Cannibal Blogger
Wow. Just read through most of the blog of accused murderer/rapist/would-be-cannibal Kevin Underwood. You know those films of Hitler being tender and "normal" with his dog? That's kind of the impression you get from this blog.
Underwood's victim was 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin (picture found here):
Reading his entries, you can tell that Kevin is frequently depressed and definitely has issues, but he doesn't really seem on the verge of this kind of sociopathic outbreak. You can also see that he has moments of great optimism. It also seems like he had a supportive family.
Except that his mom didn't seem to understand his mental state very well:
I told my mom, and told her about my social anxiety problem, and that I was going to drop out of college and start going to a psychiatrist. She didn't really understand my problem, and still doesn't (whenever I try to talk about how shy I am around people, her answer is, "Just stop, don't be that way."), but she was supportive anyway.
Wonder if she has any regrets now?
Was this guy ill, or just plain evil? Read through the blog and say that he was evil. I'm more inclined to say mentally ill, based on his writing. What was the psychotic break? What triggered this?
Not that his illness should excuse his behavior. I think he should be put down like a rabid dog. The time for psychiatric care is BEFORE the murder takes place, not after. I don't have much sympathy for "mentally ill" killers getting treatment for life when they have killed other human beings. They should be euthanized.
Too bad this guy didn't have more consistent treatment. It seems like a better social network and some regular medication might have prevented this horror from taking place.
That poor girl's father. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror he is living through.
I really don't think "society" needs to worry about where to lay the blame in cases such as this. If someone is at the point where their right/wrong meter is out of calibration far enough to entertain the idea of killing and eating a ten year old girl, well, then they have gotten irretrievably lost all on their own.
The moment you start to look for external influences in cases such as these is the point at which you begin to try to shift blame from the perp to the victim. Oh sure, it may take some time and convoluted rationalizations to get there, but you will.
There are some things our justice system is just not very good at handling properly. Especially cruel child murder is one of those things. Summary execution ought to be at least entertained in these cases where there is no doubt about guilt. Preferably public and televised.
These people are not human beings. A human being is endowed with compassion. To be human is to love.