The Man in the Monster
Page 30
Even Michael Ross believed the monster was evil, but I believe he would have done anything to cut the monster out of him if he could have. He detested it as much as anyone. Depo-Provera and Depo Lupron were as close as he came to chemotherapy or exorcism, but he couldn’t rid himself of the guilt or the culpability. The man I came to know was not evil; he was sick and tormented.
Had Michael Ross been given life without the possibility of parole, his case would have been over in 1987. Even though Ed Shelley might have been disappointed that Michael’s life was spared, he would have been spared nearly twenty years of court hearings. The state of Connecticut would have saved millions of dollars; the average death penalty case costs $2 million more than housing a prisoner for life. In Michael’s case, the two execution dates alone totaled nearly a half million dollars, and the state paid for defense and prosecution lawyers, judges, security, transportation, and court personnel for two trials and mandatory appeals. I am left wondering what his death actually accomplished.
I realized after his execution that I never told Michael that knowing him helped me get over my demons, perhaps because I didn’t fully comprehend it until he was gone. He was often irritating and demanding, but there were many of us who grew to like or even love him. I know he was thankful to have me as a friend, and I have to admit I felt the same way. Perhaps what I learned most from Michael Ross is that even the person who is supposed to be the worst of the worst is still a human being. Michael Ross taught me that profound Quaker tenet—all of us have a little of the divinity within us.
But ultimately Michael’s story is about everyone’s need to find forgiveness. I often catch myself thinking about Father John Gilmartin’s question, about what Michael would say to the women he murdered when he met them in heaven, and I’m sure it would be “Please forgive me.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people supported me during the nearly twenty years I was reporting and writing this manuscript, including my parents, Clara and Jack Elliott, who passed away before this book could become a reality. They provided me with the moral compass and courage to be willing to get to know Michael and be his friend. I am very grateful for the support of a few friends and family members who read drafts or kept me going in many ways: Lina and John Paul Beltran, Michael and Tracy Bollag, Rebecca Ditmore, Susan Elliott, the Reverend Rob Fischer, Ruth Friendly, Jack Hitt, Cynthia McFadden, Harry Sims, Joyce and Don Sipple, J. B. Stewart, the Reverend Ann Symington, and Dana White. I need to especially thank my dear friends Jenifer Stewart and Dede Lavas, who gave me their unwavering love and support.
Essential to this project was the cooperation and assistance of the people who were part of Michael’s story and helped me to understand it—Dr. Walter Borden, Jennifer Tabor Carcia, Ann Cole, Fred DeCaprio, Father John Gilmartin, Karen Goodrow, Dr. James Merikangas, Paula Montonye, Susan, Dan Ross, Peter Scillieri, Jennifer Shelley, and Pete and Frances Wolak. Special thanks go to Dr. Fred Berlin, Barry Butler, and Ed and Lera Shelley, who spent countless hours helping me.
This manuscript would not have become a book had it not been for the support of my agent, Wayne Kabak, as well as the vision of Ann Godoff, president and editor in chief of Penguin Press. My editor, senior editor Virginia Smith Younce and her former assistant, Kaitlin Flynn, gave me invaluable critiques and kept me working on the manuscript until I got it right. William Carnes, who later succeeded Kaitlin as Ginny’s assistant, was a crucial guide in getting this book to press. Thank you to the countless others at Penguin Random House who worked behind the scenes to make this book a reality.
My three children, Hannah, James, and Hadley Cornell, gave me loving support and almost always understood when I took Michael’s calls at all hours of the night and day or worked on the book during weekends and holidays. I am especially in debt to Hadley, who has her doctorate in clinical psychology and read several drafts of the book.
Of course, ultimately I am most grateful to Michael Ross, who spent ten years confiding his innermost thoughts to me. Without his trust, his story could never have been told.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, III (1980), III-R (1987), IV (1994), and IV-R (2000). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.
Berlin, Fred S. “Issues in the Exploration of Biological Factors Contributing to the Etiology of the ‘Sex Offender,’ plus Some Ethical Considerations.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 528 (Aug. 1988): 183–92.
Berry-Dee, Christopher. Talking with Serial Killers: The Most Evil People in the World of Their Own. London: John Blake, 2003.
Blume, John H. “Killing the Willing: ‘Volunteers,’ Suicide and Competency.” Michigan Law Review 103 (2004–5): 941–1009.
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Random House: 1965.
Clarke, Karen. “Life on Death Row.” Connecticut, Mar. 1990, 51–67.
“Criminal Law—Constitutional Law—Due Process—Equal Protection.” Tulane Law Review 2 (1947).
diGenova, Joseph E., and Victoria Toensing. “Bringing Sanity to the Insanity Defense.” American Bar Association Journal 69, no. 4 (Apr. 1983): 466–70.
Elliott, Martha J. H. “Why a Killer Offers to Die.” Connecticut Law Tribune, Apr. 29, 1996.
Friendly, Fred W., and Martha J. H. Elliott. The Constitution: That Delicate Balance. New York: Random House, 1984.
Freund, Kurt. “In Search of an Etiological Model of Pedophilia.” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 62, supplement 287 (1988): 1–39.
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972).
Greg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976).
Greenfeld, Lawrence A. An Analysis of Data on Rape and Sexual Assault. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Feb. 1997, 1–40.
In Re Kemmler, 136 U.S. 436 (1890).
