Crime

Professor’s Graphic E-mails Describe His Alleged Plot for Mass Murder, Rape & Suicide

Professor Rainer Reinscheid E mails Detail Shooting Plot | Video

This image provided by the Orange County District Attorney's Office shows a booking photo of Rainer Reinscheid, 48, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who was arrested July 24, 2012 and charged with numerous felony arson charges. (AP Photo/Orange County District Attorney's Office)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (TheBlaze/AP) — Rainer Reinscheid was into his second bottle of wine when he wrote a chilling email titled, “a good plan,” detailing violent revenge on the people he blamed for his teen son’s suicide.

His son hanged himself after being disciplined at high school in March, sending the University of California, Irvine, professor into a downward spiral that authorities said led to setting fires and venting his anger in graphic emails describing plans for a mass murder, sexual assaults and his own death.

Reinscheid fantasized about buying a dozen machine guns, killing 200 University High School students, raping a school counselor and killing the assistant principal who disciplined his 14-year-old son, Claas Stubbe.

“I will make him cry and beg, but I will not give him a chance, just like he did to Claas,” Reinscheid wrote. “I will make him die, slowly, surely. Next I will set fire to Uni High and try to burn down as much as I can, there should be nothing left that gives them a reason to continue their miserable school.”

Reinscheid never acted on his most violent musings and police have no evidence he was preparing for a shooting, but prosecutors charged him with a series of small arsons that targeted the high school, the assistant principal’s home and the park where Claas hanged himself.

Five fires erupted between July 1 and July 19, and police caught Reinscheid as he tried to start a sixth one July 24, Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen said.

While investigating the fires, police discovered three emails Reinscheid sent to his wife and himself in April from his university account. Copies of the messages were filed in court by prosecutors to have him held without bail. He’s due in court for arraignment Aug. 8.

Below, watch Lt. Julia Engen of the Irvine Police Department speak further about the situation:

In the emails, the distraught father asks his wife to forgive him for many disappointments but asks her to understand that he “had to go this way” after detailing plans to kill the vice principal and destroy the school in a firestorm.

“You would have done the same if it was your child that you failed,” he wrote to her April 26.

Claas was Reinscheid’s son from a first marriage. He has a stepdaughter and son from his second marriage.

He asked his wife to tell their son, “Daddy was so sad when Claas passed away, he was just eaten away by his sadness and stopped breathing.”

Two nights later, while on medication to stay awake and “legally drunk” while downing a second bottle of wine, Reinscheid wrote to himself about how he had fantasized about having sex with every young girl he saw on campus that day.

Then he discussed his “dreams” of mass murder at the high school, including explicit details of how he planned to make a teacher get naked in front of students and stab herself with a red pencil before he shot her in the head.

“I will give myself a wonderful ending and be with Claas very soon,” he wrote. “I like this plan, finally a good idea.”

Reinscheid, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences who also holds German citizenship, has not been charged with anything related to the content of the emails because they were private communications, said Farrah Emami, an Orange County district attorney’s spokeswoman.


Defense attorney Ron Cordova did not return multiple calls for comment. He told the judge in court Tuesday that he didn’t want his client to “suffer from a media circus.”

Bruce Blumberg, a pharmaceutical colleague at UC Irvine, said Reinscheid was angry over the investigation into his son’s suicide and was considering legal action against the school district.

“This is all a tragedy,” said Blumberg. “A boy is dead and he shouldn‘t be and his father is doing allegedly crazy things that he shouldn’t be doing. It’s all a crazy situation.”

The son killed himself March 14 after being ordered to pick up trash for stealing from the student store.

After the suicide, rumors circulated around school that the teen had been bullied, but police and the school district say they found no such evidence.

Ian Hanigan, a district spokesman, said Reinscheid was angry with school administrators because they informed the teen’s stepsister of his death at the school, with no family members present, after failing to reach anyone on her emergency contact list. The school had no other complaints from Reinscheid after his son‘s death and the professor hadn’t threatened any school administrators.

Blumberg’s wife, Dejoie, remains close friends with Claas’ mother, Doerte Stubbe. She said Claas seemed affected by his parents’ divorce and split time between Reinscheid and his mother, who has multiple sclerosis.

After the boy’s death, Stubbe told her Reinscheid said he was writing “goodbye letters” to everyone.

“At that point she said that she just didn’t care and I figured it was him grieving, venting and that sort of thing. There was no threat,” Dejoie Blumberg said. “I figured he was very, very and extremely depressed – as any parent would be.”

