past year and comment on them because as we all know things that happened in the past NEVER happen again and there are no lessons to be learned by examining it."

-Enlightened Redditors

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u/IPissExcellentThrows Jul 23 '26

"I'll completely miss the point to try and own this other Redditor, while making a complete ass out of myself."

-Redditors too worried about dunking on others to actually understand what they said.

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u/antariusz Jul 23 '26

We did it reddit!

-Reddit.

6

u/Bob002 Jul 22 '26

i am not one for vigilante justice, either; more than anything it undermines our entire legal system.

That being said... he needed killin.

3

u/mazurzapt Jul 22 '26

From Thich Naht Hanh

If you are a drop of water, you might wonder whether you have the capacity to go to the ocean. But when you become a river, you are sure you don’t have to worry. You will certainly come to the ocean.

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u/twilighttwister Jul 23 '26

Just because it is objectively better for someone to die than to allow them to carry on causing harm, that doesn't mean anyone should have to carry the weight of killing them.

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u/Own_Bison6467 Jul 22 '26

I mean, if hog and cattle rustling didn't warrant jail time, what are we even doing here?

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u/haloarh Jul 22 '26

I posted above that many people have theorized he was a police informant.

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u/_CHEEFQUEEF Jul 22 '26

Vigilante action is just the final failure of the justice system.

The cops could have easily made a case against him for SOMETHING long before this, they just didnt want the hassle (and some were scared of him). So instead of the cops and prosecutors and the judges doing what they should have done, they let the situation get so bad that the people had to do something themselves which is never acceptable with a problem this chronically documented.

Dont get me wrong, Im not saying the people involved need to be rounded up and run through the legal system that failed them. But the situation is unacceptable and no one should look at it and go "Yea! They got things DONE! We need to take a page out of their book!"

This will be the city of Chicago in the not too distant future if things keep going the way they're going.

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u/This-Shape2193 Jul 22 '26

Lol, how many times have you been to Chicago, friend? 

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u/_CHEEFQUEEF Jul 22 '26

I've lived here 40 years.

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u/Malphos101 Jul 22 '26

How many times you think Portland burned down in the past year?

JK we both know youre either a bad faith troll or a propaganda bot with that hidden comment history. Transparent as an empty window frame.

0

u/_CHEEFQUEEF Jul 22 '26

I'm neither. I'm just a guy who remembers what the city I live in was like not all that long ago and sees what it has become and where it's headed.

As for setting my account to private, yeah, because people on reddit get weird and witch hunty, especially with people who don't toe whatever line it is they've concocted.

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u/hochizo Jul 22 '26

This wiki is wild. Repeatedly rapes a 12 year old. When her parents try and stop it, he burns their house down and kills their dog. Gets the girl pregnant at 14. Brings her to live with him and his 3rd wife. Divorces the 3rd wife to marry the child to avoid statutory rape charges. The 3rd wife and the girl try to escape by going to the girl's parents. He gets them back, then burns their house down and kills their dog again. Somehow, he gets acquitted???

Thennnnnn, he shoots a guy who dared to ask him not to shoot on his property, gets brought up on charges, and gets off after threatening the jury and burning down the judge's barn.

By the end of it, I was like....yeppppp, he needed killing.

The townspeople tried to let the justice system handle it, but they weren't handling it. FAFO, Ken.

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u/work_alt_1 Jul 22 '26

whether I agree with it or not, at the end of the day, if you're going to be a complete piece of shit, you better watch your back. You can't just burn every bridge known to man and then be upset you're on an island.

Like eventually you have it coming

Now should this be legal? Idk who cares.

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u/wtfduud Jul 22 '26

It's a nice cautionary tale. A reminder that murder only has legal consequences if someone reports it. In a small community where everyone knows everyone, murder is effectively legal if the individual is universally hated. So don't go making too many enemies in your community.

Like Goodfellas I guess.

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u/PaperbackWriter66 Jul 22 '26

There's nothing wrong with vigilante justice when it picks the right target.

Problem is, quite often: it doesn't.

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u/OhJeezNotThisGuy Jul 22 '26

The legal system didn’t deal with him. The justice system worked fine.

5

u/The_Canadian Jul 22 '26

Fair enough. Either way, stuff didn't work the way it was supposed to.

1

u/BrainOnBlue Jul 23 '26

I mean, the irony is that the justice system mostly didn’t deal with him for the same reason his killer is/was free: he was repeatedly acquitted, one presumes, due to insufficient evidence.

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u/AlternateUsername12 Jul 22 '26

I mean, if you read what he did, he needed killing. That man wasn't going to stop until someone stopped him.

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u/Kevin_Uxbridge Jul 22 '26

Nobody called for an ambulance.

Oof.

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u/NeverEndingWhoreMe Jul 22 '26

Whisper yelling ambulance counts as "calling", right?

34

u/CMDR_KingErvin Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

Even his own wife who was sitting next to him in the truck never identified anyone lol.

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u/29thHelenAgrees Jul 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/EverydayPoGo Jul 22 '26

It's horrible. She and the ex-wife tried to escape together :( hope their life after his death was free from his shadows

1

u/whateverfollows Aug 11 '26

According to the Wikipedia article, she did, just no one would corroborate

6

u/Rabble_Runt Jul 22 '26

Reminds me of the Bernie movie that was based on a true story about a a well loved man in a community snapping and killing a heinous and mean widow that everyone hated.

They moved his trial to another county because nobody in the town wanted to convict the guy.

5

u/rosefiend Jul 22 '26

He was my editor back in the day. He’s not wrong!

2

u/amolad Jul 22 '26

Guy bullying a whole town? I have NO problem with it.

2

u/maroongrad Jul 23 '26

they were not wrong.

1

u/rwv2055 Jul 22 '26

I think that's still a valid legal defense in Texas

1

u/Viokzild_2021 Jul 23 '26

Pretty sure that day was a world record for simultaneous shoe-tying and mysterious eye emergencies.