COLD BLOODED KILLERS (Killers from around the World) (4 page)

- 4 - 
Michael Alborgeden

Michael's parents, Craig and Peggy Alborgeden began dating in Junior High School but Craig was an abusive boyfriend. Peggy wore heavy makeup to conceal the bruises and would avoid taking physical education so that she wouldn't have to shower with her classmates and then have to explain the marks. She had hoped that Craig would change and stop abusing her. But that never happened and the abuse only escalated. Typical of any abuser, he would warn her that if she told anyone he would kill her. He'd apologize and make vague promises not to hit her again, but it never lasted.

By the time Peggy entered Senior High, she was pregnant with Michael. She believed that by giving Craig a child, he would change and he did for a short time. During her ninth month of pregnancy Craig punched her in the stomach which caused her water to break. This complicated the delivery, however, both baby and mother survived. When Peggy turned twenty-one she decided she had enough of Craig's beatings. She called her mother to tell her she was coming home. However, Craig overheard the conversation. Just after she hung up the telephone, he punched her in the face twice and made Peggy call her mother back to tell her she had changed her mind and would be staying with Craig.

When he finally allowed her to see a doctor three days later, she was immediately hospitalized. He had broken her jaw so bad that it had to be wired shut for two months. This was her first trip to the hospital but certainly wouldn't be her last.

During the next twelve years she would be treated for concussions, broken bones, and cuts.  Michael first learned to conceal the truth about Craig’s abusive behavior from his mother. Michael did not escape his father's violence either. He also was abused. However, Craig never hit Michael in front of his wife. He was afraid she would take action and report him to the police or child services.

Peggy and Craig's marriage finally ended in divorce. Initially Michael lived with his mother. But just four months after his parents divorce, Michael was arrested and put on probation for breaking into a neighbour's house. His mother then decided it would be best for Michael to leave the area and go live with his father, Craig.

He and his father had some good times, and Craig spoiled his son with cars, dirt bikes, fishing and hunting trips. Michael also worked part-time at the service station with his father. All of these great times didn't last long. Soon Craig had changed again and started abusing Michael. Craig called his special punishments GP's, short for ‘general purpose’. These were the punishments Michael would receive every day regardless of his father's mood.

Michael described a GP as a hit for no reason. His father would walk by him and just hit him with a closed fist on the chest, arms or legs. The other hits were inflicted when Craig was angry. Michael also learned to accept death threats as part of his life.

From the age of 10, Michael no longer cried when his father abused him. Craig wanted his son to "take the punishment like a man." If he did cry after a beating, he would be hit again. Michael learned to block out his feelings and deny the pain. The idea of discussing his abuse with anyone was simply out of the question. Not only was he very embarrassed about the situation, but his father constantly reminded him it would be bad for his health to complain to anyone. In short, his father said that he would kill him if he told anyone, including his mother.

A friend, Kenny Stuggans, witnessed Craig abuse Michael countless times. One time he tried to stick up for Michael but Craig punched Kenny in the stomach and said, "Keep your fuckin' mouth shut or you're not going to walk away." Kenny never attempted to interfere again.

At age14, Michael had a girlfriend named Jennifer. Soon she began to understand Michael's relationship with his father. One day after school, she and another friend were watching television with Michael. Craig came in and became furious with Michael because he had left some laundry unfolded on the sofa. To avoid further embarrassment for Michael, she and the friend left the room. Several minutes later, Craig called them back in. He said, "I'm done thumping on him now." Michael had red marks all over his face and neck. This was not the last time Jennifer saw marks on Michael's body. She tried to get Michael out of the house as much as possible. She recalled one evening when she called Craig asking permission for Michael to go for a walk. Each time she called, Craig remarked that Michael could go if she would bring along a dog leash. Jennifer ignored the comment thinking it was just another way for Craig to belittle his son. However, on this particular evening, Craig sounded different. Knowing he was serious, she found a yellow rope in the garage and took it along with her.

She believed this was just another silly little game they would have to play to get Michael out of the house. When Jennifer arrived at the Alborgeden's, Michael and his father were in the living room. Craig told Jennifer to tie the rope like a lasso and she agreed. He put the rope around Michael's neck and made him leave the house on all fours, like a dog. Jennifer was horrified but held the other end of the rope.

