brokeninoz
06-30-2005, 04:41 PM
http://www.kansas.com/images/logos/site/kansas/kansas/archives_title.gif (http://www.kansas.com/) http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifPosted on Thu, Jun. 30, 2005http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Killers' pen pals seek safe thrills
Women who write to convicts with romance in mind offer a variety of reasons for initiating contact, experts say.
BY DEB GRUVER
The Wichita Eagle
They start with small letters, you share a few things, and pretty soon, a female is falling in love with you, or they start going crazy left or right on some subject, then they get upset at you if don't write them back.
--Dennis Rader, writing to a Wichita woman, about the people who have written to him at the Sedgwick County Jail
Richard Ramirez, California's notorious "Night Stalker," married Doreen Lioy in 1996 at San Quentin State Prison. She was one of several letter writers who competed for the Satanist's attention after his conviction on 13 grisly murders.
Women also wrote to serial killer Ted Bundy, infatuated with his good looks.
Wild-eyed "Helter Skelter" murder-ring organizer Charles Manson has received romantic letters.
So has Kansas City's Richard Grissom, who is serving multiple life sentences in the 1989 deaths of three Lenexa women whose bodies have never been found.
And experts say the letters will likely keep coming for Dennis Rader, who admitted Monday he was Wichita's notorious BTK.
The phenomenon of women writing to convicted criminals -- especially serial killers -- is not uncommon.
Experts say women may seek out such men because, as counterintuitive as it may seem, a relationship with a convicted killer is relatively safe:
He's in prison.
"These aren't people who are in a satisfying, happy relationship," said Chris Crandall, a psychology professor at the University of Kansas. "These are people who want some kind of relationship, and they presumably don't have one."
Convicted criminals can offer a woman dedication and attention, Crandall said. They have all the time in the world.
Shari Julian, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Texas at Arlington, has spent a lot of time on death row and says it's fascinating to watch women relate to serial killers.
"These guys, you wouldn't believe the kind of mail they get," she said. "There seems to be sort of an on-the-edge danger. Like a cobra in the cobra pen--riveting to watch through the glass."
The risk may motivate some women to seek out criminals. Others may sincerely believe they can change or reform someone through love, Julian said.
Paul Cromwell, chairman of the criminal justice department at Wichita State University, started studying the phenomenon about five years ago.
"I developed an interest in it because so many of these men end up with a fan club," he said.
Cromwell posted on online discussion boards and Web sites, asking women who corresponded with murderers and other criminals to contact him.
"But it got too weird, and I just quit doing it," he said. "I got some of the most bizarre contacts in the world. It wasn't going anywhere academically."
Cromwell said women may seek out such men because "you can have a man, but you never actually have to deal with him."
Brian Withrow, associate professor of criminal justice at WSU, said such relationships also may fulfill a woman's need to take care of others.
Consider Kristin Casarona, the 38-year-old Topeka woman who says she felt compelled to reach out to Rader, a former church leader, as a fellow Christian. They've corresponded for months and had several visits at the Sedgwick County Jail.
"That's a pretty well-defined behavior pattern where some people are just sort of natural caregivers," Withrow said.
The added romantic element "is an extreme form of that."
Casarona is married and works as an oil and gas analyst in Topeka. She has said that, though she and Rader have become "very good friends," there is nothing romantic to their relationship.
Withrow and Julian both said that many women who befriend criminals have professional lives and aren't outcasts.
Most serial killers get marriage proposals.
"Rader is probably going to get one or two," Withrow said.
Reach Deb Gruver at 268-6400 or dgruver@wichitaeagle.com (dgruver@wichitaeagle.com).
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifPosted on Thu, Jun. 30, 2005http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Killers' pen pals seek safe thrills
Women who write to convicts with romance in mind offer a variety of reasons for initiating contact, experts say.
BY DEB GRUVER
The Wichita Eagle
They start with small letters, you share a few things, and pretty soon, a female is falling in love with you, or they start going crazy left or right on some subject, then they get upset at you if don't write them back.
--Dennis Rader, writing to a Wichita woman, about the people who have written to him at the Sedgwick County Jail
Richard Ramirez, California's notorious "Night Stalker," married Doreen Lioy in 1996 at San Quentin State Prison. She was one of several letter writers who competed for the Satanist's attention after his conviction on 13 grisly murders.
Women also wrote to serial killer Ted Bundy, infatuated with his good looks.
Wild-eyed "Helter Skelter" murder-ring organizer Charles Manson has received romantic letters.
So has Kansas City's Richard Grissom, who is serving multiple life sentences in the 1989 deaths of three Lenexa women whose bodies have never been found.
And experts say the letters will likely keep coming for Dennis Rader, who admitted Monday he was Wichita's notorious BTK.
The phenomenon of women writing to convicted criminals -- especially serial killers -- is not uncommon.
Experts say women may seek out such men because, as counterintuitive as it may seem, a relationship with a convicted killer is relatively safe:
He's in prison.
"These aren't people who are in a satisfying, happy relationship," said Chris Crandall, a psychology professor at the University of Kansas. "These are people who want some kind of relationship, and they presumably don't have one."
Convicted criminals can offer a woman dedication and attention, Crandall said. They have all the time in the world.
Shari Julian, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Texas at Arlington, has spent a lot of time on death row and says it's fascinating to watch women relate to serial killers.
"These guys, you wouldn't believe the kind of mail they get," she said. "There seems to be sort of an on-the-edge danger. Like a cobra in the cobra pen--riveting to watch through the glass."
The risk may motivate some women to seek out criminals. Others may sincerely believe they can change or reform someone through love, Julian said.
Paul Cromwell, chairman of the criminal justice department at Wichita State University, started studying the phenomenon about five years ago.
"I developed an interest in it because so many of these men end up with a fan club," he said.
Cromwell posted on online discussion boards and Web sites, asking women who corresponded with murderers and other criminals to contact him.
"But it got too weird, and I just quit doing it," he said. "I got some of the most bizarre contacts in the world. It wasn't going anywhere academically."
Cromwell said women may seek out such men because "you can have a man, but you never actually have to deal with him."
Brian Withrow, associate professor of criminal justice at WSU, said such relationships also may fulfill a woman's need to take care of others.
Consider Kristin Casarona, the 38-year-old Topeka woman who says she felt compelled to reach out to Rader, a former church leader, as a fellow Christian. They've corresponded for months and had several visits at the Sedgwick County Jail.
"That's a pretty well-defined behavior pattern where some people are just sort of natural caregivers," Withrow said.
The added romantic element "is an extreme form of that."
Casarona is married and works as an oil and gas analyst in Topeka. She has said that, though she and Rader have become "very good friends," there is nothing romantic to their relationship.
Withrow and Julian both said that many women who befriend criminals have professional lives and aren't outcasts.
Most serial killers get marriage proposals.
"Rader is probably going to get one or two," Withrow said.
Reach Deb Gruver at 268-6400 or dgruver@wichitaeagle.com (dgruver@wichitaeagle.com).
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com