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Longtime friend Olivier Civelli, chairman of the pharmacology department, said Reinscheid was devastated by his son’s suicide but tried to keep it quiet at work. He showed no signs of the deep anger evident in the emails.

“Rainer is not a violent person. Rainer never had a gun, I can tell you that,” said Civelli, who picked up Reinscheid’s car after his arrest last week. “I think that maybe he was doing that to vent his anger, he was telling (it) to someone who was close – his wife.”

That‘s an argument Reinscheid’s defense would likely use if the case goes to trial – and perhaps an argument that could keep the emails away from a jury entirely, said Jacqueline Goodman, a criminal defense attorney.

His attorney will likely argue that Reinscheid never intended to act on his writings, and was simply expressing his anguish.

“You have to take into account the context in which these writings come. He‘s so emotionally distressed and now he’s under the comingled influence of psychotropic drugs and alcohol and he’s writing these things – not acting on them – just writing them down,” Goodman said. “He’s clearly not in his right mind. It’s like writing in a diary.”

When police searched Reinscheid’s car, they found a red folder containing a newly signed will and also discovered a power of attorney document on his computer that gave his wife control over his finances and children, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press.

Reinscheid has been at UC Irvine for about a dozen years and rode his bike to work every day from his house on campus. His research included studying molecular pharmacology and psychiatric disorders, including studies of schizophrenia, stress, emotional behavior and sleep, according to the school’s website.

He had requested a leave of absence from UCI, according to a police report.

Comments (26)

  • desertspeaks
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:31pm

    union member, obama voter, who woulda thunk it!

    Report Post » desertspeaks  
  • COME AND TAKE IT 2121
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 6:31pm

    That’s crap. The man wrote emails thats all. To himself and his wife no less. He didn’t send them to anyone else as a threat. Clearly the poor man is grief stricken, understandably so. Writing something in an email and performing the act are completely different things. If he did start the fires try him for it. I don’t see how his writings can stand as evidence.

    Report Post »  
  • Seth Patriot
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 2:33pm

    The left is going berserk about gun control in the wake of the Aurora shooting and wondering how it could have been prevented. Here is a case of someone obviously in need of help who might do a similar thing and they say nothing can be done about the emails because they are private. Give me a break. Instead of trying to take guns out of the hands of citizens, let’s take a look at individuals like this man.

    Report Post » Seth Patriot  
  • Landon410
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:35am

    this is a sad story,.

    Report Post »  
  • drattastic
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:19am

    Seems mental instability runs in the family.

    Report Post » drattastic  
  • ChevalierdeJohnstone
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:09am

    How is this even admissable as evidence? He wrote an email TO HIMSELF describing a deranged fantasy on which there is no evidence he ever acted. Let’s go arrest Stephen King, he writes books about murders all the time.

    What a load of bull-hooey. He should be charged for the arson and get his day in court. The emails are irrelevant. This is further example of the vast over-reach of the jack-booted-thugs populating our governments. Thought Crime!

    Report Post »  
  • Constantine Ivanov
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:07am

    No wonder that this unstable parent has brought up an unstable kid. It’s a pity.
    But it also says that our education system stinks. Pupils are taught self-esteem, but not ethical conduct and sense of responsibility. Thus, a disciplinary action is perceived as undeserved humiliation and results in an inadequate reaction, like self-hanging, shooting, etc.

    Report Post » Constantine Ivanov  
  • Charles321123
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:59am

    We need to pray for this man. Easy to condemn him till you start thinking how you would feel if it were your own son. Don’t get me wrong they best keep a good eye on him and be ready to shoot to kill if he starts buying guns and whatnot…

    Report Post »  
  • Susie
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:45am

    This boy did not commit suicide because of one mild act of discipline by the school.
    The father’s reaction laced with such violent thoughts might be a clue.

    Report Post »  
  • koyettsu
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:14am

    If his son was so fragile that he killed himself because he was given a punishment at school it sounds to me like the Father killed his son. Had he taught his son to act like a man and to deal with his problems he probably wouldn’t have taken his own life. Harsh yes, but probably true.

    Report Post »  
    • TheLeftMadeMeRight
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:34am

      Deal with his problems. Act like a man. You’re an idiot.

      Report Post » TheLeftMadeMeRight  
    • objectivetruth
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:51am

      That fragility may have been from something else.Anyone consider that they are the decendents of nazis?There is something much more here than meets the eye.You don’t kill yourself over a simple punishment.Your father shouldn’t be going off the deep end for it either.Especially considering the nature of the punishment.its minor as well as the infraction.Even if you had of been falsely accused its still minor and within the school system ,not the courts.
      Why is it that those who have little to no training in guns are the most likely to use them in major attacks?Even worse their reasons are flimsy at best.

