Michael Flinner, a 59-year-old convicted rapist on California's death row for arranging the murder of his 18-year-old fiancée, Tamra Keck, is now appealing for a relationship through a penpal site called Wire of Hope. The organisation was set up by a woman who moved from France to Florida to marry a death row killer.
Flinner has been incarcerated since 2000. In 2016, he made international headlines for campaigning for prisoners to be able to donate their organs, arguing it would give inmates a purpose while offering innocent people a second chance at life.
Flinner's penpal profile
In his bio on Wire of Hope, Flinner described the type of woman he hoped would contact him. He wrote: "Abandoned? Hardly. I'm a 50-something Southern California native (lifer), a kind, generous, emotionally available, fit, funny, college-educated, accomplished author and prison health care policy reform advocate. I'm 5'10", weigh 240 lbs., am bald by choice, have dark green eyes, and keep a well-groomed salt-and-pepper goatee year-round."
He added: "This former general contractor and handy outdoorsman seeks a cultured, curvy, witty, web-savvy, and open-minded senior gal for a meaningful friendship filled with intimacy, laughter, and plenty of intellectual stimulation. No mind games, heart games, or ego games, please. Age, race, and appearance are unimportant."
Murder of Tamra Keck
Tamra Keck was killed not long after she first met Flinner in 1999, whom she had started dating. He had already served time behind bars after being convicted of rape, and it was not long before he devised a chilling plan that would ultimately kill his 18-year-old partner, who had reportedly become his fiancée.
Landscaper Flinner, then in his early 30s, applied for life insurance on behalf of Tamra before hiring his ex-employee, Haron Ontiveros, to kill her, so he could collect $500,000 (£378k) from the newly set up policy. He named himself as the beneficiary and falsely claimed that Tamra worked under him at his landscaping business.
On June 11, 2000, Ontiveros shot the victim in the back of the head after directing her to a cul-de-sac by pretending to have car trouble. The hitman was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy. The same convictions, along with solicitation to commit murder, were brought against Flinner, who was sentenced to die in 2003, a decision upheld in 2020.
Interview from San Quentin
Flinner has been based inside California's San Quentin State Prison, where he was once interviewed by 60 Minutes Australia. In that interview, he argued that prisoners donating organs would give inmates the "ultimate restitution". He added: "There is a lot of evil that lurks beyond prison walls but I think and even greater evil is standing idly by outside the fish bowl when we have an opportunity to fix something."
