by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
I use a service which monitors visits to this blog site. Through that service I am often able to tell where people visiting are located as well as the search terms that brought them to one of my over two-thousand blog entries. Sometimes one of my posts attracts attention because of something in the news -and people want to learn as much about it as possible. As an example, a few years back I did a biographical sketch of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. After it ran I had a few hits from Tucson (her hometown) and Washington, DC - most of which were probably from members of her staff just doing a daily check of what was being said about her on the web. However, a few months later when she was shot in the Tucson massacre, over a thousand people visited my site to learn what they could about Ms. Giffords.
Yesterday and today there was suddenly several dozen hits on a piece that I wrote about a convicted murderer, a person whom I knew years ago when he was a teen. Those hits alerted me to the fact that something was going on with the convict. After doing some quick research, I found that A&E aired a new documentary on the individual last night. The episode of The Killer Speaks was entitled Ice Cold: Levi King.
I'm not going to retell the information in my original posting - it is obviously easy to find on the web. I was a social worker at the time that I knew Levi and much of what I know is confidential and therefore not part of that posting. Levi admitted to killing two individuals in Missouri, stealing their truck, and driving to Texas where he killed three members of a family. He pled guilty to all of the crimes. A court in Missouri sentenced him to life in prison an then shipped him off to Texas for trial where they assumed a Texas court would order his execution.
But...
Most of the members of the Texas jury (during the sentencing phase) wound up sobbing after hearing scores of witnesses, myself included, detailed the God-awful circumstances that produced this spree killer. The Texas jury also sentenced Levi to life in prison. He was transferred back to Missouri for an incarceration which will not end until the day he dies.
A&E conducted an extensive interview with Levi. The final product was laced with comments from a forensic psychologist as he reviewed the tape of the interview, a very revealing family video, and an emotional interview with a young girl who survived the Texas attack. The documentary gave some good information on the things that contribute to the creation of a remorseless sociopath. (Children are not born that way - they are molded by a variety of factors.) The documentary showed the bright-eyed, happy little boy that Levi once was, the troubled teen that he became - and the "ice cold" convict that he is today.
We are all born with a small flame of humanity, a flame that can be nourished as we grow and turn us into fine, caring adults. Levi's flame was extinguished at an dearly age by circumstances over which he had little control. He has become a caged convict who tells his story in a cold, heartless manner. When Levi King lost the ability to be human, we all lost.
The tragic tale of his downward spiral may be viewed here:
http://www.aetv.com/the-
Citizen Journalist
I use a service which monitors visits to this blog site. Through that service I am often able to tell where people visiting are located as well as the search terms that brought them to one of my over two-thousand blog entries. Sometimes one of my posts attracts attention because of something in the news -and people want to learn as much about it as possible. As an example, a few years back I did a biographical sketch of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. After it ran I had a few hits from Tucson (her hometown) and Washington, DC - most of which were probably from members of her staff just doing a daily check of what was being said about her on the web. However, a few months later when she was shot in the Tucson massacre, over a thousand people visited my site to learn what they could about Ms. Giffords.
Yesterday and today there was suddenly several dozen hits on a piece that I wrote about a convicted murderer, a person whom I knew years ago when he was a teen. Those hits alerted me to the fact that something was going on with the convict. After doing some quick research, I found that A&E aired a new documentary on the individual last night. The episode of The Killer Speaks was entitled Ice Cold: Levi King.
I'm not going to retell the information in my original posting - it is obviously easy to find on the web. I was a social worker at the time that I knew Levi and much of what I know is confidential and therefore not part of that posting. Levi admitted to killing two individuals in Missouri, stealing their truck, and driving to Texas where he killed three members of a family. He pled guilty to all of the crimes. A court in Missouri sentenced him to life in prison an then shipped him off to Texas for trial where they assumed a Texas court would order his execution.
But...
Most of the members of the Texas jury (during the sentencing phase) wound up sobbing after hearing scores of witnesses, myself included, detailed the God-awful circumstances that produced this spree killer. The Texas jury also sentenced Levi to life in prison. He was transferred back to Missouri for an incarceration which will not end until the day he dies.
A&E conducted an extensive interview with Levi. The final product was laced with comments from a forensic psychologist as he reviewed the tape of the interview, a very revealing family video, and an emotional interview with a young girl who survived the Texas attack. The documentary gave some good information on the things that contribute to the creation of a remorseless sociopath. (Children are not born that way - they are molded by a variety of factors.) The documentary showed the bright-eyed, happy little boy that Levi once was, the troubled teen that he became - and the "ice cold" convict that he is today.
We are all born with a small flame of humanity, a flame that can be nourished as we grow and turn us into fine, caring adults. Levi's flame was extinguished at an dearly age by circumstances over which he had little control. He has become a caged convict who tells his story in a cold, heartless manner. When Levi King lost the ability to be human, we all lost.
The tragic tale of his downward spiral may be viewed here:
http://www.aetv.com/the-
1 comment:
The whole story is traggic! It sadens me so for the young girl, Robin who in an instant lost her family. She shows so much inner strength and I pray that she will be surrounded my lots of love and compassion. I can't imagine having to experience what she went through and will have to endure as she grows up. My heart so grieves for her! Iran across this story a while back and decided that I had to find out more about what would lead a young man to lose so much contol that he would ultimately make such a life threating decission that would devastate a young girl and lose his freedom for life.Levi was also a victim in this horrific story. Yes the choices that he made that day can never be changed and forever the lives of two people will be damaged. Levi had no hope from the beginning. So, if we are to judge him that would be unfair, because he truly was a victim himself. I pray for the both of them!!! Such a sad ending.
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