Michael McDermod Martinez is born to Marshfield, Mass., school teachers Richard and Rosemary Martinez. He grows up in a restored farmhouse with his parents and three siblings.

Graduates Marshfield High School, where his father taught social studies and his mother taught drama

Enlists in the U.S. Navy for six-year stint.

Serves at submarine training schools in California, Illinois and Florida

Assigned to the Nuclear Power Training Unit in Idaho Falls

Assigned to the USS Narwhal, a nuclear submarine, serving as an electrician

Is transferred to a naval station in Charleston, S.C.

Honorably discharged as an electrician's mate second class petty officer, with a record that included several honorary medals

Legally changes his name from Michael McDermod Martinez to Michael Morgan McDermott

Begins working for the now-closed Maine Yankee nuclear power plant in Wiscasset

Attempts suicide following an alleged problem at work in which he refuses to work overtime, and as a result he loses privileges. According to his parents, during this period McDermott suffers from a mental breakdown and is hospitalized.

Fired from his nuclear power plant job

Settles a worker's compensation claim for $85,000 for a "stress-related suicide attempt," according to the Boston Herald

Moves from Maine to Massachusetts

Receives a gun permit in Rockland. Mass., which expires in 1998

Starts working for Duracell in Needham, Mass., as battery tester

McDermott marries Monica Sheehan, a banker whom he first met in high school

McDermott and his wife separate. According to friends and neighbors, it is after the split that McDermott gains possibly 100 pounds and starts growing a long beard

The couple's divorce is finalized. McDermott agrees to pay his wife a one-time payment of $5,250 within a year.

Resigns from Duracell, declining an offer to work at the division's relocated offices in Bethel, Conn. He receives approximately $20,000 in severance pay.

Joins Edgewater Technology as a computer software tester for $55,000 a year

McDermott moves out of his Weymouth, Mass., condo. According to the landlord he still owes two months in back rent. Moves to a modest apartment in Haverhill.

Cheryl Troy tells McDermott that the IRS is making the company garnish his wages for $5600 in taxes. McDermott grows upset.

Representative from the Chrysler Corp. calls McDermott to tell him his car is going to be repossessed.

Residents of the Crystal Lake area of Haverhill hear three gunshots, a pause, followed by another burst of gunfire at approximately 11:41 p.m. One resident reports to police that she saw a large man standing near a car with the license plate MUCKO.

Local police search the area and go to McDermott's home but are unable to find him. They find two empty 12-gauge shells on the street.

Police check McDermott's house six more times throughout Christmas Day but never locate him

McDermott reports to work at 10:29 a.m. in the Harvard Mills office complex. Just before 11 a.m., chats with co-worker Robert O'Leary about video games, movies and Dungeons and Dragons

Receives a phone call from a Chrysler Financial supervisor, telling him his 1994 Plymouth Acclaim is going to be repossessed. "I won't be needing it," McDermott tells the caller, according to a report by the Boston Globe. "Come pick it up."

Three minutes later, gets up from his cubicle armed with an assault rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other. A semiautomatic handgun is tucked in his pants and a black bag hangs from his shoulder.

Passes some co-workers without incident. Goes to the reception area and shoots office manager Janice Hagerty, who is seated at reception. Shoots Cheryl Troy, vice president of human resources, from behind.

Proceeds towards human resources department and opens fire on Jennifer Bragg Capobianco, Craig Wood and Louis Javelle

Walks to the accounting office at the far end of the building, shoots off the locked doorknob with the shotgun and, once inside, kills Rose Manfredi and Paul Marceau

Returns to the reception area, where he lays his weapons down shortly before he is apprehended by a SWAT team. His first words to police are, "I don't speak German."

Police search McDermott's home and find bomb-making chemicals, blasting caps and magazines on explosives

McDermott is arraigned for murder and pleads not guilty. He is denied bail.

The Internal Revenue Service was scheduled to begin garnishing McDermott's wages starting this week, which would have left McDermott $275 every two weeks

A Middlesex grand jury indicts McDermott for seven counts of murder, three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm and unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device

Jury selection begins in McDermott's trial