Death Row Valentine

[Janice]

My death row Valentine

Vicious killer courts penpal ladies online

He can’t promise a future, let alone the moon, but lonely-heart rampage killer Gary Lee Sampson is hoping a kindred sucker for romance will be his death-row date this Valentine’s Day.

The 49-year-old monster, who during one week in July 2001 carjacked and slaughtered two Massachusetts men who picked him up hitchhiking, then strangled the caretaker of the New Hampshire cottage he hid out in, has been looking for love online, pitching himself as “an easygoing kinda guy” with “a good sense of humor.”

“Real funny,” said Scott McCloskey, 45, of Plymouth, whose father, Philip McCloskey, 69, a Boston Gas retiree from Taunton, was repaid for his kindness to Sampson by being dragged into woods off Route 3A in Marshfield at knifepoint and slaughtered.

“It’s just sickening. Good luck to those women,” McCloskey said of Sampson’s prospective courters. “I would ask them, ‘Have you ever had anyone you loved taken from you in such a grotesque manner?’ Twenty-four stab wounds and a slit throat is not a good way to go.”

Sampson’s Washington, D.C., attorney, Thomas Windom, did not return a call.

From his 24-hour lockdown cell on executioner’s row at the high-security U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., Sampson, an Abington native and career bank robber, has succeeded in spreading the word - and at least one rugged seaside photo, presumably from happier days - that he’s a “straight” guy who likes “the outdoors, beaches, hiking, camping, Harleys and animals.”

“Enjoy cooking when I get the chance,” Sampson says, pitching himself as husband material on one prison penpal site.

Sampson, the only Massachusetts offender ever sentenced to capital punishment under federal law, says right up front he’s divorced, and “never to see the free world again,” but adds, “Ladies, I’m always willing to answer all letters and will always keep it real.”

The state Supreme Judicial Court abolished the death penalty in 1984. But after Sampson admitted in 2003 to killing McCloskey, lashing college student Jonathan Rizzo, 19, of Kingston, to a tree and cutting his throat, and gagging and choking Robert “Eli” Whitney, 58, of Concord, N.H., to death, U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf senenced him to be executed in New Hampshire.

Sampson’s death sentence was upheld on appeal in 2007, but while the Granite State has capital punishment on its books, including hanging, it has no facility to carry it out and has not executed anyone since 1939.

The New Hampshire Department of Corrections referred questions to the state’s attorney general’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment.

“He’ll never see death,” Whitney’s widow, Susan, 64, said resignedly. “He needs to die, I think, but not many do, not less they kill a police officer.

“It’s been seven years,” she tearfully said of her husband’s death, “and we’ve got three beautiful grandchildren he’s never seen.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1151878

[Janice]

To all the ‘girls’ I’ve loved before ...

Gary Lee Sampson once called himself a “try-sexual” . . . he’d try anything once. The list of his known lovers suggests he wasn’t lying. Anyone looking for love in his jail cell may want to consider his track record:

Ricky Dale Carter

This North Carolina transvestite played house with Sampson for two years and claimed to have endured Sampson’s beatings until Carter finally showed him the door for cheating on him with women . . . as well as with another tranny known as “Savannah.” He told the Herald in 2001 his frequent batterer called himself a “trysexual. He’d try anything once.”

Karen Anderson

The Bonnie to his Clyde, Anderson was accused of helping Sampson pull off multiple bank robberies in North Carolina. He called her “Kitten” and she once thought of him as her “knight in shining armor,” but in a Dear Jane letter, Sampson dumped her with, “I love you, but not that much.”

Amanda Sampson

Sampson abandoned his New Hampshire bride of three weeks in 1998 when she told him she was pregnant. “Get rid of it,” he demanded.

Molly Johnson

This mysterious Boston-area woman was a fixture at Sampson’s death penalty trial at U.S. District Court in 2003. Johnson insisted they were just penpals, but proudly showed off artwork he gave her, painted with jailhouse coffee, Kool-Aid and jelly beans as pigments. Their freakish friendship angered the families of Sampson’s murder victims.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1151883

[JamesG]

This is not the first time I have heard of this. Some women out there really love "the bad guys".

Serial killer Ted Bundy had groupies following him all around his many trials, wrote him love letters and marriage proposals; he even fathered a child when some woman had sex with him while incarcerated.

Serial killer Richard "The Night Stalker" Ramirez married a woman while on death row. She has vowed her love to Richard and states that when the time comes that he is executed that she will commit suicide after.

