Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994 TAG: 9401080154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEVE WILSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The stranger calls her over and over on the phone, talks about love, asks personal questions. He sends letters, sometimes dozens, hundreds. Sweet words, flattery. Suddenly, he shows up at her house, on the street, at an arena.
On rare but terrifying occasions, he attacks, as happened to figure skater Nancy Kerrigan near a practice ice rink Thursday afternoon.
More American athletes and other celebrities, male and female, have been stalked and attacked in the past 10 years than in all previous U.S. history, says Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist from Newport Beach, Calif.
"We have more celebrities at risk than ever before," Dietz said. "The reason . . . is because of how visible and personal they become. We have close-ups of the very glamorous performance or even a personal interview about someone's favorite restaurant and artistic likes. And the more personal and intimate the media portrayal, the more that mentally disordered people will misinterpret this as something personal for them."
Men stalk female athletes for many reasons, but the leading cause of assaults is a romantic obsession called "erotomania," psychiatrists say, and these cases are likely to increase with the popularity of women's sports.
Tennis star Steffi Graf, Olympic gold medal skater Katarina Witt and swimmers Janet Evans and Summer Sanders all were victims of obsessed pursuers, although none was physically harmed. Monica Seles' knife-wielding assailant in Germany last year said he was acting out of infatuation with his compatriot, Graf.
The man who clubbed Kerrigan has not been found, and no motive is known. But several psychiatrists who work with the FBI, the Secret Service, law enforcement agencies and Hollywood stars say the incident should be a warning for all celebrities: Don't wait for blatant threats to take action.
Kerrigan, who pulled out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Friday because of damage to her right knee, said a couple of letters she'd received from a man had made her uncomfortable, but not enough to prod her to action.
"There was nothing bad," she told reporters. "I only got two letters. I heard somewhere that there were lots of them, and that they were threatening. They weren't at all. It was a fan who was very complimentary [about] my figure, and just as a person and my skating. And it was nice. . . . It was kind of strange, so I didn't write back."
She paused as she thought about how the letters "exaggerated" her figure.
"I usually send pictures to my fans, and the next year he was disappointed that I didn't write back. But it was nothing threatening or anything like that."
There is no evidence that this letter writer might be the man who attacked her, but psychiatrists worry that athletes and actors are failing to take such letters seriously.
"I want people to understand that nut mail is not harmless, and waiting for threats is not appropriate," Dietz said Friday.
"The truth is that direct threats are not associated with whether people will make attacks. On the other hand, several kinds of non-threatening but inappropriate communications have a definite relationship to attacks," Dietz said.
"I'm not saying this case [Kerrigan's] is erotomania. It's just statistically the leader. Playing the odds, that's what one would guess. Persecutory delusions [the perception that the athlete is somehow persecuting the attacker] would be the second-most likely."
To some, the attacks on Kerrigan and Seles, and the stalking of the other women, are alarmingly looking like a trend.
"We're in a pretty dangerous situation," said Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation. "As women's athletics become more popular and the athletes more familiar with the public, we're seeing more weirdos getting obsessed with them.
"Women are very vulnerable right now. And a lot of them, skaters and swimmers, can't afford to hire protection like the rich male athletes. . . . There's no question stalking is on the rise and we're not sure what to do about it."
by CNB