Current Project: Lost Proposal
Status: Chapter Two
I had a whole blog scheduled about promotion, but I've ditched it in favor of a good Friday morning rant after watching the news. Below you'll find a clip that was aired on the Today Show this morning. It's Drew Peterson - the notorious, head-line grabbing former police sergeant from Bollingbrook, IL, who is currently under investigation for the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, and under suspicion in the forced drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. In the video, he's talking out with his current fiance, Christina Raines. Take a look:
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Okay, my first reaction to seeing this clip is..."OMG. I could not WRITE this scenario and make it believable." If I were to put together a book proposal with this girl as the heroine, my agent would laugh and say, "That girl is too stupid to live. No way will anyone EVER believe this story." And yet this is real life.
Raines is a 24 yr old mother of two. She's currently living with Peterson, in the same house he shared with his fourth wife, and pictures of Stacy Peterson are still all over the house. Raines said in the interview:
“[Drew] has a good heart. [He’s] very caring and I don’t think he will ever hurt me or anyone else.”
And when asked what she would tell people if Peterson is eventually found guilty for the disappearance of his 4th wife, Stacy, she said:
“That I’m running the other way.” Then laughed and added, “I’m just joking. I just don’t believe them. I don’t believe them. I don’t believe he’ll hurt anyone. He’s nice.”
(Apparently she doesn't believe Peterson's neighbors, either, who claimed they saw him carrying a 55-gallon barrel out of his home shortly after Stacy's disappearance. Because he's "nice".)
What struck me most about this interview is that this girl is young. She doesn't articulate herself well. She's easily influenced and *appears* to give one word answers, almost as if she's been coached in what not to say to the press. But the other thing that hit me is the way this man has the ability to brainwash young girls. How is that possible? And where are the other people in her life protecting her? Both have claimed the engagement is not for publicity or for money, and if that's the case, I have to agree with what my agent would say if I were to come up with this crazy story on my own...that girl is simply too stupid to live.
I'm going to leave you with the end of the interview because I can't sum it up any better than Peterson did himself:
Raines admitted she doesn’t have anyone in her life who supports her relationship, and when her mother and father decry their daughter’s choice in men, she tells them, “I’m going to be OK. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
Robach asked Raines if her parents believe her assertion. “No,” she replied. And when Robach asked her if she understood why, she replied solemnly, “Yes.”
Christina’s dad Ernie has gone so far as to call Peterson “the devil.” Peterson laughed to Robach and said, “Well, it looks like the devil won this round.”
Feel free to rant away. I'm still having a hard time believing this is reality and not fiction.
4 comments:
I wish I had access to the little yellow IM faces. This one would rate the googledy-eyed "What the f*&^%$#?"
The same things struck me that struck you. She is young, she is too stupid to live and I really don't give too much of a damn what happens to her as she's made her choices. I think the one word answers, etc. represent coaxing not only from legal concerns but to protect book and movie rights down the line (you can see and hear this guy is casting himself in a dozen different venues...) When you look at your dinky advances in the future, keep in mind this bozo will get millions when he tells his side of things in book form (assuming he's never convicted of any actual crime.)
The tragedy here is ditzo-head has two little kids she is willing to endanger so she can be with her "nice" boyfriend. And she wants another baby. With him! Ah, isn't that sweet?
Every once and awhile I admit I have a heroine do something pretty dumb, esp. in hindsight, but I try to make her reasoning so compelling that she has no choice but to act even if it's dangerous. I couldn't think of a single scenario I could create that would justify this woman's decision to move her children into a house with a man suspected of the crimes this one is suspected of. Not one. (With no children, she could be the estranged but loving sister of wife number three [whose death has now been declared a murder] in the hopes of trapping this guy in lies or finding evidence, etc... so she could hand him over to the cops.... Hm.....) but no decent heroine of mine would ever risk her children, period.
Ack! Interesting blog.
I agree, this is something you couldn't get an editor to touch as fiction, yet, I bet it makes a nonfiction book.
She is young and manipulated in my estimation. There are so many young women out there today that haven't been brought up to stand up for themselves and know who they are. It's so sad to think men like Peterson are out there preying on them.
The woman who had octuplets is another "HUH!!!!" How can she support 14 kids and no job? And from the looks of it no husband to help. It all floors me.
Ahhh! This was so painful to watch! She's so young!
Even if he's not a killer this isn't a healthy relationship. She's sacrificing everything, family, friends, self respect, in pursuit of true love. She won't find it with him. He comes across as manipulative, cocky, and slimy.
I'll pass on their reality show. I've seen enough.
Everything that girl said about her feelings and her relationship with that psycho are lies. She said them, but she doesn't believe a word that's coming out of her mouth. Look at her face when she speaks about him and watch her face when she speaks about her family. Her body language and her face tell the truth. She's lying.
She should have her children taken away from her during this whole thing until he's been convicted or until he kills her, too. Where's the children's father? Her father should fight to get them taken from her if he loves his own grandbabies. This is sick.
Like Alice said, she's made her choice and she has to die with it, but her children should not be allowed to be with her in this potentially dangerous situation. Where's the freaking Children's Services workers who take kids away from stupid parents all the time for lesser reasons? HELLO!! Killer in the house with children here!! Wake up! SAVE THOSE KIDS!
UGH! I'M PISSED NOW! I don't listen to the news so I had NO idea about any of this, but come on people, read that girls face and read him. It's so obvious. Lock the bastard up and get that girl some serious therapy for why she hates herself enough to die and is just asking for it. She's daring him. And he loves it. SICK.
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