WPXI poured through the paperwork -- subpoenas, criminal affidavits and police reports -- about Randall Bowers, the father of alleged gunman Robert Bowers, who's accused of murdering 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue.
When Robert Bowers was 7 years old, his father, Randall Bowers, was charged with rape and other sex crimes after police say he held a woman against her will, forced her to the ground and sexually assaulted her.
Six months later, Randall Bowers was getting ready to go to trial on those charges when he committed suicide at a campground in Tionesta Township, Forest County.
This is the first big criminal footprint WPXI has found in the Bowers family history.
For days, WPXI has been connecting with neighbors, former acquaintances and family members, who all described Robert Bowers as a loner -- a quiet, anti-social person who would sometimes wave and make small talk when necessary.
That drastically contradicts his alleged online persona, which detectives described as hateful. Bowers is accused of espousing anti-Semitic beliefs on the social media site Gab before carrying out the massacre.
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