Abm0raz's Journal: I know a murderer.... (UPDATED)

A shock to the system. Someone I know was arrested today for brutally bludgeoning a man to death. (link 1 and link 2) I had played poker with him quite regularly. He was a short tempered man whom many of us started trying to avoid. He was a coke-head* and frequently played when severely drunk. I have seen him lose over $140 in a single sitting when we were playing $20 max buy-in. I disliked playing with the man so much that I've skipped a few games just cause I knew he'd be there. The last time we played, I was up $70 for the night (most won from him) and he started gunning for me. It was so bad that if he was in the hand, I folded automatically cause I didn't want to deal with him, even if he limped into my big blind.

He was a manager at one of the nicer bar/restaurants, but was recently fired (2 weeks ago) for doing coke** on the job. The bar/restaurant crowd here is rather close knit. For the most part, we all know each other and get along. It's almost like a fraternity of sorts. When you walk into another person's place, you get better treatment (extra drinks, free stuff, no cover, discounts, etc...) because you're part of "the bar crowd" (phrase coined by a friend of mine that owns a bar in town). To see something like this happen is really ... trying to find the word ... disconcerting. It's not the word I'm looking for, but it's close enough. Especially considering that another of our own died 2 weeks ago after being stabbed in the heart while trying to break up a fight.

There are others that do coke (I do not), but none seemed anywhere near the problems that Andy had. If you read the second article, "Dan" (someone I play poker with much more often and talk to more regularly) was quoted as saying that Andy never raged or blacked out. This HAS to be a pure P.R. move on his part, as he's been there when we had to kick Andy out before.

As for 'Sweet', I think I might have met him before, but I can't be sure. I don't want to speculate because if it is who I think it might be, I couldn't even ID him if I wanted to. After reading the description, I think the 3 of us (me, Dan, and Andy) played poker at his place this summer. I thought his name was Tony, or Anthony, or something to that nature. I don't believe he was ever called 'Sweet' once, but the description fits and he was the one that introduced us to Andy.

As for the dead guy... never met him or heard of him. Don't even think he was part of the poker or bar/restaurant crowd.

All in all, this REEKS of a cocaine deal gone bad. I'm glad I seperated any ties I had with him about 2 months ago. I don't want to have anything to do with this.

-Ab

* I have never seen him actually snort. Just what I've been told by friends.
** Again, just hearsay through the bar/resaurant grapevine.

*****************UPDATE***************
After reading the article in today's paper, I realized I had played poker with the guy who was killed.