In March 1982, 38-year-old Leslie DeVeau committed a crime that stunned Washington D.C. She shot and killed her 10-year-old daughter, Erin, as the child slept, before attempting to take her own life. Leslie survived, losing an arm from the injury, and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital, her story took another strange turn when she began a relationship with fellow patient John Hinckley Jr., the man who had attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan.