I’ve been relatively blessed and thankful that I haven’t had a lot of major people die in my life, although I’ve had a few tough ones along the way. I’ve probably seen three “status of the estate” things play out from afar. All of them, even the ones I would slug “not contentious,” end up being contentious in their own way — at a complicated intersection of how families are, the need for relevance, the need for money, the desire to “get what’s yours,” a winding legal system, and more.
Well, we may have a situation that takes the cake out of North Ogden, Utah last year. I just came across this case via YouTube.
This dude is named Jeffrey Roberts. He was mid-to-late 60s at the time. He apparently drove from Long Beach, California to North Ogden, Utah. He basically drives 12 to 15 hours, calmly walks up to his brother’s door, exchanges in very brief small talk as a dog appears behind them (all this is on a Ring camera), and then kills his brother. Apparently he shot his sister-in-law too, and attempted to set fire to the house with road flares. A neighbor called the cops, so the cops showed up, and this dude decides to go out in a blaze of gunfire.
This one is even more drastic:
Apparently, this all stemmed from a “long-standing feud over the family estate.”
It kinda reminded me of these two:
People are choosing to exit the world in a hail of gunfire for seemingly very low-priority reasons. I know family stuff can always get contentious, but isn’t a lawyer a bit easier than killing your brother and setting his house ablaze with road flares? I’d reckon so.
I worry a lot of this points to a “decline in purpose,” and we cover it up with “Oh, this dude musta been crazy!”
Your take?