Next Stop: The Electric Chair by Baltimore City Paper Lyrics
Originally published March 9, 1984
ARTHUR FREDERICK GOODE III, 29, sits on death row in the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., eagerly awaiting his electrocution. Goode has been a child molester all his life. He is exactly who our parents warned us against and one Maryland native we'd all rather forget. But if the governor of Florida signs his death warrant (and I think he will), Goode will fry in the electric chair as early as next month. Goode can't wait. He is demanding his execution as soon as possible--a sort of kinky Gary Gilmore. Here is a man with a burning message few want to hear--a brand of sexual terrorism that frightens and sickens society but only gets stronger as his execution approaches.
Mr. Goode has been on record for molesting dozens of boys since he was a teenager. After walking away from Spring Grove Hospital in 1976, he fled to Florida where he murdered 9-year-old Jason VerDow. Heading back to Baltimore, he kidnapped 10-year-old Towson paperboy, Billy Arthes, and held him for nine days, during which time he molested and murdered 11-year-old Kenneth Dawson in Virginia.
Finally apprehended, Goode received a life sentence in Virginia, where Billy Arthes was the star prosecution witness. Dragged back to Florida, he was given a death sentence for the first child's murder. He has never been tried in Maryland for the Arthes kidnapping.
Starke, about an hour's drive west of Jacksonville, appears to have no other industry but the Florida State Prison. Home of Ted Bundy and over 200 men waiting the death sentence, it is a massive institution housing 1,608 inmates. Parking my rented car in the lot, I surveyed the incredible amount of barbed wire surrounding the prison and checked in with the administration. After being searched twice, I was escorted through many locked gates by a correctional guard who stopped speaking to me when he learned whom I had come to interview. I realized we were past the final security point when I saw Goode locked in a small holding cell--a cage really--with his hands handcuffed behind his back. "Are you the one to see me?" he asked. "Yes," I said, making eye contact for the first time.
I was ushered into a small interview room and Goode followed, still handcuffed, a few moments later. The officer closed the door and we were left alone.
Goode is unremarkable in appearance: slight build, brown hair, combed into Prince Valiant bangs, and acne scars that look freshly scrubbed--almost sandpapered clean. Extremely nervous and agitated, he explained in his childlike twang that he was frightened for his life, that all the inmates and guards would kill him if they could. Shaken by the transfer from his cell to our interrogation room, he seemed surprised that he hadn't been accosted. As I fumbled with my tape recorder, he finally sat down.
Arthur Goode: You said you were familiar with my case?
City Paper: I went to your trial in Virginia. I live in Baltimore, where as you know your trial received . . .
AG: Do you remember the Billy Arthes case? Remember I kidnapped him from Towson and ended up in Virginia? How about Florida: Were you down here? Are you taping this now?
CP: Yes. Is that OK?
AG: I'd rather you wait awhile, but you can if you want.
CP: It's easier for me so that when I do the article I get what you say correctly.
AG: Well, this down here [Florida trial] was a real circus trial. You know I convicted myself.
CP: Why did you?
AG: It's difficult for me to get right into . . . (chuckles) . . . You know I've requested for my execution to be carried out. I've got so many problems here due to people being prejudiced against me because of my case. I believe I'd be better off executed. I get so upset because of security--people after me. Of course, they're supposed to protect me from my execution. The governor hasn't signed my execution yet. Did you hear this morning some guy back there hung himself? I'm on Q Wing, that's where the chair is, downstairs.
CP: Are you saying you are pushing for your execution so your everyday fears in here will be alleviated?
AG: Yeah, it's the staff, the guards. They're real prejudiced against me, they hate me. I've been here almost seven years now.
CP: There was a time when you didn't want your electrocution. You said you wanted psychiatric help.
AG: You mean doctors studying me? I've realized that people don't have no interest in that.
CP: Well, there are doctors . . .
AG: I don't believe those people care about me, because they've never written me a letter since I've been here, much less come see me.
CP: There are a lot of people who have your problem.
AG: It's not actually homosexual. It's pedophilia. Adult sexual desire for children. In my case it's boys.
CP: Did you ever consider that if you were attracted to boys of 18 you wouldn't have these problems?
AG: Yeah, that would be homosexual, legal age, but I'm not interested.
CP: Do you feel that psychiatric treatment wouldn't help?
AG: Well, there's nothing wrong with me. It's the damn people in society who are prejudiced against pedophilia.
CP: But you killed boys.
AG: Oh well, that there I agree. But I'm talking about pedophilia.
CP: But is it the violence or sex that attracts you?
AG: My thing is not about violence. I've never been violent in my life.
CP: You killed two boys.
AG: Because of people being prejudiced against me. That's why I chose violence.
CP: Why?
AG: If I hadn't killed the kids they would have had me for what? Assault? Sexual abuse? They'd probably try to give me the death penalty just for that.
CP: But those kids would be alive today.
AG: Well, I feel sorry for those kids. I have remorse for the boys but not . . . what I'm doing is actually a protest against society because society is against me for pedophilia. There's lots of questions involved. I wish they could put me on the Phil Donahue Show 'cause I could've been good on something like that.
CP: Have you ever tried the drug Depo-Provera?
