1 00:00:03,551 --> 00:00:06,010 I can hate what Michael has done, 2 00:00:06,034 --> 00:00:07,907 but I still love him. 3 00:00:07,931 --> 00:00:09,872 He's still my son. 4 00:00:09,896 --> 00:00:13,148 "Evil lives here"... 5 00:00:13,172 --> 00:00:18,113 That may make people think that this is an evil person. 6 00:00:18,137 --> 00:00:21,872 Some of the actions that he took are evil, 7 00:00:21,896 --> 00:00:24,872 but he is not an evil person. 8 00:00:24,896 --> 00:00:29,068 I've always felt that this is a story that needs to be told. 9 00:00:41,931 --> 00:00:44,838 I tried to prevent this. 10 00:00:44,862 --> 00:00:48,700 I explicitly warned people. 11 00:00:48,724 --> 00:00:52,734 I feel like I was jumping up, waving red flags, hair on fire, 12 00:00:52,758 --> 00:00:54,458 "help me, help me." 13 00:00:54,482 --> 00:00:57,310 He's a danger to himself and others! 14 00:01:03,482 --> 00:01:06,793 I was afraid of my son, but nobody would listen to me. 15 00:01:08,655 --> 00:01:10,769 I prayed for guidance. 16 00:01:10,793 --> 00:01:12,907 I prayed for a miracle. 17 00:01:12,931 --> 00:01:16,137 Where do you go when nobody listens? 18 00:01:48,758 --> 00:01:51,079 - -Captions by vitac... - www.Vitac.Com 19 00:01:51,103 --> 00:01:52,863 captions paid for by discovery communications 20 00:01:55,620 --> 00:02:01,286 this is a picture of Michael when he was first born. 21 00:02:01,310 --> 00:02:06,113 He's so tiny, so tiny, so brand-new. 22 00:02:06,137 --> 00:02:09,251 I had two boys... 13 and 6. 23 00:02:09,275 --> 00:02:10,871 I wanted a girl, 24 00:02:10,895 --> 00:02:14,493 but Bob was really excited about having another boy. 25 00:02:14,517 --> 00:02:17,596 The other two boys, they were always very supportive with him 26 00:02:17,620 --> 00:02:22,044 and took their duties as big brother very seriously. 27 00:02:22,068 --> 00:02:25,251 And we were all very happy to have him in our lives. 28 00:02:25,275 --> 00:02:27,769 He was a blessing. 29 00:02:27,793 --> 00:02:30,217 I never expected to have any issues. 30 00:02:30,241 --> 00:02:33,734 I expected it would be very similar to the experience 31 00:02:33,758 --> 00:02:36,079 we had with our other two boys, 32 00:02:36,103 --> 00:02:39,838 and everything would be smooth sailing. 33 00:02:39,862 --> 00:02:41,551 That was not to be. 34 00:03:00,310 --> 00:03:03,424 I noticed early on that there was some things 35 00:03:03,448 --> 00:03:06,044 a little bit different about Michael 36 00:03:06,068 --> 00:03:09,631 than what I had seen with my other two boys. 37 00:03:09,655 --> 00:03:11,355 When he was actually at a day care, 38 00:03:11,379 --> 00:03:14,838 and I was working, he liked to just sometimes 39 00:03:14,862 --> 00:03:18,424 harass the other children and the day care provider 40 00:03:18,448 --> 00:03:21,803 to see how far he could push. 41 00:03:21,827 --> 00:03:25,976 He would want to escape the house or, 42 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,217 at nap time, he would go around, wake up all the children, 43 00:03:30,241 --> 00:03:32,941 and then when he had all the children awake, 44 00:03:32,965 --> 00:03:34,827 then he would lay down and take a nap. 45 00:03:40,655 --> 00:03:41,976 I thought maybe it would be best 46 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,562 if I were to go out of the workforce, 47 00:03:45,586 --> 00:03:50,286 open my own daycare center where I would still have an income, 48 00:03:50,310 --> 00:03:52,803 which we needed to have, 49 00:03:52,827 --> 00:03:54,803 but I would be able to be there all day 50 00:03:54,827 --> 00:03:56,458 and keep an eye on Michael. 51 00:03:56,482 --> 00:03:58,907 Oh, hey. 52 00:03:58,931 --> 00:04:01,113 You need some more milk? 53 00:04:01,137 --> 00:04:03,458 Can I get you some more milk, sweetie? 54 00:04:03,482 --> 00:04:04,734 It started out fine. 55 00:04:04,758 --> 00:04:06,458 They were wonderful little kids. 56 00:04:06,482 --> 00:04:07,941 They were so well-behaved. 57 00:04:07,965 --> 00:04:09,803 I had an infant that I watched. 58 00:04:09,827 --> 00:04:11,965 It was the sweetest little baby. 59 00:04:15,344 --> 00:04:18,355 It was my own child that I could not handle. 60 00:04:18,379 --> 00:04:20,700 The minute he's out of my sight, 61 00:04:20,724 --> 00:04:22,482 he's gonna do something that he shouldn't. 62 00:04:28,586 --> 00:04:30,320 And I went, I think, in the kitchen 63 00:04:30,344 --> 00:04:32,010 to heat up a bottle, 64 00:04:32,034 --> 00:04:35,320 and Michael climbed up in our armchair, 65 00:04:35,344 --> 00:04:39,010 and he was standing on the arm of the chair, 66 00:04:39,034 --> 00:04:43,769 and I thought, "he's gonna jump on this baby." 67 00:04:43,793 --> 00:04:48,631 I think his intent was, "I'm going to disrupt this 68 00:04:48,655 --> 00:04:51,310 and get the attention of my mom." 69 00:04:55,137 --> 00:04:57,631 Michael, what are you doing? 70 00:04:57,655 --> 00:04:59,379 Get down from there. 71 00:05:03,793 --> 00:05:05,734 My thought was, "this is too dangerous." 72 00:05:05,758 --> 00:05:08,217 There was no doubt about it. The baby would have gotten hurt, 73 00:05:08,241 --> 00:05:10,355 and I could not take that risk. 74 00:05:10,379 --> 00:05:11,700 Honey, what are you doing? 75 00:05:11,724 --> 00:05:13,044 Nothing. 76 00:05:13,068 --> 00:05:14,458 Well, why did you climb up there? 77 00:05:14,482 --> 00:05:16,251 Were you gonna jump? No. 78 00:05:16,275 --> 00:05:17,872 I had to close that day care 79 00:05:17,896 --> 00:05:20,286 because I could not handle Michael. 80 00:05:20,310 --> 00:05:21,838 Why don't you go upstairs and play by yourself 81 00:05:21,862 --> 00:05:23,182 for a little while, okay? 82 00:05:23,206 --> 00:05:26,758 I could never let my guard down with Michael, ever. 83 00:05:37,413 --> 00:05:40,148 I had to travel for work at one time. 84 00:05:40,172 --> 00:05:45,631 I got a call from Bob that Michael had been at the park, 85 00:05:45,655 --> 00:05:50,182 and he said that somebody had stolen Michael's bike 86 00:05:50,206 --> 00:05:54,838 and punched Michael in the nose and gave him a bloody nose, 87 00:05:54,862 --> 00:05:57,734 but then Michael had come home again 88 00:05:57,758 --> 00:06:00,941 the next day with another bloody nose, 89 00:06:00,965 --> 00:06:03,286 and then he'd get another bloody nose. 90 00:06:03,310 --> 00:06:04,527 Something just wasn't right. 