Unheard Witness: The Life and Death of Kathy Leissner Whitman

Historian Scott-Coe (Mass) paints a richly textured portrait of Kathy Leissner Whitman, whose husband, Charles Whitman, the “Texas Tower Sniper,” killed 15 (including Kathy and his mother) and wounded 31 in 1966. Drawing on family documents released by Kathy’s brother, Scott-Coe relates how Kathy met Charlie in 1962 at the University of Texas, Austin. Charmed by his good looks and the “promise of the man she thought Charlie was becoming,” Kathy married him at 19 after a whirlwind courtship. The family’s correspondence and recollections portray Kathy as eager to be accepted by her in-laws and looking forward to motherhood. But she was immediately confronted by her husband’s coercive and controlling behavior, which escalated into violence. Without the knowledge and resources for domestic abuse victims that now exist, Kathy was, according to Scott-Coe, a victim of her era as much as of her abusive husband. (In one letter from Kathy’s mother to her son-in-law, she exhorts the couple “to go to a marriage counselor as soon as possible,” a response that would now be considered insufficient to address the abuse Kathy was experiencing.) Telling the story in flashbacks and vignettes, Scott-Coe presents this cautionary tale with compassion and sensitivity. The result is an insightful close study of the connection between domestic violence and mass shootings. (Oct.)