AG: I had that in Spring Grove. But I've got a stronger sex drive than most people.
CP: If you could snap your fingers and change pedophilia, would you?
AG: Why would I want to change? I like it. If people understood this, they don't have to accept it, but if they just could understand pedophilia, I'm sure the legislators would have to pass a bill to give some consideration to gay rights.
CP: You horrify gay-rights supporters! You pick partners who aren't willing.
AG: . . . Billy Arthes . . .
CP: Because he didn't want to die.
AG: I gave him the chance to run away.
CP: That's the Stockholm syndrome. The victims identify with their kidnappers so they won't die.
AG: I believe Billy loved me to a certain extent. I only had nine days with him.
CP: Why did he live and the others die?
AG: I loved him.
CP: You didn't love the others?
AG: Well, yes I did. But as a protest, I had planned to kill those kids. Nobody special.
CP: You had planned it?
AG: Premeditated. But I didn't know who. But the Dawson case, Kenny Dawson, I wish I hadn't killed him. He was one of the nicest kids I ever met.
CP: Well, then why did you kill him?!
AG: One main reason was I didn't want him to snitch . . . cover up the witness.
CP: Do you enjoy all the publicity?
AG: Yes.
CP: Why?
AG: There's every reason in the world why I want to be executed. Of course, that's the last thing I really want because I'd like to be on the street doing sex with young boys.
CP: You want to go out and kill young boys?
AG: No . . . well, it depends now. If society would leave . . . what I want to do is get a legal way to marry a boy. You know Ricky Schroder on Silver Spoons? He's almost 14, but I'm crazy about him.
CP: Do you blame people for being against you when you're killing their children?
AG: The thing of it is I didn't kill any kids for years and they'd like to hang me by my feet for practically nothing.
CP: Were you ever molested as a kid?
AG: Not by no adult. When I was 11, my neighbor friend introduced me to sex.
CP: You are a liberal's nightmare. For anybody against the death penalty, to hear you say this kind of thing, makes it very hard for them to keep their position. There's a big difference between thinking homosexuality is all right in society and hearing you say you want to molest kids--that's very different.
AG: Than just regular gay?
CP: Yes. Two people who are adults and decide--it's a mutual choice. Those boys you pick don't have a choice. They're walking down the street and they're grabbed.
AG: Not necessarily. You're looking at it as a rape situation.
Suddenly, all the lights go out. Slightly alarmed at being shut in a dark room with Goode, even though he is handcuffed, I ask what is going on. He explains that every Wednesday this happens. They are testing the generator to see if it has enough power to run the electric chair. Contemplating this grim reminder, the lights came back on and we continued.
CP: Do you have friends?
AG: Not here! My parents are the only friend I have.
CP: How about if the governor signs the papers? Are you going to jump in the chair eagerly?
AG: I haven't decided how I'm going to react. I really don't want to be electrocuted, but then again I don't have a choice so I guess I'm going to have to force myself to go ahead and accept it. If I don't get executed, I'll probably wish I had because these people in here, inmates included, want to kill me. Last week the governor appointed these psychiatrists to examine me for evaluation.
CP: Do you think you're sane?
AG: Yeah, I'm competent for execution. I have a mental disorder, but who doesn't? That's what they come to see me for [to see if I was mentally fit to be executed]. They only saw me for about half an hour. My attorney already told me there is a good chance I'll be executed, probably in the next month or two.
CP: When you were on the streets, did you read a lot of pornography?
AG: I didn't read it. I got those books with pictures in it. At the adult bookstores. They didn't have exactly what I wanted. Let me tell you about marrying a kid. Let's say I'm on the street. Years ago if I had done everything right without any violence, I would have gotten a good lawyer and a psychiatrist and had them evaluate a 10-year-old boy and be able to give a report to the courts saying the kid is capable of understanding sex with adults. The court would write an order to somehow get me a marriage license. It may sound ridiculous . . .
CP: No parent would ever allow that!
AG: Money talks.
CP: That would mean buying a child. That's white slavery.
AG: Maybe this would be in an orphanage. Maybe he don't have no parents. How about runaways?
CP: If you love little boys, why couldn't you just care for them? Why do you have to have sex?
AG: I don't do sodomy. You know what sodomy is?
CP: Yes.
AG: The only thing I do is fellatio--you know the oral sex. That's the main thing, and hugging and kissing, but I don't do that sodomy. I don't like that either way.
CP: No 10-year-old boy wants fellatio either.
AG: Most of the kids I had did.
CP: They had no choice. You threatened their lives.
AG: Look, I've had this with other kids. They like this thing. You've got to give them a chance. You just don't take someone in the woods and do something. My gosh, they'd be scared to death. How would you feel? I can understand. . . . Society doesn't have the right to get into my business. I hope when I get on death watch, I hope they put me on national TV because I want to tell those prejudiced bastards out there in society who say I don't have the right to kill kids--well, they don't have the right to get into my damn business.
CP: If you were with somebody who wanted to be with you, but these kids you took them away under threats of violence.
AG: I guarantee you now that if I was on the street I'm almost sure I could get a boy to come with me voluntarily, not under threats, and do sex.
