Tag Archives: Brents

by Amy Herdy | October 20, 2013 · 5:46 pm

“Unbreakable” Describes These Survivors of Sexual Assault

From Amy: There is a powerful website called “Project Unbreakable–The Art of Healing.” Created in 2011 by then 19-year-old photography student Grace Brown, the project features photographs of sexual assault survivors who are holding a poster with a quote from their attacker.

Many of the survivors were sexually abused as children, and the quotes are both manipulative and heartbreaking. The project as a whole is empowering and noble in its intent to help these survivors regain their voice and their power.

As an aside, this website was suggested to me in a letter from Brent Brents. So per his request, here’s the link to “Project Unbreakable.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as assault, Brent Brents, Brents, sexual abuse, sexual assault

by Amy Herdy | September 15, 2013 · 6:00 am

the cycle in Childhood

Some things just blow my Mind. Some day maybe the world will have a different view. We’ve got to prevent and enterupt the cycle in Childhood. Sadly most people who have had the emotional high of rape, will more often than not, continue to rape. Especialy if their victims don’t come forward.

Brent Brents 8-25-13

Leave a comment

Filed under Brents' writings

Tagged as Brent Brents, Brents, childhood, rape

by Amy Herdy | September 3, 2013 · 9:56 pm

The world is full of “Bad” Things

I hate the politicians who get rich while the country slow dies one freedom at a time. I hate the dealers who push their dope killing our young and old alike. I hate that people like myself brew fear in peoples lives. I hate drunken men and women who get behind the wheel. I hate skinhead Racists who spew out regurgitated Hitler bullshit.

The world is full of “Bad” Things to hate. But the worst of these is enaction. The will to do Nothing Sucks.

-Brent Brents 7-22-13

Leave a comment

Filed under Brents' writings

Tagged as Brent Brents, Brents, Hitler, racists, skinhead

by Amy Herdy | August 18, 2013 · 8:03 pm

Monster, yes. Damaged child, yes.

Note from Amy: This very kind comment was sent to this Diary of a Predator website from a woman who read my book, Diary of a Predator: A Memoir, which is about my covering the case of serial rapist Brent Brents, and how that changed me.

It was a tough book to write, and I’m sure parts of it are very tough to read. So when someone takes the time to tell me they appreciate the book and that they understand what I was trying to accomplish, it fills me with both hope and gratitude that somehow, we’ll all make a difference.

Thank you, Tracy.

Here’s what she wrote:

Amy, I just finished your book. You are a brilliant writer and a very brave woman. Your story hit on the complex issue of abused becoming perpetrator. How can we not feel pity for Brents? Monster, yes. Damaged child, yes. His life would have been very different had he not endured horrific abuse as a child.

In 1983, I did an internship for the Wyoming Board of Charities and Reform. I researched the history of the Wyoming Children’s Home and the need to transition it into a Residential Treatment Facility for Emotionally Disturbed Children. I wrote a report to present to the WY Legislature in which I strongly recommended the transition. I researched the physical and sexual abuse that Brents, and other children, experienced while in the Home, and reading this portion of your book broke my heart. The cover photo on your book jacket looks very much like a boy I worked with from the Laramie Crisis Center in 1982. I remember this boy above all others because I took him to my home and introduced him to my husband and 2-year-old son. He had dinner with us, played games, and did not want to go back to the Center. I was severely reprimanded for doing this!

Thank you for writing your story, Amy.

Tracy Hauff

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as book, Brent Brents, Brents, diary, Diary of a predator, predator, rapist, serial rapist, sexual abuse

by Amy Herdy | August 11, 2013 · 8:16 pm

Those words

Note from Amy:

In July 2005 Brent Brents pleaded guilty to dozens of charges relating to several different cases, including kidnapping and sexual assault, and received a prison sentence of more than 1,500 years.

As the anniversary of his sentencing approached this year, he wrote of struggling with depression and self hatred. In the following excerpt from one of his letters, he is referring to the words spoken at his sentencing hearing by several of the women from those cases.

“Those words of theirs Never leave me. Those words from their anger and hurts are my most harsh punishment.”

Brent Brents 7-22-13

Leave a comment

Filed under The story

Tagged as anger, Brent Brents, Brents, punishment, sexual assault

by Amy Herdy | August 1, 2013 · 6:00 am

a sociopath is not something that can be treated nor cured

Note from Amy:

A reader from Alberta named Holly wrote to this Diary of a Predator website earlier this month and said this in part about Brent Brents:

“Even if he is diagnosed a sociopath then why wasn’t he helped. Why is the word sociopath considered a moral weakness – yet people who are depressed or bi-polar are treated like porcelain?”

