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- [00:02]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi Crime House Community. It's Vanessa Richardson looking for another Crime House original podcast to add to your rotation. You will love Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaylin Moore. Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaelyn dig into the world's most notorious crimes, clue by clue. From serial killers to shocking murders. They follow the trail of clues, break down the evidence and debate the theories. It's like hanging out with your smart and true crime obsessed friends. Listen to Clues on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [00:45]
Crime House Announcer
This is Crime House.
- [00:50]
Vanessa Richardson
This week in Crime history, we're digging into two murders that shook the music world to its core. The on the evening of December 8, 1980, a 25 year old former security guard named Mark David chapman fatally shot 40 year old John Lennon in New York City. The brutal killing shocked Lennon's many fans and made Chapman one of the most hated men on earth. Then we'll jump forward 24 years to December 8, 2004, when 38 year old heavy metal guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott was gunned down during a performance in Columbus. Foreign.
- [01:38]
Welcome to True Crime this week part of Crime House Daily. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Every Sunday we'll be revisiting notorious crimes from the coming week in history, from serial killers to mysterious disappearances or murders. Every episode will explore stories that share a common theme. Each week we'll cover two stories, one further in the past and one more rooted in the present here at Crime House. We know none of this would be possible without you, our community. Please support us by rating, reviewing and following Crime House Daily wherever you get your podcasts and for ad free and early access to Crime House Daily. Plus exciting bonus content. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts this week's theme is Music Murders. First. We'll start in 1980 when Mark David Chapman shot and killed former Beatle John Lennon. Chapman had struggled with various forms of mental illness throughout his life. Tragically, by the time he got the help he needed, it was already too late. Then we'll shift to 2004 when 25 year old Nathan Gale killed former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott during a live performance. Once upon a time, Gale had been one of Abbott's biggest fans, but eventually that admiration turned into a deadly obsession. We'll press play on both of these music industry killings coming up.
- [03:11]
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- [04:16]
Vanessa Richardson
December 8, 1980 was a busy day for John Lennon. The 40 year old had achieved superstardom as a founding member of the Beatles after a five year break from the music industry. He released his latest solo album, double fantasy, just three weeks earlier. Now he and 47 year old Yoko Ono, his wife and collaborator, were hard at work promoting the album and recording their next one. That morning, renowned photographer Annie Leibowitz visited Lennon and Ono at their New York home to photograph them for the COVID of Rolling Stone. After that, Lennon had a radio interview with music journalist Dave Scholin, who chatted with him about his career, his family and his thoughts on middle age. Lennon was in a reflective mood. At one point he commented that he hoped he died before Ono because he wouldn't know how to live without her. Then, around 5pm Lennon and Ono left their building, called the Dakota on Manhattan's Upper west side to go to the recording studio. Lennon paused to sign autographs for a few fans outside the building. The couple spent the next several hours working on a new single, a disco track Ono had composed called Walking on Thin Ice. Finally, at around 10:30pm the pair decided to head home. They rode back in a white limo. When the limo pulled up to the curb, Lennon and Ono got out and walked across the sidewalk, heading for the arched entryway. As they were nearing the door, a voice from behind them called out, Mr. Lennon. Lennon turned, expecting to see one of the many fans who often gathered outside his building. Instead, he saw a heavyset man in frosted sunglasses crouched down on one knee, pointing a revolver straight at him. That Man's name was Mark David Chapman and he was about to make history for all the wrong reasons.
