There is a theory held by some criminologists that evil eventually
melts out of the body. That if you warehouse a man in jail long enough,
he
theory
criminologists
a man
will become harmless. Youth's passions dim. Perversion's fires
cool. It is this theory that Lawrence Singleton contested last week.
Last Wednesday a painter saw a struggle while working on a house in Tampa's suburb.
Inside, a naked man appeared to be trying to kill a naked woman.
The witness called the 911 emergency number, and when a police officer arrived at the door,
he
painter
naked man
naked woman
The witness
police officer
was met by an apparition. Lawrence Singleton "came out of the house staggering.
His
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
shirt was unbuttoned, and
he
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
had blood all over
his
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
chest." Apparently drunk,
he
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
announced that
he
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
had cut himself chopping vegetables. But when
he
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
moved casually to answer a ringing phone, the officer saw a bloodied naked corpse on
his
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
living-room floor. After
his
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
arrest, Singleton, 69, declared to reporters, "They framed
me
The police officer
The naked woman
Lawrence Singleton
the first time. But this time I did it."
In fact, Singleton is notorious for "the first time." In 1978 a 15-year-old runaway named Mary Vincent got a ride outside San Francisco with a man in a van. The man approached
her
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
sexually, moved away, but later - having liquored up - beat
her
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
, bound
her
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
and raped
her
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
twice.
He
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
chopped off
her
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
arms and left
her
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
in a concrete culvert to die.
She
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
didn't. The next day, Vincent was found "wandering nude ... holding up
her
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
a man
arms so that the muscles and blood would not fall out." When Singleton, a merchant mariner, was sentenced for the crime, the judge said
he
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
the judge
wished
he
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
the judge
could "send
him
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
the judge
to prison for the rest of
his
Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent
the judge
natural life."
Time Magazine, March 3, 1997, p. 17