By Marilyn Bardsley

(Continued)

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McCombs is a very good example of the death and destruction that can be wrought by a young psychopath eager to exercise his power. This type of twisted plan is similar to Kevin Underwood's goal to kill and eat someone — that someone just opportunistically happened to be his 10-year-old neighbor Jamie Bolin.

In Kevin Underwood's case, probably like McCombs when all the information is finally on the table, online fantasies fueled a homicide. Underwood chatted on the Net about cannibalism and drinking urine long before he killed little Jamie Bolin and bought items to cook and eat her body. Thankfully, he lost interest in the plan before he desecrated the child any further.

Underwood, a man wanted to be known for something important and didn't have what it took to achieve status in any legitimate way, decided that it would be easier to make his mark in life by doing something shocking — like being a cannibal. In his fantasies it was a whole lot easier than building a career or developing relationships with other people, but even with this revolting goal of becoming a human flesh eater, he failed.

In Seamus McGraw's article "Underwood the Slacker Killer," McGraw says that "Underwood seems to have been motivated by a desire to be something — anything."

By all accounts, Matthew McCombs, like Kevin Underwood, was not going to be the next rocket scientist or rock star. Legitimate achievement requires work and discipline, not acting out sick fantasies on what kind of thrill he would get from killing a person — satisfying his "morbid curiosity."

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Contact Marilyn Bardsley at darkhorse@crimelibrary.com

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