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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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Kumari Fulbright Mugshot
Stories in True can almost always stand on their own, without illustration. But now and then, a photo really adds to the story. In the case of a so-called "beauty queen" law student who allegedly committed a major crime, it is definitely enhanced by a couple of photos. First, the story, from this week's issue.
(Trust me: Scroll down slowly! Read the story first, then scroll down to see the first picture, and then go down to see the second one. Really -- it's worth it.)
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Police in Tucson, Ariz., say that beauty queen Kumari Fulbright, 25, now a law student at the University of Arizona, aided three men in the abduction, robbery and torture of her former boyfriend. She allegedly lured the unnamed 24-year-old man into a house, and the three men burst into the room and tied him up with plastic wire ties and duct tape. Fulbright then "bit him several times while he was bound, stuck a butcher knife in his ear and said she was going to kill him, [and] pointed a pistol at him," court documents say. After about 10 hours, the man was able to grab Fulbright's gun and escape. Fulbright, who ran for Miss Arizona, was named Miss Pima County in 2005 and Miss Desert Sun in 2006. (Arizona Daily Star) ...It's just a guess, but I'll bet she never was named "Miss Congeniality".
A "beauty queen" should have a pretty nice photo in her portfolio, and we have one of them to help compare with her mugshot:
Calendar shot preshadows her later criminal career? Now, brace yourself for the follow-up photo. Swallow any hot coffee first so you don't spray it on your monitor or keyboard.... |
Fulbright's mugshot, courtesy Tucson Police. (It's apparently standard practice in Tucson to drape a suspect's clothing with a sheet. Adds a spookiness to an already creepy shot, doesn't it?) This is what at least one "beauty queen" looks like when she hasn't had time to pretty herself up. |
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Posted by Earl in Wylie on January 15, 2008:
I'm sure you know the reason for the draping of the sheet (some agencies use a towel) but for those that don't I'll explain. Since mug shots are used for photo ID line-ups, many agencies do this so the ID is made strictly on facial features and not clothing. Collin County S.O. has been doing this for about twenty years.
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For those who wonder, that's in Texas. -rc
Posted by Mike, Massachusetts on January 15, 2008:
Wild guess... At least one of the three guys is a known dealer.
With the simple statement from her, "Don't worry - I know this guy..." he gets money owed, she gets payback on an ex-.
Posted by Casey, New York on January 16, 2008:
Schadenfreude... Were she not a beauty queen, what relevance would the story have, as opposed to if she had been just an "ordinary" woman? Is there a sense of entitlement at play from those who rely on their looks to "achieve" in life? What happens when that doesn't always happen--such as being dumped by a boyfriend? Does disappointment come as a harder lesson for them?
This story gave me pause to wonder the part the spectacles of pagents play in our culture... our emphasis on physical beauty and the acceptance of that by us. Do we need beauty queens? (Beauty kings?)
Is it possible to have a culture where beauty is defined with less emphasis on the physical?
Please don't take my comments to mean that we cannot appreciate physical attractiveness, rather that studies have shown that the pretty people get the jobs, get better treatment. Obviously, this pitiful woman will find that out the hard way.
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You ask a lot of valid philosophical questions, which I won't attempt to answer. But: would the story have been worthy without her being a "beauty queen"? Absolutely! That a law student turns to crime makes it so. The only thing that the "beauty queen" angle adds is when you see not just the cheesecake photo from her portfolio, but also the mugshot. The two together are so jarring that it simply adds another dimension to the story. Yes, I had the photos in-hand when I wrote the story. And yes, I do agree there's an aspect of schadenfreude to it, especially in the comments. -rc