NPC heavyweight bodybuilder Johnnie Lee Wiggins has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of teacher Prudence Hockley. Hockley taught regular and advanced placement English at Woodinville High School (Washington) .
The jealous boyfriend brutally beat Hockley shattering the bones in face after he saw another man’s car at her Seattle home on Christmas day. She died at Harborview Medical Center later that day. Wiggins inflicted “numerous extremely forceful blows to [Hockley’s] face and head” leaving her unconscious and bleeding heavily on the ground in front of her home according to police. Hockley’s 13-year old was at home and reported the incident to the hospital and police.
Wiggins has a history of violence against women. Women who have known him describe him as being “controlling, jealous and short-tempered” and having “roid rage”.
Wiggins had previously been imprisoned in Georgia for over five years for assault, robbery and theft prior to his release on probation in 2008. The Washington Department of Corrections had placed him under their supervision through May 2011.
However, he violated parole when a probation officer busted him with anabolic steroids. Wiggins violently attacked the probation officer when he was caught. Washington sent him back to Georgia where he was ordered to finish his parole. He failed to inform the Georgia State Department of Corrections of his return to Washington as required of an unsupervised probationer.
Hockley met Wiggins in February 2011 at a local gym where he worked as a personal trainer. Wiggins has actively been competing in bodybuilding competitions since his release from prison. He placed third in the Masters Over 40 category at the 2011 NPC Emerald Cup and won the 2011 NPC Empire Classic in April 2011.
The term “roid rage” is used in popular culture and news stories related to anabolic steroids. But “roid rage” is not a scientific term. The scientific literature does NOT support the contention that anabolic steroids cause aggression. Scientific and anecdotal reports consistently show that steroids do not inevitably lead to aggression. At best, aggression in steroid users may only occur in a small minority of steroid users.
Steroid use is not very predictive of violence or violence against women. There are an estimated 4.8 million incidents of domestic violence involving intimate partners that occur every year according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The connection between anabolic steroid use and domestic violence is practically non-existent.
If the media wants to prevent such tragedies in the future, they should focus more on evidence-based predictors of domestic abuse rather than blaming steroids.
Photo credit: MuscularDevelopment.com
Source:
Pulkkinen, L. (December 29, 2011). Police: Boyfriend who killed Woodinville teacher ‘controlling,’ had ‘roid rage’. Retrieved from http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Police-Boyfriend-who-killed-Woodinville-teacher-2431529.php
