Horrific abusers and killers are almost always psychotropic drug addicts. A few unknowns, and Phil Spector finally getting what he deserved.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Lindolfo Thibes, sentenced to 109 years-to-life for sexually assaulting his daughter beginning when she was 6 years old and ultimately fathering her three children. What began as a domestic violence assault in a Las Vegas hospital parking lot in 2005, in which Thibes reportedly stabbed his “girlfriend,” ended up revealing a harrowing tale, in which the girl was found to be his daughter. He monitored her every move for over two decades using surveillance cameras and home imprisonment. He beat her fiercely during paranoid rages. The unnamed daughter, now 29, told authorities he plied her with alcohol and marijuana from the age of 8. While Thibes rambled off a litany of complaints to the judge, calling his trial a “kangaroo court,” the evidence “fraudulent” and testimony “perjured,” DNA tests confirmed the daughter’s account. The story is reminiscent of that of Josef Fritzl, who earned Top Story rights in the June 2008 TAR.
Music producer Phil Spector, 69, (finally) convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, 40, after pulling a revolver on her, as he had done with many women during drinking episodes. Spector made Top Story in the June 2007 edition of TAR, in which his Jekyll and Hyde, grandiose and just plain crazy behaviors are linked to obvious alcoholism. Spector’s first recorded hit (1958), “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” came from an inscription on the gravestone of his father, who died of suicide, which as explained in Drunks, Drugs & Debits is more often than not rooted in alcoholism. In his own way, he follows in his father’s footsteps.
Kerby Revelus, 23, who was shot and killed by police officers responding to a 911 call from his 9-year-old sister. After fatally stabbing his 17-year-old sister, he decapitated his 5-year-old sister in front of the 9-year-old as the horrified police officers broke in to the home. According to neighbors, Revelus behaved “very erratically” since his release from prison on a gun charge and had gotten into a fist fight with a neighbor the day before. “He would go off, just talking about random stuff, stuff that makes no sense,” said one neighbor. “Sometimes you would see him and he was normal. Sometimes you would see him and he was confused.” Perhaps the fact that Revelus was seen wandering up and down their street “most mornings drinking from a bottle in a brown bag” had something to do with it.
Troy Ryan Bellar, 34, who shot and killed his wife Wendy, 31, and their 5-month-old and 8-year-old sons before killing himself in the front yard of their home near Orlando, Florida. Bellar had been arrested at least twice, once on suspicion of aggravated assault in 1994 and another on suspicion of driving under the influence, in 1999. While a “motive for the killing remained unclear” and neighbors asked, “What motive can you give?” we might respond, “Alcoholic rage. No motive required.”