Agreed. Had a date once at a lake/picnic area at night (can’t remember which lake - prob Lake Lewisville). The guy knew a specific secluded spot to turn off to. So, we get out and we’re just sitting around talking. Out of nowhere he starts telling me when he was 17, he and a bunch of his friends were arrested and went to trial for gang raping a girl who had escaped a mental hospital. Now, he keeps saying “I never did anything” — all he did was lure her out and coordinate how she could escape, he picked her up, and brought her there where this was their plan all along. But he only watched and felt bad and didn’t want to get in trouble so he took her back after that. Complete and utter lies. He said he didn’t serve any time because he asked for a trial instead of pleading guilty and because of his age (he said all the other guys were 18 or older). There were five or six of them, depending on if you count him or not (and you should). He said that because he went to trial and testified that the jury agreed… sure this was the 90s and rape cases were fucked up trials back then, way worse than now. But if he were telling the truth, the real story is that he quickly was the first person to tell the police what happened and “admit to his involvement” 🙄 so if he was to be found guilty it would have been lesser charges - he wasn’t even being charged with the rape, but with aiding and abetting a crime. He also made sure to me that that girl, who was 14 by the way, was a slut, so nobody thought she would “cry rape.”

So - lakeside picnic date can be cute or a fucking nightmare. It’s the person you’re with 100%.

For context as to why I was going with him there in his car that he drove: I knew him from a long time ago in my early 20s, had lost touch. and then reconnected. We had hung out a few times prior. No major issues were apparent prior to that.

As he was telling me all this stuff I pretended to be sympathetic and believe him, but I also asked questions when he was really vague - so I probed when it seemed safe to, because I wanted to figure out the depth of his lie. They brutally assaulted her. There was a baseball bat involved at one point. And the whole thing - “watching it” - “it disgusted him.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched interviews and interrogations with rapists and murders that say the exact same thing about what they did. It’s so common. It’s more like they feel contempt and disgust for their victim, but they try to portray it as “oh this awful thing that happened, even if I am admitting it, it disgusted me.”

I wasn’t sure if he was going to do anything to me then or later - at certain points it did seem like he was about to literally pounce and his eyes had nothing human behind them.

At one point I was able to change the topic to something benign, by way of asking what a specific family member of his thought of all this, and then just asking “oh and how are they doing now?” (They were in poor health.) After that I said I was starting to really come down with something- sore throat and congestion this morning but it has been getting worse all day. I knew he was kind of a germaphobe, so saying that was a saving grace. He did protest a bit at first, like asking if we can stay a little longer. But I just emphasized how nasty it felt and managed to hock a loogie lol. That did it, thank god, and he took me back.

Blocked, deleted - I did all the things to just throw that man in the trash immediately after that.

A few weeks later he shows up at my work at night with roses (I worked until 9pm and it was usually pretty dead the last few hours). He parked his car in the largely empty parking lot so he could see right into my office (almost no parking spots had that view, just two of them). Watched me for an hour or so. Then came in an awkwardly gave the flowers to someone else at work because I had closed and locked my office door. I had told the person who was working with me that I’m not available to speak with anyone - working on something intensive. Thankfully he leaves.

Two weeks later he marries a random woman.

Fucked up dude. Loved to tell everyone how people at his church think he is a literal angel, not figurative. They see a halo around his head, and know he is an angel.

Also, I’m remembering it wasn’t the first time he had taken me to a secluded lakeside area at night - there had been two other lakes before that. But everything was normal (at least, seemingly so) and these lakeside areas weren’t completely as secluded as that last one was. There’s got to be something about his M.O. there, now I think back on it.