When your roommate is a mass murderer

My husband might be pissed off at me for telling this story. When I brought it up to him today, it was because I was haunted by it once again. So was my husband. He went for a long walk after I spoke about it.

My husband went to McPherson College. It is a tiny liberal arts college in Kansas, with only 600 students. It is run by the Church of the Brethren. The Brethren are a pacifist denomination, Anabaptists. They do not proselytize, but show their faith by example. They believe in service, preserving the environment and living simply. They are very forgiving. They are closely related to the Mennonites, and were at one time plain people, like the Amish and the old order Mennonites.

My husband arrived at McPherson for the 1964-65 school year. He was fortunate to live in a new dorm, not a freshman hell. He lived with students of all ages, so that some of the older students could set a good example for the freshmen.

Next door to him was a guy I will call "Rick." Rick became a lifelong friend of my husband and his brother, who also attended school there. Rick played football, and is one of the nicest people I have ever met. When he graduated, he went back to the East coast to become a high school special ed. teacher and a football coach. He was popular in his school district, and I have no doubt that he was a great teacher. He taught in the same school for 35+ years, until he retired a few years ago. We had dinner and a visit with him went we went East to visit my daughter at grad school.

"Rick" loves McPherson. It lifted him out of his blue collar background and helped him to become a professional. He visits the school every few years, and works hard for their annual fundraisers. He always has a bulldog named Mac, after their school mascot. He shows me as many pictures of Mac as he does his children and grandchildren.

Rick's roommate was a guy named Duane Pope, also a football player. My husband has always called Duane passive. I wondered how he could play football if he was passive. My husband says that that is where he showed his aggression. In all other aspects of his life, he was more than quiet and unassuming.

Shortly after Duane graduated in 1965, he robbed a bank and Nebraska. He did not just rob the bank. He lined up four people on the floor, face-down. He shot them, very methodically, once in the back of the neck, and once in the spine. They were bank employees and owners. One of the men survived, although he has spent his life in a wheelchair.

Duane Pope escaped with a little over $1500. Everyone was shocked. Pope was a clean-cut, quiet football player! He was put on the FBI's ten most wanted list. The president of McPherson begged him to turn himself in. He did.

Pope pled not guilty by reason of insanity. The Menninger Clinic put themselves on the line and backed up his insanity defense. The jury would not have it. They sentenced him to death. His case was heard eventually by the Supreme Court, who overturned his death sentence. He is in prison to this day, serving three life sentences. He will never be released.

Pope married in prison. In typical Brethren fashion, McPherson has forgiven him and acknowledges him as an alumni. An announcement of his marriage was printed in the alumni news. My husband was blown away by it.

His roommate "Rick" does not discuss this any more. My husband says Rick had enough testifying and newspaper interviews long ago. It is a bad memory that he seems to have put behind him in a healthy fashion. He had help with that.

I wondered how Rick was handling all this Virginia Tech news. He roomed with a future murderer for three years. Since he is such a good man, as well as a retired educator, I wondered if he thought about reaching out to the roommates of the Virginia Tech shooter. Those young men have only begun to be affected by this. I am sure they will be called upon for testimony and news stories for quite awhile. When that is over, they will have to adjust emotionally.

I will not contact Rick about this. But he has been in my thoughts.

I heard an interview yesterday with a Columbine student who had been friends with one of the Columbine shooters. He had no idea what his friend was planning, though the shooter did warn him to perhaps skip school that day. He figures he'll be talking about Columbine until his dying day.

I'll say a prayer for "Rick," and your husband, too (who's obviously still struggling with his own issues surrounding forgiveness of either Duane Pope or the ceaselessly hounding press).

My husband does have a hard time with this, even after all these years.

He's probably reached acceptance, but not forgiveness. And he is protective of Rick.

my husband thinks the jury was wrong. He says that Pope was insane at the time of the shootings. "All the signs" were there, according to him.

He felt that the jury should have had more educated and professional people. He thinks the Menninger Institute was harmed by the decision, too.

He always talks first about the jury when we discuss this.

rotation..it was down to the 2 of us out of about 12, Craig's friend and me. we tied.. he was really good, not really quiet but non assuming.. craig says 'playoff' each throws 6 darts most bullseyes wins..

i threw 5 one bounced off the wire of the bulls eye.. i had been playing one point behind him the whole time.. if they know how good you are the wont play at all. he laughed and forfeited.

he then said he had to go and left.. he drove directly to strip maul in town that had a register in the center of the building with a little framed wall about 3 feet high that had display cases.. sort like the jewelery dept at Walmart, he killed a young girl that worked there and did strange sexual things... he was caught right away... that was about 1972.