BOB BACHMAN, WHO POLICE SAY WAS
\nFATALLY SHOT BY HIS FATHER, SEEMED TO HAVE
\nEVERYTHING GOING FOR HIM BEFORE HIS
\nLIFE UNRAVELED, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS SAY<\/p>\n
Sunday, May 14, 1995<\/p>\n
Page: 1A
\nBy DAWN SHURMAITIS; Times Leader Staff Writer<\/p>\n
WILKES-BARRE — When Robert “Bob” Bachman graduated from Meyers High School
\nin 1978, teachers and friends predicted the brilliant boy with the shy
\nsmile would become as successful as his father, a doctor.<\/p>\n
The saxophone-playing, jazz-loving teen might even become famous.
\nBachman did land in the newspapers two weeks ago, but in a way that stunned
\nthe middle-class neighborhood where he grew up.<\/p>\n
Bachman, 34, died May 5 of three gunshot wounds to the chest after being
\nshot in his bedroom by his father, police said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Paul Bachman, a retired podiatrist, reportedly told police he “couldn’t
\ntake it any more” and shot his son to save his wife’s life.<\/p>\n
The 67-year-old foot doctor faces homicide charges. His preliminary hearing
\nis scheduled Tuesday before District Justice Michael Collins.<\/p>\n
Friends and neighbors who spoke on condition of anonymity say Paul Bachman,
\nwho retired after a heart attack and bypass surgery, was afraid he would
\ndie, leaving his 60-year-old wife, Judith, alone with their increasingly
\nerratic son.<\/p>\n
Paul Bachman told police his only son and youngest child had threatened to
\nrip out his mother’s heart.<\/p>\n
At the time of his death, most friends regarded Bob Bachman as a failure.
\nDespite a master’s degree from a prestigious university, he lived at home,
\njobless. Friends say he did little more than sit in his yard, day after
\nday. Neighbors say they sometimes heard an angry Bob Bachman cursing his
\nparents.<\/p>\n
Paul Bachman, charged with criminal homicide, remains free on $100,000
\nbail. The family has declined comment.<\/p>\n
A family friend said, “No one knows what goes on in anyone’s home behind
\nclosed doors.”<\/p>\n
A typical family<\/p>\n
Friends of Paul and Judith Bachman were reluctant to give their names but
\neager to paint a picture of a typical American family.<\/p>\n
The couple raised their two kids, Bob, and his older sister, Fern, in a
\nmodest home on Edison Street in a tree-lined neighborhood where kids shoot
\nhoops and play sandlot baseball.<\/p>\n
When the two Bachman children were younger, the family often was seen
\ntogether at restaurants, in the yard, at Temple Israel in Kingston.<\/p>\n
“I can just picture his sweet face,” said a woman who knew Bob Bachman from
\nchildhood. “He was shy, but very bright.”<\/p>\n
Judith Bachman was a full-time mother and housewife. Former patients say
\nPaul Bachman was an excellent doctor, gentle and soft spoken. Everyone was
\ndisappointed when he retired.<\/p>\n
“Everyone loved him,” said a friend.<\/p>\n
Schoolmates of Bob Bachman remember him as smarter than average, quieter
\nand shyer than most.<\/p>\n
“The kid was brilliant. Brilliant,” said a high school pal who last saw Bob
\nBachman two days before he died, when he drove past the house and spotted
\nhim in the yard.<\/p>\n
When they were kids, the two boys played baseball and basketball with a
\nregular gang of South Side kids who were often invited to shoot pool in the
\nBachmans’ basement.<\/p>\n
“He was part of the crew. But he definitely wasn’t a drinker or a druggie,”
\nsaid the friend, who didn’t want his name used.<\/p>\n
“We’d be sitting around listening to Black Sabbath and Kiss and he’d be
\nlistening to Boots Randolph,” said the friend. Bachman, who played
\nsaxophone in the school band, considered the famous sax player a music
\ngreat.<\/p>\n
John Chamberlain taught Bachman advanced English and remembers him as a
\nconscientious student who always turned in his papers on time.<\/p>\n
“He was a very personable kid, a little on the quiet side,” Chamberlain
\nsaid. “I never expected him to get in trouble in the future. I remember him
\nas a nice young man.”<\/p>\n
Burned out after college<\/p>\n
After graduation, Bob Bachman apparently intended to follow in his father’s
\nfootsteps. He spent a single semester at the Iowa College of Podiatric
\nMedicine and Surgery in Des Moines.<\/p>\n
Bob Bachman was part of a small class of 70. He took a leave of absence in
\nJanuary 1984, and never returned, according to school officials.<\/p>\n
Bachman had much greater success at Boston University. According to school
\nofficials, he graduated with honors in 1986 with a degree in mathematics.<\/p>\n
From there, he went on to obtain a master’s degree in mathematics from
\nLehigh University in Bethlehem. He graduated in January 1989.<\/p>\n
People who knew him say Bob Bachman had changed dramatically by the time he
\nreturned from school. He was living at home with his parents at the time of
\nthe shooting.<\/p>\n
“He went away to college, burned out and came home,” said a friend. “He was
\nvery different. He wasn’t the same person. He was pretty annoying. He
\ntalked in circles.”<\/p>\n
When the weather was nice, Bob Bachman would spend hours sitting alone on a
\nlawn chair in his parents’ yard, reading. Otherwise, friends and neighbors
\nsay, he stayed inside the house, listening to the radio.<\/p>\n
Sometimes during the day he’d borrow his mother’s Oldsmobile and leave for
\nhours. He worked odd jobs, which usually never lasted, or went fishing.<\/p>\n
Last year, he applied for a security job at a store where a high school
\nbuddy worked. He didn’t qualify for the minimum-wage job.<\/p>\n
“I thought he was going to be a doctor like his dad,” said the buddy. “He
\nseemed to have everything going for him.”<\/p>\n
————————————————————————
\nAll content \u00a9 TIMES LEADER and may not be republished without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BOB BACHMAN, WHO POLICE SAY WAS FATALLY SHOT BY HIS FATHER, SEEMED TO HAVE EVERYTHING GOING FOR HIM BEFORE HIS LIFE UNRAVELED, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS SAY Sunday, May 14, 1995 Page: 1A By DAWN SHURMAITIS; Times Leader Staff Writer WILKES-BARRE — When Robert “Bob” Bachman graduated from Meyers High School in 1978, teachers and friends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}