91 00:06:04,551 --> 00:06:06,665 There was something there that just wasn't right. 92 00:06:06,689 --> 00:06:07,734 It seems a little odd to me 93 00:06:07,758 --> 00:06:10,665 that he'd pop up with these bloody noses. 94 00:06:10,689 --> 00:06:12,413 So I asked him about it. 95 00:06:14,724 --> 00:06:17,389 When I got home, I said, "you know, 96 00:06:17,413 --> 00:06:19,872 I don't really believe that you're getting hit 97 00:06:19,896 --> 00:06:21,907 and getting these bloody noses." 98 00:06:21,931 --> 00:06:26,251 Michael, what is going on? 99 00:06:26,275 --> 00:06:27,734 You can tell me. 100 00:06:27,758 --> 00:06:29,493 And he admitted to me that, yeah, 101 00:06:29,517 --> 00:06:31,217 that he had never gotten hit. 102 00:06:31,241 --> 00:06:32,872 Because you're always at work, 103 00:06:32,896 --> 00:06:36,113 and I never get to see you anymore. 104 00:06:36,137 --> 00:06:39,838 I was out of town, and so he was upset that I was gone, 105 00:06:39,862 --> 00:06:44,838 and Michael had learned that, "if I give myself a bloody nose, 106 00:06:44,862 --> 00:06:46,941 then I get some sympathy." 107 00:06:46,965 --> 00:06:51,320 I have to travel for my job. 108 00:06:51,344 --> 00:06:53,631 It's not because I don't want to be here. 109 00:06:53,655 --> 00:06:55,596 Well, I just don't like it. 110 00:06:55,620 --> 00:06:58,838 I just thought it was very odd that he would... 111 00:06:58,862 --> 00:07:03,734 Do that kind of a behavior to get attention, 112 00:07:03,758 --> 00:07:08,079 but I talked to him about it, and it never happened again. 113 00:07:08,103 --> 00:07:11,172 So I didn't see that as a red flag. 114 00:07:24,689 --> 00:07:28,010 These dreams were not normal childhood nightmares. 115 00:07:28,034 --> 00:07:31,137 Michael would have them, I mean, night after night after night. 116 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,872 He would wake up in the middle of the night, 117 00:07:36,896 --> 00:07:39,103 and he would come into our room. 118 00:07:43,517 --> 00:07:46,665 It was always that people were after him. 119 00:07:46,689 --> 00:07:48,251 People were gonna get him. 120 00:07:48,275 --> 00:07:50,355 People were gonna hurt him. 121 00:07:50,379 --> 00:07:53,596 Oh, Michael. 122 00:07:53,620 --> 00:07:55,493 Are you okay? 123 00:07:55,517 --> 00:07:57,596 Can I sleep with you? 124 00:07:57,620 --> 00:08:00,493 And this kid is terrified. 125 00:08:00,517 --> 00:08:03,769 Made me feel really sad that this little boy 126 00:08:03,793 --> 00:08:08,838 is having these horrible, scary dreams. 127 00:08:08,862 --> 00:08:10,389 Did you have another nightmare? 128 00:08:10,413 --> 00:08:12,355 They were trying to get me. 129 00:08:12,379 --> 00:08:14,976 Who's "they"? 130 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,803 Okay, get in. 131 00:08:16,827 --> 00:08:20,137 He'd come in and just crawl in and sleep next to me. 132 00:08:24,413 --> 00:08:26,320 But there seemed to be more to this. 133 00:08:26,344 --> 00:08:28,896 It was around this time he started drawing pictures. 134 00:08:34,309 --> 00:08:38,285 He would sit in the living room, and he would color. 135 00:08:38,309 --> 00:08:39,458 What are you doing? 136 00:08:39,482 --> 00:08:41,102 You've been drawing for a while. 137 00:08:43,344 --> 00:08:47,389 I'd ask him, "oh, what is this that you're drawing?" 138 00:08:47,413 --> 00:08:50,596 They were people with knives, and the knives would be, 139 00:08:50,620 --> 00:08:53,424 like, dripping blood, and they were gonna get him. 140 00:08:53,448 --> 00:08:55,389 They were after him. 141 00:08:55,413 --> 00:08:57,665 What are these supposed to be? 142 00:08:57,689 --> 00:09:00,700 And he'd tell me, "well, this is what I dreamt about last night. 143 00:09:00,724 --> 00:09:03,389 This is the person that's chasing me." 144 00:09:03,413 --> 00:09:07,010 Are all these pictures from your dreams, too? 145 00:09:07,034 --> 00:09:10,000 And he had to do things to protect himself. 146 00:09:16,379 --> 00:09:18,182 Where is this coming from 147 00:09:18,206 --> 00:09:20,907 from this little, 148 00:09:20,931 --> 00:09:22,493 rather innocent child? 149 00:09:22,517 --> 00:09:26,493 I've never seen such violent drawings. 150 00:09:26,517 --> 00:09:28,355 It just was unreal. 151 00:09:28,379 --> 00:09:31,700 He would continue the drawings for years, 152 00:09:31,724 --> 00:09:37,010 and the nightmares continued for many, many years, 153 00:09:37,034 --> 00:09:38,941 but I had talked to the doctors about it, 154 00:09:38,965 --> 00:09:42,527 and they said, "well, you know, some kids just have nightmares." 155 00:09:42,551 --> 00:09:45,379 So we tried not to make a big deal about it... 156 00:09:48,482 --> 00:09:51,517 ...but I never understood where the violence came from. 157 00:09:56,793 --> 00:09:59,251 Dad! Mom! Help me! 158 00:09:59,275 --> 00:10:02,493 Michael had come in in the middle of the night 159 00:10:02,517 --> 00:10:03,769 with a knife... 160 00:10:03,793 --> 00:10:06,803 Get away from me! 161 00:10:06,827 --> 00:10:10,344 ...and held that knife above my son's head. 162 00:10:23,310 --> 00:10:25,907 I never slept very well. 163 00:10:25,931 --> 00:10:28,734 I became a very light sleeper. Little noises... 164 00:10:28,758 --> 00:10:31,286 Sometimes it was just creaking of the house, 165 00:10:31,310 --> 00:10:34,079 sometimes it would be Michael. 166 00:10:34,103 --> 00:10:36,631 We had trouble keeping him in the bed, and he'd get up, 167 00:10:36,655 --> 00:10:39,700 and he'd wander around the house and do things, 168 00:10:39,724 --> 00:10:43,724 and he was getting more attracted to knives. 169 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,010 There was one night I heard a noise in my room, 170 00:10:50,034 --> 00:10:51,941 and when I woke up, there was Michael 171 00:10:51,965 --> 00:10:57,010 sitting on my bedroom floor with a bar of soap, 172 00:10:57,034 --> 00:11:00,079 and he was cutting up this bar of soap with a knife. 173 00:11:00,103 --> 00:11:03,734 Michael! 174 00:11:03,758 --> 00:11:06,113 It scared me that he's got a knife, 175 00:11:06,137 --> 00:11:08,148 and he's doing this in the middle of the night. 176 00:11:08,172 --> 00:11:09,896 What are you doing? 177 00:11:11,793 --> 00:11:13,137 Playing. 