I survived Alex Treisman

Sub Rosa.
A niche video game that never had more than 30 concurrent players to a server.
A tight-knit gaming community that bullied itself into obscurity.
I was part of that community, and I liked to think of myself as above it's childish antics.
"Pedophile" was a stereotypical insult to call people, and even though it lost most of it's meaning, the word managed to stick to certain people, mainly accompanied by some lackadaisical story that didn't manage to prove much.
One figure stood out. The label didn't just stick, it proceeded him, it tainted his reputation.
This was Alex. "Flippy Mapper" was what he was called at the time.
He couldn't escape the label. He was annexed by most virtual spaces by mobs chanting: "Pedophile".
I read it all as a very stupid and committed joke, refusing most evidence presented against him.
Knowing the severity of Alex's crimes now, there was definitely immaturity in the way most people handled the situation.
Still at this point, I sat on the opposite side of the spectrum, feeling sympathy for him.
Definitely not for the pedophilia, but the genuine feelings of loneliness that Alex expressed.
While this just kept me forming preconceptions on him, it was something else Alex said that drove me to actually speak with him.



On December 20th, Alex mentioned successfully running away at 16, something I had a personal connection to.
This was the first time I made direct, personal contact with Alex. A discord call that lasted 3 hours.
https://imgur.com/a/GB3cZGq
Amid first contact, it was immediately clear how creepy Alex was, even through a persona he seemed to put on himself.
I shrugged it off as awkwardness, mild social ineptitude. I look back on this first conversation with one way to describe him, Alex was Disturbed.
The conversation nonetheless lasted 3 hours.
Alex seemed to confide in me, such personal and intimate information that it caught me off guard.
All of which was altered in some way or completely fabricated to allow Alex to appeal to me more, in some fucked up attempt to emotionally dupe me into being his friend.
The most personal and emotional part of conversation was when we talked about the absence of father figures in our lives.
Of course, Alex asked me the material situation between me and my father first, so his story could align better with mine.
I've come to learn that Alex's father died when he was nine, meaning his emotions were real, changing his story to "my father left before I was born" was only meant to manipulate me.
After that emotional hurdle, the conversation stayed in a more general area.
We discussed music and what we did for fun.
I opened the conversation up to politics, to which Alex didn't seem that interested.
And obviously, we discussed Sub Rosa.
That led us to the topic, the Pedophilia allegations.
Within minutes, it was clear to me that Alex was guilty.
Alex didn't deny, he didn't even try to provide an alternative perspective.
He told me he regularly visited boards on 8chan which had pictures of kids(often half-nude) in non-sexual situations.
One of the last things I sent him was a study about pedophilia and it's impacts.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=238798
The conversation ended shortly after that as I was obviously grossed out.



I understand the dangers of providing strangers with information about yourself.
I got warnings from the adults in my life my first time using a computer.
I was emotionally distraught during this period, and despite that, I only ever gave Alex general information about my situation.
However, what little details I gave him, he managed to find out what school I went to, and with subsequent details, found out where I worked.
Over the following 2 months, we messaged 3 times, short text conversations. I sent him 8 messages total over those 2 months.
He asked for updates on my situation, and I gave evasive answers.
During this period, Alex went on to pick fights within the community, doubling down on the troubling behavior.
https://imgur.com/a/0OEDo0Z
https://imgur.com/a/txYBYg8
This included threatening to kill an irl friend of mine, using my name in the process.
https://imgur.com/a/QC0tvan
When I tried to talk to Alex about what he'd said, his account had been deleted.
He made a new one and I began contacting him there.
Understanding the danger I was in, but with nothing to alert the authorities about(or so it seemed at the time), I treaded lightly.
Continuing to oblige Alex and pretend to be his friend.
He eventually began asking me for people's personal information including addresses.
https://imgur.com/a/seGMv2o
I refused every time and when I finally pressed on him about it, he began a sob story about how everyone treated him as "Subhuman".
Rightfully so, Alex threatened members of the community and he was in fact, a PEDOPHILE.
I kept those comments to myself, and advised Alex to abandon the community under the Flippy Mapper persona or "Thanos Car" as his discord name was at the time.
He began using a third discord.



That was in February, I managed to cease contact with him for another 2 months.
However, on April 11th, I got a message from his new account, once again asking for addresses.
At this point, he was convinced that my irl friend from earlier was my brother.
He also inconspicuously said he wanted to meet me for a "Sub Rosa Meetup".
He persisted again the next day, asking if I could get people's addresses, saying he was "just curious".

On April 13th, Alex showed up at my work.
I was not there, I later found out from a coworker that someone had come in asking about me.
I was at home, where I received 2 messages from Alex:
"shit where u work?"
"Do u want to meet up just for like a min?"

