Pat LaLama

Thank you.

I love being here.

And I particularly feel very strongly about this episode.

And I think we can help our viewers and listeners understand more about why this case happened.

Something very specific.

You know that, Deborah, our job in telling these kinds of stories is to help people better understand the criminal justice system.

But beyond the actual crime, for me personally and why I became involved in criminal justice coverage is the human condition.

What makes a person do such horrific things at the risk of losing their freedom and their livelihood and their families and their loved ones?

Is it that drives us psychologically?

And I looked at this case and I saw a very specific thread.

And that was a woman

brilliant, loving, generous, funny, adored by her students, intelligent, and fell into a trap that most people don't really understand.

Because what I heard throughout covering this case was, well, how could such a brilliant woman let herself be taken over by this one man?

It's a complicated thing that happens to us, even if we are intelligent, even if we are successful.

Who among us haven't

fallen for someone who gave us a good line.

And we looked back later and went, oh, wow, where was I?

But she went further with this.

And I think we need to explore that.

She was a woman of substance, a Renaissance woman, so to speak.