Background
Wanda Jean Allen was born in 1959, the second of eight children. Her mother was an alcoholic; her father left home after the last child was born and the family lived in public housing and scraped by on public assistance.
At the age of 12, Allen was hit by a truck and knocked unconscious, and at 14 or 15 she was stabbed in the left temple. It was found that Allen's actual abilities were markedly impaired, and that her IQ was 69. Found particularly significant was that the left hemisphere of her brain was dysfunctional, impairing her comprehension, her ability to logically express herself, and her ability to analyze cause and effect relationships. It was also concluded that Allen was more chronically vulnerable than others to becoming disorganized by everyday stresses, and thus more vulnerable to a loss of control under stress.
By age 17, she had dropped out of high school.
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