“Til death do us part”: the familicide phenomena

How do we make sure women feel safe around men?

Catherine Wall Staff Writer

True crime in the last decades or so has come to occupy an important place in the everyday lives of people in the United States. Whether it is consuming it as a pastime or simply seeing it in the news, one cannot deny how allured we are by true crime.

People find it salacious, scandalous and the nation is that of family annihilators, a person who decides to murder their entire family.

Many of these cases have usually involved the husband or father, and they tend to white, middle-class men. Last month, Utah man, Michael Haight, shot his wife, five children and his mother-in-law because his wife wanted a divorce, and he did not.

It leaves people won ways the one to murder their wife, children or other relations? The idea that men could be driven to commit such horrible acts against their loved ones is hard to understand.

According to Dr. Stephanie Leit, a psychologist in West Hartford, Connecticut, said these men “are trying to fix a problem, and the really horrible solution they have come up with ings of John List’s family, as he had filed for bankruptcy and lost his job. He claimed that killing them spared them a hard fall from grace and the wealth they had known, and that they were better off in heaven.

The third category involves men who simply wish to be untethered from their families that they can no longer tolerate, whether it be divorce, an affair or losing it his wife’s $2.8 million inheritance,which he would not have received if they were to divorce.

For the question of why men are the usual suspects, it could have something to do with society itself, as men are raised to not show their emotions so as to not appear weak. Additionally, they must be the man of the house and take care of their family.

But when a divorce,

“I like to walk with my keys tight in my hand,” Holme said. “I also have an app on my phone. If I press it, it calls, like, three emergency numbers or sends a text, or I will walk with 911 on speed dial.”

Rose Wagner, senior mass communication major, also takes precautions to ensure her safety from men.

“If I am on public