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When I was a young girl, I think 12 or 13, I remember having posters in my room of each of the four Beatles. I loved their songs. I had a record player in my room and I would listen to their music for hours.

And I'll admit, the poster of John Lennon was my favorite. Until I found out he was married, his poster got the most love.

Years later, I was a nursing student at the University of Illinois. It was 1971, and John Lennon's song, Imagine, was released.

It is by far, was then and is now my favorite John Lennon song. I think I like it because of the concept of a world without violence, a world without war.

The song didn't mean as much to me when it came out in 1971 as it does now 50 years later. I look back and I can understand why it means so much to me, having spent my career surrounded by violence and murder.

Rolling Stone once described the song Imagine, as John's greatest musical gift to the world. I agree.

For generations, people have revered it kind of as a battle anthem for peace, but not everyone agreed. Some religious groups were outraged by the lyrics, especially when John asks us to imagine there's no heaven.

Radio stations called for boycotts of the Beatles and Lennon in particular. Some churches even held album burnings.

But one man, Mark David Chapman, took this really personally. He couldn't believe that John would say such a thing.

Even more upsetting to Chapman though, was what he perceived as Lennon's hypocrisy. His lyrics spoke of having no possessions, and yet John was pictured on yachts and surrounded by obvious wealth.

Mark felt that Lennon was leading others astray and that it was his duty to stop this from happening. And there was only one way to make that happen. He must kill John Lennon.

From Wondering and Tree Fort, I'm Candace DeLong, and this is Killer Psychie.

I spent five decades studying people's minds through my work as an FBI profiler and psychiatric nurse. I've interviewed lots of murderers, including serial killers.

And the question of why they did it is what I get asked time and time again. It's difficult to get a satisfying answer without diving deep into their mindsets.

So that's what we're doing, and I will give you my best analysis in this series of what made them do what they did.

This episode is Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon.

Hi there Wondery listeners. Hannah and Sruti here from TrueCram Podcast Red handed. Your favourite podcast red handed.

We just wanted to say how excited we are to be included in Amazon Music and Wondery's best podcasts of the year as chosen by their listeners, which is you.

So thank you so much to everyone who listened to us voted for us, all the things you do for us.

Any of you out there who haven't checked out red handed. What are you doing? What are you waiting for?

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