Lee Boyd Malvo

Lee Boyd Malvo was born on 18th February, 1985 in Kingston, Jamaica, to Una James and Leslie Samuel Malvo. He spent most of his childhood in Jamaica.

Malvo was neglected as a child, as his parents were often absent. He was left in the care of others and was thus little supervised.

In 1998, Malvo and his mother moved to Antigua. It was during this time that Malvo met Muhammad, and by 2001, he entered USA.

When he was living with his mother in Miami, Malvo attended high school for a brief period of time, and later they moved to Bellingham, Washington.

Malvo was living in a homeless shelter where he developed a strange bond with Muhammad. He had begun to consider Muhammad as a father figure and would play chess with him.

In 2002, Malvo and Muhammad began to plan the attacks by touring around the country. They killed three people and injured one in Maryland and Louisiana in September.

In October 2002, they started their assault on Washington, D.C. area using a rifle. They created their own sniper nest in the trunk of their car and worked together as a team. While one would select the victims, the other one pulled the trigger. They ended up killing 10 people and injuring three others.

After the attacks, people in Maryland and Virginia were living in fear of the sniper shooters. The police too had difficulty finding clues to arrest them as they had no particular pattern and attacked anyone irrespective of age.

After their ninth kill, the duo sent a letter to the cops asking for $10 million to end the on-going terror. The case was finally solved when Malvo left his fingerprint on a document that was found at the scene of murder.

The two were arrested on October 24, 2002, when the cops surrounded the vehicle where the duo was sleeping. Few reports suggested that only Malvo’s fingerprints were found on the weapons. But Malvo confessed that Muhammad was the triggerman on first six shootings.

Lee Boyd Malvo was first arrested under federal charges but they were dropped. Later, he was transferred to Virginia custody and sent to jail in Fairfax County. There he was charged for two capital crimes: murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, and murder of one more person.

He was also charged with unlawful use of firearm. Many attorneys were appointed to represent him but later that job went to Craig Cooley.

The trail was moved to Chesapeake, Virginia where Malvo pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He stated that he was under complete control of Muhammad while carrying the crimes.

One of Malvo’s psychiatric witness testified that Muhammad had tricked Malvo into believing that the extortion money would be used to create a new nation for pure black young people in a Canadian society.

On December 18, 2003, Malvo was convicted of all the charges by a jury. Few days later, the jury made a recommendation of giving him a lifetime sentence in prison without any possibility of parole. Finally on March 10, 2004, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.