Murder in mind?

One of the news headlines this afternoon was that a real estate woman was found strangled in a house that she was supposed to be showing for sale. This happened in the suburb that I live in. My partner saw her picture, and she instantly said “I recognize her.” When we looked up online, she recognized the woman, and the real estate agency this woman had worked for. She had seen her previously in the newspaper, in the real estate section. I kind of got an eerie feeling, knowing that a woman was murdered in the suburb that I live in. The suburb is not very big, probably about 40,000 people I’d say. It’s a pretty small community, and to know someone was murdered last night, it kind of makes me scared, more aware maybe also.

This woman was supposed to show a house around lunch time. Her car wasn’t found until last night sometime. The real estate agency started to get worried when this woman didn’t come back for hours. The ended up finding her car in a golf course parking lot and her body was found in the vacant house of which she was supposed to be showing to someone. This woman left two children, in their 20’s who I could only imagine are totally devistated.

Who was that someone? I don’t know but they’re questioning someone in relevance to the case. But it makes you wonder if the person that was supposed to be at that lunch meeting was the killer, or if it was someone completely different. But you watch movies about how serial killers trap their victims, and use methods to get their victims in vulnerable positions. I could easily see this position as an easy target for a serial killer, or just a killer in general. But it does leave a trailmark, in the aspect that people knew she was supposed to be meeting someone, and I’m sure it’s on record somewhere who she was supposed to meet. But did the person who killed this woman, did they know that they were going to kill her when the meeting was set up? Was there murder in mind when the meeting took place? Was it a ploy to get her alone?

I wonder if real estate agencies are now going to re-evaluate how they do business with people. And not necessarily just with women. Will agents how have to go in pairs, so stuff like this doesn’t happen? Maybe people would think “less” if this woman had met a client at like 5:00 or afterhours, but in the middle of the day, that is what makes the whole situation scary. In broad daylight, this woman’s life could have been taken. And did anyone hear anything, probably not. But knowing that someone got away with taking her life, in the middle of the day, puts a litte more fear into all of us.

I think what makes the situation even more eerie, is the fact that my partner recognized this woman. This woman I don’t believe was from the suburb we live in, but she’s been in the papers numerous times in the real estate section. But it just is a weird feeling, knowing that this woman is now dead. And her murderer is still out there, that makes it even more scary.

It brings me back to a situation that happened in May of 2003. Part of of my job was going out on the streets at night, or afternoon to hand out snacks, and other items, along with referrals to youth to talk about the program we have. We finished early one night, and as I was leaving, I saw a youth that I knew quite well. He’d been an active member in our drop in center, and he had just come back onto the “scene” again. We said our hellos, and I went home. The next day, I get to work, and I find out, that the youth that I had seen the previous night, was now dead. He had been shot in an apartment not far from where I had seen him.

The initial feeling I felt was so surreal. I had just seen him the night before, and now he was gone. All these thoughts came into my head as thou I could have prevented his death, had I talked to him just a little longer, or whatever. I ended up having to talk to the police because I was someone who had seen him before he was killed. I had to describe what he looked like, what he was wearing, how his mood was, and it really scared me. I tried to be strong for the youth that knew him and I ended up having to take a mental health day from work, just because I need to regroup myself. (Note, mental heath day is another word for a sick day, but you’re not really physically sic…lol.) It was just so strange that I had seen this youth one second and the next time I heard about him, he was gone. The person who killed this youth was found guilty and sentenced to like 10 years in prison, not very long for taking a life.

Tonight I will definitely be sleeping with one eye open. Might laugh about it, but it’s a serious matter, and it scares me. I try to be safe, but are we all really safe in the bigger picture??

-current mood-SCARED