178 00:11:16,379 --> 00:11:20,310 I just kind of slowly got out of bed and walked over to him. 179 00:11:22,827 --> 00:11:25,251 Honey... 180 00:11:25,275 --> 00:11:27,000 Michael. 181 00:11:30,793 --> 00:11:32,310 Give mommy the knife. 182 00:11:34,827 --> 00:11:36,103 Sweetie. 183 00:11:44,379 --> 00:11:46,700 Took the knife away and explained to him, 184 00:11:46,724 --> 00:11:48,700 you know, "you shouldn't be doing this." 185 00:11:48,724 --> 00:11:51,251 Knives aren't toys. 186 00:11:51,275 --> 00:11:53,286 You could really hurt yourself. 187 00:11:53,310 --> 00:11:55,182 Okay. 188 00:11:55,206 --> 00:11:59,758 And I took his hand, and I put him back into bed. 189 00:12:08,689 --> 00:12:12,148 And then there was one morning I woke up, 190 00:12:12,172 --> 00:12:16,689 and all the kitchen chairs had a plastic covering on them... 191 00:12:21,137 --> 00:12:23,251 ...and he had taken a knife 192 00:12:23,275 --> 00:12:26,700 and just poked holes all over these chairs. 193 00:12:26,724 --> 00:12:29,700 You could see little slices in all the seats. 194 00:12:29,724 --> 00:12:31,148 Honey! 195 00:12:31,172 --> 00:12:33,182 Again, it was a middle-of-the-night 196 00:12:33,206 --> 00:12:34,562 activity that he had done. 197 00:12:34,586 --> 00:12:35,965 Michael, come in here! 198 00:12:38,275 --> 00:12:40,562 Why would you do this? 199 00:12:40,586 --> 00:12:43,976 And he's like, "I don't know. I just did it. 200 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:45,493 I don't know why." 201 00:12:45,517 --> 00:12:47,424 No reason. 202 00:12:47,448 --> 00:12:49,976 I have a feeling that he woke up from his nightmare, 203 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,527 and this idea of somebody chasing him 204 00:12:52,551 --> 00:12:55,838 with a knife was in his head, and he got a knife, 205 00:12:55,862 --> 00:12:57,562 and he acted out some of the things 206 00:12:57,586 --> 00:13:00,320 that he had been dreaming about. 207 00:13:00,344 --> 00:13:02,044 Honey, we talked about this. 208 00:13:02,068 --> 00:13:05,734 You're not allowed to play with knives. 209 00:13:05,758 --> 00:13:08,976 And so we had to take all the knives out of the drawers. 210 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,320 We put them in a special container 211 00:13:11,344 --> 00:13:13,527 so they were really hard to get to, 212 00:13:13,551 --> 00:13:15,562 made sure all the knives were taken away. 213 00:13:15,586 --> 00:13:17,448 Why don't you go get ready for school? 214 00:13:19,758 --> 00:13:22,424 But there was, like, two knives in this one drawer. 215 00:13:22,448 --> 00:13:24,568 I hadn't even thought about the knives in that drawer. 216 00:13:29,551 --> 00:13:31,251 Mom! Dad! 217 00:13:31,275 --> 00:13:34,734 One night, Michael had gone into our older son's room 218 00:13:34,758 --> 00:13:36,458 and woke him up. 219 00:13:36,482 --> 00:13:38,458 Mom! Dad! Help me! 220 00:13:38,482 --> 00:13:41,217 And he hollered out, "dad, dad!" 221 00:13:41,241 --> 00:13:42,976 Dad! Dad! 222 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,044 And so my husband went in there, 223 00:13:45,068 --> 00:13:48,493 and Michael had come in in the middle of the night 224 00:13:48,517 --> 00:13:54,251 with a knife and held that knife above my son's head. 225 00:13:54,275 --> 00:13:56,320 - Michael! - Tell him to get away from me! 226 00:13:56,344 --> 00:13:58,206 Drop it! Get away from your brother! 227 00:14:01,931 --> 00:14:05,458 And my husband got the knife away, got him calmed down, 228 00:14:05,482 --> 00:14:09,769 got our other boy settled down, that it was gonna be okay. 229 00:14:09,793 --> 00:14:11,631 Are you okay? 230 00:14:11,655 --> 00:14:13,596 And my husband talked to Michael, 231 00:14:13,620 --> 00:14:16,000 got him settled back into his bed. 232 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,665 I don't know why Michael went in there. 233 00:14:21,689 --> 00:14:24,941 The only thought I could have was that somehow, 234 00:14:24,965 --> 00:14:29,458 he had had one of his dreams about people chasing him, 235 00:14:29,482 --> 00:14:32,389 and somehow, he ended up in Rick's room. 236 00:14:32,413 --> 00:14:36,148 We were afraid of what could've happened 237 00:14:36,172 --> 00:14:37,700 and kind of realized now we need 238 00:14:37,724 --> 00:14:40,665 to really protect the people in the house, too. 239 00:14:40,689 --> 00:14:43,182 So we started locking our bedroom door. 240 00:14:43,206 --> 00:14:45,734 We had locks on all the doors and cupboards 241 00:14:45,758 --> 00:14:47,389 and everything just to try 242 00:14:47,413 --> 00:14:50,562 to keep everything secure from Michael. 243 00:14:50,586 --> 00:14:53,389 Bob built a loft bed and put Rick up in a loft bed 244 00:14:53,413 --> 00:14:55,493 so you'd have to climb up into the bed. 245 00:14:55,517 --> 00:14:58,803 That was a safety measure, too. 246 00:14:58,827 --> 00:15:01,424 I was very upset. I just... 247 00:15:01,448 --> 00:15:05,389 I couldn't believe that my son had behaved like this. 248 00:15:05,413 --> 00:15:07,413 Something is really going on here. 249 00:15:21,758 --> 00:15:27,113 The behavior he was showing was a huge red flag. 250 00:15:27,137 --> 00:15:32,665 I need to bring him in to see a counselor or a psychologist 251 00:15:32,689 --> 00:15:35,596 and talk through what this issue is, 252 00:15:35,620 --> 00:15:39,148 but I never felt like we got any answers. 253 00:15:39,172 --> 00:15:41,355 His behavior is so abnormal. 254 00:15:41,379 --> 00:15:45,182 A kid at this age experiences a lot of developmental changes 255 00:15:45,206 --> 00:15:47,803 in a very short amount of time. 256 00:15:47,827 --> 00:15:52,044 They didn't think that he was a child that had some troubles. 257 00:15:52,068 --> 00:15:55,113 They thought, "he is just a troublemaker." 258 00:15:55,137 --> 00:15:57,148 They could put him on medication, 259 00:15:57,172 --> 00:15:59,182 see how he does on medication. 260 00:15:59,206 --> 00:16:01,113 Look, I'm sorry to say, 261 00:16:01,137 --> 00:16:03,079 but those are your only options. 262 00:16:03,103 --> 00:16:05,044 I think one was ritalin, one was Adderall, 263 00:16:05,068 --> 00:16:07,148 but he turned into a zombie. 