The Dorner manifesto has gotten quite a bit of coverage over the last few weeks while the seemingly psychopathic ex-cop was on his killing spree. The document is basically a list of the people who he had a grudge against and the very few whom he still seemed to respect.
One of the men who Christopher Dorner actually seemed to still like was La Palma, California police chief Eric Nunez. In the screed, Dorner heaped praised on chief Nunez as being someone who served as a role model and mentor for the man during years that even predated Dorner’s time on the Los Angeles police force.
Despite getting praise from the spree killer, the LAPD still put Nunez and his family under surveillance, mainly because they just weren’t sure if or when Dorner might decide that he had a beef with the man after all. There were also some involved in the hunt who thought Dorner might reach out to Nunez for help should the fugitive become desperate.
During a recent NBC Los Angeles interview, Nunez had this to say:
“My wife was obviously very worried .I tried to convince her that it is very unlikely that we would have any contact, but we did make a plan. The Chris Dorner that I knew back when he was an explorer here and going through college, then going through the Navy wouldn’t have done the horrendous acts that he did. Would not have been the cold-blooded calculated murderer.”
In the Dorner manifesto, Nunez’s son was mentioned as being someone who would go on to do great things in the military. Still, the mere mention of Nunez’s son by a man who was willing to kill precisely because they were related was frightening.
Nunez also said that he was “reeling” trying to put together the picture of the man who killed four people including a young engaged couple while injuring others and taking still others prisoner. Nunez said that the Dorner he knew would not have done the things that the ex-cop did. Nunez also stated that he had not heard from Dorner for years until he received a package from him on January 23 at his office.
The package contained a note from Dorner that said that he didn’t lie during the investigation that led to his eventual firing. There was also a video of one of Dorner’s interrogations. Despite what Dorner has done, there may be some merits to his claim that he was falsely run out of the LAPD.
The department is apparently reopening the case in which he claimed racism was a key reason for his dismissal. Dorner’s reign of terror finally came to an end on Friday after he was cornered by law enforcement officials and eventually died in a fire inside the cabin where he took refuge.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Dorner manifesto is that the killer didn’t just detail his friends and enemies. Dorner also talked about things he would miss, such as the third season of The Walking Dead, when he was eventually killed.