The holidays are over and I’m back to work on my upcoming book on Daniel Wozniak and the murders of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. I don’t release blog posts often these days, but when something particularly interesting happens in Daniel’s life, I feel the need to post.
Something Particularly Interesting Happened
I talk to Daniel on the telephone at least four or five times a week. I haven’t been able to see him since the pandemic caused San Quentin to cancel all in-person visits. However, the prison recently started video visits with the inmates. I was scheduled twice, but there were technical issues both times.
While I had Daniel on the phone one day in December, I decided to check my email and see if there was any information about scheduling.
Instead, I noticed a Google Alert letting me know Daniel Wozniak’s name had popped up online again.
During Daniel’s trial, his name appeared regularly, but since then, I’ve learned he isn’t the only person on the internet with the name Daniel Wozniak.
This time, though, when I clicked on the email, there was another name alongside Daniel’s that caught my attention. Google had found the name Daniel Wozniak in the lyrics of a new song from rapper Eminem!
I clicked on the link and skimmed through the lyrics while Daniel was talking about having a good supply of peanut butter.
“Oh my!” I must have sounded like I’d just heard some pretty startling news.
He tentatively asked, “What’s up?”
“I just checked my email, and you know how I get those Google alerts for your name on the net?”
“Yup. Oh, goody. What’s being said about me now?”
“Eminem just released a new album.”
Daniel is used to me jumping from topic to topic during our conversations.
“OK. Is it good? My buddy Rajah is a big fan…”
“It’s called Music to be Murdered By, Side B,” I interrupted, “And there is this song on it called ‘Killer,’ and your name is in that song.”
“Sorry, what? That’s a joke?”
“Nope. I’m pretty damn sure Eminem is talking about you.” I started reading to him.
But for all you know I probably act like I’m Daniel Wozniak
I’m a psycho-chopathic killer
“It sure sounds like he’s referring to you, the Daniel Wozniak who’s a former community theatre actor and on death row for double murder.”
(pause)
“Are you positive?”
I continued reading the lyrics to him, and eventually he accepted this reality.
I pointed out that his name is used in a really entertaining rhyme sequence:
You almost had a heart attack when you met Cardiac
You ran inside, told your boyfriend like, “I’ll be back”
But for all you know I probably act like I’m Daniel Wozniak
“Do you think Eminem found your name by searching for killers whose names rhyme with cardiac and heart attack?”
“No idea.”
“I guess he could be a Dateline fan. I’m trying to picture Eminem watching the ID network. Maybe he scanned the names of all the death row inmates around the country and there you were. Rhyming gold.”
Then Daniel mumbled, “I always wanted a theme song when I was a kid, bud-ump-bump.”
When I asked him if this was something he’d “brag about on the yard,” he said he wouldn’t. He’d tell Rajah, but other than that, he felt no need to draw attention to himself with the rest of the row. He went back to talking about peanut butter.
I told a number of my friends and family members about the Eminem song, and each person asked me if Daniel liked this extra bout with notoriety. I said he seemed rather indifferent about it. It’s another bizarre twist in the never boring life of Daniel Wozniak.
I won’t deny I found the entire situation oddly amusing. I’m writing a book about my friend and his name just showed up in an Eminem song!
Fifteenth of a Second of Fame
Then, as always happens, I’m hit with thoughts of Sam Herr’s and Julie Kibuishi’s loved ones. If they don’t already have their own Google alerts about Daniel, they might be learning about this song through my blog. I can at least say this is not a song about Daniel Wozniak. It’s definitely not his theme song. He’s a throw-away mention. At most.
Hello to New Readers!
If you’re new to my blog, hello! After you finish with this post, please go to the beginning so you can understand how I ended up writing about Daniel in the first place.
More importantly, you can learn about Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi and how Daniel Wozniak is responsible for the tragic murders of these two innocent college students.
New readers often come up with some really useful comments and questions that I plan to answer in the book I’m writing about Daniel as well.