264 00:16:07,172 --> 00:16:08,320 No. 265 00:16:08,344 --> 00:16:12,389 What I was looking for was some parenting tips, 266 00:16:12,413 --> 00:16:15,079 maybe better ways to discipline him, 267 00:16:15,103 --> 00:16:18,907 things that I could do to improve his behavior. 268 00:16:18,931 --> 00:16:20,941 There's nothing more I can do. 269 00:16:20,965 --> 00:16:23,734 And he said that I was being a bad parent... 270 00:16:23,758 --> 00:16:26,044 Now, if you'll excuse me. 271 00:16:26,068 --> 00:16:30,907 ...and that Michael needed to be locked up, 272 00:16:30,931 --> 00:16:32,655 and I was dismissed. 273 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,941 I was so angry, and I was so frustrated. 274 00:16:38,965 --> 00:16:42,079 What am I supposed to do now? 275 00:16:42,103 --> 00:16:43,976 I need help. 276 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,251 I can't just go lock up this kid. 277 00:16:47,275 --> 00:16:50,320 I should not have let him dismiss me the way he did. 278 00:16:50,344 --> 00:16:53,389 I should've advocated more. 279 00:16:53,413 --> 00:16:56,044 I should've stood my ground and advocated more for Michael, 280 00:16:56,068 --> 00:16:57,631 and I didn't, 281 00:16:57,655 --> 00:16:59,172 and I regret it. 282 00:17:12,068 --> 00:17:15,217 His behavior has gotten out of control. 283 00:17:15,241 --> 00:17:17,181 He had had thoughts about hitting her in the head 284 00:17:17,205 --> 00:17:18,251 with a hammer. 285 00:17:18,275 --> 00:17:20,113 I'm afraid of him. 286 00:17:20,137 --> 00:17:22,241 He might have these thoughts about me. 287 00:17:37,103 --> 00:17:41,931 One day Michael was out playing, and someone came to the door. 288 00:17:44,689 --> 00:17:45,941 Hello? mrs. Swanson, 289 00:17:45,965 --> 00:17:48,113 this is the last straw. 290 00:17:48,137 --> 00:17:52,769 The neighbor told me that Michael had a knife, 291 00:17:52,793 --> 00:17:56,458 and he was threatening another child with this knife. 292 00:17:56,482 --> 00:17:58,700 Your son threatened my child with it! 293 00:17:58,724 --> 00:17:59,907 I'm so sorry. 294 00:17:59,931 --> 00:18:01,734 Now it's gone from inside of our house. 295 00:18:01,758 --> 00:18:03,458 Now it's outside of our house. 296 00:18:03,482 --> 00:18:05,251 Next time, I'm calling the cops. 297 00:18:05,275 --> 00:18:06,941 I'll deal with this. 298 00:18:06,965 --> 00:18:10,148 This won't happen again. I am so sorry. 299 00:18:10,172 --> 00:18:11,172 Michael! 300 00:18:13,275 --> 00:18:15,355 He was very cavalier about this. 301 00:18:15,379 --> 00:18:17,631 It was like, "oh, mom. It's no big deal. 302 00:18:17,655 --> 00:18:19,976 They didn't really mean anything about it. 303 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,562 It's gonna be okay. Don't worry about it, mom." 304 00:18:22,586 --> 00:18:24,527 What in the hell has gotten into you?! 305 00:18:24,551 --> 00:18:27,562 What's the big deal? I was just playing around. 306 00:18:27,586 --> 00:18:29,182 Knives aren't toys. 307 00:18:29,206 --> 00:18:30,872 We've talked about this! 308 00:18:30,896 --> 00:18:32,976 Well, he was never really very remorseful 309 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:34,458 when he would get caught doing things. 310 00:18:34,482 --> 00:18:36,424 He was more sorry that he got caught 311 00:18:36,448 --> 00:18:39,355 than for what he had done. 312 00:18:39,379 --> 00:18:43,562 We recognized that there's something not right here. 313 00:18:43,586 --> 00:18:45,251 You know what? This has gone too far. 314 00:18:45,275 --> 00:18:47,044 There is something wrong with you. 315 00:18:47,068 --> 00:18:48,389 Whatever. 316 00:18:48,413 --> 00:18:50,620 - Michael! - Michael! 317 00:18:56,172 --> 00:19:00,493 We took him to a behavioral emergency center. 318 00:19:00,517 --> 00:19:04,872 They felt we were being hysterical parents 319 00:19:04,896 --> 00:19:08,044 and that really this isn't as big of a deal 320 00:19:08,068 --> 00:19:11,458 as we were trying to make it out to be. 321 00:19:11,482 --> 00:19:13,217 They said their hands were tied. 322 00:19:13,241 --> 00:19:15,527 They had no place for him to go, 323 00:19:15,551 --> 00:19:19,596 and so they were just going to send him home. 324 00:19:19,620 --> 00:19:20,803 I was livid. 325 00:19:20,827 --> 00:19:24,079 He's thinking about hurting people. 326 00:19:24,103 --> 00:19:27,275 He's a danger to himself and others. 327 00:19:29,758 --> 00:19:31,000 Nobody cared. 328 00:19:38,413 --> 00:19:41,079 Bob had gotten a job at a coin shop. 329 00:19:41,103 --> 00:19:45,872 The owner of the shop was a little concerned about security. 330 00:19:45,896 --> 00:19:50,344 So when he was at the shop, he would have his sidearm with him. 331 00:19:52,172 --> 00:19:56,010 So Bob had purchased a small, square safe. 332 00:19:56,034 --> 00:19:59,665 That's where he had stored his handgun. 333 00:19:59,689 --> 00:20:00,941 He had some money in there. 334 00:20:00,965 --> 00:20:04,493 We thought that was secure, but one day, 335 00:20:04,517 --> 00:20:08,458 Bob went down to the safe to get some of the money out 336 00:20:08,482 --> 00:20:10,172 that he had in there... 337 00:20:14,344 --> 00:20:18,044 ...and found that the money was gone 338 00:20:18,068 --> 00:20:21,044 and that somebody had touched the gun. 339 00:20:21,068 --> 00:20:24,493 It had a little laser light thing on it, 340 00:20:24,517 --> 00:20:27,838 and they had left that on. 341 00:20:27,862 --> 00:20:31,458 So we had confronted Michael with this. 342 00:20:31,482 --> 00:20:34,596 We had Michael sitting at the kitchen table, 343 00:20:34,620 --> 00:20:38,493 and Bob was grilling him for a couple hours in that chair. 344 00:20:38,517 --> 00:20:40,769 I said don't play stupid with me. 345 00:20:40,793 --> 00:20:42,941 What are you talking about? 346 00:20:42,965 --> 00:20:45,320 And the kid is not saying anything. 347 00:20:45,344 --> 00:20:48,217 He's just like, "I didn't do anything," 348 00:20:48,241 --> 00:20:49,700 just denying everything. 349 00:20:49,724 --> 00:20:51,148 All right, Michael, why don't you tell me 350 00:20:51,172 --> 00:20:52,769 where the money went 'cause we both know 351 00:20:52,793 --> 00:20:54,182 it didn't just up and walk out of the safe. 352 00:20:54,206 --> 00:20:55,596 Like I said, it wasn't me. 353 00:20:55,620 --> 00:20:57,527 And Bob was like, "I know you took this money. 