As a former resident of Virginia Beach - I know this case personally.
Shawn Novak was a resident of the Wadsworth Military Housing Community with his family in the early 90's.
He attended Virginia Beach Junior High - and First Colonial High School.
He was very bright - eclectic -- and also a little bit on the "weird" side.
I remember hearing about him in my high school - and how the other kids would say that he wore dead birds around his neck - and a cat's paw - on the last day of school.... I don't know if these stories are true --- I am going to try to find out.....
Well, as the case goes - Shawn was out in his neighborhood on an evening, March 04,1991. He ran into 2 children- Daniel Wayne Geier (9) and Christopher "Scot" Weaver (7), riding their bicycles. The two children were interested in Shawn - because he always had mysterious and mystical stories to tell - and he engaged in magical role playing episodes with the kids in the neighborhood.
Shawn was very interested in the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game at the time. The Virginian Pilot and Ledger Star reports that Shawn saw the youngsters as "Kender" or "Kinder" as in the D & D game. "Kender" are described as "small boned" and under 4 ft tall. They are described as "savage warrior children, ever curious, ever alert". (Wikipedia)
So, on this evening in March, Shawn was playing with the two children- and they entered the woods on the outskirts of the housing complex.
Apparently, the 2 young boys put their bikes on a trail at the beginning of the woods - and entered the wooded area with Shawn.
Shawn carried a knife. A big, serrated knife with a bone handle. The two children were so interested in the knife - they were begging Shawn to allow them to handle it.
He refused......
The 2 boys schemed to get the knife away from Shawn - and they managed to do so......
Shawn eyed Daniel with the knife - and then (as the defense states) he went into a type of dysphoric experience.. Shawn attacked - as if he were an actual D & D warrior. He slit the boys throats - killing them
Maybe Shawn was in a fog---- maybe he was in another reality---- who knows????
Shawn later explained to a psychiatrist that he "watched the [killings] from above." As if the whole event were an"out of body" experience.
Shawn Novak was a resident of the Wadsworth Military Housing Community with his family in the early 90's.
He attended Virginia Beach Junior High - and First Colonial High School.
He was very bright - eclectic -- and also a little bit on the "weird" side.
I remember hearing about him in my high school - and how the other kids would say that he wore dead birds around his neck - and a cat's paw - on the last day of school.... I don't know if these stories are true --- I am going to try to find out.....
Well, as the case goes - Shawn was out in his neighborhood on an evening, March 04,1991. He ran into 2 children- Daniel Wayne Geier (9) and Christopher "Scot" Weaver (7), riding their bicycles. The two children were interested in Shawn - because he always had mysterious and mystical stories to tell - and he engaged in magical role playing episodes with the kids in the neighborhood.
Shawn was very interested in the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game at the time. The Virginian Pilot and Ledger Star reports that Shawn saw the youngsters as "Kender" or "Kinder" as in the D & D game. "Kender" are described as "small boned" and under 4 ft tall. They are described as "savage warrior children, ever curious, ever alert". (Wikipedia)
So, on this evening in March, Shawn was playing with the two children- and they entered the woods on the outskirts of the housing complex.
Apparently, the 2 young boys put their bikes on a trail at the beginning of the woods - and entered the wooded area with Shawn.
Shawn carried a knife. A big, serrated knife with a bone handle. The two children were so interested in the knife - they were begging Shawn to allow them to handle it.
He refused......
The 2 boys schemed to get the knife away from Shawn - and they managed to do so......
Shawn eyed Daniel with the knife - and then (as the defense states) he went into a type of dysphoric experience.. Shawn attacked - as if he were an actual D & D warrior. He slit the boys throats - killing them
Maybe Shawn was in a fog---- maybe he was in another reality---- who knows????
Shawn later explained to a psychiatrist that he "watched the [killings] from above." As if the whole event were an"out of body" experience.
He laid the dead boys next to each other, and covered them with pine branches and leaves.
When the two boys did not return home that evening, a search party was coordinated.
A Washington Post article dated March 07, 1991 reads: "A round the clock search involving dogs, divers, helicopters and hundreds of officers, neighbors and members of the military turned up their fully clothed bodies Tuesday evening, partly hidden under branches, about a half-mile from home."
"A young boy who knows the woods well helped guide police." This "young boy" was Shawn.
Classmates of Shawn told the police that he had come to school bragging about finding the boys bodies.
Shawn, 16, was tried in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court as an adult, and was sentenced to life. He will come up for parole in 2011.
