Sex offender in Wellington, UT stabbed 17 times
A Wellington father was arrested and faces a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly stabbed a registered sex offender 17 times after he allegedly made comments his minor daughter.
The victim, who wasn’t identified, was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors say they determined he had been stabbed 17 times. Officers spoke to the victim, who stated that he didn’t know the name of his attacker but that he had met him several days earlier at the post office.
Officers identified the alleged attacker, Thad James Gurule, and contacted him at his home, where he admitted to assaulting the man because he allegedly made comments about Gurule’s daughter. Gurule told detectives that he did an internet search on the victim and discovered that he was a registered sex offender. Investigators say Gurule walked over to the victim’s apartment, asking him if he wanted to go for a walk for some food.
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Possibly a comment was made for the sake of argument; we can go with that. But when reading this article to understand the author’s intent, wouldn’t you agree that if there was any legitimately “offensive” comment made, the author would have made it the headline of the article?
For example:
“Registered sex predator says [horrible thing] to young girl, and righteously inflamed father takes justice into his own hands—17 times!”
We can all agree this article is clearly an anti-sex-offender hit piece, right? If so, highlighting the inflammatory comment would only make the piece stronger and more sensational. That’s why I’m skeptical.
Also, let’s use your dear grandmother as an example again, if I may. If someone said something offensive to your grandmother, would your first reaction be to quietly and quickly rush home, turn on the computer, and scour sex-offender registries hoping to find a match? That seems a bit creepy and unrealistic, doesn’t it?
If someone has enough rage to premeditatively stalk another person and then stab them 17 separate times with a knife—up close and personal—wouldn’t that be the kind of rage that would also cause an immediate, violent confrontation right then and there if they felt offended by something said? I really question whether someone could bottle up that much rage, stay calm enough to go home and search registries, and only then decide to kill.
Obvious,
Even if someone was legally defending themselves, who the Hell stabs someone 17 times unless they are crazy, enraged, mentally ill or just a sociopath. 17 times is sending a message. But if the guy gets a long time in prison, he loses his freedom and the time he will lose spending time with his family.
Seems two families lost someone for foolishness.
Good observation. From a psychological profiling aspect and from personal observation, the act of stabbing is a much more personal action than poison, shooting, or even hitting. And 17 times? You are stabbing into vital organs. It’s bloody, it’s messy, it’s very smelly. This is a very dangerous and disturbed individual. That’s a lot of internalized anger. That requires a deep desire and enjoyment for inflicting harm. That alone tells me this perp wasn’t just acting out over some random comment that mysteriously has been unreported. He wasn’t a loose cannon that a situation presented itself to; he was a volcano ready to create the opportunity. It’s best if he doesn’t see the light of day for a very long period — not as punishment, but as protection for others. Sadly, the registry and the anti-sex-offender propaganda are sure to have not only helped encourage his actions but probably his mental illness as well.
It is interesting to note that this guy’s mugshot is nowhere to be found. Generally a career criminal with an attempted murder charge would be plastered all over the internet.
You’re right. Also the victims name is nowhere to be found from what I can see. A PFRs name and entire criminal history is always put on blast by the media
curiouser and curiouser.
I found more information.
The guy who did the stabbing was on probation and also drugs were found at his home.
This is a good video from both the reporter and the police officer.
And although everyone is wanting to know the victim’s name, I am glad the authorities are protecting his identity so someone else doesn’t get a wild idea to finish him off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=754OX0H9A68
I’m guessing the victim’s name in not ID’ed because he wasn’t even a Registrant; he might’ve only looked like a guy on the registry.
Here is the retyped version with corrected spelling, grammar, and punctuation for clarity, while preserving the original meaning:
But, but, but—he’s not a criminal. He’s a hero. The registry is a tool, and this is how it can be used. Isn’t that what the writer is trying to convey to us? It certainly sounds like it to me. What about you?