- [06:16]
The road that led Chapman to the front door of the Dakota started in Decatur, Georgia in 1955, where his parents had moved shortly after his birth. Although he grew up in a pleasant middle class home, Chapman was an awkward and unathletic kid. This made him an easy target for schoolyard bullies. Chapman spent so much of his childhood feeling powerless that eventually he developed a unique coping mechanism that he called the the Little people. The little people were thousands of tiny imaginary friends who lived in the walls of his bedroom. When he was in a good mood, Chapman would play records for the Little People, usually albums by his favorite band, the Beatles. When he was in a bad mood, he'd hit a pretend button that blew up hundreds of little people at a time. As Chapman got older though, he left the little people behind for a different coping mechanism. Drugs. Chapman was a teenager during the late 1960s when young people all over America were experimenting with a wide variety of new mind altering substances. And Chapman tried them all. He smoked pot, did LSD and injected heroin. He also found a new group of friends who shared his interests and they regularly skipped school to do drugs together. Before long, Chapman was growing out his hair and disobeying his parents at every turn. His rebellious streak eventually culminated in Chapman running away from home to live on the streets of Miami beach with a group of hippies for a couple of weeks. But his drug fueled adventure came to an end when the group allegedly stole his wallet and abandoned him in the middle of the night. After that, a broke, humiliated Chapman took a bus back home to Decatur. Some experts believe that Chapman's heavy use of psychedelic drugs, which he began doing at age 14, may have permanently damaged his brain. But at the time, it just seemed like a phase. And not long after his disastrous trip to Miami, Chapman found a much more wholesome hobby. Jesus.
- [08:27]
In 1971, 16 year old Chapman attended a prayer meeting held by a traveling evangelist. This experience with the gospel inspired Chapman to turn his life around. After the meeting, he gave up drugs and became a born again Christian. And eventually his new friends helped him get a job as a summer camp counselor at the local ymca. It was here that Chapman finally seemed to find his calling. In fact, he was so good with the kids that at the end of the summer, the YMCA gave him an award. After graduating from high school in 1973, Chapman continued his work with the YMCA. He even traveled to Lebanon to work at a youth camp there. Later, he returned to the US to help out at a YMCA program for children of Vietnamese refugees in Arkansas. At some point he also started dating a girl he met through his church and later followed her to Tennessee, where they enrolled at the same Christian university. Chapman had two other formative experiences during this happy phase in his life. One came when a friend introduced him to J.D. salinger's book the Catcher in the Rye. The popular novel published in the 1950s, tells the story of an angry teenager named Holden Caulfield who runs away to New York City in an act of rebellion against the so called phonies at his elite prep school. Chapman, who'd also been a rebellious runaway at one point became a big fan of the novel, which he read and reread throughout his life. The other formative moment came in 1971 when John Lennon released his solo single Imagine. Chapman's Christian community took issue with some of the lyrics, particularly the line imagine no religion. This, along with a comment that Lennon made in an interview claiming that the Beatles were more more popular than Jesus, led Chapman to turn against his once favorite musician. It must have been disappointing for Chapman, but luckily for him he had plenty of support. Until he decided to blow it all up, that is.
- [10:39]
In 1975, Chapman's wholesome life began to falter. The 20 year old cheated on his girlfriend with a counselor he knew from his YMCA days. The stress of keeping the secret overwhelmed him with guilt. Soon he began suffering from depression and fell behind on his studies. By the end of the semester, he dropped out of school. Not long after his girlfriend left him. Chapman moved back home to Decatur and took another job at the ymca. But within a month he got into an argument with one of his supervisors and quit. At that point he took a deep dead end job as a security guard. He was growing more and more irritable and alienated. All of Chapman's old friends were traveling the world doing great things and he was stuck in his hometown, going nowhere. Then one day, Chapman found a map of Hawaii at a local library. Soon he was obsessed with the tropical paradise he spent his time dreaming of visiting. Until eventually he decided to put that dream into action. In January 1977, 21 year old Chapman used his life savings of $1,200, about $6,500 in today's money, to buy a plane ticket to Honolulu and five nights at a luxury hotel on Waikiki Beach. But he'd bought himself a one way ticket because Chapman didn't intend to return to Georgia. He he was going to live it up until he ran out of money and then he was going to die by suicide.
- [12:20]
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- [13:25]
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- [13:55]
Vanessa Richardson
Audio.
- [13:59]
In 1975, 20 year old Mark David Chapman began to spiral. He dropped out of school, his girlfriend left him and he wound up back in his hometown of Decatur, Georgia. He was extremely depressed and felt like his best days were behind him. So two years later, in January 1977, the 21 year old spent his life savings on a one way ticket to Hawaii. He planned to spend five nights in a luxury hotel and then die by suicide. But when he got to Hawaii, Chapman fell in love with the island and eventually he decided that life was worth living. However, that came with its own set of challenges.
