Daniel Wozniak Answers My Questions (Part One)

It wasn't long before I got a 12 page letter from Daniel (double-sided on white college ruled paper - he ran out of the yellow legal pad).  He's always quick to write back as, obviously, he has a lot of free time.

The letter started with a "Game of Thrones" reference - wondering if I'd be more a "sylph of Westeros" or one of "the Wilding Free Folk."

Definitely Wilding.

He addressed the idea of me writing about him right away.  He said there are a lot better topics out there, but he has "no control over what gets written, or by whom," but he "will never deny another individual their right to express and use their artistic creativity."

Daniel can get a tad verbose at times.  Words are often written in ALL-CAPS and underlined.

I get it.  He doesn't want his whole life to be defined by a single "horrific act of violence," and any writing about him is sure to focus on that.  

Let's call it like it is though: Daniel Wozniak's name will forever be connected with the violent murders of two college students (not to mention the decapitation of one).  

There is no escaping it. There shouldn't be.

This didn't keep him from answering my questions, as long as I was "asking out of curiosity, as a friend."

Friend?  Yes.  Curiosity? Hell, yes!

Daniel and Rachel

Then he went into the topic of his ex-fiancée.

If you've read anything about Daniel, you know the name Rachel Buffett.   She was a pretty young theatre actress who was once employed as a Princess at Disneyland.  I'm guessing Cinderella or Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty).   

Rachel and Daniel were supposed to get married on May 29, 2010, but that was cancelled when he was arrested at his bachelor party.  

You can't make this stuff up.

Everything I've read in the press says that Daniel was murdering for money.  He wanted to give his blonde, home-schooled beauty the wedding and honeymoon of her dreams.

I met Rachel.   She was in the musical Nine with Daniel at our theatre.  Honestly, she made no impression on me at all.  Not positive.  Not negative.  I can't even remember if I thought she was good or not.  Did I also ask her to audition for my play?  No idea.

I find her much more interesting now.  I'll be talking a lot more about Rachel in future posts.

Daniel Loses Rachel

So, according to Daniel, he and Rachel remained close for the first couple of months he was in jail. She wrote.  She visited.  After his arrest, he knew the two of them "would never be together," still he thought they would be friends.  That didn't happen.

Here is the story Daniel told me:  

Rachel and a male friend of theirs came for a jail visit.  Without warning, Rachel walked up to the dividing glass, flipped him the bird with both hands and told him she never wanted to see him again. With that, she walked out of his life and stopped writing and taking his calls (inmates have to call collect).

He says he still doesn't know what changed and "not knowing exactly why...literally drove (him) to the brink of honest insanity at one point."

As you get to know Daniel, you learn quickly that "not knowing" something drives him crazy.

This happened before Rachel Mae Buffett was arrested herself for three felony counts of accessory to murder.  Rachel is on bail awaiting trial.

When I had coffee with a Dateline NBC Producer (oh, you know there will be a post on that, too), she asked me if I thought Daniel was still in love with Rachel.  I said no.

I asked him once if he thought he and Rachel would still be married now (you know, if they'd actually gotten married and there were no murders).

He said no.

Don't tell him I said this, but I agree.  


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What I Want to Know About Daniel Wozniak

I asked Daniel a lot of questions in my early letters.   I was super curious about his day to day living.  

I'd stick to asking basic stuff.  Our correspondences are obviously not private and he still hasn't had a trial, so what is the point in asking questions he can't answer? 

I wasn't sure how he'd feel about me "interviewing" him, but clearly, that is what I was doing.

My Questions To Daniel

Here's what I wrote to him in September (I also mentioned that I hope he has plenty of that yellow legal pad paper):

• Did you study art at all?  I loved the card you made me and I was ridiculously impressed by your skill.  I’m limited to stick figures myself, ha ha. 
• What does your cell look like?  Do you always have a “celly?” (Yeah that’s right. I’m learning the lingo).
• I’m reading the biography of Damien Echols (West Memphis Three) right now.  One thing that struck me was his feelings of anger and hatred toward the guards.  He says “it’s the guards and not the other prisoners that make being incarcerated so much harder…”  So, your take on this?
• This might sound silly, but have you considered starting some kind of theatre group behind bars? Performance therapy?  You might be laughing at my prison naivety right now.   Maybe you could entertain the masses with Shakespearean monologues??
• Do you have a lot of family and friends supporting you through the trial?  I’d be interested in attending it.  I want to know the “more to what happened” because I’ve always believed there had to be...
• So why were you reconnecting with your parents?  Was it your drug use that caused a rift between you?
• Do you think she (his now ex-fiancee) ended your relationship out of anger or fear because of the charges she's facing herself?   Did you have a big wedding planned?
• OK, here’s a big question.  I’m not sure if you can even answer this one.  You seem like it bothers you that people would believe you were motivated by money… You don’t want people to think you had major financial troubles. The thing is, Daniel, to me it seems like society would consider it a lesser evil to believe that a person might do certain things when facing a desperate financial situation.  If you didn’t have money problems then what would you want people to believe motivated you?
• Is your lawyer a public defender?
• You said you were visited a couple times by one of  your victims’ dads.  HE had written in his letter  “one of my victims,” so I was just going with his terminology. Which dad? Has he explained his  motivation for wanting to visit you?
• Was "Lost" actually your favorite TV show?  I’d read that somewhere.  I was a huge fan of "Lost."
• I have to ask you how you are handling the possibility of getting the death penalty.  Are you afraid of this?

