The story of David Vice, a would-be antiauthoritarian terrorist in Oldsmar, got an update in today’s paper. He was captured late Saturday, and an interview with his wife, Lisa, filled in some details about his background and decline.

There’s no mention from his wife about any Mormon fundamentalist connection, despite the trip to Utah. But from the sounds of his behavior, I’d say something close was at work:

David seemed even more disconnected after the trip. He began calling neighbors and giving them “daily sermons.”

“He’d call me and do one of his revivals,” said Brenda Leone, a neighbor. “He only did it to the people who would listen.”…

But in early September 2004… Lisa took another trip to Utah, this time just she and the kids.

When asked if she was trying to leave her husband for good, she answers: “I knew something was wrong with him, something really wrong, and I didn’t want to be here for it.”

On Sept. 11, 2004, David rammed his car into a gate at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, got out of his car and held up two suitcases. He was charged with fleeing and eluding a police officer and given probation. Lisa returned home.

After that incident, she said, David’s life consisted of sitting on a white, leather couch in their living room, reading the Bible and prophesying.

Israel would be bombed on Dec. 22.

Manhattan would be destroyed on Dec. 23.

With every failed prophesy he got worse, Lisa said.

“He was devastated, he was let down, he felt like if his prophesies didn’t come true, he was a false prophet,” she said.

Obviously, an apocalyptic worldview represents a kind of salvation for someone who’s in over his head financially and emotionally. Vice was seeking escape from his problems by feverishly hoping for the end of the world.

I suppose thousands of families go through as much stress every day, and cope with it the best they can. Unfortunately, the Vices didn’t have the best coping mechanisms available.