Find out exactly why guys on death row somehow always get married!
Unexpected Love Where’s an unexpected place to find love?
Yeah, that’s right, prison.
If we were on Death Row, one of the last things on our mind would be love.
But inmates getting married actually happens way more often than you expect!
There’s actually a word and a condition for having an attraction to someone that’s
committed a crime.
It’s called hybristophilia!
The term is derived from the ancient Greek words hubrizein and philo.
Hubrizein means "to commit an outrage against someone" , and philo means "having a strong
affinity/preference for".
It's also known as Bonnie and Clyde syndrome.
This is the most likely reason why someone like Ted Bundy ended up married and becoming
a father after getting into prison.
Or why both of the Menendez Brothers are currently married, despite being in prison for almost
30 years!
Power Dynamic But why?
What are the real reasons?
Psychology bloggers have presented different theories for why someone would be attracted
to someone in prison.
This included the desire to change that person.
Or the tendency to only see the good in that person, such as seeing someone that’s been
hurt instead of the actual flawed criminal.
Sometimes some women just do it to try to get in on the media spotlight!
Author Sheila Isenberg interviewed female hybristophiliacs for one of her books.
What she found out was quite interesting.
A lot of the women were doing it for the fantasy element of it all.
That and along with having control.
Obviously, if her man is behind bars and she’s out in society, she has control in the relationship.
She can decide when to visit.
She can choose when to take phone calls.
Or decide whether or not she’ll even accept the calls!
She’s that man’s primary link with the outside world.
So as you can clearly see, it's a powerful position to be in!
Taboo Excitement Then there's the taboo danger part to the
romance.
Obviously there’s still a danger to it when the person they’re with could just snap
at any moment.
And then there’s the hyper-masculine aggressive part that’s appealing to some women.
That’s according to Dr. Michael Aaron, a NYC-based therapist.
So do men get these same feelings too?
While the vast majority is women, some guys can have the same feelings for women in prison
as well!
According to Aaron, these guys may also be attracted to the thrill and emotional intensity
women on death row stir up.
But it’s nowhere as many as their women counterparts, just for the simple fact that
there are way fewer women locked up.
Basically, it sounds like these women are attracted to guys who are a bit primal!
They’re into going against social standards.
There’s just something for them going against the normal, polite and groomed ways society
expects.
One Big Fantasy Women that have been interviewed admitted
that they never actually want to be in real danger.
They’re essentially just wanting to play out a fantasy that’s in their head.
The total lack of empathy for human life is one of the major draws.
But it isn’t what the women ACTUALLY believe in.
Katherine Ramsland, professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University, has also
heard one special theory.
One woman told her of the notion of the 'perfect boyfriend'.
How?
Well, she knows where he is at all times.
She knows that he's thinking about her, because what much else is going on in prison?
Also she knows that someone loves her.
BUT she doesn’t have to endure the day-to-day issues involved in most relationships.
There’s no laundry to do, no cooking for him, and no accountability to him.
Apparently, she can keep the fantasy charged up for a long time!
Hindbrain Engaging Psychologist Leon F. Seltzer thinks that most
of it is based on evolutionary psychology.
This is the textbook case of alpha males that tend to attract women.
This is because alpha males were good at protecting women and their offspring according to evolutionary
history.
He says the women may consciously realize that it’s actually dumb to date someone
that’s a serious criminal.
BUT.
They’re attracted to them anyways.
Basically, the hindbrain takes over!
This is essentially the extreme version of why women don’t quote unquote, want to date
nice guys!
Women becoming infatuated with guys on death row happens over and over.
There are plenty of examples.
Carol Anne Boone, for example, married Ted Bundy and had his child.
Richard Ramirez married magazine editor Doreen Lioy while in prison.
And probably the most famous example is Charles Manson!
He was granted a marriage license in 2014 to marry Afton Elaine Burton.
She had been visiting him for the previous nine years.
The two never ended up swapping vows before Manson passed in November of 2017 at the age
of 83.
