Friday 24 June 2016

Christina Grimmie's killer was obsessed with her, police say

Disturbing new details have emerged at the close of the police investigation into the shooting death of singer Christina Grimmie.
While the motive is still not clear, a sense of Kevin Loibl's character is made more apparent, including his propensity to 'live like a hermit'.
While Loibl had no history of mental illness, he liked to cover his bedroom windows with aluminum foil and heavy curtains, because of a self-diagnosed 'aversion to light', his family revealed in a police report seen by reporter. 
Loibl, 27, killed the 22-year-old, who found fame on singing contest The Voice, while she was signing autographs for fans after a performance at the Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida, earlier this month. 
The conclusive report also included observations from the hotel clerk who checked Loibl into the Orlando hotel where he had stayed the night prior to the attack on June 11. 
The manager described how the 27-year-old had struck him as 'strange' and had checked in about 1.30pm with no luggage, paying $269 for the room.
After his departure, staff noticed that no personal belongings were visible and the bed looked like it had been slept on top of the covers.   
An earlier report also revealed that the Best Buy worker had a number of cosmetic procedures and even turned vegan in an attempt to become her boyfriend, his former colleagues have claimed.
Loibl was so infatuated with the singer, he is said to have undergone a hair transplant, laser eye surgery and stopped eating meat to lose weight, so he could impress her.
When police examined his body, they found two handgun magazines in his pocket, a tactical knife strapped to his ankle, a Florida driver's license, a ticket for Grimmie's show, which he'd printed five days prior and a hotel key for a room at the Courtyard by Marriott in Orlando.
Police showed the front desk manager a photo of Loible and he "instantly" asked if this was a suspect in the Grimmie shooting. The manager said Loibl had checked in the night before the concert, arriving by cab about 1:30 p.m., and struck the manager as "strange." Loibl had no luggage and paid $269 for the room.
"There was no luggage; no personal belongings visible and the bed looked as if he slept on top of the covers. In the trash it appeared he had purchased some food from the hotel snack bar and ate it in his room," the report says.

Loibl's father and brother said he rarely left his room except to go to Best Buy, where he had worked part time, mostly on weekends. Neither had ever heard Loibl mention Grimmie and they never saw him watch "The Voice." They never saw him with a gun, either. Loibl did, however, "spend a great deal of time on his computer in his room," they told an investigator.
In searching his room, police found a flyer for a burial service that said it would "spread your remains around the base of a tree" -- an identical flyer was found on Loibl at the shooting scene -- but they found no documents or photos related to Grimmie.
Later, a detective learned Loibl's phone was encrypted, stopping police from extracting any data. Also, his computer was not working, "and it appeared Loibl had intentionally destroyed the hard drive." Police found no threatening emails or texts on Grimmie's phone, and it did not appear the two had ever been in contact.

According to reporter, colleagues said he underwent the drastic transformation after telling them that he wanted the singer to become his wife.
His co-workers also told the website that Loibl would listen to her music constantly and even claimed to have played online games with the singer and met her at a concert in March. 
They also added that they would tease him and he became furious when pictures surfaced on social media of Grimmie with producer Stephen Rezza, because he thought they were in a relationship together.
However, source closer to Grimmie said she had never had contact with Loibl.
He shot her three times as she held out her arms to hug him during the meet and greet session.
He had been armed with two handguns and a knife and later killed himself after being tackled by Grimmie's brother Marcus, who tried to stop the attack on his sister.


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