The Crime Book Big Ideas Simply Explained

MURDER CASES 249

See also: Dr Crippen 216 ■ The Manson Family 230–37 ■ The Murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls 254–57

The white Ford Bronco is chased
at a slow speed along an LA freeway
in the gathering dusk. The televised
chase was a cultural phenomenon, and
raised interest in the Simpson case.

By 2pm, the Los Angeles Police Meanwhile, officers searched the without bail. In a controversial
Department had issued an all- Bronco and found $8,000 (£7,000) decision, the prosecutors chose
points bulletin for Simpson’s arrest. in cash, clothes, and a disguise – to file charges in downtown LA,
Early that evening, the Bronco was a fake goatee, moustache, and which would result in a jury pool
spotted. One officer approached the make-up kit – as well as family with a majority of people of colour.
car but, because Simpson had a photos and a loaded handgun.
gun to his head, decided to back Veteran LAPD detective Tom
off. This ignited a low-speed chase, Courtroom personnel Lange led the murder investigation.
with up to 20 police cars and nine Simpson was arraigned on 20 June, Prosecutor Marcia Clark, a Deputy
helicopters following the car. and pleaded not guilty to both District Attorney, was designated
Thousands of spectators packed murders. He was ordered to be held lead prosecutor; acting as
the overpasses to cheer on the co-counsel was Deputy District ❯❯
white Bronco, some holding
homemade signs urging Simpson
to keep running. Television stations
interrupted regularly scheduled
programming, and the chase was
seen by some 95 million viewers.

After 80 km (50 miles) on the
freeway, the chase ended at 8pm
at Simpson’s Brentwood estate. In
exchange for a peaceful surrender,
Simpson was allowed an hour in
the house to speak to his mother.

O.J. Simpson Born Orenthal James Simpson, After he retired from the NFL,
O.J. Simpson grew up poor in the Simpson began a career as a
housing projects outside San football broadcaster and actor,
Francisco, California. Simpson and appeared in several movies
discovered a passion for football including The Towering Inferno,
and won a football scholarship Capricorn One, and The Naked
to the University of Southern Gun trilogy.
California. In 1968, he won the
prestigious Heisman Trophy. Simpson met 18-year-old
waitress Nicole Brown in 1977,
After college, Simpson was and the two were married in
drafted to the NFL and played 11 1985. They had two children:
seasons with the Buffalo Bills and Sydney and Justin. After a
San Francisco 49ers. In 1973 he tumultuous marriage rife with
became the first player to rush claims of spousal abuse, Nicole
1,800 metres (2,000 yards) in a filed for divorce on 25 February
season, and was later inducted 1992. Two years later, Simpson
into the Football Hall of Fame. was accused of her murder.

250 O.J. SIMPSON

O.J. Simpson in court beside one of
his lawyers, Johnnie Cochran Jr.
Cochran was criticized by Deputy DA
Christopher Darden for emphasizing
possible racial discrimination at play.

Attorney Christopher Darden. LAPD, claiming that the DNA to the lab, and some of Simpson’s
Simpson, meanwhile, hired a team evidence had been contaminated blood was purportedly spilled by
of high-profile lawyers including due to sloppy police work. technicians in the very lab where
F. Lee Bailey, Robert Kardashian, they tested the evidence samples.
Robert Shapiro, Alan Dershowitz, One officer admitted that he had
Johnnie Cochran Jr, and Barry taken home Simpson’s shoes and Detective Fuhrman also came
Scheck. Dubbed the “Dream Team”, left them unattended in his boot for under scrutiny. During cross-
they cost Simpson between $3 and at least six hours, breaking the examination, F. Lee Bailey pressed
$6 million (£2.7–5.5 million). chain of custody. Furthermore, the Fuhrman, who had found the
forensics team was found to have second glove, about his history of
Controversial trial mishandled the blood samples – racist rhetoric. Fuhrman denied it,
The trial began on 24 January 1995, one vial was carried around in a but audiotapes were discovered of
and lasted 134 days; viewers jacket for hours before it was taken him repeatedly using racial slurs.
watched live via a closed-circuit The tapes became a cornerstone
camera in the courtroom. The case of the defence argument that the
turned the detectives, lawyers, and detective’s testimony lacked
even Judge Lance Ito into credibility. Charged with perjury,
celebrities; the proceedings were Fuhrman invoked his right to
dubbed the “Trial of the Century”. remain silent when asked if he had
planted evidence.
Part of the fascination stemmed
from a deep societal divide over On 15 June 1995, defence lawyer
whether or not Simpson was guilty. Cochran goaded Darden into
While 77 per cent of white people asking Simpson to put on the
polled believed that he had done it, leather glove. The glove appeared
the African American community too tight for Simpson’s hand. In his
thought otherwise: 72 per cent closing arguments, Cochran used
believed he should be acquitted. the glove demonstration to quip,
The defence argued that Simpson “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
had been set up by racially biased
cops, then took another shot at the Maintaining a chain of custody

