The Unmasking: Married to a Rapist

The marriage of Ronda Hunter and Eddie Wyatt in 1975 seemed to be ordained by heaven, for the young Texans viewed their Pentecostal religion as the primary focus of their lives. They had arrived at their fundamentalist Christianity by vastly different routes: Ronda had been raised by parents who enforced strictures against drinking, smoking and dancing; she was trained to be a wife and mother who was subservient to her husband. Eddie, the child of a broken home, had found religion while imprisoned for robbery after spending time in reform schools. But within a few years of marriage, Eddie stopped having sex with his wife and became a serial rapist. He was convicted, divorced by Ronda and served a nine-and-a-half-year sentence before being paroled in 1991. After just 14 months of freedom, he was arrested again, charged with burglary with intent to commit sexual assault and other counts. He is awaiting trial. Rocky Mountain News reporter Flynn provides a disquieting, sensitive, in-depth depiction of Ronda's deluded love for her husband and her devastation at discovering his unsuspected criminality. As a subtext, we're also shown that the naive, trusting Ronda was almost destined to become a victim. (Mar.)