Whitman's TBI Supporting Evidence

A more detailed explanation of the evidence for traumatic brain injury can be found in Charles Whitman: Up Against All Odds, a 152-page case study (request here), and Traumatic brain injury graphing: A case study of Charles Whitman, published by the Journal of Forensic Sciences (click here to read); however, a general description is below.

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​Wide Range of Problems

Since the brain can affect nearly every aspect of functioning, problems can arise throughout the spectrum of behavioral, emotional, cognitive and physical operations when it is injured. Logically, the quantity and severity of issues will usually (but not always) depend on the location and nature of the injury. When the brain is repeatedly harmed (even "mildly"), degenerative processes may develop that result in worsening complications over time. Whitman suffered from a broad range of ailments that have been linked to TBI. Symptom clusters appeared not long after major injuries and patterns of degeneration coincide with what is currently known about TBI (see graph below). 

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TBI Graphing Results

Results from Whitman's TBI graph demonstrate a direct correlation between the timing of known injuries and the start and progression of sequelae (i.e., "aftereffects or long-term complications resulting from injury"). The graph below provides a visual representation. 

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Autopsy and Commission Findings Support TBI

Despite TBI not being considered at the time of the tragedy, the autopsy doctor and commission experts discovered and reported numerous anomalies related to long-term inflammation, which is a typical consequence of repeated TBI, including:

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• Much thinner than normal skull thickness. 

• Brownish tint to brain white matter.

• “Slight mineralization of blood vessels in the globus pallidus.”

• “Occasional lymphocyte in perivascular spaces.”

• Presence of “subpial amyloid bodies.”

• “Slight periventricular gliosis in the occipital regions.”

• Kidneys reported as “relatively large” with “some congestions along the borderline of the two layers.” TBI can cause kidney inflammation and dysfunction.

• Liver reported as “proportionally large” and containing pale brownish-yellow matter with a “decreased amount of blood.” Liver inflammation and dysfunction are also potential consequences of TBI. 

• Presence of 2 cm x 1.5 cm x 1 cm glioblastoma (GBM), an aggressive type of malignant brain tumor, located near the right amygdala. Some studies have uncovered tumor growth at injury sites. Also, GBM is rare in young males, indicating a potentially anomalous cause and degenerative environment. 

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Impact of TBI Aggravators

The brain has numerous mechanisms in place to help keep it functioning in balance when it is subjected to various forces. Depending on the injury, those mechanisms may be strained, disrupted or made inert. ​The presence of numerous TBI aggravators at the time of Whitman's violent end suggests a brain that was in a degenerative state, which made “balance” extremely difficult, if not impossible. At the time of the tragedy, an extended period of excessively high ambient temperatures, sleep deprivation, amphetamine and aspirin use, blood donations, poor diet and emotional stressors appear to have exacerbated issues in an already vulnerable brain and body. 

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Whitman Experienced So Many Unique, Intense Probable TBI Events

There are numerous criteria that define the difference between mild, moderate and severe TBIs, but the most obvious one is consciousness. TBIs are usually considered "mild" if the loss of consciousness is less than 30 minutes (or not at all). Between 30 minutes and 24 hours is considered "moderate" and more than a full day is "severe." The term "mild TBI" (mTBI) is extremely inappropriate, however, because even one mTBI may still cause long-term, detrimental issues for some people. If additional TBIs occur, especially before the brain has had time to fully recover from the one before, a compounding issue can develop. Studies have shown that supplemental TBIs greatly increase the odds of long-term sequelae and can trigger potentially degenerative conditions, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Childhood abuse significantly increases the risk of TBI, as well. 

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In addition to experiencing a full childhood of abuse, Whitman endured severe assaults to the head at the ages of 16 and 23, a motorcycle accident resulting in hospitalization, two rollover accidents (both in vehicles without hard tops), and a lightning strike directed to the head (energy traveled through telephone line that he was using, causing him to be thrown against a truck). One of the rollover accidents resulted in unconsciousness for several hours. As a lifelong hunter and rifleman in the U. S. Marine Corps, he was also exposed to potential blast TBIs. From a TBI perspective, the odds of him not being affected by TBI-influenced degenerative processes seem virtually impossible. 

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Even though commission experts did not consider brain injury in 1966 (because Whitman did not exhibit changes in "speech, gait, face or hand movements"), they still felt his actions may have been the result of a biological cause. With today's knowledge of TBI, the truth is becoming clearer.