Taming The Beast

Shelton, Washington, sits in Mason County in the western central part of the state, south of Seattle and about an hour and a quarter from the city by road. In 1980 it was a small timber town of roughly 7,500 people, its economy built on logging, farming, dairying and oyster cultivation, with the Simpson timber mill among its main employers. this part of the story is covered for now He had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and had been repeatedly institutionalised over the years, moving between hospitals and his family's house.

On the afternoon of 9 June 1980 a police officer patrolling downtown Shelton noticed Cameron walking barefoot through the streets. He was wearing women's stretch pants and an older woman's flowered housecoat, with no shirt and no shoes, and he looked dishevelled and not entirely present. The officer stopped him. Cameron first gave a false name, then corrected it, and explained his clothing by saying that he had just grabbed what he could because his mother-in-law had turned vicious. He said he was hitchhiking to California. Since he had corrected the name and was not threatening anyone, the officer let him go.

That evening Marie Cameron failed to keep appointments and could not be found. Family members were concerned, and police went to the house for a welfare check. They forced entry and searched the living room and kitchen before reaching the bathroom. Marie was in the bathtub. A knife was protruding from her chest, directly over her heart, and she had been stabbed a total of 97 times. There had been no attempt to conceal the scene.

details of the account remain covered until revealed The following day, 10 June, Oregon State Police found Cameron walking along the shoulder of Interstate 5 near Salem, Oregon. He was still wearing the stretch pants and housecoat, but had acquired one shoe. Police initially assumed he had escaped from a mental hospital; a check revealed that Shelton police wanted him for questioning. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now He said his stepmother was into different types of sorcery, that she was strictly a very evil person and had become violent towards him with a knife. He claimed she came into the bathroom with the knife, that he took it from her by bending her wrist back, and that he then really stabbed her. He said she kept moving and seemed to be laughing, that she was mechanical, and that she had been very symbolic with the scarlet whore beast. He described stabbing her in the heart and throat seven or eight times and being frustrated that she would not stop moving. He washed the blood off and changed clothes, then returned and stabbed her again when she appeared to move, and changed clothes again, in what amounted to three outfit changes before he left. In the written statement he said he was trying to kill the spirit inside her, that she kept saying his name as if she was enjoying it, and that he wanted to kill the spirit attacking his own.

Investigators found two pubic hairs on Marie's body, one on her knee and one in her hand, and took samples from Cameron. His barefoot prints and palm prints were also at the scene. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now The court allowed it in.

Four mental health experts testified: three psychiatrists, Dr Jarvis, Dr Alison and Dr Bremer, and a psychologist, Dr Trowbridge. details of the account remain covered until revealed They said he believed God had commanded him to kill Marie, whom he saw as an agent of Satan, and that he was obliged to kill the evil spirit inside her. He also believed that Yasser Arafat and the Ayatollah Khamenei were persecuting him, and at the time of the examinations he thought of himself as a messiah, comparing himself to Jesus Christ. He said he knew the killing was against the law of man but that in the eyes of God he had done no wrong. He felt no remorse and believed God would protect him from any consequences.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it It held that the two pubic hairs were, at best, cumulative and highly prejudicial, raising an unsupported inference of sexual attack, when Cameron had never denied killing his stepmother. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The court used Crenshaw to explain the deific decree exception: a defendant who knows an act is legally and morally wrong but believes God has commanded it may still be insane if his free will has been overwhelmed by that belief. Cameron's case became part of that line of authority. What happened to him after the reversal is not publicly recorded. this part of the story is covered for now He would be about 60 now, and the hosts could find no obituary for Marie either.