Marc Headley’s Mother Recounts How Her Son Turned Vicious and Criminal

TRANSCRIPT:

Marc Headley, throughout his life, was so much of a friggin’ coward because he would always do covert things that I didn’t know about, that I didn’t see, because if mother saw what he did he would be accountable to mother and that’s something that he couldn’t face.

So being a coward was easy for him. And his growing up behavior of mischievous turned into viciousness, turned into destructiveness—that was a decision he made. He could have made any other choice. But when he lost his integrity, he became a criminal and he became a criminal at a very early age.

When we lived in Hollywood sometimes tourists would, you know—he would be wherever he was, right. And you know, they’d ask him for directions because you know Los Angeles is a tourist city. And he would deliberately give them directions in the opposite way—just for fun.

And one time his friends told me he went to a movie theater, and maybe we were there at that same movie, right, seeing the same movie, and he would get a little vial of this horrendous stinking sauce, you know, this liquid that just reeked of something, some really bad smell. And he would pour it on the people watching the movie in front of him. Again, very covert, very—them not being aware of it, you know. And he would pour it on them and then his friends would come tell me he did this. So, you know, it’s like he had a whole pattern growing up of doing things that were destructive and that hurt people.

And one time we were swimming together in a pool, and Marc dunked me under the water. Okay. You know, he’s about my size. He’s a kid, you know, it’s an innocent thing, you know. But what wasn’t innocent about it was the fact that when I tried to come up for air, he put my head under the water again. Now he did this about three, four times. I could hold my breath for a long time, right, but he wasn’t playing. He was actually trying to drown me. And he will remember this. He was trying to drown me. Now, you know, it came to the point where I was going to have to defend myself, which meant I was going to have to hurt him. He stopped just short of that, you know. So at that point it went way beyond being mischievous, you know. His pattern was turning from innocent or pranks into destructive activities that are like almost unforgivable.

I remember attending a game, you know, and he was playing soccer. And there was someone that got hurt. And they actually took him out on a stretcher. And somebody came to me and said, “I don’t know if you realize it or not, but when Marc plays he doesn’t play for the game—he plays to take people out. He [plays] to injure people. If he hits them or if he’s trying to do some move or something, the person in front of him is a target, you know, and he’s out there to hurt them.” So, and as hard as that is to hear as a parent, you know, his general activities through his growing up period, I understand that, you know, it was getting more pronounced.

And, you know, as a parent, you know, I wanted to do what I could do for him to make him self-sufficient so he could be a contributing, responsible adult. And I thought that had been achieved because, you know, he went to work with the Church.

And the happiest days of my life is when he decided to work with the Church. And he actually joined the Church first and he’s the one that got his sister into working for the Church. So that was fantastic, you know. But, see, we didn’t change. You know, we didn’t change our mind, you know, we didn’t alter our course, you know. Marc was the one that did that, you know. He decided, at some point in time, that he was going to turn his back on everything that he loved. He was the one that decided to turn his back on his mother, turn his back on his sister—anyone that meant anything to him, all his friends in the Church, all his friends that he worked with.

So, he’s had a record of that—Marc Headley’s had a record of using family and friends and groups for whatever he can eke out of them, right. And when it’s to the point where he’s got what he needs from them, he tosses them. Or he tries to kill them, or he tries to hurt them, you know. So that’s always been his, you know, modus operandi is, you know, “take what I need and discard.” It’s like stir and crush. So he’s done that all through his life. And when he got into the Church, same deal. Same people who clothe him, who feed him, who berth him, you know, who give him a technical education—when he felt he had everything he needed from them, crush them.

You know, and I think it would embarrass him to know that his mother thinks he is a frigging coward, you know, that he doesn’t have enough kumquats, okay, to face what he’s done and take responsibility for it.

You can be a criminal or you can be honest and straight. At some point in time, you have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and become a man, not a spineless creature that has no sense of integrity or loyalty to anybody. And God help his family, because the unhappiness that he’s bringing the rest of the people is going to eventually come to his family. And they’re going to grow up one day to know the dad is the bad guy and always was.

It’s kind of like Luke Skywalker realizing that his dad is Darth Vader. I think that brings it home. You know, here’s the criminal and the most vilest, and then you learn that that’s your father. Well, that’s kind of the way I feel. I feel like I raised Darth Vader.