Murder, Gaming, and Knowing the Monster...

[Hugh Casey]

There was a murder over the weekend in the town in Philly that I live in. Two young women and a three year old girl were hacked to death with a large knife. It was a horrible, bloody, gory crime. Apparently the man who did it also murdered a young woman in the next town over about 5 years ago in the same manner.

I did not know the victims. But I did know the man who killed them.

John used to work part time at the local hobby game shop in King of Prussia. At the time that I knew him, he had already murdered the first young woman (though nobody knew that at the time). No one would have suspected him of being a killer. He wasn't the stereotypical "...quiet guy, always keeps to himself...", but he was friendly, rather talkative, and always seemed rather, well... gentle. I spent many hours hanging out in the shop, talking to him about gaming and other things, and watching him gladly helping customers and teaching children about games. Children like the little girl that he hacked to death.

(Shiver...)

There is a part of me that wants him to die horribly in the electric chair for this grusome crime. He CHOPPED A LITTLE GIRL TO DEATH, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!! And then there is the other part of me that, well, knew him, and I know that he must be a sick, sick man who needs help. Black and white is fine... too bad that the real world is in multiple shades of grey...

In a related note, his connection to gaming hasn't escaped notice. If you read the article above, you will see that the local DA, Bruce Castor, has been quoted as saying:

"I mean, you have many, many stab wounds and those 'Dungeons and Dragons' fantasy games involve swords and knives and daggers and things of that nature. There may be a connection but I can’t say for sure.”

Does he have any idea just how STUPID that rationale sounds!? He might as well be saying, "I mean, you have many, many stab wounds and KNITTING involves SHARP, POINTY STICKS and things of that nature. There may be a connection but I can’t say for sure.”

Well, it makes for a good sound bite, which, truth be damned, is the most important thing for an elected official like Castor. Who, BTW, may well NOT be getting my vote next election.

[Don Mappin]

Wow. My mind can't process anything else at the moment.

Just...wow.

[REG]

I honestly don't know what to say about all of this.

Try not to feel guilty for not recognizing suspicious signs back then or the fact the he pulled the wool over your eyes.

[Captain Blake]

Buck up. You'll weather the storm.

and, at least here, when something like that happened http://www.tennessean.com/local/arch...nt_ID=57920458 nobody blamed gaming.

Of cource, lots of people pulled together to get the word out that not all of us were responsible.

Alex

[Tobian]

I remember once hearing a quote something allong the lines of this, in the aftermath of the school massacres...

"You have a psychopath, a gun and a video game, which one are they trying to blame?"

The press are notorious for looking at the lowest common denomenator, it's pathetic but it's the press for you.

I know how you feel, a girl was killed locally in quite a vicious attack only a few streets from my house, allong with allot of men in the area I had to take a swab test for DNA to check for potential matches. The night it happened was on my usual game night, the murder would probably have been when I was walking home, from the Metro station, thogh it was week later so I couldn't really remember if I'd seen or heard anything. It makes you think!

[Hugh Casey]

I did just get more info today from someone "in the know" (i.e. involved in the investigation). Turns out that The DA's comments were taken OUT OF CONTEXT... they are NOT investigating a link with D&D or gaming. It only came up because it came up in the course of the investigation... and apparently the SUSPECT was the one who brought it up... perhaps trying to lay the groundwork for an insanity defense? Castor misspoke during the press conference apparently because he wasn't expecting questions regarding a link to gaming (which he is totally unfamiliar with), and he was pulling stuff out of his @$$.

However, the media have been more than happy to jump all over the "link with D&D". After all, sell more papers, get more viewers!

(sigh)

[REG]

If the suspect and/or his lawyer want to use D&D or RPG as key to their insanity defense, perhaps the prosecution should try to discredit them by putting some expert witnesses on the stand.

Agenda-wise, this would be a good way to show that RPG in general is not a negative influence.

[Doug Burke]

If the suspect and/or his lawyer want to use D&D or RPG as key to their insanity defense, perhaps the prosecution should try to discredit them by putting some expert witnesses on the stand.

Agenda-wise, this would be a good way to show that RPG in general is not a negative influence.

Agreed. "Michael Stackpole for the prosecution..."