Stephen Marshall (murderer)

American Canadian vigilante
another murderer called Stephen Marshall

Stephen Alexander Marshall (August 9, 1985 – April 16, 2006) was a 20 year old American Canadian man who travelled from Nova Scotia to Maine with the intention of shooting and killing convicted sex offenders in an act of vigilantism. Using the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders retrieved through searching publicly available sex offender registries in the United States, Marshall drove to the houses of two convicted sex offenders and killed them, before later shooting and killing himself in Boston, Massachusetts as police were stopping the bus he was on.

Stephen Alexander Marshall was born on August 9, 1985, in Fort Worth, Texas, to parents Ralph Arthur Marshall and Margaret Malia Diekelmann. He attempted to enlist in the Army, but was rejected because of his asthma.

Out of 34 sex offenders listed on the Maine registry, Marshall took down the information on 29 of them. On April 13, 2006, Marshall left his North Sydney (now part of Cape Breton Regional Municipality) home in Nova Scotia, driving to visit Houlton, Maine, where his father lived. During his trip, Marshall's car broke down in Sackville, New Brunswick, so he called for his father to pick him up. On the evening of April 15, Marshall stole his father's Toyota pickup truck as well as three of his firearms: a .22 caliber handgun, as well as a rifle. He began by driving on Interstate 95 towards the houses of registered sex offenders in LaGrange, some of which he passed, though he continued towards Milo, where, according to police, he likely drove on State Route 16. Throughout the multiple Milo residences of sex offenders that he drove by, Marshall chose the home of 57 year old Joseph Gray, who, at around 3 a. m. on April 16, was shot and killed through his front window. Marshall drove his father's truck to Bangor and abandoned it as well as the rifle that he brought with him. At 1:45 p. m., he boarded a bus headed for Boston, Massachusetts. who helped replace the bus after breaking down around Lewiston a few hours earlier. Shortly before arriving at the South Station in Boston at 8:15 p. m., Later investigation of the laptop he had brought with him indicated that he had gone to the residences of four other sex offenders.

After his suicide, authorities investigated his computer. They found an animation of Jesus armed with an assault rifle while knocking on someone's door. Witnesses reported that Marshall had converted to Christianity shortly before the killings. At one point, he referred to pedophiles as "scums of the Earth". During an interview with the Bangor Daily News, Trant, then imprisoned at New Hampshire State Prison, said "I understand perfectly why he did it" in regards to Marshall's shootings. On August 27, 2005, almost one year prior to Marshall's murders, 35 year old Michael Anthony Mullen from Washington state used the Whatcom County's digital sex offender database to shoot and kill two convicted child rapists: After Mullen admitted to the murders, he received a prison sentence of over 44 years after two second degree murder were pled guilty by him. Mullen died in prison on April 15, 2007.