Gerald Hege, sheriff of Davidson County, North Carolina, stated that Sampson had lived with cross-dressers and transvestites, and had learned "elaborate makeup" from them. "He learned how to change his appearance." As of 2003, Sampson had been married and divorced five times, and was the father of three children. His first marriage was when he was 17 years old. In 1995, after being released from jail on a theft charge, he moved to Tamworth, New Hampshire, where he met Karen Alexander. In June 1997, Sampson and Alexander were married; she was pregnant by Sampson at the time. Shortly after, he moved to South Carolina with a woman he had recently met, and Alexander filed for divorce that same year. Sampson was arrested in May 1998, and met Amanda Newcomb while jailed. When Newcomb's grandfather posted Sampson's bail, Sampson and Newcomb married in October 1998. By the end of November, Sampson had moved to North Carolina, where he had a relationship with Ricky Carter, who recalled him as "angry with the world and having an explosive temper." When Carter kicked him out of their apartment, Sampson met and wooed Karen Anderson in April 2001. Sampson attempted to force Anderson to assist him in his robberies; she refused, and Sampson began his bank robbery spree, robbing five banks in three months. Crimes and death penalty trial In July 2001 Sampson carjacked and murdered three people: Philip McCloskey (aged 69 of Taunton, Massachusetts), Jonathan Rizzo (aged 19 of Kingston, Massachusetts), and Robert Whitney (aged 58 of Concord, New Hampshire). The murders took place over the course of a week. Sampson told police that, after McCloskey picked him up hitchhiking, he forced him at knifepoint to drive to a secluded area, where he tied him up with his belt and stabbed him 24 times. He also forced Rizzo to a secluded area, tied him to a tree, gagged him, and killed him. The day before the first murder, he attempted to surrender to police. Telephone records confirmed that Sampson had called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As a fugitive who was facing bank robbery charges in North Carolina, Sampson could have been taken into custody. The call was accidentally disconnected by an FBI clerk, and no action was taken. After the murders, Sampson broke into a house in Vermont. After his arrest he confessed to the murders. He subsequently pleaded guilty. Sampson was