"You are my darling," a letter to James Holmes reads. You are incredibly mysterious and I am drawn to that, reads another.

These are snippets from the hundreds of pages of mail from admirers, along with a letter from the killer's mother, released last week by the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office in Colorado. The letters, mainly from young women and all dating from September or October 2012, are just a sample of the thousands Holmes received while he was on trial. They offer a compelling look into the minds of those obsessed with a man who murdered 12 people in July 2012.

Holmes was sentenced to life in prison last month.