Klausner, Lawrence. Son of Sam: Based on the Authorized Transcription of the Tapes, Official Documents and Diaries of David Berkowitz. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.
Krueger, Richard B. “The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Sexual Sadism.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 39, no. 2 (Dec. 2009): 325–45.
Mailer, Norman. The Executioner’s Song. New York: Hutchinson, 1979.
Meager, Bruce J. “Capital Punishment: A Review of Recent Supreme Court Decisions.” Notre Dame Lawyer 52 (Dec. 1976): 261–89.
Merikangas, James R., ed. Brain-Behavior Relationships. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1988. See especially 155–56.
Morris, Norval. Madness and the Criminal Law, University of Chicago Press, 1982.
Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. New York: Checkmark Books, 2002.
Peters, Kimberly A. “Chemical Castration: An Alternative to Incarceration.” Duquesne Law Review 31 (1993): 307–28.
Prejean, Helen. Dead Man Walking. New York: Vintage, 1994.
Powell v. Texas, 92 U.S. 514 (1968).
Ramsland, Katherine. The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds. New York: Berkley, 2010.
———. Inside the Minds of Serial Killers: Why They Kill. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006.
Rhodes. Richard. Why They Kill: Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist. New York: Vintage, 2000.
Ross, Michael. “It’s Time for Me to Die.” Northeast magazine, Hartford Courant, Mar. 1995.
———. “My Journey Toward the Light.” Medjurgorje Magazine: Summer 1996.
———. “Reflections from Death Row.” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 4 (Nov. 1, 1997).
———. Select correspondence.
———. “Thoughts on Forgiveness.” The Monthly Aspectarian, November 1997.
Rule, Ann. The Stranger Beside Me. New York: Norton, 2000.
Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. New York: Touchstone, 1998.
Stone, Alan. “The Insanity Defense on Trial.” Harvard Law School Bulletin 33, no. 1 (Fal
l 1982).
Vronsky, Peter. Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. New York: Penguin, 2004.
West, Donald J., and Alexander Walk, eds. Daniel McNaughton: His Trial and the Aftermath. London: Gaskell, 1977.
Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Harper, 1998.
Winslade, William J., and Judith Wilson Ross. The Insanity Plea: The Uses and Abuses of the Insanity Defense. New York: Scribner, 1983.
INTERVIEWS
Some of the people who agreed to talk to me asked that they not be quoted directly or mentioned as a source. The following is a list of the people I interviewed who agreed to be identified as sources:
Dr. Fred Berlin
Dr. Walter Borden
Barry Butler
Jennifer Carcia
Ann Cole
Fred DeCaprio
Father John Gilmartin
Karen Goodrow
Michael Malchik
Dr. James Merikangas
Paula Montonye
Michael Ross
C. Robert Satti Jr.
Peter Scillieri
Ed and Lera Shelley
Jennifer Shelley
Susan
Pete and Frances Wolak
UNPUBLISHED ARCHIVAL SOURCES
It would be impossible to list every unpublished document used for this book. What follows is a list of the major sources referenced in the manuscript.
Autopsy reports in the deaths of Wendy Baribeault, April Brunais, Leslie Shelley, and Robin Stavinsky.
Connecticut State Police reports investigating attacks of “Carol” in North Carolina, summarizing reports of state and local police.
Connecticut State Police reports investigating attacks of “Priscilla” in Ohio, summarizing reports of state and local police.
Connecticut State Police reports investigating the deaths of Wendy Baribeault, April Brunais, Leslie Shelley, Robin Stavinsky, Debra Smith Taylor, and Tammy Williams.
Connecticut State Police reports investigating the deaths of Dzung Ngoc Tu and Paula Perrera.
Cornell University Campus Police reports investigating rapes on campus 1980–81 and the death of Dzung Ngoc Tu.
Crime scene photos concerning the deaths of Wendy Baribeault, April Brunais, Leslie Shelley, and Robin Stavinsky.
Ithaca police reports investigating rapes at Cornell and the death of Dzung Ngoc Tu.
Journals of Michael Ross, vol. 1–4, May 12, 1977–October 18, 1998.
Johnstown, Ohio, police reports investigating the attack on “Sharon.”
Illinois police reports in connection with the attack on “Priscilla.”
Letters from Michael Ross to Martha Elliott, 1995–2005.
Letter from Michael Ross to State’s Attorney C. Robert Satti Sr.
Letters from Michael Ross to Susan, 2005.
Letters from Michael Ross to various family members.
Letters from Lera Shelley to Martha Elliott, 2000–2011.
Letter from Dr. Robert Miller to State’s Attorney C. Robert Satti Sr.
Letters to Michael Ross from members of his family.
Letter to Michael Ross from Jennifer Shelley.
Letter from Jennifer Shelley to Michael Ross.
Psychiatric evaluations by Dr. Fred Berlin, Dr. Walter Borden, Dr. Raymond DuCharme, Dr. Michael Eligenstein, Dr. John Cegalis, and Dr. James Merikangas.
State v. Ross, trial transcript, Mar. 1987–June 4, 1987.
Transcript of closed hearing before Judge Seymour Hendel.
Transcript of taped confession of Michael Ross.
Videotapes, psychiatric evaluations by Dr. Howard Zonana, 1985, tapes 1–6.
Walking with Michael, newsletters from Michael Ross to people all over the world, 1996–2005.
Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!