Font Resize
Parkersburg, Iowa » In the years after Mark Becker graduated from high school, friends say he drifted from the community where he played football for the town's beloved coach.
There were failed attempts at college, minor dustups with the law and trouble with drugs and alcohol. At 24, he was a cook at a Cedar Falls pizza restaurant and no longer the friendly "cute guy" from his days at Aplington-Parkersburg High.
"He wasn't the same guy," said Sara Madsen, a friend who graduated with Becker. "He was way more quieter. He just wouldn't say much. I said to him, 'What's going on? We never see you anymore.' "
Madsen never got an answer, and like the rest of Parkersburg is left wondering what could have compelled Becker to allegedly unload several shots from a handgun into his former coach, Ed Thomas, during an offseason team workout Wednesday morning. Becker was arrested a short time later in his parents' driveway and charged with first-degree murder.
So far, detectives are refusing to answer questions about Becker's possible motive. His attorney, Susan Flander, declined to discuss the case Thursday, and none of the 20-or-so players who were in the weight room have spoken publicly about what they saw, apparently told not to speak to reporters by school officials.
Becker, in isolation in Cerro Gordo County jail 40 miles away, isn't talking either.
He's "just quiet, just stone-faced
Investigators said they would pore over every last detail of Becker's past -- including an incident last weekend in which police say he took a baseball bat to a home in nearby Cedar Falls and rammed his car through the home's garage door. They haven't said if they know why he targeted Thomas, the NFL's 2005 high school coach of the year who guided several players to the NFL.
Becker has had several brushes with the law in the last five years, including a fine for underage possession of alcohol in 2004, a drunken driving conviction in 2005 and a fine and conviction earlier this year for possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal mischief and assault causing bodily injury.
The Becker and Thomas families both attended the First Congregational Church, and one of Thomas' sons, Todd Thomas, said Thursday his father and other church members tried to counsel Becker. He declined to specify how his father tried to help Becker but said the shooting hasn't changed the Thomas family's view of the Beckers.
"Mark is a very good person," Thomas said. "The whole family are good people."
Things seemed to escalate Saturday night with the high-speed chase, when sheriff's deputies arrested Becker and took him to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.
He was released Tuesday without police being notified, and spent the night at his parents' place before confronting his former coach the following morning, authorities said.
Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo said in a statement Thursday that its staff was not asked to notify authorities before releasing Becker.
