Nicholas Harbison had a fiery temper, enjoyed shooting guns and spent long periods of time secluded in the country, his grandmother said.
He became a social outcast after he dropped out of high school and never held a steady job for more than a couple of days, Janey Burch said Wednesday. "He just really didn't have much going for him," she said.
Burch believes something caused her grandson to snap
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Burch said Harbison lived with his girlfriend, Misty Davis, 21, and their daughter, Kelsie, 2. His stepmother, Joyce Harbison, lived with the couple but moved out about a month ago. Burch said Harbison called his stepmother Monday night after the shootings and asked her to come home, saying there was an emergency and Kelsie was sick.
"He got her down there under false pretenses, (otherwise) she wouldn't have gone down there," Burch said.
Joyce Harbison, Davis and Kelsie have not been seen since Monday. Joyce Harbison supported her stepson, and Burch believes he took her along because she had money.
Harbison has a troubled past. He was home-schooled by his mother, who died when he was 16. He eventually dropped out of high school and moved in with Burch's brother-in-law, Fred Harbison. "He was interested in the same thing that my brother-in-law was interested in and that was guns."
Fred Harbison "was a control freak" and kept Nicholas "out in the country," she said. He didn't want him to participate in anything with other people."
Nicholas Harbison has a criminal record in both Gibson and Pike counties. Davis filed a protective order against him March 13 with Gibson Circuit Court. In it, she stated "Nick threatened to hit me if I didn't do what he told me to. He threatened to hurt me if I left him."
But four days later, Davis went back to court asking the protective order be withdrawn.
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Meadors believes the killings were premeditated. Burch suspects her grandson was high on drugs. "I think he went off the deep end for some reason, and I wish I knew the answers," she said.
http://courierpress.com/news/2006/jul/20/suspect-called-outcast/