Murder on the mind

Hoda Kotb Correspondent • Profile

Dennis White is a virtuoso with a wrench.

A born mechanic who works his brand of grease monkey magic in one of the car congested suburbs on New York’s Long Island.

Dennis White: I just got into it without even being taught. Somehow, I instinctively knew what to do. I think I had a passion for it. Because it did come naturally, and I did. I enjoyed it.

But the gift of exceptional talent sometimes comes with a cruel twist.

Demons lurked deep in Dennis's mind. Synapses crackled with images from a troubled childhood, mangled by a family history of mental illness.

Dennis suffered from paralyzing panic attacks, deep depressions and migraine headaches that sometimes kept him in bed for days at a time.

Dennis White: There were times when I was just immobile. I just couldn't function.

So, in the mid-‘90s, Dennis White realized that his life was a mess and unless he got help, it was not headed for a happy ending.

The guy who could fix anything knew he needed someone who could fix him. But who? How do you choose someone to tune-up your mind?

As you will soon see, he and the doctor he chose would embark on bizarre journey, allegedly mingling murder and the mind, fantasy and fact.

In 1996, after a brief hospitalization, Dennis White met the psychiatrist who would change his life. His name was Dr. Richard Karpf.

Dennis White: What I liked about Dr. Karpf as I tried to explain my feelings and what got me there, he seemed to genuinely understand what I was feeling.

Hoda Kotb: How could you tell?

Dennis White: He just seemed to be relating, you know, and just sitting back and listening and being sincere.

Hoda Kotb: Did you look forward to your sessions with Dr. Karpf?

Dennis White: I did, actually.

Hoda Kotb: Because?

Dennis White: Because he just--after a session, you just feel like you got it out.

Once a week, for six years, Dennis White got whatever was on his mind off his chest with Dr. Karpf.

Dennis White: He always used to say, "OK. What do you want to talk about?" That was the cool thing. It was whatever you wanted.

Whether picking through the minefield of Dennis' childhood memories, or recent his divorce, Dr. Karpf was there and ready to listen. Ready to write a prescription if that was what Dennis needed to mend his troubled mind.

Dennis White: It felt like someone that I could really count on. Somebody that I could trust, and that he was completely there for me.

Hoda Kotb: Was it actually working for you?

Dennis White: Yes

Hoda Kotb: It was. And how could you tell that, Dennis?

Dennis White: Because I was able to start to function again.

What Dennis White didn't know is that just as he was starting to pull himself together, his psychiatrist, Dr. Richard Karpf, was coming unraveled.

Looking back, Dennis says, there were subtle signs that something was wrong.

Sometimes, he says, Dr. Karpf looked befuddled, slouched in his chair, barely saying a word.

Dennis White: He just seemed subdued, and then after leaving the session, I was like, "OK." You know, I didn't get anything out of that.

But the biggest red flag came on the day when, Dennis says, the doctor who had always done the listening started doing the talking, pitching an investment deal.

Dennis White: What he explained to me, was, is that I could make a lot of money.

Dennis says he was flattered that his doctor, a man with several degrees on his wall, would offer him, a mechanic, a chance to go into business with him. But the more Dennis learned about his psychiatrist’s business plan, the more skeptical he became.

Dennis White: You know, it seemed to me to be like one of those tier, pyramid things, you know.

In the end, Dennis says he invested roughly $3,000 in the venture before he gave up and wrote it off.

Dennis White: This was the first time that he went from, I’m the patient, he's my doctor. And that was the boundary. OK? And I really wasn't comfortable with it, even then. But I did it.

Hoda Kotb: When someone knows all your weak spots, they know where all the Achilles heels are. Did that make you uncomfortable that he, in a sense, had all that power over you?

Dennis White: Yeah, so you start to feel that you owe him something, maybe.

After years of successful therapy, Dennis White knew he owed his psychiatrist a debt of gratitude.

But he couldn't have imagined the extraordinary price he believed his doctor expected him to pay.

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