As a society, we are very fascinated with serial killers.
But even though we’re aware that many of them have loved ones that are greatly affected by the horrific crimes they commit, we tend to focus on the murderers and forget about their families.
Although they’ll forever be known as the children of killers, these people have their own stories to tell. Unfortunately, some of them don’t end up much better than their parents.
1. Melissa Moore is the daughter of Keith Jesperson, the “Happy Face Killer.”
He was convicted of raping and murdering eight women in 1995, but he also tortured and killed cats in front of his daughter when she was a little girl. He picked up homeless women and prostitutes during his truck-driving job and killed them, writing confessions on truck stop bathroom walls and leaving letters to the media that were signed with smiley faces.
After he went to prison, Moore didn’t tell anyone about her father. Eventually, though, she was able to confide in her husband about her past. She became an advocate for relatives of murderers and published her book, “Shattered Silence: The Untold Story Of a Serial Killer’s Daughter” in 2009.
2. Kenny Kimes joined his mother, Sante Kimes, on a murder spree.
Before Kenny turned into a criminal, his mom and dad had scammed people and were even arrested for keeping immigrant girls as their prisoners.
After Ken Sr. died, Kenny and Sante killed four people and attempted to assume their identities in order to gain access to their money and properties. They were both convicted of murder in 2000. Kenny was sentenced to 125 years in prison, while his mother received 120 years.
3. Francis Weaver followed in his stepfather and grandfather’s murderous footsteps.
Francis’ grandfather, Ward Weaver Jr., is on death row for murdering a couple in 1981. His stepfather, Ward Weaver III, raped and killed two young girls in 2002. Ward received two life sentences in prison, and Francis had even testified against him during his trial.
However, Francis received a life sentence as well this year after shooting and killing a drug dealer in 2014.
Read More: If You Suspect That Someone Might Be A Serial Killer, Here Are 9 Possible Indicators
4. Michael Kallinger killed alongside his dad, Joseph Kallinger, who is pictured below.
When Michael was 15 in the 1970s, he and his dad brutally killed three people, including slitting a 21-year-old nurse’s throat. They also tortured, robbed, and sexually abused at least four families.
When they were finally caught, Joseph was sentenced to life in prison. Michael, however, was sent to a youth detention center and got released when he was 21. Immediately after, he changed his name and moved to an undisclosed location.
5. Gary Ridgway used his son, Mathew, to lure his victims in.
Ridgway would show Mathew’s picture to the women he picked up in his truck in order to give them a false sense of security, then later killed them. He sometimes brought his son along on these rides, even murdering some of them in the woods while Mathew was sleeping in the truck only feet away.
Mathew says that he doesn’t remember any of that and still thinks of his dad as the kind, loving person who raised him.
6. Jenn Carson’s father, Michael Carson, was half of the duo called the “San Francisco Witch Killers.”
After Michael got divorced from Jenn’s mother, he remarried a woman named Suzy. They became big drug users and had a hallucinatory vision that apparently told them to change their last names to Bear and kill those whom they deemed to be witches. They were arrested in 1983 and convicted for the murders of three people, both receiving 75 years to life in prison.
When she was a teenager, Jenn suffered from depression and had an eating disorder. Today, however, she is a child and adolescent counselor. She often works with children whose parents are in prison.
I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to have a murderer as a parent. I’m glad that at least a few of these people were able to move on and lead normal lives.
(via Mirror)
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