LEE COUNTY, Fla. — When Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp first reported on the number of messages and pictures convicted killer Wade Wilson, some reactions from people on social media were mixed.
Some women said "I still feel attracted to him." Another said, "love you, Wade."
Others started asking for his inmate number to send him letters or put money in his account. One person said Wilson shouldn't get any more communication from the outside.
With this kind of response, Fox 4 wanted to dig deeper into what seems to be the infatuation with Wilson for some people.
True crime in general isn't a new thing. Professor Amanda Vicary, who teaches psychology at Illinois Wesleyan University, says it's really exploded in the past decade.
"Everything that seems to be related to preventing it for happening to us seems to draw people to true crime, especially women," she said.
Vicary's studies true crime, and specifically a woman's interest in killers. Killers like Wade Wilson, who murdered Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz in 2019.
She says there are many reasons why some women feel an attraction towards killers.
"According to evolutionary psychology, we today are still attracted to the things that would have helped us survive back in our ancestral past, think hunter-gatherer environment," Vicary explained.
The professor says the gatherer is meant to be a protector — the dominant figure.
"Who is more dominant than a killer," Vicary said. "So while consciously it makes no one sense for a woman to be attracted to a killer, especially who has killed other women, our subconscious mind doesn't always make that distinction."
That dominant trait is something she says women can be attracted to. But it's not just the physical looks.
"It's this combination of this sort of bad boy dominant male image and this level of fame, this celebrity, and that idea that if I attach myself to that, I too could become a celebrity and famous," Vicary explained.
Vicary used Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson and Chris Watts as examples.
She says in some cases though, there's not attraction or fame aspects.
"There could be people reaching out of genuine, I don't know, compassion for him, some sort of religious outreach, Vicary said.
Some people are also sending Judge Nick Thompson letters, asking him to spare Wilson's life when Thompson hands down the killer's sentence in August.
Vicary says some people may think this is a way to "get in good with Wilson," while others are sending it because they genuinely care.
Beyond the psychology of Wilson's case, Vicary hopes her studies can help women in the long run.
"This research can sort of help us understand why are we attracted to men who are aggressive sometimes," she said.
While all this communication may seem harmless, Vicary doesn't think it's a good idea in Wilson's case.
"In situations like this where the crimes are so random and graphic, I don't feel like he's expressing remorse, I probably wouldn't recommend reaching out to him," she said. "Wade Wilson is not the first killer to receive attention from women and he won't be the last."
Wilson is expected to be sentenced on August 27 to either life in prison or death.
