'Till Death Do Us Part: Love, Marriage, and the Mind of the Killer Spouse (12 page)

I had an opportunity to meet Lori’s mother, Thelma, during an
Oprah
program we did together. She is one of the loveliest people I have ever met. Still in pain over the loss of her daughter, she was trying to reconcile the two different Marks: the Mark that she loved and the Mark who lied and ultimately killed her daughter.

It was impossible for her to understand why he did not just walk away. She recalled how Mark’s family blamed his problems on an accident that left him with a brain seizure. The medical information does not support this theory in causing his murderous behaviors. In reality, Mark Hacking had two sides. There was always an invisible screen separating him from others, a barrier he would find impossible to cross. He was left with two contradictory views of himself, one of his being superior and one of being inferior. Most of the time he lived in his head as he choreographed his own autobiography. The life he created through his lies was so much more exciting than the life he was actually living. His reality was not as enjoyable as his wished-for reality. It sustained him, and he could not live without it. It was like his antidepressant or antipsychotic medication. It was lifesaving and solved the conflict between himself and the world. What can compete with this kind of fantasy world?

Mark made himself heroic and his world dramatic. His friendly façade brilliantly masked his deep antagonism and hostility that even he feared. When he was playing the role of the successful Mark Hacking, all of his destructive urges and fiery aggression disappeared. His bitterness and fury rightfully frightened him. His fake life protected and relieved him from the intolerable pain he felt about his failure to live up to his own and other people’s standards.

When Lori took this coping or defense mechanism away from him, there was nothing to stop his rage, his anger, and his diminished self-esteem. She had hit his Achilles’ heel, the most vulnerable place in his psychic armor. He had thought love would stop his pain, not make it worse. He was pushed over the edge in a way that he never would have predicted. Lying was the only way he knew how to live in the world. He was not going to let Lori or anyone else take that away from him. If that meant murder, then so be it.

5

The Black Widow/Profit Killer

T
HE
Black Widow Killer was named after the Latrodectus, a venomous and deadly spider that bites fast and hard and comes out of nowhere to mercilessly kill its victims. The Black Widow Killer is a woman who systematically murders a single or multiple spouses, partners, other family members, or individuals outside of the family with whom she has developed a personal and usually intimate relationship. However, the Black Widow overwhelmingly prefers to kill a trusted spouse or intimate partner.

This type of killer typically begins her criminal career after the age of twenty-five and may go on actively killing victims for a period of ten years and/or until she gets caught. Unlike Hollywood’s glamorized portrayal of these women, such as Sharon Stone in
Basic Instinct
or Theresa Russell in
Black Widow,
they are not particularly glamorous or beautiful. In reality they tend to be more “Plain Jane–ish,” which makes their diabolical abilities particularly intriguing to the outside world. The typical American Black Widow relies on her ability to win the confidence and trust of those whom she will ultimately murder, with gaining that trust an essential prerequisite to her attacks. The Black Widow’s perceived role as confidante to her eventual victims often provides her with the perfect alibi, and she is able to attack her victims with great precision. Poison is often her lethal weapon of choice; the death is slow and usually requires a long period of time.

This type of murderer usually has only one motive: profit. She tends to murder for life insurance proceeds or to receive her victim’s financial assets. On rare occasions, rage and revenge also factor into her motive. She has an insatiable appetite for money; no amount is ever enough. When she needs more cash, her murderous impulses strike again, usually in a quiet, careful, and often undetected manner.

* * * * *

S
UCH
was the case of
JULIA LYNN TURNER
.

In March 1995, Maurice Glenn Turner, a Cobb County, Georgia, police officer, was taken to the emergency room at a local hospital, suffering from flulike symptoms. He was treated and released. The next day, Glenn, thirty-one, died. His death, said the coroner, was the result of an enlarged heart.

