|
Thomas Montgomery of Cheektowaga, New York, pleaded guilty in August to the
shooting death of 22-year-old Brian Barrett while he sat in a pickup truck
shortly after work ended.
Montgomery had passed himself off as an 18-year-old Marine in online chats
with a middle-aged West Virginia mother, identified as Mary Sheiler. Never
mind that the woman herself posed as an 18-year-old student by using photos
of her daughter. When she learned the truth about Montgomery, their online
romance cooled and she turned her attention to Barrett.
"When he could no longer get the Sheiler girl, the chats reveal an obsessive
desire to make Brian Barrett suffer and to make her suffer," prosecuting
attorney Frank Sedita said.
Montgomery and Sheiler began chatting in 2005. The woman learned the truth
about her online lover after mailing him a package. It was intercepted by
the man's wife, who contacted Sheiler to tell her his age and marital
status. The couple never met face to face.
Montgomery then sought out Barrett, who had been mentioned in the online
exchanges.
"My wife and I don't understand how this could happen, how such evil could
walk the Earth," Barrett's father, Daniel, said during the sentencing
hearing. "To gun down a boy over simple jealousy does not make sense to us."
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/29/online_rival_murder/
| 
