Who's the most notorious criminal in your family tree?
the true crime that's worth your time
Today’s thread is inspired by a Dear Prudence from last week that had Sarah and me snickering in our Slack. Here’s the lead two grafs:
I’m engaged to a lovely, kind, sensitive woman, “Adele,” who happens to be related to a notorious but long-dead criminal. All her life Adele has been teased about her last name, and sometimes even ostracized when people find out she’s actually related, even though she and her family naturally condemn this man and his actions. We’ve had to postpone our wedding more than two years because of COVID, so finally making it happen is a huge deal.
At the barbecue where we first introduced our extended families, my 15-year-old cousin “Kim” held up a picture of the criminal on her phone and made a terrible joke, despite my whole family having been warned not to mention him. In response Adele threw a small rock at her, unintentionally hitting her in the face and injuring one of her eyes. In Adele’s defense she did not realize Kim was just 15, and assumed (reasonably, due to her clothing and appearance) that she was at least several years older. Kim’s parents raised holy hell, and Adele has been charged with aggravated battery plus aggravated child abuse, which given her personal trauma has been hugely upsetting for her.
There are so many questions to ask about all this, from are these letters really real? to did Adele just happen to have a rock in her hand? to OK BUT WHO IS ADELE RELATED TO? And we encourage discussion of all those, and any other queries posed by this column!
But we’re just as curious to learn if any of you are related to a true-crime figure of any sort of notoriety. Given the rise of forensic DNA, it’s likely one of us will discover a relationship to infamy in our lifetime, so consider this thread an opportunity to share your experiences, and/or where the best place on your person is to keep a rock to toss at thoughtless barbecue guests. — EB