Fraying Family Ties Cut to Heart of Theater Gunman’s Defense
They show up in court every day, a visible reminder to jurors that even a killer has parents who love him and who don’t want him to die
In this Dec. 8, 2014 file photo, Arlene Holmes, left, mother of James Holmes who is charged in the killing of 12 moviegoers and the wounding of 70 others in a shooting spree in a crowded theatre in Aurroa, Colo., on July 20, 2012, leaves the courtroom after a pre-trial readiness hearing in Centennial, Colo., in the murder trial of her son. After more than two months of testimony in the trial, new details have been revealed to show the strained relationship that had developed between Holmes, his parents and sister leading up to the massacre in the theatre. AP Photo/David Zalubowski
CENTENNIAL, Colo.—They show up in court every day, a visible reminder to jurors that even a killer has parents who love him and who don’t want him to die.
But more than two months into his mass-murder trial, James Holmes has yet to turn around in his seat and acknowledge them.
They called him Jimbo. He called them Goober and Bobbo. But the relationship Arlene and Robert Holmes had with their son had been strained since he was a young boy. After he left for graduate school, their communication was mostly confined to terse emails.
Holmes told a psychiatrist years after his gunshots killed 12 people and injured 70 in a crowded Colorado movie theater that he doesn’t like to talk with people — even his mother and father.
