Stephen Paddock: Las Vegas Massacre

 

Stephen Craig Paddock (April 9, 1953 – October 1, 2017)was an American mass murderer who is known for being the perpetrator of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, in which he opened fire into a crowd of approximately 22,000 concertgoers attending a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. The incident is the deadliest mass shooting by a lone shooter in United States history, with 61 fatalities (including Paddock) and 867 injuries, 411 of them by gunfire. Paddock committed suicide in his hotel room shortly after the shooting.

Paddock lived in Mesquite, Nevada, and was a real-estate investor, property manager, retired accountant, amateur pilot, and avid video poker gambler.

Early years and education

Paddock was born in Clinton, Iowa. The family lived in Clinton at the time. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles, as the oldest of four sons of Benjamin Paddock. Benjamin was a bank robber who was arrested in 1960 when Stephen was seven years old. Benjamin was later convicted and escaped prison in 1969, subsequently appearing on the FBI's most-wanted list. According to Stephen's brother Eric, "he was never with my mom", and Stephen had "limited interaction" with Benjamin following the latter's release from prison. According to one of Paddock's ex-wives in a police interview, he had spoken about how growing up with a single mother and the family's financial instability caused him to prioritize being self-reliant and self-sustaining.

Paddock attended Richard E. Byrd Middle School and Sun Valley High School, graduated from John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in 1971, and graduated California State University, Northridge in 1977, with a degree in business administration.

Career and gambling

Paddock worked as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service from 1975 to 1978. After that, he worked as an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent until 1984. He was a Defense Contract Audit Agency auditor for one year, in 1985. Toward the end of the 1980s, Paddock worked for three years as an internal auditor for a company that later merged to form Lockheed Martin. He is known to have run a real-estate business with his brother Eric.

Paddock lived in the Greater Los Angeles Area and owned personal property in Panorama City, Cerritos, and North Hollywood from the 1970s to early 2000s. He also owned two apartment buildings in Hawthorne, California. In addition, he owned an apartment complex in Mesquite, Texas, which he sold in 2012.

Relatives said Paddock was worth at least US$2 million when he sold off the real-estate business. Among his most profitable investments was an apartment complex purchased in 2004, which gave him more than $500,000 in annual income by 2011. IRS records show he made $5–6 million in profits from its sale in 2015.

Paddock was an avid gambler, and although the extent to which he profited from it is not clear, his reported gambling winnings might have been substantial. He was sometimes seen in high-limit rooms, but he was not well known among high-stakes gamblers in Las Vegas and was not considered a "whale" (high roller) by the casinos. His game of choice was video poker, which he had played for over 25 years. He usually gambled after dark and slept during the day; he disliked being out in the sun.

Personal life

Paddock was married and divorced twice. He was first married from 1977 to 1979, and for the second time from 1985 to 1990, both marriages in Los Angeles County, California. Family members say he stayed on good terms with his ex-wives. His brother Eric said that Stephen had no political or religious affiliations of any kind.

Paddock's girlfriend, a Catholic, said he was an atheist who would blame her whenever she made the sign of the cross and something negative happened afterward. He did not talk a lot about politics and did not belong to any political organizations. In addition, Paddock often complained of being sick and was sensitive to chemical smells.

Paddock lived in Texas and California, and then in a retirement community in Melbourne, Florida, from 2013 to 2015. In 2016, he moved from Florida to another retirement home in Mesquite, Nevada. According to property records, he bought a new house in Mesquite in January 2015, and sold his two-bedroom home in Melbourne. Paddock lived in Mesquite with his girlfriend whom he had met several years before in Reno, Nevada. According to neighbors, they also lived together in Reno. Many Mesquite residents recalled only seeing him around town; those familiar with Paddock described him as someone who did not speak much and kept a low profile. The local gun owner community never saw him at any of the gun clubs or shooting ranges, including makeshift ones in the nearby desert.

An Australian acquaintance said he met Paddock in the United States and in the Philippines. He described Paddock as intelligent and methodical. In his account, Paddock said he had won a lot of money by applying algorithms to gambling on machines. Paddock was conversant in gun laws and in defending his view of the Second Amendment. The acquaintance considered Paddock a generous man whenever he and his girlfriend visited him.

In 2010, Paddock applied for and received a United States passport. He went on 20 cruise ship voyages, visiting several foreign ports including ones in Spain, Italy, Greece, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. He was accompanied by his girlfriend on nine of them. They went to the Philippines together in 2013 and 2014. During the last year of his life, they traveled on a cruise to the Middle East. Paddock had his pilot's license since at least 2004 and owned two small planes.

Paddock's only recorded interaction with law enforcement was a minor traffic citation years before the shooting, which he settled in court. According to court records, Paddock also sued the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in September 2012, saying he "slipped and fell on an obstruction on the floor" and was injured as a result; the lawsuit settled, and was dismissed with prejudice in October 2014.

Leading up to the shooting

During his last months, Paddock reportedly often smelled of alcohol from early morning and appeared despondent. He was reported to have filled three prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drug Valium, in 2013 and again in 2016, and finally 50 tablets of 10-milligrams each in June 2017, four months before the shooting. The chief medical officer of the Las Vegas Recovery Center said the effects of the drug can be magnified by alcohol, as confirmed by Michael First, a clinical psychiatry professor at Columbia University.

During an interview with local CBS affiliate KLAS-TV, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Paddock had reportedly been losing "a significant amount of wealth" since September 2015, which led to his having "bouts of depression". According to his girlfriend, she noticed a decline of affection and intimacy towards her from Paddock, who had been romantic at first during their relationship; he attributed it to his declining health.

Paddock's gun purchases spiked significantly between October 2016 and September 28, 2017. He purchased over 55 firearms, the majority of them rifles, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He also purchased a number of firearm-related accessories. Prior to that, he purchased approximately 29 firearms between 1982 and September 2016, mainly handguns and shotguns. His girlfriend noticed the increase of firearm-related purchases but believed his interest in guns was just a hobby.

At his suggestion, two weeks before the attack, his girlfriend went to her native country, the Philippines. Paddock bought her a surprise airline ticket and soon after wired her $100,000 to buy a house there. Most of their communication during this time was primarily through email and text message. He was spotted in Las Vegas with another woman, reported by investigators to be a sex worker. It was later confirmed that this woman was not an accomplice or considered a suspect, and her name has not been released. Two days prior to the shooting, Paddock was recorded by a home surveillance system driving alone to an area for target practice located near his home.

In a jailhouse interview with an unemployed chef who said he had offered to sell Paddock schematics for automatic firearms, the chef said Paddock had spoken of anti-government conspiracies regarding FEMA and the Waco siege and Ruby Ridge standoff. In addition, the chef said Paddock had said that FEMA's actions after Hurricane Katrina were "a dry run for law enforcement and military to start kickin' down doors and ... confiscating guns." The man went on to say he thought Paddock was "another internet nut, you know, watching too much of it and believing too much of it."

Las Vegas shooting

On the night of October 1, 2017, at 10:05 p.m., Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds from his hotel room, Room 32-135, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, onto a large crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, ultimately killing 60 people and wounding 867 others. He then shot and killed himself.

Paddock meticulously planned the attack. On September 25, six days before the shooting, he checked into the hotel with 10 shooting-range bags and a computer. On September 29, he moved into an additional suite, 32-134, connected to the first one; both rooms overlooked the festival grounds. He stayed in both in the days leading up to the shooting. After Paddock killed himself, the police found 23 rifles and one handgun inside his rooms. They included 14 .223-caliber AR-15-type rifles, eight .308-caliber AR-10-type rifles, one .308-caliber Ruger American bolt-action rifle, and one .38-caliber Smith & Wesson Model 342 revolver, all very expensive, according to a law enforcement source. His arsenal included a large quantity of ammunition in special high-capacity magazines holding up to 100 cartridges each. Some of the rifles were resting on bipods, and were equipped with high-tech telescopic sights. All fourteen AR-15-type rifles were outfitted with bump stocks that allow semiautomatic rifles to fire rapidly, simulating fully-automatic gunfire. Audio recordings of the attack indicated Paddock used these stocks to fire at the crowd in rapid succession.

