True Crime – What Are The Most Common Causes Of Murder?

After listening to, watching, and reading true crime stories over the years, I have drawn some conclusions. It’s not exactly a tried and true research project. But for sure, there are some common denominators.

Sadly, most murder victims are killed by someone they know. The biggest mistake a murder victim makes, is believing the person they are associated with, would not kill them. 

Women who are in domestic violence situations, have been known to get back into a relationship with someone who beat them, and tried to choke them. Some have even gone out to meet the violent offender in a remote location, which just makes it easier for him to get rid of her. 

Among the most high risk scenarios, are the intimate partner violence situations. Both men and women are at risk if there are affairs, impending divorce, custody battles, insurance policies, or assets to fight over.

A woman who is pregnant, and in a relationship where the partner does not want the child, is in a high risk situation. It is even more perilous, if it is a clandestine relationship.

Sometimes women intentionally get pregnant, to try and hold onto a man who is not fully committed. It is a high stakes situation, because she may have an illusion of love, or wishful thinking, that might be clouding her better judgement. 

If she happens to be with someone who is desperate, is married to, or living with someone else, or who does not have much of a moral compass – she could be placing herself, and her unborn child in danger. 

When people who believe they are in a committed relationship become suspicious of an affair, they should be on high alert.

They should also be very wary of million dollar life insurance policies that crop up all of a sudden, and often without a good reason. Some con artists have intentionally married someone, set up a life insurance policy, and then staged an accident three months later. 

Gangster and drug turf murders, is part of the business, and for many, an expected outcome if they don’t get out of it, and make some serious lifestyle changes. 

But to try and assess what happens to ordinary people, living fairly ordinary lives – affairs and family betrayal seem to top the list when it comes to murder.

It is even more tragic, because the person, or people who are targeting the victim, also have the most access, and trust. When murder occurs within families, all of the family members suffer, especially the children. 

When spouses have affairs, one cannot overlook the fact, their spouse may have a lover, who is plotting to kill them. One of the most amazing things about it, is they are often church going couples. Just because someone goes to church, does not mean they are pure of heart. 

Betrayal, affairs, divorce, break-ups, jealousy, money, and revenge seem to top the list of reasons, for family, and intimate partner murders. 

Next to those murders, it seems to be neighbours who are the next likely culprits. Sometimes it is due to neighbourhood conflicts over property lines, noise, barking dogs, loud or fast vehicles, etc. Other times, it is a matter of being in proximity to a violent criminal. 

Many neighbour conflicts escalate, and as the conflict heats up, so does the chance of violence or irrational reactions. One becomes paranoid of the aggressor, and sometimes it is the paranoid one who ends up committing the crime. 

A couple of years ago in Toronto, five people in a condo were shot and killed by a deranged resident, who was in conflict with multiple people. I believe he managed to kill all of them, by going to their residence, and knocking on their door. 

In other cases, there is not a conflict with the neighbour, but it is simply the proximity, and access to a victim. They are strangers for the most part, but nevertheless, their lives cross paths.

There was a case in Vancouver where an elderly couple were brutally murdered by a young man who lived nearby. He fixated on committing a violent crime, watched the couple for weeks to get familiar with their routines, and targeted them for unknown reasons. Possibly because they seemed vulnerable, and he believed he could overpower them.

The elderly man used a walker, so the young coward decided to ambush him in his own home. After that, he waited for the wife to come home from work. She barely got in the door, and he pounced on her. Thankfully, he got caught within a couple of weeks. 

In London, a woman had a noise dispute with a nasty neighbour. The neighbour yapped about it endlessly to a boyfriend. One day, he brought a gun when he visited her, and to prove his tough guy loyalty, he committed murder. He simply went and knocked on the neighbours door, and shot her when she opened the door. 

Closer to home, near Vancouver, a woman manipulated a neighbour into driving her around, lifting heavy objects etc. Being a nice guy, who was quiet and reserved, he had trouble saying no to her, so he complied. 

But she too, had an unsavoury type boyfriend, who worked out of town two or three weeks, then was home for a week. While he was away, she used her neighbour as her driver, and lackey. 

One day when he was driving her somewhere, she lit up a cigarette in his car. By this time, he was fed up with being used, and exploited. He felt trapped, and had been stewing about her constant demands. So he finally asserted himself, and told her to put the cigarette out. 

She refused. So he stopped the car, and told her to get out. She refused. 

What he probably should have done, was call the police. But instead, he went around to the passenger side of the car, opened the door, and tried to pull her out of the car. 

She wailed and screamed, which did bring the police, and he was charged with assault.

When her boyfriend came home, she carried on about it to him. By this time, the police had heard both sides of the story, and dropped the assault charges. 

Since they lived in the same condo, the woman’s boyfriend went over, kicked the door down, and seriously assaulted the neighbour, enough to put him in the hospital for ten days.

During his recovery, he realized he had no choice but to move. With the help of some family members, he found another apartment. 

Meanwhile, because the boyfriend was charged with assault over the incident, he lost his job. So he had more rage, more time on his hands, and more hours to listen to the manipulative woman carrying on, and whining about being assaulted. 

