Poor Troy Graves. He's so misunderstood. Apparently, he's really not a monster who murdered one woman, sexually assaulted 12 others, and terrorized thousands more in two cities.

Not that he denies the murder, the rapes, or his late-night prowling for prey. He just wants us to think of him more as a benevolent beast. He is, after all, a guy polite enough to remind one victim "the harder you scream, the harder this gets."

Thanks to NBC 10's exclusive jailhouse interview this week - Talking with Troy! - we now know better.

Reporter Joe Vazquez was positively giddy about his Big Scoop. He said Mr. Woe Is Me agreed to chat because, sniffle, sniffle, no one else "bothered" to drop by for a visit.

There was so much to learn and so little time. There was Troy's claiming he didn't realize until a day later that he'd killed Shannon Schieber, a University of Pennsylvania graduate student. There was Troy's saying he told his beloved wife "everything about me" - except that bit about his night job as a stalker, Peeping Tom, rapist and murderer.

I don't know about you, but I especially enjoyed the part where Troy said he could have destroyed the lives of more women, but chose not to.

"What were there, six cases against me?" Troy asked the TV reporter. "But you have to understand, I went walking almost every night, maybe four out of seven nights a week. Many times I just looked. There were times I broke in and did nothing."

He's got feelings

I can't blame Vazquez for milking the report for ratings, but could he have at least seemed a little less eager to buy the bull? When Vazquez relayed that Troy's "bright eyes looked bloodshot, as if he were tired or had been crying a lot," I half-expected the reporter to shed a tear of his own.

After the initial surprise of a visit from a total stranger, Troy "quickly opened up," moaning about missing his wife and meanies in the media.

"I'm a human being," he said, "with feelings."

And what a range of feelings he has, as evidenced by the reams of investigative material - including narrative accounts from victims - that the Channel 10 report didn't mention.

There's Insecure Troy: "Does it feel good at all?" he asked one victim he forced to perform oral sex on him.

There's Calm, Reassuring Troy: "Don't be scared, I won't hurt you," he told another victim as he raped her, a kitchen knife placed next to the bed.

There's Troy the Romantic, who so fancied one woman he attacked that he contemplated placing a personal ad in a newspaper asking her for a date.

There's Troy, Boy Innocent, who wrote a letter to the Colorado cops insisting that "useless cats," Catholic schools and his "bitch mother and womanizing father" caused him to commit heinous crimes.

And, of course, there's Tormented Troy, lamenting to one woman he blindfolded and assaulted, "I wish we would have met under different circumstances."

Poetic justice

I must admit, before the TV report and the release of Troy's confession to Philadelphia cops, there was a teeny-tiny part of me giving him credit for pleading guilty and sparing everyone two expensive and emotional trials. But the more I hear how his mind works, the more I hope his life behind bars resembles the HBO prison series Oz - bleak and brutal.

For this is a man who wasn't satisfied rousing one Colorado victim from her sleep, tying her head and feet with pillowcases, towels and T-shirts, fondling her, digitally penetrating her, and forcing her to perform oral sex.

No, after that, he rearranged her refrigerator magnets, leaving behind a Troy Graves original poem she'd surely never forget.

Always grind in the morning

Need easy date

Can you make me peak?

Irritable mouthful burn sex

I never crave

Insane

I enjoyed him

Go ahead, Troy, continue to think what you must if it helps you face the day.