354 00:20:57,551 --> 00:20:59,251 I know you did this," and Michael's like, 355 00:20:59,275 --> 00:21:01,182 "nope, nope, nope, nope." 356 00:21:01,206 --> 00:21:02,907 But finally, Michael said, 357 00:21:02,931 --> 00:21:05,562 "okay, yeah. I did that." 358 00:21:05,586 --> 00:21:07,148 Fine. Screw it. 359 00:21:07,172 --> 00:21:08,793 I took the money, okay? 360 00:21:13,793 --> 00:21:15,389 I took the money. 361 00:21:15,413 --> 00:21:17,079 I touched the gun. 362 00:21:17,103 --> 00:21:19,631 You guys are ridiculous. 363 00:21:19,655 --> 00:21:22,113 "I don't understand what the big deal is. 364 00:21:22,137 --> 00:21:25,631 I just took the money, and I bought some drugs, 365 00:21:25,655 --> 00:21:29,700 and nobody is hurt, so why is this a big deal?" 366 00:21:29,724 --> 00:21:33,286 I think he was motivated to get the money, 367 00:21:33,310 --> 00:21:35,665 didn't know that there was that gun in there, 368 00:21:35,689 --> 00:21:40,044 and then when he saw it, he had to touch it, 369 00:21:40,068 --> 00:21:43,217 but he did not show a whole lot of remorse. 370 00:21:43,241 --> 00:21:44,413 He did not. 371 00:21:53,620 --> 00:21:56,286 Michael? 372 00:21:56,310 --> 00:21:59,838 I came home from work one day, and Michael was gone, 373 00:21:59,862 --> 00:22:02,448 and couldn't find him anywhere. 374 00:22:03,482 --> 00:22:06,631 He had broken into our safe. 375 00:22:06,655 --> 00:22:08,734 I could see a paper where he had written down 376 00:22:08,758 --> 00:22:11,148 all the combinations as he was trying to figure out 377 00:22:11,172 --> 00:22:13,389 the combination for the safe, 378 00:22:13,413 --> 00:22:17,596 and he took the money and the gun, and he ran away. 379 00:22:17,620 --> 00:22:19,596 Now he has a gun. 380 00:22:19,620 --> 00:22:21,251 We have to do something. 381 00:22:21,275 --> 00:22:22,413 Michael? 382 00:22:34,034 --> 00:22:37,251 When I got home, he was gone. 383 00:22:37,275 --> 00:22:41,044 He had broken into our safe, and he had taken this gun. 384 00:22:41,068 --> 00:22:42,182 We called the police. 385 00:22:42,206 --> 00:22:44,217 Thank you so much, officer. 386 00:22:44,241 --> 00:22:48,068 When they found him, he was hiding at his friend's home... 387 00:22:51,758 --> 00:22:53,562 Oh, Michael. 388 00:22:53,586 --> 00:22:56,389 ...and I had asked him, "why did you run away? 389 00:22:56,413 --> 00:22:57,769 What caused this?" 390 00:22:57,793 --> 00:23:00,631 And his response to me at that time 391 00:23:00,655 --> 00:23:02,976 was that he had to leave the house 392 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,976 because he had thoughts about hurting me 393 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,734 and that he did not want to hurt me. 394 00:23:08,758 --> 00:23:11,838 Sometimes I'm afraid I'm gonna... 395 00:23:11,862 --> 00:23:12,907 I want to... 396 00:23:12,931 --> 00:23:15,631 You want to what? 397 00:23:15,655 --> 00:23:17,493 I know my son loves me. 398 00:23:17,517 --> 00:23:19,872 I know that I love my son, 399 00:23:19,896 --> 00:23:22,907 but I know that he has these thoughts, 400 00:23:22,931 --> 00:23:26,562 and would he really act upon these thoughts? 401 00:23:26,586 --> 00:23:28,665 That I didn't know. I had no idea, 402 00:23:28,689 --> 00:23:32,724 and that unknown and that fear... 403 00:23:34,689 --> 00:23:36,034 ...is horrible. 404 00:23:47,482 --> 00:23:49,182 Bob was at the cabin. 405 00:23:49,206 --> 00:23:52,079 Both of my older boys were out on their own. 406 00:23:52,103 --> 00:23:55,769 I was home alone with Michael and locked the bedroom door, 407 00:23:55,793 --> 00:23:59,596 and I remember laying in that bed, 408 00:23:59,620 --> 00:24:02,320 listening to every creak of the house, 409 00:24:02,344 --> 00:24:05,700 wondering, "is he coming after me?" 410 00:24:05,724 --> 00:24:07,251 It was scary. 411 00:24:07,275 --> 00:24:10,389 So we took a really large wrench out of the garage, 412 00:24:10,413 --> 00:24:13,251 and we actually had that next to our bed. 413 00:24:13,275 --> 00:24:15,631 In case he were to come into our room, 414 00:24:15,655 --> 00:24:18,010 we would have something. 415 00:24:18,034 --> 00:24:19,631 That is a horrible thing to think 416 00:24:19,655 --> 00:24:22,562 that you need to have something to protect yourself 417 00:24:22,586 --> 00:24:24,896 against your son, just in case. 418 00:24:27,275 --> 00:24:29,493 If he came in our room at night, 419 00:24:29,517 --> 00:24:34,010 and we felt like we had to, like, hit him with that wrench, 420 00:24:34,034 --> 00:24:35,827 could we have actually done that? 421 00:24:39,896 --> 00:24:41,896 I don't know if we could've actually done it. 422 00:24:51,379 --> 00:24:55,769 We're like, "okay, now what do we do?" 423 00:24:55,793 --> 00:24:59,355 The police liaison officer that found Michael 424 00:24:59,379 --> 00:25:03,286 felt that he really needed to have a 30-day evaluation 425 00:25:03,310 --> 00:25:08,251 where he would be in, like, a group home. 426 00:25:08,275 --> 00:25:10,631 So we agreed that this was a good idea. 427 00:25:10,655 --> 00:25:14,872 So Bob and I drove him to this group home. 428 00:25:14,896 --> 00:25:18,355 He would be there for 30 days. 429 00:25:18,379 --> 00:25:22,251 When we left that day, I left with a feeling of hope 430 00:25:22,275 --> 00:25:24,310 that we're gonna get somewhere now. 431 00:25:33,586 --> 00:25:37,010 They called me, and they told me 432 00:25:37,034 --> 00:25:39,458 that they had an incident with Michael. 433 00:25:39,482 --> 00:25:42,631 Listen, I wish there was something I could do to help, 434 00:25:42,655 --> 00:25:45,010 but given the events that have taken place, 435 00:25:45,034 --> 00:25:48,148 your son is too much of a risk. 436 00:25:48,172 --> 00:25:50,907 Michael had gotten upset with a counselor. 437 00:25:50,931 --> 00:25:53,769 He had taken a fire extinguisher off the wall, 438 00:25:53,793 --> 00:25:55,976 sprayed it at a counselor. 439 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,838 Plus, they said he threw the fire extinguisher 440 00:25:58,862 --> 00:26:01,941 when he was done, so that was assault. 441 00:26:01,965 --> 00:26:04,355 Michael has been antagonizing our staff 442 00:26:04,379 --> 00:26:06,872 since the moment he's arrived. 443 00:26:06,896 --> 00:26:12,355 She said they did not feel that they could handle him there. 