'Over one half Century since the TX Clock Tower Massacre and we were asking many of the same questions back then. Why'?
http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/whitman-charles.htm
If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts...donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type.
Quote: Charles Joseph Whitman; A.K.A.: "The Texas Tower Sniper" 08/01/1966..
(June 24, 1941 August 1, 1966) Whitman, was a student at the University of Texas at Austin who shot and killed 14 people (including those who survived the initial shooting but later died as a result of their injuries) and wounded 31 others from the observation deck of the University's Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin on August 1, 1966, after murdering his wife and mother, and before being shot by Austin police.
Family issues
Declining health
Leadup to the shootings
Whitman began typing his suicide note, a portion of which read:
I do not quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I do not really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts.
The note explained that he had decided to murder both his mother and wife, but made no mention of the coming attacks at the university.
He also requested that an autopsy be done after his death, to determine if there had been anything to explain his actions and increasing headaches. He willed any money from his estate to mental health research, saying that he hoped it would prevent others from following his route.
Margaret Whitman, as found by police, just after midnight, he killed his mother Margaret. The exact method is disputed, but it seemed he had rendered her unconscious before stabbing her in the heart. He returned to his suicide note, now writing by hand:
To Whom It May Concern: I have just taken my mother's life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now...I am truly sorry...Let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart.
Whitman returned to his home at 906 Jewell Street and stabbed Kathy five times as she slept naked, leaving another note that read:
I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job...
If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts...donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type.
(snipped - read more - very interesting in a tragic deja vu sort of way)