- [14:43]
After his money ran out, Chapman spent the next few months living on the streets, begging from tourists or working the occasional odd job to get by. But this lifestyle took a Toll. And before long, Chapman was more depressed than ever. In May 1977, he attempted to die by suicide, but failed. When Chapman regained consciousness, he took this as a sign that God wanted him to live. So he drove to a nearby mental health facility and checked himself in. Chapman spent a week on suicide watch at the facility before his conditions started to improve. Soon he was playing the guitar and singing to patients to help cheer them up. By the time he was discharged, he'd made so many friends with the staff that they offered him a job as a maintenance worker. And so he rented a room from a local minister and started to build a new life for himself in Hawaii. Things were going well for Chapman, but he still craved adventure. Luckily, by 1978, the 23 year old had saved up enough money to plan a trip around the world. World. He worked with a local travel agent named Gloria Abe to organize a six week vacation. Chapman and Gloria met up regularly while ironing out the details of the trip. And by the time he left, they'd formed a friendship. They stayed in touch while he was off traveling, and when he returned to Hawaii, they started dating. In January of 1979, two years after he came to Hawaii intending to die by suicide, 23 year old Chapman proposed to 28 year old Gloria. They were married a few months later, on June 2nd. Mark David Chapman had made the most of his second chance. And now he had it all. A good job, a wife, and a home in the island paradise of Hawaii. But over the next 18 months, it would all fall apart.
- [16:46]
Not long after the wedding, Chapman took a new job in the print shop at the mental hospital. And while this position paid better, it also meant he spent most of his days all alone in the shop. And Chapman didn't do well when he was left alone with his thoughts for long periods of time. Soon he began to grow angry and irritable. One day he snapped and got into a shouting match with one of the nurses at the hospital, which ended with him getting fired. But Chapman didn't just sabotage his own career. He also picked a fight with Gloria's boss at the travel agency, then forced her to quit. Now that they were both out of work, Chapman had to take the first job he could find. That wound up being a position as a security guard at a luxury apartment building. The pay wasn't great, and even worse, he worked nights, which meant he had even less human contact than before. To cope, Chapman began drinking heavily, both on and off the job. The isolation and binge drinking sent Chapman's mental health into a downward Spiral. He made harassing phone calls to former co workers and repeatedly got into tussles with a group of Hare Krishnas on the streets of Honolulu. By the fall of 1979, things were so bad that Chapman reunited with some friends he hadn't talked to since childhood. The little people. He spent hours a day consulting with them about how to get his life back on track. This led Chapman into all kinds of strange obsessions and fixations. For a few months, he borrowed cash to buy expensive paintings by artists like Norman Rockwell and Salvador Dali, hoping to resell them for a profit. Instead, he lost money on the transactions, plunging him and Gloria down deeply into debt. Despite her husband's escalating mania, Gloria stayed faithful to him and tried to remain supportive, but it was taxing. Little did she know, Chapman was about to discover a new obsession that would make things even worse.
- [18:52]
By early 1980, he'd lost interest in art and revisited a book he'd read at a happier time in his life, the Catcher in the Rye. Chapman bought multiple copies and began reading and rereading them religiously. Over the summer, he identified so strongly with the protagonist that he even tried to legally change his name to Holden Caulfield. And just like Holden Caulfield, Chapman became increasingly bitter and angry at people who he deemed phonies hypocrites who didn't practice what they preached. And in the fall of 1980, Chapman became convinced that one of the biggest phonies in the world was John Lennon. Chapman had recently read a Lennon biography, which discussed how the musician was spending some of the hundreds of millions of dollars he'd made as a member of the Beatles. He owned fancy cars and a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, but his primary residence was a large apartment in the Dakota, a historic ultra luxurious apartment complex overlooking New York's Central Park. In Chapman's warped mind, it was inexcusable that the man who'd urged listeners to imagine no possessions was living such a lavish life. What would Holden Caulfield do about a phony this big? It didn't take long for Chapman to come up with an answer. Kill John Lennon.
