Over the years, many convicted serial killers have attracted intense, and sometimes disturbing, admirers. Individuals, often highly intelligent, become infatuated with these criminals, leading to unsettling obsessions. Some admirers even marry serial killers behind bars, showcasing the bizarre nature of these connections.
Sheila Isenberg, author of “Women Who Love Men Who Kill,” explores the various reasons behind this phenomenon. Some admirers may have experienced abuse, while others are drawn to the thrill of knowing their partner’s whereabouts at all times or seek fame and attention. The following cases highlight fans who crossed boundaries to get closer to serial killers, sometimes even committing murder themselves.
10 Richard Ramirez
Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez terrorized Los Angeles in the mid-1980s with a series of burglaries, rapes, and murders. Despite the horrifying evidence presented in court, juror Cindy Haden became infatuated with Ramirez. She even gave him a cupcake with “I love you” iced on top during the trial on Valentine’s Day.
Although Haden voted Ramirez guilty on all counts, her obsession didn’t end there. She applied for a detective’s license to gain private visits with Ramirez’s defense attorney in prison. Her plan succeeded when, during one visit, she kissed and groped Ramirez when the attorney left the room.
When true crime biographer Philip Carlo asked Haden if she was scared being alone with a serial killer she had helped send to death row, she responded, “No, absolutely not. He’d never hurt me.”
9 Ed Gein
Ed Gein transformed his isolated farmhouse in Plainfield, Wisconsin, into a macabre playground. Upon his arrest in 1957, police discovered a wastebasket made of human skin, skulls on his bedposts, leggings fashioned from human leg skin, and masks made from the skin of female heads.
Gein’s motive behind these grisly creations was to replicate his deceased mother, who had a dominating influence on his life. He was institutionalized at Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and later transferred to Mendota State Hospital.
In 1979, Helen Lows, 86, was found murdered in her Milwaukee bedroom. Her eyes had been gouged out, and her face was cut as if someone was attempting to peel off her skin. Pervis Smith, a former mental patient arrested for the murder, claimed to have learned everything about mutilation, murder, and human face masks from his friend at Central State Hospital, whom he greatly admired: Ed Gein.
8 The Zodiac Killer
Heriberto “Eddie” Seda became a copycat killer, driven by his obsession with the Zodiac Killer. Seda meticulously kept scrapbooks detailing the Zodiac Killer’s crimes, who murdered at least five known victims in northern California and sent taunting letters to the media from the late 1960s to early 1970s.
Seda dropped out of school at age 16 after being caught with a firearm. In 1989, he sent a letter to the New York City Police, warning of impending deaths and signing it with the Zodiac Killer’s signature.
His goal was to murder twelve people, representing each sign of the zodiac, but he was arrested after killing three. One victim was stabbed 100 times after trying to fight back. Seda’s attacks mirrored the Zodiac killings so closely that police initially believed the original killer had returned.
7 Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy, a serial killer and necrophile, murdered at least thirty women in the 1970s. Despite his horrific crimes, women flocked to the courtroom to admire him. Interviewed by the media, one Bundy admirer stated, “He just doesn’t look like the type to kill somebody.”
Janet, one woman, took her obsession so far that it unnerved Bundy. She would stare at him intensely across the courtroom, making him feel like she wanted to wear his skin.
Bundy said, “There she sits contemplating me with her mad eyes like a deranged seagull studying a clam. I can feel her spreading hot sauce on me already.”
After Bundy responded to one of Janet’s letters, she wrote back, overcome with emotion, “I kissed (the letter) all over and held it to me. I don’t mind telling you I am crying. I just don’t see how I can stand it anymore. I love you so very much, Ted.”
6 Angelo Buono
Angelo Buono was one half of the “Hillside Strangler” duo, initially believed to be a single person responsible for murdering ten young women in 1977 and 1978. Buono and his adoptive cousin, Kenneth Bianchi, kidnapped, raped, tortured, and killed victims aged 12 to 28, dumping their bodies in the hills around Los Angeles.
Despite the disturbing nature of his crimes, mother-of-three Christine Kizuka fell in love with Buono. They met while Kizuka’s husband was in a cell next to Buono at Folsom Prison. Following her divorce, Kizuka kept the relationship secret from her family until they married in 1987.
