Gothamist: Exotic Dancer Dies

Wayne Berkban

Tue, 09 Dec 2003 20:32:36 -0500

This might be of interest to you: On the internet is the complete text of THIS DANCER MY FRIEND. It can be read free of charge. It is based on the journal of a dancer named Geri and it sympathetically portrays the lives of several female exotic dancers in a tavern owned and operated by a woman during the mid 1980s, when a serial killer was preying upon dancers. You can take a look at the novel by clicking on the following URL: http://home.att.net/~wberkban/index.html

peace dancer

Fri, 14 Nov 2003 03:26:44 -0500

To all Dancers still living, we mourne for these tragedies, and pray for the next god given moment to dance beautifully amongs arms of loving fans. I am a professional exotic dancer, and have lost dancer friends to violence of men. I will never understand. I can only pray. I cry in every breath, but I will not stop dancing. I dance for life. I dance for peace, I dance for love, I dance, I dance, I dance. I'll dance an infinity of love, i'll dance with the angels. I'll dance with the god that is in these lost men. Please, promote peace. Dance with someone and love them. And for the Dancers who sense psychodrama, Dance, Ballroom or Modern, or Yoga. Pray for Peace, Pray for the healing of men. Protest and Reject Bad Media, excessive violence and irresponsible entertainment. Women are treasures. we need men to be Whole spiritually. Lets create the solutions. Lets celebrate one another. Build each other up. Hold a partner, and love them.

shawna

Fri, 20 Jun 2003 07:31:22 -0500

Because my sisters' address was published in several newspapers, a couple by the name of Orlando & Lita Perez decided to break the police seal that was placed on the apartment and move in. While living in my sisters' apartment for three days the couple stole virtually all of my sister's belongings, then sold them to buy crack cocaine which was found at the scene when the D.A came back with an expert to do the follow up investigation, along with Mr. Perez who was claiming that he lived there and was there a problem? Her laptop computer for school, her cd player, dvd player, most of her clothing, all of her jewelry is all gone. How do family members pick up the pieces and move on from such a horrible set of circumstances?

Kathy

Wed, 04 Jun 2003 09:47:22 -0500

In my humble opinion, he should be charged with nothing less than MURDER 2! I don't know much about law, but I looked up some definitions online. From these definitions it's clear to me what the sentence should be. The site is Jury Instruction http://www.law.ua.edu/colquitt/crimmain/crimmisc/jurymur.htm MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE Murder in the second degree is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice, but without premeditation and deliberation. And whenever one person unlawfully and with malice aforethought, but without premeditation and deliberation, kills another person it is murder in the second degree. Premeditation and deliberation, as I have heretofore defined these terms, while necessary to constitute a homicide murder in the first degree, are not essential elements of murder in the second degree, which is simply the unlawful killing of a human being with malice, but without premeditation and deliberation.

JANINE

Thu, 29 May 2003 15:09:22 -0500

I knew shelia and I think it is in poor taste the way she is being portrayed by the media. Yes she was a dancer but she was also a woman, a very caring and giving woman. The press especially the post treated both stories very differently because on girl was a college grad with a future ahead of her and one was a dancer. Well Shelia did have a future she was going to NYU to get her real estate license. She did not want to dance any more and she did want to leave him. It is a loss that she is gone, she had a big heart and would have done anything for anyone.

jake

Tue, 27 May 2003 18:46:00 -0500

i think adam has the right idea here- the way the media reacts to tragedy is largely colored by issues of class and race. there have probably been a number of similar domestic violence murders in new york over the last few weeks, but these are the ones that captured the media attention. why? because the women are beautiful, white, and "almost famous". lyric benson, of course, was also young, which made the story that much more compelling. would the story have gotten as much play if she was black, poor, and ugly? unlikely.

Joce

Tue, 27 May 2003 18:02:03 -0500

Agreed. I immediately thought of Lyric Benson when first hearing about this story, shocked and creeped out over how fast a second example of murderous abuse to women had surfaced in the media. But what a difference in the telling. Both stories are just so sad.

Adam

Tue, 27 May 2003 14:59:01 -0500

Just a thought (actually I think you may agree with me ... as reflected in the Lyric Benson coverage). I think it would be interesting to read your take on the difference between the media coverage of the murder cases for Ivy-League Lyric Benson and exotic dancer Shelia Cordell. One seems to be percieved as tragic while the other seems to be merely interesting.

jake

Tue, 27 May 2003 11:00:56 -0500

my feeling is that you at least have a good shot at manslaughter- and the prosecutors might even be able to get him on murder 2 if they can can get someone to believe it was premeditated.

Jen

Tue, 27 May 2003 10:33:16 -0500

Hello - I thought you watched as much L&O as me. It's whether or not his intention was to kill her - it could have been an accident, heat of the moment kind of thing.

jake

Tue, 27 May 2003 10:22:03 -0500

how is it possible that you can throw someone out a window and not get charged with murder?