AI Summary
5 min readThe Making of a Sniper
On a drizzly February evening in 2002, 21-year-old Kenya Cook answered the front door of her aunt's Tacoma home. A single bullet entered below her left eye and lodged at the base of her skull. She died in the foyer. Her six-month-old daughter lay upstairs waiting for a bath. The case went cold immediately—until eight months later, when a series of shootings across the country would connect this murder to something far larger.
The person who rang Kenya Cook's doorbell that night was Lee Boyd Malvo, then 16 years old, two days shy of his 17th birthday. How a teenager ended up on that doorstep—and whether he acted of his own will or under the control of another man—became one of the most contested questions in American criminal justice.
The Making of a Disciple
Malvo was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1985. His father Leslie was a brickmason, gentle and protective; his mother Una was strict and demanding, beating Malvo when his father wasn't present. When Malvo was five, his mother emptied the family savings and disappeared with him. His father found them eventually, brought him flight jackets because Malvo wanted to be a pilot, and then left for good.
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What you'll learn
- 1 MK Confidential: The Beltway Snipers: Trained to Kill— Ep. 3
- 2 (00:45) **The Murder of Kenya Cook** - A detailed account of the February 16, 2002 shooting in Tacoma, Washington that opens the case
- 3 (05:25) **Lee Boyd Malvo: Who He Was Before** - Introduction of the 16-year-old shooter and his early life in Jamaica
- 4 (07:46) **A Childhood of Abandonment** - Malvo's unstable upbringing after his father vanishes
- 5 (08:43) **The Meeting at Zaza Yellows** - Malvo, now 14 in Antigua, first encounters John Allen Mohammed
- 6 (10:27) **The Bond Forms** - Mohammed takes Malvo in after his mother leaves for America
- 7 (11:53) **Disciple and Guru** - Mohammed's systematic transformation of Malvo begins
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
“MK Confidential” starts on the corner of East 34th Street and East Roosevelt Avenue, on a drizzly evening in Tacoma, Washington. It’s Saturday, February 16th, 2002. Lee Boyd Malvo is two days shy of turning seventeen. He’s about to take a life for the first time, at the prompting of his surrogate father. He will struggle to scrub himself clean from the murder.
Megyn Kelly charts Malvo’s path from Jamaica to Antigua to the United States, and traces how a faraway father and abusive mother primed him to partner with John Allen Muhammad. As a child, Malvo was passed around from house to house, maintaining honor roll grades despite an unsteady home life. When Malvo’s mother leaves for America — using papers forged by Muhammad — Malvo is utterly alone. Muhammad comes to his aid, and the two bond as adopted father and son.
Muhammad clears the way for Malvo to come to the States. When Muhammad loses custody of his own children, Malvo goes to him. He does exactly what the soldier says, including learning to kill with precision. This is Episode 3 of the Beltway Snipers story.
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