While this story is way-back out of the time frame we are keeping, we still wanted to keep a record of it because it is still an example of what we call "Related Deaths by Sexual Circumstances"10-19-2013:
A candlelight vigil was held today in Surrey to remember two best friends who were murdered in cold blood 20 years ago. Friends since elementary school, Christian Lussier and Paul McDaniel were inseparable. “They were a team — they were always together,” Lussier’s older sister, Wendy Chapman, said. “I could never imagine one without the other.”
Tragically, the two young men also died together. On Sept. 11, 1993, John Joseph Arniel confronted Lussier, 16, McDaniel, 15, and Richard Moisan, 17, at a spot under the Pattullo Bridge, where he shot them all. Lussier and McDaniel died at the scene but Moisan, who had been shot in the face, survived. He was able to call 911 and identify Arniel as the shooter.
Arniel, then 18 years old, went after the teens because his girlfriend had told him that Lussier raped her — an allegation that police deemed unfounded and the woman later recanted. Arniel pleaded guilty in December 1993 to two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years. Story here.
Over the past several years, our blog has covered far too many examples of the awful things that can happen because of false rape claims. We grow weary of people who trivialize false rape claims by claiming they are rare. Unfortunately, the people who make such assertions typically have a financial interest at stake. They fail to take into account that while only a relatively small number of rape claims can be definitively branded "false," the same is true for the percentage of rape claims that can be definitively branded as rapes. For most such, no one can say one way or the other -- even Dr. David Lisak's rape study affirms this. Of the rape claims that can be definitively classified (either way), false rape claims make up a significant percentage -- an unacceptable percentage.