CP: What would happen when he wanted to leave?
AG: Let's just say I'm going to take him to a carnival or something. Any 10-year-old kid would probably want to stay with me rather than go home anyway. I'd be keeping him more amused than he'd be at home.
CP: Do you feel guilt?
AG: About what?
CP: About killing the kids?
AG: Yeah, I do. You see, I loved the kids. That's one thing I hate to do, but it's my way to protest.
CP: That can only make people more prejudiced against your cause.
AG: I guess I feel I have to have a reason to be in here for the rest of my life or be executed. I feel proud I killed those two kids knowing that society will never let me have sex with kids again. At least I can pay them back.
CP: Did you ever try to figure out what caused you to only like very young boys?
AG: I just can't understand why most guys don't have that desire anyway. It's a natural thing.
CP: Did you ever go to a psychiatrist to figure out why?
AG: Well, when I was on the street, I was seeing some, but if I had talked the truth they would have had me arrested, see what I mean? I had to manipulate them to keep my freedom. I would like to be honest with someone now.
CP: The victim's parents sued Spring Grove Hospital for letting you out. That's a new thing that's happening, families suing institutions that free dangerous people.
AG: That was the Dawson case. They lost that case. My parents were helping them out.
CP: Well, you shouldn't have been let out.
AG: You know I had ground privileges. They just locked me up on a locked ward when I escaped. I had a key, a master key. I was there on a volunteer basis because the court had ordered me there.
CP: At your trials you said things like, "I wish I had the chance to cook and eat the little boy." Why would you say that?
AG: I was saying all the atrocious things I could so that I would get the death sentence. If I had gotten a life sentence, my family would be glad, but not me. Do you know what would have happened to me if I got a life sentence? These people here would kill me. If that chair don't electrocute me, these people will.
CP: So all the statements were just for shock? The cooking and eating of kids?
AG: Yeah, shock. But listen, some people do cook animals, don't they? Isn't it possible you could cook certain people and eat them? What does a young boy taste life? Would it be similar to chicken?
CP: I don't know. I really don't.
AG: What I'm saying is I really love kids. Of course, eating is one thing--I don't know--it doesn't have anything to do with sex. But maybe if you stop and think about it--this is terrible to say--but maybe a lot of people would like to eat a young boy. Now really forget about the horribleness for the child; think about what the meat would be.
CP: That's the main thing--we don't. . . . You say forget about the child. You can't forget murder.
AG: You see the deer out there. Don't kill that poor deer. On the other hand, people love deer meat, right? They don't think about the poor deer.
CP: If you weren't into children and had a normal sex drive, what do you think you'd be doing today?
AG: I wouldn't even have a record. I'd like to be a meteorologist. I'm a nut on the weather. And maybe a disc jockey on a rock 'n' roll radio station. Then again, I'd like to be in a position in the legislature to push for a pedophilia act.
CP: I don't think anybody is born bad. You say you're not insane, so what are you? Evil? What is it?
AG: Suppose pedophilia was legal . . .
CP: It never will be!
AG: For years I molested kids but I didn't kill them, but society is catching up with me and trying to do the worst to me. You see a kid is supposed to say no to a stranger. He's supposed to be with other kids. I'm not saying they should walk them to school, but maybe in some cases it would be a good idea.
CP: Can kids be protected from you?
AG: Let's say I'm on the street now and nobody knows me. I see a 10-year-old kid. I'm not going to go dragging some kid in the woods. There's so many kids that are willing voluntarily to be friends with me, so if any kid is going to reject me, I'm going to let him go.
CP: Why did you start killing?
AG: I told you. How many times do I have to tell you?! Because society being against me. That's the reason for the violence.
CP: If they ever made a movie of your case, who would you want to play you?
AG: Why couldn't I? Some adult you mean? (laughing) You talkin' about after I'm executed? Who would want to play me? They'd be embarrassed to play my role. OK. I like Scott Baio on Happy Days. He's almost 23. But he wouldn't want to play it, it would ruin his publicity.
CP: People read in the papers that you are a monster. You're like Frankenstein to them.
AG: Suppose I escaped?
CP: You'd be caught.
AG: I mean before I was caught. (laughing) People probably wouldn't be able to go to sleep, would they?
CP: Would you enjoy that?
AG: It's really a shame people are so prejudiced against pedophilia.
CP: You're talking about murder. You don't agree there is such a thing as an innocent child?
AG: Yeah. That's the problem. Society has got so many rules. My thing is not just to do sex with them but to have a loving experience, an honest relationship.
CP: But if someone chooses not to have a loving relationship, you kill him.
AG: If someone goes out to find a woman who doesn't want sex, you let her go and find someone who does. It's the same with me. If a kid rejects it, I change the subject and turn it off, kind of reverse his mind so he doesn't go home and tell his parents. I have a way of erasing what I put in their mind. I have a manipulating way he'll forget about it and not even think there's anything unusual about it. You'd be surprised how I've gotten away through the years just in [molestation] cases. I've talked to kids' parents before, I've gone in the houses . . .
CP: Did you have any child molester friends?
