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A Descent into Madness: Understanding Randy Stair's Fatal Path | The Murderous Minds Podcast

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Have you ever wondered about the mind of a mass shooter? What could possibly drive a seemingly normal young man, a YouTube personality and a lover of Nickelodeon cartoons, to commit such a horrifying act of violence? In this riveting episode, we'll take you on a chilling journey into the life and crimes of Randy Stair. We begin by exploring his quiet childhood in Pennsylvania, his fascination with drawing Nickelodeon characters, and eventually his growing obsession with death and suicide as he transitioned into adulthood.

The unthinkable act committed by Randy, the Westboro High Massacre, still sends shivers down our spines. We'll examine his online postings, personal journals and disturbing YouTube videos, which reveal a complex and troubled mind. His admiration for the infamous Columbine shooters, his deeply rooted disdain for humanity, and his inner struggle with gender identity - all these aspects paint a stark portrait of a young man spiraling into darkness. This episode is a stark reminder of the darkest corners of the human mind and the tragic consequences that can result. Join us, and let's try to understand the mind of Randy Stair.

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Thank you for tuning in to MurderousMinds, the chilling true crime podcast that delves deep into the darkest minds. Join us as we explore the captivating stories of notorious killers, analyze their motives, and unravel the mysteries behind their heinous acts. Stay connected with us on Patreon for updates, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes insights. Remember, listener discretion is advised.

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Welcome to Murderous Minds, a documentary series started by the Top 5's YouTube channel back in 2018, dedicated to exploring the twisted minds of serial killers. The following podcast episode is the audio version of our video series over on the Top 5's Patreon page. If you would like to watch the video instead of just listening, and would also like to support our show, then please head on over to Patreon using the link in the show notes. Thank you for joining, and now let's take a journey into the minds of murderers. When police in Eaton Township, wyoming County, pennsylvania, were called to a local vice market store on June 8th 2017, they weren't sure what they would find. Upon arrival, they discovered one young man alive, along with three deceased bodies. All of the individuals were night shift staff. The store's doors had been barricaded to prevent anyone from fleeing the scene. Exploring the supermarket further, authorities finally came across the body of the perpetrator, 24 year old Randy Stair. For years, stair had an online presence and could often be seen behaving erratically and discussing violence and death, and yet everybody in his life was surprised that he was a killer. So who exactly was Randy Stair, and how did his behavior go unnoticed for so long? We aim to shed light on the answers to these questions and more, as we explore the life and crimes of Randy Stair.

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Randy Robert Stair was born on February 17th 1992 to Robert and Laura Ann Stair, the oldest of two boys. Stair was raised in Dallas, pennsylvania, and was described by those who knew him as a shy and introverted child spending much of his time alone. He had a flair for creativity and could often be found watching Nickelodeon shows and drawing the characters seen on TV. This would later develop into a deep love and obsession that Stair carried into his adult life. As he grew older, he became interested in video creation, recording footage and making short home films with a VHS recorder. In 2010, as a teenager, stair became employed part-time at a local-wise supermarket Located in Tunkhanok, where he worked the night shift. One year later, he graduated from school and began to attend LaZern County Community College. He attended the college for three years, while taking classes and broadcasting.

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It was during Stair's time in middle school that the cracks in his mental health began to show. During English lessons, he would often write stories that involved death. His main characters would be involved in incidents that were often fatal in nature. However, this was generally overlooked by his teachers and he was never questioned about the stories Around. This same time, stair's overall fascination with death, as well as the afterlife, began to blossom From what Stair publicly stated about his life. He also began to fantasize about suicide during his teen years. As he entered high school, he thought about the best methods, considered affixiation or burning to death, and, notably, even seriously considered taking his own life. While on a trip to New York with this family, he thought about throwing himself from a skyscraper, but ultimately he decided not to. In later audio logs, he left behind. After taking his own life. In 2017, stair mentioned how difficult it was to leave it all behind.

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Beginning in 2006, stair was met with a series of family tragedies that greatly impacted him. As he was faced with death for the first time In 2013, stair also lost a friend named Matt. 10 days later, his great-grandfather died, and about a further two weeks afterwards, stair totaled his car. His brother, jeremy, totaled his own just over a week later. In audio logs, stair recalls that this was around the time that he became infatuated with a Danny Phantom character named Ember McLean, who we will discuss in further detail later in the video.

