THE MAKINGS OF A MONSTER

In September 2005, Orlie and Dawn McCool were found dead in their home in the small town of Pineville, Missouri for no apparent reason. The crime scene indicated they’d just returned home from the supermarket because groceries were strewn all over the floor next to their bodies. The position of seventy year-old Orlie McCool’s body being close to the entry, investigators knew the killer had surprised him, and Dawn, whose body had been brutally chewed up from a complete round of bullets, was face down in the hallway.  The killings were so brutal, it was determined to be a crime of passion.

Investigations proved fruitless until the police received a call from Scott King, father of twenty-three year-old Levi who’d just escaped from a half-way house, returned home only to be told he was no longer welcome and was asked to leave. When Scott returned home later that morning, he discovered an Ak47 shotgun, a 9m handgun and a knife were missing from his gun collection, knew Levi had taken them and he thought the authorities should know. 

Thirteen hours later, the Pampa, Texas 911 dispatcher received a call from seven year-old Robin Doan that her entire family had been murdered. Her stepfather, her pregnant mother and her teenage brother. When asked if she’d been hurt she told the dispatcher she had not. She claimed that minutes before when she heard her mother's screams, she crouched down by the door and saw the killer, but got back into bed pretending to be sleeping, and when the killer stopped by her room he fired two shots into the room which she claims whizzed past her head. Now, pretending she was dead, she lay there until he was gone and she felt it was safe to get up, grabbed the phone and walked outside to report the massacre.

Twenty-nine hours later, psychopath, Levi King was apprehended at the Juarez, Mexican border by Border Patrol where he immediately plead guilty. Extradited back to Texas to stand trial in the Lubbock County Courthouse where he was charged with capital murder, he stood stone-faced, showing no emotions whatsoever even as Robin Doan looked directly at him when she testified.  He offered no reason for the killings.

In 2004, Levi agreed to do an interview on The First 48, a CBS television show, where he breaks his silence and tells the viewers why he went on a killing spree.

Levi grew up in the small town of Pineville, Missouri with five siblings. Raised by his father, Scott King, in a house with no amenities, and a father who took out his anger on his family. 

Remembering his past, he admits his psychopathic tendencies began at at age four when he set his sister's bedroom on fire because he was angry with her. These tendencies would continue in a downward spiral.

Growing up with a father who ruled his family with an iron fist, Levi recounts his first encounter with a gun was at age seven when his father told him to get into the truck while he carried a box full of puppies and a shotgun. He said they drove out to an open field where the father dumped the puppies out onto the ground and used them for target practice. Levi said he was so angry, he couldn't even look at his father and there was no way he was going to ride home with him so he ran the two miles back home. 

Three years later, at age ten, he began smoking and drinking, and by age thirteen he was already into taking pills. His behavior continued to worsen abusing the rights of others that soon lead to a jail sentence for burglary and arson for which he received a sentence of fourteen months.

 After his release he was sent to a half-way house where he would later escape and return home. That was when his father rejected him. Angry, he vandalized his father’s house and stole the arsenal that he would use during his killing spree on people he had never seen or knew anything about.

His father's rejection made him so angry, he needed to kill someone to get back at him. He hadn’t planned to kill, despite his mind telling him to do so, and it wasn’t until he saw the McCool’s house that he knew they’d be his target.

During the interview he maintained a smug expression on his face as he recounted the peacefulness he felt after he'd killed the McCool's. And when he was finished, he stole the truck and headed southwest enjoying the calm and peacefulness he felt afterward. That peacefulness would only last for thirteen hours before the anger returned, and that was when he knew he’d never find peace again unless he killed.

Seeing the lone farmhouse on a deserted street void of any surrounding houses, he slated that family to be his next victims. Breaking into the house in the early morning hours while the Conrad family slept, the five months pregnant mother awoke and began screaming and he emptied six bullets into her body. Next would come the husband whom he shot through the temple emptying four bullets into him. Slowly walking down the hall to the other bedrooms, he stopped at Robin’s room, walked inside and fired two bullets into the room. 

Robin would later explain that minutes before, her mother's screaming had woken her and she crouched down by her door and saw him, then quickly got back into bed and pretended to be sleeping.He did fire two shots into her room, but they whizzed past her. His last stop would be her fourteen year-old brother's room who he shot multiple times.

Satisfied he’d killed everyone, he walked out of the house glancing at himself in the mirror along the way and remembered feeling empty, but not remorseful. He got back into his truck and continued his journey knowing if he drove to Mexico,  they would not extradite him. Stopping at the border stop, when asked if he had anything to declare, he informed them he had guns and was given permission to drive through. Thinking he was home free, he found that he'd made a wrong turn and realized he was headed back to Texas where he was apprehended by the Border Patrol.

At the conclusion of the interview, the reporter asked if he was so angry at his father, had he ever thought of killing him? His reply was that he'd thought about it many times, but he did not want his brothers and sister to see their father killed by their brother. When asked if he felt any remorse for his crimes, he smugly replied he did not.

Although the death penalty was on the table, all but one juror agreed and the state was forced to give him life in prison without parole. 

Now, I ask you, do you think the punishment fit the crime? How would you have voted?