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Holmes, seen here in a Colorado courtroom in June, established profiles at AdultFriendFinder.com and Match.com prior to the massacre on July 20, 2012. Prosecutors said they plan to use the accounts to show Holmes knew the shootings were wrong, undercutting his insanity plea. (AP/The Denver Post)![DrewPeterson]()
Drew Peterson, seen here in 2009, was convicted last year of killing his third wife, but that didn't stop three male pen pals from reportedly contacting the former cop. “Not only are they writing him letters, but they are putting money into his prison spending account so he can buy extra food for himself in the prison commissary like Skittles and popcorn,” a source close to Peterson told the Chicago Sun-Times last year. (AP)![scottpeterson]()
Scott Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn child in 2002, reportedly received dozens of calls, letters and even two marriage proposals even before the killer landed on San Quentin Prison's death row. Peterson, 40, is now appealing his sentence. (AP/California Department of Corrections)![CharlesManson]()
A pen-pal relationship between Charles Manson, seen here last year at age 77, and a Kansas man has become the topic of a new book. The Hutchinson News reported in August that Bob George began a correspondence with Manson back in 1997, when George was a teacher at Dodge City High School seeking a fresh way to teach the psychology of cults to his students. His first response came from fellow inmate Roger Dale Smith, who introduced himself as Manson's secretary. Through Smith, Manson began communicating, asking for stamps and cigarettes. The insight into Manson led George to become a valuable source for author Jeff Quinn and the book, "Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson." (AP/California Department of Corrections)![Jeffrey_Dahmer_latino]()
Confessed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, seen here in 1991, had reportedly received at least $12,000 from letter-writers across the globe before he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate in 1994. The letters and gifts hailed from as far away as South Africa and included a $5,920 donation from a woman in London. (AP)![menendezbrothers]()
Lyle Menendez, left, who along with his brother Erik murdered his parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, married longtime pen pal and former Anna Eriksson in 1996. The pair divorced five years later. Erik Menendez also reportedly married Tammie Ruth Saccoman during a telephone ceremony at Folsom State Prison in 1997. (AP)![Jodi_Arias_020413]()
Jodi Arias, seen here in February, was found guilty in May of murdering boyfriend Travis Alexander in Phoenix. Arias has not yet been sentenced, but reportedly carries on a pen pal relationship with a 67-year-old Maine man who has also penned letters to Charles Manson and Richard Ramirez, a convicted killer dubbed the "Night Stalker" who died in prison earlier this year. In 1996, Ramirez married a magazine editor he met while incarcerated. (AP)![littlejohn661]()
Darryl Littlejohn, a New York City bar bouncer convicted of raping and killing graduate student Imette St. Guillen in 2006, reportedly sought pen pals earlier this year on prison pen-pal site FriendsBeyondtheWall.com. "I’m alone and really hope to find a true friend or two sincerely interested in establishing a meaningful relationship without mind games, lies and deceit," Littlejohn wrote. (AP/New York Department of Corrections)![rader661]()
Dennis Rader -- the infamous BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) murderer -- reportedly established a number of pen pals following his 2005 arrest and subsequent conviction, including one woman from the West Coast who felt she had nothing to lose writing the former church leader. The woman, identified in reports only as "Mable," said in 2005 she received four pages from Rader, who writes about his daily jail activities and his relationship with the church. (AP)![chambers661]()
"Preppie Killer" Robert Chambers, seen here in 2007, is notorious for the “rough sex” strangulation of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin in New York City's Central Park in 1986. Chambers, who had to be transferred to another prison because so many aspiring girlfriends were smuggling him contraband, was released in 2003. He was arrested again in 2004 and 2007 on drug charges, ultimately receiving a 19-year sentence. (AP)From Prison With Love: Notorious criminals seek connections behind bars
Prosecutors say James Holmes, the gunman charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 others during at a Colorado movie theater last year, set up accounts at two dating websites prior to the shooting, asking: "Will you visit me in prison?" And if history is any indicator, he'll likely attract a bevy of eligible paramours, much like other notorious U.S. criminals who have become targets of pen pals and so-called "prison groupies" desperate to make a connection with infamy.
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- From Prison With Love: Notorious criminals seek connections behind bars