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In 2008, at the age of 15, stair turned his attention to YouTube. At the time, the website was still in its infancy, having only launched three years earlier. As a content creation enthusiast, stair decided that it was the place for him to express himself and Hope to garner an audience as he uploaded lets plays and vlogs, eventually favoring the creation of skits, which he made his priority. Stair ran multiple YouTube channels and Twitter accounts. The channel to which he uploaded comedy sketches was named pioneers productions. Many of the videos are now gone from the internet after his channel was deleted following the shooting. However, there are still remnants of his content floating about on YouTube, as Several individuals have made it their mission to archive the footage he uploaded. Stair's sketches featured numerous characters, such as Mr Horsehead, which consisted of a plush horse head on a stick, a stuffed whale toy introduced in the video, a whale of a party, and Froggy, a rubber toy frog he rescued from a shopping cart at his workplace. Who first appeared in? Frogs are jerks. Not all of pioneers productions videos were comedy based, however. One notably out of place upload was titled somber. It has no talking and simply shows stair wandering around by a lake, skipping stones, staring out into the water, carving its initials onto a rock and walking in the middle of a road. It was uploaded on April 4th 2012.

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Beginning in January 2014, stair uploaded a final series to the Pioneer's production YouTube channel with the intention of moving on to other things afterwards. In the first video, grimly titled Amnesia Rape, stair can be seen reaching for a weight set high above his head. He eventually pulls it down, but it topples onto his head and he is knocked unconscious. He is then tied up by Froggy and Whale, who film stair being assaulted by the latter. The second video, the search to remember, consists of Froggy telling stair that he has had the full HD version of the song Remember sung by the character Ember from the Nickelodeon show. Danny Phantom. Stair had become obsessed with the show, especially with Amber, and had recently discovered a copy of this song in his real life and uploaded it to another channel of his named Worthless Toaster. The song had reportedly been missing for quite some time, as the episode in which it was featured misspelled the name of the performer. The song gathered over 3 million views in 5 years and it currently sits at 4.5 million views. According to the episode. The search for Remember Stair discovered that Froggy had access to the song but refused to share it. Froggy then flees with the laptop containing the song and drops it in the water. Stair then wakes up, revealing it all to be a dream.

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The third video of the Pioneer's Productions finale, entitled Extinction, features stair slaughtering, froggy and Whale placing both of their bodies into a box after he was fired from his job when the video of his sexual assault by Whale was put online. Using the slaying of Froggy, ember Maclean's character can be seen popping in and out of frame. The final two episodes of the series do not appear to have been archived online. Reportedly. In the fourth video, resurrection, stair is chased by the ghosts of Froggy and Whale. While he feels remorse for killing them, ember Maclean stops the ghosts using his powers. The final video, absolution, shows Stair putting the toys into a box and burning it as if cremating them. Stair then tells Ember that he's ready, stating everyone goes someday. He then puts a gun to his head, pulls the trigger and falls to the floor. The end shot shows two green eyes awakening in the darkness, before a montage of moments from prior video shows and the ending credits roll.

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Following the end of Pioneer's Productions, stair created the series Ember's Ghost Squad, also known as EGS. The entire channel was dedicated to his love of Ember Maclean, the Danny Phantom character who began appearing in the final series of Pioneer's Productions, but featured other characters Stair had created. Noting that he thought of one particular character, mackenzie West, as his soulmate, he worked with animators and voice actors to help put together these videos. It was around this time that Stair adopted the name Andrew Blaze for his online social media presence. This was reportedly due to the fact that he didn't like his birth name. A character representing himself also under the name Andrew Blaze was featured in the EGS, and the show even had its own theme song.

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After creating EGS, stair reportedly began to refer to Ember Maclean as his wife and, around this time, began to struggle with gender dysmorphia. Believing his soul to be female, he wore feminine clothing when his family was not around and felt that if he died, he would be resurrected as a woman. Despite his life tragedies and the confusion around his identity, stair did not agree with the idea of therapy or counselling and believed that participating in either alters who you are Following the shooting. Stair's journal was recovered as he had uploaded it online before his death. In an entry dated February 11th 2017, he wrote I sit here alone on my bed, full of emptiness. I'm wearing my girl clothes with my legs crossed. Why am I so damned to spend two to three decades in this disgusting body? I am not a man. Sorry, mom and dad, but I am so sorry. I am a woman. Each and every day, it gets harder and harder to live in this body". Stare even notes that he had purchased women's clothing, including a bra and underwear, and loved wearing leggings as they were comfier than joggers. He also wrote in this same entry that his mother once asked if he was gay, to which he replied no, adding in the journal that guys who are gay are attracted to men. I despise men. I hate them. They're disgusting. In another entry, stare stated the girl in me is clawing to get out.

