Faith Kinkel was 57 and a Spanish teacher at Springfield High School. She and her husband, William, lived in Springfield, Oregon, and had two children. Concerns about their 15-year-old son’s fascination with weapons and increasingly erratic behavior led the parents to seek psychological help; a psychologist diagnosed him with major depressive disorder. The parents bought him a .22-caliber rifle and a 9mm Glock and enrolled him in gun safety courses.

On the afternoon of May 20, 1998, after the son had been suspended from Thurston High School pending an expulsion hearing for having a stolen handgun in his locker, he murdered his father in the family home. When Faith arrived home later that day, her son met her in the garage, told her he loved her, then shot her multiple times and left her body covered with a sheet. The next morning, May 21, 1998, he drove to Thurston High School armed and opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two students and wounding 25 others before being subdued and arrested. Police later found both William and Faith Kinkel dead at the family home.

The son was charged with four counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, pleaded guilty, and received a sentence of 111 years with no possibility of parole; he later received a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. If anyone knew Faith or the Kinkel family’s situation around 1998, does any detail stand out that could help clarify what led up to these events?