(2 of 6)
If John Allen Muhammad is convicted of these crimes, it will be a grim epilogue to a life spent groping for a narrative. First in the military and then in two marriages, Muhammad, a man who could be by turns charming and stern, seemed to find contentment just out ofreach. And each time he faced a loss, he would fight back--frantically, mercilessly--for control. Two ex-wives have accused him of taking their children over the years. A court granted one of his ex-wives a permanent restraining order after he allegedly threatened to kill her. Acquaintances say he manipulated those around him--none more so, it may turn out, than young Malvo.
It is unusual for serial killers to find partners. "In all the notorious serial or spree killings in the U.S., 20% or less are duos," says N.G. Berrill, a forensic psychiatrist who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "It's hard for them to find someone who shares the vision." But as a pair, the killers may have operated like one mind. "When we do see duos," Berrill says, the second person is "emotionally dominated by the person whose vision they're acting out."
Muhammad--then named John Allen Williams--tried on his first identity in his hometown of Scotlandville, a Mississippi River community in Baton Rouge, La. In high school he was a top football player, says James Johnson, an alumnus of the school who worked with the booster club. "I remember him as a good team player." After graduating in 1978, Williams enlisted in the Louisiana Army National Guard, working as a carpenter and welder in a unit that repaired buildings. Three years later, he married his high school sweetheart, Carol Kaglear, and they had a son, Lindbergh, whom he liked to show off to co-workers. "He had a million-dollar smile and was very outgoing," says Rafael Miranda, Muhammad's commander at the time. "I thought he was going to get promoted and maybe become a platoon sergeant."
Quickly, though, the well-ordered lifeshowed signs of strain. In 1982 he wasfined $100 for failing to show up forduty and was demoted one rank. In 1983 hewas fined again, this time for hitting anoncommissioned officer. "I saw flashes of anger," Miranda remembers. "Something was going on in his personal life."
In 1985 Muhammad made what would be one of many radical breaks from his life. He separated from Carol Williams, converted to Islam, left the National Guard and joined the Army. The job change even cut him loose from his hometown, sending him to Fort Lewis, Wash. Three years later, Muhammad had completely reinvented himself. He married Mildred Green, who had followed him from Louisiana. Both became members of the Nation of Islam and attended a Seattle mosque.
In 1990 Muhammad was sent abroad, first to Germany and then to the Middle East to support the Persian Gulf War. As part of a combat-engineer unit, it was Muhammad's job to help destroy bunkers at a military sitelater found to have stored chemical weapons. Although there is no conclusive evidence that the soldiers suffered ill health effects, the Pentagon did acknowledge in 1996 that soldiers from some units, including Muhammad's, may have been exposed to low levels of chemical agents. In 1992 he was sent back to the States.