A couple weeks ago, I get to work and there's an email waitng for me from my friend Zach. It took me a couple of reads for the two lines of text to sink in.
HEY, WHATS UP. REMEMBER GENE FROM HS? HES BEEN ARRESTED FOR KILLING THAT 15 YEAR OLD THEY FOUND IN THAT DITCH.
Gene was one of the more mellow people in our high school. Sure, he had a big afro, wore glasses like Drew Carey's, and did alot of shrooms, but he was polite and calm. Still skeptical (Zach isn't the most reliable news source), I go online and check the local paper. Sure enough, Gene was arrested along with two other males for the death of a 15 year old girl. They were all (allegedly) at an apartment together, when one of the other males started choking the girl. Gene, however, is alleged to have delivered the killing blows by standing on her throat and smashing her skull with a hatchet. Then they supposedly drove around with her body for a while and ultimately dumped it in a drainage ditch outside of town. A rancher found her body about a week later.
They didn't rob or rape her. She didn't owe them money, drugs, or favors. They had no real reason to hate her. According to statements given to police, Gene "wanted to know what it would be like to kill someone."
What a waste. I'm sure everyone has wondered what it would be like to take a life, but what psychological "experiment" is worth a first degree murder sentence?
People are murdered everyday, and I never give it much thought, but most of those homicides have some material motive (no matter how petty or twisted). If you really have to know death that well, join the armed forces and hope for another minor war. Don't kill children who didn't commit any offense other than using drugs and being naive.