444 00:26:12,379 --> 00:26:15,482 We have no other choice but to discharge him from the facility. 445 00:26:17,689 --> 00:26:23,700 She said that we let this child hit rock bottom 446 00:26:23,724 --> 00:26:27,700 and we should remove our parental rights 447 00:26:27,724 --> 00:26:31,010 and just let him fall to the bottom of the barrel, 448 00:26:31,034 --> 00:26:34,424 and he was 14. 449 00:26:34,448 --> 00:26:35,665 I was a wreck. 450 00:26:35,689 --> 00:26:39,044 You don't just let a young, adolescent kid 451 00:26:39,068 --> 00:26:41,217 fall to the bottom and not do anything 452 00:26:41,241 --> 00:26:43,700 because you don't know what to do. 453 00:26:43,724 --> 00:26:47,527 There should be hope for this kid. 454 00:26:47,551 --> 00:26:52,148 Is there anything that we can do to reconcile the problem? 455 00:26:52,172 --> 00:26:56,148 If I were you, I'd turn him over to the system. 456 00:26:56,172 --> 00:26:58,320 I told her I would do anything. 457 00:26:58,344 --> 00:27:00,527 This is our lifeline. 458 00:27:00,551 --> 00:27:01,976 We're desperate. 459 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:03,527 I don't know what else to do. 460 00:27:03,551 --> 00:27:05,976 And if you take this lifeline away from us 461 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:10,734 and just send us home, what do we do? 462 00:27:10,758 --> 00:27:12,424 What do we do? 463 00:27:12,448 --> 00:27:16,217 I'm begging you, please keep him here. 464 00:27:16,241 --> 00:27:18,631 We've done what we can. 465 00:27:18,655 --> 00:27:21,079 And she just said, "I'm sorry. 466 00:27:21,103 --> 00:27:23,113 There isn't anything I can do to help you. 467 00:27:23,137 --> 00:27:26,010 You need to take your son and leave." 468 00:27:26,034 --> 00:27:29,010 These are his discharge papers. 469 00:27:29,034 --> 00:27:30,206 Good luck. 470 00:27:33,241 --> 00:27:34,931 And that's what we did. 471 00:27:47,413 --> 00:27:51,976 When Michael was convicted of the assault on the counselor, 472 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,907 he was given restitution to pay $2,500 back, 473 00:27:55,931 --> 00:27:59,251 and the county would give him so many credits of money 474 00:27:59,275 --> 00:28:01,872 for so many hours of volunteer work. 475 00:28:01,896 --> 00:28:05,803 So my sister volunteers at an old-time park with, like, 476 00:28:05,827 --> 00:28:08,941 schools and churches from the pioneer days. 477 00:28:08,965 --> 00:28:10,734 I called my sister. I told her, 478 00:28:10,758 --> 00:28:13,596 "I think it would be good to get him away," 479 00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:15,424 and she's like, "oh, yeah. Sure." 480 00:28:15,448 --> 00:28:17,113 Thank you so much for doing this. 481 00:28:17,137 --> 00:28:18,355 Of course. 482 00:28:18,379 --> 00:28:20,769 So Michael would go spend time with my sister. 483 00:28:20,793 --> 00:28:23,769 I think this is a good idea for everyone. 484 00:28:23,793 --> 00:28:25,217 Right, Michael? 485 00:28:25,241 --> 00:28:28,941 They paint picnic tables, buildings, whatever, 486 00:28:28,965 --> 00:28:31,010 and then he would collect volunteer hours 487 00:28:31,034 --> 00:28:32,803 to help pay his restitution. 488 00:28:32,827 --> 00:28:34,010 So have a safe drive back. 489 00:28:34,034 --> 00:28:36,000 All right. Thank you. Okay. 490 00:28:43,068 --> 00:28:45,217 My sister had been trying to get a hold of me. 491 00:28:45,241 --> 00:28:48,044 She really needs to talk to me. 492 00:28:48,068 --> 00:28:51,010 When I met with my sister, Michael stayed in the car, 493 00:28:51,034 --> 00:28:53,010 and she was visibly upset. 494 00:28:53,034 --> 00:28:54,631 I really wanted to help you guys out, 495 00:28:54,655 --> 00:28:57,896 but I just don't think I can handle this right now. 496 00:29:00,517 --> 00:29:04,562 She had told me that he had stolen money 497 00:29:04,586 --> 00:29:07,631 from the place where they had volunteered. 498 00:29:07,655 --> 00:29:10,113 He denied it. 499 00:29:10,137 --> 00:29:12,838 She searched his suitcase and found the money. 500 00:29:12,862 --> 00:29:15,103 His behavior has gotten out of control. 501 00:29:17,172 --> 00:29:20,734 And then she said she went to open the trunk of her car, 502 00:29:20,758 --> 00:29:25,010 and her husband's gun was in the trunk. 503 00:29:25,034 --> 00:29:27,113 Only person that could've put the gun in the trunk 504 00:29:27,137 --> 00:29:28,217 was Michael... 505 00:29:28,241 --> 00:29:30,320 Everyone is scared of him. 506 00:29:30,344 --> 00:29:32,803 ...and her keys for the car were missing, 507 00:29:32,827 --> 00:29:34,389 and her cell phone was missing. 508 00:29:34,413 --> 00:29:36,562 Now she's scared. 509 00:29:36,586 --> 00:29:40,769 She was afraid he had thoughts of hurting her. 510 00:29:40,793 --> 00:29:43,044 I shouldn't have burdened you with him. 511 00:29:43,068 --> 00:29:44,310 I'll figure this out. 512 00:29:46,551 --> 00:29:51,769 I was very concerned to think that he would even think 513 00:29:51,793 --> 00:29:54,310 about hurting my sister. 514 00:29:56,931 --> 00:29:58,665 She's so good to him. 515 00:29:58,689 --> 00:30:00,424 They're so close. 516 00:30:00,448 --> 00:30:03,079 The thought that... 517 00:30:03,103 --> 00:30:07,044 He could've hurt her just is... 518 00:30:07,068 --> 00:30:09,113 The terror she must've been in, 519 00:30:09,137 --> 00:30:12,551 alone out there with him. 520 00:30:26,379 --> 00:30:28,286 You really scared your aunt. 521 00:30:28,310 --> 00:30:30,976 I asked Michael if he had had thoughts 522 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:32,527 about hurting my sister. 523 00:30:32,551 --> 00:30:36,803 You wouldn't do that, right? 524 00:30:36,827 --> 00:30:38,838 Only if I had to. 525 00:30:38,862 --> 00:30:40,803 What does that even mean?! 526 00:30:40,827 --> 00:30:43,700 Why would you have to?! 527 00:30:43,724 --> 00:30:45,217 He said he was gonna get his friend, 528 00:30:45,241 --> 00:30:46,665 and then they were going to run away, 529 00:30:46,689 --> 00:30:52,596 and to get money, they're gonna Rob taco bells, 530 00:30:52,620 --> 00:30:55,976 and she was preventing him from doing what he wanted, 531 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,113 and he thought he might have to hurt her. 532 00:30:58,137 --> 00:31:00,527 I wanted the car, and she wouldn't give it to me. 533 00:31:00,551 --> 00:31:03,068 So? So it made me angry. 