20 years ago today the DC Beltway Sniper was convicted.

[AMart]

Time flies, he was executed in 2009. Sidekick is still in prison. They murdered 17 people.

Muhammad's goal in Phase One was to kill six white people a day for 30 days. Malvo went on to describe how Phase One did not go as planned due to heavy traffic and the lack of a clear shot or getaway at locations.

 

[1srelluc]

Those that lived in the AO at the time can speak to the fear that those two spread in NOtVA. Lets just say you did not want to be driving a "white van" back then.....The cops had white vans pulled over everywhere.

Can you even fathom the fear that would grip the nation if a group of snackbars or other operatives did the same thing spread out across the country?

IMHO.....21 years on and people are a lot weaker psychologically now than then.

 

[martybegan]

Were these guys serial killers or more extended spree killers?

I know it's a technical quibble, but curious to see how they are seen.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Is it that the father who dragged his son around and randomly sniped people at gas stations etc from.the makeshift trunk.of their car? It was scary as hell just reading about it so soon after.9/11. The oriignal description was of a white van which allowed them to continue longer than they should have. Sick humans.

 

[Blaster]

Time flies, he was executed in 2009. Sidekick is still in prison. They murdered 17 people.

Muhammad's goal in Phase One was to kill six white people a day for 30 days. Malvo went on to describe how Phase One did not go as planned due to heavy traffic and the lack of a clear shot or getaway at locations.

Today he would be considered a hero by quite a few people.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Today he would be considered a hero by quite a few people.

Their actions would be blamed on racism.

 

[rightwinger]

One of the few times I admit I was really scared.

I had a business trip in the DC area and was staying at a Hilton Hotel in Northern Virginia.
I was supposed to get there late afternoon but ended up working late and didn’t get to the hotel till after 10 PM.
The main parking lot was filled and I ended up parking in a remote lot about a quarter mile away. As I walked with my suitcase, I scanned the horizon looking for a possible sniper.

As I entered the hotel lobby, I felt like a jerk for being sacred.
The next morning, I heard the sniper had killed someone about a mile away an hour before I had arrived

 

[shockedcanadian]

One of the few times I admit I was really scared.

I had a business trip in the DC area and was staying at a Hilton Hotel in Northern Virginia.
I was supposed to get there late afternoon but ended up working late and didn’t get to the hotel till after 10 PM.
The main parking lot was filled and I ended up parking in a remote lot about a quarter mile away. As I walked with my suitcase, I scanned the horizon looking for a possible sniper.

As I entered the hotel lobby, I felt like a jerk for being sacred.
The next morning, I heard the sniper had killed someone about a mile away an hour before I had arrived

That's heavy

 

[TroglocratsRdumb]

I remember Phil Donahue saying that when they catch the Beltway sniper that he would be a white guy.

 

[shockedcanadian]

I remember Phil Donahue saying that when they catch the Beltway sniper that he would be a white guy.

These biases (including wrong eye witness accounts that a white van had fled the scenes) and expert profiling allowed them to extend their run of terror for longer. I think everyone learned a great deal after that and I would not be surprised to see this case being studied in Federal Policing classes.