People are screwed up themselves and are attracted to people like this. There actually is a sexual fetish, Hybristophilia, that the people who have it are attracted to criminals who have committed henious crimes. It's unofficially called "The Bonnie & Clyde" syndrome.

[Janice]

There actually is a sexual fetish, Hybristophilia, that the people who have it are attracted to criminals who have committed henious crimes. It's unofficially called "The Bonnie & Clyde" syndrome.
Learn something new every day. I never heard of Hybristophilia. I know how it happens, just didn't know it had a name.

[OH Nuts!]

Yes, what is this THING groupies have for sociopaths. I don't get it.

Real charming guy. Reminds of a crocodile. Smiles at you with loving eyes and mouth, then bites your limbs off. They should let one of the victim's relatives pull the lever. Good riddance.

[robyrob]

the only lovin' that guy deserves is to be gang raped by a bear, a rhinoceros and a giant squid.

[JamesG]

Yes, what is this THING groupies have for sociopaths. I don't get it.


I think it has to do with the fact that these people stand out. Even look at people from school, the small and puny nerdy kid who nobody liked. Maybe one day he decides to play basketball and becomes the best player on the team or he joins debate and wins class president. Now he is in the center of the world and the object of many people's affection.

Society is for the most part bound by laws and when we discover someone not bound by law most people are fascinated and some are sexually attracted.

Also, some people say that it has to do with women's "motherly instincts" and they are drawn to people like this because they hope to be the savior of these people and offer them hope, love, or whatever have you.

I think those are the best concepts on why people are attracted to off-the-wall people like this.

[catlover79]

Learn something new every day. I never heard of Hybristophilia. I know how it happens, just didn't know it had a name.
That guy is just scary looking - and for good reason!! :eek: :seeya:

[JamesG]

That guy is just scary looking - and for good reason!! :eek: :seeya:

Actually, Sampson (to me) really isn't that bad looking. That's probably how he got himself into people's cars when he was hitchhiking. Nobody wants to pick up rugged and homeless looking people out on the road.

[Chocoholic]

Why do they even have Internet access in prisons anyway? :rolleyes: These monsters shouldn't even be allowed contact with the outside world. Just execute them already!

[JamesG]

Why do they even have Internet access in prisons anyway? :rolleyes: These monsters shouldn't even be allowed contact with the outside world. Just execute them already!

From what I understand inmates themselves do not have access to the internet or even a computer. They are allowed to communicate through the internet. Their attorney or whoever the prison approves acts like a messenger between the inmate and their web communications.

The prison monitors all communications to and from the inmate. I believe "The Son of Sam" does this. He has a forum somewhere where he gives people advice and occasionally updates about himself. The site makes it clear that he has no access to a computer himself and all communications go to and from the attorney.

[OH Nuts!]

I think it has to do with the fact that these people stand out. Even look at people from school, the small and puny nerdy kid who nobody liked. Maybe one day he decides to play basketball and becomes the best player on the team or he joins debate and wins class president. Now he is in the center of the world and the object of many people's affection.

Society is for the most part bound by laws and when we discover someone not bound by law most people are fascinated and some are sexually attracted.

Also, some people say that it has to do with women's "motherly instincts" and they are drawn to people like this because they hope to be the savior of these people and offer them hope, love, or whatever have you.

I think those are the best concepts on why people are attracted to off-the-wall people like this.


My intent was to be rhetorical but yes these reasons do make sense and explain a good portion of the twisted phenomena.

what disturbs me abt these groupies is their obliviousness to the overall picture. LOOK AT WHAT THE PERSON DID! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF THIS PERSON DID THIS TO SOMEONE YOU LOVED? When I view these criminals (sociopaths) this way - that they could do to THE HORRIFIC things they did without guilt or remorse, I can't help concluding they're beyond rehabilitation.

[catlover79]

My intent was to be rhetorical but yes these reasons do make sense and explain a good portion of the twisted phenomena.

what disturbs me abt these groupies is their obliviousness to the overall picture. LOOK AT WHAT THE PERSON DID! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF THIS PERSON DID THIS TO SOMEONE YOU LOVED? When I view these criminals (sociopaths) this way - that they could do to THE HORRIFIC things they did without guilt or remorse, I can't help concluding they're beyond rehabilitation.
I have to concur with you on this one, Rich. It boggles the mind, doesn't it? ohno:

[OH Nuts!]

I have to concur with you on this one, Rich. It boggles the mind, doesn't it? ohno:

It sure does!