534 00:31:05,965 --> 00:31:09,665 The sheriff decided to go ahead and press charges. 535 00:31:09,689 --> 00:31:14,493 Because the sheriff filed the charges, 536 00:31:14,517 --> 00:31:16,941 they decided that Michael needed 537 00:31:16,965 --> 00:31:21,872 to be put into a criminal juvenile center, 538 00:31:21,896 --> 00:31:25,620 and I'm thinking, "okay, now we're gonna get some help." 539 00:31:27,551 --> 00:31:31,044 But the judge sent him home. 540 00:31:31,068 --> 00:31:34,458 They decided that Michael had been behaving himself. 541 00:31:34,482 --> 00:31:36,113 He had a good family. 542 00:31:36,137 --> 00:31:39,631 They would stay this sentence. 543 00:31:39,655 --> 00:31:41,355 That was crazy to me. 544 00:31:41,379 --> 00:31:43,631 I felt like this is like a broken record. 545 00:31:43,655 --> 00:31:48,068 No matter where we go, we can't get him any help. 546 00:31:53,241 --> 00:31:55,182 He was really well-behaved, 547 00:31:55,206 --> 00:31:58,148 he did really well in school, he got a job. 548 00:31:58,172 --> 00:32:02,010 It was good to see that he's moving on and growing up, 549 00:32:02,034 --> 00:32:04,044 and it's like a new chapter starting. 550 00:32:04,068 --> 00:32:06,907 He was a sweet, caring, loving kid. 551 00:32:06,931 --> 00:32:08,103 It was a hopeful time. 552 00:32:20,655 --> 00:32:23,896 The morning that Michael had disappeared, 553 00:32:26,137 --> 00:32:28,700 I wasn't concerned about anything. 554 00:32:28,724 --> 00:32:30,182 Went to wake him up... 555 00:32:30,206 --> 00:32:33,976 Michael, it's time to get up. 556 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,113 ...and I didn't hear anything from him. 557 00:32:37,137 --> 00:32:38,631 Michael? 558 00:32:38,655 --> 00:32:39,700 The door was shut. 559 00:32:39,724 --> 00:32:42,355 I opened the door. 560 00:32:42,379 --> 00:32:45,079 It was cold, 561 00:32:45,103 --> 00:32:47,872 and the screen was off the window, 562 00:32:47,896 --> 00:32:50,355 and Michael was gone. 563 00:32:50,379 --> 00:32:53,631 I looked out in the front, my truck was gone, 564 00:32:53,655 --> 00:32:57,424 and my heart just sunk... 565 00:32:57,448 --> 00:32:59,217 Bob! 566 00:32:59,241 --> 00:33:00,458 ...and I woke up Bob, 567 00:33:00,482 --> 00:33:03,034 and I told him that Michael has disappeared. 568 00:33:07,172 --> 00:33:11,631 For a couple years, he did really well, 569 00:33:11,655 --> 00:33:14,113 but I think it was a mother's intuition. 570 00:33:14,137 --> 00:33:17,000 It was a feeling like this time, it was different. 571 00:33:49,448 --> 00:33:51,665 We stayed at the house 572 00:33:51,689 --> 00:33:54,251 trying to figure out what was happening. 573 00:33:54,275 --> 00:33:55,562 Well, are you sure it was him? 574 00:33:55,586 --> 00:33:57,251 I mean, couldn't it be someone else? 575 00:33:57,275 --> 00:34:00,976 My father-in-law said that somebody had broken a window 576 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,113 into the cabin, 577 00:34:03,137 --> 00:34:06,896 and grandpa had realized that guns were missing. 578 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,182 We started to panic. 579 00:34:11,206 --> 00:34:13,527 Is this kid gonna come back to the house 580 00:34:13,551 --> 00:34:14,976 now that he has a gun? 581 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:16,561 What are you doing? 582 00:34:16,585 --> 00:34:19,561 We gotta protect ourselves. 583 00:34:19,585 --> 00:34:22,182 Bob had his pistol 'cause he wanted to be armed 584 00:34:22,206 --> 00:34:25,769 in case he needed to defend us against Michael. 585 00:34:25,793 --> 00:34:29,010 He's talked to us about having thoughts about hurting us. 586 00:34:29,034 --> 00:34:31,217 Is he now gonna come back and hurt us? 587 00:34:31,241 --> 00:34:32,631 I'm gonna call the cops. 588 00:34:32,655 --> 00:34:34,769 Just call me if you hear anything, okay? 589 00:34:34,793 --> 00:34:36,907 I was watching the bank account 590 00:34:36,931 --> 00:34:39,251 to see if there was any more transactions coming through 591 00:34:39,275 --> 00:34:43,079 to get an idea of maybe where this kid was headed. 592 00:34:43,103 --> 00:34:45,103 I got a bad feeling about this. 593 00:34:53,275 --> 00:34:55,320 We just decided we're gonna search the Internet, 594 00:34:55,344 --> 00:34:58,907 see if we can find any, like, news articles. 595 00:34:58,931 --> 00:35:02,079 We had come across this breaking news article, 596 00:35:02,103 --> 00:35:06,044 and it's about a convenience store shooting. 597 00:35:06,068 --> 00:35:08,113 We are being told a 17-year-old man 598 00:35:08,137 --> 00:35:10,665 from Minneapolis entered this crossroads gas station 599 00:35:10,689 --> 00:35:13,734 in algona around 9:15 and robbed the store, 600 00:35:13,758 --> 00:35:15,941 shooting and killing the 55-year-old woman 601 00:35:15,965 --> 00:35:17,803 who worked there in the process. 602 00:35:17,827 --> 00:35:22,355 And then there was a report of another one that had happened, 603 00:35:22,379 --> 00:35:26,010 and that convenience store clerk was also killed. 604 00:35:26,034 --> 00:35:27,527 An hour later, the same teen 605 00:35:27,551 --> 00:35:29,286 drove to this kum & go in humboldt 606 00:35:29,310 --> 00:35:31,424 where he shot and killed another clerk, 607 00:35:31,448 --> 00:35:33,148 this time a 60-year-old woman. 608 00:35:33,172 --> 00:35:34,458 Both murders appear to be 609 00:35:34,482 --> 00:35:36,941 completely senseless acts of violence. 610 00:35:36,965 --> 00:35:38,217 There was no name. 611 00:35:38,241 --> 00:35:40,389 There was just a location and what had happened. 612 00:35:40,413 --> 00:35:41,769 It was very brief. 613 00:35:41,793 --> 00:35:43,976 I just remember... 614 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,562 Just looking at that and looking at Bob, 615 00:35:46,586 --> 00:35:48,586 and I'm like, "I think that's Michael." 616 00:36:04,310 --> 00:36:06,320 And it was the same officer 617 00:36:06,344 --> 00:36:09,148 who had been at our house the day before 618 00:36:09,172 --> 00:36:11,976 when we reported Michael missing. 