A Rage To Kill And Other True Cases

nonetheless.
    Eric Shaw was a bitter man, railing against the cruel fate that had taken away the power in his legs. He began to flout the law in small ways; it was his way of proving he was still a man, perhaps. He bought a new, hand-controlled car and had it fitted with a muffler that roared, the loud pipes audible for blocks. He was stopped by the local police, who gave him a warning ticket. But Eric confided to his friends that he didn’t worry about the police: “They have no facilities to take care of me,” he said. “So I can do whatever I want.”
    As a mature woman, Amy was more beautiful than she had been at sixteen. She was caught up with her marriage, her two children, and her school work and she had neither the time nor the inclination to flirt with other men. But Eric didn’t believe her. Jealousy, the very emotion that he derided, became the central focus of his life. He had a favorite song—“Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town.” The lyrics seemed to fit his life: a Vietnam veteran chained to a wheelchair complaining that his legs were “bent and paralyzed” while he begged his wife not to go to town without him.
    The “Ruby” of that song popular in the seventies had “wants and needs,” and her agonized husband sang of getting his gun and putting her “in the ground.”
    The irony of it was that Amy still loved Eric. It was
he
who was destroying their marriage with accusations and bitter complaints. She didn’t have a boyfriend; she’d never had any man but him, but he had changed. She had long since forgiven him for leaving her alone without money for food, but it was hard to forgive him for taunting her with vicious remarks about her character. Eric seemed to believe that the whole world was against him, and at the same time, that the world owed him a living. He felt he no longer had to obey the rules that everyone else did.
    Amy Shaw didn’t talk to her friends about her problems, but they could see the strain on her face. She occasionally visited the family where she had been the mother’s helper so long ago. Without her saying a word, they could see that she was troubled.
    Eric didn’t want to work, even though there were many jobs he was still qualified for. The government would send him to college for years; he could have a profession. But he chose to sit home and weep in his beer. Nothing Amy did seemed to be right. And Eric began to call her “Ruby” instead of Amy.
    Sometime after Easter of 1972, Amy Shaw told her friends that she was going to divorce Eric, but she wouldn’t say why. She didn’t want to be disloyal to him or say anything bad about him. She felt guilty enough that she couldn’t stay with him. That spring, she and the children moved out.
    Although he had complained about her constantly and made fun of her when they were together, Eric would not let Amy go. In July, he called her relatives and threatened them. “You’d better find Amy and get her over to my house or you’ll be sorry—”
    Frightened by his vehemence, they did as he asked. But they had no idea what he was going to do; they thought that he was just going to plead with Amy to come back to him. Amy’s family watched in horror as Eric wheeled over to a nightstand in the master bedroom and pulled out a .38 revolver.
    He pointed it at Amy, and said he was tired of supporting her and paying for her car if she wasn’t going to live with him. “This gun is always loaded,” he said quietly, “and I have nothing to lose.”
    Finally, they were able to persuade him to hand over the gun. Still, Eric Shaw’s hatred of Amy seemed to permeate everything he did. Over and over again, he threatened to shoot her. He told anyone who would listen that he would kill her before he’d ever let her have custody of the children. They suspected he didn’t really want the responsibility of the children, but he used them to get back at Amy.
    Once, Eric told his friends that he was going to hire someone to kill a man he thought Amy was seeing.
    Eric Shaw was far from being a pitiful, loveless man. He had already met another woman, Mariel*, who was also a paraplegic. She had lost the use of her legs when she was injured in an automobile accident. She was a lovely young woman who quickly fell in love with Eric, who when he wanted to be, could be completely charming.

    *   *   *

    Amy and Eric’s divorce was final in July 1973. Amy won custody of their two children, but Eric had visitation rights.