25 terrifying encounters with serial killers

25.

And finally, a longer story: “It was the middle of winter, just before midnight, and I was struggling to empty a heavy garbage can into a dumpster. I lived in a small town that shut down at 8 p.m., so it wasn't impossible to see people late at night, just a little unusual – especially since people had to stay indoors because of the crappy cold weather. But not me – I was a janitor for a few different companies, and not being a morning person, I cleaned at night. The dumpster was about thirty feet behind the building, so I had to carefully walk across the icy parking lot to avoid falling. The sidewalk in front of the building was perfectly paved and salted – you remember that. So there I was, struggling to heave the garbage into the can, trying not to break my neck if I slipped on ice, at midnight, when the town was dead… when I heard the crunch of footsteps behind me.”

“I turned around and there was a guy walking around the building toward me (he was about 15 feet away when I noticed him). I immediately froze and stared at him. There was nothing back there except me, a dumpster, the hill the dumpster is on (which I can't climb), and a lot of open icy areas. And I had left my pepper spray in my bag. All of these facts hit me like a punch in the gut.

The guy saw me seeing him and turned around and walked back to the sidewalk, but seemed slightly annoyed.

“Hey,” he said.

I'm still wondering why anyone other than me could be there so late at night: “…”

“I said hey!” he said, now even angrier.

“Hey,” I replied, wondering now if I was being distant towards a guy who was out for a walk. But at the same time, alarm bells were ringing in my head. screaming because A) he was holding a sturdy looking pole that could be used as a weapon, B) he was walking back to the paved sidewalk to leave – why wasn't he on the sidewalk in the first place? Why would he make a random U-shape around a building with a crappy icy parking lot when the sidewalk is safer/better? And C) I realized as he got closer that he was smaller than me. I don't think he realized how big I was from that distance. When he walked away, I just felt like he hadn't done anything because he realized I might have put up more of a fight than he could handle.

I shoved my butt back inside and locked the doors. I surreptitiously watched him walk down the sidewalk and when he was out of sight I checked his footprint in the snow. Then I saw prints next to one of the windows. I immediately felt sick. I think he noticed that there was a light on in the building and looked. He probably watched me clean for God knows how long before he decided to follow me to the dumpster.

I can't lie, it really scared me. Even though nothing had technically happened, I no longer felt safe brushing at night, so I started brushing in the morning.

This is not the end of the story. It wasn't until years later, when I was perusing the local bulletin board, that I saw this guy's damn face on a wanted/danger poster. He had murdered two elderly people (not his grandparents, they were strangers), beheading them but leaving their dogs alive. He had no real motive other than “opportunity.” I think back to meeting him next to the dumpster and get nervous as hell because there was no damn way anyone was going to help me. I wonder if I was a little woman, would I be dead right now?

The final kick: he was not caught. That's right, he's still out there somewhere. I think he has friends/family hiding him somewhere – I don't know how else he's managing to survive.”

—u/Jay-Writer