When I first saw the title of this book, I was intrigued. I love a good true crime story and even better if they have photo's within the book, macabre maybe but hey what can I say, I am fascinated with that kind of stuff. Thank you to Netgalley.
However, this story is not so much about the incident, the brutal slaying of a married couple in their home by their son, but instead its about the aftermath. What happens to a man who murders his parents in a state of insanity?
Brian Bechtolds life was horrible. His parents were garbage people by all accounts. He was the last of 5 kids, a menopause baby, to a woman who didn't give a crap about being a mom let alone one so late in life. She was a horrible housekeeper, lazy and relied on her older daughters to play caretaker to the young child. One incident stuck out to me " Brian and his sister Cathy were at the local pool, when another boy dropped a watering can on his head cutting it open. The mother of the boy took Cathy and Brian home, their mother on the phone couldn't be bothered to come outside to check on him, so Cathy asked the woman to take them to the hospital so her could be treated." What kind of mother does this? Not to mention the father who was an alcoholic abusive belligerent man who beat not only his kids but his wife, punching her in the stomach when she was pregnant with Brian (gotta wonder if that played into his issues later in life).
In 1992, Brian has been living back at home after leaving DeVry college. He had been on probation on a drug charge and his probation officer said he had violated his parole by moving out of state to attend college. His father stopped paying the tuition instead of helping him to work things out with the courts so he could continue college. His life quickly fell apart after this. His mothers health had declined, she had breast cancer (karma?) and was very ill. In turn, the house deteriorated even more than before. She was unable to keep it up and his dad, who literally never helped anyway, certainly wasn't going to life a finger now even though she was dying.
Its at this time he has a breakdown and kills his parents. Shooting them with a shotgun. His dad in the kitchen and mom in her recliner. He then leaves and drives to Florida where he turns himself in to the police and confesses his crime after having read the bible for three days, Believing he had been possessed and now saved by Jesus (whose to say that didn't happen though?)
He has a trial where he is found "not criminally responsible". From here he is sent to Clifton T. Perkins, Marylands only maximum security forensic psychiatric facility. He remains here for decades while other inmates, some of whom had done just as bad or worse things, are released around him. He is seen by umpteen doctors, most of which only see his mental illness, not him, and in turn only repeat what the previous doctor has said.
The author not only speaks of Brian's misjustice, and that's how I view this story, a misjustice, but also of the ongoing abuse of patients and how they are basically just swept away into oblivion. The author states "no federal agency is charged with monitoring them; no registry or organization tracks how long they've been incarcerated, or why.....some held indefinitely." I have my own views on whether or not the government should be involved in stuff like this but at the very least there needs to be some kind of accountability.
I found this book to be fascinating and sad all at the same time. I cannot begin to imagine what its like to have a psychotic break, to know that you committed a crime, but to also know that you wont ever do it again, only to have doctors over and over say that you aren't capable of rejoining society because you a threat to others.. I only wish the ending of the book had been more positive. I was really hoping he would get out, finally, after years of appeals, court cases and his "compliance" with the doctor in regards to medication.
I felt the story was a compelling one, a fast read, well paced with loads of information, maybe too much at times, but still a worthy read. Especially if you, like me, have suffered from or know someone who has a mental illness.
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