[5] Laudor's psychiatric symptoms escalated during this period, however, as he started to imagine that musician friends of his were members of a cult, that his room had become engulfed in flames, or that his parents had been killed and replaced by Neo-Nazi agents.

[1] Following his release from hospital, Laudor's doctors suggested to him that he get a job as a cashier at Macy's, but his father convinced him instead to attend Yale Law School, where he had applied shortly before becoming ill.[1] Upon hearing of his illness, Yale Law School Dean Guido Calabresi reportedly said to Laudor: "If you were here, and your problem or illness was that you needed a wheelchair and a ramp, there would be a wheelchair and a ramp.

[1] Upon reading the article, film director Ron Howard bought the rights to Laudor's life story for $1.5 million, planning to turn it into a movie with Brad Pitt as the lead role.

Costello, aged 37, worked as the associate director of technology for the Edison Project (now EdisonLearning), an education management organization, and was pregnant with the couple's first child.

[12] The pair had a loving relationship,[13] even as Laudor continued to be prone to schizophrenic delusions, believing at times that Costello was an alien impostor and refusing to let her in the apartment.

[5] Leading up to Costello's murder, Laudor's antipsychotic medications had become less effective at curbing his symptoms, resulting in him becoming depressed and withdrawn, and failing to make progress on his autobiography.

[14] Laudor had been experiencing a particularly severe psychotic episode that day, to the point where Costello had told her boss in the morning that she could not come to work due to a "personal emergency".

After attempting to defuse the situation on the phone, Laudor's mother Ruth called the police urging them to conduct a welfare check on the couple.

[16] Laudor's movie and book deals were canceled, with Ron Howard going on to make A Beautiful Mind in 2001 about schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, whose story was deemed more palatable for audiences.