Vanessa Richardson

We talk a lot about criminals' cavalier attitudes on this show, especially when it comes to offenders who evade justice or receive relatively light sentences.

We also know that every criminal we cover is unique.

They're all different.

So how might Dorothea be different or not?

During this latest prison stint, Dorothea didn't reflect on her ways.

If anything, she was bored.

So she turned to the prison's pen pal program to seek a little companionship.

And that's how she met Everson Gilmuth, a 71-year-old widower from Oregon.

Definitely.

Well, Everson was a kind, lonely man who believed Dorothea had only committed some financial crimes out of desperation.

The more they wrote to each other, the more they bonded.

And soon, Everson was regularly depositing money into Dorothea's commissary account.

From there, they started planning their life together.

Dorothea was released in late 1985 after serving just three years of her five-year sentence.

When the 56-year-old walked out of the prison gates, her lover was there waiting for her in his red pickup truck.

The terms of her parole forbade her from running a boarding home or working with any vulnerable populations like the disabled or mentally ill ever again.

But within weeks, Dorothea secured a lease on a house just a few doors down from her former boarding home on F Street in Sacramento.

She also opened a joint checking account with him and used the money to reopen her business.

It's not clear whether Everson knew Dorothea was violating her parole.

He was just enamored with her determination to help others less fortunate than her.