      Report Post »  
    • poorrichard09
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:53am

      THIS is the place to stop potential mass murderers (like the Aurora killer) not with more gun laws cuz CRIMINALS by there nature DON’T OBEY LAWS anyway! The Aurora killer was under a shrinks care already-the cops should have been notified and the guy taken in for evalution.
      People who are aware, of and counseling (or whatever) a person who makes crazy statements, threats, etc. and don’t report them should be charged as accessories to the crimes these unstable people commit. IMHO

      Report Post »  
  • TruthHurts
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:10am

    What is amazing is how many people are willing to condemn or convict a man for what he MIGHT do or for having some THOUGHTS that bother you. Punish the man for the arson if he is found guilty of the crime, but it seems the story is more about what he THOUGHT about doing, not what he actually did.

    I thought we all knew better than to convict someone based on a thought. I wonder how many who stand ready to punish this man for his thoughts have had their own violent thoughts of revenge.

    Its like a bad Tom Cruise movie.

    Report Post »  
    • dannyb1978
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:53am

      He wrote that he was going to burn down the school. Then he was caught trying to burn down the school. It’s not too farfetched that he may try the other things that he wrote.

      Report Post »  
    • objectivetruth
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:58am

      No I don’t convict him on thought.He was making those thoughts into reality.He had already started down that path with arson.If he hadn’t of done that, I might agree with you ,that it was overblown.Hell keeping a journal is one way to prevent yourself from losing it.I wouldn’t want to convict anyone on that alone.I can assure you that every crime victim across america has at one point in time wanted the perp dead or worse.That doesn’t make them crazy, in fact, it confirms their sanity.Otherwise I’d be worrying about stockholm syndrome.
      Problem I have with it.I don’t think this is new with him.He has just kept it hidden.Who knows maybe his son saw his lunacy and some of the hidden byproducts of it .and simply couldn’t take it any more
      You have to admit that taking your life over a simple punishment is way out of norm.There is more here than meets the eye.

      Report Post »  
  • venerablebede
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:01am

    And the report says he was on medication…funny how many of these violent nuts are on medication..

    Report Post »  
    • kegbuna
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 2:10pm

      Funny how this “medication” is still considered safer than marijuana. I guess we can thank the profits for skewing our perception of what the true effects of these medications are. Big Pharma gets the rules they want.

      Report Post » kegbuna  
  • IOWAGIR
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 7:54am

    Another smart guy goes off the deep end. His son hanging himself over the punishment of having to pick up trash is so strange. Perhaps he was bullied. I am glad they caught him before he acted out his fantacies. I hope they can some how help him while they have him in custody for the arson charges. He seemed to be prparing for something very sinister.

    Report Post »  
  • BLACKDIAMONDSKIER
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 7:37am

    Hatred and anger for others can burn the soul into darkness. It doesn’t matter whether the immediate cause for it seems justified or not.

    Report Post »  
  • Mil-Dot
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 7:34am

    Notice people, that the very first thing you see in this article is the mugshot of the white guy. Snowman if you will. If he were black or any other ethic creed getting a mugshot of the creep would be like pulling teeth. But a snowman, very damn first thing you see.

    Report Post »  
    • kegbuna
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 7:49am

      Lol that is so horrible. One thing I remember about this place is when they had the black military guys who sold weapons, the first thing on this page was a picture of them looking like 2 thugs. Someone posted below, “I could tell without even looking at the article what color they were.”

      You’re acting ignorant and spiteful. Stop trying to be a victim especially when there is no one persecuting you.

      Report Post » kegbuna  
    • Mil-Dot
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 7:59am

      You laugh KegObeer but it is a fact. The only way you can beat the white man is by discriminating against them. On ANY even playing field except backetball and especially intelligence, the snowmen mop the floors with the minorities.

      Report Post »  
    • kegbuna
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 8:42am

      I see, you’re way too far gone to be reasoned with. I hope your life isn’t as miserable as your posts, because right now this looks bad. You imagine up these false enemies, phantoms that for some reason are only concerned with persecuting YOU and your race, yet I guarantee when it comes down the details, you’re lost.

      Being a conservative I thought meant valuing a person on merit, thought it seems like you’re happy with assuming someone is better just by virtue of their race. How do these two concepts exist in the same space?

      Report Post » kegbuna  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on August 2, 2012 at 7:26am

    Wow. Just…. wow.

    Report Post » biohazard23  

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