Lead Stories
In May, William Pittman, an official at the Hazelden Foundation near Minneapolis and an authority on alcoholism and anger management, pleaded guilty to harassing his ex-wife, including sending anonymous notes suggesting she kill herself. In September anesthesiologist Thomas J. Valente, 41, pleaded guilty in Apple Valley, Minnesota, to punching a 69-year-old woman in the face in a road-rage incident. And in August, Debra A. Doherty, 38, was charged in Minneapolis with nearly fatally beating her 39-year-old roommate, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, with a broomstick and a crutch.
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In May Miami police arrested John Troy Davey, 37, and accused him of being one of a gang of serial flashers working the city. The flashers’ outfits included bandannas, G-strings, and women’s crotchless panties. According to police, the men discussed techniques and neighborhoods to be targeted on the Internet.
In an August Providence Journal profile, 47-year-old substitute teacher Herb Gardner of Smithfield, Rhode Island, described his 30-year obsession with actress Sharon Tate, who was murdered by the Charles Manson family in Los Angeles in 1969 at the age of 26. Gardner believes it’s his destiny to defend the honor of the actress, whom he characterizes as a gentle and charitable person.
Psychogenic Fugues
Virgil A. Henderson, convicted in Minneapolis in March; his victim had been pestering Henderson to take a bath and change clothes. Brian N. Wright and Rantone D. Howard, charged in Independence, Missouri, in April; their victim crashed a party and drank beer without permission. James Gatling Jr., convicted in Newport News, Virginia, in February; Gatling killed the owner of a Porsche he wanted to buy when the victim insinuated Gatling was unworthy of the car.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Shawn Belschwender.
