Kristi Strack and Dan Lafferty struck up an unusual relationship behind prison walls a decade ago.
She dreamed about the prisoner who murdered a family member and an infant in what he called the name of God in 1984. She wrote him letters and began visiting him in prison. He said they fell in love. At one point he cut off his beard and waist-length ponytail that had been growing for about 15 years and mailed it to her. In recent years, they drifted apart as she questioned his status as a prophet and Strack was banned from visiting the prison.
Strack killed herself by overdosing on a concoction of methadone and cold medicine with her husband, Benjamin, and three children in September, and authorities wrapped up the investigation this week.
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“They were very millennial, they thought the second coming was imminent,” he said.
The Stracks talked often about their fear of an impending apocalypse, police said.
Lt. David Caron said Thursday that Lafferty initially denied influencing the Stracks, and said the relationship was more fatherly. Police interviewed Lafferty during their investigation, and found that he’d had no recent contact with the couple and was unaware of any suicide plans.
