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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,
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Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.
Our story starts in Austin, Texas in the summer of 1966. Right in the heart of Austin is the University of Texas where Colin and I actually met years back. And every university has a building that makes their campus distinguishable from the rest. For our college, it was the UT Tower.
The tower was built in 1937 and it hovers over the campus at 307 feet tall. There are 27 stories and a nice observation deck up top that overlooks the city. If you were to walk on campus and see the tower, you would have no idea of the horrors that took place there over 50 years ago.
In 2016, they finally erected a memorial, but before that, the only reminder of that horrible day was the bullet holes that can still be seen in the buildings surrounding the tower. As we know, school shootings are very common in our country. It's become a part of American culture. But in today's story, we are going to tell you about the mass shooting that started it all.
On August 1st, 1966, 25-year-old architect student Charles Whitman hauled a large bag up to the tower's observation deck and as students, teachers, and civilians walked around campus, he pulled out a rifle, aimed it down, and using the scope of his gun, he began indiscriminately shooting at the people below.
Charles had been a sharpshooter in the Marines prior to this horrific day, so he was a good shot. And with a bird's eye view, Whitman spent an hour and a half at the top of the tower raining bullets down on the University of Texas. Hundreds of people took cover in nearby buildings or behind concrete pillars. But even those hiding spots were no match for the ex-Marine and his rifle.
when it was all over, 31 people were injured and 16 people had been murdered, making it not only one of the first mass shootings in American history, but also one of the deadliest. This is the story of Charles Whitman and the UT Tower shooting. I'm Courtney Brown. And I'm Colin Brown. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪
I don't 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 don't really understand myself these days. I'm supposed to be an average, reasonable, and intelligent young man.
However, lately, I can't recall when it started. I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur and it requires tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks.
In March, when my parents made a physical break, I noticed a great deal of stress. I consulted a Dr. Cockrum at the University Health Center and asked him to recommend someone that I could consult with about some psychiatric disorders I felt I had. I talked with the doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt come overwhelming, violent impulses. After one season, I never saw the doctor again, and since then I have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail.
After my death, I wished that an autopsy would be performed on me to see if there is any visible physical disorder. I have had some tremendous headaches in the past and have consumed two large bottles of Excedrin in the past three months. It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight.
after I pick her up from work at the telephone company. I love her dearly, and she has been as fine a wife to me as any man could ever hope to have. I cannot rationally pinpoint any specific reason for doing this.
I don't know whether it is selfishness or if I don't want her to have to face the embarrassment my actions would surely cause her. At this time, though, the prominent reason in my mind is that I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die, and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it. I intend to kill her as painlessly as possible.
Similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. I don't think the poor woman has ever enjoyed living life as she's entitled to. Signed, Charles Whitman. Before driving to the University of Texas on August 1st, 1966, Charles typed out this suicide note. In it, he wrote about the violent thoughts that he had been having and how those very thoughts led him to what he was about to do that day.
commit the largest mass shooting in American history at the time. In the letter, he also talks about his wife and mother and his plans to murder them before carrying out the massacre. To save them from the embarrassment of his actions, Charles felt this was the only way and he would make do on these promises.
In the hours before the massacre, Charles would kill both his wife and mother. And now that they were out of the way, he loaded his vehicle full of weapons and made his way towards the university. As classes began on campus that morning, no one had any idea that their lives in the city of Austin, Texas was about to change forever.
But before we get into the events of what happened that day, let's take a look into Charles Whitman's upbringing and everything that led up to the UT Tower shooting of 1966. Charles Joseph Whitman or Charlie was born in 1941 on my birthday, June 24th and he was the first born child to Margaret Hodges and Charles Whitman Sr.
The family lived in Lake Worth, Florida and from the beginning, it seemed like they had a pretty good life. The same year Charlie was born, his father started a plumbing business and over the years, it grew to be pretty successful. By 1963, the company owned 21 trucks, 4 cars, and had 28 full-time workers.
His wife Margaret even helped with the business too, managing the office and keeping his books. So with this success, Charlie and his two younger brothers that would come along later were well off throughout their childhood. Charles Sr. was a hard worker and a self-made man. He had actually grown up in an orphanage, so he was really proud of what he had accomplished despite his difficult upbringing.
Some people, however, describe Charles Sr. as a little too proud and egotistical. The patriarch always made sure to provide for his family, but at the same time, he never let them forget it, always holding it over their heads.
Within their town of Lake Worth, Florida, Charles Sr. was well-liked. He was even elected president of the local Chamber of Commerce. But behind closed doors, the Whitman household wasn't always a happy place. Charles Sr. believed in strict discipline for his three sons and for his wife. According to Gary Laverne in his book titled, A Sniper in the Tower, Charles Sr. admitted,
I did on many occasions beat my wife, but I loved her. I did and do have an awful temper, but my wife was awful stubborn, and we had some clashes over the more than 25 years of our life together. I have to admit it, because of my temper I knocked her around.
Charles Sr. was also known to spank his children, which isn't very uncommon in the South. He often used paddles or belts to discipline his three young sons, and he would later say: "With all three of my sons it was 'yes sir' and 'no sir'. They minded me. The way I looked at it, I am not ashamed of any spankings. I don't think I spanked enough, if you want to know the truth about it. I think they should have been punished more than they were punished."
Charles Sr. ruled his house with an iron fist, but to make up for it, he always gave his wife and children everything they ever wanted. Many people that knew the family described Charlie and his brothers as spoiled rotten. Later in their lives, the boys would all drive brand new cars, and they even had motorcycles.
Their mother, Margaret, was also strict with her boys when it came to their religious upbringing. She insisted that they all attend Mass with her at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. A neighbor described Margaret as "a perfectly good mother" and a family friend said she was one of the most gracious ladies he had ever known. All of the boys would go on to attend Catholic parochial schools because Margaret desperately wanted her children to become devout Christians.