At some point during the attack on the concertgoers, Paddock – who had placed a baby monitor camera on a service cart outside his room – fired about 35 rounds through his door. The shots wounded approaching hotel security guard Jesus Campos. The unarmed Campos had attempted to enter the 32nd floor first at 9:59 p.m. on an unrelated matter, but he found the door to the hallway screwed shut by Paddock/ At 10:05 p.m., Paddock began firing hundreds of rounds in rapid succession at the crowd below. He initially started off with a few single gunshots before firing in prolonged bursts. For unclear reasons, he stopped shooting ten minutes later at 10:15 p.m. It is speculated that, at that time, Paddock committed suicide by shooting himself through the mouth.

According to chronology of the events established by the authorities in the following days, the first two police officers reached the 32nd floor of the hotel at 10:17 p.m. A minute later, they were shown the location of Paddock's door. Between 10:26 and 10:30 p.m., an additional eight LVMPD officers joined them and began clearing other suites along the 32nd floor hallway. At 10:55 p.m., eight SWAT team members entered the 32nd floor through the second stairwell nearest to Paddock's suite. Once all the other rooms on the floor had been cleared, at 11:20 p.m.—more than an hour after the first two officers arrived and 65 minutes after Paddock had ceased firing—the police breached his door with an explosive charge and entered the room. Paddock was found dead inside his suite from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

Investigation

In addition to the firearms and accessories found in Paddock's hotel room, there was a note that included handwritten calculations about where he needed to aim to maximize his accuracy. The note contained the actual distance to the target, his own elevation, and the bullet trajectory relative to the line of fire. There were also a number of laptops in the suite, one of which was missing a hard drive. Computer forensics discovered hundreds of images of child pornography on the laptops.

Ammonium nitrate, often used in improvised explosive devices, was found in the trunk of his car, along with 1,600 rounds of ammunition and 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of tannerite, a binary explosive used to make explosive targets for gun ranges. However, investigators clarified that while Paddock had "nefarious intent" with the material, he did not appear to have assembled an explosive device. An additional 19 firearms were found at his home.

According to police, Paddock acted alone. His motive remains unknown. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility, and stated that he had converted to Islam six months prior to the terrorist attack, but United States law enforcement officials have given no evidence of a connection between Paddock and ISIL. ISIL also identified Paddock as Abu Abdul Barr al-Amriki. There has been some discussion around brain pathology initially thought to be benign as a possible contributor. Paddock's remains were sent to Stanford University to receive a more extensive analysis of his brain. The Stanford pathologists found no abnormalities present within the brain.

Investigators believe that he was obsessed with cleanliness and possibly had bipolar disorder. Although a doctor did offer him antidepressants, he only accepted anxiety medication; it was reported that he was fearful of medication and often refused to take it. The doctor also described Paddock as "odd" and showing "little emotion". Psychologists ex post facto have noted a distinct similarity between Paddock's demeanor and the psychological construct alexithymia, which might have modulated his decision to conduct the shooting given its association with various mass murderers throughout history.

In popular culture

Stephen Paddock and the shooting was covered in the "One October: Massacre on the Strip" episode of Lies, Crime & Videos. A title card at the beginning of the episode states that some of the over 22,000 hours of video covered in the episode is being shown for the first time.

In rapper Eminem's song titled "Darkness" on his January 2020 album Music to Be Murdered By, the song and the accompanying music video portrays Stephen Paddock's thought process before the shooting while also serving as a metaphor for Eminem's nervousness before a concert performance.

Albert Fish: American Boogey Man

 

Hamilton Howard "Albert" Fish (May 19, 1870 – January 16, 1936) was an American serial killer, child rapist, and cannibal. He was also known as the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria, the Brooklyn Vampire, the Moon Maniac, and The Boogey Man. Fish once boasted that he "had children in every state", and at one time stated his number of victims was about 100. However, it is not known whether he was referring to rapes or cannibalization, nor is it known if the statement was truthful.

Fish was a suspect in at least five murders during his lifetime. He confessed to three murders that police were able to trace to a known homicide, and he confessed to stabbing at least two other people. Fish was apprehended on December 13, 1934 and put on trial for the kidnapping and murder of Grace Budd. He was convicted and executed by electric chair on January 16, 1936, at the age of 65. His crimes were dramatized in the 2007 film The Gray Man, starring Patrick Bauchau as Fish.

Early life

Childhood

Albert Fish was born in Washington, D.C., on May 19, 1870, to Randall (1795 – October 16, 1875) and Ellen (née Howell; 1838–c. 1903) Fish. Fish's father was American, of English ancestry, and his mother was Scots-Irish American. His father was 43 years older than his mother and 75 years old at the time of his birth. Fish was the youngest child and had three living siblings: Walter, Annie, and Edwin. He wished to be known as "Albert" after a dead sibling and to escape the nickname "Ham & Eggs" that he was given at an orphanage in which he spent much of his childhood.

Fish's family had a history of mental illness. His uncle suffered from mania, one of his brothers was confined in a state mental hospital, and his sister Annie was diagnosed with a "mental affliction". Three other relatives were diagnosed with mental illnesses, and his mother had "aural and/or visual hallucinations".

Fish's father Randall was a river boat captain and, by 1870, a fertilizer manufacturer. The elder Fish died in 1875 at Washington's Sixth Street Station of a heart attack. The Congressional Cemetery records show that he died on October 16, 1875, and was buried on October 19, 1875, in grave R96/89. Fish's mother then put her son into Saint John's Orphanage in Washington, where he was frequently abused. Fish began to enjoy the physical pain that the beatings brought. Of his time at the orphanage, Fish remarked, "I was there 'til I was nearly nine, and that's where I got started wrong. We were unmercifully whipped. I saw boys doing many things they should not have done."

By 1880, Fish's mother had a government job and was able to remove Fish from the orphanage. In 1882, at age 12, he began a homosexual relationship with a telegraph boy. The youth introduced Fish to such practices as urolagnia (drinking urine) and coprophagia (eating feces). Fish began visiting public baths where he could watch other boys undress and spent a great portion of his weekends on these visits. Throughout his life, he would write obscene letters to women whose names he acquired from classified advertising and matrimonial agencies.

1890–1918: Early adulthood and criminal history

By 1890, Fish arrived in New York City, and he said at that point he became a prostitute and began raping young boys. In 1898, his mother arranged a marriage for him with Anna Mary Hoffman, who was nine years his junior. They had six children: Albert, Anna, Gertrude, Eugene, John, and Henry Fish.

Throughout 1898, Fish worked as a house painter. He said he continued molesting children, mostly boys younger than age six. He later recounted an incident in which a male lover took him to a waxworks museum, where Fish was fascinated by a bisection of a penis. After that, he became obsessed with sexual mutilation. In 1903, he was arrested for grand larceny, convicted, and incarcerated in Sing Sing.

Around 1910, while he was working in Wilmington, Delaware, Fish met a 19-year-old man named Thomas Kedden. He took Kedden to where he was staying, and the two began a sadomasochistic relationship; it is unclear whether or not Fish forced Kedden to do these things, but in his confession he implies that the man was intellectually disabled. After ten days, Fish took Kedden to "an old farm house", where he began to torture him. The torture took place over two weeks. Fish eventually tied Kedden up and cut off half of his penis. "I shall never forget his scream, or the look he gave me", Fish later recalled. He originally intended to kill Kedden, cut up his body, and take it home, but he feared the hot weather would draw attention to him; instead, Fish poured peroxide over the wound, wrapped it in a Vaseline-covered handkerchief, left a $10 bill, kissed Kedden goodbye, and left. "Took first train I could get back home. Never heard what become of him, or tried to find out," Fish said.

In January 1917, Fish's wife left him for John Straube, a handyman who boarded with the Fish family. Fish then had to raise his children as a single parent. After his arrest, Fish told a newspaper that when his wife left him, she took nearly every possession the family owned. He began to have auditory hallucinations. He once wrapped himself in a carpet, saying that he was following the instructions of John the Apostle.

It was about this time that Fish began to indulge in self-harm. He would embed needles into his groin and abdomen. After his arrest, X-rays revealed that Fish had at least 29 needles lodged in his pelvic region. He also hit himself repeatedly with a nail-studded paddle and inserted wool doused with lighter fluid into his anus and set it alight. While Fish was never thought to have physically attacked or abused his children, he did encourage them and their friends to paddle his buttocks with the same nail-studded paddle he used to abuse himself. He soon developed a growing obsession with cannibalism, often preparing himself a dinner consisting solely of raw meat and sometimes serving it to his children.

