Rod Matthews

Diagnoses

Passions

Notable

Family

American homicide; a teenager when he lured another 14-year old, Shaun Ouillette, to a wooded area and bludgeoned him to death with a baseball bat on 11/20/1986. After the murder, he took two pals to see the corpse and they kept the secret for weeks before finally telling someone. A privileged and hyperactive child who took Ritalin, he was an underachiever and had many behavior problems in school. Slight in build with red hair cut in a punk style, he was the youngest of five kids with a mom who worked and was often home alone. Able to watch hours of TV, he was fascinated by a four-hour video entitled "The Faces of Death." In October 1986, Rod wrote a note to his coach at his school saying that he had been lighting fires and that he felt like burning down a house or killing someone. He was tried as an adult at the age of 15 for the murder, and was the youngest person in the U.S. to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. He was convicted on the charge of second degree murder on 3/10/1988. Private reports say that Rod was a warm boy, very bored and depressed in adult prison with no education or training available. His parents, normal, sound people with their own construction business, were trying in 1990 to get him into a juvenile facility and counseling on an adolescent level.