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146 | 12 Chris and Brett Misguided Chivalry Facts of the case: Twenty-nine years ago, Chris and two codefendants plotted to murder Greg, who they believed was abusing his second wife and their disabled child. Chris committed the actual act of murder. The victim ’s son, Brett, requested a dialogue with his father’s murderer but started and stopped the VVH process many times over several years. Chris and Brett finally met face to face in the prison where Chris was serving time. Although Brett was initially intrigued about participating in my research for this book, he eventually declined to be interviewed. This chapter is based on an interview conducted with Chris in prison, his case note files from VVH, and a discussion with the VVH facilitator who worked with both Chris and Brett in preparation for their face-to-face meeting. The dialogue was not videotaped , at Brett’s request. Five months after an honorable discharge from the navy, at the age of twentythree , Chris brutally stabbed a man to death. Chris has spent the bulk of the twenty-nine years since then behind bars trying to figure out how he was capable of committing such an atrocity. Chris believes that his two codefendants, John and Andrea, manipulated him into carrying out the murder of Greg. Andrea, Greg’s estranged second wife, convinced Chris that she had been severely emotionally, sexually, and physically abused by Greg and that he also was sexually molesting her children . Chris believed at the time that the murder was justified to protect them from further harm, although today he states forcefully, “After having all these years to think about it, I realize that still doesn’t justify murder.” At the time of the murder in 1980, however, Chris felt that he was Andrea’s hero: “I pictured Andrea’s daughter calling me ‘Uncle Chris’ and telling me how much good I had done for the family.” Viewing his violence through that lens is the only way Chris can make sense of his acts during a time when he describes Chris and Brett | 147 himself as having been “naive, gullible, stupid, adventurous, with a warped sense of honor.” Given the social prominence of the victim and the horrific nature of the planned murder, the case was contentious from the start.1 Background Chris was born and raised in the Midwest. He initially described his childhood to me as “normal,” yet as our interview progressed, Chris confided that emotional and physical abuse were common in his family.2 After graduating from high school, Chris joined the navy. Military service was not his first choice, but after he failed the vision test for a state trooper position, his dream of being a police officer ended. Chris experienced some minor trouble while in the navy, going absent without leave a few times and getting busted once for possession of an ounce of marijuana. These infractions did not prevent an honorable discharge, however, and he was even recommended for reenlistment. In fact, Chris was in the process of joining the air force reserves in Delaware at the time of the murder. Nothing in Chris’s juvenile or military background foreshadowed the violence he was to commit. Chris was restless after his discharge from the navy, and after a brief move to Florida, where he had trouble finding work, he and one of his codefendants , John, decided to move to Delaware, where employment prospects seemed rosier than in Florida. Once they arrived in Delaware, John introduced Chris to Andrea, and they began to spend a lot of time together. When Chris needed housing, Andrea let him stay in her basement. Chris was drawn to Andrea. She was flirtatious, although he maintains that they did not have a sexual relationship. Andrea was maternal and seemed genuinely interested in Chris’s well-being; she and her circle of friends became his new family. Both Andrea and John were twelve years older than Chris, and he looked up to them. Chris had felt like he was a misfit all his life, and Andrea made him feel as though he fit in. “I had self-esteem around her. . . . I felt grownup finally. . . . I really thought I found family and acceptance among Andrea and her friends, and I wanted to meet their expectations of me.” Challenging Greg’s cruelty tapped directly into Chris’s desire to be needed and to feel as though he was a protector, especially to women and children. There was a...

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