Why did Sam do it?

piXy wrote:i just noticed that he had signed into twitter on Sept 17.. the day before he was arrested..... proving he had access to a computer

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

He seems to have posted several times after he was arrested . . . Specifically posting spam. . . . I don't think this twitter is legit.

..my view on why sam did it is very close to ziggy's...I mean why do people do what they do in general?...usually to make themselves feel better or to gain something or just to survive.
IMO when people are hurt and are to weak or don't know how to tend to their own wounds they look to others for support.
IMO Sam was already bleeding when he arrived in VA.He was hoping and looking to Emma to make him feel better.Instead IMO she cut him deeper.
....what happened next I think is what ziggy said ,he had to make them feel his pain one way or the other ,he was hurt so he wanted them to hurt deeper. IMO the first 3 murders were a horrible choice of instant gratification not insanity.Whether or not drugs altered his state of mind to make that decision I'm not sure.
I think the gaining "fame" theory may have came into play after everything was done.
He already lost everything now so maybe calling syn and putting those songs on his myspace was a desperate attempt to still gain something out of the whole thing.I think all his actions afterwards show lots of confusion.
...gotta go,I have an hour less to do my job this tonight. ...

Zig - you are going to be a fantastic attorney.

claudicici wrote:..my view on why sam did it is very close to ziggy's...I mean why do people do what they do in general?...usually to make themselves feel better or to gain something or just to survive.
IMO when people are hurt and are to weak or don't know how to tend to their own wounds they look to others for support.
IMO Sam was already bleeding when he arrived in VA.He was hoping and looking to Emma to make him feel better.Instead IMO she cut him deeper.
....what happened next I think is what ziggy said ,he had to make them feel his pain one way or the other ,he was hurt so he wanted them to hurt deeper. IMO the first 3 murders were a horrible choice of instant gratification not insanity.Whether or not drugs altered his state of mind to make that decision I'm not sure.
I think the gaining "fame" theory may have came into play after everything was done.
He already lost everything now so maybe calling syn and putting those songs on his myspace was a desperate attempt to still gain something out of the whole thing.I think all his actions afterwards show lots of confusion.
...gotta go,I have an hour less to do my job this tonight. ...

Yeah that's the best narative ive heard to explain it. It's more than saying he just wanted to but it's still clear and simple like it seems it was for his age, background everything.

piXy wrote:i just noticed that he had signed into twitter on Sept 17.. the day before he was arrested..... proving he had access to a computer

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Excellent observation.

AndresEscobar wrote:

piXy wrote:i just noticed that he had signed into twitter on Sept 17.. the day before he was arrested..... proving he had access to a computer

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

He seems to have posted several times after he was arrested . . . Specifically posting spam. . . . I don't think this twitter is legit.

Well that calls it into question but as for the 17, why would someone NOT Sam log onto his twitter before the arrest?????

dangrsmind wrote:

piXy wrote:i just noticed that he had signed into twitter on Sept 17.. the day before he was arrested..... proving he had access to a computer

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Excellent observation.

Except, there are only 4 posts, one in june and the other three in october. Where does it say that he signed in on Sept 17th? Am I missing that?

FWIW & IMHO: interesting debate but as I just wrote in the ST thread, there is still something that seems to be missing. If it all comes out that, yeah, he snapped over jealousy and listening to horrorcore etc. all the time and semi-shitty family life caused it - fine. If I have to, I can accept it but it seems just so cold-blooded and he does, in those vids and other photos, writing- come across as so good-natured, as well as too pasty-face doughboy to actually have enough rage to commit such acts.

Do you all think Jeffrey Dahmer was a psychopath? I did but I'm watching this interview with him right now and he comes off as being a guy who has feelings. I don't mean faked either. but that doesn't matter. Maybe Sam doesn't seem like a psychopath because that's how psychopaths are. that's why people always say 'I had no idea. he was the nicest guy. seemed normal etc". like if they seemed like spychopaths they wouldn't be very good ones hahaha

According to one report there was a shotgun removed from the house. And also GSR tests were performed. However, as far as we know firearms were not used at all. Since a gun is much easier to wield with deadly force than virtually any other weapon, this possibly indicates that Sam made a decision about which weapon to use. He probably had to go outside to get the maul. Knowing something about the result (maul, hammer, chunk of wood) we can guess something about the decision criteria he used for weapon selection.

