14 DAY TRIAL // 48-year-old Thomas Montgomery will spend his next 20 years in prison, after he pleaded, in August, guilty of murdering his 22-year-old colleague, Brian Barrett, out of jealousy. At least, this is what the investigators told AP. But here's the entire and complicated story: Thomas Montgomery (the killer), who was 48 years old, pretended to be an 18-year-old Marine and connected to Internet chat rooms in order to communicate with other users. He met Mary Sheiler, "a middle-aged West Virginia mother", as the AP reports, who also pretended to be an 18-year-old girl and even used the photos of her daughter in the chatting sessions.
After a long period of chatting, the woman started sending packages to Montgomery, although they had never met face to face. The only problem was that the killer's wife had intercepted a package and contacted Mary Sheiler to tell her the truth. This is how she found out that Thomas Montgomery was actually married and was the father of two teenagers. Because the couple talked about Brian Barrett, the woman decided to contact him in order to find out the truth. Obviously, the information sent by Montgomery's wife proved to be true, so Mary Sheiler decided to stop chatting with the 48-year-old man.
"The chats reveal an obsessive desire to make Brian Barrett suffer," Prosecutor Frank Sedita told AP.
That's why Montgomery decided to kill Barrett. The 22-year-old man, who wanted to become an industrial arts teacher, according to AP, was found dead two days after he had been gunned down by his colleague.
"My wife and I don't understand how this could happen, how such evil could walk the Earth. To gun down a boy over simple jealousy does not make sense to us," Daniel Barret, the victim's father, said, according to the same source.
Just after he was arrested, Montgomery tried to commit suicide in his cell. He's now divorced and he'll spent his next 20 years in prison for a woman he has never even met.