PALM BAY, Fla. -- William Bryan Cruse, the retired Kentucky librarian accused of killing six people and wounding 12 others in a supermarket massacre, appeared obsessed with perceived accusations of homosexuality, it was reported Friday.
'He believed everybody thought he was homosexual,' The Orlando Sentinel quoted an unnamed source described as close to the investigation.
Cruse is held without bond, charged with six counts of first-degree murder and other crimes stemming from the April 23 shooting spree.
Ray Dozier, who bought Cruse's Lexington, Ky., apartment complex when Cruse moved to Palm Bay in 1985, said Cruse's fears of homosexuality even surfaced during negotiations on the property sale.
Dozier told the Sentinel Cruse said, ''I can tell you think I'm a homosexual by the way you stand there with your hands in your pockets. I'm not. But everybody in town thinks I am.''
Dozier also told the newspaper Cruse said he had been diagnosed as homosexual at Charter Ridge, a private psychiatric hospital that opened in Lexington in 1982. Charter Ridge officials will neither confirm nor deny Cruse was a patient there.
The newspaper said sources revealed Cruse, 59, told his hostage during his nearly eight-hour siege of a Winn-Dixie supermarket that his troubles began with prostate treatment.
Cruse said a male medical technician massaged his groin during the treatment and accused Cruse of being gay, the newspaper reported. Other sources said Cruse said he subsequently sought treatment from male psychiatrists, who also suspected he was homosexual.
Robin Brown, the Winn-Dixie clerk Cruse held hostage during the ordeal, said prosecutors have asked her not to discuss certain parts of the case.
But when asked if Cruse started shooting people because of the homosexual allegations, Brown said, 'He told me he's never had intercourse with another man, but that has a lot to do with it.'