1919–1930: Escalation

In about 1919, Fish stabbed an intellectually disabled boy in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.. He chose people who were either mentally handicapped or African-American as his victims, explaining that he assumed these people would not be missed when killed. Fish would later claim to have occasionally paid boys to procure other children for him. Fish tortured, mutilated, and murdered young children with his "implements of Hell": a meat cleaver, a butcher knife, and a small handsaw.

On July 11, 1924, Fish found eight-year-old Beatrice Kiel playing alone on her parents' farm on Staten Island, New York. He offered her money to come and help him look for rhubarb. She was about to leave the farm when her mother chased Fish away. Fish left but returned later to the Kiels' barn, where he tried to sleep but was discovered by Beatrice's father and forced to leave. Three days later, Fish killed Francis McDonnell, also on Staten Island. During 1924, the 54-year-old Fish, suffering from psychosis, felt that God was commanding him to torture and sexually mutilate children.

Shortly before his abduction of Grace Budd, Fish attempted to test his "implements of Hell" on a child he had been molesting named Cyril Quinn. Quinn and his friend were playing box ball on a sidewalk when Fish asked them if they had eaten lunch. When they said that they had not, he invited them into his apartment for sandwiches. While the two boys were wrestling on Fish's bed, they dislodged his mattress; underneath was a knife, a small handsaw, and a meat cleaver. They became frightened and ran out of the apartment.

Bigamy

Fish remarried on February 6, 1930, in Waterloo, New York, to Estella Wilcox but divorced after only one week. Fish was arrested in May 1930 for "sending an obscene letter to a woman who answered an advertisement for a maid." Following that arrest and one in 1931, he was sent to the Bellevue psychiatric hospital for observation.

Murder of Grace Budd

Grace Budd (1918–1928)

On May 25, 1928, Fish saw a classified advertisement in the Sunday edition of the New York World that read, "Young man, 18, wishes position in country. Edward Budd, 406 West 15th Street." On May 28, Fish, then 58 years old, visited the Budd family in Manhattan under the pretense of hiring Edward; he later confessed that he planned to tie Edward up, mutilate him, and leave him to bleed to death. Fish introduced himself as Frank Howard, a farmer from Farmingdale, New York. He promised to hire Budd and his friend Willie, and said he would send for them in a few days. Fish failed to show up, but he sent a telegram to the Budd family apologizing and set a later date.

When Fish returned, he met Edward's younger sister Grace Budd. He apparently changed his intended victim from Edward to Grace and quickly made up a story about having to attend his niece's birthday party. He convinced the parents, Delia Flanagan and Albert Budd I, to let Grace accompany him to the party that evening. The elder Albert Budd was a porter for the United States Equitable Life Assurance Society. Grace had a younger sister, Beatrice, two older brothers, Edward and George, and a younger brother, Albert Budd II. Grace left with Fish that day but never returned.

The police arrested 66-year-old superintendent Charles Edward Pope on September 5, 1930, as a suspect in Grace's disappearance, accused by Pope's estranged wife. He spent 108 days in jail between his arrest and trial on December 22, 1930. He was found not guilty.

Letter to the mother of Grace Budd

In November 1934, an anonymous letter was sent to Grace's parents which ultimately led the police to Fish. Mrs. Budd was illiterate and could not read the letter herself, so she had her son read it to her. The unaltered letter (complete with Fish's misspellings and grammatical errors) reads:

My dear Mrs Budd, In 1894 a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the steamer Tacoma, Capt John Davis. They sailed from San Francisco to Hong Kong China. On arriving there he and two others went ashore and got drunk. When they returned the boat was gone. At that time there was a famine in China. Meat of any kind was from $1 to 3 Dollars a pound. So great was the suffering among the very poor that all children under 12 were sold to the Butchers to be cut up and sold for food in order to keep others from starving. A boy or girl under 14 was not safe in the street. You could go in any shop and ask for steak – chops – or stew meat. Part of the naked body of a boy or girl would be brought out and just what you wanted cut from it. A boy or girls behind which is the sweetest part of the body and sold as veal cutlet brought the highest price. John staid there so long he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to N.Y. he stole two boys one 7 one 11. Took them to his home stripped them naked tied them in a closet then burned everything they had on. Several times every day and night he spanked them – tortured them – to make their meat good and tender. First he killed the 11 yr old boy, because he had the fattest ass and of course the most meat on it. Every part of his body was cooked and eaten except Head – bones and guts. He was roasted in the oven, (all of his ass) boiled, broiled, fried, stewed. The little boy was next, went the same way. At that time I was living at 409 E 100 St, rear – right side. He told me so often how good human flesh was I made up my mind to taste it. On Sunday June the 3 – 1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese – strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her, on the pretense of taking her to a party. You said Yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wild flowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mama. First I stripped her naked. How she did kick – bite and scratch. I choked her to death then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms, cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her, though, I could of had I wished. She died a virgin.

Police investigated the letter. The story concerning "Capt. Davis" and the "famine" in Hong Kong could not be verified. The part of the letter concerning the murder of Grace, however, was found to be accurate in its description of the kidnapping and subsequent events, although it was impossible to confirm whether or not Fish had actually eaten parts of Grace's body.

Capture

The letter was delivered in an envelope that had a small hexagonal emblem with the letters "N.Y.P.C.B.A." representing "New York Private Chauffeur's Benevolent Association". A janitor at the company told the police he had taken some of the stationery home but left it at his rooming house at 200 East 52nd Street when he moved out. The landlady of the rooming house said that Fish checked out of that room a few days earlier. She said that Fish's son sent him money and he asked her to hold his next check for him. William F. King was the chief investigator for the case. He waited outside the room until Fish returned. Fish agreed to go to headquarters for questioning, then brandished a razor blade. King disarmed Fish and took him to police headquarters.

Fish made no attempt to deny the murder of Grace Budd, saying that he meant to go to the house to kill Grace's brother Edward. Fish said it "never even entered [his] head" to rape the girl, but he later claimed to his attorney that, while kneeling on Grace's chest and strangling her, he did have two involuntary ejaculations. This information was used at trial to make the claim the kidnapping was sexually motivated, thus avoiding any mention of cannibalism.

Other crimes discovered after Fish's arrest

Francis McDonnell

During the night of July 14, 1924, 9-year-old Francis McDonnell was reported missing by his parents. He failed to return home after playing catch with friends in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Staten Island. A search was organized and his body was found—hanging by a tree—in a wooded area near his home. He had been sexually assaulted, and then strangled with his suspenders. According to an autopsy, McDonnell had also suffered extensive lacerations to his legs and abdomen, and his left hamstring had almost entirely been stripped of its flesh. Fish refused to claim responsibility for this, although he later stated that he intended to castrate the boy but fled when he heard someone approaching the area.

McDonnell's friends told the police that he was taken by an elderly man with a grey mustache. A neighbour also told the police he observed the boy with a similar-looking man walking along a grassy path into the nearby woods. Francis' mother, Anna McDonnell, said she saw the same man earlier that day. She told the reporters, "He came shuffling down the street mumbling to himself and making queer motions with his hands ... I saw his thick grey hair and his drooping grey mustache. Everything about him seemed faded and grey."

This description resulted in the mysterious stranger becoming known as "The Grey Man". The McDonnell murder remained unsolved until the murder of Grace Budd. When several eyewitnesses, among them the Staten Island farmer Hans Kiel, positively identified Albert Fish as the odd stranger seen around Port Richmond on the day of McDonnell's disappearance, Richmond County District Attorney Thomas J. Walsh announced his intention to seek an indictment against Fish for the boy's murder. At first, Fish denied the charges. It was only in March 1935, after the conclusion of his trial for the Budd murder and his confession to the killing of Billy Gaffney, that Fish confirmed to investigators that he also raped and murdered McDonnell. When the McDonnell confession was made public, the New York Daily Mirror wrote that the disclosure solidified Fish's reputation as "the most vicious child-slayer in criminal history".

Billy Gaffney

On February 11, 1927, 3-year-old Billy Beaton and his 12-year-old brother were playing in the apartment hallway in Brooklyn with 4-year-old Billy Gaffney. When the 12-year-old left for his apartment, both younger boys disappeared; Beaton was found later on the roof of the apartments. When asked what happened to Gaffney, Beaton said "the bogeyman took him." Gaffney's body was never recovered.

Initially, serial killer Peter Kudzinowski was a suspect in the boy's murder. Then, Joseph Meehan, a motorman on a Brooklyn trolley, saw a picture of Fish in a newspaper and identified him as the old man whom he saw February 11, 1927; the old man had been trying to quiet a little boy sitting with him on the trolley. The boy was not wearing a jacket, was crying for his mother, and was dragged by the man on and off the trolley. Beaton's description of the "bogeyman" matched Fish. Police matched the description of the child to Gaffney. Detectives of the Manhattan Missing Persons Bureau were able to establish that Fish was employed as a house painter by a Brooklyn real estate company during February 1927 and that on the day of Gaffney's disappearance he was working at a location a few miles from where the boy was abducted. Fish claimed the following in a letter to his attorney:

I brought him to the Riker Ave. dumps. There is a house that stands alone, not far from where I took him ... I took the G boy there. Stripped him naked and tied his hands and feet and gagged him with a piece of dirty rag I picked out of the dump. Then I burned his clothes. Threw his shoes in the dump. Then I walked back and took trolley to 59 St. at 2 A.M. and walked home from there. Next day about 2 P.M., I took tools, a good heavy cat-of-nine tails. Home made. Short handle. Cut one of my belts in half, slit these half in six strips about 8 in. long. I whipped his bare behind till the blood ran from his legs. I cut off his ears – nose – slit his mouth from ear to ear. Gouged out his eyes. He was dead then. I stuck the knife in his belly and held my mouth to his body and drank his blood. I picked up four old potato sacks and gathered a pile of stones. Then I cut him up. I had a grip with me. I put his nose, ears and a few slices of his belly in the grip. Then I cut him thru the middle of his body. Just below his belly button. Then thru his legs about 2 in. below his behind. I put this in my grip with a lot of paper. I cut off the head – feet – arms – hands and the legs below the knee. This I put in sacks weighed with stones, tied the ends and threw them into the pools of slimy water you will see all along the road going to North Beach. Water is 3 to 4 ft. deep. They sank at once. I came home with my meat. I had the front of his body I liked best. His monkey and pee wees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat. I made a stew out of his ears – nose – pieces of his face and belly. I put onions, carrots, turnips, celery, salt and pepper. It was good. Then I split the cheeks of his behind open, cut off his monkey and pee wees and washed them first. I put strips of bacon on each cheek of his behind and put in the oven. Then I picked 4 onions and when meat had roasted about 1/4 hr., I poured about a pint of water over it for gravy and put in the onions. At frequent intervals I basted his behind with a wooden spoon. So the meat would be nice and juicy. In about 2 hr., it was nice and brown, cooked thru. I never ate any roast turkey that tasted half as good as his sweet fat little behind did. I ate every bit of the meat in about four days. His little monkey was as sweet as a nut, but his pee-wees I could not chew. Threw them in the toilet.

Gaffney's mother Elizabeth visited Fish in Sing Sing, accompanied by Detective King and two other men. She wanted to ask him about her son's death, but Fish refused to speak to her. Fish began to weep and asked to be left alone. After two hours of asking him questions through his lawyer, James Dempsey, Mrs. Gaffney gave up. She was still unconvinced that Fish was her son's killer.

Trial and execution

Albert Fish's trial for the murder of Grace Budd began on March 11, 1935, in White Plains, New York. Frederick P. Close presided as judge and Westchester County Chief Assistant District Attorney Elbert F. Gallagher was prosecuting attorney. Fish's defense counsel was James Dempsey, a former prosecutor and the one-time mayor of Peekskill, New York. The trial lasted for 10 days. Fish pleaded insanity, and claimed to have heard voices from God telling him to kill children. Several psychiatrists testified about Fish's sexual fetishes, which included sadism, masochism, flagellation, exhibitionism, voyeurism, piquerism, cannibalism, coprophagia, urophilia, hematolagnia, pedophilia, necrophilia, and infibulation. Dempsey in his summation noted that Fish was a "psychiatric phenomenon" and that nowhere in legal or medical records was there another individual who possessed so many sexual abnormalities.

The defense's chief expert witness was Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist with an emphasis on child development who conducted psychiatric examinations for the New York criminal courts. During two days of testimony, Wertham explained Fish's obsession with religion and specifically his preoccupation with the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:1–24). Wertham said that Fish believed that similarly "sacrificing" a boy would be penance for his own sins and that even if the act itself was wrong, angels would prevent it if God did not approve. Fish attempted the sacrifice once before but was thwarted when a car drove past. Edward Budd was the next intended victim, but he turned out to be larger than expected so he settled on Grace. Although he knew Grace was female, it is believed that Fish perceived her as a boy. Wertham then detailed Fish's cannibalism, which in his mind he associated with communion. The last question Dempsey asked Wertham was 15,000 words long, detailed Fish's life and ended with asking how the doctor considered his mental condition based on this life. Wertham simply answered "He is insane." Gallagher cross-examined Wertham on whether Fish knew the difference between right and wrong. He responded that he did know but that it was a perverted knowledge based on his opinions of sin, atonement, and religion and thus was an "insane knowledge". The defense called two more psychiatrists to support Wertham's findings.

The first of four rebuttal witnesses was Menas Gregory, the former manager of the Bellevue psychiatric hospital, where Fish was treated during 1930. He testified that Fish was abnormal but sane. Under cross examination, Dempsey asked if coprophilia, urophilia, and pedophilia indicated a sane or insane person. Gregory replied that such a person was not "mentally sick" and that these were common perversions that were "socially perfectly alright" and that Fish was "no different from millions of other people", some very prominent and successful, who suffered from the "very same" perversions. The next witness was the resident physician at The Tombs, Perry Lichtenstein. Dempsey objected to a doctor with no training in psychiatry testifying on the issue of sanity, but Justice Close overruled on the basis that the jury could decide what weight to give a prison doctor. When asked whether Fish's causing himself pain indicated a mental condition, Lichtenstein replied, "That is not masochism", as he was only "punishing himself to get sexual gratification". The next witness, Charles Lambert, testified that coprophilia was a common practice and that religious cannibalism may be psychopathic but "was a matter of taste" and not evidence of a psychosis. The last witness, James Vavasour, repeated Lambert's opinion. Another defense witness was Mary Nicholas, Fish's 17-year-old stepdaughter. She described how Fish taught her and her brothers and sisters several games involving overtones of masochism and child molestation.

None of the jurors doubted that Fish was insane, but ultimately, as one later explained, they felt he should be executed anyway. They found him to be sane and guilty, and the judge ordered the death sentence. Fish arrived at prison in March 1935, and was executed on January 16, 1936 in the electric chair at Sing Sing. He entered the chamber at 11:06 p.m. and was pronounced dead three minutes later. He was buried in the Sing Sing Prison Cemetery. Fish is said to have helped the executioner position the electrodes on his body. His last words were reportedly, "I don't even know why I'm here." According to one witness present, it took two jolts before Fish died, creating the rumor that the apparatus was short-circuited by the needles that Fish inserted into his body. These rumors were later regarded as untrue, as Fish reportedly died in the same fashion and time frame as others in the electric chair.

At a meeting with reporters after the execution, Fish's lawyer James Dempsey revealed that he was in possession of his client's "final statement". This amounted to several pages of hand-written notes that Fish apparently penned in the hours just prior to his death. When pressed by the assembled journalists to reveal the document's contents, Dempsey refused, stating, "I will never show it to anyone. It was the most filthy string of obscenities that I have ever read."

Victims

Known

Francis X. McDonnell, age 8, July 15, 1924

Billy Gaffney, age 4, February 11, 1927

Grace Budd, age 10, June 3, 1928

Suspected

Emma Richardson, age 5, October 3, 1926

Yetta Abramowitz, age 12, 1927

Robin Jane Liu, age 6, May 2, 1931

Mary Ellen O'Connor, age 16, February 15, 1932

Benjamin Collings, age 17, December 15, 1932

Media

Film

A documentary film about Fish was released in 2007, directed by John Borowski.

Also in 2007, the biographical film The Gray Man was made on his life, starring Patrick Bauchau as Fish.

Adolfo Contanzo: The Narcosatanists & the Metamoros Cult Killings

 

Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo (November 1, 1962 – May 6, 1989) was a Cuban-American serial killer, drug dealer, and cult leader who led an infamous gang that was dubbed the Narcosatanists (Spanish: Los Narcosatánicos) by the media. His cult members nicknamed him The Godfather (El Padrino). Constanzo led the cult with Sara Aldrete, whom followers nicknamed "The Godmother" (La Madrina). The cult was involved in multiple ritualistic killings in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, including the murder of Mark Kilroy, an American student killed in Matamoros in 1989.