The day after Glenn’s funeral his wife, Lynn (as she was known), called her husband’s insurance company to put in a claim for benefits. As his sole beneficiary she was entitled to $110,000. She also received nearly $50,000 in employee benefits and a monthly pension check of nearly $800. Less than a week after her husband’s death, Lynn, thirty, rented a new apartment with another man, Randy Thompson, a firefighter. The couple had been romantically involved, though Randy was unaware that Lynn was married. Following Glenn’s death the couple even took a vacation to the Caribbean, with Lynn paying the bill with her insurance money.

Lynn and Randy lived together for the next four years, their relationship producing two children before ending amicably in 1998. They remained intimate, and in January 2001, Randy, then thirty-one, visited the emergency room complaining of flulike symptoms following a dinner date with Lynn. He died shortly after his visit to the hospital, the cause of death initially determined to be heart failure. Lynn again applied for death benefits and this time received $36,000, which she used to clear up her credit cards and charges for thirty-three bounced checks. Several months later the mothers of Glenn Turner and Randy Thompson traded letters. They couldn’t help but take notice that their sons had died after suffering similar symptoms, and both had been involved with Lynn. Their concerns reached the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which opened an investigation focusing first on Randy Thompson, whose tissues were examined and found to contain calcium oxalate crystals, which could only have come from ethylene glycol poisoning. Ethylene glycol is found in antifreeze and even small doses can kill a person in a short period of time.

Investigators then exhumed Glenn Turner’s body, six years after his death. He, too, had calcium oxalate crystals in his system. Investigators reviewed the police file on his death and saw two things that piqued their interest: a photo from the Turners’ basement of a gasoline can and a bottle of antifreeze, and Lynn’s statement that she gave her husband Jell-O several hours before he died. Investigators also learned that Glenn was contemplating a divorce.

The couple had married in August 1993 near Atlanta. Lynn had once worked in the district attorney’s office and was a 911 operator when they met. Within a week after exchanging wedding vows Lynn demanded that Glenn make changes in his life insurance policy, which had listed his mother as beneficiary. Lynn wanted to be the beneficiary, and Glenn made the change, telling his insurance agent that his new wife was pressing him hard. Less than a year later the marriage had already hit rock bottom. Glenn and Lynn slept in separate beds, and her spending habits were so out of control Glenn had to take on an extra job for $7 an hour in order to pay their bills. While Glenn was trying to make ends meet, Lynn would go away every weekend. Glenn didn’t know that his wife was involved in a torrid affair with Randy Thompson. He confided to a friend about the sorry state of his relationship with Lynn and said if things didn’t improve he was going to file for divorce but that he first planned to talk to Lynn. A week later he was dead.

Police interviews with friends and family recalled how Lynn remained unemotional throughout Glenn’s funeral, and how she didn’t want her name in her husband’s obituary. While everyone knew her as Lynn she wanted her real name, Julia, used in the notice. Several days later she moved in with Randy, and six years later Randy was dead. His friends and family, like those of Glenn Turner, told investigators there were few, if any, tears from Lynn during his funeral.

Police eventually arrested Lynn and charged her with murdering Glenn Turner, alleging that she had poisoned her husband by placing ethylene glycol in his Jell-O. During her trial in 2004 witnesses told of how she visited the local animal shelter inquiring about euthanizing cats and dogs, and experts on ethylene glycol poisoning told of their belief that Lynn gave her husband small doses, first to make him ill, then eventually to kill him. The judge also allowed testimony relating to the death of Randy Thompson, and experts said he, too, died from small doses of the same poison. It was a second dose given to him following his return from the hospital that killed him, they said. The jury found Lynn guilty of “malice murder,” and she was sentenced to life in prison. In late 2004 she was indicted and charged with murdering Randy Thompson.

Her motivation in both murders, said prosecutors, was the insurance money.

* * * * *

A
CCORDING
to Wilson and Daly, when it comes to intimate-partner murders, women commit seven murders for every ten committed by men. In some cities, such as Detroit, women killed more intimate partners by a 2 to 1 margin. And females who kill are documented as killing family members more often than they commit any other type of murder. In some cases there is a history of abuse within the household. In others infidelity is the cause. For the Black Widow, it’s all about the money.