Now, in 1947, when Charlie was six years old, the Whitmans moved into a spacious home at 820 South L Street in a predominantly middle-class area. The Whitman home was one of the nicest on the block with an immaculately landscaped yard and, in the 1950s, a pool was installed out back.
Every room in their home was nicely furnished, and along the walls were pictures of what seemed like a happy family. And next to those pictures were Charles Sr.'s guns, which he proudly displayed throughout their home. Hunting was a big part of Charlie's upbringing. In fact, there's a photo of him at just three years old, where he's on the beach holding a large rifle in each hand.
When he and his brothers were old enough, they would get up early and go shooting with their dad. Charlie was a good shot from a young age, but he didn't like killing innocent animals, which upset his father. Seeing that Charlie was a talented shooter who didn't like to kill, Charles Sr. felt as if his talent was wasted. But soon enough, wanting to gain his father's approval, Charlie learned to toughen up and shoot the animals anyway.
In fact, by the time he entered grade school, you could often find Charlie in the woods, sniping squirrels out of trees and hunting for bucks with his father. His aim improved and the pity he felt for animals disappeared. And for the first time in his life, Charlie felt like his dad was finally proud of him, a feeling he would continue to chase for years to come.
It was clear from a young age that Charlie was very bright compared to the other kids his age. Not only did he retain information well, but he was also skilled at playing the piano. At one of his schools, a teacher recognized his intelligence and recommended he take an IQ test, and he ended up ranking in the top percentile with an IQ of 138. Charlie was a genius, but he didn't really handle stress very well.
Because of his high IQ, his teacher gave him a lot of advanced schoolwork, and he soon became very overwhelmed trying to keep his grades up. When his father saw that Charlie wasn't living up to his standards, he got in a lot of trouble. He expected perfection from his boys, and he wasn't going to accept anything less. So, from here on out, Charlie worked as hard as he possibly could, because when he made good grades, he always gained his father's respect.
On the other hand, however, if Charlie ever slipped up, his dad was always there with a belt in hand, ready to hand him down a beating. Because of this, he wanted to be the best at everything. By age 12, he became the youngest Eagle Scout in history, and he won numerous awards including the God and Country Award. He also started delivering newspapers around this age, because his father wanted him to learn that in order to have a good life, you have to have money. And you have to earn it.
By the time Charlie entered high school, he blocked out all of his time for extracurricular activities. Because the more involved he was, the more respect he earned from his father. On the baseball team, Charlie was the star pitcher. He also tried to play football, but he felt like he wasn't really built for it. So instead, he became the football's team manager. Charlie was very involved and he was considered popular at his school.
But no matter how hard he tried, he always seemed to fall short in his father's eyes. Like most teenagers, he wasn't perfect, and there were instances when he rebelled against his parents. In return, Charlie would be beaten mercilessly by his father. And it's around this time where we start to see some anger and resentment boil inside of him. Instead of lashing out, Charlie would bottle it up,
and then he would go hunting or make a trip to the shooting range to blow off some steam. It was the main outlet for his rage, and after years and years of practice, his shooting accuracy was unbelievable. It was said that by the time Charlie was 16 years old, he could shoot a squirrel directly in the eye, and even the most seasoned hunters were blown away by his talent.
Throughout his high school years at Cardinal Newman High in West Palm Beach, Charlie continued to excel, and his father always rewarded his accomplishments with extravagant gifts. But after a while, the gifts didn't really mean much. He wanted a good relationship with his dad that wasn't contingent on how well he was doing. Having dealt with his abusive father his whole life, Charlie soon started planning his escape. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew he wanted to get as far away from his dad as possible.
In the meantime, Charles Sr. was still trying to control every aspect of his life He wanted his son to go to a college in Florida and he even started calling his connections to ensure Charlie would get accepted And although this seems like the act of a good supportive father Charlie didn't want that
He wanted a life of his own, where he made the decisions Plus, Charles Sr. was the type of person that would help you out and then hold it over your head for years afterwards Charlie didn't want that either And at this point in his life, he became very depressed He had lived his entire childhood trying to live up to his father's standards And he couldn't take it anymore When his father gifted him a motorcycle at 17 years old, Charlie took the freedom and ran with it
One day, he went cruising so that he could forget his father and all the noise that amplified within his brain. And along that drive, he couldn't help but think that one wreck on the motorcycle could end all of his suffering. And then, as he raced down the Florida highways, he suddenly lost control and went flying off the motorcycle, crashing into a roadside barrier. Charlie's motorcycle was destroyed and he was hospitalized for his injuries. It's uncertain if he genuinely lost control of the bike or if it was a suicide attempt.
But he would later say that when he woke up in the hospital, he was happy to be alive. When he finally came home from the hospital, Charlie felt a lot of the pressures of adult life closing in on him. He was 18 now, and his high school career was coming to an end.
which meant he needed to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. It was around this time when Charlie decided to go to a high school party where he could forget all of his troubles. While he was there, a friend handed him a beer and he gladly accepted. Throughout the night, Charlie drank and forgot all about his father and the responsibilities he had. It felt nice to let loose and have a little fun.
During his senior year of high school, the football team had a keg party and Charlie took the opportunity to break curfew for the first time in his life. When he arrived home, he made sure to enter through the back of the house so that his parents wouldn't catch him. He slowly crept through the gate to the backyard pool area and there was his father, sitting in a lawn chair waiting for him to get home.
And Charlie could tell by the look on his father's face that he was angry. When Charles Sr approached him and smelled the alcohol on his breath, he grew even more enraged, punching Charlie directly in the jaw. The punch was so hard, it knocked Charlie to his knees. And from there, he received at least a dozen more punches. Then, right when Charlie thought it was over, his father kicked him in the ribs.
