Rebecca Wight
Encyclopedia
Rebecca Wight a 28-year-old woman, was murdered on May 13, 1988, in Pennsylvania's
Michaux State Forest
, when Stephen Ray Carr fired on Wight and her gay
partner Claudia Brenner (June 26, 1956 - ).
and Puerto Rican
heritage, who was working on her Master's Degree
in Business Administration -- and 32-year-old Claudia Brenner -- a Jewish, Manhattan
-born architecture
student -- were partners for two years, after meeting over breakfast while both were students at Virginia Tech. Wight was living with a boyfriend at the time.
In May 1988, Wight and Brenner were hiking the Appalachian Trail
in Pennsylvania
. They had parked their car at Dead Woman Hollow, and hiked into Michaux State Forest
where they set up camp.
. He asked Wight for a cigarette. She said she didn't have one, and hurried back to the campsite, where she told Brenner that someone else was there. The couple dressed, and decided to find a more private campsite.
"See you later," he said to them.
The couple encountered Carr again, when they stopped to look at their map later that day. They kissed again. Carr, behind them, asked if they were lost. Carr's .22 caliber rifle
was slung over his shoulder. Wight and Brenner turned to look at him, and said no, they weren't lost. Brenner and Wight finally found a place. After looking around to make sure they were alone, the couple set up camp. They had dinner, talked, and around 5:30 p.m. they began to make love.
Unseen by the couple, Carr watched them from 82 feet away. He raised his rifle and fired eight bullets at the women. Brenner was hit in the arm, face, head and neck. She took a total of five bullets. Wight was shot twice in the head and back. The last shot was fatal, shattering Wight's liver. The eighth bullet missed.
Wight fell, calling to Brenner to hide behind a nearby tree. Unable to get up, Wight gave Brenner her wallet as Brenner set out to get help.
Brenner wrapped a towel around her neck to control the bleeding, and set out on what would be a four mile, three hour journey. One car slowed. They looked at her and kept driving. A second car, two teenage boys, stopped and picked her up. Brenner wanted to go back for Wight, but the boys took her to the Shippensburg
police station.
At the station, Brenner gave the police all the details of their ordeal except one. She did not tell police that they were lesbians.
Wight died beneath the tree, from her wounds. The police found her body that night, and stayed with her until morning to photograph the evidence. Brenner received word of Wight's death while in the hospital.
Carr thought both women were dead. He left 25 rounds of ammunition at the scene, along with the knit cap he'd worn. Police found them at the scene. For 10 days after the shooting, Carr hid in a Mennonite
community. (Some reports said he hid in an Amish
community.) Since members of the community did not read the news or watch television, they did not know Carr was a suspect in a shooting until one member, who had secretly watched television, recognized Carr from the composite drawing on the news and called police.
Police arrested Carr on a warrant from Florida
for grand larceny
. He told police that he was glad to be leaving, because he didn't like the way men kissed men there. Carr told police that his rifle
and other belongings had been stolen. When police told him his belongings had been found at the murder scene, Carr claimed that he thought he'd been shooting deer, until he heard screaming.
Carr waived his right to a jury trial in exchange for an agreement by the prosecution not to seek the death penalty and to drop several lesser charges. At trial, Carr claimed he had been enraged by the sight of the two women having sex, that the two women had taunted him by having sex in front of him. His public defender said he'd been raped in a Florida
prison, and raped as a child. His public defender
claimed that the couple's lesbianism was provocation that caused her client "inexplicable rage."
The court refused to allow evidence of Carr's psychosexual history, ruling it irrelevant. The judge in the case also disallowed the introduction of Brenner's and Wight's relationship in court, thus forcing the defense to cut a deal and accept a sentence of life without parole. On March 8, 1991 Carr's appeal, based on the court's decision to disallow introduction of his psychosexual history in court, was denied.
and went on to write a book about the shooting, Wight's death, and her ordeal -- Eight Bullets: One Woman's Story of Surviving Anti-Gay Violence -- and to become an active speaker against anti-gay violence.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
Michaux State Forest
Michaux State Forest
Michaux State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #1. The main offices are located in Fayetteville in Franklin County, Pennsylvania in the United States....
, when Stephen Ray Carr fired on Wight and her gay
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
partner Claudia Brenner (June 26, 1956 - ).
