3 Infamous Mass Murders Who Were Paranoids

I have to say that my fascination with paranoid personality runs deep, as I find it difficult to understand. The presentation of individual paranoid personalities are vastly different! As well-known personality expert Dr. Gregory Lester likes to say, “If you don’t know what it is, it’s probably a paranoid.” Why? Well, because we never really get to know them, since they hide and protect their real self from others. If you need a reminder of how paranoid personality disorder is characterized, check out the blog Paranoid Personality: The Post-Pandemic Narcissist.

Now let’s get to the interesting part that isn’t in the DSM, but is in the literature. Researchers have found that those with paranoid personality disorder have a sadistic parent and/or a parent with unmanageable anxiety (that is internalized by the child)^{1 2}. This leads to the child having their own unmanageable anxiety and annihilation fears, as well as a struggle with sadomasochism¹ (i.e. punishing others then punishing the self). This is all paired with their central defense mechanism of projection, which often turns into dealing with pain and early trauma by giving it to others. It’s an (un)conscious dynamic of, “Here, hold my pain.” It can lead to dangerous relational dynamics.

PPD and Mass Killing

Paranoid personalities place their pain onto others or the world, creating a dynamic in which someone else has to pay. Adding in the possible criteria of readiness to counterattack, grudge-holding, and/or pathological jealousy, we start to have a dangerous equation. In fact, at extreme levels, paranoid personalities are at risk for committing mass murders^{3 4}!!!! But hang on…..before we go any further, let me say: I’m not trying to stigmatize or imply causation. Not all paranoid personalities are dangerous - most aren’t. BUT at their unhealthiest levels, they show up in forensic settings, like jails and inpatient hospitals, which means they are a threat to themselves or to society at large. Sitting on the extreme end of the continuum, forensic research has found that paranoid personalities are more likely to commit mass murder^{3 4}. Remember, this doesn’t mean most paranoid personalities commit mass murder; it only means that of those who do commit mass murder, paranoid personalities are more likely to be among that population. Let’s look at some examples found in the literature! I highly recommend listening to the full episode to get lots more information than I can provide in this blog.

Jeffrey Weise, the Traumatized

Jeffrey Weise^{5 6 7 8 9 4 10} was a Native American male who experienced childhood abuse/neglect and multiple early attachment traumas. His father died by suicide during a standoff with Red Lake tribal police when Weise was 8 years old. When Wiese was 10 years old, his mother was in a car accident resulting in brain damage that left her unable to independently care for herself⁸. She was placed in a nursing home, so Weise was “sent” to his paternal grandparents at the Red Lake Reservation⁹. Evidence showed he wrote stories about school shootings and zombies, was hospitalized for suicidal behavior, and was fascinated with Columbine and Hitler, as he posted dark, depressive content, and admiration of Hitler on neo-Nazi websites under usernames such as “Todesengel” (German for “angel of death”) and “NativeNazi.”^{5 10}

In 2005, at age 16, Weise killed his own grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend, then drove to Red Lake High School and killed a guard, a teacher, and five students (seven people) with a shotgun and semi-automatic pistol^{6 7}. He skipped the classroom where his friends were located, but he did wave to them^{5 6}. He was not at all psychotic, but rather “mission-oriented.”⁵ When police came, he killed himself^{5 6 7 10}. His sadomasochism can be seen in how he committed a sadistic act of mass murder, followed by a masochistic suicide. In his death, there seemed to be a unification with his father (his first attachment loss), since his father also died by suicide in a police standoff.

Richard Farley, the Rejected Lover

Richard Farley^{11 3 4 12 13} is a White male who met a female coworker, Laura Black, in 1984 and stalked her after she consistently rejected his romantic advances¹¹. It was a clear case of erotomania¹¹. He took pictures of her in her gym class; frequently waited outside her house (she moved three times and got an unlisted number); copied her house keys; and sent hundreds of letters, including threatening ones^{11 3 12}. Two years after meeting her, Farley threatened to kill Laura if she didn’t date him. This resulted in getting fired from his job, but he continued to stalk her³, and she eventually was able to get a temporary restraining order. The restraining order was scheduled to be made permanent, which triggered Farley’s violence^{11 12}. In 1988, at age 39, Farley went to his previous workplace and shot to death a total of seven people and wounded others, including Laura¹¹.