As he stood over his son with a look of disgust, he finished his wrath by kicking him once more and rolling him into the pool. Charlie quickly sank to the bottom, feeling a little relief knowing that the beating was over. With his last bit of strength, he pulled himself out of the water and laid down on the cold concrete surrounding the pool. And this moment would go on to be a defining moment in Charlie's life.
He realized right then that he had to do whatever it takes to get away from his father and he was going to do that by enlisting in the Marines.
Charlie graduated seventh in his class in June of 1959, and just one month later, on July 6th, 1959, he enlisted in the Marines against his father's wishes. When Charles Sr. found out, he was furious, and he immediately called his connections in the federal government to tell them that his son was not suited for the Marines and that they needed to cancel his enlistment. But it was too late. Charlie was 18 years old, and he had already signed all of this paperwork to enlist.
And with that, he finally left the grips of his father's control and made his way to Guantanamo Bay to serve in the Marines. And Charlie would really excel here. Because of his strict upbringing, he followed orders well and he would go on to be one of the best recruits they had, especially in marksmanship.
His superiors were very impressed by Whitman and soon enough he would become one of their sharpshooters. During his marksmanship test, Charlie had to shoot at moving targets from a long distance and he hit almost every single one. Little did anybody know he would later use these talents to commit one of the worst mass shootings in history.
But for now, Charlie was really excelling in the Marines, and his goal was to eventually become an officer. But in order to do that, he had to get a college degree. Seeing his potential, his superiors approached him one day with full tuition, books, and board all paid for. The only thing he had to do was pick a school he wanted to attend. Charlie was excited for the opportunity. After all, he always did really well in school, but he was torn on which school to pick.
He wanted to be close to his mother, but he also wanted to be as far away from his father as possible. And in the end, he decided to enroll in the University of Texas at Austin. In the summer of 1961, Charlie made his way over to Texas, and he started his first semester of school that September. And he decided to study mechanical engineering, so that when he left the Marines, he would have a skill set that would help him in the real world.
But he quickly found out that adjusting to everything wasn't easy. For the first time ever, he didn't have someone barking orders at him, telling him what to do. Austin, Texas was a whole new world from what he was used to. So he decided to start dabbling in some hobbies, like scuba diving and karate. And with that, he slowly started making friends.
Luckily for him, Charlie found a group of guys that enjoyed hunting just as much as he did. Soon enough, any chance they got, they would make their way out into the wilderness in search of wild hogs and deer. One weekend, they even brought a deer carcass back to the dorm room showers to clean it.
The boys passed it off as a prank but the administration didn't find it amusing and Charlie was fined $100. Following this incident, he knew he needed to get his priorities in check. After all, the only reason he was in school was so that he could become an officer in the Marines. So from here, he decided to focus on his studies.
But then someone unexpected crossed his path and she changed his life. Her name was Kathy Leisner. At the time, Kathy was a student at UT majoring in education. She wanted to become a school teacher.
and when she and Charlie met, it was love at first sight. Kathy came from an affluent family in Needville, Texas. Her father was a real estate developer and a rice farmer. Early in their relationship, Kathy's father came to visit, and he was impressed with the young man she was dating. As the two men shook hands, her father knew that Charlie would eventually become a part of the family, and he was right.
Not long after they started dating, Charlie got down on one knee and asked Kathy to marry him. It was the best day of their lives, and their futures looked very bright. In August of 1962, the two would get married in Kathy's hometown of Needville. Pictures from this time show the happy couple leaving the chapel with big smiles.
After the wedding, the two went back to UT to finish their college degrees, and they moved in together in an off-campus apartment. Charlie was able to maintain a B average in college, which is pretty impressive for an engineering major, but it took a lot of hard work. With school, a new marriage, and finances to worry about, it was just a lot for him, and soon enough, he started taking his frustrations out on his wife, just like his father used to do.
He would later claim that he only got physical with Kathy a handful of times, but that he did have a temper. He was also insecure. Charlie thought that Kathy was out of his league and he constantly worried that she would leave him one day, when he would suffer through his bouts of depression. His grades suffered as well. Eventually, the Marine Corps saw his grades were dropping and they sent him a letter that he would have to leave college and return to active duty. His worst fears had come true, and he felt like a failure.
Soon enough, he would have to break the news to his wife that he had to leave her behind and go back to the Marines. Kathy had never seen her husband cry before, but on this night, he let out all of his emotions. Charlie had spent years trying to gain the approval of his father, trying to be the best student and Marine he possibly could, but he fell short. After telling Kathy everything, he fully expected her to be upset, but instead, she embraced her husband and gave him her full support.
And not long afterwards, Charlie was sent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. But he quickly learned that he wasn't as interested in the Marines as he used to be. His heart just wasn't in it anymore. After a few years in college and having independence, he didn't like having people bark orders at him. He also missed his wife, and more than anything, he wanted to be back in Austin with her. Because of this, he wasn't a great Marine like he used to be. Now he was just mediocre.
and he found himself constantly counting down the days until he could leave. About a month into his service, Charlie and a fellow Marine were out patrolling in a Jeep when they went over the edge of a ditch and flipped the vehicle. Both men were severely injured, but Charlie gained enough strength to pull himself out of the wreckage and grab the driver. If he had laid there much longer, both men would have died, but he wasn't going to let that happen. He had a wife to return home to, and he couldn't leave her behind in this cruel world.
After the wreck, Charlie was in the infirmary and often wrote to Kathy, telling her how excited he was to come home. Many of his fellow Marines were celebrating his bravery, but for Charlie, he just considered it dumb luck. When he was well enough to leave the infirmary, he was promoted to Lance Corporal for his bravery and saving the life of a fellow Marine. Charlie eased into this new role pretty well, but he didn't want to be a Marine anymore, and it was during this time when he became very depressed.
