and full pension rights in sight? What are his links, if any, to domestic paramilitary extremist groups?

"There are a lot of scattered, little ... pieces, but nothing really pulls them together yet," says Stanley Bedlington, a former senior analyst at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.

John Allen Muhammad is described by his former business partner in Tacoma, Wash. as having strong Muslim beliefs. Felix Strozier, who operated a martial arts school with Mr. Muhammad several years ago, also told reporters that Muhammad had attended the "Million Man March." Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, who has a history of anti-Semitism, organized that event in 1995. (Some reports had Muhammad claiming to have been part of the security force for the event.)

Experts on rightwing extremism say there areout by people not mentally ill, but sometimes this is the dynamic." Mr. Strozier says he had a falling out with Muhammad over borrowed money that was never returned. Strozier described Muhammad as "manipulative...he would do anything to get his way."

But some aspects of Muhammad's personal life indicated other possible motivations for murder. Married at least twice and the father of at least four children, Muhammad was considered overly controlling at times by family members. At one point his first wife  Carol Williams, who now lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana  received a call from his second wife saying that Muhammad had "kidnapped" the children they had had together, according to published reports.

Williams also reportedly said that after converting to Islam, Muhammad tried to tell her what