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Stare ran social media accounts for many of his characters, including those featured in EGS. In one particular thread by a character named Rachel Shadows, dated 2016,. Stare appears to go on a violent rant, including tweets such as first I'll incapacitate you, next I'll butcher you, then I'll revive you before the blood loss kills you. Rachel, along with Stare's self-inserted character, appeared in his final production, a 42-minute video named the Westboro High Massacre slash goodbye, released on Wednesday June 7th 2017, the night of the shooting. The project was never completed because animators and voice actors pulled out of it or began to distance themselves from Stare, never finishing what was asked of them, likely due to the horrific, violent nature of the project.

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A re-upload of the video exists on YouTube and begins with a ream of text on screen where Stare rants about all the people who failed to help him finish the project. He drops the F-slur, tells the animators to drop dead and notes that he is going to be dead by the time they see the video. In the next slide, stare drops Morphal Language stating you're all worthless and thanks for absolutely nothing. After several paragraphs, stare concludes with I've been stepped on my whole life, not anymore. I've had enough of this putrid planet and I'm going to leave my mark. I'm going back to where I truly belong the EGS. The video then cuts to footage of Stare loading two shotguns and organizing a bag of ammo, as well as clips of him kissing the weapons which he dubbed Rachel and Mackenzie, before he leaves his room in a black hoodie. The still image of this shot then fades to grey Once the video reaches the animation portion. The names of Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibald can be seen on screen as Stare dedicates the video to them. Initially, it mostly features Rachel's character and Stare shouting about their hatred of humanity, as well as insults that are hurled their way. The pair are shown to be fed up with the constant bullying and harassment they receive, and their response is to carry out a massacre. It then devolves into violence, animated depictions of the masquerade self, before showing real footage of Stare practicing shooting. It ends with Stare's animated character shooting himself.

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On Wednesday, june 7th 2017, stare, now aged 24, arrived at Wise Markets for his shift, which started at 11pm. Before starting his work for the evening, he blocked several emergency exits and locked up the automatic doors of the entrance, assuring that nobody could run from him. Once he was finished, he equipped himself with one of the weapons he'd brought from home inside a duffel bag two pistol grip shotguns. Incredibly, he decided to carry out the shooting after tossing a coin. Stare gave no grand monologue to his colleagues. There was no warning. The only trail he left was online, when he tweeted out links to his detailed plans at 12.10am. He included files that were labelled journal suicide tapes and digital set and uploaded them to file sharing website, mediafire.

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After readying his weapon, stare walked around the store and killed three of his colleagues Terry Lee Sterling, 63, brian Hayes, 47, and Victoria Brong, the store's assistant tag manager, who was only 25. Once they were all deceased, stare approached the last remaining employee, christian Newell, who was unaware of what was going on because he was wearing headphones as he listened to music. He labelled items and stocked shelves towards the back of the store. Stare was reportedly seen on CCTV standing behind for a few seconds before moving on, leaving him alive. With no other victims left, stare shot at glass stands and other merchandise around the store. He attempted to explode several propane tanks by firing at them, but failed to do so. Meanwhile, christian Newell escaped the store by removing the display from the front doors and smashing through the glass. He hid in nearby bushes while he called the emergency services. Stare, after failing to set off the propane tanks, headed to the deli section of the store, shooting more items. He then placed the shotgun barrel in his mouth and fired a single round, killing himself instantly. In total, he had fired 59 shots, all of which came from just one of the two weapons he'd bought. He mentioned in one of his suicide tapes that he had brought a second shotgun just in case, something happened to the first.

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In the lead-up to the shooting, stare had left numerous ominous messages across various social media sites and different accounts. On Twitter, just one day before the attack, he stated simply Goodbye, humans. I'll miss you and you won't want to miss this one. It's going to be historic. In his journal, which he had uploaded photocopies of, he wrote I'm so ready to die. Two more fun nights and that's it. I've officially accepted that Wednesday night will be the death of me. Everything around me seems to have faded away. It's felt as if I'm the last solar light on this planet. For the last week. I see people, but they feel like an illusion. I've never felt so distant from society, and I love it. On the Embers Ghost Squad Facebook page, stair also wrote that fans should mark June 7th on your calendars because you probably won't witness anything quite like this again.

