(CNN) — More than a week following an Alabama corrections officer went missing with an inmate accused of murder, authorities say the official Vicky White, 56, and inmate Casey White38, might have been in a romantic relationship.
By all accounts, Vicky White is described by her supervisors as a “model employee” and a “trustworthy person,” and the case has left friends, family, and everyone who knew her stunned at the possibility that she developed a taste. by a man accused of murder and may have helped him escape.
Inmate Casey White, 38, and Alabama corrections officer Vicky White, 56, may have been in a romantic relationship.
But the case of Vicky White is not the only one. A quick look at the history of some serial killers and homicides shows that they had many female followers, and many of them married some of them while in prison.
Experts say that there is a term for this type of attraction.
“Sometimes referred to in our culture as ‘Bad Boy Syndrome,’ hybristophilia is sexual attraction and/or interest in those who commit crimes, particularly egregious and violent crimes such as rape and murder,” said Dr. Casey Jordan, a criminologist and professor of Administration of Justice and Law at Pennsylvania State University. Western Connecticut.
“Vicky White surely believes that she is in love with Casey White, because he gives her the feeling of being alive following decades of feeling serious, safe and ‘trustworthy,'” added Jordan.
Here are some examples of romances that weren’t hampered by prison bars:
Richard Matt y David Sweat
Richard Matt y Joyce Mitchell
Prison worker Joyce Mitchell, who helped two convicted murderers, Richard Matt and David Sweat, break out of an upstate New York prison in 2015, was convicted of promoting prison smuggling and criminal facilitation, and was released. in 2020 following serving five years in prison.
Authorities said Mitchell, a prison tailor, provided Matt and Sweat with the tools they used to cut through cell walls to escape the facility in Dannemora, New York. But he ultimately failed to fulfill his role in the escape plan, which included Matt killing Mitchell’s husband, Lyle Mitchell.
“Inmate Matt and I got along. We talked every day and he treated me with respect and was nice to me. He made me feel special,” Mitchell said in her confession.
Jordan says that Vicky White’s psychology seems to match Mitchell’s.
“The deep emptiness they feel in midlife as they struggle with the aging process and the pain of diminished attractiveness and loss of excitement in their lives is somehow filled with the attention of a bad boy…they act like a teenager and take unimaginable risks no matter how it ends,” Jordan explained.
“I know I had agreed to help them escape and run away with them but I panicked and mightn’t go through with the rest of the plan. I really love my husband and he is the reason I didn’t meet inmate Matt and Inmate Sweat Mitchell said in his remarks at the time.
“Human behavior is complex, and the motivations behind the behavior can be for many reasons. So for some, depending on what motivated the behavior or what psychiatric conditions they have, it absolutely might be when they’re out of that context, or something. happens in their life, that they realize the error of their ways,” said Dr. Arielle Baskin-Sommers, associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale University.
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy married Carole Ann Boone
Ted Bundy preyed on young women, eventually confessing to more than two dozen murders before he was executed, but he may have been linked to other murders.
While on trial for murder, he married Carole Ann Boone, who later had their son. Boone, who had worked with Bundy at the Washington State Department of Emergency Services, testified for him as a character witness and they married during the trial, literally as she testified.
“Fixer-saviors believe they have been given a sign (often from God or a higher power) to save the criminal. He often refuses to acknowledge evidence of guilt, insists he was framed, and believes he has a vision. unique to his psyche,” Jordan said.
Bundy, with his good looks and college education, might also be very charming. He had studied psychology in college, volunteered at a suicide hotline while in school and at one point served as deputy director of the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Commission.
“Just on the general human level, people want to feel loved and they want to feel connected and they want to feel flattered, and some of these men are very good at doing those things. Ted Bundy was very charming and very attractive. And you might imagine that any being As a human, once you’re captivated, enchanted and engaged, you’ll do anything to rule out behavioral examples that might be more problematic,” Baskin-Sommers said.
Charles Manson
Charles Manson y Afton “Star” Burton
Serial killer Charles Manson, aged 80, had planned to marry 26-year-old Afton “Star” Burton while he was in prison. She began communicating with him through letters and phone calls and later moved to nearby Corcoran State Prison in California, where she was incarcerated when she was 19 years old.
She believed in his innocence, spent years trying to clear his name, and continued to support him, though she said she knew people thought she was crazy.
“I don’t care what those kinds of people think. It doesn’t make any difference. The man I know isn’t what they have in the movies or the documentaries and the books. He’s nothing like that. He doesn’t tell people what to do. It’s not manipulative at all,” Burton had said at the time.
“These women often have a long history of getting involved with ‘bad guys’ and seeking to mend their evil ways or lead them to salvation. In their mind, their undying faith and commitment will win him over,” Jordan said.
Baskin-Sommers said that some convicted murderers show characteristics consistent with a disorder called psychopathy. “That disorder is associated with superficial, charming behavior and a lack of genuine relationships… They would just be using women to do things: help them get out of jail, pay for services,” she explained.
Erik y Lyle Menendez
Erik Menendez married Tammi Ruth Saccoman
Erik Menendez and his brother Lyle, who were convicted of their parents’ murder in 1989, married while in prison. Lyle Menendez married his pen pal Anna Erikkson, a former model, but they later divorced and he remarried. And Erik Menendez married Tammi Ruth Saccoman.
“The most basic underlying reason for the attraction is actually the infamy of these criminals … whose image has been exaggerated in the media and they are household names,” Jordan said.
Lyle Menendez married Anna Erikkson, but they divorced and he remarried.
“Many deeply insecure people who crave the attention and validation of a known person seek out the notorious criminal as the object of their love and attraction. Their lives are often empty and dull with no prospect of achievement or self-fulfilment, so they believe that their association with the killer will fill the void,” Jordan added.
CNN’s Toby Lyles contributed to this story.
