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This recent horrible case of the doctor who was murdered in Philadelphia is a sad reminder about the fact that many violent crimes occur by someone who has had access to the home - plumber, carpet cleaner, etc.
This guy was an exterminator with a family and no prior history of violent crime.
As someone who has read hundreds of true crime books over the years (my first was in 7th grade- that is when I got hooked) - I strongly believe that if a woman is going to be home alone (ether because she is single or because her partner is gone at the time), she should only have workers in her home who have been personally referred by someone she knows and trusts, or have a male in the home when the person is there.
I have read about so many cases where its the handyman, etc, who rapes and/or murders the woman.
This recent horrible case of the doctor who was murdered in Philadelphia is a sad reminder about the fact that many violent crimes occur by someone who has had access to the home - plumber, carpet cleaner, etc.
This guy was an exterminator with a family and no prior history of violent crime.
As someone who has read hundreds of true crime books over the years (my first was in 7th grade- that is when I got hooked) - I strongly believe that if a woman is going to be home alone (ether because she is single or because her partner is gone at the time), she should only have workers in her home who have been personally referred by someone she knows and trusts, or have a male in the home when the person is there.
I have read about so many cases where its the handyman, etc, who rapes and/or murders the woman.
This one is a real tragedy.
This story is really bizarre. I agree, women should never let a stranger in to their house if they're home alone or with small children. I never let my wife be home by herself if there is a inside delivery or a repairman coming. I just hope the sicko that attacked her isn't telling the truth. He claims the woman started berating him. While that is no justification for killing her, that would have been an extremely unwise move on her part. Letting a stranger in is bad enough, antagonizing them once they're there is just asking for trouble. My guess is that the guy is just a nut case and she probably never said a word to him.
So what can we do if we need work done when DH is not home? I need somebody to come to my home to handle a boatload of ebay sales and have 2 people who are interested. I found them on CD. How can I check them out? I was hoping to get women but both are men. I have too much to take anywhere and I don't want the stuff taken out of my house until shipping anyway. I have a place set up for them to work here but it would be when I'm home alone. Should I even try this?
I live in a place where violent crime is comparatively rare. I cannot conceive of taking all the precautions that some here stress are necessary for a woman when a serviceman comes to fix the washing machine. My wife and I lead a life where its necessary for us both to assume all kinds of responsibilities involved in managing and running a home (actually homes/plural). Occasionally, I now have my 20 year old son present to deal with the plumber, the cable tv guy, the electrician, and the furniture delivery people.
I guess terrible things occasionally do happen. Such is life. You can't live your life around events which are not much more likely than being struck by lightning or hit by a meteorite. Or, at least if you do, you must accept the notion of leading a diminished life. I'm not much more crazy about the idea of keeping a gun in the home. However, I'd encourage a woman to do that before I'd tell her to stop letting service people come to do necessary repairs.
Honestly, if I did live in a region of the country where things like this were more common, I'd probably move. Its just not worth living in such a place.
"...You can't live your life around events which are not much more likely than being struck by lightning..."
But you can take basic precautions to minimize the chances of the events happening, like not playing golf in a thunderstorm.
I cannot think of anything in my home that is more important than my wife's safety. If something is broke and I cannot fix it, it can wait until I can be present.
I don't tend to think of myself as an overly paranoid person, but having read literally hundreds of true crime books, as well as watching many true crime shows, I can think of so many cases where the first contact between the victim and perpetrator is through the perp needing to be in or near the home- so this can be a repairman who works in an apartment building, or a worker who comes into the home.
While statistically speaking, it is unlikely that any one person will be the victim of a violent crime due to a worker who has been in the home, this is unfortunately a common way for a perp to find a victim in stranger-to-stranger violent crime (which occurs less often than does violent crime between people who have some sort of relationship with each other).
Years ago I would have never given this topic much thought, but, like I said, after all the reading I've done, it really stands out to me now.
Maybe it only happens in 1 out of thousands of cases, but if you are that 1 person (or their family member), its not going to matter.
So what can we do if we need work done when DH is not home? I need somebody to come to my home to handle a boatload of ebay sales and have 2 people who are interested. I found them on CD. How can I check them out? I was hoping to get women but both are men. I have too much to take anywhere and I don't want the stuff taken out of my house until shipping anyway. I have a place set up for them to work here but it would be when I'm home alone. Should I even try this?
At a bare minimum, in this situation, you could do something like- ask them to meet you somewhere in public and make photocopies of their driver's license and also get their vehicle information- make/model/license #/state, etc.
Taking this step could be a deterrent to someone who had something to hide or had bad intentions.
You should probably also google their names and phone numbersand see what you dig up there, also check Facebook.
If you do have them come to your home, you should confirm that they drive the same vehicles that you initially were told were theirs, you should inform someone you know what time they are expected to arrive and leave, perhaps sending an email to your husband saying they have arrived, make sure he knows where the copies of the licenses are - basically create as much of a paper trail about them as you can so that IF something happened, there would not be any question as to who was involved and the time frame that it happened in. You could also tell them that your husband (or a friend) might be dropping by for lunch while they are there.
This story is really bizarre. I agree, women should never let a stranger in to their house if they're home alone or with small children. I never let my wife be home by herself if there is a inside delivery or a repairman coming. I just hope the sicko that attacked her isn't telling the truth. He claims the woman started berating him. While that is no justification for killing her, that would have been an extremely unwise move on her part. Letting a stranger in is bad enough, antagonizing them once they're there is just asking for trouble. My guess is that the guy is just a nut case and she probably never said a word to him.
I would bet huge amounts of money that he is just completely lying about having an argument with this woman, or that she berated him. That is text-book blame-the-victim/rationalization - very, very, very, very common for men who assault and rape women. Most likely what happened is he came onto her and she rejected him and he flew into a rage and killed her.
I would bet huge amounts of money that he is just completely lying about having an argument with this woman, or that she berated him. That is text-book blame-the-victim/rationalization - very, very, very, very common for men who assault and rape women. Most likely what happened is he came onto her and she rejected him and he flew into a rage and killed her.
The guy has no criminal history, stole nothing, didn't rape her so it's all really bizarre......and we will never know the truth not that it matters as there is no justifying what happened.
I really don't feel it's productive to spin imaginary scenarios as to what happened.
I feel bad for her family and the killers family as he just wrecked two families.
The guy has no criminal history, stole nothing, didn't rape her so it's all really bizarre......and we will never know the truth not that it matters as there is no justifying what happened.
I really don't feel it's productive to spin imaginary scenarios as to what happened.
I feel bad for her family and the killers family as he just wrecked two families.
Well, he clearly assaulted her, which resulted in her death, and in my opinion, him stating that they got in an "argument" is just rationalization on his part. Its very typical in these cases for the perp to create "reasons" for why they do things like beat, rape, murder, stab, mutilate, etc.
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