This is shoddy reporting that deliberately obfuscates critically important details—like what was even claimed to have been said, which might have lent a different or more sympathetic view of the victim, or at least caused people to question the perpetrator’s story. That story is riddled with so many conflicting inaccuracies: Why would he rush to a computer to search for offenders right after a comment was made? How would he even know the name to look up in the first place?
Does anyone really just walk the streets waiting for people to say things so they can rush to a computer and check offender registries? I doubt it. And even if someone really is that obsessive, don’t we all carry smartphones now? Why did the author not state the clear facts? The perp was actually a violent , predatory stalker using the registry as a hunting license, as a tool for one of the most personal and horrific forms of murder. 17 times up close , in the eyes, feel the life blood draining, smell the pain inflicted with a knife? Not many can kill in that fashion. over and over and over 17 times.. The contextual text is very clear, this author had an agenda.
The entire story makes no logical sense otherwise. This is a hit piece crafted to serve the narrative of fanning anti-sex-offender sentiment—as an example of a “hero” using the sex offender registry to mete out vigilante justice with a knife, 17 times—and implying this is how you too can be a hero. read it over and over from an objective stand point, not as someone on the registry but perhaps as someone who has already been primed to “hate sex offenders”.. What do you read now?
We probably never will have the truth if it doesn’t fit the narrative they want to propagate. Just like the claims that he “made a comment to the daughter” — a comment that was never disclosed. That’s not an accidental oversight; they deliberately didn’t mention what this supposedly “horrible” comment was that was so terrible it justified murder. It would have been a click bait header to the article if it existed and was worthy of murder. Either no comment was made at all, or it was something completely mundane that anyone might have said.
Also the story as outlined makes no logical sense. There are very big issues:
It claims the offender made the comment first, and THEN the perpetrator rushed to the internet to find out he was on the registry… Huh? So anytime a random stranger makes a comment, people immediately rush to the internet to check if they’re on the registry? Righty.. Also, the perpetrator would have needed a name to go with the random stranger’s face in order to even do the search. Evidence of premeditation.
The scenario as detailed simply isn’t logical or possible.
A much more logical and probable explanation is that the perpetrator was on a hunting trip. He was already scouting the sex offender registry for anyone living in his neighborhood and then concocted the story about the “comment” as an excuse for what was clearly a premeditated murder.
It’s not obvious who the “they” are that you’re referring to. Please clarify.
Obvious
My thoughts as well. And if he is like 99% of the population, if you had a phone with him, he could have looked it up right there on the spot. My opinion, he already knew the guy from viewing the registry and this was his story to cover up getting rid of the guy.
But all of our theories are just that, we have little info and what we do is all “He said, she said, they said”
I have been called numerous names or threats in my lifetime, but my father taught me that words cannot hurt you physically but a punch to the nose sure can. Meaning, only use force if it is necessary. If someone is so insecure that a few words stir them up, maybe they should seek a therapist?
I just pray the judge doesn’t go soft on this guy, that would open up a can of worms that you will get a light sentence if you attack “One of those people”. And there are plenty of judges who really despise us, I know, I had that type of judge when sentenced. Thank God back then there was gain time.
What is most scary isn’t this crime (which is horrific), but the fact that this reporter — and many more just like them — have used this crime to write hit-piece, clickbait, hate-fueled “sex offender” articles designed to prime other individuals to believe this perpetrator was a hero, and to teach them how they too can “be heroes” and how to use the registry to effectively do exactly that.
We all have families, loved ones, children, spouses, and parents who are becoming targets along with us in an increasingly hostile society that is being handed more and more tools for vigilante violence — with nonstop media encouragement on how to use them. The media is essentially advertising the hunting tools, giving vivid examples of how to wield them, while the government keeps passing ever more creative laws and punitive measures to make it harder for us to defend ourselves or even hide from the violence.