Answers For Daniel

The rest of my letter was answering his questions about me.  I called it a fair exchange of information.

• No, I don't consider myself to be a religious person.
• I was adopted as a baby and my adopted mother is an undiagnosed bi-polar, self-proclaimed born-again Christian.  Years of her craziness has left me with a bad taste in my mouth for organized religions.  (I told Daniel that for simplification, I could be considered an Agnostic who leans toward spirituality.)
• I told him about my adopted dad -- who passed away 8 years ago -- and that I loved him tremendously in spite of his unchecked alcoholism.
• I shared that I now have good relationships with both my biological parents (I just found my biological father last year).
• That I was reading the second Game of Thrones book (I didn't want him to think that when it comes to reading materials, I’m all crime all the time).

Oh, and I also included a copy of a good review he got when he was acting in the play "Nine" (his last performance before the arrest).

I finished my letter by asking if I could maybe visit him at some point...

I signed the letter with "your friend," and I meant it.

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My Friend's Name is Daniel

Game changer time.

It’s time to name names.

Daniel Patrick Wozniak, for example. 

Go ahead, Google it, I’ll wait. 

That’s right folks. Bye bye pseudonym!  This blog is about to change. 

As I told you in my last post, I’ve been having an “existential crisis” because Pat didn’t know I was writing a blog about our relationship.

And the only way to stop stressing was to just tell him about it.

This made me nervous, but I couldn’t say exactly why. It wasn’t like I was afraid he’d be angry at me.  My concern was that he’d feel I had violated his trust. 

It’s probably weird to most people, but Daniel has become a good friend in the past eight months and keeping this from him bothered me. 

I hadn't used his real name, but it wouldn’t take a cyber genius to connect the dots from the description of the crime.

On Friday May 22, I visited him at the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana and I told him.

His reaction floored me.

Instead of being upset or even concerned, he seemed amused.

I reassured him that I wasn’t using his name though, so no worries there…

He asked me, “Why not?”

This seemed like a foolish question on his part.  

“Umm…I don’t want to write anything that will get you in trouble.”

He laughed.  

Yes, OK, that statement is rather ridiculous considering where I’m visiting him.

Basically, he said that there’s already a ton of stuff written about him and most of it’s bad, so go ahead and use his real name.

I’m guessing he thinks what I write will be all good stuff.

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Existential Crisis

(post 8)

I haven't posted for a while.  I've been going though a bit of an existential crisis, you might say. 

I wrote my first letter to "Pat" in August of 2014.  I started this bog about 5 months later.  I still haven't told him that it exists.  

I am going to, though.  

When I began writing to this man who is in jail, I had one goal in mind.  I saw him only as a crime and I saw myself as the next Truman Capote.   (Side Note: Yes, I'm totally aware that there have been a gazillion true crime books published since In Cold Blood came out in 1966, but Truman Capote is cool.) 

By the time I started actually posting in this blog, though, he'd already become more than that.  Pat isn't just a topic.  He's my friend.  

There are probably tons of people who would think that I'm "nucking futz" for calling an accused murderer my friend.  I wonder about it myself, so I don't blame them.

The thing is, they don't know Pat.  

I think I do.  

I sure as hell hope I do.  

I really want to believe I do.

Because this all became very real on Friday when I had coffee with a Dateline NBC producer to talk about Pat!

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Who wants to write about an accused murderer? I do!

(Post 7)

Pat asked me again why I wrote that first letter.  I felt it was fair to let him know I want to write about him.  I don't understand why it mattered to me, except that he'd asked me to be honest.  

So here's what I said (and it was all true):

I don’t have one simple answer for that.  I definitely have a strong curiosity about you.  I have since you were arrested.   

