No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us

by Rachel Louise Snyder

He was, by his own admission, a “lukewarm” Christian until the murders. “I ask God, ‘Why? Why? Couldn’t there have been any other way?’ ” In his interpretation, the murders seemed to be a way for God to get O’Hanlon’s attention, to straighten up, to restore his faith in the Lord, to serve. He said God is working miracles through him, saving other prisoners. At several points he suggests I title this chapter “Triumph Over Tragedy.” Where is the triumph? I ask him. Because the tragedy part is clear. He says it hasn’t come yet, but it will. He tells me to research the pastor Rick Warren and his son’s suicide, or Creigh Deeds, the former congressman whose son stabbed him before killing himself. O’Hanlon sees mental illness and turning a negative into a positive as the link between himself and these others. But he also sees them all, himself included, as victims.