perfidy

Don't ever take anything away from addict in training Arleen Mathers of Memphis, TN. Loyal Ministry reader #00017 EDog sent me the following story, which should stand as a cautionary tale to anyone who thinks that music is "just a hobby" with some people.

Cough. Ahem.

Pod Used In Domestic Homicide
Friday, March 5, 2004 Posted: 4:50 PM EST (1450 GMT)

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (HLN) - A Memphis woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after she bludgeoned her boyfriend to death with an iPod.

Arleen Mathers, 23, was arrested Thursday morning after she called Memphis Police and said she had killed her boyfriend, according to a Sheriff’s Department report. When deputies arrived at Mathers’ apartment at 528 Poplar Avenue, Mathers led them to the body of her boyfriend, Brad Pulaski, 27.

Brad Pulaski had died of blunt trauma to the head after being repeatedly bludgeoned with an iPod, a popular MP3 player produced by Apple. Police said no motive has been confirmed, although evidence suggested the murder was the result of a domestic dispute after Pulaski erased the contents of Mathers’ iPod.

According to law officers, Mathers was hysterical when police arrived and told them that she killed her boyfriend only after he accused her of illegally downloading music and erased about 2,000 of her MP3s. Mathers complained that it took 3 months to build her music collection.

An autopsy performed Friday afternoon at Methodist Hospital showed that Brad Pulaski had been beat multiple times in the face and chest by a blunt metal object, and died of internal bleeding, said Dr. Felix Klamut, deputy coroner.

According to Apple’s website, the iPod is partially made of a hard metal plate that’s been praised for it’s resistance to regular wear and tear, like drops and coffee spills. “It took him a while to die,” Dr. Klamut said. “She must have stabbed him 40 to 80 times with that iPod. His death was not instantaneous, that’s for sure”

Arleen Mathers was arraigned Friday night by a video hookup from the county jail. Municipal Court Judge Simon Lambert set her bond at $600,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for March 9.

I have to wonder.... those IPods are durable little things. D'you think hers still works?

In honor of Arleen Mathers, winner of the August edition of the infrequently awarded Perfidious Prize for Inadvertant or Vertant Asshattery, I have included below the fold a mix of suitable music in her honor.

Cutting Crew: "(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight"
Hall & Oates: "Man Eater"
Queen: "Killer Queen"
Ramones: "Beat On The Brat"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse: "Down By The River"
Prodigy: "Smack My Bitch Up"
Johnny Cash: "Folsom Prison Blues"
Willie Nelson: "Crazy"
Flaming Lips: "Should We Keep The Severed Head Alive?"
Ella Fitzgerald: "Everything I've Got (Belongs To You)"
Elvis Costello: "Psycho"
Chemlab: "Blunt Force Trauma"
Guns 'N' Roses: "I Used To Love Her"
The Gamma Scalpers: "If You Touch My Mp3 Player Again I'll Bash Your Freaking Head In!"