California shootings: Gunman Elliot Rodger's manifesto mentions Changi Airport

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) students march between drive-by shooting crime scenes in a protest against sexual violence and hate crimes. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) students march between drive-by shooting crime scenes in a protest against sexual violence and hate crimes. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Father John W. Love blesses a placard showing pictures of 22-year-old shooter Elliot Rodger during a service at St. Mark's University Parish in the college town of Isla Vista, California. -- PHOTO: EPA 
People write chalk messages on a memorial wall for slain students on the Day of Mourning and Reflection for the victims of the Isla Vista, California killing spree. -- PHOTO: AFP
22-year-old gunman Elliot Rodger in a YouTube video screengrab. -- PHOTO: YOUTUBE SCREENGRAB

Before 22-year-old gunman Elliot Rodger embarked on his deadly rampage in Isla Vista, California, last week, he e-mailed a 140-page document called My Twisted World - The Story Of Elliot Rodger to several people. It contained disturbing and detailed accounts of his life as a child and daily interactions with friends and family.

Singapore also cropped up in the document. Rodger, whose father is British-born while his Chinese mother is originally from Malaysia, had apparently stopped over at Changi Airport for eight hours on his 13th birthday. He was on his way to Malaysia for a vacation with his mother, Ong Li Chin Rodger, and sister.

"We travelled on Singapore Airlines, and though we weren't traveling first class on this trip, I found it to be just as comfortable," Rodger wrote. "The staff of Singapore Airlines knew it was my birthday, and they brought me a cake with a candle during the middle of the flight. It was a very nice gesture."

His Singapore memories included the eight hours spent exploring Changi Airport. "I thought this airport was such a pleasant place that I really enjoyed just spending time there," said Rodger.

"The airport was huge, and much more entertaining than LAX or any airport in Europe that I've been to. The three of us walked around and explored, went shopping, visited all the common areas, and had a nice meal at one of the restaurants. There were a lot of foreign candies and sodas that I was curious to try."

Upon arrival in Malaysia, Rodger met his grandma (Ah Mah), his mother's sister Min and her husband Jack, and cousin Emma. They stayed at a luxurious hotel near the beach, and also toured Penang and Georgetown during the three-week stay.

"The vacation was so nice that I didn't even miss my life at home. The three weeks flew by very fast, and I cried a little when it was over. It was a good sadness," penned Rodger.

Rodger e-mailed his 107,000-word document to, among others, his parents and a therapist the day he went on his ramapage. The document details his childhood, which was spent around Hollywood where his father, Peter, directed commercials and aspired to make films. He was more recently an assistant director of the hit movie Hunger Games.

Rodger said his mother "dated George Lucas for a short time" and was a friend of Steven Spielberg. His stepmother, Moroccon-born French actress Soumaya Akaaboune, was in the French version of Real Housewives.

The "manifesto" talks about his jealousy of other men and of wealthy people, his hatred of females whom he said didn't find him attractive, and how he was a "virgin outcast".

He urged his divorced mother to marry a rich man as he saw that as his way out of his misery. At one point, he wrote: "If only my damnable mother had married into wealth instead of being selfish. If only my failure of a father had made better decisions with his directing career instead of wasting his money on that stupid documentary."

He thought winning the US$120 million Megamillions lottery was "the only way out" and when that failed, he felt that his "Day of Retribution" against the world "was more real than ever before".

On May 23, he stabbed three room-mates in his apartment - Cheng Yuan Hong, 20; George Chen, 19; and Weihan Wang, 20. He then drove the BMW his mother had given him to a sorority house and shot two women while wounding a third. He proceeded to drive to various other locations, killing a student and injuring 12 others before turning a gun on himself.

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