AG: No, I almost don't believe there is any [other] person on this earth that has the desire to do sex with kids. I have never in my life met one. Why hasn't anyone written to me? That's probably the only friends I could have, isn't it?
CP: Did you ever try to fight this impulse?
AG: You can't cure something that's there. It's natural for me to have sex with children the way, say, it's natural for some people to have sex with women. It's natural, it's there forever. You'd be surprised at these people in here. They don't want me to have a TV 'cause I can look at young boys on TV. They don't want me to have regular teen magazines--I have a subscription, I get them--16, Tiger Beat, Super Teen. They're legal.
CP: Let me change the subject a bit. How do you feel about what you've put your own parents through?
AG: Yeah, they're worried to death. The last thing they want is me to be executed. But then again, it's my life, it's not theirs. They're concerned about the publicity because it comes out on them. I'm their son.
CP: Did you have a happy childhood?
AG: (long silence) Well, yes and no. I was an only child. [He has three sisters. -JW] I was in special education, I was behind. Because of my pedophilia I don't think so. I had to hide it from my parents and everybody to get away from it.
CP: Do you see any psychiatrists here in this jail?
AG: No, this ain't no rehabilitating place. They hate me. These people working here are professionals. A lot of people working here are criminals even though they say they're not, and there's no way to prove it 'cause the state is backing them up. If there was any way to monitor this place, they'd have 90 percent of the people fired or locked up.
CP: Do you know Baltimore well?
AG: I'm from Hyattsville. But I molested kids in Baltimore. Did you hear about Dundalk? I lured a 13-year-old boy in the woods in Dundalk area and I had sex with him and kept all his clothes. They found him, some motorist saw him coming out of the woods with no clothes on.
CP: Don't you think that was a horrible thing for that boy?
AG: (laughing) That's like streaking. I had actually tried to kill him. I gave him some Dramamine. That was before I knew anything about strangling. The thing that was funny is that he came out of the woods with no clothes on.
CP: I think that would be horrible.
AG: He wasn't hurt or anything.
CP: You can be humiliated. That hurts. Streaking is when you choose to take your clothes off. . . . Do you believe in the afterlife?
AG: Yeah, I believe the Lord understands my situation with pedophilia. He understands the reason why I killed those boys and that he knows deep in my heart I have remorse and wish I never done it. But then again he understands why I favor that is because the people being prejudiced against pedophilia.
CP: What is the happiest memory of your life?
AG: My experience with Billy.
CP: And the worst?
AG: Being in this rotten hole.
CP: When you committed those murders, was the thought of capital punishment ever in your mind? Was it a deterrent?
AG: When I killed the boy in Florida I figured I'd probably be executed if they caught me.
CP: What do you think will be your last thought before they pull the switch on the electric chair?
AG: I've never really thought about it. I love boys. I want to do sex with kids. That's my thing. But then my revenge against people is I wish I could kill as many kids as I could. For example, let's say a guard here who intentionally gives me all sorts of problems even though I respect him. They intentionally don't respect me. How do you think I feel about that person? You might say why don't I kill him--I wouldn't do it. The best thing to do against them is to kill their kids.
CP: The kids didn't do anything to you.
AG: But their kids is what they love the most and for them to suffer that loss would be worse. Like the governor--he's prejudiced against me--I tell him the same thing. I wish the hell I could kill his kids, too.
CP: The reason they hate you is because you killed kids in the first place.
AG: The main reason is sex. That's what started it. For years I didn't hurt anyone. I didn't even have rape in me.
CP: Why is it only sex with you? Why are you so obsessed?
AG: I like children in general, be friends with them. I'm like a clown. I'd like to be a scoutmaster. People don't understand pedophilia. In other words, there's going to be more kids missing and killed until society understands and possibly considers pedophilia. In the future they're going to have to do something.
CP: What do you have to say to those people you say are prejudiced against you?
AG: Tell them . . . people better start considering all sorts of life, not just being selfish on normal sex. They need to understand what it is, not that they're going to like it, but they've got to accept it and understand it. Somehow they must legalize it in certain ways or their kids will be raped or molested. People are responsible for their own kids.
The feeling that stuck with me after interviewing Arthur Goode was very similar to what I felt after visiting the Dachau concentration camp; no matter how much you read on the subject, being there is far worse than you can imagine. Goode is easy to hate. He has no feelings for the victims' families and can't imagine the emotional trauma that results from his attacks. But does anybody choose to be a child molester? Is Goode "mental" as his father claims? If he isn't insane, who is? Yet legally, I'm not sure--he's articulate, unremorseful, and there's no possible way you can excuse his obscene acts, but does he know right from wrong? Does he really want the electric chair? Even though it's an immediate problem for him, he treats it as make-believe. Does he want society to pull the switch for him as his own suicide? Or does he mouth off rhetoric to get the attention that only capital punishment can bring? If any of us never had sex, would we have uncontrollable rage? Why did no one listen to him before it was too late? In his case, is capital punishment similar to putting an injured horse out of his misery behind the barn? If society wants revenge, wouldn't a life sentence be worse, keeping him alive to live every day in terror? Do any thoughts other than sexual ones ever enter his mind? Why can nothing break through his barriers? Does he need a therapist or an exorcist? Who knows? There are no answers. All I know is that I'm not Arthur Goode.
