True Crime in Quotes

"Serial murder may be a much older phenomenon than we realize. The stories that filter down about witches and werewolves and vampires may have been a way of explaining outrages so hideous that no one in the small and close-knit towns of Europe and early America could comprehend the perversities we now take for granted. Monsters had to be supernatural creatures. They couldn't be just like us."

~John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, true crime authors

"People with narcissistic personality disorder not only have to be the center of attention, they create drama in their lives. They are a one-person wrecking crew." 

~Candice DeLong, Deadly Women, Vicious Vixen

"Somebody framed me." 

~Ed Gein

“The killing was a means to an end. That was the least satisfactory part. I didn’t enjoy doing that. That’s why I tried to create living zombies with uric acid in the drill [to the head], but it never worked. No, the killing was not the objective. I just wanted to have the person under my complete control, not having to consider their wishes, being able to keep them there as long as I wanted.”

~Jeffrey Dahmer

"If we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well."

~Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking

“As far as I’m concerned,” said Judge Mills Lane, “they committed one of the most heinous crimes that I’ve been involved in, both as a prosecutor and a judge. I was a judge for eight years and a prosecutor for twenty. Everyday they breathe, there’s no justice. And that’s the way I feel about them.” 

~Judge Mills Lane, The U-Haul Murders

"Hell, I've been sued for things I didn't even know happened, but [Nevada is] one of the least sued highway patrols in the western part of the country.” 

~Former Col. Mike Hood, NHP

"Propofol is, in a nutshell, the world's most powerful anti-breathing drug." 

 ~Mystery Detectives, Needle in a Haystack,

James Colaw State Attorney (his quote)

"We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow."

~Ted Bundy, serial killer quotes

"Homeschooling is a godsend for abusive parents, they can get away with their crimes longer." 

~Candice DeLong Deadly Women

“I seen Dracula movies. I watch a lot of those. But I don’t drink people’s blood; I drink animal blood, sometimes I don’t cook it, I eat it. People, no, but I look at people, and I think... maybe soon.”

~Alvaro Calambro, The U-Haul Murders

"If they want him, he'll be there to perform his civic duty. However, I don't htink he has a good enough handle on the justice system to make any informed decisions."

~Stephani McLaughlin says about her 17-year-old pet TURTLE,

Max, when he was summoned for jury duty. According to 

Newsweek, May 14, 2001, Max could not be reached for comment

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Books We've Read: The Devil in White City

 Murder, Magic, and Madness

at the Fair that Changed America

1893 may have been a dynamic year for Chicago, boasting the World's Columbian Exposition (that we forevermore know as the "World's Fair") that put to shame all others--giving us the "Cracker Jack" among other truly exceptional inventions--but it was the events that happened behind the scenes that forever changed lives.

The fair was just the proper breeding ground for disasters ... including a serial killer.

The Devil in the White City

~by Erik Lawson

That something had occurred in that summer of the world's fair was beyond doubt, but darkness too had touched the fair. Scores of workers had been hurt or killed in building the dream, their families cosigned to poverty. Fire had killed fifteen more, and an assassin had transformed the closing ceremony from what was to have been the century's greatest celebration into a vast funeral. Worse had occurred, too, although those revelations emerged only slowly. A murderer had moved among the beautiful things..."

Books We've Read: Under the Banner of Heaven

What makes brothers have the same psyche that says it's not only okay to kill, but it's demanded from most high?

Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, the story of "violent faith," when in the early summer of '84, two brothers on the orders of God killed a mother and her infant daughter.

Under the Banner of Heaven examines the religion, the crimes, and the history of how everything got to this point. Travel the story which includes the infamous Nauvoo and Warren Jeffs.

Under the Banner of Heaven

~by Jon Krakauer

..."I've always been interested in God and the Kingdom of God," [Dan Lafferty] says. "It's been the center of my focus since I was a young child." And he is certain God intended for him to kill Brenda and Erica Lafferty: "It was like someone had taken me by the hand that day and led me comfortably through everything that happened. Ron had received a revelation from God that lives were to be taken. And if God wants something done, it will be done..."

Once upon a time--for real--Oprah was not known world-wide, and we didn't realize yet that Ann Rule would be the undisputed Queen of True Crime (was true crime writing even a genre yet, really?). I was sitting with my brother-in-law, Tony, and our friend, Mike, and talking about Oprah's name and where on Earth it came from (shoot, where did SHE come from?), when a voice on television caught our attention.

It was Ann Rule, talking with Diane Downs, a convicted murderer of her own children, a psychopathic beast if ever there was one.  

This was back in the day where there was no Internet, no instant look-up, and even television was limited for most of us.

 It happened that I had read Ann's story, Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder (Signet), before the airing of this episode, causing me to sit spellbound throughout the interview (to this day, Diane Down's story is the most incredulous, mind-numbing true crime story I've ever studied).

