Any news story involving a murder is sad, but this is just horrific and grotesque: The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that Chad Gurney, a former lacrosse player at Liberty University, has been arrested and charged with murdering 18-year-old Zoe Sarnacki. According to her sister Kristin Kosnow, Gurney choked Sarnacki to death, cut off her head with a Samurai sword, and then tried to hide the murder by setting fire to his apartment.
Usually in these cases, people talk about how the accused seemed like a “really nice person” who was “quiet and kept to himself.” Not so here. One person told the SUN JOURNAL that Gurney was “undisciplined and suffering from a bad attitude” as an athlete. Another person said that people often cringed when Gurney arrived at parties. In addition, he may have had a thing for teenaged girls:
Watson Atkinson, owner of another Portland tattoo parlor, said Gurney told him that he wanted to use his settlement money for good. He planned to travel to Thailand to “find himself,” Atkinson said.
But many people felt uneasy about Gurney’s demeaning and confrontational attitude. And he seemed to focus on teenage girls, which troubled Atkinson to the point that he prohibited his 16-year-old daughter from hanging out with Gurney, and warned Zoe Sarnacki to stay clear of him.
“But none of us were really aware at how dark his thoughts may have been,” Atkinson said.
I guess we know now. Gurney was involved in a serious accident while playing at Liberty University, when the team van was rear-ended by another van and pushed into the path of a tractor-trailer, ejecting Gurney. He almost died in the crash, nearly having to have his leg amputated, which he said was the reason for the having the letters P-A-I-N tattooed on his knuckles.
Needless to say, prosecutors have ordered Gurney to undergo a psychiatric evaluation (you think?). And Sarnacki’s family is preparing to file a wrongful death suit against him next week - they not only want to take away his assets (including his sizable settlement money), but since there might not be a criminal trial, they want him to go through some sort of trial.
9:52 pm on January 19th, 2011
All I have to say is I’ve known Chad since high school. He was an elitest douche with no concept of consequences then and he only got worse in his adult years. Chad was a very good looking boy and he knew it. On top of that, he was intellegent and cruel. He can claim insanity all he wants but I am POSITIVE that it was just him pitching a childish fit at not getting his way and finally going far enough that for once he couldn’t weasle his way out of it. There is something seriously wrong with this world if he gets away with his insanity plea. I honestly wish that Maine approved Capitol Punishment.
12:34 pm on February 5th, 2011
I hung out with/dated Chad briefly when he was about 18. He prided himself as an intellect, and considered himself profound. I believe that he is a bent individual who fed his mind on horrific things that made his jump from sick fantasy to sick reality seamless.
One other thing, his rhetoric about Zoe being his “soul mate,” “angel,” “gift,” “truth,” etc. he has been using for the past decade. However intense his feelings were for her, unfortunately those feelings occurred frequently for him for the past 10 years for many girls. Let this be a stark warning for any young woman who becomes the object of obsession of an older man.
4:27 pm on February 26th, 2011
I just knew he is a child molester in addition to gross. What an ugly bastard too.
4:28 pm on February 26th, 2011
I just knew he is a child molester in addition to gross. What an ugly bastard too. Off with HIS HEAD.