Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966), a student at the University of Texas at Austin, killed 14 people and wounded 32 others during a shooting rampage on and around the university's campus. Three were killed inside the University's tower and ten killed from the 28th floor observation deck of the University's 307 foot administrative building on August 1, 1966; one died a week later from her wounds. The tower massacre happened shortly after Whitman murdered his wife and mother at their homes. He was shot and killed by Austin Police Officer Houston McCoy, assisted by Austin Police Officer Ramiro Martinez.
Charles Whitman grew up in an upper-middle class family headed by a father who owned a successful plumbing contract business in Lake Worth, Florida. Whitman excelled at academics and was well liked by his peers and neighbors. There were underlying dysfunctional issues within the family that escalated in 1966, when the mother left the father and moved to Texas. The elder Whitman was an authoritarian who provided for his family, but demanded near perfection from all of them. He was also known to become physically and emotionally abusive.
His frustrations were complicated by a dysfunctional family, abuse of amphetamines, and health issues including headaches that he reported in one of his final notes as "tremendous." A glioblastoma, which is a highly cancerous brain tumor, was discovered during autopsy that experts on the "Connally Commission" claimed may have conceivably played a role in causing his actions. He was also affected by a court martial as a United States Marine, failings as a student at the University of Texas, ambitious personal expectations and psychotic issues he expressed in his typewritten note left at 906 Jewell Street, Austin, Texas, dated both July 31, 1966 and later by hand "3 A.M., both dead August 1, 1966".
Several months prior to the tragedy, he was summoned to Lake Worth, Florida to pick up his mother who was filing for divorce from his father. The stress endured by the break-up of the family became a dominant discussion between Whitman and a psychiatrist at the University of Texas Health Center on March 29, 1966.
Early life
Whitman's father, Charles Adolph Whitman, was raised at the Bethesda School For Boys in Savannah, Georgia. He met his wife, Margaret, in Savannah where they were married. She was a devout Roman Catholic while his religious views were unformed. They eventually moved to Lake Worth, Florida, where he opened a sewage plumbing business and purchased a home on South L Street in Lake Worth. Three sons were born to the Whitmans: Charles, Patrick, and John.
The Whitman children were raised in Lake Worth and attended St. Ann's High School in West Palm Beach. Charles was an extremely intelligent child, scoring 138 on an IQ test at age six. He took five years of piano lessons and was a pitcher on his high school baseball team.
Whitman's childhood neighbors reported that Whitman had a fascination with firearms from a young age. Whitman's father had an extensive firearm collection and taught all of his sons how to shoot, clean and maintain weapons. Charles had been exposed to guns as a young child, and never had any recorded incident of misuse or abuse of firearm use.
All three Whitman children served as altar boys at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, and Whitman chose the Confirmation name Joseph for himself. As a 12-year-old, he was among the youngest in history to achieve Eagle Scout and the first in Lake Worth to do so. When Whitman was 14 and still serving as an altar boy, his Scout leader, Joseph Leduc, completed seminary and served as the priest of Sacred Heart for one month. Leduc, later a confidant of Whitman, was a family friend who had accompanied Whitman and his father on several hunting trips. At the age of 16, Whitman underwent a routine appendectomy and was hospitalized following a motorcycle accident.
Against his father's wishes, Whitman enlisted in the Marines on July 6, 1959. He explained to Fr. Leduc that he had come home drunk several weeks earlier and his father had hit him repeatedly and pushed him into the family's swimming pool. While Whitman was aboard a train headed towards Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, his father telephoned "some branch of Federal Government" in an attempt to have his son's enlistment canceled.
Adult life and family issues
Whitman entered the mechanical engineering program at the University of Texas on September 15, 1961, through a USMC scholarship. His hobbies at this point included karate, scuba diving, and hunting. This last hobby got him into trouble at the University when he was involved in a prank in which he shot a deer, dragged it to his dormitory, and skinned it in his shower. As a result of both this incident and sub-standard grades, Whitman's scholarship was withdrawn in 1963.
In August 1962, Whitman married Kathleen Frances Leissner, another University of Texas student, in a wedding that was held in Leissner's hometown of Needville, Texas, and presided over by Fr. Leduc. The following year, he returned to active duty at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he was both promoted to Lance Corporal and involved in an accident in which his Jeep rolled over an embankment. After rescuing a fellow Marine, Whitman was hospitalized for four days. In November 1962, Whitman was court-martialed for gambling, possessing a personal firearm on base, and threatening another Marine over a $30 loan for which Whitman demanded $15 interest. He was sentenced to 30 days of confinement and 90 days of hard labor and was demoted to the rank of Private.
In December 1964, Whitman was honorably discharged from the Marines and returned to the University of Texas, this time enrolling in the architectural engineering program. Whitman was working as a bill collector for Standard Finance Company and later as a bank teller at Austin National Bank. In January 1965, he had taken a temporary job with Central Freight Lines and worked as a traffic surveyor for the Texas Highway Department. He also volunteered as a Scoutmaster for Austin Scout Troop 5 while Kathy worked as a biology teacher at Lanier High School.
In early 1966, Whitman's mother announced she was obtaining a divorce. Whitman drove to Florida to assist his mother move to Austin, Texas, where she found work in a cafeteria. The move prompted his youngest brother John to leave Lake Worth as well. However his brother Patrick decided to continue living with their father, whose plumbing supply business employed him. Shortly after, John was arrested for throwing a rock through a window and released after paying a $25 fine.
Whitman's father began to telephone Whitman several times a week, pleading with him to convince his mother to return to Lake Worth, but he refused.
Declining health and the University of Texas Health Center
Whitman had visited several University doctors who prescribed various medications, although most of the specific medications are unknown. According to a list compiled by investigating officers, Whitman had seen at least five doctors between the fall and winter of 1965, before a visit with a psychiatrist who gave no prescription.
He was prescribed Valium by Dr. Jan Cochrum, who recommended he visit a campus psychiatrist. Maurice Dean Heatly, a staff psychiatrist at the University of Texas Health Center, met Whitman on March 29, 1966. Whitman spent an hour explaining his frustration with his parents' separation, past military history, uncontrollable feelings of hostility, and his increasing strains at work and school to Heatly. During the session, he made a remark about feeling the urge to "start shooting people with a deer rifle" from the university tower. Heatly noted that Whitman, who never returned, was "oozing with hostility." Whitman mentioned the visit with Heatly in his final suicide notes, saying that the visit was to "no avail".
Although Whitman had been prescribed drugs, and Whitman had a vial containing Dexedrine on his body after his death, the autopsy could not establish if he had consumed any drugs prior to the shooting. Whitman's bodily fluids had been removed and his body embalmed prior to the autopsy, so there was no urine to test for the amphetamines. However, it was revealed during the autopsy that Whitman had a glioblastoma tumor in the hypothalamus region of his brain. Some have theorized that this may have been pressed against the nearby amygdala, which can have an effect on flight responses. This has led some neurologists to speculate that his medical condition was in some way responsible for the attacks, as well as his personal and social frames of reference.
The University of Texas refuses to release the medical records and history of Whitman at the University of Texas citing legal and ethical issues. The only record released was that of Dr. Heatly once it had become known to the press that Whitman had seen a psychiatrist at their facility.
Whitman's journal
After the attacks, a study of Whitman's journal revealed that Whitman lamented that he had acted violently towards Kathy, and that he was resolved both to
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