- [20:18]
On Oct. 23, Chapman quit his security job. When he signed the logbook for the final time, he didn't write down his name or Holden Caulfield's name. Instead, he wrote John Lennon. Four days later, Chapman purchased a five shot.38 caliber revolver. Then, using money he'd borrowed from his father in law, he bought a plane ticket from Hawaii to New York. He left three days later, on October 30. Telling his wife he was going there to look for work. Since 1979, it's been legal to take a gun on a plane, as long as it's stowed in your checked baggage and you aren't carrying any ammunition. So Chapman had no trouble getting to New York with his pistol. But when he went to buy bullets at a New York City gun shop, he ran into an obstacle.38 caliber bullets were illegal to sell under state law unless you had a valid New York City pistol permit. Thinking quickly, Chapman flew to Atlanta, where he bought five.38 caliber hollow point rounds from an old friend, which he smuggled back to New York in his luggage. Chapman spent the next few days living large with the money he'd borrowed from his father in law. He stayed at the ritzy Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan and dined on steak in the restaurant. He spent his days staking out the sidewalk in front of the Dakota, waiting for Lennon to make an appearance. But he never showed. At night, he went to see movies and Broadway shows. On the evening of November 11, he went to see the movie Ordinary People, a critically acclaimed drama about a young man struggling with suicidal thoughts. Chapman was moved by how the man's family tried to help him recover. It put him in a reflective mood. Immediately after seeing the film, he went back to the hotel, called his wife, Gloria, and confessed to her that he'd gone to New York because he wanted to kill John Lennon. Gloria told him, come back. The next day, November 12, Chapman threw away his copy of Catcher in the Rye and boarded a flight back to Honolulu.
- [22:29]
Chapman spent the next few weeks back at home in Hawaii, trying to put his murder plot behind him. But the clarity he'd gained from watching Ordinary People didn't last. Soon, Chapman was back to his old ways, calling in bomb threats to former employers and resuming his fights with the Hare Krishnas in downtown Honolulu. And while the little people didn't return, Chapman made a new imaginary friend instead. A voice in his head he called the child. The child told Chapman that if he killed Lennon, he would be absorbed into the pages of the Catcher in the Rye. All of the struggles, suffering and pain he'd endured would end and he could finally become Holden Caulfield. Chapman listened to the voice, and in early December, he told Gloria he was going back to New York to continue to look for work. If she was suspicious that he was going to resume his pursuit of John Lennon, she didn't speak up or try to stop him. And so, on December 6, Chapman boarded another flight to New York with the loaded.38 revolver hidden in his.
- [23:39]
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- [24:43]
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- [25:13]
Vanessa Richardson
Podcasts.
- [25:17]
As Mark David Chapman's mental health plummeted, he became obsessed with the Catcher in the Rye. And this novel tells the story of a disaffected young man who rages against hypocritical phonies in society. And eventually Chapman decided that John Lennon, a wealthy man who sang about imagining no possessions, was the biggest phony of them all. In late 1980, Chapman spent over a week stalking the streets outside Lennon's New York City apartment with a gun before giving up and returning home to Hawaii. But on December 6, the 25 year old was back, and he was determined to complete his mission.
- [26:00]
Chapman's second trip to New York was less fancy than the first. He stayed in a cheap room at the ymca, and the only luxury he allowed himself was a new copy of the Catcher in the Rye. He also bought a copy of Lennon's most recent album, Double Fantasy. For the next two days, Chapman kept the album tucked under one arm as he paced the sidewalk outside the Dakota where Lennon lived. In his other hand, he Clutched the revolver in his pocket. He wasn't the only person lingering outside the Dakota waiting for John Lennon. Photographers and die hard Beatles fans often gathered outside the building. Lennon was known to chat with fans and sign autographs on his way in and out. Chapman befriended some of these regulars as they all waited together after lunchtime on December 8th. One of the other fans recognized Lennon's five year old son, Sean Lennon, arriving at the building with his nanny and encouraged Chapman to introduce himself. Chapman approached the boy and said he'd come all the way from Hawaii just to meet his dad. Sean and his nanny smiled politely and went into inside the lobby. They had no idea what Chapman was planning to do in just a few hours.
