D.C. sniper special to air on MSNBC

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- "I Married the Beltway Sniper," an account of John Allen Muhammad's assault on the Washington area, is to air next month, MSNBC announced Monday.

Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were convicted in the 2002 sniper shootings, which left 10 people dead and three critically injured. Muhammad was executed in 2009. Malvo is imprisoned for life.

The 2-hour special, which is an original production of MSNBC Films, is to air Sept. 6, the cable television network said.

Using trial testimony, archived news footage and rare audio recordings of the snipers in their own words, MSNBC Films said it will uncover what drove them to slay so many people.

"On Oct. 2, 2002, an innocent man was shot dead outside a bustling supermarket near Washington, D.C. Though police ruled it an isolated attack, it proved to be only the first in a series of 13 shootings that would terrorize the area in weeks to come," MSNBC said in a synopsis.

"On Sept. 6, MSNBC Films will bring viewers the inside story on the men behind it all, 'D.C. snipers' John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. Interviews with Muhammad's ex-wife Mildred -- who had divorced him long before the attacks -- tell of her former husband's transformation from a happy father of three into a cold-blooded killer."