As an incoming freshman, I had always heard the horror stories of random roommates and suitemates who made life unbearable with the most irritating and strange habits. I never really experienced that annoyance or irritability with my roommates. It wasn't until last week that I learned that one of my suitemates, whom I lived with my freshman year, had been accused of murdering her mother and stepfather.

I was scrolling through Facebook, as I usually do at the end of the night while preparing for sleep. But this time I came across a mug shot that was all too familiar and a caption that followed that was almost too shocking to believe. It was a picture of Nicole Nachtman, my former suitemate. The article stated that she was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of her mother and step-father this August.

For those of you who have not heard about this story, she allegedly shot her step-father Robert Dienes in their home in northern Tampa, Florida on the night of Wednesday, August 18th. The following morning, August 19th, she also shot her mother Myriam Dienes when she arrived home. According to arrest documents, Nachtman told a witness she heard "screaming voices in her head" and started thinking about killing her mother. This caused her to take the four-hour drive home to 14110 Fennsbury Drive.

I couldn't help but ask myself: How had I lived with someone who could possibly have the capability of killing someone, and not even notice? Now, looking back at the semester I spent with my suitemate, a few things jump to mind as red flags that I should have acted on instead of passing off as just some peculiar activities.

Getting to know my roommates is important to me, just as it should with anyone so that I know who I'm going to be waking up next to every morning. We stayed up one night and I simply asked her questions about her life, nothing too unusual, but she always seemed to keep to herself more. I never thought into it too much, I figured it was normal because I can keep to myself sometimes, too. She did not express any anger or mood swings to me at all during this talk.

It was not until a few weeks later, that something made me feel a little discomfort. I came home from the library late one night to find paper towels covering the entire full-length of the mirror hanging on our bathroom door. I confronted her about it because it did frighten me, and she said she did not like her reflection. This was the main thing that came to my mind when I first learned, only a week ago, what she was accused of doing to her mother and step-father only a week ago.

Nicole also had a very irregular sleep schedule, where she would go on runs at two in the morning, and would not return for hours and hours at a time. I was worried at first; then realized that it was just her routine. She also did not care too much about interaction with others, as she was mainly on her computer when she relaxed at our dorm. At night, when I would be going to bed, she would stay up watching various things on her computer, but she would talk and even yell back at the screen. Like I said, these things may sound different and off, but at the time I was a new freshman who figured this person has different habits than I do, and that it was okay.

All of these various aspects of Nicole just made me think that she was different, which I did not think much of because that is what makes the world go round. What I wish I could have seen much earlier, was the help she needed. Clearly, I could not have imagined what she was capable of, but the best I could do was talk to her, which I did, and make sure that she is comfortable in the place she lived. This goes to show that we really do not know what is going on in peoples’ lives, even while living with them.

In your own life if you ever encounter a situation where you are uncomfortable or think that someone that you encounter could use a little help, don't hesitate to ask a friend or school service for help.