Do YOU know a serial killer?

What does it mean to "know" a person in the age of WWW? I feel like I know very well a number of people I have only met online. One of them is Chris Clarke, a regular commenter on Pharyngula and some other blogs, someone I rarely if ever disagree with, and whose quality of thinking and writing readily draws attention. I feel I know him enough to consider him my friend.

I've read some of his pieces before, through others' links, and on carnivals, but am not a regular reader of his blog. Ah, what was I missing!

Then last night, I saw a link to this piece on Chewie's blog and was floored:

Life and death

One morning twenty years ago this month, I opened the front section of the Washington Post and read that my friend Stephen Peter Morin had been executed by the state of Texas for capit al murder.

Wow! Wow! Wow! What else can I say? I remember seeing the "re-enactment" of the story of Morin, a serial rapist and killer, on TV several months ago. Well, read Chris' piece for yourself. And read the comments in which some other people who knew Morin (or other serial killers) chime in, including the Big Hero of the story, the woman who made the killing spree end and put Morin in jail - Chris' mother, a blogger herself. World is so small....

And Creek Running North is hitting my Blogroll as soon as I gather the courage to mess with the template again.