To cope with everything, Charlie turned his attention to gambling. It gave him a rush, something to look forward to during the long weeks. But it wasn't long before it got him into trouble, when a fellow Marine was late to pay on his gambling debt. Apparently, the man owed Charlie about $30, and it had been over a month and he still hadn't paid him back.
So one day, Charlie cornered the man and flashed a pistol he had in his waistband, threatening to kill him if he didn't pay his debt. The gun was from Charlie's private collection and it definitely wasn't allowed at the base and he ended up getting in a lot of trouble from this. The man pressed charges and Charlie was arrested for having a firearm on base and for threatening another Marine.
While in jail, Charlie kept a journal titled "The Daily Record of C.J. Whitman." He wrote about how he missed his wife, the resentment he still had towards his father, and his newfound distaste for the Marines. When it was time for his trial, Whitman was found guilty and was sentenced to 30 days confinement, 90 days of hard labor, and he was demoted back to private.
Then in 1964, his time in the Marines had come to an end and he was honorably discharged. Following this, he left North Carolina and went back to Austin to be with his wife. While he had been away, Kathy had graduated from UT and took a job as a biology teacher in a local high school.
The pay wasn't much, but the couple rented a small brick house in a suburb of Austin, Texas. Charlie desperately wanted his old life back, but that meant he now had to foot the bill for his college tuition. Kathy's salary and his part-time jobs weren't enough to put him back in school, so he made the difficult decision to call his father and ask for money.
When Charles Sr. answered the phone, he was happy to wire his son the money for college. But Charlie knew that the reason he was happy to pay it was because this meant he could slither back into his life and regain control of his son. Just like he did his entire life. And although he was grateful for the money, Charlie was angry with himself that he even had to ask his dad for help. As the months progressed, Charlie's self-worth began to deteriorate. He only worked part-time jobs, so Kathy was the main breadwinner of their household.
and he hated that. He often felt emasculated having to cook dinner every night because in his mind that was a woman's job. He was supposed to be making all the money and his wife was the one who was supposed to be making dinner. In addition, there was the constant voice of his father in his head saying he was a failure.
Charlie chalked up his self-loathing to the stress of college. Mechanical engineering is a very difficult major, so after a lot of thought, he decided to switch his major to architecture. Of course, that meant he would need more financial assistance from his father. But again, when he made the phone call, Charles Sr. was happy to help.
From here, Charlie took on more hours at his part-time job at Central Freight Lines and added on another part-time job as a land surveyor at the Texas Highway Department. And by the end of 1965, Charlie finally felt in more control of his life. After changing his major to architecture, Charlie became fascinated with the UT Tower that's in the center of campus. He learned all about how it was created and the history behind it.
And just a little side note, Colin and I just moved to Philadelphia this past summer and when we were driving around we looked over at the New Jersey border and we saw a tower that looked exactly like the UT Tower.
So we did a little research and it turns out the UT tower was actually influenced by this tower in New Jersey. Which we just thought that was cool because we met at UT and we saw this tower in this new city we live in. So, but anyways, Charlie was obsessed with the tower and he would often take the elevator up to the observation deck.
While he was up there looking over the city, no one could have ever known the dark thoughts running through his mind. He felt powerful being so high up and he started thinking about all the damage he could do from the observation deck. In fact, at one point, he even told a friend that a person could stand off an entire army from atop the tower before they could ever bring him down.
Of course, that friend had no idea that one day, Charlie would act on these intrusive thoughts. Starting in early 1966, Charlie started frequently calling home to check on his mother. He had always felt bad for leaving her with his abusive father, and he noticed over the years every time he saw her, she looked more and more unhappy. So, he made it a point to call her as much as he could.
At first, their conversation seemed forced, and Charlie knew it was because his father was listening in. But as the weeks went on, they started corresponding via letters and postcards, and in them, his mom talked about the abuse she had experienced ever since Charlie left home. Now that her boys were grown up and out of the house, all of her husband's anger was directed at her, and she was incredibly unhappy. She wanted to leave him, but she was scared.
Charlie felt for his mother and he made sure to tell her that if she ever wanted to get away, he would do whatever it takes to help her. And in February of 1966, she would take him up on that offer.
Margaret called Charlie to let him know that she was done and she was ready to leave her husband. And being the good son he was, he immediately left Austin and made the two-day trip to Lake Worth, Florida. Once there, he spent the day helping her pack and load boxes into the car so he could take her back to Austin.
He even made sure to contact the local police department to have a car sit out front while his mother moved out, just in case his father came home and wanted to knock his wife around once more. Surprisingly, Charles Sr. stayed at his office all day and once they were finished packing, Charlie took her back to Austin and set her up in a small apartment. He even helped her get a job as a cafeteria cook in town.
Margaret's life in Austin was drastically different from the financial support she knew in Lake Worth, Florida. But being independent made her extremely happy. As for Charlie, however, his life got a lot more stressful.
To be able to pay for his mom's rent, he had to take on an extra job as a bill collector for the Standard Finance Company. And he found that he had a lot less downtime, but somehow he made it work. He even managed to maintain a B average in school, and it seemed like his marriage was better than ever.
But things would once again get turned upside down when his father found his new telephone number and began calling him at all hours of the day. Charlie expected his father to be upset about helping his mother divorce him, but what he encountered was something entirely different. Charles Sr. sounded sad in his phone calls, begging Charlie to put a good word in for him to his mother so she would change her mind and come home. The calls came in all the time, and Charlie felt like he was right in the middle of his parents' divorce.
