:Stephen Marshall (murderer)
{{Short description|American-Canadian vigilante (1985–2006)}}
{{for|another murderer called Stephen Marshall|Murder of Jeffrey Howe}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Stephen Marshall
| image = Stephen Marshall.jpeg
| birth_name = Stephen Alexander Marshall
| birth_date = {{birth date|1985|8|9}}
| birth_place = Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2006|4|16|1985|8|9}}
| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_cause = Suicide by firearm
| known_for = Murdering convicted sex offenders
| motive = Undetermined{{cite news |last1=Tutton |first1=Michael |title=Police report casts new light on man who shot sex offenders |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/police-report-casts-new-light-on-man-who-shot-sex-offenders/article4112613/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=3 November 2006 |language=en-CA}} vigilantism{{Cite web|title=How Sex Offender Registries Can Result in Vigilante Murder|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-sex-offender-registries-can-result-in-vigilante-murder/|access-date=2021-11-23|website=Vice.com|date=28 March 2018 |language=en}}
| date = April 16, 2006
| targets = Maine inhabitants on the sex offender registry
| victims = 2 (Joseph Gray and William Elliott, both convicted sex offenders)
| country = United States
| states = Maine
| weapons = .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol
.22 caliber handgun
Colt AR-15-style rifle (all stolen from father)
| apprehended = Committed suicide before apprehension
}}
Stephen Alexander Marshall (August 9, 1985 – April 16, 2006) was a 20-year-old American-Canadian man who travelled from Nova Scotia to Maine with the intention of shooting and killing convicted sex offenders in an act of vigilantism. Using the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders retrieved through searching publicly available sex offender registries in the United States, Marshall drove to the houses of two convicted sex offenders and killed them, before taking his own life in Boston, Massachusetts as police were stopping the bus he was on.
Early life
Stephen Alexander Marshall was born on August 9, 1985,{{cite web |title=Stephen Alexander Marshall in the Texas, U.S., Birth Index, 1903-1997 |website=Ancestry.com | url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20306370:8781 |access-date=30 April 2024 |url-access=registration }} in Fort Worth, Texas,{{cite news |last1=Tutton |first1=Michael |title=N.S. man who shot 2 pulled gun on U.S. teen; Shot two Americans listed on sex-registry At 15, made threats with rifle in Idaho |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/438962903 |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=Toronto Star |date=20 April 2006|id={{ProQuest|438962903}} }} to parents Ralph Arthur Marshall and Margaret Malia Diekelmann. Marshall moved with his family to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia when he was a child. His parents divorced in 1996. In 1999, Marshall moved to Culdesac, Idaho, with his father, Ralph, who served three years as mayor. Marshall was charged with aggravated assault when he was 15, in April 2001, after he brought an AR-15 rifle onto his lawn where two teenagers were fighting. While his father went to live in Arizona, and later Maine, Marshall moved back to his mother's home in Cape Breton during the summer of 2003.{{Cite news|date=2006-04-20|title=Slaying suspect had past brush with violence|language=en-CA|work=The Globe and Mail|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/slaying-suspect-had-past-brush-with-violence/article707045/|access-date=2021-11-23}} He attempted to enlist in the Army, but was rejected because of his asthma.{{Cite web|author=David Sharp|agency=Associated Press|title=Police documents shed light on Maine sex offender killer|url=https://www.timesargus.com/news/police-documents-shed-light-on-maine-sex-offender-killer/article_8df32109-7d40-5bdd-81cb-20f9d0ce9239.html|access-date=2021-11-23|website=Times Argus|date=4 November 2006 |language=en}}
Killings
Out of 34 sex offenders listed on the Maine registry, Marshall took down the information on 29 of them.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}
On April 13, 2006, Marshall left his North Sydney (now part of Cape Breton Regional Municipality) home in Nova Scotia, driving to visit Houlton, Maine, where his father lived.{{cite news |last1=Woodbury |first1=Jeff |title=Retracing Stephen Marshall's Steps - Filling In The Gaps |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/portland-press-herald/146350679/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=Portland Press Herald |date=26 April 2006}} During his trip, Marshall's car broke down in Sackville, New Brunswick, so he called for his father to pick him up.{{cite news |title=2006-10-18 (Segment 001) |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/190718805 |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=CBC Television |date=18 October 2006|id={{ProQuest|190718805}} }} On the night of April 15, Marshall stole his father's Toyota pickup truck as well as three of his firearms: a .45 automatic handgun,{{cite news |last1=Kesich |first1=Gregory D. |title=Motive may have died with killer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/portland-press-herald/146351818/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=Portland Press Herald |date=19 May 2006 |page=8 |language=en}} a .22 caliber handgun ,{{cite news |last1=Kesseli |first1=Doug |title=Plastic bag of bullets helps lead police to killer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bangor-daily-news/146351555/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=The Bangor Daily News |date=18 April 2006 |location=Bangor |page=10 |language=en}} as well as a Colt AR-15-style rifle.