My blog readers are smart, and I do appreciate your “armchair quarterbacking” blog comments. You guys ask the exact same questions I have.
Admittedly, even though my book partially tells Daniel’s version of what “really happened” when Sam and Julie were killed, there are parts of his story that really don’t make a lot of sense to me. There are claims he’s made that have been disputed by trustworthy sources, but when the book is finally finished, you can all decide for yourselves how a middle-class kid from Long Beach can end up a murderer whose name is in an Eminem song.
Great song thanks for sharing.
Hello. Why did Daniel have to load a semi auto pistol with a clip after one shot to Sam. Why did he have to go to a bathroom to load the pistol again prior to Juri ? The clip would have six shots usually. Since you talk so often maybe ask him if you want to know.
Hi. Rachel Buffett is no more, no one by that name exists no more. With such stunning appeal she moved on. Good for her. Congrats. @rachelbuffetismyfriend
Let’s see. A comment yesterday was missing the words What if Kristine had told Rachel… . I am sure Daniel knows how he got the idea he was from near El Dorado park, though Kristine is closer about five minutes away. Hence my concern. Rachel reportedly got married so she has a new name. Still has to get tested for NF 2 I bet. It is a most serious disease and fifty percent chance I understand. One of my daughters was around Rachel during one important phone call. I can put that in an entertainment project.
At what point do you think it’s time for you to stop the perfectionism and make with the book?
Right. My daughter was he and Rachels stage manger on Nine and the night after Sams murder this creep performed perfectly and they both went to the after party with no care or concern. Cold blooded murderer
i hope this brings you the attention you so desperately crave. You must be very lonely to insert yourself like this into a situation which has been resolved and had nothing to do with you. RIP Julie and Sam.
When will Dan get the lethal injection? Tomorrow wouldn’t be soon enough.
Just as the great Truman Capote, (In Cold Blood), murdered 5, not 2, a family of 5, (the Clutters), Capote’s followers curiosity nearly forced the story to be told. Writers are merely messengers, & our mutual friend & author just so happens to be a damn fine one at that!
Thank you, Brian. I was considering writing a comment like this. I would add that monetizing this is clearly an objective and empty of ethical considerations. Sam was the 1st cousin of my lifelong best friend. I knew him when he was the cutest little boy ever, and the treasure of his sweet father. So tragic. Daniel Wozniak is a monster.
did you see That Chapter covered your killer pal’s case? good watching!
I’ve actually found your interactions a cathartic read overall. As a child I participated in local theatre with Daniel but as a teenager I shared homework assignments, school dances, sleepovers and so so much more with Julie. (Happy to provide info to corroborate but I won’t do it on an open forum.)
This is a case that affects me on many levels and will continue to do so, likely as long as I live. For the last few years reading this blog I’ve debated whether to comment… Glendele, I hope you see this and eventually make contact. (Given that my email is required to post, I assume you’re able to if you choose to.) I have some questions I feel might be explorable in your book and I won’t lie, I have some other questions you may be able to put to rest for me given the depth of your research.
Either way I will absolutely be picking up your book once it’s published to try and peer into the mind of someone who has left such a devastating impact on the people directly around me.
first and foremost i want to say i understand what you are doing, but i am coming from a different angle. I also want to say that personally, i feel rachel buffett schemed and manipulated until she got exactly what she wanted.
Now the point of my post. Humanizing murders isnt helping the general sense of the problem. I am another true crime addict. I have watched all i could thru crimelibrary.com (i was a teen when the address was created and an adult when it was banned)
I love ID, on the case with Paula Zahn, 48 hours mystery, dateline, 20/20, etc.
But my main point for watching is wanting to see if my main point is true. How many serial killers, off the beat killers, all the killers did not have a significant sexually deviant event in their childhood development mode, or in the teen years be shown sexual deviant issues?
No not every killer gets messed up as a child, but many do. And most connect the abuse in a sexual nature. They grow and attribute sex in their personal profile for some reason.
