Jessica Baty, 28, was the girlfriend of NIU shooter Stephen Kazmierczak. He killed 5 people at Northern Illinois University on Thursday and then turned the gun on himself. Baty dated Steve off and on for two years and was living with him at the time of the shooting.
Baty sat for an interview with CNN and appears to be as surprised as anyone that he initiated the college campus slaughter. She said there were no outward signs that he was planning anything. He was a worrier and had told her about having obsessive-compulsive tendencies that caused his parents to have him committed to a group home when he was a teenager.
Jessica related that he was seeing a psychiatrist and was on anti-depressants. He didn’t like the zombie feeling that the medication produced and quit taking the pills three weeks ago. She did notice that he was quicker to get annoyed without the meds.
Baty was aware that he had purchased two guns and believed that they were for home protection. She was in a criminal justice class at UI Urbana-Champaign when rumors of a mass shooting started to surface. She believed that Kazmierczak was spending the day with his godfather.
Baty said, “The person I knew was not the one who went into Cole Hall and did that. He was anything but a monster. He was probably the nicest, most caring person ever.” Kazmierczak mailed a package to Baty that contained a note and a new cell phone. The note said, ” You’ve done so much for me. You will make an excellent psychologist and social worker someday.”
Kazmierczak made one last phone call to Baty in the early morning hours of February 14. He told her not to forget him and said, “goodbye Jessica”. She is now haunted by that phone call.
We also have a recent photo of Steve Kazmierczak after the jump.