The Background
Rebecca Wight -- a student, of IranianIranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
and Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
heritage, who was working on her Master's Degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Business Administration -- and 32-year-old Claudia Brenner -- a Jewish, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
-born architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
student -- were partners for two years, after meeting over breakfast while both were students at Virginia Tech. Wight was living with a boyfriend at the time.
In May 1988, Wight and Brenner were hiking the Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. They had parked their car at Dead Woman Hollow, and hiked into Michaux State Forest
Michaux State Forest
Michaux State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #1. The main offices are located in Fayetteville in Franklin County, Pennsylvania in the United States....
where they set up camp.
Stephen Roy Carr
It was Wight who first encountered Stephen Roy Carr. She had walked into a public restroom near their campground, nude except for her shoes because she thought no one else was there. There she ran into Stephen Roy Carr. Carr, 22, sometimes lived in a cave and carried a .22 caliber rifleRifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
. He asked Wight for a cigarette. She said she didn't have one, and hurried back to the campsite, where she told Brenner that someone else was there. The couple dressed, and decided to find a more private campsite.
"See you later," he said to them.
The couple encountered Carr again, when they stopped to look at their map later that day. They kissed again. Carr, behind them, asked if they were lost. Carr's .22 caliber rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
was slung over his shoulder. Wight and Brenner turned to look at him, and said no, they weren't lost. Brenner and Wight finally found a place. After looking around to make sure they were alone, the couple set up camp. They had dinner, talked, and around 5:30 p.m. they began to make love.
Unseen by the couple, Carr watched them from 82 feet away. He raised his rifle and fired eight bullets at the women. Brenner was hit in the arm, face, head and neck. She took a total of five bullets. Wight was shot twice in the head and back. The last shot was fatal, shattering Wight's liver. The eighth bullet missed.
Wight fell, calling to Brenner to hide behind a nearby tree. Unable to get up, Wight gave Brenner her wallet as Brenner set out to get help.
Brenner wrapped a towel around her neck to control the bleeding, and set out on what would be a four mile, three hour journey. One car slowed. They looked at her and kept driving. A second car, two teenage boys, stopped and picked her up. Brenner wanted to go back for Wight, but the boys took her to the Shippensburg
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
Shippensburg is a borough in Cumberland and Franklin counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Settled in 1730, Shippensburg lies in the Cumberland Valley, 41 miles west-southwest of Harrisburg, and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1900, 3,228 people...
police station.
At the station, Brenner gave the police all the details of their ordeal except one. She did not tell police that they were lesbians.
Wight died beneath the tree, from her wounds. The police found her body that night, and stayed with her until morning to photograph the evidence. Brenner received word of Wight's death while in the hospital.
Carr thought both women were dead. He left 25 rounds of ammunition at the scene, along with the knit cap he'd worn. Police found them at the scene. For 10 days after the shooting, Carr hid in a Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
community. (Some reports said he hid in an Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
community.) Since members of the community did not read the news or watch television, they did not know Carr was a suspect in a shooting until one member, who had secretly watched television, recognized Carr from the composite drawing on the news and called police.
Police arrested Carr on a warrant from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
for grand larceny
Grand Larceny
Grand Larceny is a 1987 thriller film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Marilu Henner, Ian McShane, Omar Sharif and Louis Jourdan.-Plot summary:...
. He told police that he was glad to be leaving, because he didn't like the way men kissed men there. Carr told police that his rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
and other belongings had been stolen. When police told him his belongings had been found at the murder scene, Carr claimed that he thought he'd been shooting deer, until he heard screaming.
Carr waived his right to a jury trial in exchange for an agreement by the prosecution not to seek the death penalty and to drop several lesser charges. At trial, Carr claimed he had been enraged by the sight of the two women having sex, that the two women had taunted him by having sex in front of him. His public defender said he'd been raped in a Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
prison, and raped as a child. His public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
claimed that the couple's lesbianism was provocation that caused her client "inexplicable rage."
The court refused to allow evidence of Carr's psychosexual history, ruling it irrelevant. The judge in the case also disallowed the introduction of Brenner's and Wight's relationship in court, thus forcing the defense to cut a deal and accept a sentence of life without parole. On March 8, 1991 Carr's appeal, based on the court's decision to disallow introduction of his psychosexual history in court, was denied.
Aftermath
Brenner moved to Ithaca, New YorkIthaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
and went on to write a book about the shooting, Wight's death, and her ordeal -- Eight Bullets: One Woman's Story of Surviving Anti-Gay Violence -- and to become an active speaker against anti-gay violence.