- [27:15]
Over the course of the afternoon, Chapman and his new friends watched as celebrities including Paul Simon and Mia Farrow came and went from the Dakota. Around 5pm Chapman was chatting with one of the doormen when he heard a familiar voice. Turning, he spotted John Lennon and Yoko Ono emerging from the building, walking towards a waiting car. At long last, Chapman was face to face with the man he'd been obsessing over for months. He was stunned into silence until one of the other fans outside the building, an amateur photographer named Paul Gorish, pushed him forward. Chapman walked up to Lennon and wordlessly held out his copy of Double Fantasy. Lennon smiled at him, grabbed a pen and signed the album John Lennon, December 1980. Gorish snapped a picture of Lennon scribbling his name as Chapman loomed in the background. Lennon handed the album back and pleasantly said, is that all you want? Clutching the gun in his pocket, Chapman muttered, yeah, then watched as Lennon got into the car and drove away.
- [28:27]
For the next few hours, Chapman was consumed by inner turmoil. He was surprised by how friendly Lennon had been and found himself wishing that he could just take his signed album and go home. But the voice in his head, which Chapman called the child, would have none of it. The child insisted that Chapman stay at the Dakota until Lennon returned so he could carry out his mission. This battle raged on until 10:50pm When a white limo pulled up to the Dakota. Lennon and Ono got out. As the pair walked past Chapman, he gave them a brief nod in his head. The child was screaming at him, do it. Do it. Do it. And then he did. Chapman called out, Mr. Lennon. As Lennon stopped and turned to face him. Chapman drew his pistol, dropped into a crouch and fired five shots at him from approximately 10ft away. Four of the hollow point bullets ripped into Lenin's body. Bleeding profusely, Lenin turned and ran up to the building's lobby, gasping, I'm shot. Then he collapsed, face down on the ground. Building staff rushed to give him first aid, but it quickly became clear that he'd stopped breathing. John Lennon was dead.
- [29:51]
Back on the sidewalk, Chapman stood in stunned silence as one of the Dakota's doormen wrestled the gun out of his hand and kicked it into the gutter. Now that his mission was complete, he didn't know what to do. He'd expected to be absorbed into the Catcher in the Rye by now. Instead, he was still standing in the December cold as the distraught doorman yelled at him, do you know what you just did? Chapman replied, I just shot John Lennon. The doorman ran inside to call the police. Chapman could have made a run for the nearby subway station. Instead, he just sat down on the curb and began reading his copy of Catcher in the Rye.
- [30:36]
Police arrived minutes later and took Chapman into custody without a struggle. Meanwhile, word spread that John Lennon had been killed. And as Chapman sat in the back of a police car, hundreds of grieving fans began to gather outside of the Dakota. Inside the building, as detectives questioned Yoko Ono in her sixth floor apartment, they heard the faint sound of Lennon's music drifting up from the streets below. A crowd of more than a thousand people had begun singing Lennon's hit single, Give Peace a Chance. In the days to come, the entire world was united in grief. The mailroom at the Dakota was swamped with letters and telegrams expressing their condolences to Yoko and Sean. Thousands of people held candlelight vigils from Melbourne, Australia, to Chicago, Seattle and Columbia, South Carolina. In New York City, a crowd of 100,000 gathered in central park, where Lenin was eulogized by Mayor Ed Koch.
- [31:40]
Before he went on trial. Mark David Chapman was held at a New York City hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. For his own safety, staff kept him separated from the other patients. They blacked out the windows of his cell in case a sniper outside the building tried to avenge Lenin's death. Chapman told psychiatrists about the little people, about the child, and about his belief that he would be absorbed into the Catcher in the Rye to become Holden Caulfield. Despite this, he was still found competent to stand trial. On June 22, 1981, Chapman pleaded guilty to the murder of John Lennon. Two months later, a judge sentenced the 26 year old to 20 years to life at the Attica Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in upstate New York.
