South Carolina Spree Killer Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossberg Arrested
A small favor that he's been caught!
This is yet another "Florida man" story of sorts, but it has somewhat of a happy ending. Police in Polk County, Florida, have announced that they've made an arrest of a spree killer, and upon his arrest, he announced that his biggest aspiration in life was to be yet another serial killer (because we clearly don't have enough). So who is Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg, and did he really kill 8 people?
Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg isn't originally from Florida, so perhaps the state can take some comfort in knowing that this one, in particular, is not one of their many, many, many screw-ups. Rather, according to Fox Carolina, he's originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina, which is in the upper part of the state. Officials from South Carolina say that, on Tuesday, October 15th, Mossburg was arrested in Winter Haven, Florida, after what turned out to be a 14-hour standoff. Officials also say that he believed in getting "up close and personal" with his alleged victims, and butchered them using a knife.
So let's look at all the gruesome details surrounding this wannabe serial killer. And yes, folks, there are way too many gory details for any normal person's liking.
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1. He got the nickname 'Woo Woo' from a tattoo.
According to WJHL, when a reward bulletin was first put out for Stanley Mossburg, he got the nickname 'Woo Woo' because he bore a distinctive tattoo with those words. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said that Mossburg bore the tattoo on his back, between his shoulder blades, and they were offering a $2,500 reward to anyone who could provide information that led to his arrest and, ultimately, his conviction.
2. The bulletin for Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg went out for the slaying of two people in Winter Haven, Florida.
Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, Florida, spoke to ABC Action News and said that he'd put out a bulletin for Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg after he was called to the scene of a double homicide. Judd said that a man came home to find two of the other people who lived there already murdered. He said that Mossburg was the main suspect because he encountered the man, and Mossburg allegedly said, "I'm not going to kill you because God told me not to."
3. He barricaded himself in the house, & began shooting at officers.
According to CNN, Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg then told his live victim that he "liked killing people" and bragged about killing more people than he'd previously mentioned. Officers quickly arrived at the scene to try to assess the situation, and it was then that Mossburg barricaded himself into the house in Winter Haven, and began opening fire and shooting at officers.
4. Officers believe that Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg is responsible for at least three deaths.
"Mossburg is also wanted for an Oct. 1 murder in Greene County, Tennessee, in which a man was killed and his body left behind the Celebrity Coin Laundry. That crime was reportedly a random attack," reported The Mercury News, who said that after that killing, Mossburg hopped on a bus and went to his sister's house in South Carolina. She then bought him a ticket to Winter Haven, Florida. (WHAT. THE. HELL?!?!)
5. Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg allegedly killed eight people but said that his goal was to kill 11 people.
WGNO reports that the people Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg allegedly killed in Winter Haven, Florida, were victims number seven and eight. However, when he was arrested, he said that his goal was to kill 11 people. The outlet also reported that Mossburg has a long and violent history, and has either been arrested or served time for various crimes including robbery, manufacturing drugs and selling drugs.
6. But don't worry, folks, he was taken alive.
Despite the fact that he's got a long and violent criminal history, despite the fact that he killed at least three people and is accused of killing up to eight people, despite the fact that he held his last victims hostage and told the police that he "likes killing people," and despite the fact that the police classified him a "spree killer," Lex18 reports that Stanley 'Woo Woo' Mossburg was taken into custody alive. It's a wonder the officers didn't offer him a cold beer after such a hard day.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. For more information about Bernadette Giacomazzo, click here.