Why do psychopaths go after what they want regardless of the negative consequences they may experience? According to the journal Nature Neuroscience, the answer may be chemical—an overactive dopamine reward system.

Read Driven toward reward without regard for consequence on Time.com.

Read the scientific study, Mesolimbic dopamine reward system hypersensitivity in individuals with psychopathic traits, in Nature Neuroscience.

Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader via Facebook.

The most heartbreaking dramas that sociopaths create are those that involve children. Many sociopathic parents stand up in court proclaiming that they “only want what is best for the children.” They’re lying. What they really want is to use the children as clubs to beat their ex-partners into submission.

There is no such thing as a simple phone call to find out what little Johnny needs to bring to soccer practice. Every phone call or e-mail is an opportunity for the sociopath to manipulate, denigrate and infuriate the ex, through lies, innuendo and misinformation. For the parent trying to protect the children, it’s exhausting.

A few months ago, Lovefraud published a letter from “Penny,” who is in this situation. She wrote her Tips for co-parenting with a sociopath. One of Penny’s recommendations was that parents request that all communications with their former partners go through OurFamilyWizard.com.

Back in the 70s, Rodney Alcala was a contestant on The Dating Game. He won, but the woman who chose him refused to go out with him. It was probably a good thing, because in February Alcala was found guilty of murdering four women and a child.

Read Convicted serial killer won on “Dating Game” on CNN.com.

Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader.

April 18-24, 2010, is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. The U.S. Department of Justice is sponsoring a National Observance and Candlelight Ceremony on April 15, 2010, and a National Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony on April 16. Both events are in Washington, D.C.

For more information, visit NCVRW.org.

Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader.

A confessed serial killer in Missouri, John Hughes, talks to a television reporter. He says he’s killed many people, and if he was let out of prison, he’d do it again.

See the interview on KMBC.com.

Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader.

Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by a Lovefraud reader who we’ll call “Marcia.”

I met him on Chemistry.com in February of 2009. He wrote to me through the site and we corresponded several times before speaking on the phone. I liked his profile very well and enjoyed his style of writing and what he wrote in our correspondence. When we spoke on the phone, we had no problem starting and maintaining a conversation on the phone. He was articulate, intelligent and had all the time in the world for me.

All of us who have been conned by sociopaths ask ourselves, why did I fall for it? How could I have been so stupid to trust him (or her)?

Well, it turns out that there’s a chemical reason—oxytocin. According to an article on Psychologytoday.com:

Social interactions engage a powerful brain circuit that releases the neurochemical oxytocin when we are trusted and induces a desire to reciprocate the trust we have been shown—even with strangers.

Read How to run a con, on Psychologytoday.com.

Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader.

Remember Clark Rockefeller? He claimed to be from the rich and famous family and married Sandra Boss, the highly paid McKinsey management consultant. Boss divorced him and won custody of their child. On July 27, 2008, he abducted the girl. He was caught, charged with kidnapping and found guilty.

Then it turned out that Rockefeller wasn’t who he said he was. His real name was Christian Gerhartsreiter, he was an illegal alien from Germany, and he may have committed murder.

The Clark Rockefeller story is again in the media. Vanity Fair magazine published a story called The Man in the Rockefeller Suit.

And, Lifetime TV is premiering a new movie, Who Is Clark Rockefeller?, on March 13, 2010 at 9 p.m. Encores will air March 14 and 15 at 9 p.m.

Karen Salmansohn, author of How to Be Happy, Dammit and about 20 other self-help books, got scammed by a guy who paid for her fertility treatments, but when she was pregnant, dumped her.

See story in the New York Daily News.

Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader.

Last week, the body of Chelsea King, a 17-year-old high school student from Poway, California, near San Diego, was discovered in a shallow grave. She went for a run in a park on February 25, 2010, and never returned.

John Albert Gardner III, of nearby Lake Elsinore, was charged with her murder and rape, or attempted rape.

Gardner was a convicted sex offender. In May 2000, he pleaded guilty to molesting a 13-year-old girl. In that case, he was a month shy of his 21^st birthday. The victim knew Gardner—they had been neighbors. She and a friend were waiting for a school bus when Gardner drove up and offered them a ride. He then lured the victim to his mother’s townhouse to watch a movie.