Latest / The Mind of a Man / Family Dinner Ends in Brutal Massacre _ True Crime Documentary

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Family Dinner Ends in Brutal Massacre _ True Crime Documentary · The Mind of a Man

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Easter Sunday in 1975 started off as a normal Easter
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: holiday for the Ruppert family, but soon turned into a
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: nightmare that is now dubbed as the deadliest family massacre
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: in American history. Stay tuned as we uncover how a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: seemingly harmless man managed to murder 11 members of his family.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: James Urban Ruppert was born on March 29, 1934, to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: his mother Charity and father Leonard Ruppert. He, along with
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: his older brother, Leonard Jr., grew up in Hamilton, Ohio. However,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: their small family was far from normal, as Leonard Sr.,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: who was known to have a violent temper, made his
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: children's childhood traumatic. To make matters worse, Charity picked her
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: favorites when the boys were still young, always favoring her
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: brighter and more confident older child, Leonard, over her younger son.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: James grew up in a hostile environment and was often
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: told by his mother, that she wished he was never
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: born since she wanted a daughter in his place. As
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: expected from a child who grew up without parental affection,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: this negatively impacted Ruppert's self-confidence, and he grew up to
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: become a loner. His parents' carelessness constantly cost him, including
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: his father's insistence on keeping chickens around their house, causing
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: him to develop an allergy to the feathers. Despite his allergy,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: his parents showed little to no concern for his well-being
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: as they continued to keep the chickens around. When Rupert
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: turned 12 in 1947, his father became deathly ill and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: soon died of tuberculosis. However, his days of torment were
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: far from over as his older brother quickly took over
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: their father's role and went out of his way to
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: harass his younger brother. As a result, Ruppert's performance in
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: school was severely lacking as compared to his brother. With
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: no friends to offer him any support, Ruppert found himself
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: dealing with everything on his own as charity continued to
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: ignore his existence. The constant bullying at home and school
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: got so bad that at the age of 16, Ruppert
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: decided to end things once and for all. He took
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: sheets from his home and tried to hang himself. However,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: he failed to succeed in his suicidal attempt. This marked
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: an important event in Ruppert's life as he stopped making
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: any effort towards improving his life and accepted his fate
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: as the inferior son. This became Ruppert's first and only
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: suicide attempt. Not surprisingly, Ruppert grew to hate both his
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: brother and mother. By the time he reached college, he
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: stood at 5 feet 6 inches and only weighed 135 pounds.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: He spent two years in college before giving up on
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: it as well. while his brother once again surpassed him
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. It helped
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: that Leonard Jr. had his mother's full support. His resentment
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: towards his brother grew to a dangerous level when Leonard Jr.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: married one of Ruppert's former girlfriends, named Alma, a girl
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: that he never lost feelings for. This would later be
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: cited as a motive for his rampage. Ruppert began to
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: feel as if the entire world was against him, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: resigned himself to an unremarkable life, accepting defeat. He trained
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: to become a draftsman, but remained unemployed for the majority
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: of his life, leaving him with no choice but to
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: continue living with his mother, often borrowing money from her
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and Leonard Jr. While his brother not only managed to
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: get a job with General Electric, he also bought a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: house in Fairfield, where he lived with Alma and their
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: eight children, 17-year-old Leonard III, 16-year-old Michael, 15-year-old Thomas, 13-year-old Carol,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: 12-year-old Anne, 11-years-old David, 9-year-old Teresa, and 4-year-old John. Perhaps
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: because he was so frustrated with his life, Ruppert developed
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: an affinity for guns. Among his collection, he had a.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: 357 Magnum, two. 22 handguns, and a. 22 rifle. Two
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: things became ritual for Ruppert. drinking and target practicing. Ruppert
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: had turned to drinking to deal with the toxic environment
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: at home, as well as to numb his feelings of inferiority.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: As he got older and remained unemployed, Charity, tired of
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: his drinking, threatened to evict him unless he paid rent. However,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: since he had lost all of his money during the
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: stock market crash of 1973 to 1974, Ruppert had no
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: way to pay his portion of the rent. Although Charity
