True Crime Friday: Women that fall in love with serial killers
 |
| Manson Family cult |
There is an aspect of serial killers that we barely touch upon. Why some women fall in love with serial killers. Theodore “Ted” Bundy, Richard Ramirez and countless other fiends that some women just cannot seem to resist. Carol Boone married Bundy during his murder trial while in court. After listening to his victims talk about his attempted murder of them and showing the jury his grotesques pictures of his tortured victims. She even went on to have his child Rose while he was in prison. Doreen Lioy, fell in love with Richard Ramirez's mugshot, they married years later.
Carol Ann Boone
Carol Ann Boone was one of many women involved with Ted Bundy. She met him in Washington. D.C., in 1974. She married him while he was in court representing himself in during his murder trail. Ted Bundy was an expert at covering his crimes mainly because serial killing was an unknown phenomenon during the seventies. He murdered at least thirty women during his reign of terror. The police were dumfounded and disgusted as to why women would want to be romantically involved or even marry a known murderer of women. The public was not amused by the women that were enamored with Bundy.The Bundy Groupies
Have you heard of the Bundy Groupies? A group of women dressed and styled their hair like his preferred victims. These women were at the court hearing every day to show their support for this monster. The public and the authorities were appalled at their callous behavior toward the victims and their families for supporting a man that viciously murdered their children, families and friends.Doreen Lioy
Richard Ramirez known as the Night Stalker married former magazine editor Doreen Lioy. He murdered at least fourteen people during his reign of terror. Ramirez crimes led him to be one of the most prolific serial killers in the country along with the likes of Ted Bundy. Lioy became interested in Ramirez when she saw a mugshot of the killer on national television. She exchanged letters with the killer for years before she married him in prison in 1996. DNA evidence linked the killer to the 1984 murder of Mei Leung in 2009.Hybristophilia
This term refers to individuals, typically women, who are romantically or emotionally drawn to serial killers. This phenomenon is sometimes described as Hybristophilia, which is a romantic or sexual fascination with criminals, especially serial killers. There are many factors contributing to this attraction that these women have with killers in particular serial killers, they are as follows:- Childhood Trauma
- Romanticization of Crime
- Desire for Attention and Uniqueness
- Fascination with Power and Control
- Social and Cultural Factors
Prison Groupies
Women who write love letters to or become romantically involved with incarcerated serial killers are sometimes called prison groupies or serial killer groupies. Although, my focus has been on women falling in love with serial killers, I want to also bring attention to the fact that men are also drawn to female murderers. Susan Smith who murdered her two children gets letters from men and some have even asked to marry her. There are countless of women that are in prison for killing their children, parents and spouses. There are men drawn in by their stories and charm.The Karaoke Killer
I mostly focus on serial killers but this story if worth mentioning. Joseph Leroy Crouch, the karaoke enthusiast from Memphis, Tennessee is wanted for the 2001 murder of his wife, Betsy Crouch. He was spotted in places singing karaoke and playing golf along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Louisiana. As most of you are aware I am a karaoke enthusiast located in Nashville, Tennessee so I was drawn to this story. The gall that this killer has to perform at Karaoke bars says quite a bit about him. He did not believe he would be caught otherwise he would have kept a low profile.Teresa Wampler who is Crouch’s daughter stated police have received 50 tips in thanks in large part to an article about Crouch that ran in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and two consecutive segments aired on America’s Most Wanted.