Poor Decisions Shadowed Salon Shooting Suspect

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http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=14744185 & sid=81

October 16, 2011

U.S.

Poor Decisions Shadowed Salon Shooting Suspect

By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press

2 hours, 41 minutes ago

The bitter father charged with gunning down his ex-wife and eight others at a

beauty salon should have had an idyllic Southern California childhood: He spent

his formative years just blocks from the beach with his beloved grandparents,

fished from the pier with friends and surfed along the wide, sandy beaches of

his hometown.

But poor decisions, bad luck and soured relationships shadowed Dekraai

over the years as he transformed into an angry adult whose life spiraled ever

more out of control until, police say, a bitter custody battle over his

8-year-old son triggered his spasm of violence Wednesday.

For years, family members and friends watched Dekraai struggle with rage and

mental health problems.

" He was the cutest little kid you'd ever want to see and if you look at his high

school pictures, he was a handsome young man, " said Max Hinmon, his step-uncle.

" But now he's a very emotionless person. He can be very charming and he'll smile

at you and you'll think he's the nicest person in the world. But he's got an

extreme dark side to him. He'll fly off the handle at any little thing. "

Dekraai, 41, showed no emotion Friday at his first court appearance hours after

prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty. He postponed entering pleas

on eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the rampage at

Salon Meritage.

The beauty parlor was packed with customers just after lunch Wednesday when

Dekraai, clad in a bulletproof vest, opened fire with at least two handguns,

killing his ex-wife Fournier and seven others, including a man in his

car outside the shop, authorities said. An elderly woman having her hair styled

by her daughter, who died in the carnage, remains in critical condition.

Arrested just minutes later, the pale, bloated man in handcuffs and an open

shirt barely resembled the tan, handsome teen who pitched for his high school

baseball team, played football like his dad and spent hours sport-fishing with

his grandfather on the Pacific Ocean.

His biological father, Terry Dekraai, who played football at the University of

Southern California with OJ Simpson, was hardly in the picture and his mother,

, and stepfather had trouble raising him, Hinmon said. They had to

remove Dekraai's bedroom door because he was trying to have sex with girls when

he was as young as 12, said his step-aunt, Sharyn White.

Several attempts by The Associated Press to find Terry Dekraai were not

successful.

The boy idolized his step-grandfather, Monte , a character who wore an eye

patch and was known to some as " Pirate " around Seal Beach. Dekraai was happiest

in his company and they shared a special bond, spending hours on the water, said

Nancey Kredell, a close family friend.

" He didn't have it easy. His parents weren't together and his grandfather was a

big portion of his life. He doted on him, just dearly loved him, and thought he

could do no wrong, " Kredell said. " He was the one really firm rock. "

Dekraai eventually moved in with his grandparents and began accompanying the

older man on boating and fishing trips when he was as young as 11 or 12.

He was so passionate about boats that he began working as a young teen at a

business that runs fishing, diving and whale watching tours. He eventually

joined the payroll as a crewman, said Don , co-owner of Pierpoint Landing

in Long Beach.

He was popular with tourists and other crew members alike and was incredibly

fit, finding time to play high school football and baseball while holding down

his job.

" He was the most even-keeled, good-natured person. A lot of our groups would

say, 'Hey, is going to be on the boat today?' They looked forward to him

and the crews, the same thing, " said. " When you put five or six people on

a boat, a lot of times it's oil and water and they just don't get along. He got

along with everybody. "

In 1991, Dekraai went to work at Catalina Channel Express, working his way up to

captain piloting ferries between the mainland and the picturesque haven of

Catalina Island. The company accused him of using heroin and illegal drugs to

lose weight and he was fired in 2000. His breach of contract and defamation

lawsuit were dismissed, according to court papers.

Dekraai, who was divorced from his first wife, married Fournier in 2003 in

Nevada after a whirlwind romance. She gave birth to a son seven months later.