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: intended for this threat to motivate him to get his
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: life back on track, she unknowingly pushed him towards his
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: breaking point. As the threat of eviction loomed over his head,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Ruppert began to approach his breaking point. While purchasing ammunition
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: one day, he inquired about silencers, but did not end
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: up going through with the purchase. On March 29, 1975,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Ruppert turned 41. On his birthday.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: He was seen at the Great Miami River in Hamilton
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: shooting cans, and this became pivotal in helping the prosecution
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: build their case against him. It can be argued that
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: he was possibly preparing for one of the deadliest nights
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: in Hamilton, Ohio. That night, Ruppert stumbled into a bar
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: called the 19th Hole Cocktail Lounge. He met 28-year-old mother
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: of five, Wanda Bishop, who worked at the cocktail lounge.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and confessed that his mother was threatening to evict him
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: if he failed to find a job to pay for
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: his portion of the rent. Charity had told him that
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: if he could afford to pay for his drinks, he
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: could pay her rent as well. Wanda recalled that Ruppert
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: insisted that he had to find a way to solve
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the problem. Ruppert stayed in the cocktail lounge until 11 p.m.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: before leaving, but soon returned and continued drinking until the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: lounge closed at 2.30 a.m. When Wanda asked him if
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: he had managed to resolve his problem, Ruppert replied, No,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: not yet. The next morning, Charity, who was not feeling well,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: called Leonard Jr. and his family for Easter dinner, instead
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: of an early lunch at their house, 635 Minor Avenue.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Once Leonard Jr. and Alma arrived, their children participated in
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: an Easter egg hunt outside, while Ruppert slept in late,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: nursing a hangover from the previous night. By the time
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: he got up at 4 p.m., everyone had moved inside
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: to continue the celebration, while Charity prepared sloppy joes for
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the family, and Alma helped put them together. Ruppert stayed
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: with the family for a short while before returning upstairs
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to retrieve a. 357 Magnum, two. 22 handguns, and a rifle.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: He intended to head to a shooting range to spend
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: his day, but as he was leaving, his brother asked him,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: How's the Volkswagen? Ruppert took this as an insult, as
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Leonard Jr. 's comments reminded him of his own failure
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: to lead a successful life like his brother. Instead of
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: leaving for the shooting range as planned, Ruppert made a
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: split-second decision that not only altered the trajectory of his
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: life forever, but also robbed 11 people of their lives.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: At 6 p.m., Charity, Leonard, Alma, their son David, and
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: daughters Tessa and Carol, who were in the kitchen, became
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Ruppert's first victims as he fired off several shots in
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: rapid succession, hitting all of them in the chest, except
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: for his mother, whom he shot in the head as
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: she jumped at him to try and prevent him from
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: killing anyone else. He then moved to the living room
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: where he shot his niece Anne, Leonard III, Michael, and John.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: After his initial shots, Ruppert went around and shot everyone
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: several more times to make sure that they were dead.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: After the initial shooting, And if people were moaning and
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: groaning still, he shot them in the head.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: The entire ordeal took less than five minutes with Ruppert
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: only stopping in the middle to reload. All in all,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: he fired 44 shots out of which 40 hit the victims.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: After making sure that everyone was dead, Ruppert sat with
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: his family's dead bodies for three hours, contemplating suicide, but
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: decided that since it was a mortal sin, He did
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: not want it to be his last act. After three hours,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: he decided to make a 911 call. He told the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: 911 dispatcher that there has been a shooting.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: As his relatives took their last breaths around him, Rupert
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: sat on the couch. He waited there for three to
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: four hours before he called police to tell them someone's
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: been shot.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: When officers arrived at the scene a few minutes later,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Rupert greeted them at the front door. At first glance,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the officers did not suspect that anything sinister was waiting
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: for them beyond the front door since Ruppert, with his
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: short stature and thick black framed glasses, did not fit
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: into the usual description of a murderer. As the officers
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: entered the house, they were in for the shock of
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: a lifetime. One of the responding officers also reported that