He was in a standoff with SWAT for 5 hours. During negotiations, he expressed remorse (only about Laura), threated suicide mulitple times, and claimed victimhood due to financial difficulties¹³, before eventually stating, “There’s no more reason to harm anybody; I’ve run out of enthusiasm for things."¹³ Farley surrendered after requesting a sandwich and soft drink.¹³ Reportedly, his motivation was to wound Laura so she would regret her behavior that caused him suffering¹¹, which is also why he surrendered instead of ending his own life¹². His erotomania was not psychotic^{11 3}, and it’s notable that erotomania is correlated with paranoia¹¹. Here we also see sadomasochism again, as Farley was sadistic in his intrusion, power, and fear in stalking Laura, but also masochistic in consistent pursuit of rejection. Anyway, Farley was sentenced to death and is currently on death row¹².

Timothy McVeigh, the Terrorist

Timothy McVeigh^{14 15 16 4} was a White male with an attachment trauma in childhood¹⁶ (mom “abandoned” the family^{14 16}; no connection with dad^{14 16}). He had fantasies about being a heroic warrior who fought monsters^{14 16} and studied the book The Turner Diaries, which is racist, antisemetic, and describes a mass bombing¹⁴. He did join the Army in 1988 and had exceptional service. However, in combat, he killed a man who “didn’t want to fight us, but was forced to,” which led to disillusionment with and separation from the military. McVeigh regressed and became depressed and suicidal¹⁴. I think McVeigh wanted a real enemy, not a human who wasn’t willing to destroy him back. Anyway, his depression lasted until 1992 when he started projecting his pain by writing angry letters to the US government, who became his new enemy¹⁴. Events at Ruby Ridge, then Waco contributed to McVeigh’s desire for revenge against the US government^{14 16}. He considered multiple assassination plans, but ultimately chose differently¹⁴.

In 1995 on the anniversary of Waco, at age 27, McVeigh killed 168 people after bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City in retaliation against the government for Ruby Ridge and their destruction of Waco¹⁴. He was pulled over for speeding about 75 miles north of Oklahoma City, then arrested due to not having a license plate, registration, car insurance, or gun permit for the pistol in his holster¹⁴. He meticulously planned a huge terroristic crime for weeks (sadism), but then forgot all these details about his getaway?? That’s masochistic. I think he unconsciously wanted to be caught, which highlights the paranoid sadomasochism. He completed his sadistic act, but his masochism followed, just like after he killed someone in combat. It was also very evident that he was not psychotic, as his cognitive abilities and reality testing was intact^{14 16}. He was imprisoned and eventually sentenced to death. He actively pursued his execution date to occur sooner rather than later, which was granted because he was found to be mentally competent¹⁵. He was executed on June 11, 2001^{14 15}.

As you can see, these three examples of killers are vastly different, though all were grudge-holding, non-psychotic paranoid personalities^{3 4}. They projected their fear of annihilation, destroying others instead of themselves. They were also quite immature, but to be fair, Weise was only 16 years old. All three had a very strong orientation towards sadomasochism, as they fluctuated between hurting their chosen enemy and hurting themselves. And they also seemed to have sadistic mothers and/or hate women…which makes ya wonder! But let me reiterate: Most people with paranoid personality disorder aren’t violent! However, most mass murderers are paranoid personalities³.

If you ever need help parsing out all the paranoia/paranoid personality stuff, we can help! If you’re a clinician, and you’re stuck on a case (in a PsyPact state), we provide consultations to help you figure out what you’re working with.

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