The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer is a chilling 1960’s true crime book set in Cape Cod and is recounted by Liza Rodman with the help of her co-writer Jennifer Jordon.
Rodman had a chaotic childhood, raised by a neglectful mother who worked summers at a local motel. The motel’s handy-man, Tony Costa, was a young, charming man, who Rodman’s mother trusted to occasionally watch her young daughters.
Although Costa never hurt Rodman or her sister, Costa exhibit odd behavior, including taking the girls out to the woods where bodies of his victims were later discovered. Rodman didn’t even realize the truth about Costa, until she inquired about him when she was an adult, just thinking that he had drifted out of their lives. Many of Costa’s victims were not much older than the girls and many had been brutally dismembered.
The Babysitter is part an exploration of Costa’s life and his crimes, but it is also part memoir with Rodman analyzing the events of her childhood. It’s surprising to admit, but Costa’s murders almost seem less shocking than the neglect and cruelty of Rodman’s mother. It makes sense that the girls would find comfort in Costa, an adult who gave them attention and who was kind. Rodman explores this juxtaposition of finding out that someone whom she had fond memories of, was also a monster. It makes her question her own recollections of her childhood and her ability to judge and trust others. Why couldn’t she see Costa for the monster he was? The revelation of Costa’s crimes and Rodman’s inability to truly see him, shakes her to her core.
The Babysitter is a fascinating and shocking book. A must-read for true crime fans.