{{cite news |last1=McCausland |first1=Stephen |title=Police fail to uncover motive |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sun-journal/146351703/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=Sun Journal |date=20 May 2006 |page=2 |language=en}} Marshall began by driving on Interstate 95 towards the houses of registered sex offenders in LaGrange, some of which he passed, though he continued towards Milo, where, according to police, he likely drove on State Route 16. Throughout the multiple Milo residences of sex offenders that he drove by, Marshall chose the home of 57-year-old Joseph Gray, who, at around 3 a.m. on April 16, was shot and killed through his front window. Marshall had shot and killed Gray while he was sleeping in his living room. Grays wife woke up to their dogs barking. Gray had fallen asleep to watching Forensic Files prior to his killing.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Later that morning, at 8:15 a.m.,Marshall arrived at a mobile home in Corinth, resided by 24-year-old registered sex offender William Elliott, and knocked on his door. After Elliot answered, Marshall fatally shot him repeatedly before fleeing, though not without having the license plate of his father's truck recorded by Elliott's girlfriend.{{cite news|title=A vigilantes' charter? The bitter legacy of Megan's Law|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-vigilantes-charter-the-bitter-legacy-of-megans-law-405254.html|work=The Independent|date=24 June 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925171319/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-vigilantes-charter-the-bitter-legacy-of-megans-law-405254.html|archivedate=25 September 2015}}
Marshall drove his father's truck to Bangor and abandoned it as well as the rifle that he brought with him. At 1:45 p.m., he boarded a bus headed for Boston, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) were later notified about Marshall potentially being a passenger by Maine State Police,{{cite news |title=Police say suspected gunman had no prior criminal record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe/146355965/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=The Boston Globe |date=18 April 2006 |page=19 |language=en}} who helped replace the bus after breaking down around Lewiston a few hours earlier. Shortly before arriving at the South Station in Boston at 8:15 p.m., Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police stopped the bus and boarded it. Before he could be apprehended, Marshall shot himself in the head and died later that night at Boston Medical Center. At the time of his death, Marshall was deemed a person of interest for the shootings.{{cite news |title=Cape Breton man wanted for questioning in Maine murders shoots himself |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cape-breton-man-wanted-for-questioning-in-maine-murders-shoots-himself-1.572859 |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=CBC News |date=17 April 2006}} Later investigation of the laptop he had brought with him indicated that he had gone to the residences of four other sex offenders.{{cite news |last1=Hench |first1=David |title=Computer may hold clues to killings; Investigators will analyze the laptop found with Stephen Marshall, who police say killed two sex offenders, then himself |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/277305303 |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=Portland Press Herald |date=20 April 2006|id={{ProQuest|277305303}} }}
= Casualties =
- Joseph Gray, 57 (convicted of raping a child under 14)
- William Elliott, 24 (convicted of the statutory rape of his girlfriend, who was days away from her 16th birthday, when he was 19){{Cite web |title=Sex Offender Registries: Putting Lives At Risk? |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1855771&page=1 |access-date=2023-03-05 |website=ABC News |language=en}}
Aftermath
After his suicide, authorities investigated his computer. They found an animation of Jesus armed with an assault rifle while knocking on someone's door. Marshall’s laptop had folders with information downloaded from sex offender registries, the documents show. Marshall left some of his belongings at his father's house which included a camouflage backpack with survival gear and three books, "Art of War," "SAS Survival Guide" and a Bible. The killings shocked friends, family and acquaintances of Marshall, who was described as kind and quiet. Though he was described as quiet and reserved, Marshall lashed out at least once, threatening to kill his stepfather when he criticized Marshall for losing a job at a call center, his mother told investigators. His father, Ralph Marshall, reported that his son was planning to move to Maine. Ralph also said that they'd driven around looking at homes just days before the killings. His father also noted that Marshall became a Christian, though he said it was just a week before the killings. At one point Marshall told his mother that he referred to pedophiles as “low lifes” and "scums of the Earth".