Early life

Adolfo Constanzo was born in Miami, Florida, to Delia Aurora González, a Cuban immigrant mother in 1962. She gave birth to Adolfo at the age of 15 and eventually had three children, by different fathers. Delia moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, after her first husband died and remarried there. Constanzo was baptized Catholic and served as an altar boy, but also accompanied his mother on trips to Haiti to learn about Vodou.

Constanzo's family returned to Miami in 1972 and his stepfather died soon after, leaving the family with some money. As a teenager, he became apprenticed to a local sorcerer and began to practice a religion called Palo Mayombe, which involves animal sacrifice. Delia remarried and his new stepfather was involved in both the religion and drug dealing. Constanzo and his mother were arrested numerous times for theft, vandalism, and shoplifting. He graduated from high school, but was expelled from prep school.

As an adult, Constanzo moved to Mexico City and met the men who were to become his followers: Martín Quintana, Jorge Montes, and Omar Orea. They began to run a profitable business casting spells to bring good luck, which involved expensive ritual sacrifices of chickens, goats, snakes, zebras, and even lion cubs. Many of his clients were rich drug dealers and hitmen who enjoyed the violence of Constanzo's "magical" displays. He also attracted other rich members of Mexican society, including several high-ranking corrupt policemen who introduced him to the city's powerful drug cartels.

Constanzo started to raid graveyards for human bones to put in his nganga, or cauldron. Before long, his cult decided that the spirits of the dead that resided in the nganga would be stronger (providing the cult more powerful protection) with live human sacrifices instead of old bones. The resulting killings soon totaled more than twenty victims, whose mutilated bodies were found in and around Mexico City. This process escalated until Constanzo eventually decided that the gang needed the power of a brain from an American student, culminating with the 1989 murder of Mark Kilroy.

Murders

Constanzo began to believe that his magic spells, many of which he took from Palo Mayombe, were responsible for the success of the cartels and demanded to become a full business partner with one of the most powerful families he knew, the Calzadas. When his demand was rejected, seven family members disappeared. Their bodies turned up later with fingers, toes, ears, brains, and even (in one case) the spine missing. Constanzo soon made friends with a new cartel, the Hernandez brothers. He also took up with a young woman named Sara Aldrete, who became the high priestess of the cult. Constanzo made Aldrete second-in-command of his cult, and directed her to supervise his followers while he was shipping marijuana over the border into the US.

In 1988, Constanzo moved to Rancho Santa Elena, a house in the desert. It is there where he carried out more sadistic ritual murders, sometimes of strangers and other times of rival drug dealers. He also used the ranch to store huge shipments of cocaine and marijuana.

On March 13, 1989, Constanzo's henchmen abducted a pre-med student, Mark Kilroy, from outside a Mexican bar and took him back to the ranch. Kilroy was a US citizen who had been in Mexico on spring break. When Kilroy was brought to the ranch, Constanzo murdered him. Under pressure from Texan politicians, Mexican police initially picked up four of Constanzo's followers, including two of the Hernandez brothers. Police quickly discovered the cult and that Constanzo had been responsible for Kilroy's death; he sought a "good"/superior brain for one of his ritual spells. Officers raided the ranch and discovered Constanzo's cauldron, which contained various items such as a dead black cat and a human brain. Fifteen mutilated corpses were dug up at the ranch, one of them Kilroy's. Officials said Kilroy was killed by Constanzo with a machete chop to the back of the neck when Kilroy tried to escape about 12 hours after being taken to the ranch.

Death

Constanzo fled to Mexico City with four of his followers. They were only discovered when police were called to the apartment because of an unrelated dispute taking place there. As the officers approached, Constanzo, mistakenly believing they had located him, opened fire with a machine gun. This brought in police reinforcements. Determined not to go to prison, he handed the gun to follower Álvaro de León and ordered him to open fire on him and Martín Quintana. By the time police reached the apartment, both Constanzo and Quintana were dead. De León, known as "El Duby", and Sara Aldrete were immediately arrested.

A total of 14 cult members were charged with a range of crimes, from murder and drug-running to obstructing the course of justice. Sara Aldrete, Elio Hernández and Serafín Hernández were convicted of multiple murders and were ordered to serve prison sentences of over 60 years each. De León was given a 30-year term. If co-leader Aldrete is ever released from prison, American authorities plan to prosecute her for the murder of Mark Kilroy.

Possible accomplices

Abel Lima "El Sodomita de Iztapalapa" (alleged suspect for the kidnappings in the mid-90s).

Rubén Estrada "Patitas Cortas"

Christian Campos "El Panzas"

Emmanuel Romero "El Trompas"

Saúl Sánchez "El Macaco"

Ricardo Peña "El Cepillín"

Documentaries

The Discovery Channel series Most Evil, by Dr. Michael Stone, profiled Constanzo in the last episode ("Cult Leaders") of the second season. Constanzo's "evil level" was 22, the highest.

Constanzo was also profiled in the documentary Instinto Asesino, which aired on Discovery en Español in 2010. The episode was entitled "El Padrino".

On July 13, 2013, the Investigation Discovery Channel profiled this crime in its Poisoned Passions series. The episode is titled "Sacrificial Evil". Constanzo was portrayed by actor Aldo Uribe.

On March 1, 2018, the ID Channel series Pandora’s Box: Unleashing Evil portrayed the crimes in an episode entitled "The Devil’s Ranch".

Pop culture

The song "Sacrificial Shack" by the band Pain Teens is sung from the point of view of a cult member who confesses his crimes to the police after he is captured, taking the police to the Constanzo's ranch for an explanatory tour.

Borderland is a 2007 film loosely based on Constanzo and his cult.

Gruesome Fate, a Texas death metal band, performs a song called "Padrino de la Matamoros". It is a song about the ritual killings which is a lead track on their 2016 release.

Brujeria, a death metal band whose lyrics focus on Satanism, anti-Christianity, sex and drug smuggling, put a picture of a severed head (later nicknamed Coco Loco) on their album Matando Güeros. The head is believed to be of a victim of Adolfo Constanzo cult.

Japanese doom metal band Church of Misery reference Constanzo in their song "El Padrino" (Godfather, in Spanish). It appears on their Houses of the Unholy album, each song being about a serial killer/mass murderer.

Danish Psych Rock/Noise Rock band Narcosatanicos is allegedly named after the cult headed by Constanzo.

In the film Perdita Durango, two white American teenagers are kidnapped by Hispanic criminals (escaped from the DEA), who attempt a Santeria human sacrifice.

Podcasts

“Adolfo Constanzo: The Narcosatanists & The Matamoros Cult Killings,” Lights Out Podcast. 26 March 2021.

Adolfo Constanzo was the focus of the 1st episode of Unexplained Realms the podcast, titled, Devils Ranch . http://unexplainedrealms.com/

The Last Podcast on the Left - Episodes 430-432

"Los Narcosatanicos Murders," This is Awful. 25 Feb 2021. https://www.thisisawfulpod.com/1435477/8026693-los-narcosatanicos-murders

Parcast Cults did a two episode story on Constanzo and the Narcosatanists, released on 19 June and 26 June, 2018. https://www.parcast.com/cults

Tent Girl: Barbara Ann Hackmore Taylor on TPKs Stories

 https://anchor.fm/valerie-harvey/episodes/Tent-Girl-Barbara-Ann-Hackmore-Taylor-evk9l5

The Killer on the High Bridge on TPKs Stories

 https://anchor.fm/valerie-harvey/episodes/The-Killer-on-the-High-Bridge-ev52op

Trial of Anders Breivik

 

The trial of Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, took place between 16 April and 22 June 2012 in Oslo District Court. Breivik was sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention on 24 August 2012. 170 media organizations were accredited to cover the proceedings, involving some 800 individual journalists.

The main question during the trial became the extent of the defendant's criminal responsibility for these attacks and thereby whether he would be sentenced to imprisonment or committed to a psychiatric hospital. Two psychiatric reports with conflicting conclusions were submitted prior to the trial, leading to questions about the soundness and future role of forensic psychiatry in Norway.

Background

On 25 July 2011, Breivik was charged with violating paragraph 147a of the Norwegian criminal code, "destabilizing or destroying basic functions of society" and "creating serious fear in the population", both acts of terrorism under Norwegian law.

