What Begets a Blond, Blue-Eyed Terror Suspect?

In a socially acceptable version of her life, Colleen Renee LaRose, the alleged modern-day Mata Hari of the Internet, who was charged with four federal crimes Tuesday, would have been more successful and happy as a reality-show contestant. Instead, to her deep discredit, the Pennsburg, Pa., woman with too much time on her hands allegedly turned to do-it-yourself jihadism.

How she got to that point is a bit of a mystery. Born in 1964, she was married at 16 to Sheldon Barnum, who told the Washington Post his long-ago life with young Colleen was forgettable. "What do I remember about her? Nothing. Wasn't nothing to remember." Public records indicate she divorced and married again, to a man named Rodolfo Cavazos in Tarrant, Texas. So far, no reporters have dug him out of obscurity for an equally dismissive comment.

In the late 1990s, during her mid-30s, the transplanted Midwesterner (she was born in Michigan) was arrested in Texas for driving while intoxicated. She moved around, turning up in small towns named Ferris, Mineral Wells and San Angelo. She got divorced again, was busted for passing bad checks and eventually moved east to Pennsylvania, where she got into more trouble. The Post reports that in 2002 she faced charges of public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. The New York Times says in 2005 she attempted suicide.

Maybe she was looking for a commitment after an online romantic attachment went sour? According to CNN, in February 2008 LaRose, using the online name "Fatima," wrote on the social network hi5: "my love you make me so happy!! Inshallah, I cannot put into words how much you make my life complete!! One day I will be at your side as your wife and never leave." Whether it was for love or sympathy, nobody yet knows, but she was apparently seduced by intrigue and passion in the manner of a tragically misguided John le Carre heroine (think: "The Little Drummer Girl" or "The Constant Gardener").

The Internet can connect you, if you are so inclined, with fringe-extremists who might think, for example, that killing Lars Vilks is a legitimate cause for justice. (Vilks is the cartoonist whose 2007 political drawings of the prophet Mohammed sparked jihadist Web sites to offer $150,000 rewards to anyone who'd travel to Sweden and "slaughter him like lamb.") LaRose took to posting on sites typically watched by the SITE Institute and other folks monitoring such traffic 24/7. Unsurprisingly, extremists reportedly found her, and about the same time, the FBI became curious about her, too. The founder of a Web site that researches online activities of militant groups told the New York Times that LaRose made little effort to hide her identity and seemed to be using the radical sites as a dating service. "It was like she was looking for a soul mate."

While this was going on she was working as a caretaker for an elderly man. Last August, the FBI says, she "knowingly took the United States passport of K.G. without his permission in order to provide it to the 'brothers.' " Kurt Gorman, her elderly client's son, was at the time her live-in boyfriend; it was his U.S. passport that went missing. On Wednesday, Gorman told CNN: "She wasn't no rocket scientist. She was limited in her capacity, so I'm not sure how much she thought she could do on her own."

Plenty, apparently. According to her federal indictment, LaRose posted a video as "JihadJane" on YouTube in June 2008, announcing she was "'desperate to do something somehow to help 'the suffering Muslim people.' " Within a few months, conspirators in Asia and Europe got in contact with her, wondering about her "desire to become a martyr in the name of Allah." Soon, in e-mails monitored by the FBI, she was allegedly plotting "to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe." Before long, the indictment spells out, she had "insinuated herself into an online community" hosted by her intended victim, and become a "citizen" of Vilks' artists' enclave in Sweden. She e-mailed a conspirator that "only death will stop me here that i am so close to the target!"

What in fact stopped her was her arrest. She has been jailed in a federal facility in Philadelphia since October and her indictment was unsealed this week.

Whether Colleen LaRose was driven by loneliness, instability, or true conviction is an open question, but officials allege something fueled her "conspiracy to kill in a foreign country" and "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists." Though even amateur terrorists can do terrible damage to innocent lives, it appears that nobody was harmed by her (hardly harmless) activity. Seven other conspirators were arrested in Ireland Wednesday in connection with her case. LaRose faces an arraignment next week.

In a bit of good news for the would-be martyred matron, if she doesn't end up in a penitentiary for the rest of her life, she would probably now qualify for a spot on "Celebrity Apprentice."