Featured Image Credit: When Dating Hurts
Topics: US News, Podcast, Crime, Parenting, True crime
Ella Scott
Topics: US News, Podcast, Crime, Parenting, True crime
Warning: This article contains discussion of domestic violence, which some readers may find distressing
A grieving father whose daughter was murdered three weeks after graduating from college detailed four ‘eerie’ things that took place in the aftermath of her death - including electrical faults and her cell phone number being transferred.
Kristin Mitchell, described by her dad Bill, as a ‘very smart and extremely creative’ woman, had just graduated on a food marketing scholarship, winning a job at food manufacturer General Mills.
On the day of her graduation, the 21-year-old introduced her new boyfriend, Brian David Landau, to her father and her mom, Michele Mitchel.
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During a recent appearance on the What Was That Like podcast, Bill said the man - who was around 27 years-old at the time - was someone he would ‘never want to tangle with’.
“I probably only had that feeling a few times in my life,” he said.
“That’s not a common thing for me to meet somebody at that place,” he continued, adding it was a ‘premonition [he] should have followed up somehow.”
20 days later, police informed the father that Kristin’s boyfriend had murdered her in her apartment in Conshohocken, PA., after she tried to break up with him. She was stabbed 55 times.
Brian eventually pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Recounting the aftermath of the June 2005 incident, Brian has revealed that a series of ‘strange’ occurrences took place after he learned his only daughter was dead.
After Kristin’s death, Bill and his wife Michele decided that they no longer needed to keep her cell phone active.
Before her number was retired, they were informed that it would be given to someone else in around two months’ time.
“I was able to discover that Kristin’s number was retired or suspended in late June of 2005, and came back out in late August of 2005.”
Kevin Welsh, a jeweler also experiencing domestic abuse, was the person who eventually received her number.
Bizarrely, the Mitchell family knew Kevin — he’d been previously commissioned to create a locket containing Kristin’s hair inside.
After hearing her story, the expert had referred to the deceased woman as his ‘angel protector’, claiming her tragic story was his warning sign to exit his own dangerous relationship.
Speaking about the moment he realized Kevin had received Kristin’s cell number, Bill confessed: “Here’s the guy who has this abusive relationship going on, needs to get his number changed, and of all the numbers that could possibly go back out that day around that time, the guy – who had such a connection to this girl who was murdered by her boyfriend – wound up with her number.
“I don’t even know if you’d call it a coincidence. I mean, it’s just what it was.”
In the week of Kristin’s death, Bill said he noticed a ‘lot of strange’ technical occurrences, including as many as nine light bulbs blowing in their family home.
He said that these blew out from the time and day she was killed, with the phenomena continuing for the next seven days.
“I kept thinking: 'I gotta go get another light bulb and put it in that lamp over there.’ Then, a few hours later, we would go into some other room and the light would blow out,” he explained.
“It was ridiculous.”
As well as lights dotting out, Bill said there was another strange electricity issue taking place.
He claimed some of the family cars were not responding when they were turned on.
“There was, like, some electrical thing going, and three of our four cars wouldn’t start for a day.
“Then, the next day they’d start. So, there was a lot going on.”
Bill said that after Kristin died, he had an ‘eerie’ dream of her coming towards him at a county fair.
“She came up and we didn’t say anything very much because it’s, kind of, understood,” he explained.
“’Wow, it’s so great under the circumstances to see you’ is what I was trying to put out to her, and she gets it."
Once Bill realized he wasn’t actually awake, the image of Kristin began to fade, eventually becoming transparent.
He said it felt like his daughter had come to ‘visit’ him at night, and that it was a ‘great feeling’ being able to spend time with her.
Since the initial dream, Kristin has reportedly continued to feature in his sleeping thoughts, including at a motel setting, a marketplace, and even one where Philadelphia practitioners saved her from her fate.
“It was amazing. At the end of the dream, all I wanted to do was to get her back and reintroduce her to her mother and David. I mean, that was seriously as real as me sitting talking to you right now.”
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence 24 hours a day to the national domestic violence helpline on 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) 24/7. You can find a list of local resources here.