Gary Heidnik’s Psychologist Pen Pal Wrote a Book About Their Relationship


Gary Heidnik—the serial killer from North Philly that was executed in 1999, 12 years after police found three women chained up in his basement and body parts in his fridge—had a pen pal in psychologist Jack Apsche. He exchanged 26 letters with Heidnik while the killer sat on death row. Heidnik’s writing includes sketches of torture chamber, descriptions of his crimes, and smiley faces. Apsche had just received his PhD in counseling psychology and says that the correspondence changed his life. Now, he’s hoping to publish a book on his relationship with Heidnik tentatively titled, Greetings From the Crypt. Apsche says that his relationship with Heidnik motivated him to give up cocaine, booze, and womanizing. He’s since gotten remarried, regained custody of his daughter, and become a pioneer of pioneer of a psychotherapeutic approach known as Mode Deactivation Therapy. [Washington Post]