Instead of just accepting the fact the poor guy was moving to get away from it all, they would not let it go. They followed the moving truck, and he was murdered, before he even got moved into his new apartment. 

In the cases, where women manipulated men to the point they committed violent crimes, the men were charged, and the women got off without any charges. Whether or not they learned from it, and stopped the nasty tactics, who knows?

In spite of the fact that most neighbours are helpful, and supportive, upholding a good community standard – clearly not all of them are. 

Next to the affairs, intimate partners, and neighbours turning violent – would probably be co-workers, or business associates. Once again, people get duped into money schemes, and sometimes it costs them their lives.

Or sometimes a co-worker will start stalking a female worker, and when she rejects his advances, he gets mad. In other cases, a person gets fired, and then seeks revenge. 

In one case, an executive, and mortgage broker took a deposit, and agreed to arrange a commercial loan. The loan was not approved, and for some reason the deposit of $18,000.00 was not returned.

Whatever their policy was, it was not made clear at the onset, because the would be borrower expected to get his money back.

He hounded the lender for months on end, and as time went on, the messages became increasingly agitated. He started to threaten violence.

Rather than return the deposit, the lender contacted the police in Toronto, and basically, they blew him off. They told him the threats were not specific enough. One of the threats was “if you live like a gangster, you will die like a gangster.” I am no expert on what constitutes a threat, but that sure “seems” like a threat. 

If the guy had said something more specific, like his name, and then called him a gangster, therefore he was going to die like a gangster – would that have been specific enough I wonder? 

Just four days later, the executive, husband, and father, was shot dead in the hallway, as he was walking into work. Even more alarming, a co-worker walked through the door just seconds later. She attempted to do CPR, but he died at the scene. 

In many of these cases, there were signs. But the victim did not escape, even though they often knew they were in danger. 

Other instances involve home invasions, botched robberies, and drug crazed killers doing something impulsive. The victims are in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

One of the true crime detectives said that most homicides occur between midnight and two in the morning. He also stated that people often got murdered just based on something they said during an argument. 

In an ideal world, we would be able to love and trust one another. Especially when it comes to spouses, families and neighbours. Fortunately for the most part we can love one another.

But we should also be astute, and cautious when it comes to blind trust. 

Even though some people never get caught, and a certain percentage of cases go cold – no one ever truly gets away with murder. 

They will always be waiting for that knock on the door, as DNA and the science of forensics becomes increasingly sophisticated. If not, their conscience might get to them.

An example of the conscience catching up to a guy, was related to a twenty year cold case. This man had murdered a woman at a party in a remote location. He was so drunk, he hardly remembered the circumstances or reasons for it, and since so one at the party even knew who he was, or knew the victim, it was a random murder. 

It did weigh on him though. One day, he got what was a misdial or a wrong number from a drug store employee. The message was simply about a prescription in a cue, that had been filled, and was ready to be picked up. 

Somehow when the employee had mistakenly left a message telling him his number had come up, so he could come in an pick up the prescription, he thought it was a ruse. He had not taken a prescription into the drugstore to be filled.

He kept dwelling on the words his “number was up”, and became certain he was being set up. He was afraid to go to the drugstore, and see what it was all about. He was afraid to even call them back. 

So finally, after all those years, he went to the police station and turned himself in. When he gave the details only the killer would know, they realized it was true. 

Luckily we live in a country with a fairly low homicide rate. In spite of the many reasons for homicide, fortunately the chances of being murdered is minimal. It is even more unlikely if you manage to steer clear of high risk devious schemes, and plots. 

But murder goes right back to when Adam and Eve were first created in the Garden of Eden. Their son Cain, killed his brother Abel in a jealous rage. 

Even though Cain tried to hide his crime, God immediately knew what he had done. By this example, we know that God knows when someone commits murder. 

The Bible prophecies do tell us that as we approach the end of the age, there will be more murder, violence and chaos. It also tells us there will be more family betrayal.

As the seals in the Book of Revelation are opened one by one, it shows us the four horses of the apocalypse, and tells us what each one means. 

All of them seem to represent conflict and death. The first horse is white, and sets out to conquer. The second horse is red, and represents war, and people killing one another.

The third horse is black, and represents famine, and an imbalance of food and resources. The final pale horse represents death, with hell or hades following close behind. 

In addition, the Bible tells us the end times will be “as in the days of Noah”. Even though there was corruption, violence, wickedness etc. during that time frame, people were also living life as normal. At least to a certain extent, because we are told they were eating, drinking, and getting married. 

So it appears life will become more perilous as time goes on. In spite of all these things, we are encouraged to be hopeful, and not filled with fear. We are to be aware, watchful, and remain faithful. 

I guess the moral of the story, is to do our best to avoid getting into circumstances that might put our life in peril. But even so, we can be assured of one thing.  No one gets away with murder. 

The true miracle throughout all of the ages, is of Christ overcoming death and hell, with a promise of eternal life, and forgiveness for our sins. It is something that can sustain us, no matter what happens.

After awhile the fear of death has no power over us. What a relief it is to know we are saved.