A spokesperson for the State Department of Corrections stated, “I want to emphasize that Buono has never had a conjugal visit. He is not recommended to ever have a conjugal visit… due to the nature of his crimes against women.”
5 Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer, a convicted serial killer, received numerous love letters from female admirers, despite his crimes. Women from around the world sent him gifts, teddy bears, and money, and he even received marriage proposals.
According to forensic psychology professor Katherine Ramsland, some women are drawn to serial killers because they see the inner child and seek to nurture them. Others may believe they can change a man considered cruel and powerful.
On July 22nd, 1991, police discovered polaroids of naked, posed, and dismembered bodies in Dahmer’s Milwaukee apartment, representing some of his 11 victims. They also found human flesh dissolving in acid and a human head in the fridge.
Vice magazine interviewed young women attracted to serial killers, questioning whether they were disturbed by the crime scene images. One replied, “It does desensitize people. The gory images get easier and easier to look at.”
4 Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas claimed to have murdered 600 women, though it’s believed that he falsely confessed to many of these crimes. The actual number is likely around three victims. Lucas and his lover, Otis Toole, drifted between Michigan and Texas, committing murders.
At age 10, Lucas was blinded in one eye and missing several teeth after a fight with his brother. Despite this, a woman became obsessed with him after he was sentenced to life in prison. She even devised a plan to free Lucas by posing as a former girlfriend he had murdered.
Lucas had been involved with Becky Powell when she was a minor. In 1982, he killed her in a Texas field, scattering her remains. His admirer planned to pose as Becky to clear Lucas of the murder, a sinister plot that never succeeded.
3 Oscar Ray Bolin Jr.
Oscar Ray Bolin Jr. was convicted of raping and murdering three women in Florida in the late 1980s. Rosalie Martinez, a public defender and mitigation specialist, worked to keep him off death row. Martinez said her first meeting with Bolin Jr. left her “breathless.” She divorced her husband, a prominent lawyer and father of her three daughters, to marry the serial killer.
Martinez believed that Bolin Jr. was innocent and campaigned for his release. She told reporters, “I wanted to break out. I wanted to be loved like I’ve never been loved before, passion, someone to put me on an emotional pedestal, not with material things.” They married at Florida State Prison in 1996, in front of a TV audience of 12 million.
On January 7th, 2016, Martinez made a final plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to save Bolin Jr. from execution. Her efforts failed, and he was executed by lethal injection hours later at age 53.
2 John Wayne Gacy
Jason Moss, a law school honors graduate and later a criminal defense attorney, began a research project during his college years. He believed the best way to communicate with serial killers was by posing as their ideal victim.
John Wayne Gacy, who killed at least 33 young men and boys in Cook County, Illinois, became Moss’s target. Moss explained, “In a burst of inspiration, I considered what I might learn if I approached someone like Gacy in the guise of one of his victims.” He wrote to Gacy, introducing himself as a young, gay man, despite being heterosexual. Gacy responded, and the two became pen pals before eventually meeting at Stateville Correctional Center.
Their letters were published in “The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer” in 1999. Tragically, Moss’s mental health declined, and he took his own life at age 31 in 2006.
1 Charles Manson
Charles Manson, a notorious cult leader, died of natural causes at age 83 in 2017. He had been incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison in California since 1971 and was denied parole 12 times.
Manson’s body was cremated, and his ashes were given to his grandson, Jason Freeman. The ashes eventually reached tattoo artist Ryan Gillikin through Tony Miller, a friend of Freeman. Gillikin told Vice Magazine, “Long story short, Miller grabbed a handful of cremains at the spreading of the ashes… (Tony) Miller and (Jason) Freeman then had a falling out over Miller selling funeral pamphlets without giving Jason his cut.”
Gillikin met Patrick Boos, a Manson obsessive, who requested a tattoo of “Helter Skelter” above his right eye and an “X” on his forehead, like Manson’s during his trial. Boos asked for the tattoo ink to be mixed with Manson’s cremated remains, and his request was granted.
Boos stated, “It’s weird that Charles is a part of me now. Kinda creepy, I guess. And I don’t think it will affect me in any way.”
Explore these chilling accounts of serial killer admirers and ponder the unsettling connections that can form in the darkest corners of the human psyche. Leave your comments below!