ARTHUR FREDERICK GOODE III, 29, sits on death row in the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., eagerly awaiting his electrocution. Goode has been a child molester all his life. He is exactly who our parents warned us against and one Maryland native we'd all rather forget. But if the governor of Florida signs his death warrant (and I think he will), Goode will fry in the electric chair as early as next month. Goode can't wait. He is demanding his execution as soon as possible--a sort of kinky Gary Gilmore. Here is a man with a burning message few want to hear--a brand of sexual terrorism that frightens and sickens society but only gets stronger as his execution approaches.
Mr. Goode has been on record for molesting dozens of boys since he was a teenager. After walking away from Spring Grove Hospital in 1976, he fled to Florida where he murdered 9-year-old Jason VerDow. Heading back to Baltimore, he kidnapped 10-year-old Towson paperboy, Billy Arthes, and held him for nine days, during which time he molested and murdered 11-year-old Kenneth Dawson in Virginia.
Finally apprehended, Goode received a life sentence in Virginia, where Billy Arthes was the star prosecution witness. Dragged back to Florida, he was given a death sentence for the first child's murder. He has never been tried in Maryland for the Arthes kidnapping.
Starke, about an hour's drive west of Jacksonville, appears to have no other industry but the Florida State Prison. Home of Ted Bundy and over 200 men waiting the death sentence, it is a massive institution housing 1,608 inmates. Parking my rented car in the lot, I surveyed the incredible amount of barbed wire surrounding the prison and checked in with the administration. After being searched twice, I was escorted through many locked gates by a correctional guard who stopped speaking to me when he learned whom I had come to interview. I realized we were past the final security point when I saw Goode locked in a small holding cell--a cage really--with his hands handcuffed behind his back. "Are you the one to see me?" he asked. "Yes," I said, making eye contact for the first time.
I was ushered into a small interview room and Goode followed, still handcuffed, a few moments later. The officer closed the door and we were left alone.
Goode is unremarkable in appearance: slight build, brown hair, combed into Prince Valiant bangs, and acne scars that look freshly scrubbed--almost sandpapered clean. Extremely nervous and agitated, he explained in his childlike twang that he was frightened for his life, that all the inmates and guards would kill him if they could. Shaken by the transfer from his cell to our interrogation room, he seemed surprised that he hadn't been accosted. As I fumbled with my tape recorder, he finally sat down.
Arthur Goode: You said you were familiar with my case?
City Paper: I went to your trial in Virginia. I live in Baltimore, where as you know your trial received . . .
AG: Do you remember the Billy Arthes case? Remember I kidnapped him from Towson and ended up in Virginia? How about Florida: Were you down here? Are you taping this now?
CP: Yes. Is that OK?
AG: I'd rather you wait awhile, but you can if you want.
CP: It's easier for me so that when I do the article I get what you say correctly.
AG: Well, this down here [Florida trial] was a real circus trial. You know I convicted myself.
CP: Why did you?
AG: It's difficult for me to get right into . . . (chuckles) . . . You know I've requested for my execution to be carried out. I've got so many problems here due to people being prejudiced against me because of my case. I believe I'd be better off executed. I get so upset because of security--people after me. Of course, they're supposed to protect me from my execution. The governor hasn't signed my execution yet. Did you hear this morning some guy back there hung himself? I'm on Q Wing, that's where the chair is, downstairs.
CP: Are you saying you are pushing for your execution so your everyday fears in here will be alleviated?
AG: Yeah, it's the staff, the guards. They're real prejudiced against me, they hate me. I've been here almost seven years now.
CP: There was a time when you didn't want your electrocution. You said you wanted psychiatric help.
AG: You mean doctors studying me? I've realized that people don't have no interest in that.
CP: Well, there are doctors . . .
AG: I don't believe those people care about me, because they've never written me a letter since I've been here, much less come see me.
CP: There are a lot of people who have your problem.
AG: It's not actually homosexual. It's pedophilia. Adult sexual desire for children. In my case it's boys.
CP: Did you ever consider that if you were attracted to boys of 18 you wouldn't have these problems?
AG: Yeah, that would be homosexual, legal age, but I'm not interested.
CP: Do you feel that psychiatric treatment wouldn't help?
AG: Well, there's nothing wrong with me. It's the damn people in society who are prejudiced against pedophilia.
CP: But you killed boys.
AG: Oh well, that there I agree. But I'm talking about pedophilia.
CP: But is it the violence or sex that attracts you?
AG: My thing is not about violence. I've never been violent in my life.
CP: You killed two boys.
AG: Because of people being prejudiced against me. That's why I chose violence.
CP: Why?
AG: If I hadn't killed the kids they would have had me for what? Assault? Sexual abuse? They'd probably try to give me the death penalty just for that.
CP: But those kids would be alive today.
AG: Well, I feel sorry for those kids. I have remorse for the boys but not . . . what I'm doing is actually a protest against society because society is against me for pedophilia. There's lots of questions involved. I wish they could put me on the Phil Donahue Show 'cause I could've been good on something like that.
CP: Have you ever tried the drug Depo-Provera?
