Looking back, she now sees that her interactions with Gene forced her to come to grips with the fact that if she were not in a relationship with another woman, she would not be in a relationship at all. She also realizes that she wouldn’t have “the maturity of soul” to have found such a strong connection without having progressed through the trials and tribulations that brought her to that point.
“I fi understand what it is to have a good healthy, lov-ing relationship. It’s just so nice. It’s everything I’ve longed for in a relationship. The ability to love someone and be loved, care for her and trust her, makes my life full.”
Gene’s appeal was rejected by Virginia’s Court of Appeals in March 1999. In February 2001, the Attorney General’s offi for Virginia informed Margo that the petition he fi for a writ of habeas corpus in 2000 had also been dismissed.
He is due to be released on July 9, 2016.
“I wish they could’ve given him a longer sentence so he wouldn’t bother my mom, because our family is going to have to worry when he gets out,” Allison said.
But Margo doesn’t sit around and fret about the day Gene will get out of prison. She is simply determined to be ready if he attempts to come after her and take his fi revenge.
“God didn’t let me survive the first two attacks to have me fail if he tries again.”
About the Authors
Caitlin Rother
is the author of
Poisoned Love
, the true story of the Kristin Rossum murder case, and the thriller
Naked Addiction
. Rother, a Pulitzer Prize–nominated investigative journalist, worked for daily newspapers for nearly twenty years before she started writing books full-time. Covering topics ranging from criminal justice to government, politics, and human drama, she won many awards for her narrative stories, establishing a solid founda-tion for writing book-length nonfi She was a staff reporter for the
San Diego Union-Tribune
and the Los Angeles
Daily News
, and has written for
Cosmopolitan
, the
Los Angeles Times
, the
Washington Post
, the
Chicago Tribune
, and the
Boston Globe
. She also has made dozens of media appearances on TV news and crime shows, including E! Entertainment network’s “Women Who Kill,” Oxygen Network’s
Snapped
series, and Greta Van Susteren’s
On the Record
. Rother lives in San Diego, California. For more information, visit her Web site at http://caitlinrother.com.
John Hess
, a retired FBI supervisory agent and Quantico instructor, is the author of
Interviewing and Interrogation for Law Enforcement
, a textbook dealing with the skills investigators need for obtaining the truth from both witnesses and suspects. He is also the coauthor of
Writing for Law Enforcement
, which addresses a serious short-coming among many in law enforcement, and has written articles for various professional journals over the years. Since retiring from his twenty-seven-year career with the FBI, Hess has addressed numerous professional groups including the CIA, DEA, and United Nations inspectors prior to their departure for Iraq. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Index
A
Adams, Edwin (Gene Bennett alias), 143, 148, 153, 174, 193,
228, 236
Akers, Ed (father of Margo Bennett), 7, 11, 12, 121, 196,
197, 263, 264; abusiveness of,
12, 13
Akers, Elizabeth (Gene Bennett DBA), 143–144, 171, 193, 236
Akers, Gerthaldean “Dean” (mother of Margo Bennett), 11, 12, 197, 263, 264
Akers, Letta (sister of Margo Bennett), 3, 11, 68, 146, 158,
159, 165–167, 179, 186, 205,
240, 254
Akers, Marguerite Elizabeth.
