The second of four children born to George and Eva Maust, David Maust was sent by his mother to live with his father when he was 8. The next day, his father sent him back to his mother, who had him institutionalized at Chicago State Hospital starting at age 9. His parents, who divorced in 1963 when Maust was 8, were the products of an abusive, dysfunctional upbringing. Counselors at the Chicago State Hospital, a now-defunct public mental health institution where Maust lived until he was 13, said his mother didn�t want him at home.

�He would stand at the window during visiting hours, waiting for visits from his mother which grew increasingly infrequent over time. The staff noted: 'It is pitiful to see the ways in which he is always trying to reassure himself, excusing mother to staff and explaining, �She is ill;� 'Her back is bothering her,� etc.,� the report states.

In 1967, despite his mother�s promise that he could live at home with the family, including his stepfather, Maust went to live at the Uhlich Children�s Home. He was transferred back to Chicago State Hospital in 1970 but ran away and never returned to the facility. His mother shipped him off to live with an uncle in Georgia.

In 1971, Maust returned to live with his mother in Chicago. At her suggestion, Maust enlisted in the U.S. Army and was transferred to Germany in 1972.

Seven years later, following his conviction during an Army court-martial of involuntary manslaughter in the death of James McClister in Germany, Maust refused parole consideration.

Afraid of freedom

In 1983, Maust wrote that he was happy to be held in the disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth.

�The people there thought I was crazy because I wanted to stay, but I did not think I was crazy, I was happy there, and I was not hurting anyone, I was scared to go back there in the real (world), I cried so much that all I wanted was to stay there,� Maust wrote.

On May 10, 1977, the Army released Maust and put him on a plane to O�Hare International Airport.

Maust lived in Chicago until 1981, when he relocated to Texas.

He was arrested Dec. 10, 1981, in Galveston for aggravated assault. Maust pleaded guilty in 1983 and was given a five-year prison term. He later was extradited to Chicago to face a murder charge in the death of Donald Jones.

Maust spent more than 10 years in the Cook County (Ill.) criminal justice system awaiting disposition of the murder charge. For much of that time Maust was confined in Illinois mental health facilities as a result of findings by mental health professionals that he was unfit to stand trial.

In May 1994, Maust pleaded guilty to the murder of Donald Jones and was sentenced to 35 years in the Illinois Department of Correction.

Maust was released in June 1999 with no place to live. He was denied placement at a halfway house.

After living in homeless shelters and a cheap motel, Maust moved to Oak Park, Ill., in 2000, and to Hammond in 2003.

He was arrested Dec. 9, 2003, and charged with the murders of James, Raganyi and Dennis.