And on one hand, he wanted to ignore his father's call, but he was paying his tuition, so he felt like he had to answer them. Overcome with stress and exhaustion, Charlie made an appointment to see a campus doctor, who prescribed him Dexedrine.
According to the website Psycom, Dexedrine is a stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adults as well as narcolepsy. Stimulants influence the parts of the brain and central nervous system that control hyperactivity and impulses. It also goes on to say that Dexedrine can also cause or worsen symptoms of mental illness, including psychosis and mania, and it may increase aggressive behavior amongst children or teens.
The new prescription gave Charlie his energy back and soon enough everything on his plate didn't feel so heavy, which was nice. But after about a week of taking the medication, he started to experience some thoughts that were very out of character.
One thought was telling him to pack up all of his things, get in his car and drive until he ran out of gas. He even thought about going out, spending all of his money and becoming homeless where he didn't have to answer to anyone. These thoughts were coming so frequently, he even started packing his bag to do just that. But the plans changed when one of his friends named Larry
came by his house and knocked on the front door. The two were college friends and Larry had sensed that something was wrong with Charlie. When he arrived that afternoon, he was amazed at how Charlie had changed. He described him as a quote, wild-eyed maniac who wouldn't stop rambling about his grandiose plans to drive and live a new life.
Luckily, Larry ended up talking him out of it and he watched as Charlie slowly unpacked his belongings and put them away. Charlie even promised Larry that he would go to the doctor and talk with him about his mental illness, but he never did. He didn't want some campus doctor knowing his personal business. Plus, he was enjoying his newfound sense of power.
But Larry wasn't the only one who noticed a big change in Charlie. His wife Kathy noticed it too. In the recent months after he started his medication, he had become a lot more violent. One moment the two would be having a normal argument and the next she was on the ground with Charlie hitting her. When she voiced these concerns to her husband, he became ridden with guilt.
His entire life he had promised himself that he would never become his father. And now he was beating on his wife just like Charles Sr. With this realization, Charlie decided that he needed to make some changes. But instead of going to the doctor to get help, he figured that the reason for all of his problems was his lack of organization. He had spent most of his life following a strict schedule and routine.
And if he could just get back to that, things would be normal again. To start, he decided to start journaling again. One of his entries was titled, Thoughts to Start the Day. And it read, Stop procrastinating. Grasp the nettle. Control your anger. Don't let it prove you a fool. Smile. It's contagious. Don't be belligerent. Stop cursing. Improve your vocabulary. Pay that compliment. Listen more than you speak.
He also wrote words of encouragement on pieces of paper and scattered them around his home as reminders.
A lot of the notes focused on ways to be a better husband to Kathy. One of them read: "Don't nag. Don't try to take your partner over. Don't criticize. Give honest appreciation. Be gentle." It seemed like Charlie was really trying to be the best husband, son, and student that he possibly could be. Kathy was the only good thing in his life, his beacon of hope in the dark.
And he was going to ruin everything if he didn't get his anger under control. So he was constantly worrying about whether or not he was a good husband. He was also worrying about his mother and doing his best to support her so that she wouldn't have to go back to her abusive husband.
And throughout all of his mental anguish, Charlie continued to journal about his struggles. And he journaled a lot. Like way more than your average person who journals. Charlie had an obsessive urge to write everything down. And it's been said that he could have suffered from a behavioral condition called hypergraphia.
According to Psychology Today, hypergraphia means "there is an outpouring of written material." These individuals have a drive to record facts and memories through writing in as precise and objective a way as possible.
and what they write carries deep significance for them. Their script is highly stylized, meticulous, and elaborate, and its content sometimes has moral and religious overtones. It's also known that hypergraphia is often associated with people who have frontal lobe abnormalities, but it can also be caused by certain medications, brain injuries, or schizophrenia. As we know, Charlie was taking dexedrine, which could have been a contributing factor.
But it was around this time when Charlie started to have a lot of violent thoughts. Thoughts that he couldn't control. Some were directed towards his wife or father. Others were directed towards society as a whole. And it didn't matter how many self-help notes he put around his home, the thoughts wouldn't stop.
Eventually, Kathy started to confide in friends that she was scared of her husband. According to her, he would have these fits where he would become obsessed with having their home absolutely perfect. Charlie would even lift pictures off the walls and scan them for dust. And if he found any dust, he would lash out. After a while, Kathy was becoming very concerned for him.
and she had every right to be, Charlie's mental illness was worse than ever. And it was getting so bad he started to realize that if he didn't get help now, he would soon act on his thoughts. So in March of 1966, Charlie made an appointment with a doctor on campus to talk about his mental illness.
Her name was Dr. Jan Cochran and during their first session, she concluded that Charlie suffered from severe agitation, so she prescribed him Valium to help lower his stress levels. She also refers him to the university's psychiatrist so that he could talk through his problems and get to the bottom of why he was experiencing these dark thoughts.
Charlie wasn't thrilled about speaking to the psychiatrist because he thought that pouring your heart out to a doctor was a sign of weakness. But he was desperate, so he went ahead and made the appointment with Dr. Maurice Heatley for March 29th, 1966. When the two men met, Dr. Heatley didn't have many positive things to write about Charlie. Upon first impression, he wrote,
A massive muscular youth oozing with hostility. During their session, Charlie opened up to Dr. Heatley about his childhood. For the first time ever. And it was clear that he felt a lot of emotions from his upbringing. One minute, Charlie was gritting his teeth in anger. And the next, he was crying uncontrollably. He told the doctor that he didn't know where all of the aggression was coming from.
But Dr. Healy was almost positive it stemmed from his abusive father. There were other underlying issues that the doctor noted, but he knew he would need to see more of Charlie to figure out a plan and get his moods under control.
