Buzz
Some women have a strange fascination with bad boys. For every man who carries out a mass killing, there’s a legion of women who find themselves inexplicably attracted to him. When notorious serial killers and murderers end up behind bars, a surprising number of love letters seem to follow.
While we often focus on the twisted minds of the men who commit these horrific acts, the women who idolize them can be just as unsettling. Below are a few examples that highlight this bizarre connection.
10. The Woman Who Terrified Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy, the infamous serial killer and rapist who took at least 30 lives, received countless letters from female admirers during his time in prison. However, one woman, Janet, stood out for her extreme enthusiasm that even unnerved Bundy himself.
Bundy only replied to her once, and Janet treated it like the most significant event of her life. 'I received the letter you sent me and read it over and over,' she wrote. 'I kissed it repeatedly and held it close. I’m crying as I write this. I don’t know how much longer I can bear this. I love you so deeply, Ted.'
As she began showing up at his trial, even Bundy felt uneasy. He wrote to his wife, Carole, requesting that she stop allowing Janet to sit near her, so he wouldn’t have to face her. 'There she is, staring at me with her wild eyes like a crazed seagull eyeing a clam,' Bundy penned. 'I can already feel her spreading hot sauce on me.'
9. Dylann Roof’s ‘Roofies’
After white supremacist and mass murderer Dylann Roof opened fire on a Charleston church in 2016, he garnered an astonishing following of female admirers online, who even gave themselves a name: 'roofies.'
For some inexplicable reason, a group of women found themselves strangely attracted to the news of the massacre. One woman admitted her confusing emotions, writing, 'I feel so bad that I find Dylann handsome, but what can I do about it?'
Others fully embraced it. One woman had his name inked beneath her breasts and ran an entire blog where she boasted about the love letters she had sent him, even sharing lists of what she called 'lesser known facts about Dylann.'
In the age of the Internet, these fans were able to form subcultures within their own community. Dedicated 'roofies' scorned the newcomers, who they labeled 'newfies,' feeling a sense of superiority for having supported the mass murderer from the moment he killed innocent churchgoers.
'The OG’s are more mature, and I’d say they know the most about Dylann, his life, and the case,' one self-proclaimed roofie explained. 'The newfies don’t really know much about him, they just like to stir up drama.'
8. James Holmes’s Female Admirers
'I hope you’re doing okay, James,' begins a letter from one of his fans. 'You’re all I think about. I actually had a dream about you, haha. I gave you a hand massage!'
This was just one of thousands of cards that James Holmes received after his 2012 shooting spree in a Colorado theater, where he killed 12 people. Along with her letter, the woman included a picture of herself—but that wasn’t unusual. Holmes was inundated with photos from admiring women, creating a whole wall full of them.
It’s difficult to fathom, but for some women, the sight of a mentally unstable mass murderer seemed to captivate them. The letter gushes about his looks: 'I can’t believe your curls are gone. I liked them. I like a lot about your appearance. You’re handsome. You have strong hands and facial hair. You have really nice eyes.'
While all of this is unsettling, there's a chilling undertone in nearly every one of these letters. Many of them conclude with phrases like, 'If there's anything I can do for you, let me know.' If Holmes had asked, these women would have complied with whatever he desired.
7. Richard Ramirez’s Secret Admirer in the Jury
Richard Ramirez received so many fan letters that he had custom stationery made, with 'NightStalker' printed across the top of each page.
He received all sorts of letters—from teenage girls to adult women—and even married one of his fans while in prison. But the most disturbing story involves Cindy Haden, the Night Stalker enthusiast who ended up sitting on his jury.
After weeks of flirting with the serial killer sporting a pentagram on his hand, Haden brought Richard Ramirez a plate of cupcakes with the words 'I love you' written on them.
However, Haden's affection for Ramirez wasn’t enough to secure his acquittal. After several disagreements in the jury room, she ultimately cast a guilty vote. Despite this, she remained convinced she had found her 'one true love.' She visited him in prison, professed her love, and even brought her parents to meet the man she believed to be her soulmate.
6. Josef Fritzl’s Female Admirers
Josef Fritzl kept his own daughter imprisoned in a cellar for 24 years. During her captivity, he repeatedly abused her and enslaved her sexually, fathering seven children through rape before she finally escaped.
He was as despicable as one could be. Yet, upon his capture, hundreds of women sent him love letters. They claimed to know he was 'good at heart,' with at least one woman insisting that Fritzl had only locked up and sexually abused his daughter to protect her from trouble.
Fritzl’s cellmate recalled that Fritzl received dozens of love letters. He mentioned being deeply disturbed by one picture Fritzl showed him. It had been sent by a female admirer, who posed for the photo beside a masked man, reenacting a rape fantasy and sending it to a convicted rapist.
'The fans saw him as the ultimate monster,' Fritzl’s cellmate remarked. 'They respected him.'