Similar incidents
In 2003, 56-year-old Lawrence Trant committed arson attacks against the residences of seven registered sex offenders and attacked another one by stabbing him with a kitchen knife in Concord, New Hampshire.{{cite news |last1=Hunter |first1=Gary |title=Ex Con "Helps Police" by Trying to Murder Sex Offenders |url=https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2004/jun/15/ex-con-helps-police-by-trying-to-murder-sex-offenders/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=Prison Legal News |date=15 June 2004}} During an interview with the Bangor Daily News, Trant, then-imprisoned at New Hampshire State Prison, said "I understand perfectly why he did it" in regards to Marshall's shootings.{{cite news |title=N.H. felon 'understands' killer's motivation |url=https://www.fosters.com/story/news/local/2006/05/21/n-h-felon-understands-killer/53095802007/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=Foster's Daily Democrat |date=21 May 2006}}
On August 27, 2005,{{cite news |last1=Blankinship |first1=Donna Gordon |title=Man held in sex offender killings, says he found victims on Web |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/man-held-in-sex-offender-killings-says-he-found-victims-on-web/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=The Seattle Times |date=6 September 2005}} almost one year prior to Marshall's murders, 35-year-old Michael Anthony Mullen from Washington state used the Whatcom County's digital sex offender database to shoot and kill two convicted child rapists: 49-year-old Hank Eisses and 68-year-old Victor Vasques. Mullen gained entry to both of their homes by pretending to be an FBI agent.{{cite news |title=Prison death of sex offenders' killer is investigated as a suicide |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/prison-death-of-sex-offenders-killer-is-investigated-as-a-suicide/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=The Seattle Times |date=24 April 2007}} After Mullen admitted to the murders,{{cite news |title=Man Claims Child Rapist Murders - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-claims-child-rapist-murders/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=CBS News |date=6 September 2005}} he received a prison sentence of over 44 years after two second-degree murder were pled guilty by him.{{cite news |title=Police investigate sex offender slayings |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12346578 |access-date=30 April 2024 |work=NBC News |date=17 April 2006 |language=en}} Mullen died in prison on April 15, 2007.
Cultural depictions
In 2018, filmmaker Marc Bisaillon released With Love (L'Amour), a thriller film inspired by Marshall's case.[https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/cinema/540076/marc-bisaillon-au-dela-du-fait-divers "Marc Bisaillon, au-delà du fait divers"]. Le Devoir, October 29, 2018.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130911001508/http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/avengingangel/ CBC article]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Stephen}}
Category:American emigrants to Canada
Category:21st-century American murderers
Category:Criminals from Fort Worth, Texas
Category:Male murder–suicide perpetrators
Category:Murder–suicides in the United States
Category:People from North Sydney, Nova Scotia
Category:Suicides by firearm in Massachusetts
Category:Vigilantism against sex offenders in the United States