Six days ago, a source of mine unexpectedly emailed me a treasure trove of data. So far as I know, it was the last thing he did before committing murder-suicide.
Suicide or Arkancide? Depressed over recent divorce or something else? He and his ex had shared custody of teen boys but they’re teens so would soon be adults and out of the custody battles (if there were battles).
Youtubes Ruckman posted of his son Chris, the musician:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzEszzlFgtGvcxwkSdOA-gg
Ruckman’s father, Peter Ruckman’s wiki shows him to be a Baptist preacher who had been divorced twice and an odd bird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ruckman
Wow he was writing/studying Presidential Pardons. Emailed his life’s work on it to USA Today reporter and then killed himself and his son’s.
According to his blog, his upcoming books are, “Blog Owner: P.S. RUCKMAN, JR.
Professor of Political Science. Author (with George Lardner, Jr.), Guilty No More (Forthcoming), Pardon Me, Mr. President: Adventures in Crime, Politics and Mercy (Forthcoming)”link to the blog here, http://www.pardonpower.com/
Wow, I hope we hear more about that.
Here’s the Twitter thread from your link:
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
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Mar 6
i kept in touch from time to time. Last year, when President Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio and people argued that it was unprecedented to pardon someone for contempt of court, Ruckman sent me a list of dozens of people pardoned for contempt back to President John Adams.
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
·
Mar 6
Still, I was a little surprised last Wednesday, when he emailed me the entire database — in separate spreadsheets for each presidential administration, more than 30,000 records in all. “Would want you to have this and use freely,” he wrote.
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
·
Mar 6
I emailed him back right away, saying I was on deadline but would call him later. When he didn’t call me back by Monday, I got worried. I checked his web site and Twitter feed. Then I googled him.
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
·
Mar 6
According to this @rrstar story, police found his body — and that of his two boys, aged 12 and 14 — at his home on Saturday, three days after the emails. The boys hadn’t been in school since Wednesday.
Police investigate double murder-suicide at home of RVC professor P.S. Ruckman Jr.
rrstar.com
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
·
Mar 6
I called the Winnebago County Sheriff, in case the emails help to establish his intent, or the timeline. Obviously, there are a lot of questions left unanswered, and the investigation continues.
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
·
Mar 6
I never met him in person, and can’t presume to know what went so terribly wrong. I do know he was proud of his sons. Last year, he sent me a Youtube video of his 7th grader playing the National Anthem on guitar at a high school basketball game.
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
·
Mar 6
I also got the impression that his passion for the subject of pardons was rooted in fundamental Christian values of redemption and forgiveness. Tonight I’m struggling to reconcile those ideals with such an unpardonable act.
Gregory Korte
Gregory Korte
@gregorykorte
·
Mar 6
I’m not sure what I’ll do with the data. He did important work, which now seems tainted. I do pray that God has mercy on his soul, and especially on the souls of his innocent sons.
Thank you for listening.