Forensic psychiatrists Torgeir Husby and Synne Sørheim, who conducted the psychiatric analysis of Breivik and released their report in December 2011, found that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, supporting a would-be insanity defense or criminal insanity ruling by the court. However, subject to massive criticism from legal and psychiatric experts, the court decided to appoint two new psychiatrists, Terje Tørrissen and Agnar Aspaas, who were to conduct another analysis. Breivik was initially uncooperative with the new psychiatrists because of the previous report having been leaked to the media, but he later changed his mind and decided to cooperate. On 10 April 2012, psychiatrists found that Breivik was legally sane. If that conclusion is upheld, Breivik can be sentenced to prison or containment.

Parties

Breivik was represented by his defense counsel Geir Lippestad, Vibeke Hein Bæra, Tord Jordet and Odd Ivar Grøn. Lippestad and Bæra are both in their late forties, whereas Jordet and Grøn who are both in their thirties and were in employment at Lippestad's law firm prior to 22 July 2011 as associates. Bæra, who has ten years of experience as public prosecutor, was hired as a partner following Lippestad's accepting the request from Breivik to defend him. The prosecution is represented by state prosecutors Svein Holden and Inga Bejer Engh.

The presiding judge is Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen. She is joined by judge Arne Lyng and lay judges Ernst Henning Eielsen, Anne Wisløff and Diana Patricia Fynbo. Wisløff came in as an alternate after Thomas Indrebø had to recuse on the second day of the trial when it came to light that he had advocated the death penalty on a Facebook page the day after the terror attacks.

Witnesses

Breivik's list of witnesses includes far right activist Tore Tvedt, Labour Party politician Raymond Johansen, prominent Islamists Mullah Krekar and Arfan Qadeer Bhatti, and anti-Islamist blogger Fjordman.

The purpose of calling Mullah Krekar is to help establish for the Defense that political and ideological extremism is not a psychiatric disorder and should not be treated legally with insanity.

Start of trial

Day 1 (16 April)

On Monday 16 April 2012, when offered the opportunity to speak, Breivik said that he did not recognize the legitimacy of the Court because it derived its authority from parties supporting multi-culturalism. Breivik also claimed that presiding judge, Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen, was a close friend of Hanne Harlem, the sister of former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. To the question from Arntzen whether this constituted a formal assertion of conflict of interest, Breivik's main defense counsel Geir Lippestad, after cursorily conferring with Breivik, replied that it was not.

The charges were read out to Breivik by prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh including the indictments of terrorism and premeditated murder. Descriptions were provided of how each victim was killed.

When asked to plead after hearing the charge-sheet, Breivik responded that he acknowledged that he had committed the offences, but pleaded not guilty because he was acting out of "necessity" (Norwegian: nødrett). A court translator incorrectly rendered this as "self-defense" (Norwegian: nødverge), but court officials corrected the error on the second day.

Prosecutor Svein Holden then outlined Breivik's life in the preceding decade, including lists of failed business ventures, and a year living off savings and playing World of Warcraft, at which mention Breivik apparently broke into a broad grin. At one point when the court was shown his 12-minute YouTube video, he started crying.

An unidentified woman, a German national, was apprehended by the police as she tried to force herself into the court building, asserting herself as Breivik's girlfriend and displaying the photo of Breivik in military gear on her cell phone. According to the police she had a criminal record in Germany for several instances of disturbing the peace. She had arrived in Oslo from Stuttgart on the preceding day and rented a hotel room, expecting to stay for 14 days. Following an expulsion decision from Oslo Police District she was escorted out of Norway on 17 April.

Defendant's testimony

Day 2 (17 April)

The second day was the opening day of Breivik's testimony, which was expected to last for a week, including cross-examination.

The court was told that a lay judge, Thomas Indrebø, had posted remarks in the immediate aftermath of the defendant's acts on 22 July 2011, that the perpetrator ought to be given the death penalty, and proceedings were adjourned to consider the implications of this, which consequently led to the dismissal of that judge.

Breivik often spoke with the collective "we" with reference to supposed association with others sharing his ideology. He focused on his purported fight against "multiculturalism" and compared it with the struggle of Tibet for "self-rule" and "cultural protection" from China. When asked about the greatest influence on his ideology and the biggest source of his worldview, Breivik said, "Wikipedia".

Breivik has claimed he would repeat the attacks given the chance. He claims he acted out of a desire to fight "communism" and to defend Norway and Europe against Muslims and multiculturalists. He maintained that he cannot be insane and was acting out of "goodness", and that he was part of an organization called "Knights Templar" (KT).

Before starting his testimony the defendant had requested that he be allowed to begin by reading a document which he had written in the weeks leading up to the trial. Much of Breivik's speech could be seen as a summation of his previous 1,500-page manifesto published online just prior to the attacks. On several occasions during the day judges asked the defendant to keep his statements brief, and some of the aggrieved through their counsels voiced concerns that he may be going too far in using his defense statement as a platform for his ideological views. Breivik claims he would have preferred to target a group of journalists instead of the island camp, and that he had envisaged being killed in the course of his actions.

In his prepared speech Breivik gave a major focus to a statement by Norwegian social anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen. The quote which originates in a January 2008 interview with Eriksen, and which was later in that year the focal point of an article by Fjordman, is:

"Our most important task ahead is to deconstruct the majority, and we must deconstruct them so thoroughly that they will never be able to call themselves the majority again."

Breivik explained how he interpreted Eriksen's statement to mean that Eriksen, and the rest of the multiculturalists, want to deconstruct the Norwegian ethnic group so that they will never again constitute a majority. Eriksen has been called as a witness for the defense and will appear before the court later in the trial.

When asked by prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh why he had broken into tears the opening day, Breivik responded that he had been weeping for Norway and his perception of its deconstruction: "I thought, 'My country and my ethnic group are dying.'" Breivik also claims he does acknowledge the pain he has caused to people and families in Norway but did not apologize at that time.

Day 3 (18 April)

The defendant greeted the court with his same fist-salute as he did the first day. Breivik had been asked to not greet the court in such a manner, at the request of lawyers for the victims.

Breivik was cross-examined about the contacts that he had made in his preparation. All he wanted at first to reveal was that he had traveled to both London and Liberia, and also had spoken with Norwegians online. The contact in Liberia happened to be a Serb, but he insisted on saying no more ostensibly because he wanted no more arrests. The Norwegian police had suspected the Serb may be Milorad Ulemek which was denied both by the defendant and by lawyers for Ulemek. On the 5th day of the trial the Bosnian investigative weekly newspaper Slobodna Bosna reported that Milorad Pelemiš, a participant in the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, was Breivik's Serb contact. This was relayed to the trial parties and the Norwegian police by the news media. As of 27 April 2012, follow-up investigations by the media had come up with conflicting information on this possibility.

Breivik claimed to have been inspired by Serb nationalism, and was angered by the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. He said that he had founded The Knights Templar in London in 2002, and if the police dispute that to the depth as described by the defendant, it was because they had not done a sufficiently thorough job in investigating. He reaffirmed a lack of desire to give any information that could contribute to further arrests.

The defendant went on to claim that, KT as he calls it, does not exist as an organization in its "conventional" understanding, but rather is "leaderless" and clustered around "independent cells".

Allegedly there had been meetings with four individual nationalists, including "Richard", being the defendant's "mentor", and described as a "perfect knight", in a "founding" session. The prosecution attacked Breivik's version and alleged that he was making it all up. By some accounts the defendant would get vexed at the repeated suggestion that there is no such network, and he insisted there are 15–20 members in the Knights Templar.

Breivik talked about martyrdom and his actions making him a role model, and he emphasized that this could not be achieved as "keyboard warriors". He also used the term "sofa generals" when he asserted that one cannot be afraid to die if one wants to promote martyrdom.

Breivik himself commented on the trial this day that there ought to be one of only two possible outcomes in the case, that of death penalty, or an acquittal. He said of the maximum sentence of 21 years imprisonment prescribed by Norwegian law that this is "pathetic".

Day 4 (19 April)

Conceding to complaints from the counsels for the aggrieved, the defendant did not start the session with a salute to the court.

Breivik was questioned about his reasons for moving back in with his mother in 2006. He disputed that it had been because he had been made bankrupt, he said he had been working hard from 2002 to 2006 and needed a break, and that he could save money that way whilst also preparing his manifesto. Also he revealed he kept liquid finances in that house, as cash in a safe.

