The story of Aaron Bassler,the sweet faced young man who ended up murdering two beloved Mendocino men, has a new chapter as information continues to come out.

The Ukiah Daily Journal has a new story which contains a variety of info on Aaron Bassler—everything from the odd fact that his backpack contains a rubberbanded stack of cards—all 8 of spades from different decks—to the information that marijuana blunts were found at the scene of the murders of Jere Melo and Matthew Coleman as well as in Bassler’s backpack. There is quite a bit of information here and this is definitely worth a read.

Aaron Bassler’s father speaks up here on his son’s mental illness (this piece was originally published in the Fort Bragg Advocate but I hadn’t read it before.) The piece is incredibly sad.  Bassler’s father, James says,

The real significant change in his behavior started in late summer of 2010 when he became more and more prone to outbursts of anger. Lots of things were going bad for him. The biggest problem came when he learned he would have to move from his home because of a change in ownership of the property. He had worked for years to make it his home, and it was a special private place where he could get away from people. Whenever I entered his home, it was both shocking and heartbreaking, a little like an insane asylum without any staff. His frustration with losing his home, and his dire financial situation put him under a lot of stress and it came out in angry outbursts. He was drinking more, doing more drugs, and spiraling out of control. There was not much we could do and he was getting very scary.

We need to find some way to help our mentally ill.