[Chocoholic]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]what disturbs me abt these groupies is their obliviousness to the overall picture. LOOK AT WHAT THE PERSON DID! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF THIS PERSON DID THIS TO SOMEONE YOU LOVED? When I view these criminals (sociopaths) this way - that they could do to THE HORRIFIC things they did without guilt or remorse, I can't help concluding they're beyond rehabilitation.

I feel the same way about death penalty opponents. I don't see how they can support these monsters. Where were they when the killer decided to execute their victims? In my opinion, they are getting exactly what they deserve and they will also have to answer to a higher authority once they're dead.

It even says in the Bible that he who kills must pay with his own life.

[catlover79]

I feel the same way about death penalty opponents. I don't see how they can support these monsters. Where were they when the killer decided to execute their victims? In my opinion, they are getting exactly what they deserve and they will also have to answer to a higher authority once they're dead.

It even says in the Bible that he who kills must pay with his own life.
"An eye for an eye". You're right.

[JamesG]

My intent was to be rhetorical but yes these reasons do make sense and explain a good portion of the twisted phenomena.

what disturbs me abt these groupies is their obliviousness to the overall picture. LOOK AT WHAT THE PERSON DID! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF THIS PERSON DID THIS TO SOMEONE YOU LOVED? When I view these criminals (sociopaths) this way - that they could do to THE HORRIFIC things they did without guilt or remorse, I can't help concluding they're beyond rehabilitation.

There is a great book out there The Stranger Beside Me. It's written by some woman who met a friend when they both worked at a suicide hotline crisis center. The woman the person befriended was Ted Bundy.

Even she went on to explain about the groupies that if he were free and he came across them alone on a dark night that they were just the type of potential victim that he would be looking for.

Sociopaths are beyond rehabilitation. They lack empathy and their sexual gratification is more important than your life. What also boggles my mind is that these people are not crazy as far as the law and medical opinions are concerned. Psychiatrists have stated that these people's crimes were sickening but they are not sick nor insane. They are more "bad" and within full control with what they are doing.

[Hollow]

From what I understand inmates themselves do not have access to the internet or even a computer. They are allowed to communicate through the internet. Their attorney or whoever the prison approves acts like a messenger between the inmate and their web communications.

The prison monitors all communications to and from the inmate. I believe "The Son of Sam" does this. He has a forum somewhere where he gives people advice and occasionally updates about himself. The site makes it clear that he has no access to a computer himself and all communications go to and from the attorney.
yeah, that's the way it is. i look at inmate profiles on prison penpal web sites often, and the only way to contact them is through the mail. their attorney sets up and monitors the profile.

[Hollow]

There is a great book out there The Stranger Beside Me. It's written by some woman who met a friend when they both worked at a suicide hotline crisis center. The woman the person befriended was Ted Bundy.

Even she went on to explain about the groupies that if he were free and he came across them alone on a dark night that they were just the type of potential victim that he would be looking for.

Sociopaths are beyond rehabilitation. They lack empathy and their sexual gratification is more important than your life. What also boggles my mind is that these people are not crazy as far as the law and medical opinions are concerned. Psychiatrists have stated that these people's crimes were sickening but they are not sick nor insane. They are more "bad" and within full control with what they are doing.
it's kind of a good thing that sociopathy isn't a psychotic disorder because it means that people like mr. death row valentine were in total control and knew exactly what they were doing when they committed their crimes. if an untreated schizophrenic answered a knock at the door, he may gather the delusion (it would happen beyond what he could control) that the person there is posing a serious threat to his life, and kill them in self defense. a sociopath in the same situation would know that there's no threat, but may kill them anyway just for the hell of it. it's a sad thing that these people are unable to feel the pain of guilt for murdering the innocent, but at least they can't use the "i'm crazy" excuse.

[JamesG]

it's kind of a good thing that sociopathy isn't a psychotic disorder because it means that people like mr. death row valentine were in total control and knew exactly what they were doing when they committed their crimes. if an untreated schizophrenic answered a knock at the door, he may gather the delusion (it would happen beyond what he could control) that the person there is posing a serious threat to his life, and kill them in self defense. a sociopath in the same situation would know that there's no threat, but may kill them anyway just for the hell of it. it's a sad thing that these people are unable to feel the pain of guilt for murdering the innocent, but at least they can't use the "i'm crazy" excuse.

Yep, they are "crazy" in layman's terms but legally and clinically nope.