When evidence is collected at a of from another source, or
crime scene, it must be handled planted in an attempt to frame
in a scrupulously careful manner an innocent party. To maintain
to prevent contamination and to the chain of custody, each item
prove it has not been tampered of evidence must be labelled
with. To preserve the integrity with the initials of everyone
of evidence and ensure it can be who handles it. Prosecutors use
used in court, law enforcement chain of custody documentation
establishes a chain of custody to prove that evidence has not
– chronological documentation been tampered with, and that
showing its seizure, control, it was discovered at the scene
transfer, and analysis. of the crime. If there are any
discrepancies, or if a chain of
Recording a chain of custody custody is broken, evidence can
establishes that evidence is be declared inadmissible.
connected to the crime, instead

MURDER CASES 251

The events of 12 June 1994 were laid 6:30pm Nicole Brown Simpson
out for the jury with the testimony of has dinner at Mezzaluna with her
several key witnesses, including mother and children.
Simpson’s house guest and his driver.

Not only did we play the race 9:35pm Nicole's mother calls 9:50pm Goldman
card, we dealt it from the Mezzaluna to say that she left leaves the restaurant
bottom of the deck. her glasses behind. Ronald and takes the glasses
Robert Shapiro Goldman agrees to drop them to Nicole’s house.
off with Nicole.
The jury was quick to make their 10:15pm 10:25pm Limousine driver
decision. After only four hours of Simpson’s Allan Park arrives at Simpson’s
deliberation, they voted to acquit neighbour home to take him to the airport.
O.J. Simpson – to the shock of the Pablo Fenjves
nation. Critics attributed the jury's hears someone 10:40–10:50pm
decision to its racial make-up. Jury crying out and Park repeatedly
members themselves cited LAPD the barking of buzzes the intercom
incompetence and an unconvincing a dog. but there is no
case by the prosecution. 10:40pm A guest at response. Around
Simpson’s house, Kato 10:58pm, Park sees
Civil punishment Kaelin, hears three loud a large black man
In 1997, Ron Goldman’s parents thumps against the wall walking across the
sued Simpson in civil court for of his room. driveway towards
wrongful death. Nicole’s father also About 11pm Park buzzes the the house.
filed a suit. A civil suit could not intercom and O.J. Simpson answers. 11–11:15pm Simpson puts his
land Simpson any prison time, but He says he has overslept. bags in the limousine and
it could make him pay a price. He leaves for Los Angeles Airport.
lost badly in the civil suit, and was 11:45pm
ordered to pay $33.5 million (£22 Simpson departs on 13 June 12:10am The dead bodies of
million) to the victims’ families. a flight to Chicago. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman
are found outside her townhouse.
In 2007, Simpson once more
found himself in legal trouble.
On 13 September, he and his
friends threatened a memorabilia
dealer at gunpoint in a Las Vegas
hotel room, demanding the return
of items that Simpson believed
had been stolen from him. On
3 October 2008 – 13 years to the
day after he was acquitted of
murder – O.J. Simpson was
sentenced to 33 years in prison,
on 10 felony counts. Many believe
this sentence was a way to bring
him, at last, to justice. ■

