2. Category* of Problem/Issue identified in article: Crime/Murder
3. Level of problem/issue: local level
4. State whether the article is concerning one of the following: A problem/issue that individuals/families face
5. Why this is
important to individuals/families? This is important to individuals and families because unhealthy relationships are something that is seen far too often. This one just happened to be taken to a whole new level
6. What are
your views on the issue/policy?
I am horrified after reading this new article and hearing
about the double murder of Hailey Nicholls and Jesse Robledo and the suicide of
the murder suspect Daniel Brewster Stillwell. The double homicide took place here
in San Marcos, a tightknit community populated by primarily college students.
Knowing that something so drastic happened so close to home makes this
situation feel so much more real. I'm sure there are plenty of unhealthy
relationships between college students in this town but I am shocked that
someone would go to such lengths because of jealousy. It scares me to think
that something so tragic could really happen to anyone. I hope that the
startling news of this situation doesn't bring about more crime for the city,
instead I hope that it will help bring San Marcos and Texas State University
closer together to fight against such horrible things. I cannot imagine the
grief and the heartache that all of these peoples family and friends are going
through. It does make me wonder if there were signs of violence in Nicholls and
Stillwell’s relationship or if the jealousy of Nicholls new relationship was
purely what sent Stillwell over the edge. It is such a sad and unfortunate
situation and I wish the signs of violence and rage would have been sensed
sooner so someone could have tried to talk him out of the drastic measure he
planned on taking. The fact the Stillwell committed suicide because he “did not want to
live in a cage” the rest of his life and that he “was going to kill himself by
driving off a cliff.” Just proves how big of a coward he was and I hope that this is situation that the city of San Marcos will not see again.
This story was pretty shocking to me when I heard it. Honestly, mostly because the apartments at which it happened are where I lived for a large portion of my time here in San Marcos, and actually in the building right across from my old place. Maybe it sounds silly, but my familiarity of the apartments kind of made it hit closer to home for me. The description of the murder was one that I could unfortunately visualize too clearly, and at the end of my stay there my girlfriend and I were in a similar situation where she had recently broken up with a long time boyfriend before dating me. He was pretty jealous and upset about it, and while our situation was clearly nowhere close to the tragedy that took place, it made it seem much more real, for a lack of better terms. It's one thing to hear about violent crimes taking place in some random town somewhere in the U.S., and while any murder is a sad situation, it's so common to hear about on the news that it almost kind of desensitizes you. I guess in this particular case, it has reminded me that these are just normal kids that got caught up in a horrible situation due to the selfish acts of a coward. On one hand, I’d say I’m glad the guy drove himself to the point of taking his own life because he clearly felt like the piece of crap that he is, but on the other hand, he should have been forced to live with his actions in prison. It is a horrible outcome regardless, and my thoughts go out to their families and friends.
ReplyDelete