The Deccan Herald newspaper in Bangalore, India reports on the arrest of a female serial killer, 43 year old Mallika. The story can be read here and here.

Serial killers are actually very rare creatures, and the female of the species is truly unusual. Perhaps that is good reason not to make a big deal about something so rare. One thing, though, caught my eye and made me think lovefraud readers may be interested too. I’ll summarise the story and you tell me what you think.

Here’s what raised my eyebrow

She allegedly committed all the murders single-handedly and for gain. She is no psychopath, the commissioner said.

“I should write a book.” Many people have said this in describing their unbelievable, shocking and downright bizarre experiences with a sociopath to Lovefraud. Mary Turner Thomson of Edinburgh, Scotland, did just that.

Thompson’s book is called The Other Mrs. Jordan—A True Story of Bigamy and Betrayal. It will have you shaking your head in disbelief—and nodding your head in understanding. If you’ve been thoroughly deceived by a sociopath, elements of Thomson’s story will be very familiar to you.

Perfect gentleman

Mary Turner Thomson was a 35-year-old single mother when the sociopath, Will Jordan, wormed his way into her life. Of course, at the time, Thomson did not know the guy was a sociopath. She thought she met a man who was “intelligent and accomplished, but humble about his achievements.” He played flawless piano (for real—Thomson heard him). He was an information technology consultant—they first met at his plush office. He acted like a perfect gentleman—opening the car door for her and attentive in conversation.

Three different Lovefraud readers sent in a link to a story on the Today Show website. In a letter to Dr. Gail Schultz, a psychiatrist and Today Show contributor, a 41-year-old married man claimed that he will hit his all-time record for sleeping around—13 women in a week.

The guy says his wife is intelligent, beautiful, and they have a great sex life. Still, he looks at every woman who walks by and watches porn. He meets women online, sleeps with them on the first date, and then dumps them.

In her reply, Dr. Schultz’s first words are: “I think you are a sex addict and a sociopath.”

Here’s the story: Married man: ‘I slept with 13 women this week.’

Media says the “S” word

I was going about the morning as usual, working on my next book, with CNN on in the background, when I heard what has to be the sociopathic quote of the year, “Nothing says I love you like a Glock.” I have not shared much about my own experience with a sociopath, but one of the things I am most ashamed of is that I did not react more strongly to my former husband’s preoccupation with guns. He did not personally own any gun, but he talked about them a great deal, and he was very persistent about the idea that I should learn how to shoot. He also wanted me to own a hand gun. I did take the NRA gun safety course and I learned how to shoot. I have to say, target practice was fun and I was good at it. I had and still have, an aversion to guns, and so never applied for permission to own one of my own. I felt like a fuddy-dud though, after all our Constitution does give us the right to arm bears, or is it bare arms? I don’t know…

Yesterday a 19 y/o man named Robert Hawkins entered the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska with an AK-47 assault rifle and killed eight people before killing himself. News commentators have been discussing what happened and several are discussing the question of whether he was depressed and taking antidepressants. I think people feel better blaming antidepressant medication for these incidents because it is too frightening to accept that there are so many sociopaths (with the potential for violence) living among us.

Hawkins apparently had no arrest record prior to this event and was not known to be violent. At the time of the shooting he was living with the mother of a high school friend, Debora Maruca Kovac. He called her immediately before the shooting, saying he was, “sorry.” He also left a suicide note saying that he would now be “famous.” Ms. Kovac also said she took Hawkins into her home because, he “reminded me of a lost puppy that nobody wanted.” (Watch landlord describe phone call from shooter) Let this be a wake up call to those of us who have felt sorry for a suspected sociopath. Hind sight is always 20/20 when it comes to people who have the traits of sociopathy. Foresight is never as good.

One con artist called himself Luc Sonnet. He claimed to be a fine artist who studied with Picasso and sold his paintings to wealthy international clients for as much as $250,000.

The other con artist, Robert Freegard, claimed to be a British spy. He tracked international terrorists.

Both of these con artists were profiled in the media on Sunday, December 2. The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper began its story about Luc Sonnet, whose real name was Richard Grossman, on the front page. The story continued inside for three more full pages.

Dateline, the investigative reporting television show produced by NBC News, told the story of Robert Freegard, a Brit who abducted an American woman and held several other people hostage with his lies. The story originally aired in July 2007—on Sunday it appeared on MSNBC.

W-FIVE, the top Canadian investigative TV journalism show, will include the story of Liz Cole, a Lovefraud reader, in its Cybersharks episode airing Saturday, November 3 at 7 p.m.

The program reveals the real dangers of online dating. In this episode, W-FIVE’s Victor Malarek uncovers cases where women who met potential suitors through online dating services were later conned for thousands of dollars, and in some cases, forced to endure extensive physical and mental abuse. W-FIVE cameras are rolling as Malarek tracks down one known criminal and online predator.

The show will air on Saturday, November 3 at 7 p.m. (EDT) on CTV network in Canada and will be repeated on Sunday, November 4 at 5 p.m. To check local broadcast times, visit www.ctv.ca/wfive.

“At a point in every person’s life, one has to look deeply into the mirror of one’s soul and decide one’s unique truth in the world, not as we may want to see it or hope to see it, but as it is. And so, my truth is that I am a gay American.”

That’s how the former governor of New Jersey, James McGreevey, came out to the world in a press conference on August 13, 2004, as reported by CNN. McGreevey announced that he was being blackmailed because of an affair with a man and was resigning.

During the press conference, the governor’s wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, stood at his side, with a weird smile pasted on her face. She was obviously shell-shocked. The McGreeveys had started dating in 1996, and married in 2000. They had a young daughter. Matos says she did not know that James McGreevey was gay.

Last Sunday, a few hours after I wrote on the Lovefraud Blog about how I recognized sociopathic traits in the behavior of O.J. Simpson, the former football star was arrested on charges of armed robbery in that Las Vegas hotel room. Television talking heads immediately ramped up their speculation on why he allegedly did it.

Each expert seemed to have his or her own theory. Some experts had multiple theories. Let’s take a look at some of them.

CNN, Friday, September 14

Here’s what transpired on CNN’s Nancy Grace Show before Simpson was arrested.

Jane Velez-Mitchell, an investigative reporter, said Simpson engaged in self-destructive behavior because he wanted to be caught. “Why would he risk and flirt with imprisonment unless, deep down inside, he has to try and purge this toxic secret?” she asked. “And all of America and all the world knows what that toxic secret is. It involves the murder of two people.” That’s the theory of a book she’s writing called Secrets Can Be Murder.

O.J. Simpson is in the news again. On Friday, Las Vegas police named him as a suspect in an armed robbery. The fallen football star was allegedly part of a group of men who entered a hotel room and took sports memorabilia that once belonged to Simpson. The facts of the incident—including whether or not weapons were involved—are currently being investigated by the police.

So here’s Simpson’s version of the story: He was running a sting operation to retrieve items that were stolen from him. He was in Las Vegas to attend a friend’s wedding, and got some guys he met at a cocktail party to go with him to the hotel room. He says there was no gun and nobody got “roughed up.”