The Sinister Murder of Matthew Silliman

For this case, I watched the show Murder Among Friends on Investigation Discovery. It’s the first episode of the whole series. This case was a very brutal murder, and unfortunately it’s not discussed at all on other shows or podcasts. I’ve never heard about it until today.

On December 3rd, 2008 a tip about a possible dead teenager was called into the Apex, North Carolina police department. The tip said that it would be the body of a 17 year old high school student.

The police arrived at an abandoned house in the country. The police first noticed a freshly dug hole, however there was nothing in the hole except for rain water as it had just rained the previous few days. They then walked into the house, and in the show they said it was completely trashed. There were pill bottles and cigarettes all over. They also noticed there was food and tarot cards on the table, like someone had just been there.

They walked through the rest of the house and then discovered a sleeping bag with the body in it in the bathroom. The boy had a plastic bag over his head, duct tape on his mouth and his hands were zip tied. He also had “I Love” “fail” and a cross written on his arms in permanent marker. They also discovered he had vomited and his hair was matted with dried blood.

They only had one missing persons report and pictures of the missing boy because his parents reported him missing over the Thanksgiving break. The body was of 17 year old Matthew Silliman.

His mom, Betty said he was down right before his death and had talked about suicide in the past. She also said he had bi-polar disorder and had been treated in the past for it. She stated:

“The spring before, he had had dreams of suicide. He talked to counselor at school about it. He started dressing differently. He started drinking and smoking. He said he had to clear his head a lot. He pierced his ears.”
”

“He was still active and going to school and busy with his friends – things like that,” she said. “He wasn’t, like sitting in his room all the time. He was very busy.””

He hung out with a group of friends and it was even stated on his Facebook page that they most likely had something to do with it.

He was dating a girl named Michelle, but had recently cheated on her with his friend Allegra Dahlquist who also had a boyfriend. Her boyfriend was Ryan Hare, who was one of Matthew’s close friends.

Ryan had found out from their other friend Aadil Khan that Matthew and Allegra had a relationship for awhile. Ryan said he was upset at first but that he got over it because Allegra stayed with him. However, Matthew was afraid for his life and told his girlfriend Michelle that he had to run away. This was 5 days before his murder.

The plot:

Before we get into this next part, I’m going to go over another major detail that they talked about in the TV show. Ryan had an older friend named Roger that supplied him with drugs and alcohol. Ryan did “odd jobs” for Roger. Nobody had met Roger except for Ryan. Ryan had told Roger about Matthew and Allegra’s relationship and apparently Roger was pissed. Even more upset than Ryan, upset enough to want to kill Matthew.

Ryan told Matthew and their friends about it, so they came up with a plan to help Matthew. Their plan was that they would take Matthew to the abandoned house (where his body was found) and they would “tape a fake murder",” to prove to Roger that Ryan had dealt with it on his own.

There’s just one problem, Roger wasn’t real. Ryan had made him up or maybe Ryan was actually 2 people- that’s never been determined but I think Ryan also had some mental illness. Ryan took the murder plot a little too far though and had actually hit Matthew in the head with a hammer.

Drew Shaw, another one of the friends told the police he left because he had a curfew and that Allegra drove him home. When they left Matthew was still alive. However, Allegra returned after taking Drew home. They started drinking and Allegra drugged Matthew’s wine with horse tranquilizers. She said Ryan told her to do it, and after Matthew began slurring and passed out, they put a plastic bag over his head and tied his hands.

Matthew died from asphyxiation. The autopsy also determined he had drugs and alcohol in his system.

Arrests and trial:

Allegra Dahlquist, 17, Ryan Hare,18, Aadil Khan, 17 and Drew Shaw, 16 were all indicted on one count of murder. Hare, Dahlquist and Shaw were also indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit murder.

At trial Ryan Hare’s attorney, Robert Padovano tried to say that Matthew wanted to die and wanted his death to look like a crime to spare his family. However, the rest of the accused said Ryan was the mastermind and wanted Ryan dead because of what Matthew did with his girlfriend.

Drew Shaw had testified that it was Ryan’s idea and that he never stopped Ryan and the others from doing it. He cried on the stand.

Ryan Hare was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Allegra Dahlquist and Aadil Khan were convicted of second degree murder and Drew Shaw was convicted of being an accessory to murder and only sentenced to 45 months in prison.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

First of all, I think all of the accused should have been given the same sentence because they all had something to do with it. At least Ryan is in jail for life because I do think he had some mental issues and maybe they all did.

Matthew didn't deserve to die. He truly thought he was in danger, and thought his friends were there to help him and he trusted the wrong people and got his life taken because of it.

Sources:

https://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8291262/

https://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4657019/

https://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8281927/