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Mark Overland at a family dinner
“LETTERS FROM MARK,” CONTINUED...
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of all the noise: the creaking of the floorboards, the tapping on the pipes. Before he went upstairs, he loaded his gun and fired at the closet because he thought someone was hiding inside. He said “they” had been reading his mind. “I had to go up and take care of that guy,” Overland said. Five months later, Overland was acquitted by reason of insanity and admitted to Eastern State Hospital with a lifetime maximum commitment.
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opefully though I’ll get out in a couple of years if I can excel through my treatment plan and the doctors think that I’m ready to integrate back into society and not be a danger to myself and others. I’m doing pretty good here. I listen to music, watch television, play video games and go outside a couple of times a day. I attend meetings with my therapist and have contact with my psychologist and take medication to combat depression and anti psychotics to control schizophrenia which I don’t think I have, but it keeps me running on an even keel. — October 2000 One month into his stay at Eastern, Overland wrote one of the first of many letters that he would write to his Uncle Norman, a pastor in Seattle. Norm gave them to Carr after her son’s death. Overland’s writing — scraggly, but not careless, cursive with a hard-right slant — describes his life at Eastern: his setbacks and frustrations, successes and ambitions. He was bored most of the time. He hated the food. The highlight of his week was taking a 4-mile walk around Medical Lake on Saturdays, drinking a double shot of espresso. [I want] to look back and know that I contributed something to this miniscule tick of time. I’ve been given the opportunity to turn my life around. I’m not going to let anything stop me from being successful, including myself. — March 2006 In nearly every letter, he told Norm about his dream to go to college at Eastern Washington University and study video-game design — and expressed his hope of being released in a few short years. His signed them all “Love Mark.”
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f believe God wanted me to look towards the light and to him for inspiration and hope during these dark times. ...I just want to be the best person I can be and when the time comes, maybe God has a place in heaven for me. — 2014 After dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, Carr drove Overland back to his transitional home. She helped him carry a few of his old things from her car up to his room: a PlayStation, a few video games, a cigarette lighter, some clothes and aftershave. His room was small, a bit of a mess. So Carr tidied up before she hugged him goodbye. “I love you,” she said. She didn’t hear back from him three days later, when she texted him about evening plans with the family. Or the next