People who have met murderers, what were they like?

I used to be pretty good friends with one. She was part of a friend group dating anorther member of said group. She was fun to be around and generally just a normal person. I met my wife and moved to the next town over but we all stayed in touch for a few years going to parties and events together. She eventually got a job in my new town and worked with my wife's aunt. She met and started dating my brother in-law and they built a house together. They baby sat my daughter on several occasions while my wife and I were on a date, at a wedding, or on a weekend getaway. She was very nice, polite, and personable. I always had fun hanging out with her.

Things started going wrong in my eyes when she kicked my BIL out because she had found a new man. She had been cheating and he had no idea until she gave him the boot. One of his friends told him a few days later. We obviously cut ties when that happened and it was before all the popular social media sites were a thing so I didn't hear much about her for a couple years. Just that she had married the side dude and they were living in the house BIL built with her.

Then one day she was all over the news. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She claimed home invasion but all the details came out over the course of a few weeks. Turns out she had spiraled out of control on opioids. They were in serious debt. She clearly wasn't thinking straight when she took an insurance policy out on her husband and murdered him a month or two later. I don't know how much the drugs can be used as an excuse, you have to be pretty fucked up to plan it out and go through with it. No one in our old friend group saw anything in her like this but it turns out she's super fucked up.

My BIL took it really hard. We had several late nights talking over several beers and whiskey cokes. I want to say it was only a year and a half after she kicked him out. He kept thinking it could have been him, she did it the house he built, why didn't he see this type of thing in her and so on. It was tough watching him go through that, he's been one of my best friends since I met his sister. She told investigators that it might have been him due to jealousy but they quickly dismissed him as a suspect. It didn't take long for them to figure out what happened.

She plead temporary insanity due to drugs and lost that plea. She got convicted and sentenced to not nearly enough years. Should have been double in my book but I'm not a judge. Maybe it was lenient because of the drugs. That's my story, I won't give out any more details than I already have so please don't ask.

/r/AskReddit Thread