Which prompted this response, sent anonymously on 7/25:

I believe if Holly was to do a little further research on mental disorders, she would come to conclude that being a sociopath is not something that can be treated nor cured.

Leave a comment

Filed under The story

Tagged as bipolar, Brent Brents, Brents, depressed, diary, Diary of a predator, mental disorder, mental disorders, predator, sociopath

by Amy Herdy | July 30, 2013 · 9:58 pm

Rape is not a side effect of hormones

Note from Amy: In the following, Brent Brents is referring to a remark made in June by U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss where he said that hormones may be a factor in military sexual assaults.

Chambliss, R-Georgia, was addressing military officials when he said, “The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22-23. Gee whiz — the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur.”

The remark prompted Brents, who is serving 1,500 years on charges that include sexual assault, to write the following:

Saxby Chambliss your a bafoon. To blame anything other than choice is purely Ludicris. Rape is not a side effect of hormones. Young soldiers, old soldiers, makes no difference, Hormones do affect all of us in some ways sexualy. Rape is Not one of those.

That’s as crude and plainly stoopid as someone saying well they wanted it, or they liked it. What the hell were you thinking. Basicaly with your hormones statement, you’ve emotionally attacked those victims who have been raped in the military. And made rape sound like a right of passage.

When i watched you on C-Span make that completely uneducated and stoopid statement, I was shocked. Yes me of all people was shocked. Do I have the right to lash out at you probably not. But hey we can chalk it up to my hormones being unbalanced.

Brent Brents 7-22-13

Leave a comment

Filed under The story

Tagged as Brent Brents, Brents, hormones, military sexual assault, rape, Saxby Chambliss, sexual assault

by Amy Herdy | July 25, 2013 · 6:35 am

Amsterdam Reader: we must find a way toward a broader solution

Note from Amy: The following response is from the woman who started the loop of this conversation–the one living in Amsterdam. And I am heartened by the intelligent, thoughtful and respectful discussions that occur on this Diary of a Predator website, so thank you to those who care enough to speak up:

We are all together on this planet, and some of us have been more fortunate than others. I have had several family members violently attacked, so this is not written from a place unscathed; however, Christianity does teach forgiveness and not just when it is easy or convenient.

My perspective is not intended to allow the perpetrators a “pass”, but to acquire some level of understanding and knowledge which could help to prevent these abnormalities from developing and proliferating. If we are truly serious about finding solutions, throwing offenders into jail is just one part of the answer. Currently, a violent sexual offender is going to be released into American society after his stint in prison: has anything been done to rehabilitate this person? How will we cope with this “time bomb” if no intervention or therapy has been offered? Soon prisons will not be able to contain all of them.

In previous centuries mental illness was considered an evil, but education and research have shown that this “illness” can be treated with therapy and drugs. Human society is better for this improvement. The onset of AIDS had people living in fear and treating victims as pariahs, but research has developed new treatments and we are progressing toward eliminating this scourge. Could we not apply this type of thinking to this problem? Shouldn’t we as humans try to advance our understanding and knowledge?

I know Brent’s crimes are particularly difficult to come to terms with, and I do believe he belongs in prison, however, we must find a way toward a broader solution.

I am not Dutch, I was raised in Canada, but have spent most of my adult life in the United States where these crimes seem to be on the rise. Currently, I am living and working in the Netherlands from where I am writing this correspondence.

Sincerely, Theresa L.

Leave a comment

Filed under The story

Tagged as AIDS, Brent Brents, Brents, Christianity, crime, diary, Diary of a predator, evil, predator, prison, sexual offender, violent sexual offender

by Amy Herdy | July 24, 2013 · 8:31 am

Reader Reaction to Amsterdam Comment: Easy to say if you yourself are not a victim

Note from Amy: I received the following as a comment to this Diary of a Predator website, which is about the case of serial rapist Brent Brents. The comment was apparently a reaction to the reader who said she was interested in understanding perpetrators of violent crimes . Most of the comment was written in Dutch, so I put the English translation (per Go0gle Translate) beneath it:

For the Dutch lady: easy to say if you yourself are not a victim of this disgusting guy!

Voor de Nederlandse dame: makkelijk praten als je zelf niet een slachtoffer bent van deze walgelijke kerel!! Men heeft altijd een keuze tussen goed en kwaad, ongeacht of je zelf een slachtoffer was, immers als men dat niet had of heeft zit de halve wereld in de bak! Dus complete onzin.
Voor deze lui als Brent Brents wegwezen kost de maatschappij alleen maar geld.

(Translation: One always has a choice between good and evil, whether you were a victim yourself, after all, if one has not had or is half the world into the bin! So complete nonsense.
For these guys as Brent Brents now costs society only money.)