AG: I had that in Spring Grove. But I've got a stronger sex drive than most people.
CP: If you could snap your fingers and change pedophilia, would you?
AG: Why would I want to change? I like it. If people understood this, they don't have to accept it, but if they just could understand pedophilia, I'm sure the legislators would have to pass a bill to give some consideration to gay rights.
CP: You horrify gay-rights supporters! You pick partners who aren't willing.
AG: . . . Billy Arthes . . .
CP: Because he didn't want to die.
AG: I gave him the chance to run away.
CP: That's the Stockholm syndrome. The victims identify with their kidnappers so they won't die.
AG: I believe Billy loved me to a certain extent. I only had nine days with him.
CP: Why did he live and the others die?
AG: I loved him.
CP: You didn't love the others?
AG: Well, yes I did. But as a protest, I had planned to kill those kids. Nobody special.
CP: You had planned it?
AG: Premeditated. But I didn't know who. But the Dawson case, Kenny Dawson, I wish I hadn't killed him. He was one of the nicest kids I ever met.
CP: Well, then why did you kill him?!
AG: One main reason was I didn't want him to snitch . . . cover up the witness.
CP: Do you enjoy all the publicity?
AG: Yes.
CP: Why?
AG: There's every reason in the world why I want to be executed. Of course, that's the last thing I really want because I'd like to be on the street doing sex with young boys.
CP: You want to go out and kill young boys?
AG: No . . . well, it depends now. If society would leave . . . what I want to do is get a legal way to marry a boy. You know Ricky Schroder on Silver Spoons? He's almost 14, but I'm crazy about him.
CP: Do you blame people for being against you when you're killing their children?
AG: The thing of it is I didn't kill any kids for years and they'd like to hang me by my feet for practically nothing.
CP: Were you ever molested as a kid?
AG: Not by no adult. When I was 11, my neighbor friend introduced me to sex.
CP: You are a liberal's nightmare. For anybody against the death penalty, to hear you say this kind of thing, makes it very hard for them to keep their position. There's a big difference between thinking homosexuality is all right in society and hearing you say you want to molest kids--that's very different.
AG: Than just regular gay?
CP: Yes. Two people who are adults and decide--it's a mutual choice. Those boys you pick don't have a choice. They're walking down the street and they're grabbed.
AG: Not necessarily. You're looking at it as a rape situation.
Suddenly, all the lights go out. Slightly alarmed at being shut in a dark room with Goode, even though he is handcuffed, I ask what is going on. He explains that every Wednesday this happens. They are testing the generator to see if it has enough power to run the electric chair. Contemplating this grim reminder, the lights came back on and we continued.
CP: Do you have friends?
AG: Not here! My parents are the only friend I have.
CP: How about if the governor signs the papers? Are you going to jump in the chair eagerly?
AG: I haven't decided how I'm going to react. I really don't want to be electrocuted, but then again I don't have a choice so I guess I'm going to have to force myself to go ahead and accept it. If I don't get executed, I'll probably wish I had because these people in here, inmates included, want to kill me. Last week the governor appointed these psychiatrists to examine me for evaluation.
CP: Do you think you're sane?
AG: Yeah, I'm competent for execution. I have a mental disorder, but who doesn't? That's what they come to see me for [to see if I was mentally fit to be executed]. They only saw me for about half an hour. My attorney already told me there is a good chance I'll be executed, probably in the next month or two.
CP: When you were on the streets, did you read a lot of pornography?
AG: I didn't read it. I got those books with pictures in it. At the adult bookstores. They didn't have exactly what I wanted. Let me tell you about marrying a kid. Let's say I'm on the street. Years ago if I had done everything right without any violence, I would have gotten a good lawyer and a psychiatrist and had them evaluate a 10-year-old boy and be able to give a report to the courts saying the kid is capable of understanding sex with adults. The court would write an order to somehow get me a marriage license. It may sound ridiculous . . .
CP: No parent would ever allow that!
AG: Money talks.
CP: That would mean buying a child. That's white slavery.
AG: Maybe this would be in an orphanage. Maybe he don't have no parents. How about runaways?
CP: If you love little boys, why couldn't you just care for them? Why do you have to have sex?
AG: I don't do sodomy. You know what sodomy is?
CP: Yes.
AG: The only thing I do is fellatio--you know the oral sex. That's the main thing, and hugging and kissing, but I don't do that sodomy. I don't like that either way.
CP: No 10-year-old boy wants fellatio either.
AG: Most of the kids I had did.
CP: They had no choice. You threatened their lives.
AG: Look, I've had this with other kids. They like this thing. You've got to give them a chance. You just don't take someone in the woods and do something. My gosh, they'd be scared to death. How would you feel? I can understand. . . . Society doesn't have the right to get into my business. I hope when I get on death watch, I hope they put me on national TV because I want to tell those prejudiced bastards out there in society who say I don't have the right to kill kids--well, they don't have the right to get into my damn business.
CP: If you were with somebody who wanted to be with you, but these kids you took them away under threats of violence.
AG: I guarantee you now that if I was on the street I'm almost sure I could get a boy to come with me voluntarily, not under threats, and do sex.
CP: What would happen when he wanted to leave?
