The Spider And The Fly by Claudia Rowe

 

In September 1998, Poughkeepsie police made a startling discovery.  They had been aware of Kendell Francois, a huge man who associated with prostitutes and sometimes harmed them.  Women had reported him for trying to strangle them or beating them.  He had been brought in several times but not charged.  But on this day, when another prostitute made a complaint, Kendell had apparently had enough.  He confessed to the police that he had killed some of the women and that their bodies could be found in his house where he lived with his parents and younger sister.

It was a grisly scene.  Some of the bodies had been there for two years.  The house was filthy with rotting food, piled up trash and an odor beyond description.  How had this family lived like this?  Kendell was arrested and the removal began.  At his trial, Kendell was sentenced to life in prison.

Claudia Rowe was also living in Poughkeepsie.  She had been a staff reporter for a newspaper and after moving to upstate New York with her boyfriend, a stringer for the city papers.  She was fascinated with the story and wanted to understand what went on in the mind of someone like Kendell.  She started a correspondence with him that lasted for the next four years, eventually going to see him in prison a few times.

Rowe was in a bad stage of her own life.  Her boyfriend was dominating, something she had not really realized.  She was drawn to the dark side of things perhaps because she suspected that she had unresolved issues.  Although many asked her to stop her association with Francois warning that it was dangerous, she continued although he routinely frightened her.  But underneath she could see a different man he could have been if things had gone differently and that drew her to him.

This book was written by Rowe and details her journey of self-exploration as she learns more about the murderer.  Her association with him eventually gave her the ability to break away, not only from Francois' story but from her doomed relationship and start a new, happier life elsewhere.  While this book is marketed as true crime, it is more a journal of resolving past experiences and finding the courage to live in a different way.  This book is recommended for true crime readers.