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Questions Remain as DC Sniper's End Looms

Number of victims a mystery; Muhammed slated to die Tuesday

By the Associated Press

Posted Nov 8, 2009 1:34 PM CST
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(AP) – It galled her to do it, but Sarah Dillon was desperate for answers, so she wrote letters to convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo: If you murdered my son, please confess, she wrote. She got no reply, and as Virginia prepares to execute Muhammed on Tuesday, the most basic question remains about the 2002 DC sniper shootings: How many people did Malvo and Muhammed shoot and kill?

The three-week killing spree is well documented: Muhammad and Malvo shot 13 people at random with a high-powered rifle, from the trunk of a modified, beat-up Chevy Caprice. Ten were killed. But the pair started firing on a cross-country road trip, and Malvo, while less than reliable, has confessed to other shootings. The number of shootings may be as high as 27, though the FBI says it's "complicated." But not for Dillon, whose son was gunned down outside his Texas home: "All I'm asking for is answers," she said, "before they leave this world."

Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad gestures as he address judge James L. Ryan before the start of his murder trial in Rockville, Md., in this April 28, 2006, file photo.
Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad gestures as he address judge James L. Ryan before the start of his murder trial in Rockville, Md., in this April 28, 2006, file photo.   (AP Photo/Chris Gardner, Pool)
Marion Lewis sits at his daughter Lori's gravesite on Oct. 15, 2009 in Mountain Home, Id. Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera was vacuuming cereal from her minivan Oct. 3, 2002 at a gas station when she was shot down by the DC snipers.
Marion Lewis sits at his daughter Lori's gravesite on Oct. 15, 2009 in Mountain Home, Id. Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera was vacuuming cereal from her minivan Oct. 3, 2002 at a gas station when she was shot down...   (AP Photo/Matt Cilley)
John Allen Muhammad, 48, is set to die by injection in a Virginia prison Nov. 10, 2009, seven years after he and his teenage accomplice terrorized the area in and around the nation's capital.
John Allen Muhammad, 48, is set to die by injection in a Virginia prison Nov. 10, 2009, seven years after he and his teenage accomplice terrorized the area in and around the nation's capital.   ((AP Photo/Virginia Department of Corrections))
In a March 9, 2004, file photo convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad is sentenced to death for the shooting of Dean Meyers at the Prince William County Circuit Court in Manassas, Va.
In a March 9, 2004, file photo convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad is sentenced to death for the shooting of Dean Meyers at the Prince William County Circuit Court in Manassas, Va.   (STEVE HELBER)
Lee Boyd Malvo listens to court proceedings during the trial of fellow sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad in Virginia Beach, Va., in a Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 file photo.
Lee Boyd Malvo listens to court proceedings during the trial of fellow sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad in Virginia Beach, Va., in a Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 file photo.   (AP Photo/Martin Smith-Rodden, Pool, file)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 13 comments
prowlerzee
Nov 10, 2009 5:52 AM CST
And the difference between you two pigs and the one being executed for killing people in order to murder his wife? One hair's width?
RobN
Nov 9, 2009 9:47 AM CST
Seriously Unaffiliated, if you don't see the difference between somebody who was charged by the state and given the full compliment of constitutional protections before being found guilty by a jury of his peers, and the decision to saw off the head of an innocent such as Daniel Pearl to make a political point, then there really isn't much hope for you.
Unaffiliated
Nov 9, 2009 9:11 AM CST
Excellent, someone bit! OK, ham. I'll admit the means are vastly different. But isn't the end result is still the same? Whether done in the name of the state or in the name of God, execution still results in the death of a human being at the hands of another human being. How is that justifiable?

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John Allen Muhammad • Lee Boyd Malvo • Beltway Sniper

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