Flipper: Can you imagine if Lennon's killer had been stalking him for years and years - how creepy would THAT be ? Gives me the chills just thinking about it. I swear- there are so many psycho's in this world it's pathetic.
Chapman was quite insane. He had made an earlier trip to New York in October with intent to kill Lennon but wasn't successful until the December shooting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_David_Chapman
Chapman allegedly started planning to kill Lennon three months prior to the murder.
He had been a big Beatles fan, idolizing Lennon, and played guitar himself, but turned against him after claiming to become a Christian; he was angered at Lennon's comment that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus."
I read Catcher in the Rye a few years back, curious about the novel that Chapman had so readily and obsessively identified with. It seemed a rather innocuous novel until at one point (I can't remember which chapter), it was brilliantly revealed that the protogonist was insane. Very insane. After that, the novel became chilling.