"I became friends with a serial killer," says Margy Palm. But not just any serial killer—the one who may have very well intended to kill her. Palm tells her story in detail for the first time to Julie Miller for Vanity Fair. Now 72, the San Antonio resident was kidnapped from a Kmart parking lot in that city on December 11, 1981, by Stephen Morin. Morin, 30, was someone to be feared: He had a gun and was "cranked up on amphetamines and feeling cornered by authorities." He had shot two women, killing one, that very morning, and was suspected of torturing and murdering more than 30 women across nine or 10 states. "What's one more damn dead b---- at this point?" he screamed at Palm. But Palm made a choice: not to fear Morin, but to pray aloud for him, even putting her hand on his forehead to cast out evil spirits.
She believed God put her there for a purpose, and over the course of many hours, Morin softened. He verbally apologized to God and at one point deposited the bullets from his gun into Palm's purse (Miller points out he still had others in his pocket). She told Morin about a Fort Worth-based televangelist, and he decided to go find him—and had Palm drop him off at a bus station so he could take a bus to Fort Worth. He hugged and kissed her good-bye. The full improbable story explains how Morin was calmly captured en route to Fort Worth, how he and Palm developed a friendship during his years on death row (he was executed in 1985), and why Palm never told her story until now, despite offers from Hollywood producers, agents, and big-name TV shows. (Read it here.)