This is the story of a squirrel—one who, over time, has become increasingly erratic. He is a powder keg primed to explode. His name: Marty Rathbun. 

Marty Rathbun: Violent psychopath, cult militia leader

Long before his stunning fall from grace and expulsion from the Church of Scientology, Marty Rathbun was a practitioner of violence.

It was violence he perpetrated furtively, in secret.

It was the violence of a coward.

And, as cowards do, Rathbun - when confronted by his violence - would tearfully confess.

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Other times, his features contorted, Rathbun is slamming a car door on an investigative reporter, knocking him down with a packed suitcase, and, gouging welts on the face of a documentary filmmaker.

And - on even other occasions - he's drunk and trying to storm his way past a Bourbon Street bouncer, or, being cited for trespassing after butting into a security guard.

To the casual observer Rathbun's violence seems to erupt from nowhere - always unprovoked.

What's worse than having a nasty confrontation with someone first thing in the morning?

If you're violent anti-Scientologist Marty Rathbun, how about having another confrontation later in the day - and 2000 miles away from the first one.

That's how Rathbun started the month of September - like a crazed maniac.

The first target of his wrath was investigative reporter Jim Lynch. As Rathbun arrived at the Phoenix airport for a flight back to Texas early on the morning of Sept. 1, Lynch was there to ask Rathbun a question.

Marty Rathbun's wife has been stepping in to shield her violence-prone husband lately.

That's the conclusion of observers who, recently, have seen a bolder and more determined "Mosey" at her husband's side.

Or, possibly, a wearying Rathbun is fronting his wife as a deflector to questions he is trying to dodge, or, unable to handle.

One prevalent theory has Mosey concerned that her husband is going to literally burst a gasket with rage, given the out-of-control manner in which he has been dealing with routine reporter queries.

It was a strange sight to see Marty Rathbun out of his usual work-out gear and sans baseball hat - the one that he wears backward.

That's the outfit he's usually wearing when he's going psycho on someone or screaming in a person's face.

This time Rathbun was in a suit, dressed up for his "hosts" who awarded him an all-expenses-paid trip to Hamburg, Germany, in return for his appearance at a staged press - make that propaganda - conference.