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Murder on the mind
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The arrest of Dr. Richard Karpf was a Long Island media sensation.
Karpf was charged with four felony counts, ranging from conspiracy to commit murder to illegal gun possession.
Now the psychiatrist who'd made his living probing the minds of others found himself on the couch, trying to explain himself to the state's forensic psychiatrist.
Dr. Richard Karpf: I just fed him that story about the shark invested waters and stuff because I wanted to keep the conversation going.
The story about dinner party executions--dismemberment and sharks--was just talk. According to Dr. Karpf, all of it--including the gun purchase--was really about creating a bonding experience with his patient, Dennis White.
Dr. Karpf: Now remember, I didn't really want the gun that much. I mean the gun wasn't really what was so important. I wanted his friendship, OK, and this whole thing was just an elaborate way of kind of, I’m sorry, involving myself with him.
That's right. According to Dr. Richard Karpf, the whole thing was just his convoluted way of creating a little quality time with Dennis White. Why?
Dr. Karpf: I was feeling very lonely in my life at that particular time and he was very easy to talk to.
To understand how a psychiatrist might think involving a patient in a fantasy murder plot is OK, one has to venture deep into the mind of Dr. Richard Karpf to a place where painful memories so warped his judgment in late 2002 that the line between reality and fantasy simply vanished.
Dr. Karpf: I was very naive about people.
Drawing on a patchwork of painful memories, Karpf told lawyers and psychiatrists his problems began in childhood, when social awkwardness made him a magnet for bullies.
Dr. Richard Karpf: I think a next door neighbor was bullying me and I guess my parents felt I needed to be protected from him. I think that was about it.
RB: Was he pushing you?
Dr. Richard Karpf: Something like that.
RB: Did he know your books down?
Dr. Richard Karpf: Something like that.
Karpf says the pattern of being victimized by others continued into adulthood.
Dr. Karpf: When I was in med school back in the seventies, for example, I, I, uh, I chose a roommate down there just so that I could start. And my roommate took advantage of me, I mean, he found two other friends that were more to his liking and they just locked me out of my apartment and just kept ridiculing me until finally wound up moving out.
It remains a painful, humiliating memory.
But Dr. Karpf also recalls another incident from med school which seems to rank as one of his most cherished memories from that period of his life.
An experience that combined fantasy with just a hint of violence to win him the acceptance and approval of his fellow students.
Karpf says they were all taking a break from classes, wandering through a flea market in Mexico, when he spotted a stiletto on a table.
He later recalled it in a videotaped deposition.
Dr. Karpf: I made up a story about wanting to you know, about wanting to do away with somebody that, that I didn't like or something like that. It was purely made up. And they just, they sort of like pretended to buy into it, you know, and we always had a good laugh over it.
Karpf says he never forgot that afternoon of college camaraderie, or that it was his fantasized tale of revenge that made him the center of attention.
Dr. Karpf: And I tried to make it sound serious and that's what made it funny.
As the years passed, Karpf's struggles with personal relationships continued.
Dr. Karpf: I didn't have a satisfying personal relationship with anyone.
Karpf says a computer salesman ripped him off because he was naive.
He says he lost a job once because some female patients misunderstood his compliments.
Dr. Karpf: I might have said something that might have been sexually suggestive to two or three different girls.
And weeks before his arrest, in January 2003, Karpf says his own sister refused to let him bring a date to his niece’s birthday party.
Dr. Karpf: I felt put down because of the fact that I and rejected by my, by my sister.
Karpf says all those failures had a cumulative effect. By late 2002, he says, tortured memories of humiliation had morphed into fantasies of revenge.
Dr. Karpf: I would say that after I’ve had these negative experiences, yes, certainly, I have harbored resentments, sure.
Lawyer: Did it make you angry?
Dr. Richard Karpf: Sure. Very resentful.
Lawyer: Did you ever think about getting even?
Dr. Richard Karpf: I may have had fantasies about wanting to get even but I never actually acted out on them.
Dr. Karpf says the elements for his revenge fantasy were drawn from movies.
Righteous killers like Dirty Harry provided inspiration.
Hints for disposing of bodies came from the "Jaws" movies.
Lawyer: Where did you learn about silencers?
Dr. Richard Karpf: It's common knowledge. Look, it's been portrayed in movies. It's ahh..there was a movie, I guess, that was made many years ago --Magnum Force with Clint Eastwood. I don't know if you--
Lawyer: Right.
Dr. Richard Karpf: --remember the movie, you know where there, there was a policeman that , that formed a vigilante squad and they were, they were eliminating people using silencers.
Eliminating people.
Could that be what Dr. Karpf had in mind when he told Dennis White his plan for dinner party executions?
Had he actually drawn up a guest list? Or was the dinner party idea merely a faceless fantasy?
Less about flesh and blood victims than a collection of long simmering insults from his past.
Dr Karpf: But I never forgot the experience, see. It was really. It was really so intense, so humiliating that you know, I’m not going let them get away with it. There are some things you just don't let people get away with.
There seemed to be a place at the table for everyone who'd tormented him.
The neighborhood bully. The computer salesman. The alcohol abusing patient. The med school roommate or even--his own sister.
But if it was all a fantasy, why involve Dennis White at all? Why buy the gun, silencer and bullets?
In Dr. Karpf's mind, the answer was simple.
Dr. Karpf: It's very similar to what I did in medical school when I bought the stiletto. I, I bought the stiletto and I bought ahh the gun because I felt that in both cases I simply wanted somebody's recognition, warmth and an presence, OK? Just so I could have it. You know, so I could feel better.
The murder plot was all a big fantasy, according to Dr. Karpf. But investigators weren't so sure.
A search of Karpf’s home turned up chilling clues.
Research on sharks that Dr. Karpf had downloaded off of the internet---and on a "things to do today" memo pad, there were handwritten notes titled "motives for murder."
Michael O’Leary is the undercover officer who sold Karpf the gun, silencer and bullets.
Michael O’Leary: It's hard to say what goes on in somebody's mind. Is he dangerous? Could he be a danger? I believed when I was dealing with him that he was intent on hurting somebody.
So what was the truth?
If convicted in criminal court, Dr. Karpf faced serious prison time.
But beyond that, the psychiatrist also faced a showdown with his former patient: Dennis White.
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