In December 1980, Mark David Chapman fatally shot a world-famous musician outside his New York apartment, then calmly stood reading a novel as police arrived.

This episode traces the psychological breadcrumbs of a fracturing mind, from an abused childhood and imaginary worlds to a delusion built on a work of fiction.

• A frightening childhood and rule over imaginary little people
• An award-winning YMCA counselor and refugee-aid humanitarian phase
• A failed Hawaii suicide attempt and creeping isolation
• Merging his identity with a novel's alienated narrator
• A hit list, hollow-point bullets, and 14 parole denials