A Brief History
On July 6, 1999, US Army Private Barry Winchell died for a stupid reason. One of his fellow soldiers had beaten him with a baseball bat the day before while Winchell was sleeping, because Winchell had a relationship with a transgender showgirl! How exactly that was the business of the murderer, Calvin Glover, is hard to fathom. (The showgirl was a former Navy Corpsman named Calpernia Addams.) Glover, among others, had been harassing Winchell about his “girlfriend,” and Winchell had won a fight between the two of them. Apparently Glover was goaded about being beaten up by a “fag,” and took his revenge the cowardly way. Many people over the years have been killed for idiotic “reasons,” some goofier than others. Here we list 10 murders or attempted murders for particularly ridiculous reasons.
Digging Deeper
10. Barry Winchell, 1999.
Many people have been killed merely for being gay or perceived to be gay, even in the absence of no other reasons than just that. In the past, and in some cultures, the killings may have even been acceptable behavior, but in today’s modern world it is hard to believe.
9. Ronald Reagan, 1981.
Of all the idiotic reasons to shoot a president, John Hinckley shot President Reagan, James Brady, a police officer and a Secret Service Agent, just to impress actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley apparently did not even know Foster is a self described lesbian and would certainly not be impressed with a nut that shot the president. Luckily, none of those 4 people shot died, although Brady’s life was ruined by his crippling injuries.
8. Billy Clay Payne, Jr. and Billie Jean Haysworth, 2012.
These 2 victims (Billy 36 and Billie 23) had the audacity to unfriend Jennelle Potter, age 30, on Facebook. The offended Potter told her dad and brother who went right over to the inconsiderate couple’s home and shot them both, cutting Billy’s throat for good measure.
7. Roger Wilkes, 2012.
This St. Louis homeless man was eating a bag of Cheetos and refused to share them with another homeless guy, David Scott. Scott must have been quite hungry, for he then stabbed Wilkes to death in the chest.
6. Shaakira Dorsey, 2012.
This 16 year old was beaten to death by another teenaged girl when Dorsey made fun of the girl for farting. Apparently people in northeast Ohio take farts quite seriously. Be careful who you make fun of.
5. David Makoeya, 2010.
This 68 year old South African family man wanted to watch a World Cup soccer match while the rest of the family wanted to watch a gospel program. Failing to get his hands on the television remote, David got up and changed the channel by hand, upon which his wife, son and daughter beat and stabbed him to death. It would have been cheaper to buy another television.
4. Mary Jo Buttafuoco, 1992.
Shot in the head by Amy Fisher, the 17 year old girlfriend of her husband, Joey Buttafuoco, thankfully Mary Jo survived. Fisher had traded sex with Joey in exchange for Joey fixing the damage Amy had caused to her parent’s car. After serving 6 years for trying to get Joey to herself, Amy continued her one woman circus by making a sex film and a porno movie, appearing on television (including with Mary Jo!) and has an internet web cam sex site. Joey has also cashed in on the incident, making television appearances and continuing to get in trouble, serving 4 months for statutory rape, arrested for soliciting a prostitute, and engaging in insurance fraud. He even served a few months for illegally possessing ammunition. What a circus!
3. Robert F. Kennedy, 1968.
Shot to death by Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian living in the US and working as a stable boy, Kennedy’s sin in Sirhan’s eyes was supporting Israel in Kennedy’s position as a US senator. To make things even more clear about how goofy this was, Sirhan is not even a Muslim, he is a Christian. (Muslim countries are more discriminatory against Christians than Israel is.) Sirhan’s actions earned him a life sentence (after the death penalty was put on hiatus) and probably did more to harden American feelings toward Arab countries than intimidate legislators into backing off support for Israel.
2. George Moscone and Harvey Milk, 1978.
Moscone was mayor of San Francisco, and Milk was a member of the Board of Supervisors and had just taken the place of Dan White, who had recently resigned. White was not exactly thinking clearly when he went to City Hall and gunned down the 2 men in a crackpot scheme to get his position back (as if he would get it back after killing people!). White used the excuse that his judgment and thinking were adversely affected by a junk food diet, called by the press “the Twinkie defense.” Apparently the defense worked, at least somewhat, because for 2 cold blooded murders he got only 7 years in jail, and only served 5! White killed himself less than 2 years after release from prison.
1. John Lennon, 1980.
One of the strongest voices of his era for peace and love, Lennon was shot in the back 4 times by Mark Chapman on a New York street. Chapman is an obviously deranged goof that had become “born again” and as such thought Lennon was a sinner and a phony, something less than a Christian ideal. (Apparently you have to agree 100% with Chapman and his prayer buddies or you are bad.) Chapman actually had a list of several other celebrities to kill (Walter Cronkite, Jackie Onassis, Johnny Carson, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando and others), but found Lennon the most accessible. Saying that Lennon irked him, Chapman was irritated by Lennon singing about “Imagine no possessions” when in fact Lennon was rich and had many possessions. (Sounds like someone was jealous!) Chapman is serving 20 years to life, and has not been released yet.
Question for students (and subscribers): What cases would you add to the list? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Fox, James Alan, Jack A. Levin, et al. The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder. Pearson, 2007.
