What About the Victim?

by Diane Fanning


Just after 3 AM, on February 6, 2007, United States Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman (right) rolled her luggage behind her as she walked in a light drizzle across the C section of the Blue Satellite parking area at Orlando International Airport. It was the last leg of her journey. All she wanted was to go home. As she reached row 33, the sense of relief she expected to feel at this point in her travels shattered when she realized that the strange woman from the shuttle was following her.

Colleen picked up her pace. The footsteps behind her slapped the wet pavement at an increased speed. She cut across to row 31, moving even faster toward her car. Now the sound of the pursuer's running footsteps echoed in her ears. Don't be paranoid, she thought as she tried to calm herself. The woman is probably just going to her own car and is in a hurry.

Despite the self-assurances, anxiety clutched Colleen's body in its tight grip. Relieved to reach her car, she jerked open the rear door and tossed her bag onto the back seat. She slammed it shut and opened the one in front. Sliding behind the steering wheel, Collen pulled the door shut and locked the doors in one swift move.

Two hands slapped on the window beside her. She flinched. Hearing a jerk on the door handle, she jabbed her key into the ignition.

The sight of the woman outside of her car did nothing to still Colleen's fears. Beneath the raised hood of a khaki trench coat, bushy black hair framed a pinched face. The dark glasses the woman wore in the dead of night obscured her eyes. She looked so much like an inept spy from a low-budget film that it would have been laughable if it wasn't so frightening. Colleen's fear for her personal safety ratcheted up yet another notch.
--excerpt from Out There: The In-depth story of the astronaut love-triangle case that shocked America

When her pursuer (right) was arrested, Colleen's fear was justified. In addition to her disguise, the stalker carried pepper spray, a two-pound drilling hammer, a black buck knife, and several feet of rubber tubing. Initially, police charged her with attempted murder and abduction.

The woman who chased Colleen through the airport parking lot wasn't a crazed nobody but Lisa Nowak, an astronaut who'd flown on a mission into space and was obsessed with Colleen's boyfriend, astronaut Billy Oefelein.

Nearly three years after Nowak -- wearing an astronaut diaper to keep stops to a minimum -- drove from Texas to Florida to stalk and terrorize her love rival, a court has finally decided her fate. Instead of the original felonies, Lisa Nowak plead guilty to third-degree burglary of a conveyance and misdemeanor battery.

Colleen Shipman suffered that night -- and continues to suffer -- from extreme trauma brought on by the attack. She pleaded to the judge: "Please don't be fooled. Lisa Nowak is a very good actress. She turned on her charm and spun a pitiful story. Almost three years later, I'm still reeling from her vicious attack. I know in my heart when Lisa Nowak attacked me, she was going to kill me. I believe I escaped a horrible death that night. The world as I knew it before Lisa Nowak attacked me is gone. I constantly look over my shoulder when I go outside so I can't be a victim to a surprise attack again."

She also told the judge that she suffers from migraines and high blood pressure and can no longer sleep without a light on. She's purchased a shotgun and obtained a concealed-weapons permit. "I have horrible anxiety --especially at night. I have terrifying nightmares of being cut into little pieces. I have barricaded my doors."

The judge seemed unmoved. Although he spoke harshly to Nowak -- "You are to stay totally away from her and have absolutely no contact of any sort. You brought this on yourself. I don't have any sympathy for you in that respect" -- he gave her a light sentence: one year probation, two days already served in jail, a mandated eight-hour anger management class, and fifty hours of community service.

On the one hand, Nowak (right) had no criminal record, led an exemplary life before and after the attempted attack, and lost her hard-earned position as a shuttle astronaut at NASA. She was certainly an unusual and unlikely perpetrator.

On the other hand, did that light sentence devalue Colleen by minimizing the trauma she experienced? The woman who stole her peace of mind and sense of security is free to continue her life without any incarceration. Yes, Lisa Nowak had been an outstanding role model most of her life. She lost the career of her dreams. And she still faces possible military charges by the Navy, her home base since she entered the United States Naval Academy in July 1981.

But Nowak isn't haunted by the image of an attacker coming out of the night to end her life. She is not living in fear of a repeat performance.

I can see both viewpoints on this outcome, but one thing still bothers me. If Colleen Shipman had stalked and launched the same attack on famous and lauded astronaut Lisa Nowak, would she have been sentenced so lightly? Shipman also led a model life and also had no prior criminal record. But she wasn't a celebrity. If, under those circumstances, Colleen would have gotten a more severe sentence -- which I think likely -- then justice has not been served.

What do you think?

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Women Behaving Deadly

by Robin Sax

The title is Dangerous Women: Why Mothers, Daughters, and Sisters Become Stalkers, Molesters, and Murderers, and this book couldn’t be more timely if author Larry Morris had planned it that way. In light of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, whose third birthday was today, people are scratching their heads wondering how mother Casey Anthony, if not guilty, could behave the way she does.

For those of you who can’t wrap your mind around women in the mold of Casey Anthony, Susan Smith, and Mercedes Murderess Clara Harris, this book gives valuable insight into the seldom-explored subject of dangerous women. The phenomenon is so uncharted, our own Diane Fanning's book on NASA Astronut (a Freudian typo I'll let stand) Lisa Nowak could not be more aptly titled: Out There.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Morris provides a framework to understand dangerous women and helps us understand how society should deal with them. Throughout this book, he offers a panoply of examples of women as perpetrators, dangerous to themselves and to society as a whole.

The media love to focus on crime, but pundits offer only a superficial look at femmes fatales and criminals who happen to be women on such shows as Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren. For more depth to these stories, we turn to Dangerous Women, where Larry Morris offers answers to the questions we all ask: How can a woman murder her own child? Why is a female teacher who has sex with her 13-year-old student simply the butt of jokes? Why would a woman hack off her husband’s penis? How could a woman drown not just one but five of her children? Or tie her husband to the bed and stab him nearly two hundred times? How does a little old lady become a serial killer?

What if we could understand behavior before a crime has occurred? What if we could find warning signs and use them to deter potential criminals? What if we could understand the women who might commit a dangerous act, or have already done so?

One of Dr. Morris’s objectives in writing this book is to help readers do exactly that—prevent a crime from occurring that might even include a reader’s family member or a loved one. He offers tips on potentially dangerous or antisocial behaviors that we might not ordinarily notice, such as depressions or irrational behavior, which can presage acts of dangerousness.

The author takes us through several fascinating examples of dangerous women, including Aileen Wournos (pictured far left), the serial killer played by supermodel Charlize Theron (on right). [Interesting sidebar: While Theron is widely recognized for her Oscar-winning portrayal of Wournos in MONSTER, less known is the sad fact that as a child, actress Theron witnessed her mother kill her father.] But back to the book that examines Wournos and others . . . at the end, where the women's dark tunnels converge and the reader needs to see a light, Dr. Morris concludes with the “Path to Prevention.” Not only does he examine why girls may become dangerous, he brings forward suggestions as to what we can do to prevent “bad behavior” from becoming criminal behavior.

And as a prosecutor, I couldn’t be more grateful for a book that concludes on a hopeful note. Perhaps, after all, some women—and their would-be victims—might be spared from the tragic consequences of becoming the next dangerous woman.

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