The Making of Lee Boyd Malvo: The D.C. Sniper

by Carmeta Albarus, Jonathan H. Mack

In October of 2002, a series of sniper attacks paralyzed the Washington Beltway, turning normally placid gas stations, parking lots, restaurants, and school grounds into chaotic killing fields. After the spree, ten people were dead and several others wounded. The perpetrators were forty-one-year-old John Allen Muhammad and his seventeen-year-old prot?g?, Lee Boyd Malvo.

Called in by the judge to serve on Malvo's defense team, social worker Carmeta Albarus was instructed by the court to uncover any information that might help mitigate the death sentence the teen faced. Albarus met with Malvo numerous times and repeatedly traveled back to his homeland of Jamaica, as well as to Antigua, to interview his parents, family members, teachers, and friends. What she uncovered was the story of a once promising, intelligent young man, whose repeated abuse and abandonment left him detached from his biological parents and desperate for guidance and support. In search of a father figure, Malvo instead found John Muhammad, a veteran of the first Gulf War who intentionally shaped his prot?g? through a ruthlessly efficient campaign of brainwashing, sniper training, and race hatred, turning the susceptible teen into an angry, raging, and dissociated killer with no empathy for his victims.

In this intimate and carefully documented account, Albarus details the nature of Malvo's tragic attachment to his perceived "hero father," his indoctrination, and his subsequent dissociation. She recounts her role in helping to extricate Malvo from the psychological clutches of Muhammad, which led to a dramatic courtroom confrontation with the man who manipulated and exploited him. Psychologist Jonathan H. Mack identifies and analyzes the underlying clinical psychological and behavioral processes that led to Malvo's dissociation and turn toward serial violence. With this tragic tale, the authors emphasize the importance of parental attachment and the need for positive and loving relationships during the critical years of early childhood development. By closely examining the impact of Lee Boyd Malvo's childhood on his later development, they reach out to parents, social workers, and the community for greater awareness and prevention.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Biography, History, Sociology, American

257 pages, Hardcover

First published August 14, 2012

Reviews

[Mari Stroud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author is excellent at walking that fine line between explaining and excusing. Superb stuff.

[Maya Hollinshead]

I know in this society, you are not suppose to feel sorry for a murderer, especially one that has been linked to one of the most senseless events in the last decade. But after reading this book, I felt sorry for Malvo. This book goes into detail about his childhood, from his father abandoning him (which was caused by the mother), to being sent off to different relatives and friends (because the mother would leave Jamaica to work, and would return and take him when he had finally settled), to receiving constant beating from his mother (I didn't like her AT ALL.). All of this made him very vulnerable to Muhammad's advances and promises. The last chapter deals with a lot of mental health stuff, but this is a good read for those who want to know why a 17-year-old kid from Jamaica would go on a murder spree with a man who calls him "son".

[Jenn]

I guess we'll never know why society fawns over killers like Ted Bundy and doesn't take time to examine and learn about situations like this. HMMM we'll just never know what could possibly be different about the sad case of Lee Boyd Malvo and others....

[G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful look behind the headlines as Ms Albarus forces us to search for deeper truths in the light of madness. She makes a strong case for Lee's parole. If we treat Ishmael Beah as a survivor and hero, why can we accept Lee as the soldier boy he was and at least offer a chance for his redemption? Because it happened in America and not some faraway country? An amazing case history.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tragic story of a young guy who did not have a good family life and was severly traumatized, then seduced and brainwashed by a psyschopath to become one of the beltway shooters.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book after watching two TV programs about the DC sniper: one that focused on John Muhammad's ex-wife and one that focused on Malvo (called "I Sniper"). After watching both, I wanted to read up on Malvo. This book was interesting because it gave a lot of background on Malvo's life in Jamaica and his relationship with his parents. But there were some problems with the book. First, there were a number of typographical errors in the book: incorrect punctuation, words that ran together, etc. The errors were minor, but I'm surprised that Columbia University Press didn't do a better job of copyediting the manuscript. Another issue I had was that Albarus totally ignored the sexual relationship between Malvo and Muhammad. Malvo was sexually abused by Muhammad and that's never mentioned in the book. He talks about it himself in the "I, Sniper" series and I was surprised that never came up in Albarus's book. I find it hard to believe she wasn't aware of the sexual relationship these men had and I wondered if she purposely left that information out of her book because she was personally uncomfortable with it. Maybe I'm stereotyping here, but Albarus says herself that she is of Jamaican descent and I know homosexuality is largely frowned upon in that country, so maybe there was a cultural bias on her part? I don't know and I'm just speculating, but I found it odd that that entire aspect of these men's relationship was overlooked here.

[Patrick Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. the very sad story of the 2nd Washington D.C. sniper. This poor kid never stood a chance in life to to the abandonment and brutality this poor suffered in his childhood. I am not saying he didn't deserve the punishment he received but had it not been for Lee Muhammad this kid might have had a chance in life. He was very intelligent and was a sweet human before this monster got a hold of him. I did not give this book 5 stars is because it turned out that the author (whom Lee called his mom) ended up marrying him. This make make me suspicious of her motives and honest of this book.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about this book while listening to the podcast Monster: DC Sniper. Judging by the podcast and the book Muhammad was the mentally ill one and Malvo was a vulnerable kid that he took advantage of. It is a shame that Malvo will spend the rest of his life in prison. He seems to show real remorse for what he did. Moral of the story, beating your kids and abandoning them multiple times does not lead to good outcomes.

[JC Sevart · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible breakdown of the DC Sniper case and the very difficult life of Lee Boyd Malvo. I lived near Fredericksburg during this time period and Carmeta Albarus does a great job showcasing Lee Boyd Malvo as another of John Muhammad's victims while also acknowledging that the conditions that created Les Boyd Malvo are material conditions faced by young Black men all over. I can't recommend this book enough

[Ian Swift · Rating 1 out of 5]

Black supremacist islamist ethnonationalists get no reprieve or excuse from any reasonable, intelligent human being.
I lived through this monsters hate and every day local black and brown kids would giggle and make jokes about how they didn't have to worry. They knew that only whites were being targeted.

[Heather G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-Opening

I vaguely remember the DC sniper shootings, so this background information and deep look into John Lee Malcolm is both fascinating and tragic.