- [32:34]
Chapman has been behind bars ever since and is now incarcerated at the Greenhaven Correctional Facility in New York. To this day, he remains a model prisoner with an exemplary disciplinary record. He's also still married to his wife, Gloria Abe, who regularly visits him from Hawaii. Under state law, they're allowed one conjugal visit per year in a specially designed trailer on the prison property. Per the terms of his sentence, he's been eligible for parole since the early 2000s, but prison officials have shown little interest in letting him see the light of day. Yoko Ono has repeatedly lobbied the New York State Parole Board to keep Chapman in prison for the rest of his life, stating that she believes he's still a threat to her and her family. Even Mark David Chapman doesn't want to be released with the benefit of proper mental health care, he seems to have recognized the magnitude of his crime. In an interview with the parole board, he said, quote, I deserve nothing because of the pain and suffering I caused. I deserve exactly what I've gotten.
- [33:46]
Up next, the story of another misguided fan whose actions sent shockwaves through the music.
- [33:52]
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Vanessa Richardson
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Vanessa Richardson
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Vanessa Richardson
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- [34:57]
24 years after Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon, another Disturbed fan took aim at a celebrated musician. But this time, the killer didn't wait outside his target's home. He attacked him on stage in front of a crowd of shocked and horrified fans.
- [35:16]
On Wednesday, December 8, 2004, 400 people had shown up for a concert at the Al Rosa Villa, a popular venue in Columbus, Ohio, that had been hosting heavy metal bands for decades. There were four bands on the bill that night, including local metal acts with names like 12 gauge and volume dealer. But the main attraction was a band called Damage Plan. Damage Plan had only formed a year earlier, but its founding members, guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott and his older brother, drummer Vinnie Abbott, were legends in the world of Heavy metal back in 1981 when they were a couple of shaggy haired Texas teenagers, Darrell and Vinnie had founded the band Pantera with their friend Terry Glaze and two other high school friends. Throughout the 80s and 90s, Pantera was one of the most successful bands in heavy metal history. They sold about 20 million albums and racked up four Grammy nominations. Dimebag Darrell was key to the band's success. Respect for his work extended beyond the metal community. In 2011, Rolling Stone named him one of the top 100 greatest rock and roll guitarists of all time. But by 2002, Pantera was coming apart and not long after Darrell and his brother started their new band damage plan.
- [36:40]
On December 8, 2004, damage plan started their set at Al Rosa Villa with Breathing New Life. It was an energetic, fast paced track from their debut album Found New Power. The crowd cheered as Dimebag Darrell stood at the front of the stage furiously headbanging as his hands ripped up and down the neck of his lightning bolt shaped electric guitar. The audience was so in awe that most people didn't notice 25 year old Nathan Gale walking onto the stage. The people who did see the 6 foot 3, 260 pound man walk towards Darryl thought he was part of the show. It quickly became clear that wasn't the case. The chaos of the next few minutes would change metal history forever and leave Damage Plan enthusiasts wondering why. What had pushed this one fan over the edge?
- [37:36]
Nathan Gale was born on September 11, 1979 and grew up in the small town of Marysville outside Columbus, Ohio. He struggled in elementary school and was eventually placed in specialized classes for students with learning disabilities. But his difficulties didn't end there. As he got older, Gail ran into more and more trouble with authority figures. In high school, after his mother's second divorce, he racked up multiple disciplinary violations and was absent for a big chunk of the 10th grade. He didn't graduate, but at the age of 18 in 1997, he completed training as an electrician at a local vocational school. But like many 18 year olds, Gail's real passion was partying. He spent most of his time hanging out at a run down house near the highway where one of his friends lived. There, Gail and his pals drank and blasted heavy metal music late into the night. They played lots of different bands, but Pantera was a crowd favorite. It was easy to identify with their Texas bred rebel attitude. Gale especially loved the band and was particularly fond of their 1992 album Some Vulgar Display of Power. And before long, Gale wanted to do more than just Listen to Pantera's music.
