Have you ever heard of hybristophilia? It's a psychological condition where someone is aroused by the idea of someone else committing crime. While sitting behind bars - or glass, these days - Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, both Menendez brothers, and several members of the Manson family managed to find jailhouse romances. While it may seem strange, there are people who are attracted to convicted felons. Many of these people vowed wedlock even after their beaus' convictions - though in some cases, they continue to believe their partner is innocent even when the evidence suggests otherwise.
While those inside prison may just enjoy the companionship of a pen-pal, psychologists speculate that some are drawn to relationships with criminals because of the attention and pseudo-fame it affords. Whether it's true love or a grab at the limelight, read on to find a number of ladies (and one man) who all chose to marry inmates responsible for infamous crimes. It's unclear if they suffer from hybristophilia, but these people engaged in prison marriages with psychotic murderers, most of whom were sentenced to be incarcerated for the rest of their lives.
Philip Carl Jablonski was a serial rapist who was apprehended in 1978 for the murder of his former girlfriend and the mother of his child, Linda Kimball. While serving his sentence, Jablonski married Carol Spadoni in 1982. The couple initially became pen-pals after Spadoni responded to a newspaper ad Jablonski had written from prison, in which he depicted himself as "a gentle giant."
After his release in 1990, Jablonski would go on to assault and murder four more women, including his new wife, Carol Spadoni, as well as her mother, Eva Petersen. Jablonski was then sentenced to death.
Truck driver and former carnival worker Oscar Bolin, known as "Needles" on the road, was convicted in the deaths of three women in Florida. He was famously married to Rosalie Martinez, who was a member of his own legal defense team, while he was on death row in 1996.
Martinez left her husband, also a lawyer, to marry Bolin. Martinez said she made the dramatic move in part to demonstrate Bolin's innocence, which she never stopped believing in. The two remained married until his 2016 execution in Florida.
Richard Ramirez was the infamous "Night Stalker" serial killer and rapist, who terrorized the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas from 1984 to 1985. Ramirez received hundreds of letters from women in prison, including more than 75 letters from Doreen Lioy, a former magazine editor.
Ramirez proposed to Lioy in 1988, and the two married eight years later, in 1996. They wed in San Quentin Prison. Lioy insists that her husband is innocent: "He's kind, he's funny, he's charming [...] I think he's really a great person. He's my best friend; he's my buddy." They remained wed until Ramirez passed in 2013 while on death row.
Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was infamous for taking the lives of more than 30 women between 1974 and 1978. He was also known for being extremely handsome and charming. Perhaps that's why in 1980, a former coworker of Bundy's, Carole Ann Boone, married him after he famously proposed to her in court.
In fact, Bundy married her right then and there, using a bizarre loophole in Florida law stating that just a declaration of marriage in the presence of a judge constitutes a legal marriage. In 1982, Boone gave birth to Bundy's alleged daughter, even though conjugal visits weren't allowed in his Florida prison. Bundy was executed in 1989, but his marriage dissolved in 1986 at Boone's request.
Susan Atkins is another infamous member of the Manson Family. She was convicted for eight of the nine "Helter Skelter" murders committed by the group. Atkins would go on to marry twice while imprisoned. First, she married Donald Lee Laisure in 1981 - after Laisure had previously been married 35 times. Atkins had the marriage annulled after learning Laisure planned to marry yet another woman.
Then, in 1987, Atkins married James Whitehouse, a man 15 years her junior. He was a Harvard Law graduate - who actually represented Atkins during parole hearings. Their marriage continued until her passing in 2009.
Afton Elaine Burton Planned to Marry Charles Manson
Charles Manson was the leader of the Manson Family, a group of young people who infamously took the lives of nine people in Los Angeles. The deaths occurred over the course of five weeks, during the summer of 1969, though Manson was never convicted of killing anyone personally.
Manson reportedly started corresponding with Afton Elaine "Star" Buron when she was 17. The notorious cult leader intended to marry Buron, who was 53 years his junior, but their wedding was called off after it was discovered that Burton was attempting to make money from Manson by allegedly planning to display his corpse in LA once he had passed.
