Woman Condemned

Getting Set Up Wow has it been a really busy past few weeks. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Dark History Con in Illinois again this year. This amazing convention happens each year in Champagne, Illinois and serves as a source of information on history's most frightening happenings. I had a great time meeting other true crime writers, film makers, historians and so much more. I was so excited to meet Judith Yates . She lives in Nashville, only about an hour from me, and wrote the book When Nashville Bled, a fantastic book about Paul Dennis Reid, a local murderer. Judith Yates I also met Linda Lee King who wrote Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones: What a Charmed Life I Lead . It tells the harrowing tale of her life growing up and the horrors se witnesses and lived through.  Can I just say OMFG! I met John Borowski, filmmaker extraordinaire and went fan girl all over him.  Meeting the incredible artist Jeff Gaither was such a pleasure. He an...

I always just assumed that the people that read this blog are of two types of people but I have learned there is an occasional third type thrown in on occasion. One type are those who have an interest in prison reform. Perhaps they are ex-convicts, have family members who have walked that path or feel strongly about it for political or religious reasons. The other type are those folks interested in true crime. These are the armchair criminologists and avid readers. They watch the Investigation Discovery channel religiously and you can find them by the truckload in Facebook groups discussing trials and cases and books about them. Most cite their reasoning as a simple curiosity. They, like me, want to know how and why normal people go rogue. There is also that third type of person who sort of snuck up on me. Call me naive if you like, but it never occurred to me that these people existed. These types of people prefer to be cruel and nasty. Not just about the criminals but to me....

The Woman behind the Legend   Bram Stoker became famous for his legendary tale on Dracula. Many speculate that he based his idea on Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler; born 1431, and presumed to have died sometime in December of 1476, although how he exactly died, is still undetermined. Vlad Tepes, the man that was imprisoned by the Turks, beaten and humiliated. Finally getting his revenge when he became king. His methods of killing his victims, especially the Turkish soldiers, spread throughout Europe. He reviled in their pain, enjoyed the destruction he left. Yet, Count Dracula did indeed become well-known as being a Vampire. One that preyed on his victims at night, biting into their flesh, and rejuvenating himself by drinking their blood. So, was the legend, Dracula, really based on Vlad Tepes? Or could there be someone around that time period that was far more sadistic? Someone that preyed on the innocent, someone obsessed with beauty and youthfulness. And someone tha...

*Jodi always draws the crazies out. I have disabled comments because the ugly people have started with vulgar comments. Before you read on please realize that I had no control over what she said or which questions she answered and her lawyer will not allow her to comment on the case. Jodi is serving LWOP.    Jodi Arias heard of my inmate liaison services and contacted me earlier this year. Graciously, she explained she wanted nothing from me. She has many supporters but appreciates what I do for life and death inmates. She offered to help me in any way she could and I found that very inspiring. She is in the worst shape of her life. Innocent or guilty, she is in a world of shit and she's offering to help me and other inmates. When I wrote about her earlier this year odd balls came out of the woodwork accusing me of all types of shit, assuming I'm a supporter of her crime. Insulting me and the blog and cyber stalking me all over Facebook and Twitter. I'm a sicko becau...

  I told you about crazy Sheila last year. She was way off into her 40's but had no trouble catching a dick (homage to Amy Schumer) anytime she wanted to. Always young and a little dumb, sometimes her young cubs disappeared. Turned out she was taking these young guys home and sexing them into a stupor and thren throwing them a curve ball when she turned into a royal bitch. She tortured and terrorized these guys for months, years and then killed them. She was finally arrested and convicted in 2008. She had an insatiable sexual appetite and went from man to man even before she turned deadly. The local police were already aware of her but not from wrongdoings. They knew her well because she constantly complained. She complained about her neighbors, stores, companies, dogs, policies, etc. They avoided her if possible which may be why she got away with her craziness for so long. The mother of one of her victims is still pretty pissed off though. Carolynn Lodge, mother of Sheila L...

Last year at this time we talked about  La Donna Curry and Audreianna McNeil , Illinois girls who lured a man to his death to rob him. Since this case broke there have been some odd developments or maybe an odd lack of developments is a better term. LaDonna was one of many girlfriends of Fuzzy, who is described as fun and outgoing, the perfect personality for a club promoter. He had worked with some big names in the hip hop industry and his mother received a condolence call from comedian, Katt Williams. These girls met and lured Chicago club promoter, John “Fuzzy” Atkins to an address where two male cohorts attacked, robbed and killed him. La Donna and Audreianna last saw John on his knees, hands tied behind his back, alive. These two women admitted what they did and are in jail. Where are the two men who did the killing? The latest news report I can find just says the men were not charged. WTF? I also found a report saying Atkins mother is being terrorized by these two ...

Desiray Strickland will most certainly get the death penalty. Unless by some grace of God, her age saves her. She and three male friends hacked a classmate to death at the  Homestead Jobs Corps center  in Homestead, Florida. A fifth suspect is said to be arrested soon. In June of 2015 the teen terrors lured young  Jose Amaya Guardado into the woods where they mortally wounded him by repeated whacks, slices and stabs with a machete. He was then forced into a shallow grave, still breathing, and buried alive.  Prosecutors plan to ask the judge next week to indict Desoray and her co-murderers, 18-year-old Jonathan Lucas, 19-year-old Christian Colon and 20-year-old Kaheem Arbelo on charges of first degree murder along with a whole slew of dismemberment and kidnapping type charges.  So far, investigators think it all stemmed from a debt the victim owed Kaheem Arbelo, the alleged ringleader. The group has been identified as campus bullies at the state...

Mireya Alejandra Lopez, 22, from Phoenix, drowned her 2-year-old twins in August of 2015. She then attempted to drown her 3 year old stepbrother before her mother found and stopped her. It was early in the day when Mireya took her twins to a downstairs bathroom of her Phoenix home and held their heads under the bath water until they stopped breathing. She took them from the tub, wrapped each in a blanket and carried them upstairs where she laid them on a bed. That's when she took her stepbrother into the bathroom. Mireya's mother went into the bedroom and saw the twins laying in the bed. At first glance she thought they were sleeping but upon further speculation found she could not wake them. She tried resuscitation maneuvers and called 911. While attempting to revive the boys she heard commotion in the bathroom and rushed in to find her daughter attempting to drown her 3 year old stepbrother.She had to struggle and fight with her daughter to take the boy from her b...