Ruth Finley: Villainess or Victim?

Kudos, once again, to Lifetime, as they delivered an amazing retelling of a captivating true crime story. This was a story that I knew nothing about until I learned about the movie, and it was a couple of weeks prior to the movie's airdate that I did my homework on Ruth Finley's story, and it's because of what I learned that I was even more excited for this film than I already was. There's another reason, but that will be mentioned later.

Ruth Carolyn Finley was born Ruth Smock on February 1, 1930, and by 1977, Ruth was living in Wichita, Kansas with husband Ed Finley, and was employed at Southwestern Bell, a phone company. At some point, Ed suffered a non-fatal heart attack, and it was after this point where the attacks and harassment began. First, it was a call to Ruth demanding money, and making references to being branded, which happened to Ruth when she was attacked at the age of 16. Things escalate a year later when Ruth suddenly receives a barrage of sinister letters, which all rhymed, and also turned up missing, only to be discovered just hours later.

At the time, BTK was on the loose in that same area, and it was definitely made to look like the murders and what was happening with Ruth were one in the same, including the letters from the person dubbed, "The Poet." While it was concluded that BTK and The Poet were not one in the same, the letters continued, and in August of 1979, Ruth was hospitalized after being the victim of a knife attack. The attacks continued in 1980 with more letters, including a Valentine's note in February of that year, and Ruth also received a package from The Poet containing a red bandanna. In December of 1980, the phones at Finley residence were cut, their Christmas wreath was set on fire, and a Molotov cocktail, ice pick, bottle of urine, and a jar of feces were all left on their front porch.

Investigators had their work cut out for them. The Poet was quite a sinister individual; depraved, maniacal, insane, you name it. By the fall of 1981, police chief Richard LaMunyon took over the investigation, which became personal due to his wife receiving one of The Poet's letters. The police actually interrogated Ed, who was cleared after passing a polygraph, but that would leave just one possible suspect--a person that was a surprise to everyone: Ruth Finley herself.

As the interrogation revealed, all of the evidence pointed to Ruth. She sent the letters to herself (and to the chief's wife), she committed the mayhem on her own house, and she even stabbed herself. Ruth denied it all, but she would undergo years of psychotherapy, which revealed a tragic secret. When she was 3 1/2 years of age, Ruth was groomed and sexually assaulted by a farmer who lived close to Ruth's parents and was a family friend. That's where the red bandanna came from; her rapist wore one. She had spent years disassociating herself from the abuse, and had used poetry to cover up her terrible secrets, which included being attacked at the age of 16. Ed's heart attack and BTK running loose served as immense triggers that led to Ruth enacting her alter-ego, "The Poet," using the persona for years and spreading a wave of chaos (mostly) to herself, a twisted way of punishing herself for something that was definitely not her fault.

Lifetime's movie, The Killer Inside: The Ruth Finley Story, aired on June 29, 2024--the last weekend in a month full of true crime films. The film starred Teri Hatcher as Ruth Finley; the other main reason why I was excited for this film. Regarding telefilms, Teri Hatcher had done her share of Hallmark films, but I hardly saw her on Lifetime. After reading the story a couple of weeks ago, I was amped to see Hatcher in this role, and she knocked it out of the park. Her best performance in the film had to be when Ruth cut her own power lines and set fire to the wreath. It was Hatcher portraying Ruth's deep psychosis to perfection, because remember: Ruth's actions as The Poet were not in her memory until the sessions brought it out of her. Everything basically went black when she was committing such actions, and Hatcher acted out the scene, as well as Ruth's revelations, to absolute perfection.

Teri Hatcher has had many memorable roles in her career. Lois Lane on Lois and Clark, Susan Mayer (later Delfino) for eight years on Desperate Housewives, and the role that's in my mind right now, the evil Queen Rhea during the second season of Supergirl. I would love to see Hatcher as a villainess in an actual thriller; I think she'd pull it off.

As for the real Ruth Finley, despite the fact that $370,000 went into the investigation, she was never charged with a crime, as it was determined that her actions were not truly malicious. After her years of psychotherapy, Ruth made a number of TV appearances regarding her story and her ordeal, and her marriage to Ed continued until 2011, when Ed passed away. On May 30, 2019, Ruth passed away at the age of 89.

Now let's get to the titular question. Ruth Finley: was she a villainess or a victim? I answered this question on social media, and I'll give the same answer here as I did at that moment. Was Ruth Finley a villainess or a victim? I say a little bit of Column A and a lot of Column B. What happened to her as a child absolutely affected her, and she didn't know it until over 40 years later. The proper help for Ruth was not there when she needed it, and as a result, the torment she suffered was buried away so deep that her longtime coping mechanism ended up becoming something sinister. Even as The Poet, Ruth's only true victim was herself; honestly, the only truly evil act that Ruth committed was ending the letter to the chief's wife. It took Ruth decades, but she was able to get the proper help for her trauma, and she did go on to live a long life afterwards.

It is always important for victims of any type of assault, especially sexual assault, to receive the proper help after experiencing such trauma. Again, the help for Ruth came decades later than it should have, but thankfully, she did eventually get the help she needed.