Single LDS Woman Has Crush on Aurora Shooter

[mirele]

I have to wonder if the intense pressure put on LDS women to have some sort of man in their lives has

gotten to this woman (she's 30--THIRTY) and she's flipped her lid.

 

The whole thing is making me to the infinity.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... nimal.html

 

 

Quote

I Love James Holmes: An Admirer Opens Up About Her Crush

Jan 9, 2013 7:40 PM EST

Misty Benjamin has photos of the Aurora, Colo., shooter in her wallet and on her bedroom walls.

Outside today’s chilling hearing, she talks to Christine Pelisek about her crush—and why Holmes

isn’t ‘a bad guy.’

 

For the third straight day, as a riveted courtroom heard grisly new details about Aurora, Colo.,

shooter James Holmes’s July rampage—this time that he scoped out the movie theater in advance,

snapping photos along the way—there was one woman, her hair dyed red in solidarity, who was firmly

on the gunman’s side.

 

“It seems crazy, but I’m not crazy,†Misty Benjamin, 30, says of her hair. “I wanted something that

if he saw me he knew it would be me—a supporter.†An Aurora resident who lives just four miles from

the apartment Holmes set up as an explosive booby trap on the day of the massacre, Benjamin has been

watching the trial from an overflow courtroom at the Arapahoe County courthouse.

 

“Even after everything I heard, I can still say I can still support this human being,†she says

after the day’s proceedings. “He is not an animal. I don’t think he is a bad guy. What he did was

bad.â€

 

Benjamin, along with about 500 reporters, media members, and victims’ family members, was watching

Wednesday as prosecutors showed photos Holmes had taken on his iPhone just days and weeks before he

went on the alleged rampage. One of the pictures shows Holmes, wearing black contact lenses and

sporting bright orange hair, with a large toothy grin holding the muzzle end of a Glock pistol.

Another depicts the 25-year-old former neuroscience doctoral student wearing body armor with an

assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

 

“When they showed photos of him, everything I saw were cries for help,†said Benjamin, who says she

joined the church of Latter Day Saints nine years ago after her dentist committed suicide and is

dating a man who knows of her affection for the accused killer. “He wanted someone to stop him. He

knows he is in trouble. He stands and sits when he is told. There is a kidlike quality to him.â€

 

Written in Misty’s yellow notebook, which she carries to court each day: “We are not supposed to go

through life alone, so why should James go through his trial alone? James is not alone, he has me.â€

On her wrist she wears a pink plastic bracelet with the word “besties.†Her best friend from

Michigan, whom she met on the Facebook page “James Holmes is Innocent,†wears a matching bracelet.

 

Prodded, Benjamin admits that she keeps photos of Holmes in her wallet and on her bedroom wall.

“When I get upset, I look at his picture and I calm down.â€

 

Perhaps surprisingly, Benjamin is just one of a macabre group of Holmes supporters who have found

their way to the courthouse to voice their solidarity with the man accused of killing 12 people and

injuring 58 others at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

 

But don’t mistake her for a “Holmie,†she says. That’s the name generally given to Holmes’s online

groupies, a following that, since July, has banded together to send letters to Holmes in jail, wear

plaid shirts, drink Slurpees (Holmes made reference in an earlier video that he wanted to own a

Slurpee machine after senior year), and eat at Subway, the sandwich shop where Holmes ate regularly

when he was a student at the university.

 

“I pretended to be a Holmie in the past,†Benjamin admits as she takes a small bite of her egg-salad

sandwich at a Starbucks a few miles from the courthouse. “On a couple of days I wore plaid and ate

at Subway.†But then, even in the safe haven of the Internet, she says she became disillusioned with

what others thought of her.

 

“The others were all cattiness towards each other and a lot of drama. There were attacks on me

personally. They said I am ugly and need to wear makeup. I try to keep my comments drama-free. It is

about James ... I don’t think the way they do, because I don’t think he is innocent and he wasn’t

set up.â€

 

Indeed, posts about breaking Holmes out of jail and the notion that the 24-year-old was set up by

the government are common on “Holmie†forums. Benjamin disagrees. “It makes people who actually care

for James look horrible. I am more realistic than them ... I think conspiracy theories take away

from his intellect. By saying the government did this, it takes away from his agency and ability to

speak.â€

 

Benjamin officially parted ways with the Holmies in the fall. In late October, she started her own

Facebook page for Holmes called “We Care About James Holmes.†That page, which has 16 likes as of

this writing, is “about supporting James Holmes as a person, free from drama and hatred towards each

other.â€

 

Why Benjamin became a Holmes groupie in the first place, she says, can be traced back to the day

after the shooting, when his mugshot was transmitted around the world. Benjamin, who says she has

never met Holmes despite living nearby on Paris Street, felt an instant connection. That’s when, she

says, things got “inky.â€

 

“When I first saw him, I was physically attracted to him,†she admits. “I thought, oh crap. I think

he is cute. I want to say it upset me, but I was conflicted. It was like a burden. I don’t want

this. I went into my bedroom and poured out my heart to the Heavenly Father. I didn’t want to like

him. I stood up and said, it’s OK. I need to learn something from this.â€

 

Since Holmes has been in jail, Benjamin has sent him a letter of support as well as a Christmas card

of a llama. “He once took a picture of himself with a llama for his college application,†she said.

