No matter if his childhood was horrible or not, there is no excuse for what he did. Many, many people have been sexually abused as children, and they don't proceed to murder and mutilate either animals or humans.
What I do hope to happen, with this case and many others, is that people start realizing the damage that can happen to children, when abuse and sexual abuse is involved. People need to put the stigma of mental illness aside, too, and they need to stop ignoring red flags when problems arise.
In LM's case, I'm sure there were tons of red flags, from childhood straight through until now (this person needed some serious help).
I so agree with your input, pippirose and to add to that I am inserting some thoughts from a book and author who I much admire and agree with.
"Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us" - Robert D. Hare, PhD
From the epilogue ...
..."First, in spite of more than a century of clinical study and speculation and several decades of scientific research, the mystery of the psychopath still remains. Some recent developments have provided us with new insights into the nature of this disturbing disorder, and its borders are becoming more defined. But the fact is, compared with other major clinical disorders, little systematic research has been devoted to psychopathy, even though it often responsible for far more social distress and disruption than all other psychiatric disorders combined.
Second, rather than try to pick up the pieces after the damage has been done, it would make far greater sense to increase our efforts to understand this perplexing disorder and to search for effective early interventions. The alternatives are to continue devoting massive resources to the prosecution, incarceration, and supervision of psychopaths after they have committed offenses against society, and to continue to ignore the welfare and plight of their victims. The criminal justice system spends billions of dollars every year in a vain attempt to "rehabilitate" or "resocialize" psychopaths and other persistent offenders. But these terms--popular with politicians and prison administrators--are little more than buzzwords. We have to learn how to
socialize them, not resocialize them. And this will require serious efforts at research and early intervention.
The social and financial costs to society of failing to solve the deadly mystery of the psychopath will be staggering. It is imperative that we continue the search for clues."
In no way do I condone any of LRM's actions, however. Just thought the above is and has been so needed in this society.