But surprisingly, despite his mental anguish, Charlie and Kathy's marriage was doing better than ever After hitting her on a few occasions, he had a rude awakening Charlie didn't want to be like his father, so he decided right then and there that he would never hit her again He even started opening up to Kathy about his childhood, which he had never done before Kathy was completely unaware of the abuse he faced at the hands of his father And the fact that Charlie opened up to her about those things meant a lot
When he continued his sessions with Dr. Heatley, he talked a lot about his parents' divorce and how it affected him. Dr. Heatley concluded that the constant phone calls from his father and the stress of supporting his mother financially were a logical reason for Charlie's fluctuation in moods. But he wasn't convinced that the divorce had anything to do with his violent thoughts. So Dr. Heatley says, "Well, tell me Charlie,
What are some of these dark thoughts you're having? Reluctant. Charlie shares with him something that he had never told anyone before. Sometimes I think about going up the big tower in the middle of campus with a deer rifle and shooting people.
In an article for the New York Times, Dr. Heatley's notes were published and they read the following: "This youth told numerous stories of his childhood and of involvement with his father that were not repeated, and it was felt that this relationship together with the dramatic feature is largely responsible for his present predicament. Although his father is only semi-illiterate, he was a perfectionist in other respects and extremely expansive.
The youth has lived for the day when he could consider himself as a person capable of excelling his father in high society in general. He long ago acknowledged that he had surpassed him in educational fields, but he is seeking that status in virtually all fields of human endeavor. He was self-centered and egocentric, and at the same time he wants to improve himself.
the degenerated state of affairs with his parents, plus his repeated recent failures to achieve have become extremely frustrating to him which he and his father would express his hostility. Thus some of the experiences noted above:
The youth says that his father has averaged calling every 48 hours for several weeks petitioning him to persuade his mother to return to him. He alleges to have no intentions of trying to do that and retains his hostility towards his father. Although he identifies with his mother in the matter above, his real concern is with himself at the present time. He readily admits to having overwhelming periods of hostility with a very minimum of provocation. Repeated inquiries attempting to analyze his exact experiences were not too successful.
with the exception of his vivid reference to thinking about going up on the tower with a deer rifle and start shooting people. Charlie shared his violent homicidal thoughts with Dr. Heatley, but for whatever reason, they weren't taken very seriously. In his years as the campus psychiatrist, he had talked to hundreds of students with violent thoughts and suicidal ideation.
And he figured this was just Charlie's response to a lot of stress. In addition, Dr. Heatley didn't see any overt signs of psychosis. So he didn't think Charlie would ever act on these thoughts. But boy was he wrong. When Charlie left the psychiatrist appointment, he didn't feel any better. The doctor didn't prescribe any new medication, but he did want to see him back again the following week.
However, Charlie wasn't sure he was going to come back. He didn't feel like the sessions were really doing anything. And all of the emotional probing had honestly made things worse. Charlie still didn't have any answers. And the violent thoughts were worse than ever.
The psychiatrist was his last resort for help, and it had been a failure. Charlie even started thinking about his future children, and if they would go on to inherit the same mental illnesses he had. And the thought of it scared him.
In the book, the Texas Tower Sniper, Green writes: "He wasn't going to slide into mediocrity, punishing those around him for his myriad failure until he became a father and infected the next generation with the same terrible curse that had been bestowed upon him. He needed to put an end to his current trajectory. Yet, even now, there was some spark of pride inside of Charlie. He wouldn't go silently into suicide or oblivion. The world needed to know his name."
As the weeks passed, Charlie's violent intrusive thoughts intensified. So much so, he felt like dying would be the only thing that could take the pain away. But in his mind, he couldn't kill himself. His wife would be devastated and his mother would have to go back to his abusive father. So he came up with another plan.
He was going to act on his violent thoughts by killing his mom and wife and then going to the top of the UT tower to kill as many people as he possibly could. And once that plan was set in place, Charlie finally felt at peace. From here forward, he was going to set aside his studies and focus the remainder of his time on his wife and mother.
Over the next few weeks, Charlie spent as much time with Kathy as he could. He even started driving her to and from work. And when he wasn't with Kathy, he was taking his mom to dinner or picking her up from her job at the cafeteria. After a while, his grades at UT were slowly starting to slip, but he didn't care. In the end, his grades didn't matter because he was going to be dead sooner than later anyway.
It isn't clear why Charlie chose the first day of August in 1966. It's said that the weekend before the murders, he had really enjoyed himself and it's possible he wanted to end things on a high note. On the day before the murders, he took Kathy to work and proceeded to go shopping in town. He got himself a new hunting knife and some tens of Spam.
After his mom got off work, he picked her up and the two went and saw a movie before he dropped her back off at the penthouse apartments. His plan was to come back there later once he got everything in order. And from there, he went back to his house and sat down at the kitchen table to write his suicide note.
I don't quite understand what compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I don't really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average, reasonable, and intelligent young man. However, lately, I can't recall when it started, I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts.
As he typed the letter, there was a knock at the door. His friend Larry and his wife had stopped by his house to chat with Charlie.
The couple saw that he was busy on his typewriter and asked what he was doing Charlie hid the paper and said he was writing a letter to an old friend Larry had seen a change in Charlie since the last time he was planning on packing up everything he owned and setting out to live the life of a hobo On this visit, Charlie seemed more pleasant to be around During their chat, the men talked about the Vietnam War that just started
Larry fully expected Charlie to be pro-military on the subject since he had been a Marine. But surprisingly, Charlie told him he didn't agree with US troops going over to die for something that had nothing to do with them. The couple stayed at his house for around 30 minutes. Before they decided it was time to let him get back to his letter. Once the coast was clear, Charlie continued typing.
