months earlier i could have prevented it and i could have stopped and i didn t. i wanted to kill him. it was two months before john lennon s murder, fall 1980. honolulu, hawaii, the island mark david chapman called home. i wasn t a hinckley type, i wasn t an oswald type, i wasn t a manson type. i was a very happy person. and seemingly happy but in chapman s twisted mind, hidden from view was torment and anger. it was really miserable. the marriage was miserable and chapman was abusive, says his life gloria, in an exclusive recording obtained during our investigation. i must have said something
happen that day. i just knew it. before he left, he put a display in the hotel and it had it had his passport, it had photographs from when he had worked at the ymca, had it other mementos of his life. a display that would make it easy it identify him as lennon s killer. it was like his way of saying look at me, i m important. once the scene was set, chapman left to stake out the dakota again. he first saw sean lennon and his nanny. chapman came from behind her, reached around to shake sean s hand and then he commented to her, he s a beautiful little boy, isn t he? while sean was outside the dakota, inside his father was
they were propelled through the roof, you know. here he was, you know, the rock n roll good, the rock n roll prince. more money than he ever could have imagined, more fame anyone could imagine. the ability as an artist to be able to express himself and create more than any other artist ever. and yet he was still so deeply unhappy. that would all change for lennon when his son, sean, was born in 1975. he finally came home and decided to just stay home, to hide from the public. but to have a very full life that involved things that people could not have imagined of john lennon. i looked after the baby.
of him but because he wasn t talking to anyone else. but that all changed. once chapman started talking to gaines one winter day in 1983, he wouldn t stop. i m able to face it now. i have strength to face the murder now. a murder no one saw coming. it was summer in the strawberry fields of john lennon s knock. he do love new york. it was so fun to be there with him. writer dave chef spent three weeks around the clock with john lennon writing an article in august 1980. you would think john lennon of all people would have security guards all around. that s not what he was about. we walked in central park and did people mob him? people would say, hey, john, i love your music. there was a freedom he was able to find here. an intensity from beatlemania. he was out on the road and
getting ready for his last interview ever. he was so real. he was so incredibly real. he wasn t a rock star. lori kay produced the six-hour interview. so you arrive at the dakota. what was your first impression? where did he sit but right on the love seat next to me. so for the next couple hours it s like that s john lennon and he s sitting next to me looking at me through his john lennon glasses. then came the home kay says she will never forget. when we were talking about him and yoko and he said, i hope to god that i die before yoko because i don t know what i would do if she left before i did. in other words, he couldn t continue without her. and after an emotional afternoon, lennon headed to the recording studio for the last time, and