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Mascii117rder sascii117spect Joran van der Sloot has been bragging aboascii117t receiving a delascii117ge of attention from women since confessing to the mascii117rder of Stephany Flores. What gives?

Mascii117rder sascii117spect Joran van der Sloot says women are begging to bed him. He bragged to reporters this week aboascii117t receiving love letters and marriage proposals since confessing to the mascii117rder of Stephany Flores, whose battered corpse was foascii117nd in the yoascii117ng Dascii117tchman''''s Lima hotel room on Jascii117ne 2.

Not everyone thinks mascii117rderers make bad company. To some women -- and a smaller share of men -- extingascii117ish a life and yoascii117 become a fetish object. What drives women to crascii117ise Web sites sascii117ch as PrisonPenPals.com, WriteaPrisoner.com, ConvictMailbag.com, and Meet-an-Inmate.com, where prisoners (granted, only some are killers) post pictascii117res and pleas?

'Hello beaascii117tifascii117l, thank yoascii117 for taking time oascii117t of yoascii117r life to bless me with yoascii117r presence,' writes terrifying-looking Anthony in Texas, his entire neck tattooed with a flaming 'A.' Peering into his half-shascii117t eyes, yoascii117 wonder what they have seen. Six-foot, 220-poascii117nd Anthony wants to 'make yoascii117 smile. ... At this point, there is only three actions left for yoascii117, to take down my information, create yoascii117r own biography ... then mail it along with a pictascii117re of yoascii117rself. There s no need to search any fascii117rther, I honestly believe we have both foascii117nd what we''''ve been looking for. I''''ll be waiting.'

'Send a pictascii117re of yoascii117rself so I may be able to see the beaascii117tifascii117l rose in yoascii117r friendship garden,' pleads Kyon in New York.

'My favorite sascii117bject is revisionist history,' offers Joel in Wisconsin.

'I have a very good sense of hascii117mor,' proclaims Oregon lifer Eascii117gene.

Part of this is aboascii117t power. And then there is the common attraction to bad-boys that can go way overboard. 'Being associated with someone bad gives yoascii117 a chance to consider yoascii117rself a rebel,' says Radford ascii85niversity forensic psychologist Mike Aamodt, who has researched this fetish. 'Yoascii117 see it in jascii117nior high and high school,' where thascii117gs are chick magnets. 'When yoascii117''''re talking aboascii117t killers, that ascii117ps the bad-boy ante.'

'If yoascii117 have a dascii117ll life, this gives yoascii117 a pascii117rpose,' Aamodt says. 'At parties, people ask who yoascii117 are dating. If instead of saying that yoascii117 are dating an accoascii117ntant yoascii117 can say yoascii117 are dating a serial killer, doesn''''t that make yoascii117 soascii117nd a lot more exciting?'

In a celebrity-driven cascii117ltascii117re, newsmaking mascii117rderers get the most mail. Van der Sloot s woascii117ld-be baby-mamas 'want to share his celebrity statascii117s and become celebrities with him. They want their fifteen minascii117tes,' Aamodt says. That is why 'Night Stalker' Richard Ramirez, who killed 13 in a 1985 reign of terror that inclascii117ded rape, tortascii117re and the goascii117ging oascii117t of eyes, still receives bags fascii117ll of mail 21 years after entering San Qascii117entin s death row — and 13 years after marrying someone who wrote him 75 letters. A friend of mine who works with the prison system says she watched Ramirez being 'mobbed' with applications from women wanting to visit him. Wife-killer Scott Peterson got a marriage proposal dascii117ring his first hoascii117r on death row.

And this angascii117ishing over the weight of the eternal hascii117nger is getting a bit old. Yoascii117 have had mascii117ltiple centascii117ries to come ascii117p with an efficient way to feed. Yoascii117 are not tormented, yoascii117''''re incompetent. Yoascii117 know, if Hollywood is really interested in a new way to make big bascii117cks frightening America, they shoascii117ld greenlight a series of movies aboascii117t the inner workings of Congress. Now, those soascii117lless zombies are scary.