See
Bennett, Marguerite “Margo” Alabama, 6
Albracht, Donald, 38, 220
Alexandria, Virginia, 17, 103,
171, 187
All That Remains
(Cornwell), 57, 63, 249, 250
American Airlines, 178
Annandale, Virginia, 171, 187,
193, 236
Ant Farm, 26, 43
Appletree Preschool, 79
Arlington, Virginia, 61
Ashburn, Virginia, 187
Aspen Achievement Academy (Utah), 260–262
Athens, Georgia, 183
Atlanta field offi (FBI), 5, 7, 17,
21
Atlanta, Georgia, 6, 97, 122
Atlanta Journal,
21
Atlanta, police academy at, 22–23 Attempted murder charges, 202,
239
Ayers, Dick, 35, 36
B
Baptist church, 36
Baptist Sunday school, 139–140 Batchlett, Clarence, 158
Batchlett, Tammy, 158
Bay Area, 262
Beals, Dianna, 63, 83, 86, 116,
119, 120, 127, 129, 130, 133,
136, 168, 172, 173, 177, 190,
191, 195, 207, 208, 237, 240,
242, 249
Behavioral Sciences Unit, 41 Bellyband, 91
Beltway sniper, 193
Bennett, Alene (mother of Gene Bennett), 36, 37
Bennett, Allison Akers (daughter of Gene and Margo Bennett), 17, 32, 39, 73, 79, 98, 119, 131,
134, 135, 140, 173, 202,
225–227, 229, 231, 241,
251–254, 256–260, 263, 268;
birth of, 10; self-cutting of, 253,
261
Bennett Elementary School, 138 Bennett, Eugene “Gene,” 1–3;
abusive behavior of, 140; alternate personas of, 219; assignment to White House Applicant Squad, 19; courtroom speech of, 245–246; defense of, 219–233; and disassociative disorder NOS, 211, 212, 226, 227, 231; and
“Ed” persona, 169, 170, 209,
212, 224, 226, 255; and hearing
voices, 209, 224, 232; indictment of, by federal grand jury, 85–86; investigation of, 181–204; manipulative tactics of, 110; marriage of, to Marguerite Akers, 6; 911 calls
of, 219, 229, 230, 237, 256;
preliminary hearing of, 198–200; prosecution of,
205–218; second trial of, 117; sentencing of, 247; served
no-contact order, 178; surrenders to police, 170; transferred to Public Corruption Squad, 38; verdict on, 239
Bennett, Karen (fi wife of Gene Bennett), 6
Bennett, Linda (sister of Gene Bennett), 36–38
Bennett, Lindsey (daughter of Gene and Margo Bennett), 77, 98, 119, 131, 134, 135, 140,
191, 252, 264–268; birth of, 33;
heart defect of, 33, 34, 142–144 Bennett, Marguerite “Margo,”
1–3; abduction of, 87–112; asks for divorce, 65; assigned to Department of Justice Applicant Squad, 19; cooling off of marital sex life, 39; courage and self-discipline of, 201; cross-examination of, 215,
216; deposition on 1993 abduction of, 149; FBI counteroffensive against, 82; gains full custody of children, 202; gets position at NOVA, 137; interest of, in criminology, 26; proposal of marriage of, to Gene Bennett, 6; resignation of, 128; sexual past of, 5;
sexuality issues of, 120, 141,
180; vindication of, 235–250; and wanting third child, 38
Bergere, Doug, 148, 177, 182
Binney, David, 78
Biograph Theater, 49
Bishop, Robert, 209, 223, 224,
226–230, 232, 241
Blakeney, Leon, 32
Blakeney, Linda, 32, 33
“Blonde Bitch,” 25–26
Bobbit case, 201, 217
Body of Evidence
(Cornwell), 42, 49, 56
Bootstrap.
See
Operation Bootstrap
Brethren Church, 21
Bryant, Robert, 82
Building with Books program, 267
Bull Run, battle of, 206 Bureau of Prisons, 133 Burke, John, 22–24
C
California State University, Chico, 267
Camp Sunshine, 49
Carter, Beth, 136, 137, 146,
150, 165–167, 173, 186,
190
Cause of Death
(Cornwell), 182, 195
Cause of Death: A Writer’s Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine,
192
Champaign, Illinois, 36, 37
Charlotte Observer,
44, 196
Children’s Hospital, 33
Clever, Edwin, 1–3, 154–166,
171, 178–180, 183, 192–193,
200, 202, 239
Coats, Martha (sister of Margo Bennett), 197
College of Alameda, 268 Colombians, 103
Colonial Beach, Virginia, 67 Commerce Court, Manassas, 175 Corley, David, 207–208
Cornwell, Charles, 44, 46 Cornwell, Patricia “Patsy,” 41–43,
45, 47–55, 57–60, 83–85, 114,
115, 144–145, 181, 182,
196–198, 206, 208, 242, 243,
249;
All That Remains,
57, 63,