The relationship soured almost immediately. Fournier told White — who was also

her friend — that Dekraai held a gun to her head shortly after their wedding.

Fournier left Dekraai in December 2006 because he wasn't stable, said Tim

Terbush, a friend of Fournier's and a former neighbor who knew Dekraai for

years.

" His violence started to escalate, escalate, escalate and she was scared to

death of him, " Terbush said.

Some felt Dekraai's grandparents set the stage for his problems later in life by

spoiling him and stepping in to save him when he got into trouble. His step

grandfather loaned him money several times when he ran up gambling debts and

would buy him anything he wanted as a child, Hinmon said.

" He's never been held accountable and he's always been bailed out of

everything, " he said. " He had gambling problems with bookies and I know the last

check his grandfather wrote him was for $5,000 — and he wrote on the check,

'This is the last one.' "

When the step-grandfather died in 2005, Dekraai was devastated to discover he

had willed half his estate to a biological daughter.

Dekraai and his mother filed a claim against the estate, but it was dropped

after their attorney determined they had no standing to challenge the will, said

Brief, an attorney who represented the estate and gave a deposition in

the case. Dekraai and his mom split their half and received roughly $400,000

each, Brief said.

By the time Dekraai received the last of the inheritance in 2009, he had much

bigger problems.

While working aboard the tugboat Emma Foss in February 2007, Dekraai's leg was

mangled in a mishap that crushed a fellow mate to death. He spent a month in the

hospital and would never be the same again.

Debilitating pain from his injuries never went away and a doctor said he

suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

" It was always painful, it was always bothering him. They were constantly

grafting tendons and ligaments and trying to stimulate the nerve, trying to get

circulation going through and it never worked, " said , his former boss at

the sport-fishing company. " He wishes it had been amputated. "

By the time he got out of the hospital, his wife had filed for divorce. He

couldn't find work and had to move in with this mother. When his stepfather,

Leroy Hinmon, asked him for rent, Dekraai attacked him in front of his mother

and 4-year-old son.

" He was beating him up, slapping him around, " Max Hinmon said. " He worked my

brother over pretty good. "

The police were called and Leroy Hinmon got a temporary restraining order in

August 2007. Dekraai, who didn't dispute the claim that he cut and bruised the

older man, was ordered to surrender any firearms and attend a year-long program

for batterers.

While Dekraai and his ex-wife shared custody of their son, he was pushing for

more time with him and more control over his rearing in what was becoming a more

acrimonious situation.

The two traded accusations in court papers even as Dekraai settled into a

suburban life in nearby Huntington Beach with a third wife, the woman who had

been hired to care for him after his tugboat accident.

In the court filings, Dekraai said Fournier drank too much, was a bad parent and

screamed at him.

She accused him of being violent, suicidal and not taking his medication.

Dekraai acknowledged in a court report that he had previously been diagnosed as

bipolar, said Cate, Fournier's attorney in the custody case.

Just a month ago, Fournier told Terbush she was frightened. She told White that

he had come to her salon and threatened to kill her.

" He threatened her innumerable times, innumerable times, " Terbush said. " This

was not a one-time thing. "

On Tuesday, Dekraai and Fournier were in court for yet another custody hearing

in their bitter battle over their son.

The hearing should have been routine, but Dekraai refused to accept a

court-ordered report that indicated the current split was working and insisted

on a trial, which was set for December, Cate said.

The next day, police say, Dekraai strapped on a bullet proof vest, took three

guns and entered Salon Meritage with weapons blazing.

" It is hard to go inside the head of a madman and say what he was thinking, "

Cate said. " I will tell you this: you have some signs, but certainly not signs

that would automatically lead you to believe he would pull off something as

dastardly as this. "

—————

Associated Press Writers Amy Taxin in Santa Ana; Watkins, Melley

and McCartney in Los Angeles; and Noaki Schwartz in Long Beach

contributed to this report.

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