252

WFCORHUAILLFETPLISNATYTOHREESPY

CRAIG JACOBSEN, AUGUST 1997

IN CONTEXT I n August 1997, the body of the alias John Flowers, took her
backup singer and dancer into the back room and delivered
LOCATION Ginger Rios was unearthed a swift uppercut to her nose that
Las Vegas, Nevada from a shallow grave in Arizona’s proved fatal. He then put her body
portion of the Mojave Desert. The in a bin bag, moved her to the back
THEME 20-year-old had last been seen four of his van, cleaned up the back
Multiple murder months earlier, on 4 April, at a spy room with strong bleach, and drove
craft store near the University Rios’s body to Arizona.
BEFORE of Nevada, Las Vegas.
1978 The bodies of siblings Jacobsen’s wife, Cheryl Ciccone,
Jacqueline and Malcolm Rios had gone there to purchase was with her husband when Rios
Bradshaw are discovered by a book on cleaning up her credit walked into the store. She saw
a sheep herder near the desert report. While her husband, Mark Rios’s body, and accompanied
town of Barstow, California. Hollinger, waited in the car, Rios Jacobsen to Arizona. Fearing for
ran into the shop. According to her life, however, she later went to
1984 William Richard Bradford Hollinger, she planned to be gone the authorities, and four months
strangles 15-year-old Tracey just a few minutes. Rios, however, later guided police to Rios’s body.
Campbell to death at a remote never emerged from the store. The
campsite in the Mojave Desert, owner, Craig Jacobsen, who used A second victim
and leaves her body there. A month after Rios’s death, another
Las Vegas woman went missing:
AFTER chiropractor’s daughter Mary
2009 The remains of 11 Stoddard. On 10 May, hunters
women are found buried in the chanced upon the body of a young
sands of Albuquerque’s West woman in a desert grave in Pinal
Mesa. Some may have been County, Arizona. A forensic facial
there since 2001. reconstruction was ordered, but
nobody claimed the victim, who
2013 Joseph and Summer became Jane Doe 2278DFAZ.
McStay, who along with their
young sons have been missing Craig Jacobsen looks unkempt in his
since February 2010, are found 1997 mugshot. Jacobsen confessed to
murdered in the desert near murdering Ginger Rios, claiming to
Victorville, California. have killed her because he had
snapped when she “got in his face.”

MURDER CASES 253

See also: Dr Crippen 216 ■ The Death of Azaria Chamberlain 238–39 ■ Ian Brady and Myra Hindley 284–85

Pinal County, Arizona is a land of
remote desert valleys – one of which
became a burial ground for Jacobsen’s
victims. The graves were found near
Florence, a town southeast of Phoenix.

in a county cemetery, but the
location of the plot was not on
the paperwork. Without the body,
prosecutors had to focus their case
on Ginger Rios. Jacobsen was
convicted in 2000 and sentenced
to at least 25 years behind bars.

The graves of Doe and Rios were in battery and counterfeiting. Under Third victim
close proximity to each other, and interrogation, as well as admitting In a strange twist of events, in
both graves were covered with that he killed Rios, Jacobsen 2010, the remains of Jane Doe were
concrete caps, which suggested confessed to killing a second relocated and identified by the
the two shared a killer. woman in Las Vegas and burying Doe Network. She was not Mary
her in Arizona. Stoddard. Jane Doe was actually
Arrest and detention 15-year-old Christina Martinez,
In August 1997, Jacobsen was Jacobsen identified the woman who disappeared in May 1997 on
arrested in Los Angeles, California, as Mary Stoddard, which seemingly her way to a local laundrette in
by a fugitive law-enforcement task solved the mystery of Jane Doe’s Phoenix, Arizona – two blocks from
force – he was wanted in Florida for identity. However, the Arizona another store owned by Jacobsen.
authorities had reburied Jane Doe
In 2014, a grand jury charged
Jacobsen with the murder of
Martinez. The body of Stoddard
has not been recovered, despite
searches near the other graves. ■

Forensic facial reconstruction

Facial reconstruction software Advancements in computerized Network, a US not-for-profit
creates a photo-realistic image based 3D technology have vastly organization dedicated to
on the skull and other known data, improved the field of forensic connecting missing and
such as age, ethnicity, or weight. facial reconstruction. It is now unidentified persons with John
possible to scan a skull from and Jane Doe cases. The US
multiple angles to create a precise has a 50 per cent success rate
digital reconstruction, instead of in making identifications from
having to build a model by hand forensic facial reconstruction.
from clay. The technique is
particularly useful for crimes that The technique of forensic
involve unidentified remains. facial reconstruction has also
been used to create realistic
Reconstructed images may be images of historical figure, such
shown to potential victims’ family as King Richard III, Copernicus,
members, run through police and Tutankhamun, based on
databases, or sent to the Doe their remains.

