There was a recent documentary that aired on the Oxygen Channel. It was called "Seduced By Evil," and it was the true life story of Derek Alldred, a gigolo and con artist who duped women and stole as much as $2 million of their money. There were as many as twenty-seven women whom the sleazy Derek met online, began a relationship, and then embezzled funds from their bank accounts and credit cards. The 90-minute Oxygen documentary program tells the story through interviews with the various women and film footage of Derek attempting to defend his actions
This Lifetime movie "He Loved Them All" (a.k.a., "Deadly Matrimony") is based on the same premise as the Derek Aldred case. In both instances, the viewer can only sit slack-jawed, asking how it was possible for all of these women to be suckered by a career hustler. In both cases, the "victims" were intelligent, well-educated, and enormously successful women who were so gullible that they entered into a serious relationship with Derek much too fast for their own good. There is an adage that states that if something appears too good to be true, then it probably isn't true.
In the true life story, a number of the women were cohabiting with Derek within a month of their first date. In at least one testimony, a woman accepted his marriage proposal within three months of meeting him. In multiple cases, the women had given Derek access to cell phones, bank accounts, credit cards, online passwords, and even their guns, within a matter of months after meeting him. These women were not courting Derek; they were courting disaster.
It was unfortunate that the filmmakers of "He Loved Them All" could not have taken more time in making the scenes and situations more believable. The film turned into a "thriller" where the women joined forces as vigilantes to stop the creepy Leo. By contrast, in the Derek Alldred story, the women united under the long arm of the law to send their man to prison for twenty-four years.
At least there was a bit of droll humor in the film. One of victims, a woman from the Bay Area speaks a droll line after her finances have been ruined by Leo: "I used to be from San Francisco. Now, I'm from Oakland."
This Lifetime movie "He Loved Them All" (a.k.a., "Deadly Matrimony") is based on the same premise as the Derek Aldred case. In both instances, the viewer can only sit slack-jawed, asking how it was possible for all of these women to be suckered by a career hustler. In both cases, the "victims" were intelligent, well-educated, and enormously successful women who were so gullible that they entered into a serious relationship with Derek much too fast for their own good. There is an adage that states that if something appears too good to be true, then it probably isn't true.
In the true life story, a number of the women were cohabiting with Derek within a month of their first date. In at least one testimony, a woman accepted his marriage proposal within three months of meeting him. In multiple cases, the women had given Derek access to cell phones, bank accounts, credit cards, online passwords, and even their guns, within a matter of months after meeting him. These women were not courting Derek; they were courting disaster.
It was unfortunate that the filmmakers of "He Loved Them All" could not have taken more time in making the scenes and situations more believable. The film turned into a "thriller" where the women joined forces as vigilantes to stop the creepy Leo. By contrast, in the Derek Alldred story, the women united under the long arm of the law to send their man to prison for twenty-four years.
At least there was a bit of droll humor in the film. One of victims, a woman from the Bay Area speaks a droll line after her finances have been ruined by Leo: "I used to be from San Francisco. Now, I'm from Oakland."