Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream: A Forensic Psychiatrist Illuminates the Darker Side of Human Behavior (14 page)

The emergence of rape crisis centers in the 1970s has been instrumental in the early treatment of rape victims. These centers remain an essential source of the emotional support that enables victims to deal effectively with the psychological traumas caused by rape. Survivors of other experiences that have led to PTSD—such as being in the Vietnam War—have shown that peer support is essential for recovery from the disorder. The interventions of rape crisis centers show similar positive results flowing from their psychological support of rape victims.

There are certain techniques that assist in rape prevention. A male voice or a dog barking in the background on one’s answering machine may deter rapists who are hunting for a victim. Contrary to the conventional thinking that designates one’s home as the safest place in the world, people must understand that one’s own home is an extraordinarily dangerous place in which to encounter a rapist. If a rapist has gained entry, and the inhabitant is alone, it is just the rapist, the inhabitant, and the four walls. When outside the home, individuals should be aware of situations in which they could be abducted. For example, women are advised not to get out of their cars if they are next to a van. When traveling alone and booking hotel rooms, one should be extra vigilant. One can ask for a room above the first floor, a room whose only door leads to an inside hall, a room that has a peephole and chain lock on the door. Once inside the hotel room, one should not answer the door unless the knocker can be definitely identified and is known or expected. Rape crisis prevention centers can provide readers with many other helpful tips.

Rape will continue unabated as long as society and culture empower men at the expense of women. From this perspective, the profiling of rapists deals with only the individual consequences of a maledominated society, not the fundamental, underlying causes of rape. It is critically important to seek to eliminate rape by challenging societal beliefs and cultural values that promote and condone sexual violence. Every effort must be made to foil attempted rapes by educating potential victims about risks and by teaching realistic strategies for selfdefense. We need to reduce the emotional and physical trauma of rape through early, appropriate attention to the individual needs of the rape victim. And, finally, we must prevent recurrences of rape by insisting on the incarceration and treatment of offenders.

5
Stalkers

Forever Yours

If you leave me, I will track you down, I will kill you.
—
A stalker’s prophetic threat to a woman he later murdered

K
ristin Lardner, a 21-year-old art student in Boston, met Michael Cartier, 22, a nightclub bouncer, in January of 1992. They started dating. On April 16, 1992, they had an argument, and he struck her about the face, knocked her to the ground, kicked her over and over, and told her, “Get up or I’ll kill you.” By the time she staggered to her feet, he was gone. Two motorists stopped by and assisted her home. She determined never to see him again.

But Lardner had a hard time getting rid of Cartier. Spurned, he called her apartment 10 times a day and showed up at the liquor store where she worked part-time. There, he would be alternately violent and tearful, telling her that he did not know why he always hurt the people he loved. Maybe it was because his mother never loved him. He knew he needed help.

Lardner was now terrified of Cartier. She knew he was on probation, but she did not know why. His probation officer did—it was for attacking a woman with a pair of scissors—and when Lardner complained to the probation officer, she was told to take her complaint to the Brookline District Court. She did, and while she was there she filled out an application for a complaint that charged Cartier with

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domestic abuse. Now he would be ordered to stay away from her, she thought. She would not have to feel the dread of catching a glimpse of him stalking her or experience the awful panic and terror of a direct confrontation that could turn violent. Inexplicably, the court did not immediately issue a summons for his arrest.

On May 30, 1992, Michael Cartier found Kristin Lardner and shot her in the head and face, killing her in broad daylight. When the police burst into his apartment, they discovered Cartier sprawled on the bed, with a fatal, self-inflicted bullet wound to the head.

After the murder and suicide, the police investigated. They learned that the Brookline District Court had never issued the summons for Cartier’s arrest. They found a friend of his who told them that Cartier had spoken to him a few weeks earlier, telling the friend he could not live without Lardner, and vowing that he was going to kill her with a gun he was going to buy. Another friend described Cartier as a man unable to handle rejection, someone who had always been extremely jealous and unpredictable. According to other sources, Cartier had experienced extreme abuse as a child. As a youngster he had shown signs of severe emotional disturbance.

Stalking: An Epidemic Problem

The FB I Classification Manual (1992) defines a stalker as “a predator who stalks or selects a victim based on a specific criterion of the victim.” Federal and state laws (all states have enacted anti-stalking laws) define stalking as a crime in which a person “on more than one occasion” engages in “conduct with the intent to cause emotional distress…by placing [another] person in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury,” or the “willful, malicious and repeated following and harassing of another person.” Plainly and simply, stalking is terrorism directed against an individual in order to obtain contact with and gain control over that individual. In the United States, more than 1 million women and more than 370,000 men are stalked annually.

Despite official classifications, the definition of stalking remains hazy. The term is used very broadly, particularly by law enforcement. For example, the man who cases a woman’s home before a sexual assault is often dubbed a stalker. Is the contract killer who follows his victim to determine the best point of attack a stalker? What about the rejected husband or lover who cannot let go? Is the egotistical person who writes a movie star for a date a stalker? Those who are called stalkers present a wide spectrum of behaviors. There is no stalker syndrome, only a common behavioral pathway to the victim for a broad variety of motives. Stalking is frequently precipitated by a rejection or the onset of a mental illness. The stalkers most often examined by psychiatrists are those with the delusional belief that they have a special relationship with a stranger, who is then pursued.

In most cases, the stalking victim is a woman and the stalker is a man, but there are cases in which women stalk men or stalk other women. Men stalk other men, and they stalk children; and children stalk other children. Stalkers may be straight or gay. They are not hit men or professional kidnappers; for one thing, those criminals tend to work in groups. Many stalkers are loners who have abnormal mental and emotional fixations on a specific individual.

