I believe he washed out of the Coast Guard, felt compelled to work to get into an elite unit. Who knows what familial breakdown led to his bizarre behavior. I saw people for 10 years who were absolutely nuts. A mother who tried to drown her son in the toilet because he would no longer fondle her in the bathtub, for example. A son whose mother was too drunk to notice that the older brother was using the family dog to rape his little brother. I know other cases even worse but will not mention them as the victims are still alive, amazingly.
Those pitiful children you spoke of may be able to put this behind them, but they will always wrestle with being marked by the Scarlet Letter of B, for betrayal.