GROUPIES WORKSHIP THE DEVIL Flood of fan mail for Parkland fiend
The confessed gunman behind the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Fla., is being showered with fan mail in jail — including pictures of scantily clad women — as well as cash contributions to his commissary account, a report said Thursday.
Teenage girls, women and men have sent the adoring letters to Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Jail, where he is being held on charges of killing 17 people at the school, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
The ghoulish groupies also are joining Facebook communities to discuss ways to help Cruz, 19, avoid the death penalty, according to the newspaper, which obtained copies of some of the letters.
On March 15, a Texas teen sent a letter in an envelope adorned with happy faces and hearts.
“I’m 18-years-old. I’m a senior in high school. When I saw your picture on the television, something attracted me to you,” she wrote. “Your eyes are beautiful and the freckles on your face make you so handsome.”
She described herself as white with big, brown eyes and said, “I’m really skinny and have 34C sized breasts,” before ending with juvenile jokes about gummy bears and peanut butter.
Inside a greeting card sent to the jail’s post-office box in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., six days after the Feb. 14 massacre, a Texas woman wrote, “I reserve the right to care about you, Nikolas!”
The card features a bunny holding binoculars looking out at the ocean. Inside, it reads, “Out of sight, but never out of mind.”
An 18-year-old New Yorker wrote him: “No one else is dealing w/your demons, meaning maybe defeating them could be the beginning of your meaning, friend. I know you could use a good friend right now. Hang in there and keep your head up.”
And a woman from Chicago sent Cruz nine suggestive pictures, in- cluding a shot of her cleavage, another of her in a skimpy bikini sucking a Popsicle and a tight shot of her rear end as she bent over.
Cruz’s attorney, Howard Finkelstein, said he was troubled by the flood of support and added that his client, who is on suicide watch, has not seen any of the mail.
“In my 40 years as public defender, I’ve never seen this many letters to a defendant. Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this,” Finkelstein told the Sun Sentinel.
Fans also apparently sent Cruz $800 for his commissary account, which inmates use to buy snacks, coffee and personal hygiene products, the lawyer said.
On Facebook, a now-private page called “Nikolas Cruz — the First Victim” included a woman’s request for photos for a collage to send to the killer.
“I want him to see how many people love and care for him and all the beautiful faces,” she wrote, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The group’s page described it as “in complete support of Nikolas Cruz. Whether or not he did this, he was completely failed. He deserved to get the help he needs and he deserves a fair trial.”
California forensic psychiatrist and author Carole Lieberman called Cruz “a magnet for women who want to save him.”
“He looks like such a sad and lonely figure,” said Lieberman, author of “Bad Boys: Why We Love Them, How to Live with Them and When to Leave Them.” “Women who become pen pals and groupies of killers in prison are those who have had a dysfunctional relationship with their dad that has made them feel unlovable.”
Finkelstein said he feared regular boys and girls were starting to admire Cruz’s notoriety.
“The letters shake me up because they are written by regular, everyday teenage girls from across the nation,” he said. “That scares me. It’s perverted.”