In March, when my parents made a physical break, I noticed a great deal of stress. I consulted a Dr. Cockrum at the University Health Center and asked him to recommend someone that I could consult with about some psychiatric disorders I felt I had. I talked to a doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt come overwhelming my violent impulses. After one season, I never saw the doctor again. And since then, I have been fighting my mental turmoil alone and seemingly to no avail.
Even in death, Charlie wanted to have control over everything, including his wife and mother. He continued to write about killing them both, thinking that death would be better suited with him gone too. When he finished typing, it was around 8:45pm, which meant it was time to pick up his wife from work. He carefully set the note aside so he could go back and make any corrections if needed.
As Charlie entered the parking lot in his black Chevrolet, he saw his wife looking utterly exhausted. She had worked all day in a building with no air conditioning and the hot Texas heat, but when she saw her husband, her eyes lit up. There was no denying that the two were in love with each other, but Kathy had no idea what her husband's plans were for that night. The two enjoyed their ride back home, and after a while, Kathy dozed off in the passenger seat,
When they got home, Charlie helped her into bed, kissed her goodnight, and told her that he was going into town to run an errand. And with that, Charlie got in his car and took off towards the penthouse apartments. The streets of Austin were nearly empty as he cruised through the town. He ended up parking on a bridge for a while to take in the scenery, preparing himself for things to come. He was about to commit the first part of his plan,
And once that was done, there was no turning back. But Charlie didn't feel anxious. In fact, there was an overwhelming sense of peace that coursed through his body. With everything in place, he could finally relax. No more sleepless nights, no more intrusive thoughts, just the peace and serenity that came with the final steps of his plan. He arrived at his mother's apartment close to midnight.
When she came to the door, she was glad to see it was her son but she was confused as to why he was there so late. After inviting him inside, Charlie started walking towards her bedroom. Margaret followed him, asking him why he had come banging on her door at midnight, but he wouldn't answer. Instead, he just looked at her with this vacant, empty stare.
Eventually, Charlie reached out to grab her, but she lunged away, frightened of her son. Because she lived in an apartment, Charlie knew he needed to get this over with quickly, without a lot of screaming. So he went to punch her, but Margaret put her hands up to block it. The impact of the punch had been so hard that it actually snapped the bones in her fingers.
From there, Charlie pulled out a knife from his belt and he plunged it into his mother's chest. She immediately dropped to her knees and looked up at her son, the one who had always had a soft and gentle heart. But he was no longer there. This was a monster. Charlie quickly pulled the knife from his mother's chest and she fell forward on the carpet.
Margaret convulsed on the floor as the blood oozed out of her open wound. She tried to speak but the words wouldn't come out. When Charlie saw she was still moving on the ground, he reached into his back pocket and brought out the gun. From there, he fired a single shot into the back of her head. And then, all was silent. Charlie moved his mother's body onto her bed.
He wiped his knife clean on her nightgown and then sat down at her coffee table to write another letter. To whom it may concern, I have taken my mother's life. I am very upset about having done it.
However, I feel that if there is a heaven then she is definitely there now. And if there is no life after, I have relieved her of her suffering here on Earth. The intense hatred I feel for my father is beyond description. My mother gave that man the best 25 years of her life, and she finally took enough of his beatings, humiliation, and degradation and tribulations that I'm sure nobody but she and he will ever know. He has chosen to treat her like a slut that you would bed down with, accept her favors, and then throw a pittance in return.
I'm truly sorry that this is the only way I could see to relieve her sufferings, but I think that it was best. Let there be no doubt in your mind that I love that woman with all my heart. If there is a God, let him understand my actions and judge me accordingly." After writing the letter, Charlie takes it and places it under the covers on top of his mother's body. He then went into the bathroom to clean himself up. He couldn't risk his wife seeing him covered in blood.
That would put a stop to the plan that he had just started. But before leaving, he had one more thing to do. Charlie knew that every day his mom's neighbor, Roy, would come by her place to chat with her. It was a part of her daily routine. But he couldn't have Roy coming by and finding her body. So he typed up yet another note and placed it on the front door.
The note would buy him enough time to continue his plan. But as he rode back home, he didn't feel as good as he thought he would. Although his mother's death was quick, he knew it wasn't painless.
He never wanted to inflict pain on his mother but in his mind, he had no other choice. The death was noisy and messy and it bothered him. The original plan was to kill Kathy first, to avoid having to go home and risk her seeing him in such a state. But killing his wife would prove to be a difficult task. When Charlie looked at Kathy, he was reminded of everything he loved about her.
She was the only good thing in his life. He knew he would have to go into that dark place in his mind to be able to kill her. When he finally pulled into the driveway, he turned off the car and slowly crept into the dark house, slipping off his shoes so that he wouldn't make any noise. Charlie knew that he couldn't kill his wife if she was awake.
Plus, Kathy knew Charlie too well and she would know that something wasn't right if she saw him. He also didn't want her to feel any pain. Kathy's death had to be quick and easy, so he slowly crept into their bedroom and he saw his wife fast asleep on the bed. Only a thin sheet covered her body. He had the knife in his hand ready for the attack as he slowly pulled the sheet down, exposing her chest.
He located her heart and hovered the knife over the spot he was going to pierce. His hands started to shake, but he quickly remembered that he had to do this for her own good. Charlie then took a deep breath and plunged the knife into his wife's heart as hard as he could. After doing so, her lips parted as she released her last breath. Charlie was relieved because she never woke up.
And he was content that he didn't have to see the fear in her eyes as he killed the one person who knew and understood him. The wife who had always been so patient and loving. In the same way he did his mother, Charlie fixed Kathy's body on the bed, covering her up to make her look at peace after wiping the blood from the knife on her nightgown.
