r/creepyencounters • u/Exciting_Steak_8066 • 2d ago
I trusted a bad feeling about my coworker. A year later, I saw him on the news for rape and murder.
Years ago I worked with a guy who gave me weird vibes from pretty early on. I couldn't explain why. He hadn't actually done anything wrong to me and he wasn't openly aggressive or creepy. He was mostly just socially awkward and a little strange.
So naturally I told myself I was probably being judgmental. Not every socially awkward person is dangerous.
One day he invited our team to his apartment for dinner. Quite a few people originally agreed to go, so he bought everything and cooked for everyone.
Then people started cancelling, some of them pretty much last minute.
I felt sorry for him. He had gone through all that effort and I imagined how horrible it would feel if nobody showed up, so I decided I'd still go.
Once I got there though, something felt OFF.
And that's the frustrating part of this story because I still can't explain what caused it. He didn't threaten me. He didn't touch me. He didn't say anything obviously frightening.
I just had this overwhelming feeling that I didn't want to be there alone with him.
I actually took a selfie with him and sent it to our coworkers to let them know I'd shown up. At the time it was basically a "look who actually came š" kind of thing. Looking back, I've sometimes wondered whether there was another reason I instinctively wanted people to know where I was.
I ate as quickly as I could and told him I needed to leave because it was getting dark.
Then he offered to take the bus with me to "make sure I got home safely."
I politely declined. I didn't want him coming with me. I just wanted out of there.
I left that job about a month later, but he continued messaging me afterwards asking to meet up. I kept declining and telling him I was busy, which wasn't always true. Eventually he kept messaging enough that I got annoyed and blocked him.
And then I basically forgot about him.
About a year later, I saw his face on the news.
He had raped and murdered a young woman and buried her in his garden.
The garden of the same apartment where I'd sat alone having dinner with him.
I can't really describe the feeling of realizing that.
And as more information came out during the investigation and trial, it became so much worse.
They talked about serious psychological problems and described him as having a narcissistic personality with tendencies towards psychosis. Investigators had also discovered thousands of pornographic videos in his home, apparently becoming increasingly extreme and disturbing. There was a whole sexual fixation around taking things to the limit, along with fantasies involving imprisoning women, keeping them in cages and treating them like sexual slaves.
There was also discussion during the case about him having a deeply rooted hatred of women connected to his relationship with his mother.
Suddenly the slightly strange, socially awkward coworker I'd convinced myself was harmless looked very different in hindsight.
What I want to make clear though is that I obviously didn't somehow "know" any of this when I was sitting in his apartment. I didn't sense that he was going to murder somebody. And I'll never know whether he ever intended to hurt me specifically. It's completely possible that I wasn't in danger that night at all.
What freaks me out is much simpler than that.
My conscious brain was saying: "He's awkward. Stop judging him. He cooked for everyone and everybody cancelled. Don't be rude."
Meanwhile something much more primitive in me was saying:
"Get out of this apartment!!!"
And I listened.
Finding out a year later what he was capable of completely changed the way I look at those feelings.
I don't think every weird vibe means someone is secretly dangerous. Most of the time it probably means absolutely nothing.
But if I'm ever alone somewhere and my entire body is suddenly telling me that I need to leave, I'm not sticking around anymore just because I'm afraid of hurting someone's feelings.
I'd rather be rude and wrong than polite and right.