I thought this was an Onion article at first.

[kandrathe]

Sadly, that idiot in Aurora forgot the basics.

It reminds me about a case that happened here many years ago -- it's so old my google fu has totally failed. Anyway, there was an awkward physics Ph.d student who was in love with a female classmate, and lacked the proper assets to attract this female. So, the awkward young physics genius set about attempting to kill off his competition, first by creating "accidental" looking fires at the handsome guys residence. After repeated failures, the handsome guy was getting suspicious that someone was out to kill him. Which was true. So he set up cameras, and traps to try to catch his anonymous arson. The boyfriend was eventually gassed to unconsciousness one night with a chlorine gas concoction made from bleach etc., but during the physics guys inspection (with a gas mask) he found his rival alive, so he bashed his brains in with a hammer. So much for subtle and accidental.

I knew of this guy obliquely as an acquaintance of a friend who had a weekly public D&D game. The physics guy was one of those types that was too weird and unsocialized to even engage with other weird and unsocialized types. In hindsight... Yes, there were alarms bells if only people knew what to look for -- but not many people can recognize mental illness. The odd thing about psychotics is that they can hold it together and appear pretty normal, until they snap. Even with the risks of mental illness we err of the side of freedom. I sometimes think some genius is just a controlled mental illness -- directing mental faculties in a positive direction ala. John Nash.