The Letter
What Jamie Letson wrote to Katherine Foster
I’ve been swamped with a new multi-part episode about a bizarre case in Baton Rouge and another one about the former owner of the Cape Fear Serpentarium, who, as comedian Nate Bergatze pointed out in a Netflix special a few years ago, did not die the way you’d expect for a man who handled venomous snakes for a living. So please forgive the lack of newsletters lately.
But I did finally get a copy of the original handwritten note that Jamie Letson wrote to Katherine Foster, whose murder on the campus of the University of South Alabama in 1980 was the subject of a recent episode called “Time of Death.” I figured I’d share it here in case you’re interested in reading it.
It’s heartbreaking of course. Something she was processing in private and may have figured would never wind up in the hands of law enforcement. Then again, she did leave the notebook open on the kitchen table of her father-in-law’s house. So she may have secretly, or subconsciously, hoped the confession would be read by some people, thus freeing her of the burden of holding the secret to Katherine’s death.
As you may have noticed in the show, I’m not really interested in the grittier aspects of crime and murders. Season 3, about Texas serial killer Juan David Ortiz, was hard for me to do. I always regret looking at autopsy photos. I don’t have the stomach of a crime scene investigator or forensic anthropologist (although I may try to force myself to visit the Body Farm in Tennessee sometime soon, partly to understand how those people do it). I’m more interested in how committing a crime impacts someone psychologically. This letter, written by Jamie more than 20 years after she killed Katherine Foster, as part of her 12 Step program, is a good example of that.
More soon
Jed