Law & Disorder by John Douglas

Author:John Douglas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2014-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

SATANIC PANIC

CHAPTER 17

ROBIN HOOD HILLS

“Hello, this is John Douglas. I understand you want to talk to me.”

It was March of 2006. My website directed inquiries to my attorney in New York, Steven Mark, who had given me the name and number of someone who wanted me to consult on a case. This was an Arkansas phone number.

“Yes, thank you for calling. My name is Lorri Davis.” She had a nice voice. My instantaneous profile was early thirties, educated and sophisticated, maybe a professional of some sort. “Are you familiar with the West Memphis Three case?” she asked.

“No,” I said.

“Three young men were convicted of killing three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993. But every one of them is innocent.”

Of course they are. No murder defendant is ever really guilty.

“Powerful people in Hollywood are fans of yours and believe in the work you do,” she went on. “Would you look at the case?”

“What is your relationship to it?” I inquired.

“I’m married to Damien Echols, one of the defendants,” she explained. “He was already in prison when we married.”

Okay, profile’s wrong! She may be educated and sophisticated, but this is another nut job.

I say “another” because this was a phenomenon well known to many of us involved with the criminal justice field. For various reasons, certain women tend to fall in love with incarcerated killers. It often starts out as a pen pal relationship, either out of altruism or simple curiosity. It can then blossom into love, and then even marriage with the full knowledge that her spouse will likely forever remain behind bars. And that is a good thing, because this individual is a violent offender; and if he ever got out, she would likely end up one of his victims.

The various reasons for these women’s behavior include loneliness and a real or perceived inability to make it with “normal” men; a vicarious fascination with excitement, violence or the taboo; a desire to nurture or “mother” those who have never had sufficient attention or “understanding.” This is often combined with the seemingly contradictory feelings of low self-esteem and an illogical, self-righteous confidence in their ability to “reform” the killer and make him a peaceful and productive member of society. Then, of course, some of them marry because it is “safe”; they can feel married without actually having to go through the accommodations of living with a husband.

There can be other motivations as well, but these are the ones we see over and over again. As much as it annoys me, since I think their sympathy is misdirected, I often feel sorry for these women. They can be pretty pathetic.

And who were these “powerful people in Hollywood” who were such big fans? The whole thing sounded strange.

But the more she talked, the more I sensed there was something different about Lorri Davis that just refused to fit this mold. She explained she was a landscape architect in New York who had seen an HBO documentary film entitled Paradise Lost: The

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