Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s troubled upbringing put him at risk for severe mental illness, psychologist says

By Sabrina Souza, CNN

(CNN) — A clinical psychologist called by the defense Thursday in the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman’s death penalty trial highlighted the defendant’s troubled childhood, noting the impact of trauma that put him at risk for mental illness.

Dr. Katherine Porterfield testified in detail about Robert Bowers’ early years to adulthood, signaling he moved through various treatment centers amid concern for his emotional well-being from teachers and others. She also described multiple suicide attempts.

By age 10, Bowers was a suicidal child, Porterfield said, calling it “remarkable and unusual.”

“He’s telling people, ‘I don’t want to live,’” she said.

Porterfield’s testimony comes as defense attorneys make the case to the federal jury that Bowers had significant mental health issues that should lead to a sentence of life in prison rather than the death penalty. The prosecution, meanwhile, has argued the mass shooting showed extensive planning and a clear intent that, in his own words, “All Jews had to die.”

Bowers, 50, was found guilty in June of 63 charges against him for killing 11 worshippers and wounding six others at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest ever attack on Jewish people in the United States. Twenty-two of those counts were capital offenses, so he is eligible for the death penalty at this second phase of the trial.

Teachers from Bowers’ first and fourth grade classes were concerned about his emotional behavior, Porterfield testified on Thursday. They noted his troubles socializing and that attempts at interventions were ignored or rejected by Bowers’ mother, Barbara, according to Porterfield.

In a chaotic incidence during the eighth grade, a “crisis point” for Bowers, according Porterfield, he chased his mother with a flammable liquid and attempted to light the liquid. After that incident Bowers was admitted to the adult psychiatric ward at McKeesport Hospital, something that Porterfield said was “pretty unusual for a 13, just turned 13-year-old.”

“He’s out of control, he’s a completely out of control child,” Porterfield said. “What we’re seeing here is just poor emotional regulation. He cannot handle his feelings.”

At another psychiatric center, according to Porterfield, doctors described Bowers as depressed and oppositional with bizarre behavior, along with poor social skills and few friends.

Porterfield said Bowers faced extraordinary neglect from caregivers during adolescence and experienced severe depression. He acted out with self-destruction, she said, failed in school and had at least four suicide attempts. Two of those suicide attempts were between the ages of 16 and 17, according to Porterfield. In one instance, he overdosed on aspirin. In the other, Bowers drank grain alcohol in his car and lit himself on fire with a cigarette, resulting in severe burns, Porterfield said.

Bowers’ instability continued through adulthood with no meaningful ongoing intervention to address his decades of mental illness and minimal functionality, she testified.

Bowers was also financially unstable and worked inconsistently, holding jobs “on and off,” and only sticking to one job at a bakery for 15 years, Porterfield said. He was eventually fired in 2004 for stealing money.

Porterfield said Bowers’ family’s own deep-rooted issues of substance abuse, violence and instability led to a lack of attention toward Robert’s issues. Bowers had several traumatic life events and circumstances that put him at risk for the development of severe mental illness and problems, Porterfield concluded.

Federal prosecutor Nicole Vasquez Schmitt cross-examined Porterfield and asked her if she interviewed Bowers for her analysis. Porterfield said, “No.” She said a substantial source of her information came from the defendant’s mother.

Schmitt pressed Porterfield regarding her notes on his mother, which said she is “impaired emotionally, cognitively, and socially.” Schmitt then questioned the accuracy of the mother’s accounts and stories. She also asked Porterfield if they were possibly exaggerated because of the love for her son. Porterfield said she believed the mother’s accounts were honest and truthful.

‘Betrayal trauma’

Porterfield testified that Bowers’ parents, Barbara Jenkins and Randall Bowers, had provided an unstable family environment for him through his infancy and early childhood.

She said the “dose” of trauma really matters when a caregiver, instead of providing a caring environment, is a source of horror, sadness and fear. It’s called betrayal trauma, she said.

Randall Bowers, himself, had an unstable childhood, according to Porterfield.

While serving in the Navy, he was placed in a psychiatric ward, and later jumped off a ship into Guantanamo Bay in a suicide attempt, she said.

Porterfield testified that both parents threatened to kill their son.

At one point, Jenkins threatened to throw Robert out the window of their apartment from the third floor, she said. Randall Bowers also threatened to kill himself by turning on the gas in the apartment. They were “young parents that were clearly out of control,” she said.

Eventually the parents separated, and Jenkins married Robert Saiter and moved to a trailer park in Florida with her son, Porterfield said. Saiter, who was in the Air Force, was later hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital at an Air Force base and deemed unfit for service, according to Air Force records.

Porterfield testified Saiter was later arrested and convicted of child molestation and sentenced to 17 years. Jenkins, Porterfield said, returned to cutting herself in front of Robert Bowers and was hospitalized for depression and anxiety.

He was surrounded by unstable grandparents as well, Dr. Porterfield testified.

By age 3, Bowers had lived with two men who were “very mentally ill, violent men.” Both were charged with sexual offenses, Porterfield said.

Bowers had chronic traumatic experiences and chronic traumatic stress that wasn’t just a one-time event, Porterfield testified. Every negative event in a child’s life piles up, worsening their outcomes, she said.

Aunt who met Bowers only once testifies

An aunt of Bowers also testified on Thursday, his first family member to take the stand on his behalf.

Deanna Bowers was married to Wendell Bowers, the defendant’s uncle on his father’s side.

She lives in California, and said she and her husband had little contact with his brother, Randall, but she was aware he had a son, Robert.

She met the defendant once, when he was 8. Deanna Bowers said she has not been in touch with him since then.

Her husband died in 2019. She testified he told her he had a difficult childhood with an abusive father, the defendant’s paternal grandfather.

When asked by defense attorney Elisa Long if the rest of the family treated Robert Bowers like a relative, Deanna said only his paternal grandmother, Ann Bowers, stayed in regular contact with him.

“She cares about him very much,” she said.

Under cross-examination from the prosecution, Deanna Bowers said despite her husband’s difficult childhood, Wendell became a beloved member of their community in California.

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CNN’s Sarah Boxer and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.