- [38:57]
Like everyone else who hung out at the house, Gale was a heavy drinker. But everything changed when he started experimenting with harder drugs. At one party in his late teens, Gail tried cocaine for the first time. After snorting a few lines, he spent the rest of the night sitting in a chair chair and rocking back and forth. Gale already had a reputation for being eccentric and hyperactive, which had earned him the nickname Crazy Nate. But this experience seemed to unlock something new in him. A couple weeks later, Gale announced that he wanted to be a heavy metal singer. He started spending time furiously scribbling lyrics in a notebook. There were instruments at the house, and his friends often jammed together. But when they invited Gale to sing what he'd written, he couldn't. Sometimes he'd get as close as standing in front of the mic before going red in the face and walking away without saying anything. As he struggled with this inability to express himself, Gale grew even more obsessed with vulgar display of power. He listened to the album on repeat on his Walkman all day, every day for the next two years. As time went by, some of his friends noticed that the supposedly original lyrics he was writing in his notebook were actually Pantera lyrics from songs on the album. But his friends just chalked this up to more of Crazy Nate's weird antics. Gale was always clowning around like that, especially since he'd gotten into cocaine. Once at a party, he started playing with an imaginary dog. Another time, he claimed that God had ordered him to kill heavy metal star Marilyn Manson. He even developed a strange and elaborate theory about Pantera. After seeing them live in Dayton, Ohio, Gail claimed he'd become friends with members of the band. As proof, he showed them a pamphlet he'd found at the venue. Gale's friends didn't know what to make of this, but they also had other stuff going on. They were entering their early twenties, settling into steady jobs and serious relationships when they the friend who was renting the party house moved away. Everybody grew up and moved on. Everyone except Gail.
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Gale floundered. In the early 2000s, he lost a series of dead end jobs and eventually his mother kicked him out of the house. For a while, he was homeless, sleeping in parks and wandering the streets in dirty clothes, listening to Pantera on his Walkman. But the worst was yet to come. Around 2002, Pantera broke up after years of animosity between the Abbott brothers and lead singer Phil Anselmo. It was the end of an era in heavy metal, and it sent Gale spiraling with the one Constant in his life. Pantera no longer there. Nathan Gale was completely adrift. So, perhaps hoping to find some sense of order and community, the 24 year old enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2002. His mother was proud of him for trying to get his life on track. As a gift for finishing basic training, she bought him a 9 millimeter beretta automatic pistol. But Gale was a bad fit for the Marines. He was overweight and struggled to follow commands from his drill instructors. Other men who went through boot camp with him remembered that Gale was always getting yelled at for one infraction or another. After each scolding, he'd sit alone and talk to himself. After boot camp, Gale was stationed in North Carolina where he trained to be a mechanic. His peers said he was friendly, but they could tell something wasn't right. One fellow Marine later said, he just wasn't all there. Eventually, military leadership agreed. In November of 2003, less than halfway through his four year service contract, Gail was given an administrative discharge from the service.
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At 25 years old, Gail returned to Marysville and moved back in with his mother. He found work in a mechanic's shop and started playing for a local semi pro football team where his tall, hulking stature was an asset. But he had just as much trouble getting by in civilian life as he did in the Marines. And before long, he lost his job. By the fall of 2004, Gale was unemployed and spending his days hanging out at a tattoo shop near his mother's apartment. Most of the time he'd just sit in the waiting area, thumbing through magazines, listening to death metal or staring vacantly into space. The staff were happy to let him hang around when things weren't too busy, since he seemed harmless except for one incident. One afternoon, Gail was chatting with a tattoo artist and mentioned that he was thinking about buying his own tattoo machine. The artist responded by pointing out that Gail would have to get a license before he could tattoo anyone. For some reason, this response sent Gale into a rage. He threw the magazine he was reading onto the floor and stormed out of the tattoo shop. Everyone was stunned. It was the first time they'd seen Gail show any hostility at all. That was the afternoon of December 8, 2004. Four damage plan took the stage 30 miles away in Columbus just a few hours later.