Stalking and Intimate Partner Violence

The statistics on stalking and intimate partner violence are chilling. Each year, 4.8 million women experience intimate partner–related physical assaults and rapes. Men are the victims of about 2.4 million intimate partner–related physical assaults. Studies reveal that 76% of intimate partner murder victims were stalked by their intimate partner; 67% were physically abused by their intimate partner; 89% of murder victims who were physically abused were stalked in the 12 months before the killing; and of the 79% of abused victims who reported stalking to the police, more than half were murdered by their stalkers. Although intimate partner stalking does not necessarily result in physical violence, the psychological violence is severely damaging and long-lasting.

Domestic violence is a frequent backdrop for stalking. The stalking usually begins when the abuse victim leaves or when the abuser is forced to leave by the authorities. About 30% of women who suffer physical injury by spousal abuse are eventually killed by their partners. The FBI estimates that one in four women who are murdered are killed by husbands or partners. Doctors are told that every physician in America, regardless of specialty or where his or her practice is conducted, has seen a battered women in his or her office in the last 2 weeks.

Battered spouses often find it very difficult to leave an abusive partner. Victims stay for many reasons: first and foremost, there is the real threat of further harm or even death if they attempt to leave. Abused women are used to hearing the very real threat, “If you leave me, I’ll kill you.” Also, they may feel ashamed, they may feel grateful when the abuse stops and bend over backward not to reexperience the terror of abuse, or they may have nowhere to go or no means of financial support. In between the violent episodes, the spouse may be loving, kind, a good provider, and an esteemed citizen. Victims often are bewildered when the abuser apologizes for the progressive violence but then blames the abused person for the incidents.

Stalking is often an invisible crime until violence breaks out. One study showed that the time from the beginning of stalking to the occurrence of violence was 5 years. Until the violence reaches such a level that the victim has to go to the police or to the hospital, the victim usually does not talk about being stalked. Most stalking victims suffer in silence. The act of stalking plays on a victim’s deepest fears of being hunted, harmed, and killed. Common symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction, and depression. Kristin Lardner must have experienced such feelings. Even reporting stalking to the authorities does not always bring protection; 54% of women who reported stalking to the police were killed by their stalkers. This was Kristin Lardner’s fate.

Stalkers are motivated by myriad reasons. In cases where celebrities are stalked, mentally disordered people desperately seek contact in the search for identity, love, power, and relief from their personal problems. Some stalkers even seek contact with total strangers to redress perceived or real grievances or wrongs. Statistics reveal that of all the victims of stalkers, 38% are ordinary people, mostly women; 17% are high-profile celebrities; and 32% are lesser-known celebrities. Of the remainder, 11% are corporate executives stalked by current or former employees, and 2% are people such as supervisors stalked by disgruntled subordinates and psychotherapists stalked by current or former patients.

Stalking has always existed. It is rooted in the ancient concept that women are chattel or property. By wielding power over a man or woman, the stalker is asserting that he or she will be part of the victim’s life whether the victim likes it or not. In the past, stalkers were brought up on charges of criminal trespass or not prosecuted at all. The residue of this old way of looking at stalking can be seen in the common but erroneously held belief among men that women somehow entice their stalkers. In fact, however, 90% of stalkers suffer from mental disorders, and the remaining 10% are very upset or angry persons.

Today, stalking is recognized as a major social problem, with an estimated 200,000 stalkers on the loose in the United States. Some experts assert that this figure is apocryphal and that nobody knows how many people are stalked. One out of every 20 women, at some time during her life, will be stalked by a former boyfriend, an ex-husband, or a stranger. Statistics show that 77% of women stalked and 64% of men stalked know their stalker. Most of the targets of stalkers are single or divorced women between the ages of 20 and 45. The stalking may begin in a benign fashion, perhaps with a compliment, but can escalate into a pattern of surveillance, obscene language, harassment, threats of bodily harm, and actual physical injury or murder.

Stalking occurs at all socioeconomic levels. Proof that education and professional stature are no bar to stalking comes from the case of then 63-year-old Sol Wachtler, the former chief judge of the State of New York. After Joy Silverman ended a relationship with Wachtler, he conducted a 13-month campaign to threaten and terrorize her. Wachtler was arrested when he demanded that Silverman pay him $20,000 or he would kidnap her 14-year-old daughter. He received a 15-month federal prison sentence and was fined $30,000 for stalking and threatening Silverman and her daughter. Before the court, Wachtler explained his bizarre, 2-year harassment as the result of a “sick and aberrational” attempt to create a situation that would recapture the woman’s need for him.

Stalker Typology
The Celebrity Stalker

In our mass-entertainment culture, some entertainers may enjoy an audience of 100 million people or more. These large audiences, coupled with our fascination with the personal lives of entertainers, sports stars, and other celebrities, have produced some inevitable consequences. Out of 100 million viewers, some will feel that the entertainer is speaking, singing, or performing directly to or for them. Others will develop the notion that their own destinies are inextricably intertwined with that of the media star. Some will write love letters. Others will write hate letters or letters that say they are being tormented or abused from afar by the entertainer. Still others will have deviant sexual thoughts. Considering that scantily clad entertainers enter the bedrooms of millions of viewers, many of whom may themselves be in various stages of undress, it is not difficult to understand that this situation will stimulate some viewers to act in aberrant ways.

One of them was Teddy Soto, an admirer of Christina Applegate, who played the “teenage sexpot” character of Kelly Bundy on Fox television’s show
Married . . . With Children
. Soto was noticed hanging around the security gate of Columbia Pictures television studios, where the sitcom was taped. He was recognized as a man who had previously been arrested after being spotted near Applegate’s home. When he steadfastly refused to leave the security gate at the studio, the guards arrested him.