Re: Laptop eyed for answers: Stepdad says sex-slayings suspect planned to start new life

An on-line glimpse of killer's demons
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060421.MARSHALL21/TPStory/?query=Stephen+Marshall
ALAN FREEMAN and JANE ARMSTRONG

BANGOR, ME., GLACE BAY, N.S. -- At first glance, it looks like the
unremarkable personal website of a typical 20 year old. There are
links to video games, suggestive photos of Carmen Electra and Anna
Kournikova, quotes from the late Kurt Cobain and shock rocker Marilyn
Manson.

But in the blog belonging to Stephen Marshall, the Nova Scotian who
committed suicide in Boston after weekend shootings in Maine -- in
which he was suspected -- that left two men dead, there are disturbing
hints of a young man who was clearly fighting internal demons.

Under his favourite websites, there's one that includes a guide on
"How to spot a pedophile," which purports to analyze the smiles on the
mug shots of convicted sex offenders to discover their evil intent.
There's a list of 10 gruesome suicide methods in "How to kill yourself
like a man" and a link to a website with 3,000 photos of firearms that
Mr. Marshall describes as "the sweetist [sic] pics of weapons that you
can find anywhere."

The existence of his website was revealed to The Globe and Mail by Joe
Reisdorph, who was Mr. Marshall's best friend when they attended high
school together in tiny Culdesac, Idaho. Mr. Reisdorph, a 20-year-old
construction worker, said he lost touch with his friend shortly after
Mr. Marshall moved to Arizona three years ago, but looked in on the
website until a year ago.

The free blog, hosted by Angelfire, was still on-line yesterday.
[Note: it's down now, according to CBC, and apparently expunged from
Google, too - ronnie] A spokesman for the Maine State Police, which is
investigating the slayings, would not comment. Police computer experts
began studying the contents of Mr. Marshall's laptop yesterday but
will not release their findings until next week at the earliest, said
police spokesman Steve McCausland.

"We have no idea who owns this website and cannot disclose who owns it
under our privacy policy," said Kathy O'Reilly, a spokeswoman for
Lycos, which owns Angelfire. She said that the firm's abuse team was
investigating the site and would close it if it violates its terms of
service.

The company will co-operate with police if they contact Angelfire
about the site, she added.

It is the extensive list of Mr. Marshall's likes and dislikes on the
site that provides the most revealing look at what may have been
motivating the young man who is reported to have left his father's
home in Houlton, Me., armed with three guns, in search of his two
victims. Both the men were listed on Maine's public registry of sex
offenders.

The list's "likes" include food, chicks, maple syrup, Canadians,
hockey, porn as well as home and "your mom."

The "dislikes" are darker. They include law enforcement, "drag
queens," "gays" and "minorities getting special treatment." One string
of dislikes includes "loudmouths, society, the media, cancer, women in
general and rich people."

Then there's the eerie mention under dislikes of "people named Bill .
.. . "

One of his two presumed victims was a Bill. William Elliot, 24, was
shot to death on Sunday morning at his decrepit trailer home in
Corinth, Me. He landed on the sex offenders' list after he was
sentenced in 2002 to four months in jail because he had a sexual
relationship with a 15-year-old when he was 19.

Mr. Marshall's website came as no surprise to friends in Cape Breton,
who say he spoke often about his abhorrence of pedophiles.

He was also fiercely protective of his 13-year-old sister, who viewed
him as a father figure, said Chris Catapano, 20, of Glace Bay.

"Anything that took the innocence from a kid infuriated him," Mr.
Catapano said yesterday in an interview at a Glace Bay coffee shop.

The mystifying shootings alleged to have been committed by Mr.
Marshall, combined with his subsequent suicide, have elevated him to
something like hero status among his circle of Cape Breton friends.

Some have even expressed approval for the vigilante-styled killings.
"In his own way, this was his crusade," Mr. Catapano said. "He's not a
criminal in my mind.

"I think he just saw 'child' and 'sex' and he went after them," Mr.
Catapano continued. "I don't think he cared how [the sex offence]
happened or when it happened, just that it happened. He saw underage
girl and older guy. I don't think anything better could have happened
as far as I'm concerned. It [sexual abuse] grosses me out."

However, later in the interview, Mr. Catapano backtracked, saying
people shouldn't take the law into their own hands.

Mr. Reisdorph, his Idaho friend, also recalls discussing the issue of
sex offenders with Mr. Marshall. Both had decided that they were "scum
of the earth."

Mr. Reisdorph said that he and Stephen hung out together from the ages
of 14 to 17 when they were both students at Culdesac High School. "We
were best friends. We were never separated."

Mr. Reisdorph said he was "blown away" when he found out on Wednesday
about Mr. Marshall's suicide and his apparent involvement in the two
slayings. "He was the nicest guy. He'd do anything for anybody."

Mr. Reisdorph minimized the incident in 2001 in which police arrested
his friend for aggravated assault for threatening another youth with
an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in front of his house. "Another kid from
school was picking on my little brother," he recalled.

Mr. Marshall, 15 at the time, grabbed the gun he was cleaning and
confronted the young man with the weapon. "He just said, 'Nate, get
off him,' " Mr. Reisdorph explained. The police were called and
arrested Mr. Marshall. He served a six-month probationary sentence
after a plea bargain.

At the bottom of Mr. Marshall's home page, there was a final request
to readers. "Please email me, I'm lonely. For the love of lesbian
spacemonkeys, just click the damn button. Please."
--
"The very deaf, as I am, hear the most astounding things all
'round them, which have not, in fact, been said." - Henry Green
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www.hearingloss.blogspot.com - a blog about deafness

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