I've always had an interest in crime and criminal acts.  I don’t mean for that to sound ghoulish or morbid.  I just want to figure out what makes a person tick.  The people who do the things most outside of society’s norm are the ones who fascinate me the most.   

You have to admit that upon first hearing about the crimes for which you've been accused, most people will immediately assume you are a monster.  

However, that is such a simplified response.  The man I met four years ago did not appear to be a monster, and these well written and thoughtful letters you've sent me have only made me even more aware of your humanity.   

When you were arrested, I was immediately creatively drawn to your story. I felt that there was so much to explore about you and your life.  I wanted to write about you or write something inspired by you.  I really wanted to understand you…  

Who is this man accused of such heinous acts and how is he the same creative, funny and seemingly kind person who is writing to me about helping a fellow inmate get his GED? 

Who was he before and how in the world did he get here?   

How do you feel about me or anyone wanting to tell your story?  

I was super nervous Pat would just stop writing me all together.  He is facing double-murder charges after all.  Maybe he's not interested in making friends with someone who wants to “tell all.”

I just felt like I had to be upfront.  At least “up-fronty.”

When it comes to this blog, I’m taking a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach.  Pat hasn't asked me if I've written anything yet, and I haven’t volunteered the information.

It’s not like he has Internet access anyway.

So far, I haven’t posted anything I wouldn't want him to read.  I’m not painting him in a bad light. I'm just being honest.

OK, the description of the crime doesn't make him look good, but I’m just saying he’s accused. Anything I wrote could be found with a basic Internet search.

I did say in the first post that I think he’s guilty.

I do.

Guilty of what precisely, though... I don’t know.

During our last visit, Pat even hinted that he is not completely responsible for this crime.  

Then who is?

Then why confess?

I did not ask those questions.

Yet.

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Getting to Know Him

March 2015

(Post Six)

Pat replied to my letter later that week.   Yes, I know being in jail does afford him a fair amount of spare time, but I still appreciated the quick response.   I could tell he was eager to continue this relationship.

Like when you give a guy your number and he texts you right away.  It’s a nice feeling.

His letter was written in pencil in his very neat printing on six pages, double-sided, on yellow legal pad paper.

I bet he’s not allowed to have pens! Pens can be taken apart.  There are probably a lot of things that you can make with pen parts.

I should ask about that.

Pat's Letter

Pat thanked me for writing to him again and said he’d try to answer all my questions as honestly as possible.   He also asked for honesty in return.

But he didn't say what he wanted me to be honest about.  Just that “a foundation cannot be built on lies and/or distrust.”

It makes me feel a little guilty about the blog.   Does writing it make me dishonest? 

Pat told me he was happy to get my pictures and remembered me “quite vividly.”  He said I “came across as a very easy-going genuinely nice person” (I think I am a nice person.  Being remembered as “hot” would be good, too).       

“Freedom” was brought up again.  He’s tried to adapt to life behind bars;  he wants to use his time to help others any way he can.

One point he has made hits me where I live. He feels like his years being incarcerated have allowed him to strip away the false faces he used to wear.  In jail, he can be himself.

He wrote this letter to me at the end of September.  When he quoted Bill Cosby “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone,” he had no idea that, ironically, Cosby would be all over the news in a couple months.  It’s still a pretty good quote, though. 

Then Pat answered all the questions I’d asked!

Pat's Answers

• The Drugs: Pat used Crystal, Heroin, Ecstasy and he mixed a lot of pills (so some serious perspective and reality altering kinds of drugs).
• He defended himself against the accusation that he had massive financial problems and said he was only a month or 2 behind on rent. The media completely over-exaggerated his debt 
• Overcoming addiction is still an on-going battle (in other words – getting drugs behind bars isn't too difficult).
• He told me that I was the only person to ask him if he likes his lawyer. He seemed impressed by that. Pat has a Public Defender lawyer who he really likes his lawyer and he talked about fighting for the greater good…

Which now makes more sense in the light of some major developments happening around Pat’s case in the past month!  His lawyer is making major waves about the DA’s Office infringing on the rights of inmates.

Now, Pat is getting a new judge after 5 years.  Meaning this trial isn't starting any time soon. 