I managed to figure it out as soon as I read those messages.
He was in my town, looking for me.
Knowing I did have to work that week, that this guy most likely had the resources and time to eventually find me, and that I often walked home alone, I decided something needed to be done.

Reporting him to some kind of authority didn't seem like it would help at all, in fact it would put him on the run and with the level of paranoia I was at I didn't want him even more encouraged to cause me harm.
He also mentioned his plans to move to North Carolina, which meant that I only had to ward him off for long enough before he was across the country.
So that night, I arranged for us to meet at a public place, 8pm was the time he chose, I was not okay with it. I was with my girlfriend at the time and for whatever reason, I didn't want to indicate that anything was wrong by asking her to go home early.
I shakily managed to get her to track my location on her phone and I eventually sent her his license plate number, in case something happened to me.
https://imgur.com/a/sY67IlO






Alex drove a windowless white van. The type from movies that have "free candy" written on the side.
I remember seeing it among 3 or 4 other cars in the parking lot and hoping to god it wasn't his.
He got out, wearing a retro NASA shirt and green cargo shorts, which I could tell he had been wearing for days on end just by smelling him.
His walk was dopey, a kind of waddle where his legs were spread out a little too far and he kicked his feet back a little too hard.
As he got closer, I began to notice how dirty he was, smudges on his face, a patchy scruff that seemed like it would cut you if you touched it, and dark sunken eyes.
He stood tall and thin, yet still had a gut.
His figure resembled a cardboard cutout, as if he would crease and fold if you punched him too hard.
He was self-aware about the situation, how creepy it was, yet made no effort to fix it.
He was awkward like a child talking to a crush, but jumpy like a rat that smells cheese.
After a short conversation about his move, the van, and his plans for the future (I don't recall any domestic terrorist acts on his checklist), we got ice cream.
2 Frostys from wendys, which I paid for.
From the moment I got there Alex was trying to move me to a second location, or at least get me in his van.
He said we should get kfc, or that I should show him my mcdonalds.
I managed to convince him to get frostys from the wendys in the same parking lot we were already in.
The ice cream also managed to calm Alex down.
A casual conversation ensued about Sub Rosa and prominent figures within the community.
There was no mention of violence.
After managing to convince him that my friend wasn't my brother, and that I didn't know his address, I began to enjoy our conversation.
Since I arrived I was waiting for "the moment".
"The moment" when Alex tells me why he came to see me, then pulls out a gun, a knife, strikes me, or other such action before loading me into his van where I'm never seen again.
I felt this the most a couple minutes after I arrived.
Alex noticed me memorizing his license plate, positioned himself to block it and dropped whatever expression he was projecting onto his face.
I continued talking to him, deadlocked, with him staring me down like I was the pedophile.
But with Alex smiling, laughing, and telling stories midway through swallowing ice cream, I somehow forgot I was talking to an armed maniac.
This is when I got the "save me" call from my girlfriend, pretending to be my mom. This was 9:05pm.
Everything rushed back to me.
I answered the call, played it off, then looked back at Alex.
He had once again dropped all expression.
I said "Shit, I gotta get home, My mom's on my ass".
Alex wanted to take that opportunity to take pictures, I also took 2.
https://imgur.com/a/QhDTIRh
https://imgur.com/a/6m2B2TT
Alex then offered me a ride, no, insisted.
I denied, to which he pushed even harder, with a much more serious tone.
I knew if I didn't say yes he would follow me home anyway.
It was only when I was locked in that he acknowledged the "humor" in "Flippy Mapper, the supposed pedophile, driving a white van".
What was scarier was the reality, the actual pedophile with the white van, which I was sitting in.

I got him to drop me off down the street and around the corner, I mapped my route home, including a little passage that cars couldn't get through.
We said our goodbyes, shook hands, and I was free. I got out of the van and began walking away.
He didn't start it up immediately, he sat and watched me for a bit.
As I turned the corner, I ran.
I made it down a few streets and stopped.
I waited and listened.
When I was sure I wasn't being followed, I went through the passage and straight home.



I arrived home out of breath with my heart beating through my chest.
My mom came out to fry me, but I was beyond her at that point.
I plead the fifth and refused to answer any question she had.
My girlfriend had apparently told her I was meeting with some sketchy dude.
Until the FBI knocked on my door 4 months later, my mom thought I was out buying drugs.

I sat patiently and waited for Alex to move across the country, responding to every message and playing every card to avoid confronting him again.
The last message I sent to him was on 4/29/20.
He was arrested exactly one month later.