Russell Eugene Weston Jr.,41, of Rimini, Montana, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic shoots and kills two federal officers and wounds a tourist at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 24, 1998. The next day, Weston is charged with the murders of the federal officers. The slain officers are Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, both of whom are were married with three children.
Weston was last seen by his family after he left the family home in Valmeyer, Illinois. He had shot a dozen or more cats with a shotgun after his grandmother had asked him to do something about the cats which had become a nuisance. His father told him he had ten days to find a new place to live.
In 1983 Weston alleged that Dorothy Cole, his eighty-something landlady, took her cane and struck him in the face, causing him to leave Montana and commence a $2.5 million lawsuit against the woman. He also claimed that local authorities refused to prosecute Cole because the "Sheriff had received several expensive pieces of mining equipment from Dorothy Cole." Eventually, his case was dismissed.
He had delusions that someone was attempting to get him because he had top-secret knowledge of some kind.
In 1991, Weston wrote two threatening letters to then-Montana Gov. Stan Stephens. In 1997, Weston went into a mental hospital after making threats against a Helena resident.
Weston earlier had been investigated by the Secret Service after acquaintances reported hearing him make threats toward the government and President Clinton, but the agency determined he was not imminently dangerous.
Weston had traveled to Washington before. He went to CIA headquarters and allegedly told officials that he was a clone and that President Clinton was a clone as well.
| 07/24/98 | Chestnut and Gibson are shot at the Capitol building. Both officers die later that day. |
| 07/25/98 | Weston is charged with the murder of Chestnut and Gibson. |
| 08/11/98 | Montana Judge Jeffrey Sherlock denied The Washington Post's petition for access to documents relating to Weston's 1996 commitment in the Montana State Hospital. |
| On their second visit to the hospital, Weston's mother, father and brother-in-law are served with subpoenas. | |
| 04/22/99 | In an eight-page ruling U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan declares that Russell Weston is unable to understand the charges against him and incompetent to stand trial. |
| 09/09/99 | Judge Sullivan rules that Weston can be forced to take medication to make him less dangerous and competent for trial. Enactment of the order is postponed to give the defense time to appeal. |
++A list of
items found in Weston's home during an FBI search.
++Weston's cabin was within 2 miles of the cabin of the
Unibomber.
++Facts about schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorder.