Kind of Freaking Out

In Wednesday morning's paper, there was a news story about a car that went off a rural freeway and two women were found dead. Read it, didn't think much of it.

This morning (Friday) I was reading the paper and here was an article about a man who was the husband of one of those women who was being arrested for having a sexual relationship with his wife's niece. His wife was one of those women who was found dead on Tuesday.

I continued reading the article and it was getting more and more crazy. The 17 year old niece and her mother (his wife's sister) just arrived from overseas and were living in their house since December. In March, he was arrested for molestation of the niece but because neither the niece nor his wife would press charges, nothing came of it. His wife was quoted as saying that she didn't "want her daughter to be fatherless". Then Tuesday night they find her and her mother (who lived with them) in a car at the bottom of a ravine with gunshots in them. Very strange.

It got a whole lot stranger when I got to the end of this morning's article and realize that I have known this man for about 8 years. Not only do I know him, I just had a conversation with him on Monday afternoon! I turn back to the front page photo and though he's hiding his face, it sure as heck is him. I asked him on Monday how his daughter was and he proudly said, "Can you believe she's going to be going to first grade next week?" He was as friendly and cheerful as he always was towards me and said hi to I. quite a few times, commenting on how tall she was getting. I've been going to this guy since before V. and I were married.

If he shot his wife and MIL on Tuesday and dumped their bodies, it gives me the willies to think that there must have been some evil thoughts circulating in his mind on Monday afternoon when I spoke to him. Besides that, he had already been arrested for statuatory rape of that 17 year old and his life was unraveling. Later today it came to light that he was an ex-con who shot a cab driver while robbing him and was in prison, until he escaped. He was recaptured in San Diego in 2000 and finished serving his time and then returned back to his wife in San Diego after that.

This whole thing scares me, unsettles me and certainly is not helping my anxiety level. I feel anxious that I have taken I. with me since she's been born to this guy's place and have thought him to be a good guy. My job as mother is to keep her safe and I feel like I should have been able to get a vibe about this guy and not expose her to him. I know, you can't know who someone really is but for some reason, I'm shaken and feel like I need to up the defense line to keep I. and I safe. I hope this won't translate into nightmares tonight. My brain really needs a rest after today.