Breivik was also questioned about his year playing World of Warcraft. He denies this could be linked with his actions. It was for him simply a game of "strategy" not "violence". He also testified that he played another computer game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, for 16 months as practice before using his actual rifle. He emphasized that he didn't really like playing but it was necessary to gain the required practical skills.

Breivik testified that the guns he used at Utøya were inscribed with rune names. His rifle had the name Gungnir, which is the name of Odin's spear, which returns to its owner upon use. His Glock pistol bore the name Mjölnir, the name of Thor the warrior god's hammer.

In response to questioning about his motivations, Breivik said that he had tried more peaceful methods to convey his ideology, and had been resisted by the press. He decided to use violent means. This would have involved targeting the actual Labor Party's conference, or a Norwegian journalists' annual conference. In the event he had no time, neither to detonate more bombs. It was then that he claims to have conceded to an idea to launch the shooting spree on the island, and due to human limitations did not manage to shoot everyone there.

The courtroom was visibly shaken and many people, including journalists, were weeping when Breivik told that his goal at Utøya had not been to kill 69 people, but to kill everybody. He wanted to frighten the youth there enough so that everybody would get into the water to escape. The water would then function as a weapon of mass destruction since, he reasoned, the people would be unable to swim out of fear.

Detailed planning was talked about. Breivik's original plans involved three car bombs and shooting sprees across Oslo, and Breivik called it a "very large operation". Breivik said he thought about placing a bomb near the Labor Party headquarters; the Parliament of Norway Building; the Aftenposten offices; Oslo City Hall; and the Norwegian Royal Palace, though for the latter he claimed he would have forewarned the Royals.

The Defendant explained how he hoped for the killings of all members of the Norwegian government cabinet in his bombing, and how he also would have beheaded the former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland, if things had gone to plan. He added that he envisaged handcuffing her and then beheading her using the bayonet on his rifle, whilst recording the killing on an iPhone, and then posting it online.

Day 5 (20 April)

In advocating his own sanity, Breivik on this day asked the court to distinguish "clinical insanity" from what he alleged is his own "political extremism", and conceded that what he did caused huge suffering. Breivik said how he potentially could comprehend the human suffering resulting from his actions but that he deliberately blocked this from his immediate consciousness to cope.

The defendant went into great detail about his shooting spree on the island. The technicalities and level of description used was difficult for the victims' families and survivors to listen to. Breivik claimed that he had hesitated and did not feel entirely at ease as he set out on his operation. He described how his victims reacted and said that it sometimes came as a surprise to him, saying that he had never seen for example on television how people in such circumstances might become effectively immobilized. Breivik would find some of the teenagers lying on the ground pretending to be dead and he shot them too. Breivik said that there are gaps in his memory of some of the 90 or so minutes he spent killing on the island. The defendant also said that he had considered wearing a Swastika for the operation for its scaring effect but chose not to because he did not want to appear a Nazi.

Breivik mentioned that he was ordinarily a nice person. He said that he very nearly backed out of doing the operation on the island, and whilst he was carrying it out, was in a state of what he described as shock, and he was just about functioning. He also claimed that there were a few people on the island whom he spared because he perceived them to be very young.

Day 6 (23 April)

This had been scheduled to be Breivik's last day of testimony, being a day longer than originally listed, but the prosecution had applied to the court for more time to cross-examine the defendant.

Breivik apologized for the deaths of "innocent" passers-by in Oslo caught in the bombings; Breivik did not apologize for deaths on the island, which he considered political. He has commented that what he did was "a small barbarian act to prevent a larger barbarian act".

Breivik wanted the court to believe that he himself had lost his family, friends, and "everything" on the day he carried out the attacks. He believed however that whoever was on the island was a "legitimate target" through being the "political activists" that sought the "deconstruction of Norwegian society" using "multiculturalism". Also he described what he did as being "cruel but necessary". Breivik says he felt repulsion at what he was doing but at the same time a compulsion because he feels it would avoid something worse in future.

The defendant alleged that he was the victim of a "racist plot" in the prosecution's efforts to find him legally insane, and his behavior irrational. Breivik argued that no "bearded jihadist" would have been subjected to investigations of sanity, and as a "militant nationalist" the prosecution were out to delegitimize his ideology.

Prosecution witnesses

Day 7 (24 April)

The prosecution opened by calling their first witness, Tor Inge Kristoffersen, a government security guard. This witness's job on the day of the attacks involved security monitoring, from the basement of government headquarters. The witness was asked to describe what he saw on the day; he had seen a car being parked, and then someone emerge wearing what "looked like a guard's uniform". Just as Kristoffersen was zooming in on that car's number plate, it exploded. About half of the screens used in the monitoring went blank. The security staff radio network also went down.

Bomb scientist Svein Olav Christensen was then called to the stand. Christensen led the investigation into the technical aspects of the bomb. His testimony included photos of the reconstructed bomb exploding as well as surveillance photos of the actual blast.

Then, Oslo police sergeant Thor Langli took the stand. Langli testified about the Oslo Police's actions in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. Langli commented how at first there had been reports that there were two suspects behind the attacks.

The next witnesses was forensics specialist Ragde who talked about the findings on the crime scene in Regjeringskvartalet, and coroners Stray-Pedersen and Størseth, who presented the autopsy reports.

Day 8 (25 April)

Coroner's reports on the eight bombing victims were heard by the court, and described "immense violence" for all of them.

The first bomb survivor to give evidence was 26-year-old Eivind Dahl Thoresen. Thoresen described how he had been talking on his mobile, when the bomb exploded. He had been standing only meters away, and was thrown backwards by the blast. Thoresen saw another survivor just down the road, and began to approach him to assist, because he noticed he had horrific injuries. Thoresen went on to say how he also was badly injured and heavily bleeding.

Vidar Vestli also survived the blast, and his consequent condition had not allowed him to give live evidence. His witness statement was read to the court, where it was told how he had lost a leg in the blast, had a chest "full of shrapnel", and poor mental health.

Another survivor, Tone Maria With, claimed she is now too afraid to venture into central Oslo. She recounted how amid the confusion of the bomb blast, she realized she had a hole in her chest and thought she was going to die. She also suffered hearing loss as a consequence.

Second testimony for the defense

Breivik took the stand for the second time to give evidence for the defense. He conceded that it had been hard to hear live evidence from witnesses for the prosecution but he also said that the Labour government should apologize for their immigration policies.

Breivik spoke about his views on the respective psychiatric reports, the earlier deeming him insane and the latter saying he was not insane. Breivik said that the report concluding his insanity was made of "evil fabrications" and insisted the ulterior motive behind such conclusions were "meant to portray him as irrational and unintelligent".

Breivik contested the damning psychiatric report and alleged that 80% of it was false. Specifically his allegations were:

The purported quoting of himself omitted pronouns e.g. "I" which according to the defendant was deliberately done to make him look "retarded";

It claimed he had a fear of radiation, which the defendant alleged is untrue as he has no such fear;

The report alleged that Breivik's mask which he wore during his attacks was intended as an attempted defense to bacteria, being an irrational fear of his, and Breivik claimed this was untrue as it was meant for a different purpose, namely filtering particulates;

Breivik cites that none of his interviews featuring in the substance of the report were tape-recorded;

He also alleged in general that the assessors started with a conclusion and worked back towards what they wanted to find.

In questioning, Breivik challenged the prosecution's view that he could not look after himself, and said he does cook and clean, and that he had been bearing up in prison well.

Day 9 (26 April)

More survivors of the Oslo bombings testified in court. Harald Føsker was one of them. He needed surgery on his face as a consequence of being caught in the blasts. Føsker was employed at the Ministry of Justice at the time. He described how he was so badly injured that he did not feel the physical pain until the next day. His teeth were knocked out. He needed surgery to reconstruct his face, and also for his vision and hearing.

Another victim, female, testified that she could not remember the events of the day because she has suffered head trauma.

At noon, 40,000 protesters met in Oslo and marched to the courthouse singing a children's song which Breivik had testified earlier was part of the brainwashing of Norwegian children. Similar protests were held in other cities.

Day 10 (27 April)

Tore Raasok testified on the injuries he sustained as a result of the bombings. Raasok worked for the Ministry of Transport in Oslo, and on 22 July 2011 when he had been leaving the office he was caught in a blast. Shards of glass had flown into his eyes and his legs had been crushed. Since then he has had a leg amputated, undergone 10 surgical operations, and has lost use of one of his arms.