5. Ian Brady’s Eulogizers
Ian Brady, alongside his girlfriend Myra Hindley, raped and murdered five children in the 1960s. Yet, when he passed away from cancer in prison in 2017, a group of women took to the internet, mourning as if they had lost their soulmate.
'Oh my God, I just heard about Ian. This is the worst day ever,' one woman wrote. 'I hope he’s at peace wherever he is. I love you, Ian, and I’ll never forget how incredibly kind it was of you to reply to me. I’ll love you forever, and I’ve got your name on me for the rest of my life.'
She wasn’t exaggerating. She proudly displayed a picture of the tattoos on her arms. The names 'Ian,' 'Myra,' 'Jeff [Dahmer],' and 'Ted [Bundy]' were permanently inked into her skin.
She wasn’t alone in her mourning. Another woman claimed she was 'crying so much' over his death, while yet another wrote, 'You were such an intriguing individual with fascinating ideas and thoughts. You introduced a whole new perspective to me.'
4. Anders Breivik’s Fan Club Shares Tips On How To Write Him Love Letters
Anders Breivik, the white supremacist responsible for the massacre of 77 people in Norway using pipe bombs and an assault rifle in 2011, receives at least 800 letters every year, with the majority coming from female admirers.
During his trial, a 16-year-old girl pleaded with him to marry her, while a Swedish woman named Victoria gained media attention after declaring herself his one true love. She confessed that she loves Breivik so deeply that, in her own words, 'I really wouldn’t want to live a life without him.'
There are actually online fan clubs that provide detailed instructions on the best times to write Breivik and how to approach him in a letter. 'Are you a girl or woman that is in love with Breivik?' one guide asks. 'You should know this is perfectly natural. I encourage you to openly express your admiration and love for Breivik, especially if you’re cute.'
There’s a disturbing underlying reason behind their encouragement for more love letters to Breivik. They want to inspire copycats. The guide reveals: 'Men need to know that women admire militant nationalists.'
3. Kenneth Bianchi’s Copycat Admirer
Veronica Compton was so inspired by the brutal rapes and murders carried out by Kenneth Bianchi, the Hillside Strangler, that she went on to write a play about his crimes. The play, titled The Mutilated Cutter, was sent to the serial killer in the hopes of grabbing his attention.
In a letter accompanying the script, she wrote, 'I hope you received my letter and could spare a moment during your busy schedule to look over my play. I really think you will find the plot quite fascinating. After all, it was you who inspired it. I hope to inspire you one day.'
Her intentions were serious, and her obsession became a prime example of how dangerously obsessive some fangirls can be. In 1980, after winning Bianchi over with provocative photos, she decided to try and stage a copycat murder, hoping to convince authorities that the killer was still on the loose.
Compton smuggled Bianchi’s semen out of jail using a plastic glove. Her plan was to murder a woman and plant his semen on her body to make it seem as though DNA testing had wrongly implicated Bianchi. However, Compton wasn’t an effective killer. Her intended victim escaped and called the police, and Compton was arrested.
Like Bianchi, Compton also received love letters of her own. A man named James Wallace began writing her love letters while she was incarcerated, eventually leaving his wife of 37 years to pursue her—such was his devotion to the love of a criminal.
Women at the prison regularly send love letters to Cruz. One such letter, decorated with hearts and happy faces, came from a woman who was 18 years old and a senior in high school. She wrote, 'When I saw your picture on the television, something attracted me to you.' She could have been one of Cruz’s victims if she had been in his class.
She included a suggestive photo of herself in the letter, saying, 'I’m really skinny, and I have 34C sized breasts.'
She wasn’t the only one to send provocative images. Another woman sent Cruz an entire collection of photos, including one where she is sucking on a Popsicle in a bikini and another featuring a close-up of her breasts.
Cruz's public defender, Howard Finklestein, remarked, 'In my 40 years as a public defender, I’ve never seen this many letters sent to a defendant.' However, to his credit, Finklestein has kept Cruz in the dark about the letters, firmly refusing to allow him to see them as a form of punishment for his crimes.
1. Jeffrey Dahmer’s Loving Donors
Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t just a killer—he raped, murdered, and dismembered the bodies of 17 boys, even going as far as cannibalizing and desecrating their corpses. Despite his horrific actions, Dahmer had a significant female following. In 1993 alone, his admirers sent him $12,000 to help him buy personal items while incarcerated.
A significant portion of that money came from a single admirer in London, who was so captivated by Dahmer’s gruesome stories of defiling young boys’ bodies that she sent him $5,920. However, she wasn't the only one sending him gifts; many other women sent him small amounts of money to buy cigarettes and a few books or magazines to pass the time.
When asked why she would send money to a serial killer, one woman confessed, 'He did awful things, but way deep down he isn’t a mean kid.'