However, later reports alleged that his 26-year-old bride-to-be only wanted him to make money.
Apparently, she wanted to keep him in a crypt and charge people money to come and look at
his body!
Yeah, that’s not weird.
But we bet she was still attracted to him.
Widespread Popularity But if you really think about it, this is
one reason why TV series discussing serial killers are big hits.
Society doesn’t really want to admit that the serial killer is a figure that fascinates
the public.
Just think of the true crime wave that’s taken over pop culture.
The hit podcast Serial introduced the world to Adnan Syed and his quote "dairy cow brown
eyes" in 2014.
Then there was Netflix's Making a Murderer that debuted in 2015.
Whether they like to admit it or not, people are interested in all the details about things
that they would never do themselves.
It's the whole trying to understand someone whose psychological level that’s just not
normal.
Plus, the media circus of major cases are the driving force behind these women reaching
out to connect with the prisoners in the first place.
If there wasn’t coverage, most people would never know about these guys.
Steven Avery And ironically, Netflix gave viewers a front-row
seat to one of these relationships in Making a Murderer Part Two.
The docu-series became a one person Tinder app for Steven Avery!
Part 1 introduced us to a few of Avery's girlfriends, including his former-fiancé Sandra Greenman.
In between the two seasons, his love life played out in the tabloids.
After splitting from Sandra, Avery began dating Lynn Hartman.
She began writing to Avery in prison to quote "offer some kind of support", as she explained
during her brief appearance in Part 2.
Avery acknowledged all the attention he was receiving from female fans.
The couple got engaged before they actually met for the first time.
Hartman even appeared on Dr. Phil to discuss their relationship!
However, a few days after they filmed the episode, the couple's engagement abruptly
ended.
Hartman sent the break-up note she wrote Avery to the media, along with posing in the dress
she bought for their wedding in a televised interview.
Yeah, it definitely seemed like she was in it for the spotlight!
Nikko Jenkins Another example is Nikko Jenkins.
Nikko is on death row for disposing of four people during an eight-day crime spree in
Nebraska back in August 2013.
Dawn Arguello fell for Nikko Jenkins while volunteering for an inmate advocacy group.
According to her, he's actually 'very sensitive' and 'very intelligent'.
Yeah, sounds about right!
Jenkins has been described by a psychiatrist as a psychopath.
He went on his shooting spree less than two weeks after he was released from prison for
stealing cars.
Really, it's unclear as to what they’ve bonded over.
However she does appear to have a strong interest in prison life.
In addition to belonging to a prison advocacy group, Arguello's Facebook profile lists her
favorite film as Letters From Death Row.
She lists her favorite book is Real Life Monsters: A Psychological Examination of the Serial
Murderer.
However, one of Arguello's friends insists that she's not a 'death row groupie'.
Well, that’s definitely one way to be self-aware!
Oscar Ray Bolin But it's not always the "groupies" that marry
the guys on death row.
Lawyers get in on the action too?!
Oscar Ray Bolin was on death row when he married Rosalie Martinez, a member of his legal defense
team.
Martinez left her husband and gave up primary custody of their four children for Bolin and
the two remained married until January 2016 when it was his turn for the ahem, injection!
She confessed that she quote, never, never, ever thought for a second that he was guilty.
She said that during a 20/20 special on their relationship!
Jeremy Meeks Then there’s Jeremy Meeks.
Although he wasn’t on death row, his story still is essentially the same here.
You likely wouldn’t ever know anything about this guy who police had called quote “one
of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area” if he wasn’t good looking.
But his mugshot went viral after the Stockton Police Department posted it on their Facebook
and he was on a lot of people’s radar!
After he served a couple years in prison, he became a prominent model and ended up working
for several well known brands such as Philip Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.
The best part?
He went on to date a billionaire’s daughter, Chloe Green, and she had a kid with him.
All this from one mugshot going viral!
Crime definitely pays for SOME people!
Watch this next video to learn all about how this guy scammed almost 40 million dollars!