Editing Charles Whitman (section)

===Separation of Whitman's parents===
In May 1966, Whitman's mother announced her decision to divorce her husband because of his continued physical abuse.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 49">{{harv|Time-Life Books|1993|p=49}}</ref> Whitman drove to Florida to help his mother move to Austin. He was reportedly so afraid that his father would resort to violence against his mother as she prepared to leave that he summoned a local policeman to remain outside the house while she packed her belongings.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 49"/> Whitman's youngest brother, John, also left Lake Worth and moved to Austin with his mother. Patrick Whitman, the middle son, remained in Florida and worked in his father's plumbing supply business.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/080266tx-shoot.html|title=The Texas Killer: Former Florida Neighbors Recall a Nice Boy Who Liked Toy Guns|website=partners.nytimes.com|access-date=2016-04-12|archive-date=2016-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408210408/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/080266tx-shoot.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Austin, Whitman's mother took a job in a cafeteria and moved into her own apartment, though she remained in close contact with him.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 49"/> Whitman's father later said he had spent more than $1,000 (${{Inflation|US|1000|1963|r=-2|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}) on long-distance phone calls to both his wife and his son, begging his wife to return and asking his son to convince her to come back.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 49"/> During this stressful time, Whitman was abusing [[amphetamine]]s and began experiencing severe headaches, which he described as being "tremendous".