August 22, 2007 (Boston Herald / Laurel J. Sweet) -- A Jamaica Plain "vampire" who drank the blood of his wheelchair-bound grandmother after shooting her to death is trying to sell his amateurish art online to bankroll "a new start" if he’s freed.

Convicted "Vampire Killer" James Riva, 50, who is eligible for parole in August 2009, has built a Web site with help from an unidentified friend and is peddling several pastel still lifes and pencil sketches of seascapes, as well as the rights to two collections of short fiction.

"It’s blood money, plain and simple, and in his case you can take it literally," railed Andy Kahan, a former Northeastern University criminal justice major who crusades nationally against the sale of so-called murderabilia such as Riva’s work.

Murderabilia - the sale of artifacts created by or associated with murderers and other heinous criminals - is legal in Massachusetts despite past attempts by Rep. Peter J. Koutoujian (D-Waltham) and a federal bill pending on Capitol Hill to stop it dead.

Gov. Deval Patrick and Executive Office of Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke said they oppose murderabilia and vowed to take action.

"While there is currently no law that prohibits inmates from doing this, the administration certainly opposes convicted killers making money off their crimes and notoriety," they said in a statement last night to the Herald.

"The administration would consider supporting legislation similar to the bill proposed by Rep. Koutoujian and any similar efforts in Congress."

On a separate online murderabilia auction block, Riva is pitching handmade cards festooned with the shells of M&M candies.

On jamesriva.com, the brazen bloodsucker claims to be "a much different person now." A relative who refused to identify himself wouldn’t comment, except to say the media was only out to "sensationalize" Riva’s story.

On the day before Halloween 1981, a Plymouth County jury found Riva guilty of second-degree murder for the grotesque April 10, 1980, killing of Carmen Lopez, 74, of Marshfield.

Riva shot his crippled grandmother repeatedly and began feeding off her wounds, but later claimed he wasn’t sated because Lopez "was old and dried up." Then he torched her remains.

Jurors did not buy that Riva, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, was completely insane, but did find he had sufficient diminished capacity to commit a crime as a result of mental illness. His life sentence, plus additional time for arson, carried with it the possibility of parole after 27 years.

Attorney John Spinale, 73, who defended Riva at trial more than a quarter-century ago, insisted the Count Dracula routine was no act.

"My conclusion was that he sincerely believed that his grandmother was a vampire and that she had roped him into that life, also," Spinale said.

Riva sent Spinale a painting of the Hub skyline entirely in black some 25 years ago as a gift. It hangs in his finished basement.

"He’ll never replace Michelangelo," Spinale said, "but he’s not going to make a living off the fact that he committed a serious crime 25 years ago. He’s just not."

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Posted by Vladimir Mon, 09/03/2007 - 11:54

 

A castle fit for Dracula

Bran Castle, which cleaves to a steep cliff that towers above a medieval village in Romania, is up for sale for a bloodcurdling $85 million. Why? Castles don't normally fetch such top dollars these days, but a curious modern mythology has turned this property into a Dracula draw.

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Mirrors in Vampire Folklore

It has become a common belief that vampires cast no reflection. Supposedly the vampire, since he is a damned creature, has no soul and thus does not appear in mirrors. Yet this aspect of vampire mythology didn't even exist until Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. Where did he get it from?

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Preface

 

PREFACE

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Mirrors

I have tried again and again to be happy,
And stay in this world of yours,
Not playing by my own rules,
But by yours,
Contained in self indulgence,
And behind heavy curtains I hinde behind a mask,
Known for it's intensity and madness,
Should I be amazing today?
Or that psychotic bitch that lurks behind every dark corner of your mind?
How about the happy liar, who smirks at your every distateful comment?
How about another day?
Can I be myself today?
Alone, staying here watching the world go by,

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Descent by Eric Alfred Burns [M]

May 1.
Oh God.

I wish...I wish I knew what to do.

I'm sorry. I should start this letter over again. Carol, you always told my I held too much in. That's why you left me. I'm not holding anything in now. I *can't*. It isn't possible. I'm so sorry. I'm just so sorry.

Let me go back. Back to the beginning. Back as far as I think is appropriate -- all right? That's quite some way, I'm afraid. It takes me back to Whitehall Grove, some twelve years ago.

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