Opinion ID: 4371404
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Double-Life and Motive

Text: To fully understand the motive behind Owens's crime, we must look back to the preceding decade. In 2005, Owens met Betsy Wandtke (Wandtke), a woman from Wisconsin, in a flight back from a hunters' rights convention, which they had both attended.3 About three years later, their relationship turned into an affair. As the affair progressed, Owens and Wandtke began to spend more time together -- up to ten days a month. Owens considered Wandtke his lover and his life. He represented to her that he was in the process of divorcing Rachel, which Wandtke was unable to independently confirm, given that it was not true. To partly explain his long absences when he was actually with Rachel in New Hampshire, Owens told Wandtke that his work as a military consultant required him to travel and take part in covert missions in places like Afghanistan. 3 From the moment they met, Wandtke was aware of Owens's marriage. -8- While the affair continued, in or about 2011, Rachel began to develop early-onset dementia. The responsibility of having to care for her burdened Owens, but did not deter him from continuing his affair with Wandtke. Then, on December 3, 2014, the affair came to an abrupt end. Due to an inadvertent call from Owens's mobile phone, Wandtke discovered that Owens was leading a double-life -- his marriage with Rachel continued in regular course. Wandtke confronted Owens about it and told him their relationship was over.4 After a failed attempt to convince Wandtke that she misunderstood the conversation she overheard, Owens promised Wandtke he was going to make it up to her. A mere fifteen days after the breakup, the events at the Chabot residence unfolded. Furthermore, in the days following the shooting, Owens contacted Wandtke via e-mail and told her that he was being targeted because of his work and instructed her to go dark and not tell anyone about their relationship. Then, on December 31, 2014 -- thirteen days after the incident at the Chabot residence and with his wife still recovering from a gunshot wound 4 Owens was with Wandtke in Wisconsin a little over a week before their breakup. They had plans to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Notwithstanding, the weekend before the holiday, Owens suddenly cancelled their plans, leaving Wisconsin for a supposed emergency covert mission in Afghanistan. Then, on December 3, 2014, Wandtke found out that Owens was not in Afghanistan, but rather with Rachel in New Hampshire, as the result of the accidental call made from Owens's cell phone. -9- to the head -- Owens unexpectedly arrived at Wandtke's doorstep with a limousine and roses. Owens and Wandtke celebrated New Year's Eve and spent time together during the first week of 2015. On January 4, 2015, Owens returned to New Hampshire. Shortly thereafter, on January 11, 2015, Owens was arrested.