At least deer get camouflage during hunting season, and their season only lasts a couple of months. We — along with our families, friends, and any courageous employers or landlords willing to help us — have to wear the orange vests, tell the hunters exactly which tree we’re standing next to, stand still, and remain unarmed for a 365-day open season.
Tad unsportsmanlike, but that’s the government for ya…
Obvious, that is “Exactly” why I do not have my family live with me as I do not want them harmed, harassed or grieved because someone comes looking for me. The bad part of that is, if someone kills me, my family might not know until they want or need something. I could be laying dead in the backyard for months before anyone found me.
The scumbag murderer from Omaha Nebraska back in 2020 used the claim that the registrant was leering at kids while washing his car as an excuse to assault him. At least he went to prison for 20 years minimum.
Remember the Texas man who murdered a guy then claimed he did it because he caught the guy molesting his kid? The story was very sketchy but he got off completely.
This is becoming a more common excuse. What is messed up is that people want to declare this drug-addled loser who was probably planning a robbery for drug money a “hero” and send him commisary money.
It’s the worst kind of excuse.. It’s the lie that everyone wants to believe so believe it they will no matter how untrue it’s proven to be…
Nebraska v Texas is all that needs to be noted there…
How empty must these vigilantes’ lives be that they are willing to go to prison for years just to hurt/kill someone that’s never done anything directly to them or their family?
It doesn’t make much sense to me. Did it say in the story what the comment was about his daughter? What could possibly have been said to warrant 17 stabs and clearly intent to murder? Not to mention if he loved his daughter so much, wouldn’t going to prison and being away from her and unable to protect her be worse than throwing your life away over some comment? Also, if the comment was so egregious why didn’t he assault the man right then and there? In the heat of the moment so to speak? I don’t know, but to me this whole story sounds like just another Legally Sanctioned Public Registry Attack and Attempt to murder.
@RET. SGT
To your question, my guess he brought his daughter home so she wouldn’t see the violent attack, is why he went back instead of doing it right then and there. Plus he had to make his plan and probably get the weapon.
Having said that, I guess he will only see his daughter at prison visits with the family and she will be all upset saying, “How come you can’t come home Daddy”? Poor child caught up in the middle of all this but glad she did not have to witness the violence that ensued.
@CherokeeJack
That is most insightful my friend. When all fails, he gets to play the hero at the very least.
And when someone on the registry gets attacked, the Dumbernment is dumbfounded “HOw dID tHIs hAPpeN?” 😂🤦
@No end
right??
Exactly. The government is not unaware that their hunting license—sex offender registry—is being used for its true intended purpose of facilitating vigilante crime. They are excited that it is. Why else, after thirty years of empirical data showing that the registry is used as a vehicle for abuse, would they continue to double down and make it easier and easier to be used as a necessary tool for vigilantes to commit their violent crimes?
When the registry first started over thirty years ago, there was a slim possibility that an excuse could have been made to justify its existence as an essential law enforcement/public safety tool. With the thousands upon thousands of cases of suicides, rapes, murders, arsons, assaults, and other violent and property crimes since committed using the registry as the primary vehicle and essential tool for the commission of those crimes, that ship has long sailed.
The truth is in neon letters only the criminally complicit government can pretend to ignore. The fact that the Supreme Court has members who claim to not even know what a female is speaks volumes about how far the government will go to pretend not to know the truth when it suits its interests.
very well said.. it sounds like it… because it is… walks like a duck.. talks like a duck . it’s a duck . Registry Is nothing but a government sanctioned hunting license.. All it ever was intended for and all it is .
100%
Obvious
Like I said, there is an entire group of people in one small city called the “Predator hunters”. They all drive lifted pickup trucks and bumper stickers that say “Kill your local predator”. I spoke to law enforcement about this and they stated it was free speech until they actually threaten you personally.
