In 2001, Arohn Kee was convicted of raping and killing three young women in East Harlem, New York. Much controversy surrounded the case for a variety of reasons, one being the apparent cunning (and twisted) behavior of the convicted, Kee. He was handed three life sentences, and an additional 420 years for other charges. But most recently, Kee has garnered attention for attempting to sell his rape and killing tales for money over the internet. The infamous killer has created 20 different 5×7 “rape cards” which explain in graphic detail various aspects of the sex attacks. The cards sell for $19 each.
There’s really a market for this…?
As disturbing as it may seem, any twisted fetish that a person could conjure probably exists somewhere in cyberspace. This is evidenced in web sites like Murderauction.comandPrisonboundserialkillers.com. At both sites, one can purchase signed artwork and memorabilia. At murderauction.com in particular, there seems to be a sense of urgency in the auctions; like eBay, the item descriptions are made to sound enticing to potential bidders. The opening bid was nearly $5,000 on serial rapist/killer Gary Heidnik’s artwork and a five-page letter depicting his torture chambers.
Why would someone want to buy this kind of stuff?
So the question that comes immediately to mind is why anyone would spend money on items representing the torment of so many victims and their families. But in light of the growing popularity of “murderabilia” there may be some fairly reasonable explanations.
Many studies have been conducted regarding the human being’s desensitization to violence over a period of time. The act is described as a person’s way of allaying the painful consequences of mental disorders and other psychological phenomena. Much human entertainment centers on death and extreme violence. Thus, it is assumed that after a time, people are able to separate their feelings from the horrible events they see.
Perhaps as a result of desensitization, some people merely have developed a macabre fascination for violent acts and the legal trappings surrounding them. Others consider the convicted prisoners celebrities in a sense (as quite a few of them are) —and thus, deem their personal items just as valuable as those of the movers and shakers of Hollywood.
Whatever the reason, the proliferation of these sites has grown so much in recent years that new legislature in various states has begun addressing the shutdown of “murderabilia” web sales. Arohn Kee’s internet sales have recently sparked interest in the Son of Sam law, which prevents convicted killers from selling their stories for profit. But by failing to disclose names, and not technically speaking, Kee profits through a rather flimsy legal loophole. According to Congress, the Anti-Murderabilia Crime Victim Dignity Act requires a Democratic co-sponsor in order to officially stop this kind of activity.
Does “murderabilia” really hurt anybody?
It comes as no surprise that prisoners profiting from their own hideous crimes isn’t exactly a popular idea. But the mere fact that murderabilia sites exist in the first place indicates a growing interest in these macabre sales.
People like Gregory Washington (whose daughter, Rasheeda was murdered by Kee) are particularly sickened by prisoners’ ability to profit from their own evil. And furthermore what message is sent to society when public taxes pay for the institutions actually housing the criminals? Some might agree that somewhere within the cycle of capitalism, the unthinkable has become a perverse form of entertainment. Will a decrease in supply [of these “murderabilia” sites] decrease the public’s demand for them? The opposite seems more likely.
