At just 16 years of age, brooding Joe Corcoran gunned down his parents Jack, 53, and Kathryn, 48, in cold blood simply because they were too demanding of him. Before their murder, he'd even offered pals hundreds of dollars to shoot them for him. But Corcoran walked free. He was found not guilty in court due to a lack of evidence. The weight of what he'd done lingered ith him, poisoning his soul and weighing heavily on his shoulders. It was only a matter of time before his rage exploded once more. Sure enough, five years later Corcoran took a semi-automatic rifle and blasted to death his own brother James, 30, his sister's finance Rob Turner, 32, and two family friends, Doug Stillwell and Tim Bricker, both 30. What had they done to provoke such a massacre? Their 'crime' was simply to have had a conversation about Corcoran while he'd been upstairs eavesdropping on them.Now it is time for Corcoran to meet his maker, too. In May, the US Supreme Court denied Corcoran's request to have his case reviewed for a third time, having stubbornly appealed a death sentence dished out in 1999. He has now exhausted all options. And his sister Kelly Nieto, for one, is glad of it. Thankfully she wasn't at home during her brother's gory spree. Speaking about the slaying of her brother and future husband — which all happened while her seven-year-old daughter cowered in fear upstairs — Kelly said, 'I knew right then and there that he killed my parents. 'I've cried so many tears I'm dry. Everything's gone. Joe has ruined my life — I hope he fries. I just think he's sick. I don't know what made him do it. I don't know what it was.'
PARANOID ODDBALL
Growing up in the sweltering heat of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Joe Corcoran was marked out as something of an oddball from a young age. Neighbour Rose Heintzelman recalls, 'All I ever saw him do was work on cars. I never saw him have a friend over, a boy or a girl. He seemed paranoid.' Then, one morning in April 1992, Joe calmly dispatched his overbearing mother and father with a shotgun before calmly boarding the school bus. When pulled out of class later in the day to be told that his parents had been brutally murdered, officers noted how he showed 'little emotion'. Detectives found no sign of forced entry at the property and also noted how the family dog — a loyal animal, fiercely protective of Kathryn — hadn't barked to signal an intruder. All fingers pointed to young Joe — but prosecutors had neither a witness or a weapon. After a five-day trial at Stueben County Court, Corcoran was acquitted because there wasn't enough forensic detail to nail him. Amazingly Joe's sister Kelly and brother James defended him to the hilt, believing there really had been a psychopathic intruder who was still on the loose. The siblings eventually all moved in together, seemingly bonded by grief. They were joined by Kelly's partner Rob and her young daughter.
EXPLOSION OF RAGE
But all was not well. As family friend Margaret Anderson later noted, 'I think that murdering his parents had been on his mind and on his soul for the last five years. 'And I think it finally caught up with him.' On July 26, 1997, while a jovial gathering got into full swing downstairs — complete with pizza and beer — a 22-year-old Corcoran brooded upstairs in his attic room. He overheard his name being mentioned downstairs and instantly assumed they were speaking ill of him. In the heat of the moment, he grabbed an assault rifle, ordered his niece to stay in her room, and marched downstairs. Some time later, that tearful little girl would be carried down the same stairs by police officers shielding her eyes from the vivid red carnage that now covered the walls all around her. As Corcoran explained at his trial in May 1999, 'I could hear them talking about me, but I couldn't make out the words. 'I pretty much lost my temper. I loaded the rifle and headed downstairs. I guess to try to intimidate them or something. It didn't work out that way.' He found the group sitting on two couches, watching TV. The rifle had been filled with 28 rounds of high-velocity military-style .223 cartridges designed to penetrate a steel helmet at 600 yards. The victims didn't stand a chance. His brother James was first, dying instantly after being shot three times in the face. Next he turned the gun on Tim, blasting him twice in the face. Rob's chest and back were then penetrated with four bullets. Doug bolted for the exit, but he couldn't escape Corcoran's deadly weapon. He was gunned down in the kitchen, shot three times in the back. Corcoran then calmly walked over, placed the barre of his rifle to Doug's head, and pulled the trigger once more. Only then did the red mist clear from Corcoran's eyes.
DEADLY ARSENAL
Sensing the enormity of what he'd just done, he walked to a neighbour's house and begged them to call police, telling them, 'You may as well just arrest me.' Sgt Nancy Becher was first on the scene. She was met with a scene of unprecedented bloodshed. She said, 'The suspect believed the victims were talking about him and became angry.' The word 'angry' was an understatement. There was so much blood, it took forensics two days just to mop up. After that, it didn't take long for Corcoran to admit his guilt in the slaying of his parents, too. In May 1999 he stood trial at Porter County Court, accused of four counts of murder. He pleaded not guilty by way of insanity. Yet more lurid details emerged. Corcoran had not only established an arsenal of around 30 deadly weapons, he also had a stash of racist, right-wing literature. He was simply a ticking time bomb. Even his own defence lawyer, Mark Thoma, began his closing argument by telling the jury they needed to convict Corcoran of the four murders. Thoma said, 'This is a paranoid guy — probably more paranoid than anyone we've ever met. He was freaked out, in his own troubled, paranoid way, and just blew.' Allen County Deputy Prosecutor John Sullivan simply described the crime as 'cold-blooded mass murder'. Inevitably, a jury not only found Corcoran guilty but recommended the death penalty. On the day of sentencing, Corcoran issued a heartfelt apology. In a statement read out in court, he said, 'I can sincerely say I'm sorry — not sorry for me but for those who have good reason to hate me, because I am a horrible person, a person who needs to be punished. 'Though it may not be seen by others, I grieve in my own way. My sorrow remains and I am burdened with its shame. My actions were shameful, and they fill even me with contempt.' For years, Corcoran waived his right to appeal, before finally doing so in 2003, Yet even now, despite the ongoing legal procedure, Corcoran is yet to be killed. Bemoaning his time in prison, the 41-year-old admitted recently 'I believe the death penalty is just. I'm guilty of murder therefore I should be killed.'
http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/row/corcoran.htm
http://www.murderpedia.org/male.C/c/corcoran-joseph.htm
Source: Love It Magazine