John Darrell Thuesen shoots & kills siblings

[Kalehue]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly. Please bear with me.

Apparently this young man was in the Marines and recently returned home from Iraq. He was living back in College Station and attending Blinn (Community College). He had dated Rachel Kate Joiner. She recently broke things off. Thuesen showed up at a home that the Joiner parents had purchased for the siblings (both were students at Texas A&M) and he shot both of them. Travis was dead at the scene; Rachel Kate died following surgery, but was able to identify the shooter to police. Thuesen was the one to call 9-1-1 and he waited at the scene for police.

I can't imagine losing one child let alone two at the same time....and so senselessly. Very sad.

2 Aggies shot to death at College Station home

Authorities arrested a Blinn College student on capital murder charges in the Friday afternoon slayings of a brother and sister — both Aggies — living in south College Station.
Travis Wilson Joiner, 23, and Rachel Kate Joiner, 21, were rushed to College Station Medical Center where the brother died on arrival and the sister died after surgery.

College Station resident John Darrell Thuesen — a 25-year-old part-time Blinn College student, was taken into custody at the scene.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6298513.html

http://www.theeagle.com/local/2-Aggies-shot-to-death-at-CS-home

[Dakota Valkyrie]

http://i44.tinypic.com/5w00eq.gifhttp://i41.tinypic.com/6hkpds.gif.
Travis Joiner and Rachel Joiner
.http://i40.tinypic.com/2a637sh.gif
murderer John ThuesenRachel Joiner was found in the garage of the house. She sustained injuries to the chest and hand. According to police reports, when she was asked who shot her, she responded that her boyfriend, John, did it.

The suspect, John Darrell Thuesen, 25, was a Blinn College student and Rachel's boyfriend. Police reports said he called 911 and was found at the scene. When police arrived, he was charged with two counts of capital murder.

Tabitha Foreman, neighbor to the Joiners, reported hearing gunshots when she came home on her lunch break.

"I heard about five bangs upon getting out of my car. At first you think, 'Oh my gosh,' and then it's so quiet. I didn't think much of it because there's construction going on," Foreman said.
http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/news/2009/03/09/News/Murder.On.Walcourt.Loop-3665045.shtml

[ohmarvellousme!]

That is so sad, two promising young lives snuffed out, and countless other lives devastated. And all because one of the victims broke off a relationship with the murderer. Such a senseless waste.

[Kalehue]

Thanks for posting the photos Dakota. I'll figure this out eventually. :-)

This hits so close to home for me. Two of my children are A&M grads and one will be attending college there next year. My daughter-in-law was actually in band in high school with the killer, though doesn't seem to remember much about him. Certainly nothing stuck out, either.

Thuesen's neighbor and landlord said news of the shootings was a "complete shock."

"We'd talk two or three times a week," Brett Behrend said. "He kept a clean place and always paid rent on time. When I heard about it, I just couldn't breathe. I was shaking."

Behrend bought the duplex in June and Thuesen moved in next door in August. Behrend said he thought Thuesen and Rachel Joiner began dating shortly after he moved in.

"They were always together," Behrend said. "They seemed really happy."

Behrend recalled talking to Thuesen on Wednesday and asking about his relationship with Joiner.

"I just noticed she hadn't been over as much, and he said she was just busy and wanted to start spending some time apart," he said. "He didn't seem bothered by it or like it was a big deal."

The shootings happened two days later.

Behrend said he thought Thuesen had served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was originally from a small town near Bellville.

http://www.theeagle.com/local/Police-say-killer-ID-d

This was posted in the comments section beneath the article:

Posted by: Former Bellville Student On: 3/8/2009

Comment Title: John's Life
I have to say that I have known John for years and was with him in band as a percussionist. He was a great man with so much potential. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Joiner family as well as to the Thuesen family. My family was in tears to hear the news. It is tragic not only for the family who lost their loved ones but also because the Thuesen family is more or losing a son in the process because he threw his away when he pulled the trigger. Something very tragic must have happened in Iraq for him to have committed this because John was the definative Southern Gentleman until this event. He would open doors and help handicapped people from here to there as I saw him do with the mother of another percussionist since she could not walk on uneven ground. It is hard to believe that it happened but just realize that his family must be hurting too. My thoughts and prayers are with both families at this time.