Who_It_Otis_Toole_

As I sit in the hairdressers thinking about how I am going to address my assignment for the week, I pondered over all the information that I have researched and how I would organize them to flow correctly. Suddenly there was a commotion in the store; I turned around to see a Jason hitting his mother. Of course, I heard the conversations prior to the commotion, but did not pay too much attention as I was not directly included; I was oblivious to how serious the situation had become. It started off early in the morning when Jason asked for some money for school, Jason’s mother told him that he was not behaving so he would not get anything extra that day. Jason stormed off, picked up her coat to search the pockets, she told him she had no money in the coat; he stormed out of the house and was gone. Some time later, when Jason’s mother was ready to leave home, she began looking for her coat; she spent all day looking for her coat without success. When Jason came home from school, his mother asked him for the coat, he refused to tell her where the coat was, but kept saying he did not have it. Jason’s mother decided to drop the questioning asking that when he got home he should give her back her coat, and instructed him to go and do his homework. A few minutes later, she reminded him that he needed to get his homework done before he could play and he threw down the book stood face to face with his mother huffing and panting and began to hit her, she was amazed at his actions and with that attempted to hold his hands, he continued to flare up and was now becoming uncontrollable, a couple of the stylists in the shop went to assist her by holding his hands and telling him to calm him down. Jason’s mother was extremely upset not knowing what to do, she called the police; she had had enough of his behavior and was now concerned for her safety. Jason is 10 years old. The police came and spoke to him; he behaved in the same manner with the police, not caring that they threatened to take him away. They put handcuffs on him and asked if they hurt he said no, they asked if he wanted them to take him away and he said, he did not know. The police spent some time with him talking with him, they sat with him and encouraged him to do his home work promising his mother that they would stop by from time to time to ensure that he was behaving himself. As I sat and watched this incident unfold, I began to think back on my paper and how I had spent some time reading about Ottis Toole. On December 16 2008 Hollywood Police in Florida confirmed that Ottis Toole killed 6-year-old Adam Walsh 27 years ago, the case is now closed (huffingtonpost.com. 2008). Who is Ottis Toole' Ottis Toole was born on March 5, 1947 in Jacksonville, Florida, the youngest of nine children (Walsh, J (2008); he was raised by his mother - a religious fanatic, and his grandmother - a Satanist (Hopwood, JC, 2008). Toole’s childhood was not a stable one, he ran away from home on many occasions (Hopwood, JC, 2008); his sister wanted a sister so she dressed up Ottis in girls close so she could play with him; his grandmother took him with her on her satanic cult ventures where she robbed graves of body parts and used them for ritual ceremonies (Hopwood, JC, 2008). Ottis’ grandmother gave him the name ‘devils child’, and he lived up to it, running away from home on numerous occasions (Hopwood, JC, 2008). Toole dropped out of school in the eighth grade, his IQ measured 75 and his intelligence was borderline retardation (Hopwood, JC, 2008). Knowing a little more about Ottis Toole helps to understand that he had a rocky childhood, and his behavior also implies that he did not have any discipline or sound guidance form his mother or grandmother. Reflecting back on the incident with the mother and son in the beauty salon, and reviewing Ottis Toole’s upbringing, one could compare the two; without the introduction of the law and order in the home, and the mothers’ attempts to guide the child at an early in the right direction. The result could be that the child would get into trouble at an early age. Ottis has blamed his childhood for his actions saying that his childhood was not a pretty one (Crazedlunatic83, 2007). Ottis states that at age 14 he saw someone run down another person with a car. He was later propositioned by a traveling salesman for sex, Ottis went with him into the woods and found the opportunity to run down the man, killing him (Hopwood, JC, 2008). Although Ottis spoke about this situation during an interview, the murder was never verified (Hopwood, JC, 2008). From this incident, according to Ottis, things just went wild (Crazedlunatic83, 2007). Ottis was arrested for the first time at age 17 for loitering, a year later he was arrested for petty larceny. According to America Most Wanted, Ottis was arrested on a regular basis for crimes such as: vagrancy, prowling, street walking, carrying a concealed weapon (a 4” knife and base on his belt), loitering at the bus depot, lewd and lascivious behavior in an adult theatre, public intoxication, lewd behavior including obscene calling, window peeping, cross dressing, and exposing himself (Walsh, J. 2008). As indicated earlier, without proper supervision Ottis was arrested for many crimes that could be looked at as small crimes, but each one helped to build his confidence for a bigger one. In a conversation with Dr. Miller, Toole explained that his passion was arson, which he has enjoyed from the age of 6, he would get a sexual turn-on by watching large fires, small ones did not excite him as much as a large fire (Walsh, J 2008). Although Ottis was bad all by himself; in late 1976 he met Henry Lee Lucas in a Florida soup kitchen and they became friends, lovers and traveling companions. Henry was 40 and Ottis was 29 years old (Hopwood, 2008). Without concrete evidence, one can only speculate on whether or not Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole were serial killers together (Hopwood, JC, 2008). Toole and Lucas became such good friends that they both moved into Toole’s home with his mother and sister. Toole was 31 and Lucas was 42 years old (Hopwood, JC, 2008), definitely an age when Toole and Lucas should be settling down ensuring that they have a career fully mapped out. A father figure in their life at that time would have helped to keep them on the straight and narrow. References Crazedlunatic83, (2007). Ottis Toole part 1 of 3. Retrieved December 17, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch'v=YLCIhgC9iA8 Walsh, J (2008). America Most Wanted. http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm'id=39789&state=other&OtherID=39830 Hopwood, JC (2008). Biogrpahy of Ottis Toole. Retrieved December 20, 2008. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0867491/bio