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: he had never seen anything like the crime scene before
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: him and that he had to rush to the side
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: to throw up. There was so much blood on the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: floors that it had seeped through the wooden floorboards and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: was dripping into the basement. There was no sign of
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: struggle inside the house except for an overturned trash can,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: indicating that because the family had not expected this, they
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: did not have enough time to react. As the Hamilton
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Police Department was made aware of the shocking discovery, they
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: immediately covered the area with police tape as people began
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: to gather around. The small community that had known the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Ruppert family as a loving family was taken by surprise
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: at the tragedy and was even more horrified to find
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: that the helpful and modest man they had known their
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: whole lives was behind the murders. The first body to
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: leave the house was of little John, with his sneaker
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: peeking out of the sheet drawn over him. Dread began
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: to fill everyone as one by one. Eleven stretchers were
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: brought out of the house, all carrying the now dead
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: members of the Ruppert family.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: Sight was in two rooms of a modest two-story Hamilton home,
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: where James Rupert lived with his mother. In two rooms,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: eleven bodies, including Rupert's mother, Rupert's brother, his brother's wife,
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: and their eight children, the oldest seventeen, the youngest, a
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: four-year-old boy.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Rupert was arrested on the counts of eleven aggravated homicides.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Despite being known as a demure but helpful man, Rupert
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: remained uncooperative with the officers. and refused to answer any
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: of their questions. Investigators struggled to find a motive since
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the suspect in custody refused to say anything. During the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: initial questioning, it was made clear by Ruppert that he
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: planned on pleading insanity. The prosecutors believed that Ruppert planned
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: on taking advantage of the $ 300, 000 worth of inheritance left
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: by both his brother and mother in the form of
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: their properties and assets. By pleading guilty, he would serve
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: time at a court-appointed facility before being released and getting
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: hold of the inheritance. This case led to two high-profile trials.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: During the initial trial, Ruppert admitted to killing his family
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: but pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. Ruppert was represented
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: by Hugh D. Holbrock, who became so dedicated to the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: case that he even personally funded the hiring of psychiatrists
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: and psychologists from all over the country and to testify
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: in favor of Ruppert's insanity plea. Two psychiatrists who were
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: brought on by his defense team concluded that Ruppert suffered
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: from paranoia and delusions of persecution that were brought on
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: by the beatings he had endured during his early life
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: at the hands of his brother. This is why, they argued,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: he had been unable to control his actions at the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: time of the crime. Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. Lester Grinspoon
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: argued supplied his expert opinion claiming that if more people
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: were present in the house, Ruppert might have killed them
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: as well, pushing the narrative that Ruppert did not have
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: a solid motive other than insanity.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: After the slaughter, James Ruppert changed his clothes and called
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: the cops. He was charged and tried for 11 murders.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: His attorneys said he killed during a psychotic rage. They
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: said he was insane.
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: Along those same lines, doctor, isn't it true that You
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: have no way of telling the court what Mr. Rupert's
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: ability to rationally discuss the case with his attorneys, to
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: rationally assist in the preparation of a defense would be
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: if he were not under the effect of either a
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: major tranquilizer such as Thorazine or Trilophon at this time.
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: Isn't that right?
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: I have no specific way of telling that other than
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: to say that during the course of my examination with him,
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: he was able at that time and under that condition
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: with that dosage of medication to rationally confer with me
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: and talk to me about what had happened.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: At the same time, the prosecution argued that Ruppert planned
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: to misuse the insanity plea to inherit the $ 300, 000 inheritance.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: He murdered his family.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: To collect his brother's $ 300, 000.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: Or so in life insurance.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: That's what I think.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: That's what I think the evidence showed, and that's.