When he was finished, he took a shower to get all the blood off of his body. And then, surprise surprise, he sat down at the kitchen table to write another letter. Similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life. Also, I don't think the poor woman has ever enjoyed life as she's entitled to. She was a simple young woman who married a possessive and dominating man all my life until I ran away from home to join the Marine Corps.
At this point, Charlie's typewriter ribbon had given out, so he was forced to write down the remaining note on a sheet of paper. I was a witness to her being beat at least once a month. When she'd had enough, my father wanted to fight to keep her below her usual standard of living. I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I am only trying to do a quick and thorough job. If my life insurance policy is valid, please see that all the worthless checks I wrote this weekend are made good."
"Please pay off all my debts. I am 25 years old and have never been financially independent. Donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type." From here, Charlie thought about killing their dog but ultimately decided against it. In his letter, he wrote: "Give our dog to my in-laws. Tell them Kathy loved Shockey very much. R.W. Leisner, Needville, Texas.
When he put the pen down, it was still in the early hours of August 1st. He had some time to spare before the grand finale, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. He had a lot of adrenaline running through his body, so much he even considered going for a run. But he ultimately decided against it because he wanted to save all of his energy for the task ahead.
So instead, he decided to write another letter. This time to his younger brother Patrick, who had taken their parents divorce very hard. Patrick blamed Margaret for their split and Charlie wanted to write him to clear the air. "Pat, you are so so wrong about mom. Maybe someday you will understand why she left daddy. Pat, mom didn't have any desire to harm daddy whatsoever. She just wanted what she had worked for."
Next, he wrote another letter to his brother Johnny. The letters made him feel better.
When he was finished, he tucked them inside of an envelope and placed them next to a roll of undeveloped film from when Kathy's parents came to visit. By this time, the sun had begun to rise outside, so Charlie called Kathy and Margaret's employers to tell them that they weren't feeling well and wouldn't be in for work that day. Everything was slowly coming together. He then grabbed his old marine trunk and started filling it with supplies.
He loaded a flashlight, extension cord, 3 gallon jug of water, gasoline, rope, transistor radio, sandwiches, ammunition box, a notebook and pens. Next he went to run errands, leaving his wife's body behind on the bed. Charlie made a stop by the bank and cashed $250 worth of checks. Then he stopped by the Austin rental company and got a dolly that he was going to help use to tote his items to the top of the tower.
After that, he went to Davis' hardware store where he bought an M1 carbine gun. He explained to the clerk that he was going to use the gun to go hog hunting, which is a common practice around Austin.
He also bought an enormous amount of ammunition at the gun store that even the clerk thought was on But of course, Charlie told the same story about taking a trip to go hog hunting His final stop was at Sears where he purchased a shotgun and a rifle case And because he was low on money, he got the shotgun on a payment plan even though he had no intention of ever paying it off Now at this point, it was around 10:00 a.m. and Charlie had a few things he still needed to do before executing his plan
After buying the shotgun, he goes back to his house, grabs a hacksaw, and begins sawing off the stock of the gun to make it more deadly. Once he finished, he loaded up all the weapons he planned to use in the attack into his car. The weapons included the sawed-off shotgun, a Remington 700 hunting rifle with a scope, the M1 carbine, a .357 Magnum, two pistols, and a 6mm Remington rifle.
From there, Charlie walked into his house, passed his wife's body, and put on a pair of khaki overalls over his shirt. It was a little past 11am at this point, and everything was going according to plan. This was the moment he had been waiting for all along. And with that,
He left his home on 906 Jewel Street and drove to the University of Texas to execute as many people as he possibly could on the observation deck of the UT Tower.
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Hey, everybody. It's Colin here. And Courtney. Thank you.
Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America, the first of 2023. Happy 2023, everyone. We're sorry the podcast has been a little bit hectic lately. We actually got stranded in Minneapolis during that big snowstorm that hit America. We lost our luggage that had our recording gear in it. So, yeah, that was a whole...
Just a terrible situation. But we have some exciting updates, don't we? Yeah, we promised you guys an update on all the new changes coming to the podcast. And we're honestly so stoked.
so excited about them. So right now we do two cases per state. And now that we've been doing this for two years, we're kind of getting to the end of the list and we're just ready to tell you guys a bunch of exciting true crime stories. I've had like 100 true crime stories written down that I've been dying to tell you guys and
And I haven't been able to get around to it because of the method that we release these episodes. So from here on out, we are just going to be releasing episodes that occur in America. And we're going to be going down my list of my favorite true crime cases. And we're going to tell you guys those. So if we didn't make it to your state in time, don't worry. We're going to get around to every single state in the US. We just have this list of cases that we've been dying to cover since we started the podcast. So we're going to start heading down that list. But.
But I want to shout out our patrons this week. Kevin, Melissa Scholl, Mel Wilkins, Elizabeth Faith Butterworth, Alexandra Spielman, Jimothy Krista, Melissa Madison Caldwell, Brooke Ramsey, Lindsay D'Amico, April Grubbs, Philomena Tregrandchik, Michael Dalby, Jacqueline Parrish, Jen Legend, Michaela Sandoval, Alex Lynham, Megan Gonzalez, Andy Jorgensen, May MacArthur, Crystal Lombardi, and Raven Luna.
So if you're wondering what that list is, those are new patrons for the week. If you want to listen to our show on Patreon, we post every episode ad free on there. As soon as the episodes go live on all streaming platforms, you can pay as little as $5 a month and get access to that. So thank you all for being patrons.
And we just want to thank you guys. Yesterday was our two-year anniversary, and it has just been life-changing. We've grown such a great community, and we just love you so much. So thank you for listening. Seriously, all from the bottom of our hearts, whether you found us on Spotify or our Apple podcast or wherever you listen, thank you for listening. Yeah, it's Colin and Courtney here. Love you guys. And we'll be back next week with another episode. Bye.
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