A Killer Within

Bob Bechtel is a killer. One night in 1955, while a student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, he went on a shooting rampage, killing classmate Holmes Strozier in his sleep. He was committed to a hospital for the criminally insane and released five years later.

There was no felony conviction, in part because Strozier's parents wrote a letter of forgiveness to the judge. Today, Bechtel claims he lost it after intense bullying. He hopes his case will draw attention to the effects of bullying. But, this revelation dredges up more than anticipated.

Despite her devotion, his wife, Bev, admits there's a piece of him that's frightening. His stepdaughter Amanda wonders how her mother could marry a man she knew was a killer; his biological daughter Carrah is haunted knowing that her father's second chance resulted in her birth.

Even more conflicted is the victim's brother, John Strozier, who takes issue with Bechtel's version of history. So do other Swarthmore classmates: one writes, "Robert Bechtel was never bullied or harassed. If he believes this, it is a product of his insane mind."