There’s been a murder in my house…no kidding!
PART 1: Kids tell all, 20/20 wants to film in our house.
No kidding here. My house was a murder scene one year before we purchased it. The man of the house bludgeoned his wife eleven times in the head and tried to cover it up. He is now in prison awaiting sentencing for a murder conviction. The story has all the interesting things like a computer found with Google searches for poisoning and the fact of life insurance being purchased suspiciously before the murder. It’s a tragedy fit for TV. In fact, 20/20 of ABC has asked to film a reenactment in our home.
Fortunate for us, we purchased this house at a bargain because of this tragedy which scared off other buyers. Where houses had 20 bids this had just a handful. We are so happy to be in this home and have already been practicing hospitality as much as possible due to the size of this thing. But, how do you tell your kids about something like this?
We just were upfront with them. We told them enough to satisfy the curiosity level they both had. The funny thing was it was only minutes after our moving truck departed that a neighbor kids was playing with my son and asked, “did you see the ghost in your house?” GASP! No worries, my son was not rattled, but it is sure funny how kids tell all.
Would you buy a house that had a recent murder in it? If so, would you tell your kids and how?
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heck yes i would! and i don’t have kids, but my dog might be kinda freaked for a while.
the real question here is: how did you talk your wife into it? (assuming you’re married)
there’s no WAY my wife would sign off on that!
In the long run this is a great move. Its a nice neighborhood and a bargain. We did make the decision together. The only caveat we did not foresee was how public (front newspaper and ABC soon) would be.
I didn’t buy a house like that, but I lived in one. My last year in college, I rented a room in a faculty house where a murder had occurred the previous year: follow this link and search for Angela Arvidson. I knew about it before I rented the room, so I guess I would say “yes, I’d buy one.” Although I still could not afford to buy *that* house!
The family was super nice when I met them, and seemed mostly over the trauma. The creepiest part for me was that I remember the publicity surrounding her death and the friends of mine who knew her and were in shock.
The publicity is the hard part for us. Only time and us hoping to bring a positive presence to this neighborhood will allow some good for not just us but our block.
I can’t imagine that my wife would let us buy such a house, but I don’t know. As for telling the kids, I don’t know what I would do about that either.
Do you all feel like your family experiences there are redeeming its history?
“Do you all feel like your family experiences there are redeeming its history?”
That is the plan. Its only been a few months. Once the news is done with us, hopefully we can move the neighborhood to positive, redemptive times. Its just a house, but there are opportunities.
I’m fine with the house.
But I wanna know more about 20/20.
Sounds like you’re letting them film, so I’m wondering if you get paid to allow them to film.
Good price on the house, plus money from ABC, and you add to that a chance to bring positivity to the neighborhood and community…sounds like a no-brainer to me!!
ABC has not contacted us to convince us of filming, just info from the DA. We do not favor this. So, for now its a “no”.
I do hope they don’t want you and your wife to do the murder reinactment
of course I’d buy it! it might be worth it to invent in a security system though..
Security system? Well, we have Copper The Dog as a pet!
http://www.facebook.com/copperthedog
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