CAPE WOMAN ENJOYS RAPPORT WITH KILLERS

All of Phyllis Wilcox's pen pals have something in common. They all are killers.

Wilcox, 41, of Cape Girardeau has fallen in love with one of the many convicted killers she has corresponded with for years.

Wilcox achieved national attention in October when the Washington News Service and CNN ran stories about her claim to be Becky Powell, a victim of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas.

Lucas sits on death row in Texas after his conviction on 10 counts of murder. He was convicted of killing Powell in 1984.

Wilcox's hoax collapsed while she was in Texas. When her story made national headlines, the photo of Wilcox in the 1970 Cape Central yearbook surfaced.

"I'm not sorry I tried this," she said. "I'm just sorry it didn't work."

Despite being married, Wilcox said she has fallen in love with Lucas, 58, of the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. She said her husband, Kurt, doesn't care about her love of Lucas.

Wilcox contends Lucas is innocent of ever killing anyone. She said authorities only have his confessions, not scientific evidence.

But Lucas isn't the only notorious inmate Wilcox knows.

She said she has made money selling autographed pictures of Charles Manson. Manson and one of his followers sent her the pictures earlier this year.

"He's even called me a couple of times," she said of Manson, "but I've been out both times."

"I've talked to Richard on the phone several times," she said. "I like writing him. He gets a little nasty on the phone, but he sounds so normal in his letters."

Wilcox said she was saddened by the recent death of another convicted killer, Jeffrey Dahmer.

"I wrote Jeffrey Dahmer and sent him a Christmas card last year," she said, "but I never heard anything back."

Wilcox said she has written convicted killers that haven't attracted national attention but made headlines in Missouri.

"I've written to Jerome Mallet," she said.

Mallet was convicted of the March 2, 1985, shooting death of highway patrol trooper James Froemsdorf.

But none of the killers Wilcox knows have prompted such an elaborate hoax as did her relationship with Lucas.

She purchased books and other materials to help her learn about Becky Powell, a Jacksonville, Fla., girl who was 15 when she was killed.

Wilcox said that after memorizing much of the teen's life, she wrote Otis Toole, Powell's uncle and a convicted killer himself. Wilcox said Toole sent her a questionnaire about Powell's life.

"I knew every one of the those questions," she said. "After I filled it out and sent it back, he sent me the names of all of her uncles and aunts -- all of her family -- with their addresses.

"He said I better start getting reacquainted."

Wilcox said after the letter exchange with Toole, she was contacted by Vic Freazell, Lucas' attorney.

"He sat right here in this apartment with his investigator and both of them just kept asking questions," she said. "And I could answer them all."

Wilcox said she will continue to talk to death-row inmates and other prisoners who will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. She said her future plans would change if Lucas is ever released from prison.

"Henry and I decided we would get married and go to California," she said. "He wants to live in a beach house."