254 IN CONTEXT

DPTAEOOFORNTPA’ATLILDEWKAAATNRNODETUS LOCATION
Las Vegas, Nevada, and
THE MURDERS OF TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE Los Angeles, California, US
SMALLS, 1996 AND 1997
THEME
Drive-by shootings

BEFORE
July 1931 Coll Gang gunmen
accidentally hit children
playing outside, in a drive-by
attack in Harlem, New York.

31 July 1996 Rapper Seagram
Miller, age 26, is killed in a
drive-by shooting
in Oakland, California.

AFTER
7 May 2004 Polish war
correspondent Waldemar
Milewicz is killed in a drive-by
attack on his press vehicle
south of Baghdad, Iraq.

3 September 2012
Colombian drug lord Griselda
Blanco is killed in a motorcycle
drive-by shooting in Medellín.

I n the late 1990s, two of hip-
hop’s biggest stars, Tupac
Shakur and Biggie Smalls,
were gunned down in eerily similar
drive-by shootings.

Shakur, working on the West
Coast, and Smalls, who performed
as The Notorious B.I.G. on the East
Coast, were modern-day American
storytellers pursuing similar
musical careers. When Shakur
travelled to New York, he regularly
invited Smalls on stage to rap,
aiding the career of The Notorious
B.I.G. In the years before their
deaths, however, they were
embroiled in a bitter feud that
became known as the East Coast-
West Coast hip-hop rivalry.

MURDER CASES 255

See also: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy 316–21 ■ The Abduction of Aldo Moro 322–23

7 September, 8:30pm
Shakur and friends leave
the Tyson/Seldon boxing
match at the MGM Grand

Hotel, Las Vegas

8:30–9pm
Shakur and his bodyguards
are involved in a physical

altercation with Orlando
Anderson outside the hotel

Bad blood between Shakur and Biggie and Tupac hang out at the 11:15pm
Smalls began in Manhattan in 1994 Royalty Hotel in May 1994. They Shakur is shot at close
when Shakur was ambushed and freestyled and were filmed by Dream range at a Las Vegas
shot at Quad Studios by three men. Hampton, in one of the few videos of intersection, in his BMW
They stole $35,000 worth of jewellery the two rappers together.
(about £30,000 today) from him and 750 sedan
his crew and then escaped. Smalls On 7 September 1996, Tupac 8–9 September
was recording in the building at the Shakur, just 25 years old, was shot Shakur undergoes
time, and Shakur was convinced in a car-to-car shooting on his way three operations at the
that Smalls and his record producer, to a party in Las Vegas, Nevada. University Medical Center
Sean “Diddy” Combs, had set him He died six days after the shooting. of Southern Nevada
up. The two men never reconciled.
Six months later, on 9 March 13 September, 4.03pm
I don’t think the powers that 1997, 24-year-old Smalls was shot Shakur is pronounced
be give a damn that another four times in a car-to-car drive-by
little ghetto kid gets killed in attack as he left a party at the dead due to
the streets. It’s not important Petersen Automotive Museum in respiratory failure
to them to solve this case. Los Angeles, California. He died
within 30 minutes of the shooting.
DJ Shay
Shocking scenes
On 7 September 1996, Shakur
attended a boxing match between
Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at
the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
As he left the bout with his
entourage – which included friends,
backup singers, and Death Row
Records producer Marion “Suge”
Knight Jr – the crew spotted ❯❯

