NICKEL MINES, Pennsylvania• The truck driver who slaughtered five Amish schoolgirls in this US farm town meant to molest them first and confessed to sexually preying on young relatives 20 years ago, police said Tuesday.
Suicidal killer Charles Roberts, 32, was haunted by his abusive past, “angry with God”, hated himself over the death of an infant daughter and dreamed of molesting again, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said. The sordid revelations came hours after two Amish girls aged seven and eight died of their wounds after they were shot “execution-style” in the head in the rampage which shattered the idyllic rural village on Monday.
Their passing brought the death toll to five in the third fatal shooting in a US school in a week. Five more girls from the peace-loving Amish community were still battling for life after the attack.
Roberts took wood, latches and a common sex lubricant to the one-room Pennsylvania schoolhouse, indicating intent to restrain and molest the schoolgirls before killing them, Miller said.
“With the kind of wood and I-bolts and flex cuffs and KY Jelly and other things ... it’s very possible that he intended to victimize these children in many ways prior to executing them and killing himself,” said the police chief. “The KY Jelly has no exact reason other than the potential for a sexual assault.”
Roberts confessed to the past sexual assaults in a cellphone call to his wife minutes before the slaughter, Miller said.
“He said ‘I am not coming home,’ and he states ‘I molested some minor family members that were three or four years old, 20 years ago’,” Miller said. Roberts would have about 12 at the time. “It’s unknown what type of molestation—whether it was fondling, or inappropriate touching or sexual assault or if anything occurred, we don’t know.”
“In his suicide note, he mentioned he was having dreams of molesting again,” Miller said. There was no evidence schoolhouse victims were molested before they were cut down in a hail of bullets which ended when Roberts turned the gun on himself.
In new details which emerged Tuesday, Miller said a nine-year-old managed to escape before Roberts started shooting.
The killer’s wife said he was also traumatized by the loss of an infant daughter Elise who lived for just 20 minutes after she was born prematurely in 1997. “Roberts was angry with God for taking (her) as outlined in the suicide note,” Miller said.
The seven-year-old victim died after being removed from life support at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a spokesman said. Police said the other girl died in a hospital in Delaware state.
The tragic roll-call of the dead includes Naomi Rose Eversole, 7; Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12; Marian Fisher, 13; Mary Liz Miller, 8; and her sister Lina Miller, 7.
Three girls, aged eight, 10 and 12, underwent surgery for gunshot wounds at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, and remained in critical condition.
Two survivors at the Hershey Medical Center were a six-year-old in critical condition and a 13-year-old listed in serious condition, according to spokesman Sean Young.
Hospital authorities said family members had requested no new condition updates be given to the media.
President George W. Bush said in California he and wife Laura were “saddened and deeply concerned” like other Americans over a recent string of school shootings in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wisconsin.
“We grieve with the parents and we share the concerns of those who worry about safety in schools,” he said, adding his government was planning talks on school safety next week. US President George W Bush was “deeply saddened and troubled” by a shooting Monday at a Pennsylvania schoolhouse that left at least three girls dead, the White House said. Bush ordered cabinet officials to find ways for the government to help in the aftermath of recent school shootings, said Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman.
