Ten years after his killing spree terrorized the Washington, DC, area, convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo granted an interview with The Washington Post and called himself “a monster” while urging the families of the victims gunned down by him and partner John Allen Muhammad to try to forget about the killing and move on.
It was an extremely rare window into the soul of a man who participated in one of the most paralyzing killing sprees in recent memory, as he and Muhammad—who was executed in 2009—chose victims seemingly at random and used a high-powered to kill from the trunk of a modified Chevy Caprice. They were linked to 27 shootings across the country, including 10 killings in the DC area.
Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the attacks, said once again that he was manipulated by the older Muhammad. This was the first interview request that Malvo has granted in years.
Malvo, who is serving a life sentence with no parole in southwest Virginia, said he can still remember the look on the face of victim Linda Franklin’s husband, Ted Franklin, when Linda—an FBI analyst—was shot as they loaded supplies outside a Home Depot in Falls Church, Va.
“They are penetrating,” Malvo said of Ted Franklin’s eyes. “It is the worst sort of pain I have ever seen in my life. His eyes … Words do not possess the depth in which to fully convey that emotion and what I felt when I saw it. … You feel like the worst piece of scum on the planet.”
But Malvo’s next words likely won’t be taken too well by the families of the victims.
“We can never change what happened,” Malvo told the Post. “There’s nothing that I can say except don’t allow me and my actions to continue to victimize you for the rest of your life.”
He added: “Don’t allow myself or Muhammad to continue to make you a victim for the rest of your life. It isn’t worth it.”
Linda Franklin’s father, Charles Moore, said there’s no way they would be able to forget.
“There’s no way. I can’t believe that. No one can go through something like that,” Moore said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
Moore said his daughter’s killing contributed to his wife’s death several years later.
“What he did just destroyed my family. I’ll never be able to put it aside. Never,” he said. “There are things that stand out in your life that you think about. I’m 83 years old and I’ll carry it to my grave.”
