Predators Who Pretend to Be Victims

Real victims are heroic; pretend ones are dangerous. Here are a few of the latter variety who have popped up in the true- crime headlines. In 2017, Lloyd Neurauter convinced his 19-year-old-daughter, Karrie, that his soon-to-be ex-wife had ruined his life and that he was going to commit suicide if she didn’t help him kill her mother; she did.

Disgraced U.K. citizen Julie Parker will be sentenced in March 2021 for her fraud conviction; in 2017, apparently short on wedding cash, she funded her nuptials by telling friends and family members that she had been diagnosed with cancer and only had a year to live. Like the good people they were, they all chipped in to make sure she had the wedding day she dreamed of.

And, last but certainly not least, there is Jaclyn McGowan. Apparently enraged that a one-night stand with her victim, Jamie Aitken, did not lead to something more, McGowan began a campaign of harassment that included pretending to be pregnant (showing him baby scans and wearing a belly prosthesis), seeking money for alleged baby goods, and attempting to turn his family against him by making false accusations of mistreatment and neglect.

While these are extreme examples, odds are that you know at least a mini-version — the “friend” who plays on your sympathy while sucking you emotionally or financially dry. The “blameless”…