Now after all of that my main point is, we shouldnt humanize killers. Because society has been dealing with humanized killers our entire lives. We see the person laughing and joking with us as ONE OF US, not as an imposter who would kill us if HIS OR HER means justified his or her way of life.
Maybe all of us fit in this context. I dont really know. But if that is the point, that any of us could be standing in a serial killers shoes than you know what? We need to do more to do better. We need to help people down trodden, or abused. We need to do what we can before they commit the act. Because on the surface, they could be anyone. But once they act, thats it. Its like asking an alcoholic to put the bottle down. Theyve solved their problem, theyre just waiting for the rest of us to catch up.
Is Rachel Buffett still in prison? I cannot find any information about her post like 2019. She should still be in prison, but I would not be surprised if she was released early or if she got out because of COVID. Thanks!
Rachel was released early from jail (she never went to CCWF Chowchilla) based on half-time credits (every two (2) days served counts as four (4) total days towards the sentence). She lives in Anaheim.
Thanks for the info!
I read this entire blog in about 2 days. Very fascinating! And I can’t wait for your book!!
I just have a comment to the negative comment people: no one is forcing you to read this blog or purchase her book in the future. There’s no need to announce your departure because this isn’t an airport. I’m sure the author (and majority of readers) don’t care if you choose to read or not. There’s zero need to be rude to our author and say hateful things to her.
Author/Murder Musings,
Keep up the great work! Your style is spot on, and very entertaining. Thanks for making this available to read. And I will be purchasing the book as soon as it is released. I work in a book store so I will be recommending it to customers as well!!
Have a great day! Good luck with writing!
There’s no NEED for anybody to write praise either but you do it. She wrote and shared publicly which means she gets all that comes with her twisted love of a murderer.
I would like to write to Daniel- would he be open to that? Is there a way that I can send him an email, or do I have to send him a physical letter or postcard?
The text editor for this website is a bit glitchy.
Individuals are free to contact any state prison inmate by mail. Incoming letters are opened and inspected for contraband and then forwarded to the inmate.
DANIEL PATRICK WOZNIAK
CDC# BB1116
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, CA 94974
Via Email
CDCR and JPay have initiated inbound electronic communications to CDCR facilities. All inmates will now be able to receive emails and photographs from friends and family through the JPay website (JPay Email available at: https://www.jpay.com/PEMessages.aspx). When an electronic correspondence is received, mailroom staff will print and forward the correspondence to the inmate. The cost of an inbound electronic communication will be one stamp per page (5,000 character maximum), and two stamps if a photograph is attached.
The excitement and amusement in the fact that a friend is being mentioned in a song for being a murderer ..
The fact that it doesn’t make you ashamed for your friend, but you consider it another exciting event in his life personally made me cringe.
Being a friend and seeing a human side in someone is great, but how is being mentioned for the worst part of his life an achievement? I consider his reaction somewhat appropriate, yours not so much.
Hi Blog Lady,
Something I recently learned was saddening. The Linda person of Slueth passed away on a operating table. June is the beginning for steps to bring justice by a higher court I hope for Rico violations. Do you know anyone else that might be prosecuted? How about Chris Williams ? Hey forward my email to Steve Herr if you like I would like to talk with him. Perhaps other Wozniak brothers and mother should be at federal court. Sam and Juli memory deserve the best, it is memorial day. I will reinstate the other blog site. Try to balance the scales of justice, equation for truth, and Goodwill in good memory of a us vet and his son.
Hey I am also close to a high profile prisoner. Any advice on documenting it similarly? What’s your email if I can correspond with you personally about it?
Can you ask Daniel if I can send him a parcel and if he remembers me? Thanks in advance!
Any address for Daniel? Please ask if he remembers Nick Gertz from Fullerton?
You talk to him four or five times a week?
It sounds like you’re either trying to be the next Ann Rule or Sarah Koenig.
I hope you’ve learned to approach this with at least a semblance of journalistic integrity rather than the fangirl word vomit you were spewing in the beginning of this blog.