Another prosecution witness, Kristian Rasmussen, described how he had been in his office sending an email when "everything went black" and he went into a coma for 12 days. He sustained head injuries, bleeding on the brain, a broken neck, and abdominal wounds.

Day 17 (11 May)

The presentation of autopsy reports was concluded on this day.

An incident took place when a spectator shouted "Go to hell, go to hell, you killed my brother", then threw a shoe towards Breivik, but hit the defense attorney Vibeke Hein Bæra. The incident initiated some spontaneous applause, while the thrower was taken out of the courtroom and handed over to medical personnel. The thrower was Hayder Mustafa Qasim, an Iraqi who was the brother of Karar Mustafa Qasim, one of the victims who had been killed at Utøya. Shoe throwing is a mark of extreme contempt in Arab culture, signifying that the target is worth no more than the dirt that one steps in. Footage of the incident was not permitted to be released.

Day 23 (23 May)

Survivors of the attacks on the island continued to give testimony, including a number of teenaged girls. Fifteen-year-old Ylva Helene Schwenke was aged 14 when the attacks occurred and took four bullets. She is physically scarred and showed this to the courtroom at large. She commented on this saying her scars were "the price for democracy" because she feels democracy has prevailed. Apparently this commentary caused Breivik to grin.

Breivik also smiled when he was described by another prosecution witness, an 18-year-old girl who remained anonymous, as being "an idiot".

17-year-old Andrine Johansen testified as to how she believes one of her friends took a bullet that would have killed her, and thus sacrificed his own life to save hers. She had witnessed Breivik killing 14 people, several of whom were her personal friends. Johansen described the defendant actually holding his gun to a victim's head and pulling the trigger.

Johansen told how she had already been shot in the chest, and had fallen into the lake. Once the others had been killed, Breivik returned his attention to her, allegedly smiling. A victim named Henrik Rasmussen is said to have jumped into the line of fire, thus sacrificing his life for Johansen, whilst "Breivik had laughed with joy as he continued with the bloodbath...[during which narrative]...the accused shook his head at the description".

Day 24 (24 May)

More prosecution witnesses testified. Mathias Eckhoff aged 21 had been shot in the thighs and his scrotum. Eckhoff and others had met at the café/pumphouse on the island to discuss the bombings in Oslo, and that is when Breivik arrived. When the group encountered Breivik outside, Eckhoff says he had demanded to see Breivik's ID as he was dressed as a police officer and was informing them the bomber had yet been apprehended.

Breivik is said to have opened fire, and then Eckhoff was shot, and escaped by jumping into the water. Eckhoff said he could not use his legs which had been shot, only his arms.

Mohamad Hadi Hamed also aged 21 was the second witness of the day. He had asked if Breivik could be removed from the courtroom whilst he was testifying. He was wheelchair-bound. He had been in the group that were opened fire upon by Breivik at the pumphouse along with Eckhoff.

Hamed had been shot in the abdomen, shoulder and thigh, and had an arm and a leg amputated as a result of his injuries.

Day 25 (25 May)

When Adrian Pracon testified about his meeting with Breivik at Utøya, he looked steadfastly at the defendant, even when answering questions from the prosecutor. Breivik was visibly uncomfortable and only looked back at the witness in brief glimpses. "Breivik made an error when he decided to spare me, seen from his perspective. Now I really understand how fragile our society is," Pracon testified. "I see how much it is worth and the importance of politics. I will continue with politics, and the Labour Party remains closer to my heart." Pracon is the only witness who has looked at the defendant in this way. He was first shot in the shoulder, then the attacker decided not to shoot him. Breivik has testified earlier about why he decided not to kill Pracon.

Day 36 (5 June)

Defence lawyers for Breivik, trying to portray him as not insane, invited right-wing extremists to testify at the trial. Among the witnesses were Tore Tvedt, founder of the group Vigrid, and Arne Tumyr of the organization Stop Islamization of Norway (SIAN). They argued that there are people who share Breivik's political views, yet are not insane. Many of the extremists called echoed Breivik's political views; one said that "Islam is an evil political ideology disguised as a religion." However, they distanced themselves from Breivik's alleged violent actions.

Court-appointed psychiatrists

Day 37–38 (14–15 June)

Court-appointed psychiatrists Husby and Sørheim acknowledge no competence on terrorism and explain that they have evaluated Breivik without putting him into a political context. Without this context, the language he uses becomes incomprehensible (neologisms), his lack of remorse towards the victims becomes lack of empathy, his long period of isolation and preparation becomes inadequate functioning, and his explanations of why he carried out the operation become delusions and fantasies about violence. In this manner, his political ideology and the way he sees himself in the context of this ideology becomes evidence of paranoid schizophrenia.

The defense says that they would understand the psychotic evaluation if Breivik had been talking about invaders from Mars, but find it difficult to understand how thoughts about a possible future Muslim invasion of Europe should be seen as a strong indication of schizophrenia. When asked what makes Breivik different from a "normal" terrorist, Husby and Sørheim say that they have no knowledge of how terrorists think, and find such comparative analysis not relevant to the mandate for their evaluation.

Day 39–40 (18–19 June)

Court-appointed psychiatrists Aspaas and Tørrissen acknowledge the political context of Breivik's thoughts and actions, and thus see no sign of psychosis. As they see the defendant, he is not clinically insane but a political terrorist with a psychological profile that makes it possible to understand how he was capable of carrying out the terror operation.

Closing speeches

The central theme of the defense closing speech was that Breivik, who never denied the facts of the case, is sane and should therefore not be committed to psychiatric care. The prosecutor, Svein Holden, had argued that since the first psychiatric report was written in a non-falsifiable manner, it is impossible to disprove that Breivik is insane, and it then follows that he should be committed to psychiatric care because there would be more harm in sentencing a psychotic person to ordinary prison than a non-psychotic person to a psychiatric facility.

Day 43 (22 June)

On the last day of the trial Breivik delivered a 45-minute defense speech summarizing the trial from his perspective. The court had decided to refuse video or audio transmission of this speech and rejected appeals from the Norwegian media to reverse this.

Bootleg recording

On 26 July, it became known that a bootleg recording of this speech had been posted on the video-sharing site YouTube. According to Agence France-Presse, the video had been posted by a German man who stated that he had received the video from an elected member of the Norwegian Progress Party. According to Norwegian news media, it was a Norwegian man who originally posted the recording on YouTube on 27 June. The man, who told media he didn't know he was breaking the law, subsequently removed the video from his YouTube account. Coordinating counsel for the aggrieved Mette Yvonne Larsen petitioned Oslo District Court to have the video removed from YouTube, which according to them is not fit for publication since it contains incitement to commit criminal acts.

Verdict and sentencing

On 24 August 2012, beginning approximately 10 am CEST, the court formally began to read the verdict against Breivik. Breivik was adjudged sane and sentenced to containment—a special form of a prison sentence that can be extended indefinitely—with a time frame of 21 years and a minimum time of 10 years, the maximum penalty in Norway.

Explaining why the court found Breivik to be sane, the court stated that "many people share Breivik's conspiracy theory, including the Eurabia theory. The court finds that very few people, however, share Breivik's idea that the alleged "Islamization" should be fought with terror."

When asked by the judge whether he accepted the verdict and sentence, Breivik announced that he did not recognize the legitimacy of the court, and would therefore neither accept nor appeal. His attempt at addressing other "militant nationalists" in Norway and Europe was interrupted by the judge. Lacking a formal acceptance of the sentence, the judge formally interpreted this as taking a two-week contemplation period, but Breivik's attorney said there would be no appeal from the defense. At a press conference after the verdict, the prosecuting attorneys announced that they would not appeal either.

Commentary on the proceedings

Some news outlets in the United States have expressed wonder at apparent concessions being given to the defendant. Both the fact that he is allowed five full days to give his testimony, elaborating on his ideology, as well as court-room interactions where both the prosecutors and counsel for the aggrieved shook the defendant's hand at the beginning of the proceedings baffled some commentators but to others showed that the Norwegian court system is capable of respecting all people.

Research has shown that in Norway the proceedings of the trial had a positive impact on the coping mechanisms in society. Moreover, the trial proceedings were seen as a positive counter-weight to Breivik's acts by most Norwegians.