CENTENNIAL – They show up in court every day, a visible reminder to jurors that even a killer has parents who love him and who don’t want him to die.

But more than two months into his mass-murder trial, James Holmes has yet to turn around in his seat and acknowledge them.

They called him Jimbo. He called them Goober and Bobbo. But the relationship Arlene and Robert Holmes had with their son had been strained since he was a young boy. After he left for graduate school, their communication was mostly confined to terse emails.

Holmes told a psychiatrist years after his gunshots killed 12 people and injured 70 in a crowded Colorado movie theater that he doesn’t like to talk with people – even his mother and father.

Holmes’ remoteness from his parents cuts to the heart of his insanity defense.

Prosecutors say he held them at bay in a calculated effort to conceal his murderous plans, even from those who raised and loved him. Defense attorneys say their fraying family ties reveal a man so delusional that he couldn’t bear revealing his struggle, even to those who could have helped.

Just before the trial, Holmes’ parents begged for a plea deal that would spare his life.

“He is a human being gripped by a severe mental illness,” they said in a statement in December, as thousands of jury summonses were mailed. “We have always loved him, and we do not want him to be executed.”

They have declined to comment during the trial, and court orders prevent reporters from approaching them. They may be called to testify as the defense continues presenting its case, or more likely, at sentencing if he is convicted.