Many serial killers spark a fatal attraction

It's not unusual for women to proclaim love for men on death row

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press

RESOURCES
LOVE BEHIND BARS

Death row romance is not rare:
� Ted Bundy: Florida's serial rapist and murderer married in prison and fathered a child before his execution.
� John Wayne Gacy: Was engaged when he was executed for torturing and murdering dozens of young men.
� Timothy McVeigh: The Oklahoma City bombing suspect received several marriage proposals.
� Richard Ramirez: The Los Angeles "Night Stalker" convicted of 13 murders was visited on death row by hundreds of young women.

STAMFORD, CONN. - In Oklahoma, Susan Powers is known as a bright mathematician who created a Web site for a group that cares for abused animals.

In Connecticut, she is the mysterious woman who became romantically involved with serial killer and rapist Michael Ross.

Ross, who has confessed to raping and killing women in New York and Connecticut in the early 1980s, agreed last year to drop his appeals against the death penalty. His execution, now delayed until at least May 13, would be the first in New England in 45 years.

He and Powers, however, have rekindled a romance she broke off in 2003.

"The woman of my life who I love, who abandoned me, has come back into my life," Ross writes. "But now I must go and abandon her. And I hate that, because while I never hated her when she abandoned me, I fear that she will hate me and not be able to forgive me. And that I fear even more than the execution itself."

Their relationship is detailed in Ross' letters � decorated with hand-drawn hearts and flowers � and a deposition by Powers. The documents were part of six days of testimony that concluded last month before a judge who would decide if Ross is competent to give up his death row appeals.

Nationwide, about 23 percent of death row inmates had spouses in 2003, the most recent statistics available from the U.S. Justice Department.

"They're certainly not unusual," said Sheila Isenberg, who interviewed dozens of women for her book, Women Who Love Men Who Kill. "They're not crazy. The relationships fill their needs."

Women who date killers come from all backgrounds. Many were abused by their husbands or fathers, Isenberg said.

"These relationships represent a situation where a woman could be in control," Isenberg said. "The man could not hurt them."

Most of the women are in denial about the guilt of their lovers, Isenberg said. Prisoners also have lots of time to devote to the women and the relationships offer women a chance at fame and excitement, she said.

Powers, who declined to comment, began corresponding with Ross in 2000 after her seven-year marriage ended, according to court documents.

Ross says he is unsure whether she should attend his execution.

"I do want you here that night because I want to feel your love before these people kill me," he wrote. "But for your own mental health, I'm not at all sure."

Danielle Steele is another example. She fell for and married not one but two convicts while they were in prison. The first was also serving a term of confinement for sexual assault.

A TDCJ-ID inspector general's investigator told me that women correctional officers falling in love with inmates is a constant and serious problem.

I asked him if the same wasn't also true of male C.O.'s who work in female prisons. He said it was much more rare there.

[This message was edited by Terry Breen on 05-08-05 at .]