Why? That was the question that hung over the University of Alabama’s Huntsville campus in the wake of the slaughter and maiming of six people at a faculty meeting 19 months ago. Last week the alleged shooter herself—biology professor Amy Bishop—supplied an answer: Insanity. Bishop’s lawyer pleaded not guilty “by reason of mental disease or defect,” on Bishop’s behalf in an Alabama courtroom Thursday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Last March, Wired magazine ran a profile of Bishop, delving into her troubled and troubling inner life, dark glimpses of which emerged in three unpublished novels she wrote. The article, by Amy Wallace, is republished here.