For a week now, since 41-year-old John Allen Muhammad's arrest in a sniper-customized $250 Caprice with Jersey plates, it's been all sniper, all the time. The media has picked over the paper-trail detritus of Muhammad's life in Tacoma and beyond, and quickly condensed it into a linear trajectory: man's world falls apart, shootings begin. But the race to impose meaning on the inexplicable and distill a sprawling story into a coherent essence hasn't left much time for lingering over the juicy details.

We're told that Muhammad was a "serial loser" (theWashington Post) and that his life "seemed to spin out of control" (the New York Times). Both may well be true; the existing court records certainly reek of trouble and failure. Here's a look at Muhammad's decline and the untidy desperation of the people in his life as they spilled into the records of the public domain.

A Sense of Betrayal and Powerlessness

Consider, for example, the 1995 battle over the custody of Muhammad's first son, Lindbergh. Muhammad was convinced Lindbergh was being neglected and malnourished by his "bulimic" mother, Carol, in Louisiana; he also believed his brother Edward was abusing Lindbergh, doing such things as punishing the boy for bed-wetting by stuffing him into a duffel bag and locking it.

Muhammad felt compelled to rescue Lindbergh, but also felt powerless. "Regarding the abuse of my son," he wrote, "I do not have any first-hand proof, but I do know of the many statements that Lindbergh has shared with me about the abuse, neglect and mistreatment inflicted upon him."

Muhammad's own brother turned against him in this dispute. "Carol is a very good mother," Edward wrote in a statement. "I love my brother very much and always will but John is wrong." Lindbergh seemed to side with Muhammad, with whom he was staying in Tacoma, penning a note about his life with his biological father titled "Way I Wont To Stay." Nonetheless, the judge sided with the boy's mother.

A Lack of Empathy

The judge apparently had good reason to favor Carol. At the same time that Muhammad was lashing out at Carol and his brother, calling them child abusers, he had moved across the country to Tacoma to live with his new wife, Mildred Green.

When things went bad with Mildred, Muhammad lashed out at her, kidnapping their three kids in March 2000 and leaving her despondent.

"He left me completely penniless," she complained to the court. "My mom lives with me and she's 73 and not in good health. My daughter Taalibah is her reason for living these days. We have heard nothing. We live moment by moment. I do not know where he is... "

Later, when Mildred got the kids back in September 2001, she ran, going into hiding to avoid Muhammad. He became angry. "My ex-wife has taken my children and moved them to a secret location," he wrote. He went on to deny the allegation that he abducted the children, calling it "absurd." Never mind his acknowledgment, in the same filing, that Bellingham police had to track down and "seize" the kids from him.

A Downward Spiral

But by this time, Muhammad was pleading for his kids in one court while another court was issuing a warrant for him in connection with a shoplifting theft at the Market Place grocery in Tacoma. The list of items Muhammad allegedly stole turns out to be as scattered and desperate as the rest of his story: steaks, Gardenburgers, and a box of Stash tea.