Michael's friends came to a point where they could no longer tolerate Craig's abusive behavior toward Michael. After much persuasion, they convinced Michael to discuss the situation with the school vice-principal, Mr. Hastings. They accompanied him into the office for the meeting. As soon as they had taken their seats, Mr. Hastings asked Michael if he was being abused by anyone. When Michael didn't respond, he turned to Jennifer and asked her if she thought Michael was being abused. She replied, "Yes, Michael is being abused." Hastings turned to Michael and said to him, "I don't like you, and if you're not going to say anything, you can just leave." Michael finally broke down and told the truth. Michael and his friends detected the vice-principal's skepticism and Hastings ended the meeting by saying, "I hope you don't think you could just bullshit me around  for nothing." This was not the meeting that Michael and his friends anticipated because Mr. Hastings had reacted as if Michael had done something wrong to warrant the abuse.

Michael now knew that escaping his father's abuse was almost virtually impossible. He had nowhere to turn, and not including his friends, no one believed he was being abused.

Several weeks later, Mr. Hastings requested a meeting with Michael and his father. Michael prayed that finally he would get help, that someone would take action against his father. Once again the meeting was not what Michael expected or hoped it to be. Hastings sat on the opposite side of the room with Michael's probation officer, Ms. Haller, from an earlier charge of break and entering. Michael sat beside his father. Hastings asked Michael, "are you being abused in the home?" Michael looked at his father and lowered his head. He quietly replied, "no."

Michael wrote a poem to his father a year before he killed him.

FATHER AND A SON

A father and me is closer than

the
wind blowing against a tree

closer
than the fish and the sea.

For with no father there would be no me.

And I hope my Father can see that my

love
is stronger than if we were

three. Father I am telling you

this
because I want you to love me.

So just remember Father these words

are
coming from me, "I love you so

much
I just hope you can see."

love
always,

Michael

After Craig read the poem, he tearfully confided to a friend that he didn't know how to love his son. He wished he could show affection instead of hitting him. He concluded, "But that's the way my dad brought me up. Never in my whole life did my father ever

tell
me, "I love you."

Once the divorce papers were finalized, Michael became depressed and angry at his mother for leaving him with his father. He hated her. He hated his father and he hated his life in general.

On that fateful Friday evening, Michael didn't get home until one-thirty in the morning. He had gone skating with some friends and was supposed to be home shortly after eleven. He was late, and he knew that his father would be very angry. When Michael came in, his father was lying on the couch, apparently asleep. As Michael quietly walked past to go to his bedroom, his father yelled, "you always gotta push it. Every time I give you a break, you always gotta push it! Come out here!"

Craig then told Michael he had two choices, "you kill me, or I kill you." As Michael continued to walk to his room, he heard the cocking of a rifle. When he turned back, he found himself looking down the barrel of a gun. Craig threatened Michael again and although he didn't believe his dad was serious, he took the weapon from him. Craig began taunting him. "I hate you. You're not my son! I never intended to have you. I hate your mother. If you don't kill me, I'm going to kill you, then kill her, and then kill myself!"

Without even thinking, Michael shot his father. He couldn't remember how many times he pulled the trigger. He recalled later, "After I pulled the first time I kind of like blanked out ... I just kept pulling it until it stopped firing anymore."

In April, 1985, Michael Alborgeden filed a missing person's report on his father, Craig Alborgeden and told the authorities that he hadn't heard from or seen his father in four days. A few days after the report had been filed, a fisherman found Craig Alborgeden's body under a marina dock. The body had been shot multiple times. It was determined that Craig died about four to five days earlier. Within hours, Michael Alborgeden was arrested for the murder of his father.

Michael received the maximum prison time allowable, four years for involuntary manslaughter. He would also serve another two years for using a gun in the commission of the crime. Due to the fact that he was only sixteen at the time, he would serve his sentence in a facility for youthful offenders.

The U.S. Department of Education reported that, in 1997, nearly 6,300 students were expelled from American schools for carrying firearms. As evidenced by many of the recent reports about school violence, several students chose to express their anger in caustic ways.

Many schools have responded to the threat of increasing violence by tightening security, installing spiked fences, motorized gates, bulletproof metal-covered doors, metal detectors, and security guards who search student desks and lockers. Some students and even faculty complain that this only creates prisons out of the schools. Most schools have hired more counselors and violence prevention coordinators.

Besides prescription drugs, few preventative efforts are being made to help students with the various psychological and emotional needs they may have before they erupt into a crisis situation. Sometimes teenagers see no alternative but violence to solve their escalating internal and, sometimes, external problems.

Revenge seems to be a common thread that runs through all of these massacres. Retribution is rooted in a sense of real or perceived injustice towards the perpetrator of the shooting. Many school shootings are generated by a desire for revenge against society, fed by a simmering anger over being denied a perceived entitlement to respect or personal recognition.