Crime Too Close to Home....

Abba, I have to wonder at times like these what the world is coming to. I've known people who have been in jail for drunk driving, drugs, or some things like that, but over the past couple of months bad crimes are hitting too close to home.

It all started a couple of months ago, when my Dad called me to tell me that my cousin was arrested for the murder of his wife. He's currently locked up in Georgia. There's a lot of unknowns there and I honestly don't know what to make of the situation as he's done a very awful thing. He married this girl and she had a little boy. One day he was watching the little boy and he apparently wasn't used to being disciplined. He spanked the little boy and the wife in turn called the police on my cousin and he was put in jail for 10 years. In jail, he wound up getting AIDS. He later got out and went back home to his wife and her son. She belitted him and used to lock him in the house and stuff. He wound up killing her, although he said that when she got home from work the day of the killing, that she had stabbed him in the shoulder, he blacked out and when he came too he was sitting on top of her chest with his hands strangling her neck. When he realized what he was doing, he tried to shake her back to consciousness, but it was too late...she was already dead. He fled the scene and had a braul with some officers the next day that were trying to arrest him. He wound up getting blood all over them and told them "now they could all die." I haven't seen my cousin since I was about 9 years old. He looks just like Alan Jackson and he was always nice, cute, and funny. I just can't believe that he did this. It's something that haunted me in my dreams and my thoughts for quite a long time. I still think about it and wonder how someone in my family could do something so horrible like that.

Then, at the end of March, my cousin, Dale stopped sleeping. He hadn't slept in something like 10 days and he was at the point of having hallucinations. My Aunt wanted to get him some help and the ER told her that they refer mental health patients to the mental institution down the street to get all the testing that they needed and whatnot. My aunt was going to take him down there the next morning. Later that night, he wigged out saying that there was hazy stuff coming out of the walls and vents. My aunt called the police wondering what to do and they came down to talk to him. They took his pulse and checked his arms for needle marks and found out that he checked out ok. They talked with him and went along with my aunt at getting him checked out the next morning. Well, the next morning came and my aunt was getting impatient for their ride to show up. She picked up the phone and thought she was dialing the number for the mental place and she said with everything on her mind she must have dialed 911. Dale thought he was smelling fleshy smells and started wigging out again. 2 cops showed up at the front door shortly after. My aunt called Dale down to talk with them and the one told him that she wanted to check his pulse...he offered her his hand. While she still had a hold of the one arm, she grabbed his other arm kind of forcefully...he didn't know what she was wanting to do and he pulled his other arm back in. The next thing my aunt said happened, was they threw him down on the ground trying to cuff him and were using the tazer gun on him. Another officer tried to pry his mouth open and claimed that Dale bit him (they were still using the tazer gun on him). This whole big braul happened and they took Dale to the hospital to have his tazer wounds treated. He's got over 11 tazer marks on his back alone. They arrested him on counts of assaulting police officers and resisting arrest. The kid has never been in trouble with the police before or anything. They want him to do 6 months in jail and get 2 felony charges on his record. They are also treating him as a schizophrenic, which he has never had any of these problems until he stopped sleeping. We're concerned though that the medicine they have him on says that you're not supposed to give it to anyone with a family history of diabetes as it can cause diabetes and even lead to death in someone like that. He's being treated for diabetes now. I just don't understand why all this had to happen and my Aunt said his lawyer isn't doing a darn thing for him. He's in a cell with a convicted murderer and he's been assaulted and kicked in the head twice in jail. He's hearing impaired and is deaf in one ear. I just pray for protection for him and that he can get out of this horrible situation very soon.

Then, the week of Easter, my Mom called me and she sounded upset. Her good friend, Kristy's adopted sister had been shot and killed by her husband and then the husband turned the gun on himself. They had a daughter who was in the house when it happened. I feel so awful for this family.

Then, once we got connected back to the internet, I heard news of an online friend....my heart is breaking for their family. Her sister was murdered just a couple of weeks ago. I can't even imagine all the pain they must be feeling. Life seems so unfair sometimes and it's impossible to understand why certain things happen.

I pray for all these families involved that I wrote about here, Abba. Please give them a sense of peace and help them to heal. There's too much crime out there, Abba...keep us all protected and safe. I pray for my family and for my friends for a hedge of protection to be kept around all of us. Give us all comfort during these difficult times.