Steve Stephens, the suspect who police say murdered a grandfather and posted the video on Facebook, is a self-described “monster” who blames others for his problems.
The 37-year-old man, who worked as a case manager for a children’s mental healthcare facility in Ohio, said in another video posted online that he had “just snapped”.
Steve Stephens, who police say had no criminal history, spoke of having “messed up” and also complained about gambling debts.
He wrote in a post on his now-deleted Facebook page: “I lost everything I ever had due to gambling at the Cleveland Jack Casino and Erie Casino.”
Steve Stephens said it was the fault of his ex-girlfriend, Joy Lane, that he had carried out April 16 apparently random shooting of 74-year-old grandfather Robert Godwin.
In a Facebook video broadcast from his car after the killing, Steve Stephens says: “You see, the thing is, man, I’m 37 and all my [expletive] life, man, I’ve always been a [expletive] monster, man.
“Always had to prove myself, always had to take the butts of people’s jokes. Just killing [expletive], man, and all because of this [expletive] called Joy Lane.
“She put me at my pushing point, man. You know, I was living over there with her, just woke up Friday, I just couldn’t take it no more, man.
“I just left, and yeah, here I am, massacring [expletive].” He laughs.
Joy Lane is now in protective custody.
Steve Stephens claimed to have killed more than a dozen other people, but police have so far been unable to verify his claims.
In the same video, broadcast from his car, Steve Stephens films himself on a phone telling an unidentified person that he feels “built-in anger and frustration”.
In another Facebook video rant shortly before the shooting, Steve Stephens also blames his mother.
He said he had told her beforehand that he was feeling “suicidal” and planning “to kill some people”.
“Didn’t care,” Steve Stephens said of his mother’s reaction.
He said she was “the one who created this [expletive] monster that I am”.
“I’m beat,” he adds, “I’m tired.”
His mother, Maggie Green, told CNN she last saw her eldest child a day before the shooting.
She said Steve Stephens had told her: “If you see me again, it’ll be a miracle.”
