"Today is Monday 16 October 2 a.m. I killed her at 1 a.m. Thursday 5 October, I very calmly strangled her. It was very quick." This ghastly entry written in Addie Hall's journal grimly described the fate of the journal's owner.
Two days ago, a man jumped from the eighth floor of the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. A surveillance camera records his final moments of life as he makes numerous unsuccessful attempts, pacing between the patio and the terrace railing, before finally committing himself to the act of jumping. In his pocket was a note, written by himself, sealed in a plastic bag to keep it unfouled. The note was intended to lead police to an even more grisly scene.
"I had to take my own life to pay for the one I took," wrote Zackery Bowen, of his girlfriend Adriane Hall. When the police arrived at the apartment, they found a scene not even Hollywood would dare depict. Two pots were on the stove; one contained the badly burned, unrecognizable head of Addie Hall, and the other contained her hands and feet. On the counter, next to the stove, were carrots and potatoes, chopped as ingredients for a stew. In the oven, on trays, were her legs and arms; one of the pans actually had some seasoning sprinkled on the parts.
After strangling his girlfriend, the murderer lived with the corpse for a full day, even going to work at one of the local bars. He decided that the best way to dispose of the body was to dismember it, so he placed it in the bathtub and set about his grim business. The police found the rest of her body in a trash bag in the refrigerator. In the meantime, the murderer had lived with the remains of Addie for almost two weeks. The details of the murder are graphically detailed on eight pages of Addie's journal, found on the scene. However, there is no evidence that the killer resorted to cannibalism.
The two had met on the eve of Hurricane Katrina, both being determined not to evacuate. Addie gave refuge to her future killer and they apparently fell in love at first sight. They soon became media icons, being only two of a handful of individuals who refused to leave their French Quarter lodgings. At the time of the murder, they were living in a one bedroom apartment above the Voodoo Spiritual Temple and Cultural Center. As the city got back on its feet after the storm, their relationship started to unravel, possibly due to heavy drug and alcohol use--both were booked on first time marijuana possession charges afterwards, though at different times.
The killer claimed to have no remorse for the act of murdering the woman he supposedly loved. If it was not some form of remorse, what drove him to finally force himself to jump to certain death?
What drives someone to such madness?
