NIU Needs Answers

NIUFilter will be a regular segment on this blog that attempts to sift through the reams of information one can acquire on the web surrounding this tragedy, so click away, the links are meant to enhance your knowledge.

There has been a lot of news on this topic lately, hopefully this will help you figure out the truth. Today’s subject: Kazmierczak. What do we know so far?

On its face, it may seem like we don’t know much, but we have actually come a long way since we first learned his name. We have found out he was on medication, Prozac, Ambien, and Xanax, and that he stopped taking Prozac shortly before the shooting. Something that experts say is rarely, if ever, linked to violence. Still, this is being floated as one possible motive.

We have heard from friends who characterized his relationship with Jessica Baty as a rocky and abusive one. Baty, and others who knew them, seemed to refute this. She indicated they not only lived together but spoke the night before the shooting. Those who knew him said that this incident didn’t seem to fit with the person they knew. But we also know he had a troubled mental history.

And then we heard that Baty hasn’t exactly been cooperating with the investigation, though police have two packages she received from Kazmierczak. She provided police with information that her boyfriend had been acting “erractically” before the shooting, information she contradicted in an interview with CNN. His behavior seems to confirm her original assertion; we have heard he had become inexplicably secretive with his computer, had gained an interest in guns in recent years, and had a Champaign artist recently design and complete several disturbing tattoos.

We also know Kazmierczak enlisted in the Army in September 2001, though he received an unspecified discharge six months later, he did complete basic training and probably AIT, which means he was fully trained. According to secondary sources, Kazmierczak stated the discharge was psychological.

There was a bizarre check-in and check out at the DeKalb Best Western, a check out that apparently occurred after Kazmierczak received a phone call. He then moved over to the Travelodge. There was a laptop with a missing hard drive, a cell phone with a missing data card, and a glued shut duffel bag found in the Travelodge room, steps police say Kazmierczak took to thwart any investigation into his motive. The room was strewn with debris: energy drink cans, empty cigarette cartons, and a fridge stocked with more energy drinks.

So what was his motive? We may never fully know but we can paint a portrait of the killer and try to understand why this happened. The more we know, the closer we may come to an answer.

Tags: champaign, dekalb, kazmierczak, niu, niushooting

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 7:02 pm and is filed under NIUFilter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.