Man Who Allegedly Listened To GUNS N' ROSES Song Before Killing Ex-Girlfriend Sentenced To 50 Years To Life In Prison

February 4, 2017

According to CBS Los Angeles, a California man was sentenced to 50 years to life for shooting and killing his business partner after drinking vodka and taking prescription pills while listening to GUNS N' ROSES.

Thomas Michael Wilhelm (pictured),who is now 53, allegedly sang along to the classic GN'R song "Used To Love Her" — featuring the lyrics "I used to love her but I had to kill her" — before stealing a handgun from his neighbor and using it to shoot Christine Murray, 45, in 2012.

Although Murray and Wilhelm had once dated, they were only business partners at the time of the alleged crime.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson said that Wilhelm broke into his neighbor's home on the night of July 8, 2012 and stole a .32-caliber pistol. Eleven minutes before the shooting, he sent a text message to a friend saying that he was listening to a song: "Used To Love Her".

He was charged with first-degree murder and was found guilty on November 30, 2016.

Judge Thomas Goethals handed down the sentence Friday (February 3) in Orange County Superior Court.

"Used To Love Her" is found on GUNS N' ROSES' "Lies" EP, which came out in 1988. The song's lyrics are, as the album's notes reveal, "a joke, nothing more." Guitarist Slash reportedly said about the track: "People think it's about one of our old girlfriends, but it's actually about Axl's [Rose, vocals] dog."

Police booking photo courtesy of the Costa Mesa Police Department

Find more on Guns n' roses
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).