True Crime

Arlyn Perez

English 1101

Hauck, Grace. “4 Homeless Men Were Beaten to Death in Manhattan While They Were Sleeping, Police Say.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 Oct. 2019

In this article, Grace Hauck argues that the homeless deserve the righteousness and protection that a home assures. “All five victims were men who suffered trauma to the head, police said. They appeared to have been sleeping when the attack happened just before 2 a.m. in the Chinatown area.” The victims were not harming or bothering anyone, they were simply doing what every other person does, resting for the night but were targeted at random. This shows that people, who are not homeless, do not care to consider the safety of homeless people and what could possibly happen to them. “Researchers say homelessness in the city has increased in recent years, driven primarily by the lack of affordable housing.” People have assumptions and judgments about homeless people throwing their life away and not caring about themselves but there’s also more to the story. In this detail it points out that people aren’t able to afford a home and as a result become homeless. Hauck wants to emphasize that homeless people need safety as well because a crime was committed for no reason.

Holcombe, Madeline, and Joe Sutton. “A 7-Year-Old Is in Critical Condition after Being Shot While Trick-or-Treating with Her Family.” CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Nov. 2019

In this case, a little girl who was only seven years old had been shot on Halloween evening and is now left in critical condition. The authors, Madeline Holcombe and Joe Sutton argue that you should take extra precautions when celebrating any type of holiday. “This is unacceptable. It’s a 7-year-old girl that’s trick-or-treating with her family out here and happens to get shot because a group of guys want to shoot at another male while there is a street full of kids trick-or-treating,” Alioto said.”Despite the fact that the little girl and her family were having a fun outing to celebrate Halloween, it is important to be aware of the surroundings and check to see if the neighborhood is safe for children at night. No one expected this to occur when it was a family outing to go trick-or-treating but many strange or horrendous things could happen during a holiday. In previous instances, Halloween candy had been rigged with drugs so it became important for parents to check any candy that looked suspicious in their kids candy pile.

Karanth, Sanjana. “Officers Arrest Texas Student For Bringing a Loaded Gun To Middle School.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 10 Oct. 2019

In this article, Sanjana Karanth argues that the incident at a San Antonio middle school demonstrates the state’s youth gun violence problem. “Almost 200,000 children in Texas live in homes with unlocked, loaded guns, the Brady Campaign reported.” This is a very serious problem because kids have access to these guns and are capable of doing anything once they possess it. They could accidentally fire at themselves or anyone around them and could seriously get hurt, any kids with suicidal problems find their easy escape or kids dealing with issues could potentially go on a shooting rampage. “Data from gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety shows that Texas had 25 unintentional shootings involving children who found a loaded firearm last year.” Sanjana makes a point by providing the data to show this is a serious issue and should not be pushed to the side. She wants to put it out there that any child who has access to these unloaded guns in their homes could carry out a horrendous crime putting themselves and others in danger. It needs to be stopped and become more stricter. 

Nolasco, Stephanie. “Florida Man’s Former Escort Wife Tried Hiring a Hit Man: ‘I Was Praying It Wasn’t Her’.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 2 Oct. 2019

A woman named Dalia Dippolito was attempting to hire a hitman to murder her husband Mike Dippolito. When they first met everything seemed perfectly fine, Mike genuinely thought they were happy but made the mistake of getting married too fast. Mike in the past has been involved in previous crimes, pleading guilty to charges of organized fraud and unlicensed telemarketing but was already making up for it and to be on a clean slate. Stephanie Nolasco states that people cannot be vulnerable and trust the people around us all the time because occurrences like this case could happen to anyone. “According to police records, Dalia was planting drugs in Dippolito’s car in a failed attempt to get his probation revoked, the outlet shared. Then, detectives said, she tried to have Dippolito killed.” Looking at this detail in the case, demonstrated that Mike’s wife, Dalia, was attempting anything she possibly could to get her husband arrested. “Dalia wound up meeting a hitman – who actually was an undercover cop – and insisted she was “like 5,000 percent sure” she wanted Dippolito gone for good.” Regardless of who the person is in our life, we should always be aware that there’s always more to a person than what they choose to show to the world. This writer wants to emphasize that we should be aware of our surroundings.

 

Waxman, Olivia B. “Charles Manson’s Own Story of Why the Manson Family Killed.” Time, Time, 26 July 2019

Charles Manson was an American criminal and cult leader who led and formed a group known as the Manson family. Manson was a man who wanted things to go his way and if they didn’t, that is when the Manson family started with the murders. In this article the author Olivia B. Waxman was able to captivate the tone of the last interview Manson had, and argues that it is important to get the truth out. Manson told his side of the story that was not portrayed by the news or media in his last interview. “There’s this whole underlying story people don’t know, says Day, who, 50 years later, hopes to set the record straight…this story starts instead with a botched drug deal that took place July 1.” History tends to twist the truth as it is told from time to time. But by conducting this interview with Manson details could be revealed that will help the public understand his motivations and the big question of why?  “Manson had ordered the murders, which was also the timeline that came out in the trial, Manson’s own version was that his followers orchestrated the whole thing, and he was only involved in a passive way.” Waxman wants to emphasize that, although Manson was an evil man who committed crimes with his “family” it is important to get all sides of a story, to finally know the truth and reasonings behind things.

Yang, Allie, and Sean Dooley. “Investigators in ‘Slender Man’ Case Discuss Chilling Interviews with 12-Year-Old Attempted Murderers.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 23 Oct. 2019

Two girls from Wisconsin named Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier carried out a plan to murder one of their best friends, Payton Leutner, in the name of “Slender Man”, who is a fictional character created from a website (Creepypasta). The authors, Allie Yang and Sean Dooley, point is to ensure parents are monitoring what their kids lookup online and separating the truth from lies. These two girls had an obsession with this fictional character and truly thought that “Slender Man” would come after them if they didn’t give him a sacrifice. “Anissa said that Slender Man strangles his victims with tendrils protruding from his back and that he targets children “the most,” according to what she learned on the website.” This shows that although the story of this fictional character was made up, she believed everything because it was put up online. Both girls were terrified. “I was really scared, knowing that Slender could easily kill my whole family in three seconds, Anissa added.” These girls felt the need to carry out this murder to protect themselves and their loved ones, so out of fear they did it. But, thankfully the victim Payton Leutner survived this horrendous attack. These details reveal that parents should monitor what their children are searching for online for their own safety. No one expected two young girls to thoroughly plan this crime and actually commit it.