619 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,182 He told us. He said, 620 00:36:14,206 --> 00:36:17,769 "I am so sorry to have to tell you 621 00:36:17,793 --> 00:36:23,458 that Michael was involved in some shootings. 622 00:36:23,482 --> 00:36:29,413 He killed two women in a robbery attempt at a convenience store." 623 00:36:33,931 --> 00:36:38,010 It was heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking. 624 00:36:38,034 --> 00:36:40,355 What happened? 625 00:36:40,379 --> 00:36:42,596 What caused this? 626 00:36:42,620 --> 00:36:44,838 I thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown. 627 00:36:44,862 --> 00:36:46,596 I was so upset. 628 00:36:46,620 --> 00:36:48,769 I could not stop crying. 629 00:36:48,793 --> 00:36:51,458 Michael. 630 00:36:51,482 --> 00:36:55,527 My thought was that the cops were gonna find Michael, 631 00:36:55,551 --> 00:36:57,320 he would point a gun at one of them, 632 00:36:57,344 --> 00:37:00,379 and they would shoot him. 633 00:37:02,793 --> 00:37:06,838 But they were able to arrest Michael 634 00:37:06,862 --> 00:37:08,862 in a neighboring town. 635 00:37:11,275 --> 00:37:15,562 We saw footage of Michael being escorted to the courthouse, 636 00:37:15,586 --> 00:37:18,389 and the footage was very odd, 637 00:37:18,413 --> 00:37:22,665 and he was kind of laughing. 638 00:37:22,689 --> 00:37:24,734 I knew when I saw that video 639 00:37:24,758 --> 00:37:26,482 that he was not in his right mind, 640 00:37:29,551 --> 00:37:33,286 and then we were told Michael had confessed 641 00:37:33,310 --> 00:37:35,000 to what he had done. 642 00:37:55,413 --> 00:37:58,665 And this is what we saw consistently with him. 643 00:37:58,689 --> 00:38:00,389 When he would do things wrong, 644 00:38:00,413 --> 00:38:01,562 he would be more sorry 645 00:38:01,586 --> 00:38:03,907 about getting caught doing what he did 646 00:38:03,931 --> 00:38:07,724 versus the... really understanding of what he did. 647 00:38:14,206 --> 00:38:16,182 He's got this flat tone. 648 00:38:16,206 --> 00:38:19,148 He, you know, has no... says he has no emotion about this. 649 00:38:19,172 --> 00:38:21,631 It's like he's not there. 650 00:38:21,655 --> 00:38:24,000 It's a shell of him that's there. 651 00:38:45,620 --> 00:38:47,493 I tried to prevent this. 652 00:38:47,517 --> 00:38:50,320 I explicitly warned people, 653 00:38:50,344 --> 00:38:52,137 but nobody would listen to me. 654 00:39:03,344 --> 00:39:06,044 Verdict of this jury is as follows... 655 00:39:06,068 --> 00:39:09,355 We find the defendant guilty of murder 656 00:39:09,379 --> 00:39:12,517 in the first degree, signed foreperson. 657 00:39:16,620 --> 00:39:19,251 He's laughing. 658 00:39:19,275 --> 00:39:20,803 Yeah. 659 00:39:20,827 --> 00:39:23,838 Totally odd, just totally bizarre. 660 00:39:23,862 --> 00:39:26,631 They thought he was a psychopath. 661 00:39:26,655 --> 00:39:28,010 I don't believe that's true. 662 00:39:28,034 --> 00:39:32,148 He told me that he was so self-conscious 663 00:39:32,172 --> 00:39:34,355 and everything of all the cameras being on him. 664 00:39:34,379 --> 00:39:38,493 All he could do was just laugh about this, 665 00:39:38,517 --> 00:39:41,665 but I don't know if he really gets the whole impact 666 00:39:41,689 --> 00:39:44,872 of what a death is, 667 00:39:44,896 --> 00:39:47,482 that they're gone forever. 668 00:39:57,206 --> 00:39:59,551 That's Vicky bowman-hall. 669 00:40:01,689 --> 00:40:03,620 She was the mother of 11 children... 670 00:40:05,689 --> 00:40:06,724 ...and... 671 00:40:09,206 --> 00:40:13,769 ...my heart breaks for those children, 672 00:40:13,793 --> 00:40:15,137 her husband... 673 00:40:17,275 --> 00:40:19,793 ...trying to raise those children without her. 674 00:40:22,965 --> 00:40:25,148 This is Sheila. 675 00:40:25,172 --> 00:40:31,182 This was the second clerk that was killed. 676 00:40:31,206 --> 00:40:34,286 She was married, and she had two daughters 677 00:40:34,310 --> 00:40:37,527 and some grandchildren. 678 00:40:37,551 --> 00:40:39,527 It's a tragedy. 679 00:40:39,551 --> 00:40:40,941 It's a tragedy. 680 00:40:40,965 --> 00:40:42,286 I'm just so sorry. 681 00:40:42,310 --> 00:40:44,000 I'm just so sorry. 682 00:40:57,551 --> 00:40:59,769 How did we end up here? 683 00:40:59,793 --> 00:41:01,527 I blame myself. 684 00:41:01,551 --> 00:41:04,596 I failed my son, and I failed these women, 685 00:41:04,620 --> 00:41:06,562 and I failed their families. 686 00:41:06,586 --> 00:41:09,700 I failed to get him the help he needed. 687 00:41:09,724 --> 00:41:11,631 I went through a period of time there 688 00:41:11,655 --> 00:41:15,769 where I just didn't know if I was going to go on. 689 00:41:15,793 --> 00:41:17,838 I was very suicidal. 690 00:41:17,862 --> 00:41:22,044 It took a really long time to try to get back to normal. 691 00:41:22,068 --> 00:41:23,872 I spent a lot of time at church. 692 00:41:23,896 --> 00:41:29,700 We tried to just gather up our lives and try to carry on. 693 00:41:29,724 --> 00:41:31,493 We've kept close contact with Michael. 694 00:41:31,517 --> 00:41:33,044 We keep in touch with him on the phone. 695 00:41:33,068 --> 00:41:36,527 We visit him as often as we can. 696 00:41:36,551 --> 00:41:40,251 I hate what he did, I'm ashamed of what he did, 697 00:41:40,275 --> 00:41:42,700 but I'm never gonna stop loving him. 698 00:41:42,724 --> 00:41:45,355 I understand that he needs to be punished for this, 699 00:41:45,379 --> 00:41:50,251 but he's my son, and I have unconditional love for him. 700 00:41:50,275 --> 00:41:52,251 I'm his mother. 701 00:41:52,275 --> 00:41:54,665 Family is family. 702 00:41:54,689 --> 00:41:59,389 My only hope is that in telling this story, 703 00:41:59,413 --> 00:42:02,596 that if there is another Michael out there, 704 00:42:02,620 --> 00:42:07,113 if you feel there is something wrong with your child, 705 00:42:07,137 --> 00:42:09,389 be a strong advocate for them. 706 00:42:09,413 --> 00:42:11,493 Trust in your instincts. 707 00:42:11,517 --> 00:42:14,769 Don't let the... 708 00:42:14,793 --> 00:42:20,113 Doctors and professionals push you aside. 709 00:42:20,137 --> 00:42:25,172 Be stronger than I was, and just keep pushing. 710 00:42:27,413 --> 00:42:29,631 We saw the signs, 711 00:42:29,655 --> 00:42:33,458 and this is everything 712 00:42:33,482 --> 00:42:35,310 I was hoping wouldn't happen.