Editing Robert Poulin (section)

== Obsession with Sex and Pornography ==

Unknown to his parents, Robert Poulin had another hobby - pornography. Using a secret post office box that he rented, Robert had amassed a massive collection pornography with some 250 pornographic books and magazines which he meticulously indexed and categorized. It was all purchased with the earnings from his paper route.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

Robert kept eleven loose-leaf binder pages and scrapbooks containing nearly 1,000 separate entries on pictures and ads of nude men and women with "ratings" for them. His tastes would later turn sadomasochistic and violent, collecting images of women handcuffed to bedposts.<ref name=":2" />

Robert kept a diary in which he poured his thoughts into it. His entries painted a lonely figure in the grips of despair and obsession with sex. As early as September 1972 (over three years before his rampage), he confessed "There are some girls that I  would love to be good friends with but I know I am still too shy to go up and talk to any of them. I wish I could overcome this fear of women."<ref name=":2" />

With his severe shyness overwhelming him and his carnal tastes darkening, Robert seem to have believed that rape was the only solution to his girl problems. In his diary he outlined plans to take a woman by force, disguising himself with a balaclava. He took steps in his plans by purchasing a knife and a .38 snub-nosed revolver. 

Seeing as he was growing especially suicidal and unhinged, Robert attempted to solve his problems by ordering an inflatable sex-doll from California stating in his diary "Now I no longer think I will need to rape a girl, and am unsure as to whether or not I will commit suicide".<ref name=":2" /> The doll failed to satisfy his needs and his thoughts of rape and death soon returned.<ref name=":2" /> Though not officially established to Robert Poulin, but a number of women filed complaints concerning a number of indecent assaults and attempted rapes in the neighborhood. The descriptions provided of the assailant fit Robert with some reports stating the assailant wore nothing but a balaclava.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

As his thoughts grew more dark and sadistic, Robert decided to make his family suffer as well.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> He also thought about killing his parents and sisters, but changed his mind as he thought death “was the true bliss” and that he didn’t want them to be happy.<ref name=":1" /> He noted in his diary that the day he would commit suicide, he would burn down his house making sure to cost his family as much as possible: “I was going to make sure, though, that I burned the place down soon after payday so that they would lose the largest possible amount of money. I was also planning on having all my earthly possessions with me so that they wouldn’t gain one red cent from me.”<ref name=":0" /> As to why he wished to hurt his family so much, Robert never gave any reason.