A Costa Mesa man accused of killing his girlfriend was listening to Guns N’ Roses’ “Used to Love Her” before committing the crime, a prosecutor says.
The trial for 52-year-old Thomas Michael Wilhelm began on Wednesday some four years after Wilhelm allegedly shot his 45-year-old live-in girlfriend, Christine Marie Murray. According to the evidence, the accused sent a text message to a friend minutes before the shooting saying that he was listening to the GNR track, which features the lyrics, “I used to love her/ But I had to kill her/ I had to put her/ Six feet under/ And I can still hear her complain.”
The defense argues that Wilhelm suffers from mental-health issues, which coupled with alcohol his extreme emotional state at the time means he “was not thinking clearly or rationally” when he shot his girlfriend. Wilhelm is being charged with first-degree murder (via The Orange County Register).
GNR members have long contended that “Used to Love Her” was written in jest with no specific person in mind. “I was sitting around listening to the radio and some guy was whining about a broad who was treating him bad,” guitarist Izzy Stradlin once explained. “I wanted to take the radio and smash it against the wall. Such self-pity! What a wimp! So we rewrote the same song we heard with a better ending.” Slash added, “People think it’s about one of our old girlfriends, but it’s actually about Axl’s dog.”
Listen to “Used to Love Her” below.
