Early life
Chapman was born on May 10, 1955, in Fort Worth, Texas. His father, David Chapman, was a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force and his mother, Diane (née Pease), was a nurse. His younger sister, Susan, was born seven years later. As a boy, Chapman stated he lived in fear of his father, who he claimed was physically abusive towards his mother and unloving towards him. Chapman began to fantasize about having God-like power over a group of imaginary "little people" who lived in the walls of his bedroom.
Chapman and his family moved to the Atlanta suburb of Decatur, Georgia, at an early age and attended Columbia High School. He later recalled being targeted by bullies due to being overweight and lacking athleticism. By the time he was 14, Chapman embarked on a rebellious phase and was using drugs and skipping classes, and at one point ran away from home to live on the streets of Miami for two weeks until a kind stranger brought him in and bought Chapman a bus ticket home.
In 1971 after his rebellious phase, Chapman became a born-again Presbyterian and distributed biblical tracts. He met his first girlfriend, Jessica Blankenship, and began work as a summer camp counselor at the YMCA in DeKalb County, Georgia. He was immensely popular with the children at the camp, who nicknamed him "Nemo" (after the protagonist of the Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas), and he was promoted to assistant director after winning an award for Outstanding Counselor. Those who knew Chapman in the caretaking professions said he was an outstanding worker.
On the recommendation of a friend, Chapman read J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951). The novel eventually took on great personal significance for him, to the extent he reportedly wished to model his life after its main character, Holden Caulfield. After graduating from high school, Chapman moved for a time to Chicago and played guitar in churches and Christian night spots while his friend Micheal McFarland did stand up comedy impersonations. After his stint in Chicago, Chapman worked successfully for World Vision with Vietnamese refugees at a resettlement camp at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, after a brief visit to Lebanon for the same work. He was named an area coordinator and a key aide to program director David Moore, who later said Chapman cared deeply for children and worked hard. Chapman accompanied Moore to meetings with government officials, and U.S. president Gerald Ford shook his hand.
Chapman joined Blankenship as a student at Covenant College, a Presbyterian liberal arts college in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. However, he fell behind in his studies and became racked with guilt over having a previous affair. He started having suicidal thoughts and began to feel like a failure. He dropped out of Covenant College after just one semester, and his girlfriend broke off their relationship soon after. Chapman returned to work at the resettlement camp but left after an argument with a supervisor.
In 1977, Chapman—spending the last of his savings—impulsively relocated to Hawaii, where he attempted suicide by carbon monoxide asphyxiation. He connected a hose to his rented car's exhaust pipe, but the hose melted and the attempt failed after a mysterious Japanese fisherman knocked on his car window and vanished which made Chapman believe that the fisherman was an angel sent from God to save him. A psychiatrist based in Kailua admitted Chapman to Castle Memorial Hospital’s psychiatric ward for clinical depression and was placed on suicide watch. Upon his release, he began working at the hospital as a maintenance worker and was popular with his fellow workers and often socialized with doctors and nurses. After Chapman's parents began divorce proceedings, his mother joined him in Hawaii.
In 1978, Chapman embarked on a six-week trip around the world. The vacation was partly inspired by the film and novel Around the World in 80 Days. Using his YMCA connections for free or discounted accommodations, Chapman visited Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, New Delhi, Beirut, Tehran,Geneva, London, Paris and Dublin. The trip concluded with a brief visit to Atlanta to see his family and old friends. He also began a romantic relationship with his travel agent, a Japanese American woman named Gloria Abe, whom he married on June 2, 1979. Chapman got a job at Castle Memorial Hospital as a printer, working alone rather than with staff and patients. He was fired by the hospital for disorderly conduct but was later rehired but resigned for good after an argument with a nurse. After this, Chapman took a job as an unarmed night security guard at a high-end apartment complex and began drinking heavily to cope with depression.
As his psychological state worsened, Chapman developed a series of obsessions, including artwork, The Catcher in the Rye, and the English musician John Lennon. In September 1980 he wrote a letter to a friend, Lynda Irish, in which he stated, "I'm going nuts." He signed the letter, "The Catcher in the Rye." Chapman had no criminal convictions prior to his trip to New York City to kill Lennon.