256 THE MURDERS OF TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE SMALLS

Gang identity and turf wars inside a parking garage next to the
intersection and hurried down to
Gang warfare – which can have Gangs use signifiers of identity street level. They followed Knight’s
violent consequences even for to create a sense of exclusivity, sedan as it made a U-turn to evade
innocent bystanders – usually such as tattoos, clothing, and the gunman. The driver of the
occurs within low-income hand signs. Cadillac turned onto another street
communities. The Los Angeles and disappeared into the night.
Police Department believes that Gang rivalries usually occur
there are five main reasons that between two sides seeking For the next seven days, Shakur
individuals in such communities control of a particular territory. remained in a coma in a critical
join gangs. Some are attracted One of the deadliest rivalries is condition. He also underwent
to the increased social status, or that of the Bloods and Crips in several surgeries and medical
the sense of brotherhood. Others Los Angeles. It began in the procedures to stop the bleeding
want protection from rival 1970s over control of the in his chest. On the afternoon of
gangs, or want to engage more neighbourhood of Compton and 13 September, however, he died
easily in criminal activity. Some accounted for a high percentage from his injuries.
are simply coerced into joining. of the gang-related murders in
southern Los Angeles. Shakur’s shooting sparked a
five-day gang war on the streets of
Orlando Tive “Baby Lane” up next to Knight’s black sedan, Compton, California, between the
Anderson, a member of the in which Shakur and Knight were Bloods and the Crips. In the end,
Southside Crips Gang. riding. As the Cadillac came three men were dead and 10 were
alongside, a man in the back seat wounded. The Compton Police
Knight was affiliated with the rolled down the window, stuck out Department attributed the war to
rival Pirus Bloods street gang. Upon his arm, and opened fire. Shakur retaliation by the Bloods against
seeing Anderson, Knight’s friend was shot three times, once in the the Crips for the Shakur shooting.
Trevon “Tray” Lane told Shakur chest; Knight was hit with shrapnel
that Anderson was part of a posse at the base of his skull. Biggie gunned down
that snatched a Death Row gold Five months later, in February 1997,
necklace from Lane’s neck a month Two bicycle officers with the Biggie Smalls – whose real name
earlier. Shakur pounced on Las Vegas Metropolitan Police was Christopher Wallace – travelled
Anderson, and his whole entourage Department heard the shots from to Los Angeles to promote his
joined in stomping and kicking
him, not caring that their actions
were being captured on the
casino’s surveillance videotape.
However, Anderson declined to
press charges, and they all went
their separate ways.

Shakur shot
After Anderson’s beating, Shakur’s
group got into a convoy of cars to
head to a party. At 11:15pm, at the
intersection of Flamingo Road and
Koval Lane, a white Cadillac with
California licence plates pulled

Funeral cars pass down St. James
Place, Brooklyn, towards the home
of Biggie’s mother Voletta Wallace
on 18 March 1997. Press and crowds
gathered to pay tribute to the rapper.

I don’t think my son’s death driver’s window of the Impala and MURDER CASES 257
was connected to Tupac. fired at Smalls with a 9 mm blue-
steel pistol, hitting him four times. 9 March 12:30am
And I don’t think Christopher Biggie Smalls and his
had anything to do with The driver of the Impala sped entourage leave the
Tupac’s death. away, while Smalls’s entourage Petersen Automotive
Voletta Wallace rushed him to hospital. Despite the Museum in Los Angeles
doctors’ efforts, Smalls was
second studio album and film a pronounced dead 30 minutes later. Smalls’s
music video for the album’s lead Suburban stops at a red
single, “Hypnotize”. On 7 March, Unsolved crime light near the museum;
Smalls appeared at the Soul Train Police investigations into Shakur’s
Music Awards to present an award death did not lead to any formal a Chevrolet Impala
to singer Toni Braxton, but was murder charges. In his affidavit pulls up alongside
booed by some members of the chronicling the investigation, The driver of the Impala
audience due to his feud with the Detective Timothy Brennan of the fires four shots into
late Tupac Shakur. Compton Police Department’s gang Smalls’s chest at
unit named Anderson as Shakur’s
On 8 March, Smalls, with likely killer. However, Anderson close range
record producer Sean Combs and was killed in an unrelated shootout Smalls is rushed to the
an entourage, attended a party in Compton in 1998 and could not Cedars-Sinai Medical
hosted by Vibe magazine and be charged. Brennan was also Center in Los Angeles
Qwest Records at the Petersen assigned to the taskforce working
Automotive Museum on Wilshire to find Smalls’s killer. There, too, 1:15am
Boulevard, Los Angeles. Smalls the police were unable to bring the Biggie Smalls is
told his mother he had cancelled killer to justice. pronounced dead
a flight to London so that he could as a result of his
attend the party. Multiple conspiracy theories gunshot wounds
surround the murders of both
A fire marshal closed the party rappers, but none have been
early due to overcrowding, and substantiated. Rumours persist
at 12:30am, Smalls and his that Smalls had Shakur killed, but
entourage left the museum in two there is no evidence to back up the
GMC Suburbans. Smalls sat in the theory. Investigators also found no
front passenger seat. When his proof that the murder of Biggie
SUV stopped at a red light behind Smalls was linked to the East
Combs’s vehicle at the corner of Coast-West Coast rap war. Still,
Wilshire Boulevard and South some claimed that Sean Combs
Fairfax Avenue, a Chevrolet Impala hired Anderson to take out Shakur,
drove up alongside. and others said Suge Knight
ordered the hit on Smalls.
The events that unfolded
mirrored the fate that had befallen The most plausible theory, said
Shakur. A man in a button-down the Los Angeles police, was that
shirt and bow tie rolled down the Smalls was shot over a financial
dispute with Crips members who
had acted as his bodyguards – and
that it was unrelated to the murder
of Shakur. Nonetheless, new books,
biopics, and theories continue to
flourish, with even the police
assigned to the cases now writing
about the mysterious deaths of
Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. ■

