Epilogue
Just after Independence Day, 1999, Lieutenant Rick Whitehead of the Travis County Sheriffs Office walked into his office and tossed onto his desk a completed FBI case profile. Unknown to Stephanie Martin, Whitehead had been at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, profiling her and Will Busenburg.
Neither one of them, Martin or Busenburg, is telling the truth, he said, leaning back in his swivel chair. Chris Hatton was probably bound and tortured. Whitehead backed up and stated that tortured was, perhaps, too strong a word.
They messed with him for a couple of days trying to get the money out of him.... They bound him and coerced him... before they finally got frustrated and killed him.
That belief, he stated, was based on the adhesive tape residue on Chris Hattons mouth and the ligature marks on his wrists.
Whitehead admitted, however, that liberties had been taken in coming to such conclusionslimited information had been utilized, officers reports, the autopsy, and photographs.
Still, there was one certainty, believed Whitehead. Martin and Busenburg consistently lied and continue to lie.
As proof, Whitehead pointed to his FBI study on statement analysis. It works best if youre the suspect but claiming to be the victim, he noted. Stephanie Martin had first claimed to be the victim of attempted rape.
The way an alleged victim writes his or her statement, the words he or she uses, the order of the words he or she uses, raises flags, Whitehead explained. If Stephanie Martin had said I, then stuttered and stumbled and changed it to he or we, her subconscious had been voicing the truth the first time.
The same, said Whitehead, applied to where Martin gazed while speaking. According to the officers studies, if Martin had stared at the wall rather than the interrogator while talking, that indicated deception.
I thought it was right in line with what we suspected, said Detective Manuel Mancias of Whiteheads report. He recalled Martins statements to others that she had wanted to know what it was like to blow someones head off. And lo and behold, poor Chris Hatton gets his head blown off.
To Detective Mancias, there was little difference between saying one wanted to blow someones head off and clarifying that one simply wanted to know, or was curious about, what it felt like to kill someone.
But many would disagree: Sandra and Robert Martin; private investigator Drew McAngus; and, of course, Stephanie Martin.
Authors Notes
If youre a woman and if you meet someone who says they have everything, do not take it at face value without some solid verification from somebody else, said Robert Martin, as he sat in his Round Rock living room. He paused and thought. I guess thats what went wrong. But that doesnt justify what happened. That just tells you how she got to know him and met him and he moved into her apartment. That doesnt justify her not running like hell after what happened, as soon as it happened.
As I researched and wrote WAGES OF SIN, I was wracked with worry over what we could learn from this crime... because for me, there is no reason to write true crime unless we can learn something from it.
Continually, I asked the friends, the family, the investigators, the lawyers, Is there a moral or a message to this story? Each time, they shook their heads and looked at me blankly.
Then, as I sat with Stephanie Martin for the very first time and heard her version of the events, focusing that day on Will Busenburgs stories, I too shook my head and stared blankly. Lord, how could this girl believe this stuff? I muttered in my mind.
Stephanie shivered from too-cold air conditioning. The guard, bored, and also freezing, joked a bit. And I, crazed by the fact that Stephanie could believe such stuff, suddenly realized I knew a woman whod dated a guy whod hinted that hed been in the CIA. Like Stephanie, my friend had bought it.
Months later, I was on a radio show promoting my previous book, WASTED, and talking about abuse and denial and how they combine to destroy lives, when, WHAM, came the phrase Con Men of Love. I suddenly knew what WAGES OF SIN was aboutwomen (and men) who look successful and confident on the surface, but who, underneath, are so lonely, frustrated, and scared that they will believe anything to be loved and accepted.
Often, they subconsciously are seeking self-confidence by being with someone they perceive as being more successful and exciting than they. So, they are attracted to con men of love.
I remembered another woman I know whod been swept away by her lovers outrageous stories and I realized that this is a very common occurrence. Try to point out the inconsistencies in the boyfriends stories and the reply is often, Why would he lie to me? What can he gain from me? I have no money to give him.
They follow those lines by talking about how perfect, wonderful, successful, and changed the boyfriend isjust like Stephanies love had changed Will.
I thought about what my friends and Stephanie have in common. Stephanies father admits that he slapped her and yelled at her. My friends have fathers who physically or verbally abused them. And Im back to abuse and denial combine to destroy lives.
Since then, Ive talked to others who have worked in strip clubs and Ive learned that the CIA line is frequently used and often believed. Ive read about men who are sucked into financial schemes and defrauded of their life savings. Frequently, the con artist says to them, Ive got CIA clearance.
1) If someone says they work for the CIA, run! If they work for the CIA, unless theyre a receptionist, secretary, or the like, they cant be telling people what they do!
2) If your father hurt you physically or emotionally, find a qualified therapist and go.
3) If you find yourself asking, What does he (or she) have to gain from me? I have no money, reply, Self-esteem. He (or she) can take self-esteem from me. Thats what Will Busenburg got from Stephanieit made him feel big that he could get a stripper because Chris Hatton had told him that strippers were really hard to get.
4) If someone shows up at your door who seems to be in costume, remember that costume shops are open year-round. If they have degrees or certificates on their walls that back up their claims (or stuffed in their closets to purposely look nonchalant), remember desktop publishing is easy and there are copy shops on every corner.
5) If friends you have loved and trusted for years try to talk to you about a new love in your life, breathe deeply, and listen... without trying to defend. Love can be blind. And in that state, we often believe only what we want to believe. In times like that, friends can be perfect eyes.
6) Find yourself a Ben Masselink.
Everyone needs a Ben Masselink in their lives. Ben was my professor at the University of Southern California Masters of Professional Writing program. He became my friend, then my mentor, and finally my hero and father figure. I didnt realize that, though, until he died in January of 2000.
I always called Ben my Zen Marine because he was an old, drunken Marine who got himself sober and swam every day off the Pacific with a hook and line tied to his toe. Thats the way he caught his supper. And thats the way he lived. Enjoying nature while moving forward and working.
He wasnt perfect and never claimed to be. He typed his manuscripts on a collection of old Underwoods so that keys missed their marks and sometimes didnt print at all and typos were left uncorrected. But his words were always filled with humor, love, passion, and encouragement.