“I don’t hate him. I didn’t condone what he did, but I don’t hate him.â€

 

Holmes’s defense attorneys declined to present their case at the end of Wednesday’s court session,

saying it wasn’t worthwhile to present a “mini-trial†before the real deal, which doesn’t yet have

an official date. As for Benjamin, she knows she’ll have to come to terms with the situation.

 

“Maybe down the road I won’t think of him as much, but he will always be with me. I think of it as a

crush. It ain’t going to go anywhere, and that is what crushes are: things that don’t go anywhere. I

had crushes on ’N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. I still have a crush on Nick Carter. As James isn’t

in the news as much, it will dissipate, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care anymore. Life changes,

and it doesn’t mean you don’t give a damn anymore.â€

[ILoveJellybeans]

Why are there women out there who have a thing for murderers????

I dont get it, they wouldnt have looked at them twice if it wasnt for them getting in the news for murdering people.

[lilwriter85]

She sounds really weird and I wouldn't be surprise if she ends up becoming a prison wife like Erik Menedez' wife.

[lilith]

She became a Mormon because her dentist committed suicide? Wtf? That seems incredibly random to me.

[lilwriter85]

She became a Mormon because her dentist committed suicide? Wtf? That seems incredibly random to me.

My guess is that the dentist was a Mormon. There are quite bit of Mormons in the dental field. Based on the other stuff in the article, my guess is that this woman was easy person to be attracted to the LDS church. A lot of people buy into the shiny happy image of the Mormon church.

[jaynie]

Oddly enough, we just talked about this tendency in class today (briefly). It's called hybristophilia (attraction to people who have committed awful, gruesome crimes), and apparently isn't that uncommon. Many women who have it feel like they can somehow "change" the criminal in question (often this is tied into religious fervor, so I guess it probably fits here), or are labouring under the delusion that the criminal is actually misunderstood. It might also have to do with liking the second-hand infamy of being associated with such psychopaths. Basically a feeling that is more likely to put her in danger than anything, because oddly enough psychopathic mass murderers do not tend to make exceptions for good little mormon ladies.

[Lillybee]

She reminds me of the fangirls who shaved their heads during the Manson trial when Charlie had his co-defendants do the same thing.

[mirele]

She reminds me of the fangirls who shaved their heads during the Manson trial when Charlie had his co-defendants do the same thing.

Some of those fangirls were actually members of Manson's cult, they had just not been arrested/charged in the Tate/LaBianca murders.

[gezykah]

Some women would rather have a man behind bars than out in the bars. Too much of their self worth gets tied up in "saving" somebody especially a prominent person since that fantasy helps keep them away from the real world.

[gimlet]

She's dating another guy, and she still indulges in her crush on a spree killer? I'm with you, boggled to infinity.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

This is the first I've heard of "holmies" but let me just say that the "holmie" tag over on tumblr is pretty disturbing (even for tumblr, which is... yeah, tumblr).

[Kitchen Princess]

This is just too creepy for words.

[gloraelin]

It greatly amuses me that these "Holmies" ~show their support~ by... wearing plaid and drinking slurpees. I mean, yeah, it's better that than anything more aggressive, but how silly is that? Although, if I were a victim or a relation of a victim, omg, I'm sure even that would be horrific beyond words -- to see people so cavalierly tossing off cracks and going all OMG I'M A HOLMIE!

[Closed Womb]

It's interesting that the fact that she was LDS was included in the article. Unless the oddness of her converting because of her departed dentist is just supposed to add to the unusual-ness of her persona, I don't see a reason for it. Truth be told, I know someone who converted to a religion (not LDS) because his fiancee killed herself. I don't understand THAT, much less the dentist. I don't even know my dentist's religion, if he has one.

She has a boyfriend, so it does not sound like a "desperate-for-a-man fundie" move. My money is on a "I'd like to know where my man is at all times" move.

[Turtle]

When I was in college, I worked for a non-profit that assisted families of minor death row inmates with fundraising to cover legal fees. And I learned that women writing letters to death row inmates hoping to start a relationship was a common thing. It still boggles my mind.

"Holmies" is just disgusting. I have no words... As for the woman from the article, I would guess she has a serious and unhealthy need for attention, which probably shouldn't be fostered by people writing articles about her.

[BlondeAgent007]

My guess is that the dentist was a Mormon. There are quite bit of Mormons in the dental field. Based on the other stuff in the article, my guess is that this woman was easy person to be attracted to the LDS church. A lot of people buy into the shiny happy image of the Mormon church.

I read that as, "My guess is that the dentist was a Moron." HAHAHA!! :D