• Pat’s free time is spent meditating, reading, studying theology, yoga, working out, taking counseling correspondence classes (he wants to be a rehabilitation councilor for other inmates), Bible classes, watching sports on TV… He showers and visit his fellow inmates during his 1-2 hours outside of his cell.
• He wrote that inmates share whatever books and magazines they get sent in. 
• Visits are always a surprise. They only get visits on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They can only have one visit per day.
• Pat’s visitors have included:
  • His parents - regularly
  • A few of his theatre friends
  • The parents of an old girlfriend
  • A Dateline Producer!!!!!
  • Writers from New York (hmm – I’m not worried)
  • The Vet’s father (The “Vet” is one of Pat’s alleged victims. So having the guy’s dad visit Pat in jail is pretty astonishing).
  • and now ME   
• He has NEVER been scared inside the jail. He’s a big guy (6’2” and 200 lbs) and he’s in jail for a big crime. He isn't affiliated with any gangs and he tries to promote “an atmosphere of peace and unity.” It seems like Pat gets along well with the inmates and the guards. He’s personable. He has been depressed, but never afraid.
• Answer about the quest for God was quite extensive, so I’ll summarize. He is interested in all religions and has studied with many religious and spiritual leaders. He quotes Gandhi “All religion is true. I just want to love God.” Pat believes there is one true God that created us all. He believes that Jesus died for our sins. Pat is a LOT more religious than I am.

Pat ended his letter by inviting me to write to him again and to feel free to inquire more.

He thanked me for just treating him like a human being.  He lost a lot of friends when he was arrested.  He knows and understands that many people think he is an evil man.

I don’t.   

Pat may be 100% guilty of this crime.  That doesn't mean that this crime is 100% who he is.

He’s funny.  He’s silly.  He’s geeky.  Hell, he might not even be a murderer (more on that later).

A present was also enclosed for me. 

My first drawing from Pat.

Awwww… right?

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My Next Letter to Jail: Lots of Questions

February 2015

(Post Five)

It was time to write Pat another letter!  

I picked out 3 different pictures of myself to send because my hair color changes a lot.  I couldn’t remember what color it was when I met him and I wanted him to recognize me.

I told Pat how I thought it was cool to get mail from an inmate!

I talked about his theories on freedom and incarceration.

“Your life is what you make it and if you philosophically break it down, everyone is confined and limited in some aspect.”

Ok technically he’s right about that…

“I can’t drive-thru Jack in the Box to get a double bacon cheeseburger; yet at the same time, you can’t fly to the moon to get some cheese.”

I think he’s pushing it a little on that one, but I get his point. 

I still told him that I wouldn’t trade my freedoms for his.  
I CAN drive to Albertsons to get cheese.

I mentioned his crazy neat printing.  I asked if it was always that nice.  He said his penmanship had been pretty good, but he’s improved it over the past 4 years.

He’d asked me why I wrote to him in the first place...

I told him it was because I found him interesting (not a lie…  I wasn’t quite ready to tell him that I considered him a writing topic.)

I told him that I’d talked about him to some of my friends and that we are all impressed with his general attitude about his life, trying to help others and making the most of his situation behind bars.

I rambled on about Orange is the New Black again.

My second letter was a bit longer than my first.  I felt more comfortable this time. Since he’d written me back so quickly, I knew for sure that he wanted to correspond with me.  I mean yeah, I probably could have figured that considering his situation,  he’d be grateful for anything to pass time (he is), but I wasn’t sure.

In Pat’s first letter to me, he’d said “If there’s anything you may want to know about me… Don’t be shy.”  

Ummm yeah, I want to know stuff about you!  

Did you kill those two people??

Did you cut off that man’s head???

I didn’t ask those questions… 

Not yet, anyway.  After all, I didn’t expect him to send me a written confession.   

Actually, I wonder if the police do have a written confession from him.  Everything I’ve read said he confessed to both murders when he was first brought in to be questioned about the Vet’s ATM card.

The police claimed he had been Mirandized (told legal rights; ie: the "you have the right to remain silent" speech) before he confessed.  I just don’t know if they have actual proof of his confession or not.

If it’s not on paper and it wasn’t recorded, it seems kind of challenging to prove.

First Questions For Pat 

The rest of my letter had a lot of questions (I didn’t number them in the letter though):

1. So what drug were you using? I'm assuming your financial problems were probably related to your addiction as well?  How was it in prison when you had to go cold turkey?
2.  Do you like your lawyer? I'm not going to ask you anything about the actual case. I know you can't talk about that. I'm just curious if you are happy with the lawyer that you been given. 
3. What else do you do with your time?
4. You mentioned trying to get reading supplies.  Is the selection available pretty dismal?
5. Have you ever felt like you weren't safe in there?
6. You mentioned inmates and their quest to find God.  Are you religious?
7. Do you get a lot of visitors?  

Oh yeah, that’s right… I was putting out feelers to see if I could visit him.  

I have, by the way.

Five times so far!

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