Saturday, October 23, 2010

Article: Recent ax murder raises questions

10/23/2010
By AMY BICKEL | Special to the Salina Journal

In an unmarked grave in Hutchinson's Eastside Cemetery, townsfolk more than 100 years ago buried five little white caskets -- the result of a gruesome ax murder by their father.

Nearly a half-century later, a similar scenario took place -- the bodies of three small children and their mother found in a Hutchinson home, killed, too, by their father.

And in the wake of the latest murder in this Midwest town of 40,000, questions linger about the life of Wilfrida Masabah, 41, and her estranged husband, 48-year-old Hoseah Masabah Kaminja.

Everyone gets angry with someone occasionally, says Jonathan Pincus, chief of neurology at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Washington and professor of neurology at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

This is why "normal" people don't often commit murder, he said in a phone interview.

Pincus wrote the book "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill?" in 2001.

Typically, Pincus says, a person has three elements in his psyche to commit murder. However, some murderers have two -- a few others, although a rarity, have one.

The elements include being abused physically and/or sexually -- beatings that leave bruises and scars still visible today, Pincus said. Abused children feel powerless and at the mercy of someone else.

Another element is psychiatric illness, such as depression or mania. For example, Pincus said, loss of a loved one, divorce, money problems or a loss of a job can cause a change in mental state.

The third element is neurological damage.

The man in the tower

He gave the example of Charles Whitman, who, in 1966, killed his mother, his wife, and then climbed a University of Texas clock tower and began a killing spree. By the time police had killed him, he had murdered 16 people and wounded 30 others. Pincus said an autopsy revealed a large tumor on Whitman's brain's aggression center -- the frontal lobe.

At the time, Whitman's father said he must not have beaten him enough, Pincus said.

"If a person has all three, they have live wires," Pincus said, but added that doesn't mean a person will commit murder.

Only 20 percent who have all three factors typically kill someone, he said. Mixing alcohol and other drugs with these elements can play a role, as well.

A few cases in Hutchinson back up Pincus' theories.

I wiped out my family

On a warm August afternoon in 1937, George M. Strate stopped by Paul "Dutch" Warner's Hutchinson home to check on his fellow employee who had gone home early from the oil fields near Hays because he was ill.

Hearing Warner's voice, Strate pushed open the screen door to find a horrific site -- four bodies lying on the beds in the family's home. Slowly rising from the floor, the bloodied Warner answered, "I've done it. I must have gone haywire and wiped out my family."

Strate ran from the Warners' to his home a few blocks away and called the Hutchinson police, who arrived on the scene within minutes. What they found was three children dead, as well as Warner's wife. They also found Warner, who had tried to kill himself with the ax, striking it in his head 20 times.

According to stories in The News, Warner went to the doctor the day before he killed his family. A commission of physicians who examined Warner found he had neurosyphilis, an infection of the brain or spinal cord. Bacteria that cause syphilis can cause the condition, which occurs about 10 to 20 years after a person is first infected with syphilis. Symptoms include headaches, confusion, depression, dementia, irritability and mental decline, among others, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The commission declared him insane and sent him to the Lansing prison, where he died about 10 days after the murders from complications of his attempted suicide.

Killed his five children

The earliest case involving an ax dates back to 1899, when a jury found John Moore guilty of murdering his five children, smashing their heads with the ax, then slitting their throats. The children's bodies were put in five white caskets and are buried in unmarked graves in Hutchinson's Eastside Cemetery.

Initially, Moore said rafters must have fallen and hit the children in the head. A jury found him guilty, and Moore later confessed.

Friends and relatives relayed to The News at the time that Moore's father was a "brutal parent who often beat him, including once nearly to death. Moore ran away and never returned."

The news report revealed other traits. Moore was concerned about his wife's brothers, whom he called "semi-criminal kin" who were tough to get along with. He also feared his children would develop traits on his wife's side.

Neighbors also said he was subject to epileptic seizures and for two or three days after the episodes he wouldn't see anyone, instead sitting inside, brooding and morose.

Had only one suspect

In the most recent case, law enforcement officials have released few details.

Kaminja and Masabah were natives of Kenya. Kaminja worked as an occupational therapist and owned an upscale middle-class home in Hutchinson's north end. His father died this summer in Kenya. Kaminja filed for divorce Aug. 23 from his wife, Reno County District Court records show. At the time of the killing, she was living with her boyfriend. The court had issued a temporary restraining order against both parties.

Hutchinson police said this week that their investigation has led to only one suspect in the death of Masabah -- Kaminja, who eventually hanged himself in Las Cruces, N.M., shortly after the murder.

The couple has three children (two adults and one teenager), who all lived with Kaminja.

Ax murders not the norm

According to the FBI, 70 percent of the homicides that occur are committed with firearms. Knives and cutting instruments account for 14.1 percent of all murders.

Axes, however, are not common, said Rick Sabel, special agent inspector with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

"It's really rather unusual," he said. "Routinely, there are stabbings, of course, shootings, obviously, but as far as to bludgeon like that, that is not the norm."

"It's pretty dramatic," he said of using an ax for the weapon. "It shocks the conscience."

More often than not, he said, victims know their killers. According to FBI statistics, more than 75 percent of victims know their killers.

There is a heightened awareness regarding domestic situations, however, Sable said.

"Everyone is struggling a bit," he said of the economic situation. "If someone is in financial straits, loses their job, tempers can flair and frustration can come out."

A breakup leading to divorce also could result in depression, Pincus said.

And for a fleeting moment, killing gives the person a sense of empowerment -- a feeling as if they won.

Pincus, however, stopped short of calling an ax murder more brutal. While there is a perception that makes it seem more horrific, he said all murders are tragic, no matter the weapon.

"It's just a question what you have on hand when you lose it," Pincus said.

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