Now I don't know where the shotgun was in the house or whether Sam even knew about it of course. So this part will have to all remain the worst sort of speculation.

Shot gun or no, picking the maul is a good point. there would be other stuff before he got to the maul. hey, he would have had to bring the maul in BEFORE killing if it was the maul that killed them. Brought it in and hid it. oh no, they were asleep. well, thats somthing to think about thouh and visulaize

SonicG wrote:FWIW & IMHO: interesting debate but as I just wrote in the ST thread, there is still something that seems to be missing. If it all comes out that, yeah, he snapped over jealousy and listening to horrorcore etc. all the time and semi-shitty family life caused it - fine. If I have to, I can accept it but it seems just so cold-blooded and he does, in those vids and other photos, writing- come across as so good-natured, as well as too pasty-face doughboy to actually have enough rage to commit such acts.

Thats why I have thus far shied away from the sociopathic cold blooded killer theory because of his seemingly good natured behavior in everything I have seen and heard from about him from those who know him well. Of course we do know that socio/psychopaths are able to mimic the behavior of those around them I just dont see it in Sam, so WTF led to this incapability to respond to a rejection like any other person would by just telling her to go fuck herself and go find a new piece of ass to enjoy.


FWIW I am planning a trip to the bay area sometime this summer, after the trial when I start really getting in to my desire to write this story and make a documentary, I hope to meet with DM and maybe get his help on this and even Ziggy too, my intention for the trip is to get to know the people Sam knew in his everyday life, talk to his school teachers and neighbors and former employers etc and see what I can dig up as far as trying to paint a picture of Sam on this blank canvas we have now.


Also, I will be in Mississippi starting in May and will be there for at least 4 months as I have been hired to work a criminal trial there as a defense consultant and jury expert among other things, so i hope to be able to get from Mississippi to Farmville during this time to possibly meet with Sam and even attend the trial should it happen within that period of time.


Does anyone know how long a drive it is from middle Mississippi to Farmville, VA?

ALSO does anyone have the date for the second SFTW in Mich this year?

I've looking for a reason to post this....

Mississippi in the summer?

dangrsmind wrote:Mississippi in the summer?

LOL yea you know I have no idea what its really like there for the extended summer. I went there after Katrina to help with the recovery as part of a team of builders and other skillfull handymen types and we did a lot of rebuilding at that time but it was closer to fall then summer at the time and the weather was actually nice, thats how I met the lawyer that wants me to come up in May ans help him with a pretty controversial murder case with a lot of racial undertones where we believe the client is completely innocent and wrongfully accused. But anyway, what should I expect in the summer there, humidity, hurricane weather etc lol. Heat doesnt bother me hell I live in Arizona remember?

Any idea how far the drive is from Mississipi, the Hattiesberg area, to Farmville, I dont see any maps online that show the driving distance between those two small towns, I am hoping its not too far and I can get a few trips to Farmvillege in during downtime.

13 hours 36 minutes / 850.16 miles
That's what mapquest says anyway.

Hey! Your the administrator. I need to ask you a question but i'll go to the Help forum.

ooo baby, hot humid summer in the South. Frankly, heat combined with humidity will kick your ass. Some people really like the humidity, but I am not one of them. The one thing I DO love about the South are the sultry hot summer nights, when the air is so still you can stare at a tree just looking for a sign of a breeze on a leaf...nothing. For a Californian that is awesome...the stillness.

Sounds very intersting Pax. You'll be busy this summer...trip to the Bay Area for some investigative stuff and then SFW in September is it?

Who will be going the SFW 2010?

On topic, there were two sides to Sam. He had an alter ego that allowed him to act out the rage and fanasies. That's what I think.

ziggy wrote:

Who will be going the SFW 2010?

A whole helluva lot more people than went in 2009. Ho ho. You goin? Maybe I will then...................


some people a lot older and in really different clothes tho

Paximus wrote:

dangrsmind wrote:Mississippi in the summer?