 I now was hooked to Oprah, Ann Rule, and true crime faithfully.

Fast forward: Oprah is a country of her own, Ann Rule has put true crime on the writing genre map more than any other true crime writer, and I've remained faithful and dedicated to true crime, mostly advocating for victims through writing with sincere passion (even the years I was offline and out of whack).

I am pleased to say that though I have made a difference in lives, I am more honored and amazed at what a difference each of the families have made in my life. It takes a lot for a family to share their most intimate and painful secrets and to see them published for the world-talk about a near-crime within a crime, and yet, they do. 

For victims and their families, I dedicate this blog to finding the missing, solving the unsolved, and justice.

~~~

If you have a crime to share, we can promise nothing, but we give time, hope, exposure, and someone who cares; email us.

Inconceivable Acts: Could This Be Me? (1999)

Could This Be Me?
 by Teraisa J.  Goldman
 
Imagine my surprise--horror, really--to find I have the same type of tendencies as Richard Daniel Starrett (Danny), a serial criminal serving five life sentences or more.

Here is a young man, raised in a good home by a traditional moral two-parent family. His parents show love in front of the children and have enviable careers. Except for headaches, there is nothing wrong nor unusual about Danny. He is the favorite child of his parents and his siblings.

Yet, a day came when his family got a call they will never forget. Danny was a fugitive and wanted by the police for kidnapping and rape (later they would learn there were several of these crimes committed, as well as murder).

Danny was married and had a daughter. He worked hard and made good money. What went wrong? His subsequent arrest and confession surprised and shocked his entire family. A Stranger In the Family, written by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (authors of The Mormon Murders *) was not the most memorable book I ever read, but it was the one that most made me identify with the bad guy.

This is scary. Normally, when reading, I may think I am a bit of an oddball simply for enjoying a well written crime book, but to identify with a killer? Oh boy!

Many times, we can place ourselves in the victim's shoes and ask questions--what would I have done? What could have been done differently? But how often do we put ourselves in the criminal's shoes? Rarely, I bet.

You know why? Because to do so would be admitting we could do something heinous like torture or kill. And we would not do that. We could not. Right?

I am not so sure anymore. While I do not think there are many people such as Danny in this world (a possible multiple personality disorder and definitely obsessive compulsive person), I do believe we all have the capability in us to commit serious criminal acts.

Think back to the Donner Party or the doomed soccer players trapped in the snow and wilderness, death staring them in the eyes while the bodies of their dead friends are close by. Death by hunger is eminent and lingering heavily. Nothing could convince me any ONE of these people would have ever thought they could do the unthinkable and eat the flesh of another human (much less a human they knew) a month before it actually happened. But they did, and by doing so, they saved their own lives.

I know under normal circumstances and conditions I would never dine on my friends to save my life, even if they are dead. But those are not ordinary times. Situations develop and happen.

"Teraisa," you say, "you are talking about something different. Those weren't crimes."

True. But they are inconceivable acts.

How about this scenario: A woman kills a man while he rapes her. Or: a stranger enters your house and creeps into your children's room. Startled and alerted to the intrusion, you load your gun...

As you are forced to defend yourself, you can suddenly become a killer. A forgivable one, but a killer nonetheless, by doing the inconceivable.

By using these particular stories of cannibalism and self defense, I am merely showing you it is possible to do the unthinkable.

"To save your life, sure, that's another story altogether," you point out. "It's still not the same."

You are right. It is not the same. We are driven to the same conclusions, though, as the murderer when the situation calls for it and when we can justify it.

This is what makes and keeps us different. We can commit the most inconceivable acts, but only under the right circumstances.

But as I read this book, I found something else that made me like Danny. Danny said he did not want to do these things, he explained that he had to do them. At first, his crimes seem to be an uncontrollable impulse, but later in the book, he lets us in on his other personality. Do not worry, I do not have another being living in me (I doubt Danny does, either), but I do have uncontrollable impulses.

I have to work at all times. If I am at a red light, I sort through my mail. A wait at the doctor's office allows me to balance my checkbook. Forget television, I cannot sit still long enough... unless I am folding laundry or writing a letter, that is. And yes, I am the person you heard about who makes lists of things to do while in the throes of passion.

It drives my family crazy. It drives me crazy. I tried to be different, but learned it was easier to live with it than to fight it.

So, now, I have to wonder, I know I am capable of committing inconceivable acts and I am aware I am obsessive compulsive. Could I have done what Danny did?

------------------------------------------------------------

The Author notes:

I would never kill anyone unless in self defense, or in defense of another human being. I believe those that kill for any other reason must have a psychopathic disorder (AKA sociopath). 

Psychopaths know right from wrong, but consciously they choose to follow a sinister path. Their crimes are often likened to a sport and decidedly NOT defense. The real difference between he and myself--or you? We are not morally insane.

*This is an excellent book, the information revealed in it caught me by surprise.