True Crime

[Shanmac]

Their plan was that the guy was supposed to wait for Dad to leave our house, pull up beside him on a motorcycle and shoot him.

Holy fucking shit. I've got the chills. How awful (and very Veronica Guerin). In a way, I'm pissed that you had to resign (who do those fuckers think they are, anyway? Grr!), but you had to think of your family. Awesome story. Sorry you had to go through all that, though.

My experiences with crime are this: A girl I know married a guy who turned out to be a murderer (I remember meeting him, being creeped out and wanting to leave like, that second -- I was sitting on the couch next to him and he just exuded evil). My sister was friends with his wife when they were kids. My sister-in-law and father knew the murderer's father-in-law (and my brother was friends with the victim, which, weird), so they got questioned by the cops. Basically, he was a violent nutjob who strangled his neighbor (probably because she refused his advances; he was a cheating pig and had propositioned my sister more than once) and set her side of the duplex on fire -- with his wife and baby son sleeping on the other side of the building. Dude, I hope no one I know reads that. Oh, I forgot: My dad is a really nice guy, so once, when he saw "the murderer" (yep, that's what I call him) out boozing really late, he let him crash at our house. This was before people knew he was violent/a nutcase, but that creeps me out. He was sleeping in the next room. I disliked him intensely even then, and I remember I wouldn't leave my room until he left. But Dad, seriously -- don't be so nice.

Oh, and John Wayne Gacy was executed in my hometown. I remember that day so well. People were throwing parties. One of my coworkers went down to the prison to stand outside and just watch both the protesters and the people cheering on Gacy's death. Very surreal. I remember it was all anybody could talk about at school for a really long time.

ETA: Oops, my story isn't pre-1990. I'll delete it if anyone wants.

[Deleted]

I noticed someone mentioned Stephen Truscott a few pages back. What a sad tale. It's funny, because Stephen spent his last years in jail at the Guelph Correction Centre, and when released went on to marry and raise a family there under an assumed name. It's only in the last several years that he "came out" as himself and ramped up the movement to clear his name.

Guelph is my hometown, I lived there all my life until I was 19 (1997), and I knew his story long before he stepped forward. Everyone seemed to know that he lived in town, it was one of those non-secrets. And again, this was well before he went public. No one believed he was guilty either. I'm glad my strange little hometown embraced him and let him live his life in (relative) peace, even though everyone knew.

And of course I'm glad for the latest developments in the case, even though they fall short of a true exoneration.

It does make me sad that the girl's family is still convinced of his guilt and sees this as a miscarriage of justice, though. Lose-lose on all sides it seems.

[SluttyMary]

cantienne said:

I'm fascinated by the Jack the Ripper case too - but less because of the individual murders or suspects and more because I'm fascinated by the light the case sheds on the lives of London's poor, the sensationalist press, the history of police work, and the like. One of the freakiest things I ever saw was the crime scene photo of Mary Jane Kelly in one of the Ripper books when I was a teenager; that night I couldn't keep the book in the same room with me, and I had to give it away ASAP.

There was a documentary on the From Hell DVD that freaked me out, with the real photos, that I also couldn't be in the same room as the DVD. Stupid, I know.

[kanding]

Holy Cow, Borokat! That is incredible! I've got to hand it to you and your family for staying sane and handling the situation so well. If I'd been in your position, I would probably have run off to pack my bags and get the hell out of Dodge!

[Malle Babbe]

borokat said:

I just read a story about prison wives last week- I think it was in People.

I just don't understand the mentality.

When I look at Debbie Rowe (Michael Jackson's womb for rent) I am reminded of those women. From what I have read, they seem to have convinced themselves that they are obligated to "rescue" these guys; if they can make a hardened criminal "change" or free a man they believe to be innocent, then they are a good person.

God forbid you live the life of a good, steady person helping folks who AREN'T in jail, that would be too easy. Prison wives are a brilliant example of how an overdeveloped martyr complex is narcissism in disguise. If they choose a life that is REALLY difficult, that means they are special.

[jaghetersimon]

Can anyone link to a good site about the Jack the Ripper Case? And Ruth Ellis too.

[sugaree]

I also think a big part of being a prison wife is a fear of intimacy or commitment. A guy in prison isn't going to hit you. A guy in prison isn't going to sleep with your sister. You can come home at night, and you don't have to fix him dinner, and he's not leaving his crusty worn socks all over the place. You do what you want; you're the boss of your home and your life, and you can sit at your leisure and read and write letters. There are none of the bickering and compromises and day-to-day aggravations of partnered-up life, only the ramped-up romance of flowery, passionate declarations of love (and some of these women have really low expectations for romance and flowery language). It's a form of relationship masturbation.

[viridian]

ITA - I think it's the same sort of mindset as the women you see in the TLC specials, who seek out & marry the 500+ lb. guys. It's partly a romanticized need to "save" him (no one understands him except me! He needs me!), and partly a power trip on the part of the wife.

I'd never seen the autopsy/medical exam photos from the Jeffrey MacDonald case before. If I hadn't already been convinced of his guilt, that would've sealed the deal. What a monster.

[Deleted]

I think it is also a way to escape from reality. They can make the relationship exactly what they want and they don't have to go out and meet people and date and possibly be rejected. It is their safe option, well, as safe as being married to a MURDERER can get!

[Mugsy]

adawn, I'm the one who brought up Steven Truscott; I'm from Listowel. Small world, and all that. I went to high school in Arthur, and we studied his case in law class. Right then and there, I was convinced he was innocent and have read everything and kept up with the case. I'm glad for the ending, although yes, I feel sad that the victim's family feels they've been wronged somehow. Truscott didn't "wrong" them, the justice system in the 50s/60s did.

(And Guelph is not a "strange little town"! You're to be commended for holding off the Wal-Mart machine as long as you did.)

Funny how the Jack the Ripper case doesn't interest me at all. I'm not sure why.