LOL yea you know I have no idea what its really like there for the extended summer. I went there after Katrina to help with the recovery as part of a team of builders and other skillfull handymen types and we did a lot of rebuilding at that time but it was closer to fall then summer at the time and the weather was actually nice, thats how I met the lawyer that wants me to come up in May ans help him with a pretty controversial murder case with a lot of racial undertones where we believe the client is completely innocent and wrongfully accused. But anyway, what should I expect in the summer there, humidity, hurricane weather etc lol. Heat doesnt bother me hell I live in Arizona remember?

Any idea how far the drive is from Mississipi, the Hattiesberg area, to Farmville, I dont see any maps online that show the driving distance between those two small towns, I am hoping its not too far and I can get a few trips to Farmvillege in during downtime.

Arizona heat is dry, which means when you sweat it cools you. Southern heat is very humid, which means when you sweat, you drip all over the place and stick to furniture. You will love August in Mississippi. Traveling to Virginia, where it will merely be hot and humid as opposed to hellishly hot and humid will seem like relief. It's about a 13 1/2 hour journey.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

So this is my first foray into the murder threads so please go easy on me (kidding)

I read through some of the theories on why Sam killed these people and I have to say is I don’t care if he was drunk, on drugs or psychotic, the fact remains he killed people

If he turns out to be insane, fine lock him up in a hospital for the criminally insane. If he makes a breakthrough and is determined to be healthy, send him to a maximum security prison for life

If he was on drugs then he should face the full extent of the law.

If I stalked, hounded or abused every woman who turned me down, broke up with me or just in general treated me like shit I would be in jail a hundred times over.

I don’t know if his art had anything to do with his crime or if his attraction to this form of music meant he has a violent streak and truth to tell I don’t care. I’m not one of those people who blame music, movies or video games on the raise of violence in today’s society. I blame the lack of proper teaching of right and wrong and how to tell the difference between fantasy and reality. His music was fantasy until he carried out his crime

Be honest, how many of us at one point in our lives have wished they could kill someone or even fantasized about it. The difference is we didn’t carry it through because we know it is wrong

I think a combination of things made Sam kill those people...

Things obviously went downhill at some point between his arrival in WV and the Strictly For the Wicked (SFTW) concert, as Emma and him were no longer "together" at it. My personal opinion on that is either a) he wasn't aware Mel would be there too and was angry about it, b) he became jealous over messages from other guys to Emma (I doubt she just started talking to other guys after SFTW), or c) both.

Sam making out with the other girl at SFTW was, imo, strictly a big Fuck You to Emma. He was trying to piss her off and make her feel like shit. That's not a good thing considering they were riding back to WV together. This is also what I believe started the ball rolling on Sam getting to the point of commiting the murders. I imagine the ride back wasn't too good for Sam. Emma and Mel would have both been treating him like shit for what he had pulled, and we all know teenage girls can be ruthless. Sam would have been fuming inside I'd imagine.

The next couple days after they returned to WV were probably hell for Sam too (of his own making). At this point though is where I think the trigger is. On WS I made the assertion that maybe Sam tried to reconcile things, after all he had travelled to WV from CA to see Emma, and was rejected. I still think that's a possibility, but still not the trigger.

I still believe the trigger was the messages in Emma's phone. I believe Sam's comment about Emma and him arguing over a text message from another guy is, at least, partially true. I believe the message exists, the part about arguing with Emma over it might not be. Another thought here is that it's possible Sam went through her phone while she was asleep; and he saw the messages she had been sending and receiving. Even if it's just the one, I think that's when he snapped.

ziggy wrote:ooo baby, hot humid summer in the South. Frankly, heat combined with humidity will kick your ass. Some people really like the humidity, but I am not one of them. The one thing I DO love about the South are the sultry hot summer nights, when the air is so still you can stare at a tree just looking for a sign of a breeze on a leaf...nothing. For a Californian that is awesome...the stillness.

I hate summers in the South, especially around August. I'm generally not fond of breaking out in a sweat just opening a coke bottle. Although, it does make beer even more enjoyable.