MAX HAINES MURDER MYSTERY

After studying the life and crimes of Jason Massey, the FBI Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico, Va., has stated that he fits the profile of a lust killer in every detail.
Jason was born Jan. 7, 1973, to a single, 21-year-old mother in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Times were tough, but there is every indication that Jason’s mother loved her child and took care of the little boy as best she could.
At age nine, for no apparent reason, Jason tore the clothing off a younger boy and tied him to a tree before proceeding to whip him unmercifully with a tree branch. The little boy’s mother saved the lad from what could have turned out to be a tragedy.
DEATH FANTASIES
Although the incident was reported to police, nothing was done to Jason. After all, what punishment can be meted out to a nine year old boy? That same youngster killed a cat before he was 10-years-old.
Later it was revealed that from an early age Jason fantasized about killing human beings. These were persistent fantasies concerning the deaths of young girls and the mutilation of their bodies. It was an all-consuming obsession which was to haunt him for the rest of his life.
We know a great deal about Jason, because in 1989, at age 16, he began to keep a diary of his innermost thoughts. His diaries would continue into the spring of 1993.
REPORTED TO POLICE
When he was 16, Jason started to pester young girls on the telephone. These calls were not juvenile threats, but disgusting dissertations on the methods he would use to kill them and to perform sex acts with their bodies.
Several of these girls complained to their parents, who in turn informed police. Jason was lectured and ceased calling for a while, but his good behavior was a sham.
Unknown to all, he was satisfying his unnatural urges by decapitating cats. He often kept their decomposing heads for weeks as trophies. Jason’s heroes were Charles Manson and Ted Bundy.
As the years passed in the small towns where he lived in Texas, Jason told his friends of his desire to kill women. Once, in front of other teenagers, he attacked a calf with a knife and mutilated its body. On another occasion he informed a teacher that he wanted to follow the dictates of the devil and sacrifice human life. The teacher sought counselling for Jason, but before anything could be done, he and his mother moved out of town. In hindsight we know that a human timebomb was soon to graduate from killing and mutilating animals to taking human lives.
In 1993, Christina Benjamin was about to enter Ennis High School. The 13-year-old pretty blonde youngster was looking forward to her freshman year. The world was Christina’s oyster. She played the flute in the school band, was a member of the basketball and volleyball teams, as well as being a top student. Her mother, Donna, lived with James King, whose 14-year-old son Brian was Christina’s best friend. Christina’s eight-year-old sister completed the closely knit family.
On Tuesday, July 27, around midnight, James was awakened by a car horn which sounded twice outside his home. Curious, he got out of bed and watched
as his son Brian leaned into the open window of the parked car. When James returned from a visit to the bathroom, Brian and the car were gone. He figured his son had gone for a ride with a friend because of the oppressive heat that night. James didn’t bother to check on Christina, assuming she was fast asleep.
MISSING
Next morning, both Donna and James were startled when the two teenagers were nowhere to be found. Neither friends nor neighbors had any knowledge of
the missing youngsters’ whereabouts. In desperation, they called police.
For two days, in oppressive 100-degree temperatures, police searched for Christina and Brian without results. On July 29, a road-grader operator opening a new road deep in a heavily wooded area infested with mosquitoes and snakes came across the rapidly decomposing body of a naked young girl.
Police were soon at the almost inaccessible crime scene. The sight was not a
pleasant one. The victim’s head and hands had been severed and removed, presumably by the killer. There were other mutilations to the body which will not be described here.
While officers were absorbing their gruesome find, the body of a fully-clothed male was found below a bridge spanning a creek only a short distance from the location of the female body. A wallet was found on the male body.
Inside was a library card made out to James King. A photo of James was also
in the wallet.
It only took a matter of hours before James King identified the photo as one of himself and the wallet as belonging to his son Brian. In short order the two victims were identified as Brian King and Christina Benjamin.
Two days after the bodies were recovered, police received an anonymous
phone call. The caller told them the killer’s name – Jason Massey. He went on to say that Jason had been in the habit of cutting the heads off cats and dogs and had bragged that he was going to kill girls. The mysterious caller also gave police the names of other local youngsters who could verify that Jason was a weirdo who incessantly talked about killing girls and mutilating their bodies.
Jason’s friends were located and co-operated with police. One told of having seen Jason’s collection of cats’ heads. He also informed police that Jason had spoken of a plan to make a date with Brian and Christina so he could get Christina to a secluded area and kill her.
BLOODY HANDCUFFS
Investigators learned Jason had met Brian and Christina 10 days before the murders and had made a date with them to be ready when he came by and
beeped his horn at midnight. A search of his house uncovered a pair of bloody handcuffs and several recently cleaned knives.
Jason was picked up and charged with double murder. He denied knowing the two victims. He swore that the boy who had told such terrible things about him was seeking revenge because he liked the boy’s girlfriend. The interior of Jason’s 1982 Subaru was examined, but not one speck of incriminating evidence was uncovered. In fact, it was uncharacteristically spotless, according to witnesses, who stated that the old vehicle was usually messy and full of junk. The trunk of the car was something else. In it, detectives found items of men’s clothing and several tools. All held tiny traces of blood. DNA testing proved the blood to be that of Christina Benjamin.
MYSTERY SOLVED
In addition to this evidence, detectives found a witness who was with Jason when he purchased handcuffs. They even located the Wal-Mart clerk who sold Jason the handcuffs. He well remembered the transaction, as it was the only pair he had ever sold. He identified Jason as the purchaser.
The spotlessly clean Subaru mystery was solved when a carwash owner came
forward and told of seeing Jason meticulously cleaning the interior of his car and disposing of rubbish. When the owner became suspcious and was ready to approach Jason about using his establishment as a dump, the youth quickly
drove away.
Jason Massey stood trial for double murder. The Texas jury took only 15 minutes to find him guilty of both murders. He was sentenced to death. Since his conviction, Jason has confessed to the murders. He insists that he disposed of his female victim’s head and hands by placing them in a pillowcase and tossing them into the Trinity River. Taking into account his penchant for trophies, no one believes him.