Kaiser knew the nuncio did not send a summons casually, and believed he would now be ordered out of the country, exiled for good. He wept during Monday morning Mass.
That night, Aug. 21, he arrived by truck at his bishop's house outside Nairobi. He seemed unhinged, fearful. He spoke of being followed. He complained of not sleeping in three days.
His behavior over the next two days would later be scrutinized and dissected. Even after Kaiser met the nuncio and learned that he was not being thrown out of Kenya, his mood swung sharply. He played a friendly game of croquet. He pumped hands at a church construction site. He wept at lunch. He told one Mill Hill brother he felt "close to a breakdown."
On Aug. 23, he approached a fellow missionary, Paul Boyle, to announce that he didn't think he'd live through the next day.
Sometime after 6 that night, Kaiser's truck was heard leaving the bishop's gated compound. His room was left empty, the bedding stripped. He told no one where he was going.
The next morning, workmen noticed Kaiser's pickup aslant in a ditch on the shoulder of a road about 50 miles northwest of Nairobi. In the dirt lay Kaiser's body, faceup. The back of his head was gone. Nearby lay his shotgun.
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christopher.goffard@latimes.com
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ABOUT THIS SERIES
Christopher Goffard began researching the story of Father John Kaiser in late 2007. In Kenya, he visited areas where the missionary served and interviewed his friends, parishioners, church colleagues, Kenyan politicians, lawyers and others who knew him. Goffard talked to Kaiser's family members in California and Minnesota, as well as to FBI agents, U.S. diplomats and scholars. Kaiser's letters and other writings, filling nearly 500 pages, were a major source of information. Goffard also examined Kenyan police reports, court transcripts and news accounts, and FBI records concerning Kaiser's death.
Tomorrow: The making of a symbol.
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An excerpt from Kaiser's writings and additional photos can be found online.
