The Chilling Manifesto Of 22-Year-Old Mass Killer Elliot Rodger And His Malaysian Ties
Elliot Rodger, who shot and stabbed to death six people, recalled his early life in Malaysia and 'bliss' of playing in Sussex countryside before prep school misery.
By Sadho Ram — 27 May 2014, 02:50 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
On 23 May 2014, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded thirteen others in Santa Barbara, California
Elliot, who posted videos of himself to YouTube, and photos and selfies to Facebook, was half-Malaysian
The 22-year-old man who went on a rampage in California, stabbing three people to death and opened fire on passers-by, killing another three people before turning the gun on himself, was born to a Malaysian mother.
thestar.com.myHe was also a frequent commenter on at least two web forums, PUAHater.com (currently offline), a site that criticizes the pickup artist movement for being ineffective for them, and the "Misc." forum on Bodybuilding.com, where all threads featuring or referencing Rodger have been removed.
mashable.com
In a document titled "My Twisted World - The Story of Elliot Rodger", Elliot revealed that his mother was of Chinese descent and born in Malaysia
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, right, walks past a board showing the photos of suspected gunman Elliot Rodger and the weapons he used in Friday night's mass shooting that took place in Isla Vista, Calif., after a news conference on Saturday, May 24, 2014, in Santa Barbara, Calif. Sheriff's officials say Rodger, 22, went on a rampage near the University of California, Santa Barbara, stabbing three people to death at his apartment before shooting and killing three more in a crime spree through a nearby neighborhood.
Image via mshcdn.comThe 22-year-old student detailed his rage and murderous plans in the 141-page document. He chronicled his fury and resentment in My Twisted World: the Story of Elliot Rodger, a lengthy essay he emailed to his parents and a therapist just before the killing began. The early pages described a happy childhood in England before the feelings of rejection began at school.
theguardian.com
The 141-page-long essay that he emailed to his parents and a therapist, recounted his life as a child, his family, his friends and the last chapter detailed his murder plans
According to the document that is going viral on the Internet, his mother, identified as Lichin Rodger, was born in Malaysia and moved to England at a young age to work as a nurse on several film sets.
thestar.com.my"She became friends with important individuals in the film industry including George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. She even dated George Lucas for a short time," wrote Rodger.
therakyatpost.com
Elliot also bragged about his world travel and his family lineage, detailing his father's background
"Peter (father of Elliot Rodger) is of British descent, hailing from the prestigious Rodger family; a family that was once part of the wealthy upper classes before they lost all of their fortune during the Great Depression. My father's father, George Rodger, was a renowned photojournalist who had taken very famous photographs during the Second World War, though he failed to reacquire the family's lost fortune."
theguardian.com
Elliot recounted the time when he and his family came for a holiday in Malaysia after his third birthday and again when he was 13, which he "enjoyed very much"
"Sometime after my third birthday, we all went on a vacation to Malaysia, my mother's home country. I have only flashes of memory of that vacation. I enjoyed it very much. We visited a few of my mother's relatives," he wrote.
thestar.com.myOn his 13th birthday, Elliot said his mother took him and his younger sister Georgia to Malaysia again.
thestar.com.myHe wrote that they met with several relatives in Penang including his grandmother, whom he liked calling "Ah Mah"
“We met up with Ah Mah, my mother’s sister Min and her husband Jack and cousin Emma. They were also visiting Malaysia from England. During the trip, we toured the island of Penang, visited George Town, went to a fun water park and had very delicious meals at many exotic restaurants,” he said.
therakyatpost.com
Rodger said the vacation was so nice that he didn't even miss his life at home in the United States. "Three weeks flew by very fast and I cried a little when it was over. It was a good sadness," he wrote.
thestar.com.myAccording to the document, his mother was 30 when she gave birth to him, and shortly after his seventh birthday, Elliot said his mother and his father Peter Rodger, who is an assistant director in Hunger Games, were divorced
"My mother, who only a few months before, told me that such thing will never happen. I was absolutely shocked, outraged, and above all, overwhelmed. This was a huge life-changing event," he said.
thestar.com.myAccording to reports, he had been seeing therapists on and off since he was eight.
