These charismatic killers murdered her love life.
A social worker who spent 15 years performing mental health assessments at a maximum-security prison says sick inmates stopped her from dating.
Kendra Capalbo, now 46, worked at Rhode Island Adult Correctional Facility where her interactions with cold-blooded criminals made her realize just how deceptive some men could be.
“A lot of the inmates were extremely charming,” Capalbo told Jam Press on Thursday. “I could imagine how women would fall for them … [but] hearing the details of their crimes, especially those involving women and children, and the rationale many of them used to justify their behavior, made it difficult to trust.”
Capalbo claimed that she went years without going on a date due to the distrust of men she started to carry outside of her work.
When she did venture out to meet a man, the social worker says she was a horrible date.
“I never wanted a dinner date to pay for my meal because I wanted to be clear that I didn’t owe them anything,” Capablo explained. “I think that energy that was flowing out of me was toxic and pushed potential partners away.”
“Hearing how they [the inmates] spoke of and viewed women, it all led to me being very mistrusting and rough around the edges.”
Despite the drain on her dating life, Capalbo told Jam Press that she felt imprisoned by the prison job.
“I did not even see leaving the prison as a plausible option, I felt like I was doing a life sentence,” she declared.
However, towards the end of her 30s, she plucked up the courage to mount a prison break, quitting her role working with inmates to start employment as a couple’s therapist.
Initially, it seemed ironic that Capablo was working with couples given the fact that she was single and dateless — but the career change led to a drastic personal transformation.
“I don’t think I actually knew how much that career negatively impacted me until I left and my internal self was safe to come out again,” she stated. “That’s when I was able to recognize how much of a wall I had put up around me and I was able to slowly tear it down.”
“I think doing more couples work made me realize how much I really did want to be in a relationship,” Capalbo continued. “Even though they had issues, I could see the love and a desire to fight to save the marriage and I wanted that.”
Hoping it wasn’t too late to find a life partner, Capablo signed up for online dating in 2016 at the age of 40.
She soon connected with a man named James, who was four years her senior, with whom she managed to find love after lock-up.
“I think my guard was still up but he would see through it and was patient with me as it came down,” she stated. “James was also incredibly transparent, some may say too much so, on our first date. He didn’t have ‘game’ so I never really worried I was being conned.”
The pair went on to marry, with Capalbo now deeply in love and the trauma of her time with serial killers in the rearview window.
“I’m doing great now,” she declared. “I have always been a believer that every step in life leads you to where you are meant to be and I feel like I’ve arrived.”
