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Monday, May 4, 2020

The Christopher Krumm Double-Murder-Suicide Case

     Christopher Krumm graduated from University of Colorado where he studied computer engineering. In 2009, after earning a Master's Degree in electrical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, Krumm worked at various odd jobs in Colorado. In 2012, he moved into a one-room apartment on the third floor of a rundown rooming house in Vernon, Connecticut. A quiet, socially awkward person who kept to himself, Christopher worked a blue collar job for a utility company.

     On November 17, 2012, Christopher Krumm embarked on a 30-hour, 2,000-mile road trip from Vernon, Connecticut to Casper, Wyoming, a town of 56,000 in the central part of the state. His father, James Krumm, had been teaching computer science at Casper College since 2002, and was head of the department. The two-year institution was one of seven colleges in the state's community college system.

     Professor Krumm possessed a B.A. and a M.B.A. from the University of Wyoming, and a Master's in computer science from Colorado State University. The 56-year-old professor lived two miles from the 200-acre, 5,000-student campus in a quiet, residential neighborhood with his live-in girlfriend, 42-year-old Heidi Arnold. Arnold, a graduate of the University of California at Davis, held a Master's Degree in math from the University of Oregon. She taught mathematics at Casper College.

     Christopher Krumm pulled into Casper Thursday night, November 28, 2012, and checked into a hotel on the outskirts of town. The next morning, shortly before nine, he showed up unannounced at the house his father shared with Heidi Arnold. Because James Krumm was teaching a morning class at the college, Professor Arnold was the only person in the house when Christopher, armed with two large knives, knocked on the front door. A few minutes later, Heidi Arnold's bloodied body was lying along the curb in the street in front of her house. Christopher Krumm had stabbed her to death.

     From the scene of Heidi Arnold's murder, Christopher Krumm drove two miles to the Casper College campus. He walked into his father's building carrying two knives and a high-powered, compound bow that was wrapped in a blanket. (A compound bow is one of those complicated-looking hunting bows that has pulleys.) Once inside the classroom, in front of six computer science students, Christopher, from a distance of four feet, shot an arrow into his father's head. James Krumm, with the arrow lodged in his skull, managed to get back on his feet. He wrestled with his son long enough to allow his students to get safely out of the room.

     Christopher finished his father off by stabbing him several times in the chest. When police officers burst into the classroom, the professor was dead, and his son, on the floor next to his father, was dying from self-inflicted stab wounds.

     Matt DiPinto, one of Christopher Krumm's neighbors in Vernon, Connecticut, said this to a reporter with the Hartford Courant, "He [Christopher] told me his dad gave him Asperger's Syndrome and that his dad should be castrated. I didn't know him that well, he just kind of said it out of nowhere, so that kind of threw me off a little." According to Christopher Krumm's uncle, when he last saw his nephew three years before the murders, he did not seem depressed or angry.

6 comments:

  1. I actually like what you've acquired here; this is a really well written article. I understand your stuff and I’m satisfied with the posting you have given us.

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  2. Why did no one see what was happening to him after his mother's death and try to do something to help him? It looks to me like instead of taking note of his changing behavior and trying to help, they all just basically turned their backs on him and just let him continue in a downward spiral!! Shame on all of them!!

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  3. It is too bad they waited years too late to get any kind of help for him. I have a feeling no matter how much his father "loved" him, father was self absorbed, and only interested in his own affairs.

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  4. I agree with the other comments,why didn't he's father force him in a place for professional help.

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  5. You can't force anyone to get help if the person doesn't want to, especially if the person is over 18 years old. Unfortunately, the family members suffer for not finding support to help their loved one. The system doesn't consider the person with Asperger's is in need of intervention because they are considered "high functioning" eventhough, the person with Asperger's struggles with the characteristics of any other person under the Autism Spectrum. A couple of years ago, the DSM-5, disappeared the Asperger's diagnosis and "included" it on the Autism diagnosis. Unfortunately, in order to quality for programs and special services for people with Autism, the diagnosis has to be severe enough that the person won't be considered "high functioning" and to have a "mental retardation" (cognitive or intellectual disability or impairment). Not only these individuals and their families don't receive appropriate support, but in many cases there are commorbid conditions (ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, Learning Disabilities, etc) which also affect the condition of the person. The families that try to help aren't usually prepared for it..they don't have the training, enough knowledge about it, financial aid to be able to give the time to care for the person in need,o resources to cover for special classes and medical attention for the person. You could think that schools should help, and they really should because they receive founding to help students with special needs, but usually districts fight to keep this founding and take advantage because the family is not prepared to understand how the system works, jargons, etc, which is not easy. Lawyers are not always available or are too expensive to afford.. and the years passed because the family needs to work on order to support the family. The system is designed to help only people who have a more severe condition. It's unfair and a shame because in general, at a different level, people with Asperger's Syndrome are extremely intelligent in some areas.. in the case of Chris Krumm, it was brilliant in Math.. Up to this date, most people are not educated to work or live with these bright minds just because they are different (but, hey..what is different?), that's a lost for the world and so sad for the people with Asperger's and their families.

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  6. You are wrong about funding to schools being withheld from students with Asperger’s, Autism, learning difficulties, etc. Every school district has Special Education teachers on staff who are trained to work with students like Chris Krumm. They work very hard! Another thing to consider is that there are parents who cannot bear to accept that their child needs special education classes—they feel it is a poor reflection on them. When parents refuse to allow their child to get the special help, there is nothing the school can do about it.
    As for Krumm’s parents, it sounds as if they wanted to help their son, but perhaps were not aware of diagnoses like Asperger’s until it was too late, not aware of or inclined to take advantage of therapy. And therapy is not free, folks. It can cost $300 a session, and is rarely covered by insurance except for a few sessions.
    As for services being limited to really severe cases, that is not at all true. Thanks to the massive closing of mental institutions during the Reagan era, there is NO place for parents of, say, a schizophrenic young adult to have their child housed and treated. But the state has long turned its back on the mentally ill.

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