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Nathan Gale showed up at the Al Rosa villa early in the evening and spent hours pacing around the parking lot in 40 degree weather. For a while, he lingered near Damage Plan's tour bus until the band's bodyguard shoed him away at around 10:15pm Gail returned to the tour bus and asked a member of the crew if the band was on board. Gail was told they had already gone inside the venue for their performance and so Gale walked away and climbed over a wooden fence at the edge of the venue. The bouncer working the door saw Gale hopping the fence but wasn't able to stop him before he got to the other side. Gale rushed inside to the stage, moving briskly through the crowd as Damaged Plan kicked off the intro to Breathing New Life. Bouncers recognized Gale as the fence jumper and pursued him at a distance, but they were hesitant. Gale was massive and all he'd done was skip out on buying an $8 ticket for the show. Gale reached the front of the auditorium, pushed past a few stagehands and climbed onto the edge of the stage. Dimebag Darrell was lost in his music, head banging away as Gale marched towards him. Spotting the intruder, Damage Plan's bodyguard, Jeffrey Mayhem Thompson and a stagehand, Aaron Hulk, rushed out from backstage to intercept him. But before they could get to him, Gale grabbed Dimebag Darrell in a headlock, pulled out the 9 millimeter Beretta his mother had given him and fired three shots into the back of his head. Abbott collapsed, slumping over his guitar. Piercing audio feedback wailed from the amps as the crowd erupted in terror. Damageplan's vocalist Patrick Lochman yelled call 911 into the microphone, then leaped off the stage and ran for cover.
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Thompson and Hulk both pounced on Gale and tried to wrestle him to the ground, but Gale fought them off, shooting Thompson and Hulk multiple times in the chest. Both collapsed on the stage beside Abbott and later died of their injuries. After that, Gale turned and shot the band's tour manager Chris Paluska in the stomach, followed by drum tech John Brooks. As Gale reloaded, fans leapt onto the stage to try and help the wounded. One of them, 24 year old Nathan Bray, started doing chest compressions on Dimebag Daryl a few feet away. Gale slipped a new magazine into his pistol, cocked it and shot Bray in the chest, killing him. Sirens blared from outside as police arrived on the scene. When Gale spotted officers entering the club, he backed away from the edge of the stage. He grabbed the injured drum tech John Brooks in a headlight lock and used his body as a human shield. Fixated on the police at the front of the stage, Gale didn't notice Columbus Police Department officer James Nigam creeping around the edge of the drum, set by his side, armed with a 12 gauge shotgun. Amid the chaos, the screaming, the pulsing lights and amplified feedback. The officer took aim and fired. The shot hit Nathan Gale and in the head. He collapsed dead, bleeding out on the same stage as his victims.
- [47:46]
Gail's rampage lasted three minutes. In that time, he killed four people. Stagehand Aaron Hulk, Damage Plan's bodyguard Jeffrey Mayhem Thompson, Damage Plan fan Nathan Bray, and Dimebag Daryl Abbott, tour manager Chris Paluska and drum tech John Brooks were both seriously wounded in the shooting but eventually recovered. In the aftermath of the massacre at the Alrosa villa, both Gale and Dimebag Darrell's loved ones tried to make sense of the shocking outburst of violence. In an interview, Gail's mother said her son had told her he'd been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in the Marine Corps before his discharge. Meanwhile, Daryl Abbott's brother Vinnie, who survived the attack, claimed that Gale was influenced by comments from Pantera's former lead singer Phil Anselmo. Anselmo had given multiple interviews blaming Dimebag Darrell for Pantera's breakup, in one case even suggesting that Daryl should be beaten severely for his role in the band's split. Ultimately, though, investigators found no evidence that that Gale was aware of Phil Anselmo's comments. An autopsy of Gale's body found that he'd had no drugs of any kind in his system at the time of the attack. In the end, the most plausible explanation for Gale's shooting spree is also the most chilling. He was a troubled, obsessive person, and one day he just snapped.
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Looking back on this week in Crime history, we can see how access to mental health care is a key component of public safety. When his brain was functioning properly, Mark David Chapman was a beloved camp counselor who helped children and refugees. Everyone who met Nathan Gale described him as friendly and polite. If these two men had been able to receive proper care and treatment, their lives could have played out very differently. Instead, the music world suffered the loss of two legendary artists who had so much left to give.
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Thanks so much for listening. Hi, I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is True Crime this Week part of Crime House Daily. True Crime this Week is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing and following Crime House Daily. Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly matters. And for ad free and early access to to Crime House Daily + exciting bonus content. Subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts. We'll be back next Sunday. True Crime this Week is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and is a Crime House Original Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the True Crime this Week Team Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertz, Rachel Engelman, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Truman Capps, Leah Roesch, and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening.
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