What began as a series of menacing phone calls in June 1978 evolved into a four-year ordeal for Ruth Finley, a middle-class mother in Wichita, Kansas. Finley reported being stalked, receiving threatening letters filled with childish poems, and enduring a terrifying kidnapping and stabbing. The perpetrator, dubbed 'The Poet,' remained at large, leading authorities to draw parallels with the notorious BTK strangler.
Finley first reported receiving a disturbing phone call while her husband, Ed, was hospitalized for a suspected heart attack. The caller claimed to know about a traumatic event from her past: an alleged branding with hot irons by a stranger at age 16 in Fort Scott, Kansas. The caller demanded money, threatening to reveal details of this past incident if Finley did not comply. The calls escalated, sometimes resulting in the line going dead immediately after being answered.
Escalating Threats and Violence
Two months after the initial calls, Finley reported being accosted in a Macy's store by a man who grabbed her arm and snarled her name. Police initially dismissed the case as the work of a crank caller, but the situation intensified with the arrival of threatening letters. These letters, written in crude, childish language and featuring nursery rhyme-style poetry, prompted a more serious police investigation. The incidents culminated in November 1978, when Finley claimed she was abducted during her workday by two men, one of whom matched the description of the man from Macy's. She alleged they drove her around Wichita for five hours, demanding money and assaulting her, at one point striking her head with a piece of concrete. Finley stated she escaped by asking to use a restroom at a park and then running off to hide behind a tree.
Her husband, Ed, found her disheveled and injured, prompting his furious resolve to see her tormentor brought to justice. Investigators found no forensic evidence on the letters and were unable to trace the abductors' vehicle. As other cases took precedence, Finley's investigation lost momentum, despite the occasional reappearance of the threatening letters.
The Stab Incident and Apparent Suicide Attempts
In July 1979, Finley reported another harrowing encounter. As she approached her car in a deserted mall parking lot, she claimed the same man confronted her, attempted to force her into her vehicle, and then stabbed her three times, leaving the knife embedded in her back. Doctors later told her she was fortunate not to have suffered a punctured lung. Over the next few years, the harassment continued, including cut phone lines, a bottle of urine left on their porch, a firebomb, and their holiday wreath being set ablaze, shattering a window. The persistent torment reportedly led Finley to contemplate suicide, with accounts suggesting she made arrangements to travel to Oklahoma City, check into a motel, purchase a knife, and end her life.
The Unraveling Truth
The case took a dramatic turn in 1981 when a new detective was assigned to investigate. Through a series of interviews and psychiatric evaluations, the truth emerged: Ruth Finley had fabricated the entire ordeal. She had sent herself the letters, staged the kidnapping, and even stabbed herself. Authorities and medical professionals concluded that these actions occurred during dissociative episodes, where her actions were largely, though partially, conscious. It was also suggested that the initial branding attack might have been fabricated.
Based on psychiatric findings, prosecutors decided not to press charges. Finley voluntarily admitted herself to a psychiatric ward. During therapy, she revealed a history of childhood trauma, including being repeatedly raped by a neighbor at the age of three and a half, with the apparent knowledge of her parents. Therapists suggested that the 'Poet' persona emerged as a manifestation of the rage and pain of this repressed childhood trauma, a way for the "little girl" within her to seek help after decades of suppression. Her actions, it was posited, were a form of attempted suicide that began from the time of her initial assault.
Resolution and Later Life
Ruth Finley and her husband Ed remained together. Finley continued therapy for many years and returned to her job at the telephone company, retiring in April 1991. She and Ed reportedly lived happily in Wichita, experiencing what were described as "the best years of their lives." The events were later the subject of a television movie, "The Killer Inside," starring Teri Hatcher as Ruth, and a book, "The Pursued," by Corey Mead.