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: What I believe.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Instead of having his case presented in front of a jury,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Ruppert decided to have his case tried in front of
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: three judges. However, he was incorrectly told that all three
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of the judges would have to agree unanimously on a decision.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Two out of the three judges found Ruppert sane and
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: convicted him on 11 counts of aggravated murder. he was
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: sentenced to serve 11 consecutive life sentences. During 1975, the
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: United States had banned the death penalty, saving Ruppert from
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: being given a death sentence. The third Hamilton County judge,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Fred Kramer, however, found Ruppert insane. Between the years 1977
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: and 1978, The Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that there
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: had been a mistrial since the judges did not know
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: whether they needed to unanimously agree on a decision or
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: have a majority rule. Ruppert was granted another trial that
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: was determined to be held in Findlay, Ohio, since it
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: was deemed that he could not receive a fair trial
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: in the city of Hamilton. On July 23, 1975, the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: new trial began where Ruppert and his defense team once
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: again argued for the insanity plea. However, the prosecution led
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: by John Holcomb brought forward 29 witnesses and presented 200
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: exhibits in court, successfully building a different line of reasoning.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: He argued that his inquiry into the silencers, practicing his shooting,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: and talking about his mother as a problem that needed
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: to be resolved were all pointing towards the fact that
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: this mass murder was a carefully plotted crime, especially given
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the fact that the shooting had been carried out at
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: a time when the church bells had begun ringing, hence
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: drowning out the noise from the gunshots, preventing anyone from
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: calling the authorities. He went on to say that Ruppert
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: planned on aiming for the insanity plea because that would
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: ensure that he would be sent to the Lima, a
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: state mental hospital where he would eventually be declared sane.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: This would allow him to easily inherit the $ 300, 000 worth
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: of inheritance left behind by Leonard and Charity, which he
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: would not be able to do if he was convicted
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: of murder. Based on the prosecution's convincing argument, Ruppert was
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: once again sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences. A few
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: years later, in 1982, on appeal, Ruppert was granted another trial,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: where his defense attorney was able to convince the jury
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: to grant him an insanity plea. Ruppert was charged with
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: two counts of first-degree murder for his brother and mother,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: but found not guilty for the remaining nine counts of
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: murder by reason of insanity. The only family member to
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: attend the trial was Alma's mother, Edna Allgaier. She blamed
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Ruppert for 13 deaths, including her husband, who took his
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: own life three years after the incident on Easter Day.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: as well as a juror who collapsed during the trial
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and died of a heart attack. When Edna passed away,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: her headstone proclaimed that she was preceded by eight grandchildren.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: At the age of 48, Ruppert was incarcerated by the
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction at the Franklin Medical
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Center in Columbus. Thirteen years later, at the age of 61,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Ruppert was granted another parole hearing by the state parole board,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: but was denied release. He was granted two more parole hearings.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: one in 2005 and another one in 2015. During all
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: of these parole hearings, he was denied release. During his
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: last hearing in 2015, the Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institutional Parole Board
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: released a statement that indicated that Ruppert was not suitable
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: for release due to his negative institutional conduct as well
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: as a strong community objection to his release. Seven years later,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Ruppert died at the age of 88 of natural causes,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: having spent 47 years in prison.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: A man who shot and killed 11 family members on
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Easter 1975 has died. James Ruppert died over the weekend
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: at Franklin Medical Center in Columbus at the age of 88.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: The Hamilton Journal News says that he died of natural causes.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: The Ruppert family was buried in Arlington Memorial Garden in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: A year after the heinous mass murder, the house was
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: opened up to the public. The Ruppert family's belongings were
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: auctioned off, and the hardwood floors were covered with a
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: carpet in places where bloodstains were harder to remove. The
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: house was rented to a family who was unaware of
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: the house's history. As soon as they found out, they
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: moved out, complaining of hearing strange voices and other unexplained noises.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: To this day, the house remains occupied. Even today, The
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Easter Sunday Massacre is remembered as one of the deadliest
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: family massacres in America. A book called The Easter Sunday Massacre,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: A Prosecutor's Diary, The True Story of Mass Murderer James Ruppert,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: written by the lead prosecutor John's daughter-in-law, Karen Holcomb was
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: published with the help of his notes left behind after
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: his death.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Karen Holcomb first became familiar with this case in the
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: 1990s when she was a reporter for the Journal News.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: She didn't know at the time that her coverage would
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: lead to her marrying the prosecutor's son and decades later
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: taking her late father-in-law's words and crafting them into a
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: book that details the trauma left behind after this tragedy.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: What did you think of the case? Do you think
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Ruppert was eligible for the insanity plea? Or do you
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: think that this was an elaborate plan that he had
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: come up with? after deciding that he was finally done
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: accepting the abuse he had endured his entire life? Share
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: your thoughts in the comments below. If you want more
• 19:57
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• 20:02
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• 20:04
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