Editing Charles Whitman (section)

==Death and inquest==

===Medical history===
Investigating officers found that Whitman had visited several UT Austin physicians in the year before the shootings; they prescribed various medications for him. Whitman had seen a minimum of five doctors between the fall and winter of 1965 before he visited a psychiatrist from whom he received no prescription. At some other time he was prescribed [[Diazepam|Valium]] by Jan Cochrum, who recommended he visit the campus psychiatrist.<ref name=trutv3>{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/whitman/preparations_4.html|title=Charles Whitman: The Texas Tower Sniper (Back In Austin)|last=Macleod|first=Marlee|publisher=trutv.com|page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701063423/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/whitman/austin_3.html|archive-date=July 1, 2012}}</ref>

Whitman met with Maurice Dean Heatly, the staff psychiatrist at the University of Texas Health Center, on March 29, 1966.<ref>{{harv|Ramsland|2005|p=32}}</ref> He referred to his visit with Heatly in his final suicide note, writing: "I talked with a Doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt come {{sic}} overwhelming violent impulses. After one visit, I never saw the Doctor again, and since then have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail."<ref name="letter">
Whitman, Charles. [http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/letter.pdf "Whitman Letter"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708154227/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/letter.pdf |date=2011-07-08 }}, The Whitman Archives. ''Austin American-Statesman''. July 31, 1966.
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Heatly's notes on the visit said, "This massive, muscular youth seemed to be oozing with hostility [...] that something seemed to be happening to him and that he didn't seem to be himself."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/080366tx-shoot.html|title=Text of Psychiatrist's Notes on Sniper|website=partners.nytimes.com|access-date=2016-04-12|archive-date=2016-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408210454/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/080366tx-shoot.html|url-status=live}}</ref> "He readily admits having overwhelming periods of hostility with a very minimum of provocation. Repeated inquiries attempting to analyze his exact experiences were not too successful with the exception of his vivid reference to 'thinking about going up on the tower with a deer rifle and start shooting people.{{' "}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/heatley.pdf|title=Whitman Case Notes|last=Heatly|first=Maurice|date=March 29, 1966|publisher=cimedia.com|access-date=March 30, 2009|archive-date=August 4, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030804091835/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/heatley.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Autopsy===
Although Whitman had been prescribed drugs and was in possession of [[Dexedrine]] at the time of his death, the [[toxicology]] examination was delayed because his corpse was [[embalming|embalmed]] on August 1, after it was delivered to the Cook Funeral Home in Austin; however, the autopsy that Whitman had requested in his suicide notes was authorized by his father.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/charles-whitman-11495598|title=Charles Whitman|website=Biography.com|access-date=2016-04-12|archive-date=2016-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419092129/http://www.biography.com/people/charles-whitman-11495598|url-status=live}}</ref>

On August 2, Dr. Coleman de Chenar, a [[neuropathologist]] at [[Austin State Hospital]], realized the autopsy at the funeral home; Whitman's urine and blood were tested for amphetamines and other drugs.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://behindthetower.org/a-fitting-memorial | title=A Fitting Memorial: The Mental Health Legacy of the Whitman Murders | access-date=2019-03-17 | archive-date=2019-04-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409045223/http://behindthetower.org/a-fitting-memorial | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harv|Douglas|Burgess|Burgess|Ressler|2011|p=447}}</ref> During the autopsy, Dr. Chenar reported that he discovered a pecan-sized [[brain tumor]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107885790|title=Church Rites for Sniper|access-date=May 23, 2019|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=August 6, 1966|archive-date=July 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713004224/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107885790|url-status=live}}</ref> above the [[red nucleus]], in the white matter below the gray center [[thalamus]],<ref>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|p=261}}</ref> which he identified as an [[astrocytoma]] with slight [[necrosis]].

===Connally Commission===
[[John Connally]], then [[governor of Texas]], commissioned a task force to examine the autopsy findings and material related to Whitman's actions and motives. The commission was composed of [[neurosurgeon]]s, [[psychiatrist]]s, [[pathologist]]s, and [[psychologist]]s, and included the University of Texas Health Center Directors, John White and Maurice Heatly. The commission's toxicology tests revealed nothing significant. They examined Chenar's [[Tissue microarray|paraffin blocks]] of the brain tumor, stained specimens of it and Whitman's other brain tissue, in addition to the remainder of the autopsy specimens available.<ref name=autogenerated1>
[http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf "Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708154238/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |date=2011-07-08 }}, The Whitman Archives. ''Austin American-Statesman''. September 8, 1966.
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Following a three-hour hearing on August 5,<ref>{{cite news |title=Jury Blames Tumor For Killings |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6FlJAAAAIBAJ&pg=804,861969/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124173937/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6FlJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KQoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=804,861969&dq/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2013 |newspaper=The News and Courier |date=August 5, 1966 |page=9–A }}</ref> the commission concluded that Chenar's diagnosis of astrocytoma with a small amount of [[necrosis]] had been in error.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |date=September 8, 1966 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |page=6 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The panel instead found that the tumor had features of a [[glioblastoma]] multiforme, with widespread areas of necrosis, [[Palisade (pathology)|palisading]] of cells,<ref name="cimedia7">{{cite web |date=September 8, 1966 |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |page=7}}</ref> and a "remarkable vascular component" described as having "the nature of a small [[congenital]] vascular malformation". Psychiatric contributors to the report concluded that "the relationship between the brain tumor and [...] Whitman's actions [...] cannot be established with clarity. However, the [...] tumor conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |date=September 8, 1966 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |pages=10–11 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The neurologists and neuropathologists were more circumspect, concluding that, "[t]he application of existing knowledge of organic brain function does not enable us to explain the actions of Whitman on August first."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |date=September 8, 1966 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |page=8 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Forensic investigators have theorized that the tumor pressed against Whitman's [[amygdala]], a part of the brain related to [[anxiety]] and [[fight-or-flight response]]s among numerous other functions.<ref>
Eagleman, David [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/308520 The Brain on Trial] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309180218/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/308520/ |date=2017-03-09 }}, The Atlantic Monthly, July 2011
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