I saw the first one about two years ago sitting at a traffic light with the bumper sticker at my face level. I kind of burst out laughing as they had no idea a registered offender was right behind them. It was both scary and funny at the same time if you get what I mean. But imagine if they required an offender sticker or plate on their vehicles? There was one city that required those back a few years ago but think it got thrown out by the higher courts.
Maybe not all but many of us have stories of damage to our homes, cars and properties and I have gotten nasty hate mail in my mail box and physical threats.
Obvious
Believe it or not, there are judges that despise people with sex offenses. My judge was one of them. She told me that if she could, she would have given me a death sentence but was not allowed to. She gave me the max and I would have served all of it if it had not been for an appeals judge who read those same words she said to me as a cause for prejudice and personal feelings get in the way of the ruling. So out of 22 years, I served only 10 years after the appeal with another judge.
This story has too many holes. Not sure why anyone would take a walk to get food with someone that they did not even know the name of. Next it is clear that the PFR was targeted from the start including the original meeting.
@James
100% agreed.
The story has gaps, but the ones you pointed out are easy to patch. An older man, on the sex offender registry. The registry ensures he’s either unemployed or scraping by on minimum-wage crumbs, so he’s malnourished. It isolates him completely—no friends, no community, no support—so he’s desperate for any human contact. Add in no access to church, counseling, or medical care for the mental and physical toll all this takes. The poor guy was so broken and starving for kindness that anyone offering a ham sandwich and a friendly word could have led him anywhere.
We don’t have any information about the victim yet.
@obvious answers
Those are powerful highlights my friends.
@RET.SGT.Vito Thank you. I try to look at the pros and cons of each scenario, and to see them from different perspectives. Hoping to understand better. Especially the situations that have the most personal effect or involvement. Even the registry. The registry has affected my family very personally. My wife is an innocent spouse victim who has been horribly victimized by the registry. She was assaulted by TSA at an international airport during a routine trip, stolen from, had her legal paperwork destroyed and even removed from America simply because she had the audacity to marry someone on the registry.When our Lawyers tried to intervene and the Judge demanded the video recordings at the airport USICS/NSA/TSA wrote back because I was on the registry their behaviors towards my wife were a matter of National Security and “protected” and they were not required to produce the recordings of what they did to her, the courts couldn’t even force the officers responsible to appear in court! My children also have each experienced horrible registry-induced victimization. One of my daughters was forced as a child to find her best friend hanging from a tree, a suicide victim of the registry. Both of my daughters were accosted at school, harassed by school staff, bullied by classmates and forced to grow up as “inferior” humans because of having a parent on the registry. Even had state police caught on camera one time playing “peeping tom” watching my daughters at night in their bedroom naked as they changed for bed!! When we complained we were told that yes, the police did do it BUT it was acceptable because it was standard procedure for SORNA residence checkups. This doesn’t even scratch the surface NOT how I have suffered BUT how my innocent family has been victimized by the USA government. Even with all of that I have tried to look at things from an outsider’s perspective to find a shred of justification for the abuse. Over 35 years later with no end in sight it seems to be very clear it doesn’t matter from which angle we view the government’s registry argument it simply doesn’t hold water as anything except a deliberately unconstitutional tool for vigilante crime, abuse, and mistreatment. The fact the government repetitively protects themselves from it (Epstein client list, and the multiple congress sex fund pay off slush funds) speaks very loudly that the government knows they are breaking the law with the registry too. It is also painfully clear that any legal defence we get will be inferior and poorly funded simply because unlike illegals, drug dealers and terrorists who all have large organizations willing to fund them and media willing to paint them in a positive light there is nothing to gain by helping us.
Obvious
There is the possibility he did make the comment, we do not know. Having said that, even if someone called my mother a bad name, I would not kill the person. Heck I would not even hit them, like most would do. Threats and actions are two different things.
Since none of us were there, nor did it seem there were any witnesses that we know, no matter what the guy said, does that qualify for a death sentence? I just hope the killer gets a long sentence and not let out in a few years.