AG: Let's just say I'm going to take him to a carnival or something. Any 10-year-old kid would probably want to stay with me rather than go home anyway. I'd be keeping him more amused than he'd be at home.
CP: Do you feel guilt?
AG: About what?
CP: About killing the kids?
AG: Yeah, I do. You see, I loved the kids. That's one thing I hate to do, but it's my way to protest.
CP: That can only make people more prejudiced against your cause.
AG: I guess I feel I have to have a reason to be in here for the rest of my life or be executed. I feel proud I killed those two kids knowing that society will never let me have sex with kids again. At least I can pay them back.
CP: Did you ever try to figure out what caused you to only like very young boys?
AG: I just can't understand why most guys don't have that desire anyway. It's a natural thing.
CP: Did you ever go to a psychiatrist to figure out why?
AG: Well, when I was on the street, I was seeing some, but if I had talked the truth they would have had me arrested, see what I mean? I had to manipulate them to keep my freedom. I would like to be honest with someone now.
CP: The victim's parents sued Spring Grove Hospital for letting you out. That's a new thing that's happening, families suing institutions that free dangerous people.
AG: That was the Dawson case. They lost that case. My parents were helping them out.
CP: Well, you shouldn't have been let out.
AG: You know I had ground privileges. They just locked me up on a locked ward when I escaped. I had a key, a master key. I was there on a volunteer basis because the court had ordered me there.
CP: At your trials you said things like, "I wish I had the chance to cook and eat the little boy." Why would you say that?
AG: I was saying all the atrocious things I could so that I would get the death sentence. If I had gotten a life sentence, my family would be glad, but not me. Do you know what would have happened to me if I got a life sentence? These people here would kill me. If that chair don't electrocute me, these people will.
CP: So all the statements were just for shock? The cooking and eating of kids?
AG: Yeah, shock. But listen, some people do cook animals, don't they? Isn't it possible you could cook certain people and eat them? What does a young boy taste life? Would it be similar to chicken?
CP: I don't know. I really don't.
AG: What I'm saying is I really love kids. Of course, eating is one thing--I don't know--it doesn't have anything to do with sex. But maybe if you stop and think about it--this is terrible to say--but maybe a lot of people would like to eat a young boy. Now really forget about the horribleness for the child; think about what the meat would be.
CP: That's the main thing--we don't. . . . You say forget about the child. You can't forget murder.
AG: You see the deer out there. Don't kill that poor deer. On the other hand, people love deer meat, right? They don't think about the poor deer.
CP: If you weren't into children and had a normal sex drive, what do you think you'd be doing today?
AG: I wouldn't even have a record. I'd like to be a meteorologist. I'm a nut on the weather. And maybe a disc jockey on a rock 'n' roll radio station. Then again, I'd like to be in a position in the legislature to push for a pedophilia act.
CP: I don't think anybody is born bad. You say you're not insane, so what are you? Evil? What is it?
AG: Suppose pedophilia was legal . . .
CP: It never will be!
AG: For years I molested kids but I didn't kill them, but society is catching up with me and trying to do the worst to me. You see a kid is supposed to say no to a stranger. He's supposed to be with other kids. I'm not saying they should walk them to school, but maybe in some cases it would be a good idea.
CP: Can kids be protected from you?
AG: Let's say I'm on the street now and nobody knows me. I see a 10-year-old kid. I'm not going to go dragging some kid in the woods. There's so many kids that are willing voluntarily to be friends with me, so if any kid is going to reject me, I'm going to let him go.
CP: Why did you start killing?
AG: I told you. How many times do I have to tell you?! Because society being against me. That's the reason for the violence.
CP: If they ever made a movie of your case, who would you want to play you?
AG: Why couldn't I? Some adult you mean? (laughing) You talkin' about after I'm executed? Who would want to play me? They'd be embarrassed to play my role. OK. I like Scott Baio on Happy Days. He's almost 23. But he wouldn't want to play it, it would ruin his publicity.
CP: People read in the papers that you are a monster. You're like Frankenstein to them.
AG: Suppose I escaped?
CP: You'd be caught.
AG: I mean before I was caught. (laughing) People probably wouldn't be able to go to sleep, would they?
CP: Would you enjoy that?
AG: It's really a shame people are so prejudiced against pedophilia.
CP: You're talking about murder. You don't agree there is such a thing as an innocent child?
AG: Yeah. That's the problem. Society has got so many rules. My thing is not just to do sex with them but to have a loving experience, an honest relationship.
CP: But if someone chooses not to have a loving relationship, you kill him.
AG: If someone goes out to find a woman who doesn't want sex, you let her go and find someone who does. It's the same with me. If a kid rejects it, I change the subject and turn it off, kind of reverse his mind so he doesn't go home and tell his parents. I have a way of erasing what I put in their mind. I have a manipulating way he'll forget about it and not even think there's anything unusual about it. You'd be surprised how I've gotten away through the years just in [molestation] cases. I've talked to kids' parents before, I've gone in the houses . . .
CP: Did you have any child molester friends?
AG: No, I almost don't believe there is any [other] person on this earth that has the desire to do sex with kids. I have never in my life met one. Why hasn't anyone written to me? That's probably the only friends I could have, isn't it?
