Upside Down: Madness, Murder, and the Perfect Marriage
"The day of the tragedy . . . I knew that everyone would see the fraud I had become. I could not get myself to leave the house. Christine was getting ready to leave for a meeting. I knew I would be dead when she came back. I couldn't deal with the idea of her being disappointed. I thought that she and [our dog] Riley wouldn't be able to live without me. When it became clear that I could not be there for Christine and Riley anymore, I came to the horrible conclusion that we all must end. It was so clear that we all had to end." -Timothy Wells, from a letter to the author "Jerid M. Fisher's book, Upside Down, is an immediately captivating, engrossing, and sometimes chilling insider's account of a tragic homicide. Even a top-flight forensic psychologist cannot fully explain why Timothy Wells murdered his wife, but Dr. Fisher's deep expertise and thorough analysis gets us as close to the answer as we'll ever get." -Dr. Charles Patrick Ewing, president, American Board of Forensic Psychology Timothy Wells, professor and devoted husband, seemed to have it all. He and his wife, Christine Sevilla, were as besotted with each other as they were on their wedding day. But Wells' mind had begun to crack under hidden strain. While Wells projected competence, he fell into a mental tailspin as he stumbled from failure to failure. This fascinating account explores the twisted forces at work in Wells' mind and their devastating consequences. Dr. Jerid M. Fisher is a forensic neuropsychologist with more than thirty years of experience. He earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Duke University and his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Rochester. After working for several years at the University of Rochester Medical Center as a senior instructor in psychiatry and neurology and the director of the Cognitive Functions Laboratory, Fisher left academia to develop brain-injury rehabilitation programs across the state of New York.  As the president of both Brain Injury Consultants, Inc., and Forensic Investigative Technologies, Inc., Fisher has specialized in high-profile litigation as a criminal expert for both the defense and prosecution. His work has brought him in contact with serial killers, most notably Arthur Shawcross; persons facing the death penalty; and murderers found incompetent to stand trial due to severe brain injury. Fisher's close work with Timothy Wells began following Wells' arrest, and he wrote this book with Wells' full cooperation.  Fisher is a fellow of the American College of Professional Neuropsychology, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at University of Rochester Medical Center, and adjunct assistant professor of clinical psychology at State University of New York at Albany. He resides near Rochester, New York.