From the inimitable Sarapen, who apparently always keeps the bottom line in view:
Dear god.
“By 1979 a frustrated Stanford graduate student in mathematics named Theodore Streliski had spent eighteen years in futile pursuit of a Ph.D. When the last in a string of advisers requested further thesis revision, the student killed him with a hammer.” – Robert L. Peters in Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student’s Guide to Earning a Master’s or Ph.D.
“One of my most-loved profs was a lit/myth guy, and he was shot to death by one of his grad students who’d been working on a PhD for years.” (gradstudents)
Like someone from the thread asked, just how often does this happen, anyway? I mean, really, eighteen years? Oh, and the advisor-killing part is also shocking. Still, after eighteen years I might kill someone too.