Emotions such as empathy, caring, remorse, and sympathy are absent in such women, especially those with a history of abuse. They suffer from an inability to feel connected to an environment that once made them feel safe and secure: But they are generally very intelligent; they will study the effects of and reactions to toxic substances for hours and search for ways to have poisons mimic other types of diagnosable illnesses. Sometimes the Black Widow will rely on specific agents she knows her husband or partner is violently allergic to, such as nuts, bee stings, or shellfish, in order to cause his untimely death.

Traditionally, Black Widows meet their husbands through widows’ or widowers’ clubs, lonely-hearts ads, or mutual acquaintances. It is not uncommon to successfully kill off one spouse, collect his money, and then move to a new location. The Black Widow’s façade tends to hold up well, at least initially, partly because our society places so much faith in the notion of the trustworthy, faithful wife and mother. To think anything else about women and womanhood is too disturbing. The Black Widow knows this and deliberately targets those who are likely to trust her the most.

Glenn Turner knew his wife did not care for him. She even told him so during a heated argument, saying that she had never loved him. That was in marked contrast to what she claimed at the beginning of their relationship, when Lynn seduced Glenn with expensive gifts. It was after they married that friends saw subtle signs that something was amiss. During Lynn’s trial they testified that she was seen reading a
Physicians’ Desk Reference,
saying she was “interested in medicine and how the body worked.” And at Glenn’s funeral she infuriated everyone by wearing a hot-pink suit; her demeanor was cold and icy and she failed to shed any tears.

Lynn thought things would be different the second time around with Randy Thompson. Unlike Glenn, who she believed to be nothing but a wimp, and an easy target to kill, things were different with Randy. She loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. They even had two beautiful children together. But just like all the other men in her life, Randy eventually disappointed her.

Lynn had an aberrant form of OCD, otherwise known as obsessive compulsive disorder, which was evident in the perfectionist quality of her murders. She did the same thing in precisely the same way to both men. She saw both men in an emotionally detached way, used the same poison, and killed both for greed. She was like a little kid who sets up her blocks in the same way, repeating the pattern over and over and over again. Once Lynn entered into a relationship with each man, whatever distinct characteristics he possessed were lost. One was no different from the other—each was just a means to an end. For Lynn, they were nothing more than walking and talking ATM machines. And even though her motive seemed to be financial and centered on survival, she experienced a perverse satisfaction in the destruction of both of these men.

At her core, Lynn functioned like a woman who was abandoned, either physically or emotionally, by her father. One thing that is interesting about Lynn is that she did not target the Donald Trumps of her world. She did not pursue high earners such as doctors, lawyers, or investment bankers. Instead, she set her sights on lower-profile men, one a police officer and the other a firefighter. Unconsciously she sought the type of men she thought could both protect and demean her, a pair of behaviors she was used to. With both men she initially tried to be the “good enough girlfriend.” She bought them gifts, which is the way some women believe they are supposed to behave if they want to win the prize. And Lynn was always good at getting her prize. When she killed the two men, there was a childlike/immature and repetitive quality about her crimes.

Killing became a compulsion, driven by an unconscious need to get caught. Lynn realized that once you step over that line, especially when it is so darn easy, it is really hard not to do it again. The successful crime leaves a neurological imprint in the brain. The route is already established to relieving tension in this way, so the next time there is tension it becomes harder to resist taking murderous action. It is as if a person is on autopilot.

That is exactly how Lynn felt the second time around—like she was on autopilot. The truth of the matter is, for Lynn, neither of these men treated her properly. Neither one knew how to take care of her emotionally or financially. Was killing them so wrong? Maybe the next time around she would get it right.

* * * * *

F
OR
KIMBERLY HRICKO
, getting it right meant setting in motion her plan for murder.