CP: Did you ever try to fight this impulse?
AG: You can't cure something that's there. It's natural for me to have sex with children the way, say, it's natural for some people to have sex with women. It's natural, it's there forever. You'd be surprised at these people in here. They don't want me to have a TV 'cause I can look at young boys on TV. They don't want me to have regular teen magazines--I have a subscription, I get them--16, Tiger Beat, Super Teen. They're legal.
CP: Let me change the subject a bit. How do you feel about what you've put your own parents through?
AG: Yeah, they're worried to death. The last thing they want is me to be executed. But then again, it's my life, it's not theirs. They're concerned about the publicity because it comes out on them. I'm their son.
CP: Did you have a happy childhood?
AG: (long silence) Well, yes and no. I was an only child. [He has three sisters. -JW] I was in special education, I was behind. Because of my pedophilia I don't think so. I had to hide it from my parents and everybody to get away from it.
CP: Do you see any psychiatrists here in this jail?
AG: No, this ain't no rehabilitating place. They hate me. These people working here are professionals. A lot of people working here are criminals even though they say they're not, and there's no way to prove it 'cause the state is backing them up. If there was any way to monitor this place, they'd have 90 percent of the people fired or locked up.
CP: Do you know Baltimore well?
AG: I'm from Hyattsville. But I molested kids in Baltimore. Did you hear about Dundalk? I lured a 13-year-old boy in the woods in Dundalk area and I had sex with him and kept all his clothes. They found him, some motorist saw him coming out of the woods with no clothes on.
CP: Don't you think that was a horrible thing for that boy?
AG: (laughing) That's like streaking. I had actually tried to kill him. I gave him some Dramamine. That was before I knew anything about strangling. The thing that was funny is that he came out of the woods with no clothes on.
CP: I think that would be horrible.
AG: He wasn't hurt or anything.
CP: You can be humiliated. That hurts. Streaking is when you choose to take your clothes off. . . . Do you believe in the afterlife?
AG: Yeah, I believe the Lord understands my situation with pedophilia. He understands the reason why I killed those boys and that he knows deep in my heart I have remorse and wish I never done it. But then again he understands why I favor that is because the people being prejudiced against pedophilia.
CP: What is the happiest memory of your life?
AG: My experience with Billy.
CP: And the worst?
AG: Being in this rotten hole.
CP: When you committed those murders, was the thought of capital punishment ever in your mind? Was it a deterrent?
AG: When I killed the boy in Florida I figured I'd probably be executed if they caught me.
CP: What do you think will be your last thought before they pull the switch on the electric chair?
AG: I've never really thought about it. I love boys. I want to do sex with kids. That's my thing. But then my revenge against people is I wish I could kill as many kids as I could. For example, let's say a guard here who intentionally gives me all sorts of problems even though I respect him. They intentionally don't respect me. How do you think I feel about that person? You might say why don't I kill him--I wouldn't do it. The best thing to do against them is to kill their kids.
CP: The kids didn't do anything to you.
AG: But their kids is what they love the most and for them to suffer that loss would be worse. Like the governor--he's prejudiced against me--I tell him the same thing. I wish the hell I could kill his kids, too.
CP: The reason they hate you is because you killed kids in the first place.
AG: The main reason is sex. That's what started it. For years I didn't hurt anyone. I didn't even have rape in me.
CP: Why is it only sex with you? Why are you so obsessed?
AG: I like children in general, be friends with them. I'm like a clown. I'd like to be a scoutmaster. People don't understand pedophilia. In other words, there's going to be more kids missing and killed until society understands and possibly considers pedophilia. In the future they're going to have to do something.
CP: What do you have to say to those people you say are prejudiced against you?
AG: Tell them . . . people better start considering all sorts of life, not just being selfish on normal sex. They need to understand what it is, not that they're going to like it, but they've got to accept it and understand it. Somehow they must legalize it in certain ways or their kids will be raped or molested. People are responsible for their own kids.
The feeling that stuck with me after interviewing Arthur Goode was very similar to what I felt after visiting the Dachau concentration camp; no matter how much you read on the subject, being there is far worse than you can imagine. Goode is easy to hate. He has no feelings for the victims' families and can't imagine the emotional trauma that results from his attacks. But does anybody choose to be a child molester? Is Goode "mental" as his father claims? If he isn't insane, who is? Yet legally, I'm not sure--he's articulate, unremorseful, and there's no possible way you can excuse his obscene acts, but does he know right from wrong? Does he really want the electric chair? Even though it's an immediate problem for him, he treats it as make-believe. Does he want society to pull the switch for him as his own suicide? Or does he mouth off rhetoric to get the attention that only capital punishment can bring? If any of us never had sex, would we have uncontrollable rage? Why did no one listen to him before it was too late? In his case, is capital punishment similar to putting an injured horse out of his misery behind the barn? If society wants revenge, wouldn't a life sentence be worse, keeping him alive to live every day in terror? Do any thoughts other than sexual ones ever enter his mind? Why can nothing break through his barriers? Does he need a therapist or an exorcist? Who knows? There are no answers. All I know is that I'm not Arthur Goode.