By MARK FREEMAN

Mail Tribune

Accused serial killer Susan Monica might “say everything” in a court hearing today about allegations that she murdered and dismembered two people at her rural Rogue River pig farm, unless her conditions within the Jackson County Jail improve, she warns in letters.

As part of often-rambling written correspondence with the Mail Tribune, the 65-year-old Monica complains about her cold and isolated jail conditions while repeatedly denying that she murdered two people over a 17-month period beginning in 2012.

In her initial court appearance by video Jan. 21, Monica spoke over the instructions of her attorneys by asking Rogue River residents to butcher the pigs on her property and donate the meat to charity.

She warns in her most recent letter she may disregard advice for silence at today’s bail hearing before Jackson County Circuit Judge Tim Barnack.

The hearing originally was set for Monday.

“For some reason telling the truth is bad for me but if things do not improve at my hearing on the 17th I may say everything,” Monica wrote to the Mail Tribune in a letter postmarked March 6. “I do not like it in here. This is probably why I have never broken the law.”

Defense attorney Christine Herbert said she is prepared to “make the arguments Miss Monica wants me to make” in today’s hearing in hopes that her no-bail status will change.

“She’s very unhappy in the jail,” Herbert said. “She wants out of there and she’s hopeful she will get out of there following the bail hearing.”

Jackson County Chief Deputy District Attorney Allan Smith said he plans to contest any change in Monica’s bail status.

Monica is accused of murdering Robert Haney, a 56-year-old handyman and tenant, on her farm in early September 2013 and another unidentified victim in early August 2012.

The FBI defines a serial killer as someone who kills at least two people in different locations and different times and not part of a short-term spree.

An initial identity theft charge accuses Monica of using Haney’s Oregon Trail card without him being present, and investigators’ Jan. 10 search of Monica’s farm in that case led to the discovery of human body parts, police said.

Although Monica’s indictment alleges that she dismembered the bodies, investigators have remained mum on how they believe Monica disposed of the bodies, what body parts were discovered and where they were found.

Investigators spent more than two weeks looking for more potential victims at the farm at 9184 W. Evans Creek Road, where Monica has lived since she bought it in 1991, records show. Investigators dug more than 50 holes but prosecutors said they found no new victims.

Investigators have not identified the remains of Monica’s alleged first victim, including a gender.

In her most recent letter to the Mail Tribune, Monica refused to identify who she believes that person was.

“It is a secret,” she wrote. “This is something I should probably not say also but they seam (sic) to feel I killed someone for their food stamp card to buy food for other people.”

The Mail Tribune initiated written correspondence with Monica and her three letters have all been responses. They are hand-printed in pencil and riddled with misspellings and ramblings about her case and living conditions within the jail.

In her initial letter, Monica wrote about being isolated and going on a hunger strike, drinking only flavored water in hopes of forcing a move to a cell “where a vent is not blowing cold air on me 24/7.” The strike ended on Day 3 when she ate a hard-boiled egg, Monica wrote.

In subsequent letters she railed against jail food, particularly Friday’s minced triangular fish patties that are “burnted on the edges.”

She wrote her initial letter in early February shortly after learning that investigators killed her pigs and destroyed the meat instead of donating it to charity amid rumors within the rural Rogue River community that her pigs somehow played a role in the case.

Former tenants said she fed dead pets and domestic animals to the pigs she kept on her farm.

In her letter, she expressed anger that the animals, including an infant pig, were killed and their meat wasted.

“I think of my pigs and then say crualty they name is D.A.,'” she wrote.

She also complained on several occasions why it took close to a week for letters between her and the Mail Tribune to reach their respective destinations, even though they are both downtown.

She declined several Mail Tribune requests to meet during visiting hours at the jail, saying it would steal from her limited visiting time with friends.

Though Monica was bald when arrested on her farm, she wore a wig in her Jan. 21 court appearance.

Her wig was retrieved from her residence and taken to jail at her defense attorney’s request, said Andrea Carlson, spokeswoman for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

She is allowed to wear the wig during court appearances, but not in jail, Carlson said.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470, or email at mfreeman@mailtribune.com.