Mark Becker
Becker's bizarre police interview
Becker behaved erratically in the booking room, fidgeting as if he was seeing apparitions , and the statements he made were grotesquely strange. Becker told Special Agent Chris Callaway that he shot Thomas because he believed Thomas was evil. "He's a devil tyrant and he's been suppressing the children around here and my family since I've been a little kid...I couldn't put up with it another second. We can hardly breathe at night because of that man," Becker said. "He turns us into fish and he turns us into animals and he turns us into dead people, but he won't let us be our true heavenly selves." Later, Becker recounted voices telling him what to do: "They just told me to take him out because he was being a devil. He was being Lucifer. The only way for the children to be free is if he was gone. I could see that visually." Becker went on: "I literally minimized a huge Satan tyrant... I'm kind of in awe at the power I have."
Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of the interview was that the hallucinations seemed to be occurring right there in the police station. At one point Becker told Callaway, "The devil's amongst us right now. I can see him right now." The video from the booking room shows Mark Becker fidgeting and spontaneously yelling about Ed Thomas and the devil — even when no one else is in the room. Later, when Becker was alone in a holding cell, he was caught on video fighting an imaginary supernatural opponent, stripping off his clothes and throwing them into the shower and then washing himself with toilet water.
DCI agents sent Becker's urine sample for toxicological tests. The tests showed no evidence of illicit drugs.
Becker was charged with first degree murder for the killing of Ed Thomas, a charge which carries a mandatory term of life imprisonment. Becker's counsel Susan Flander reportedly approached the State to see if there was any potential plea to be worked out. Flander recalled prosecutors said they would check with the victim's family and get back to her. They never did.
Unsurprisingly, Mark Becker's defense attorneys would put forth an insanity defense. It would be a hard question for any jury to contemplate.