malaysiandigest.com
Elliot went on to detail a blissful childhood of playing outside, surrounded by family in the countryside
"We moved to a large house made of red brick in the county of Sussex, with vast grass fields surrounding it. The house even had a name: The Old Rectory. This was where I spent my early childhood, the first five years of my life, and it was beautiful," he wrote.
theguardian.com
"The memories I have of this period are only memories of happiness and bliss. My father was a professional photographer at the time, just in the stage of becoming a director. My mother gave up her nursing career to stay at home and look after me. My grandma on my mother's side, who I would call Ah Mah, moved in with us to help out my mother.
malaysiandigest.com
"I would spend a lot of time with Ah Mah during these years. This was a time of discovery, excitement, and fun. I had just entered this new world, and I knew nothing of the pain it would bring me later on. I enjoyed life with innocent bliss. I can remember playing in the fields and going on long walks with Ah Mah to pick berries. She would always warn me not to touch the stinging nettles that sometimes grew in our fields, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I got stung a few times. There was a swing in the back of our yard, which I had many good times on."
theguardian.com
But he later details his unhappy time at the all-boys prep school Dorset House in the Sussex downs
He said: "I was forced to wear a uniform, which I hated because I had to wear uncomfortable socks up to my knees. I was very nervous and I cried on my first day there. I can remember two friends I made by name, George and David. I would always play in the sandpit with them."
mashable.com
"I didn't like school at Dorsett [sic] House very much. I found the rules to be too strict. My least favourite part of it was the football sessions. I never understood the game and I could never keep up with the other boys in the field, so I always stood by the goal-keeper and pretended to be the 'second goalkeeper'."
theguardian.com
Although, for someone who felt unloved and wanted revenge for that, Elliot was a much-loved child. His Malaysian-born mother Ong Li Chin thought the world of her children, said her good friend from Penang Helen Yap
Yap, a well-known music producer and composer, knew Ong from their days together in Pulau Tikus on the island. “Li Chin would always sign off her name as well as her children’s names in Christmas cards,” she said.
thestar.com.myYap also said Elliot would have been a hit with the girls had he grown up in Malaysia. Although Ong and other schoolmates grew apart over the years, Yap said they had always felt a special attachment towards each other.
She added that they only found out through the media that Elliot had been seeing a therapist from the age of eight. Another of Ong’s schoolmates, who did not want to be named, said that like most children, Rodger wanted to do things his way.
therakyatpost.com
She recalled that the boy had refused to take his shoes off when he was entering a house in Penang. Elliot, who was born in England and grew up in United States, was not accustomed to the Malaysian culture of being barefoot in the house.
thestar.com.my“That is all I remember about him when his mother brought him to Penang for a holiday when he was about 10 or 11,” she said. (According to his own document, Rodger was 13 when he visted Penang).
malaysiandigest.com
Who were the people Elliot killed?
The six Isla Vista massacre victims, from top left: Christopher Michaels-Martinez, Veronika Weiss, Katie Cooper, Cheng-Yuan Hong, George Chen, Weihan Wang.
Image via go.comThree men were stabbed to death at Rodger's apartment. The victims were identified as Cheng Yuan "James" Hong, 20; George Chen, 19; and Weihan "David" Wang, 20. Hong and Chen were confirmed to be Rodger's roommates, according to an apartment lease that listed them as tenants with Rodger, while police were investigating whether Wang was also a roommate or visiting the apartment on the night of the killings.
abc7.com
A law enforcement source stated that Wang was visiting the apartment at the time of the killings, but other sources state that Wang shared the same apartment as Hong and Chen, who were his friends, and that he made plans of moving into another apartment prior to his death, due to complaints over Rodger playing loud music in the middle of the night.
nydailynews.comHong also made similar plans to move out of the apartment out of concern for his own safety. Authorities are investigating the possibility that all three men were killed while they were sleeping. All three men were students at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
This is Christopher Martinez. His top song on his itunes was 'My Heart Will Go On', his favorite author was Bernard Cornwell, he was ridiculously good at Just Dance, could never win at Cards Against Humanity,
Image via imgur.comThree people, also UCSB students, were shot and killed by Rodger following the stabbings at his apartment. The victims were identified as Katherine Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19, who were killed outside the sorority house; and Christopher Michael-Martinez, 20, who was killed at the Isla Vista Deli Mart. All six people who were killed were declared dead at the scenes of their attacks.
nytimes.com