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The Times Tribune characterised Stair as a loner who idolised the teenage gunman responsible for the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, who found escape through YouTube videos he created. This came in reference to not only the Westboro High Massacre animation, but also from journal entries, in which Stair penned loving words about Eric Harris, one half of the Columbine shooters In his entry dated November 23rd 2016,. He begins as the late Eric Harris once said I hate the world. What an inspiration. But if all the ones who have influenced me, eric Harris is one of my newest, I would have killed to have met the guy. I think we would have connected on so many levels. I would kill to be able to gather a mass amount of ammunition and weaponry and to just destroy anyone who has the misfortune of crossing my path. Everyone on this pathetic, putrid planet needs to be slaughtered. He then added that humans are worthless. We are living, breathing, moving trash. I'm not afraid of humans. I'm disgusted by them.

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Stair's use of shotguns and propane tanks, as well as the fact that he had purchased various natural selection t-shirts, solidified the idea that he was heavily inspired by the Columbine perpetrators. Another angry diatribe he penned read I have no regrets for what I may do or what I may have done. I am who I am and no human can take that away from me. I'm an EGS recruit. You're worthless humans. One day you'll see all the things my way, especially when our ghost squad invades your pathetic, putrid planet and becomes our sleeves for the rest of your lives. I will not stop, I will not change, I will not cover. I will fight for the squad and do what I've set out to do. I am Andrew Blaze.

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In a separate video, stair had expressed a desire to commit a mass shooting at his old high school. However, it had been knocked down several years earlier. One of Stair's final videos was titled Supermarket Tour, june 7th, the day before the shooting, in which he walks around his place of work. He also wrote that his audio and video recordings released on the day of the slayings are essential for understanding what I did and how I did it, and noted he'd been planning to do this for at least three to four months. Stair also left a video message for his parents, according to CBS News. In the recording, stair mentioned that he had thought about death for years and never imagined that he would live past his twenties. He also discussed his love for Ember Maclean and noted that he began wearing women's clothing in 2013, which is something you never knew I did, he said when he was home alone and his parents were out bowling every Wednesday night, he would dress in women's clothing and long to transition to a woman. He told them I was just a female soul trapped in a man's body my whole life. Shortly before his demise, stair also emailed a voice actress he had worked with, thanking her for her work and explaining he would be dead by the time the actress read the email. The actress later told WELC radio that the email had begun like a suicide note, but took on a darker, angrier tone as he outlined the true purpose of his videos that she had been hired to voice act for. Stair emailed nine other individuals described as close friends of his. Within them, he allegedly expressed sorrow at not being able to live up to his own expectations. Following the shooting, the supermarket where Stair worked was closed. It reopened on July 13th 2017, having been fully gutted inside and remodeled with a new floor layout.

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It's difficult to say what exact thing pushed Stair over the edge. During his youth, he had issues with bullies and struggled to connect with peers his own age. His personal life is subject to mixed reports. Some say he could make friends but struggled to maintain them. Others stated he was an outright loner, while several sources state he had a few close friends at the time of his demise. It may be a combination of social isolation and stairs difficulties with his gender identity that caused him to struggle with his existence. His relationship with his family did not appear to be very strong, with internet users wondering why nobody in his life saw what was happening to him, heard what he was saying or saw what he was up to. However, both on video and in voice recordings, stair mentioned how hard he worked on his YouTube content and noted he did not receive much recognition or reward. This possibly contributed to his feelings of failure and led to him questioning why he existed and what his purpose was.

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On the other hand, it seems that Stair was taken in by the likes of the Columbine shooters. He drew inspiration from them and admired them. Perhaps he was chasing infamy for himself. Partially supporting this notion is one of his final journal entries, which reads I'll be looking down at those I've inspired and look forward to seeing what you create in your lives. Don't ever forget about me. Promise me that.

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His writings often came across as conflicted. He wants to be admired and loved, but lashes out frequently, as seen in his Westboro High School video, and is described as a homophobe and misandrist. He was also very open about the things he hated potheds, older people and even his own father. In the last paragraph on this same page of writing. Stair states I hope I've brought a smile to your face at some point in your lives, whether it be on Pioneer's productions in person or even just through simple social media messages. Stair strongly believed that in the aftermath he would become a member of Ember's Ghost Squad, where he would reunite with his soulmate Mackenzie.

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One journal entry ends with 62 more hours. That's the only thing standing in my way. I can almost feel Mackenzie holding me in his arms. Eurily Randy Stair's 300-page journal, main Twitter account and hours worth of audio recordings are still available to view and listen to online, meaning that in some ways, he got his wish. His legacy is forever on the internet for all to see, and you will likely never be truly forgotten for the heinous and evil acts he committed. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Murderous Minds podcast. If you would like to vote on upcoming episodes and watch our documentaries, then consider supporting us on Patreon. We hope you found this episode informative. Thank you again for joining us and stay safe, everyone.