The character of Grace Rodescu in my novel Radu is roughly based on the woman in the photo above, and on her story, which can be read in the Unsolved Mysteries article here.
I was always fascinated by this story, a portion of which I will reproduce in part as follows-
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From early childhood Susan Walsh's dream was to be a poet and a writer. But a broken home and an unhappy childhood made reaching that goal a constant struggle. By the time Susan was in her twenties, she was an admitted alcoholic, drug addict, and a stripper. Still, she kept her dream alive. Stripping paid her way through college. When Susan graduated in 1984, she cleaned up her act. By 1988, Susan had been sober for four years. She had married and had become a devoted mother. According to friends, the two things that mattered most to Susan were her son and her career as a journalist. Eventually, Susan and her husband separated. Though Susan still dreamed of being a writer, she had a tough time getting breaks. To support her son, she went back to stripping, unable to resist the easy money and seductive lifestyle.
Ironically, stripping helped provide the critical boost to Susan's journalistic career. Eventually she landed an internship at New York's free-wheeling Village Voice, researching the sex industry. She soon turned up a hot story. Russian mobsters in New Jersey were allegedly forcing young Russian women to work in strip clubs like slaves. Susan earned praise for the Russian mob article but she also got threats. She felt she may have made enemies. Susan's next big project may also have put her in jeopardy. In the early 1990's, bizarre vampire clubs began springing up in New York's Greenwich Village. The clubs boasted a dicey clientele, many of whom claimed to be real blood drinkers. Susan was so taken with the vampire world, she started dating a man who claimed to be one of the undead. Susan wrote a detailed article, but in this case her judgement seemed skewed. She apparently believed a lot of what was being told to her. To Susan's disappointment, the Village Voice never ran her article on vampires.
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And then, of course, she vanished, in June of 1996. She has never been heard from since, though there have been I think a handful of unconfirmed sightings. I think she is dead, personally, but at whose hands. The Russian mobsters she reported on? The vampire cults she attempted to infiltrate? Did she, in fact, chuck her life altogether and go into hiding under a new identity?
Grace's story will end quite differently, just as the life of the character I have developed is very different in certain regards from the real life person on whom she is loosely based. Still, she was the inspiration for the character, and it seems only to fair to give credit where credit is due, as we approach the season where the dead are watching, and may be taking notes.