SERIAL K

ILLERS

260 INTRODUCTION

In Ancient China, Hungarian noblewoman In Colorado, Harvey
Liu Pengli, Prince of Elizabeth Báthory Glatman murders and
Jidong, engages in a abducts, tortures, photographs young women
29-year killing spree.
and kills hundreds of that he lures to hotel
young girls. rooms with promises of

careers as models.

141–121 BCE 1585–1610 1957–58

1324 1888 1963–65

In Ireland, aristocrat Dame Jack the Ripper stalks Ian Brady and Myra
Alice Kyteler is accused the streets of London’s Hindley abduct,
East End, murdering torture, and kill
of murder through and disembowelling children, and bury
witchcraft for the murder them on England’s
local prostitutes. Saddleworth Moor.
of her four husbands.

T he term “serial murder” In the years since, individuals and have existed for many centuries.
was coined in 1930 by agencies have sought to revise the The cases of Liu Pengli, a prince in
Ernst Gennat, director of definition of the term serial murder. ancient China, Dame Alice Kyteler
the Berlin police, in reference to Some specify a minimum of four in 14th-century England, and the
Peter Kurten, who killed nine victims, while others apply the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth
people in and around Düsseldorf. term to cases with just two. The Báthory at the turn of the 17th
Forty-four years later in America, phrase “cooling-off period” was also century seem to indicate that it
FBI behavioural scientist Robert felt to be ambiguous. The FBI has was only considered worthy of note
Ressler adopted the term “serial revised its own definition of serial when killings were committed by
killer”, specifically to describe a murder to be “the unlawful killing those of high social station.
person who commits three or more of two or more victims by the same
murders on separate occasions, offender(s), in separate events”. This may be the reason why a
with each one separated by a This new criteria allows police member of the British Royal Family
“cooling-off period”. departments who have identified became a suspect in London’s
the early stages of a homicidal Whitechapel Murders of 1888.
Ressler’s definition distinguished pattern to approach it in the Jack the Ripper, more than likely
serial killing from mass murder, specific manner necessary to a working-class man, operated in
during which at least four victims investigate a series of murders. the right place at the right time
are slain in a single location, as at in history to ignite the public
the Teigin Bank incident in Tokyo, Noble killers imagination. The rise of modern
and the spree killings of Charles Although many argue that serial policing in London after the
Whitman. Ressler is credited with murder is a product of the modern establishment of the Metropolitan
bringing the phrase “serial killer” age, the reality is that serial killers Police in 1829 and the proliferation
into popular use. of print media meant that the

SERIAL KILLERS 261

In northern California, Using various DNA evidence links English doctor Harold
seven people are disguises, Ted Bundy local baker Colin Shipman is arrested for
Pitchfork to two
murdered at the hands targets female murdering elderly
of the Zodiac, college students separate murders in a patients by injecting
small English village.
an unknown serial across seven them with lethal
killer who sends US states. doses of drugs.
cryptic messages.

1968–69 1971–78 1983–86 1998
1999
1971 1978–81 1990

Fred and Rosemary West Jeffrey Dahmer In Russia, Andrei Sadist John Edward
sexually torture and murders and Chikatilo is arrested after Robinson commits the
murder their first shared dismembers 17 last of eight murders,
victim at their home in young men in Ohio initially being luring women through
and Wisconsin. discounted as the online chat rooms.
Gloucester, England.
culprit in dozens
of murders.

city’s bloodiest, most gruesome pictures were reprinted in the Five years after the Zodiac’s last
crimes began to be documented, very detective magazines that had letter in 1974, the televised trial
disseminated, and commercially nurtured his own deviant fantasies. of Ted Bundy – the superficially
exploited. The Penny Dreadful, Similarly, in England, in the 1960s, charming killer of American college
a cheap 19th-century publication “Moors Murderers” Ian Brady and girls – shattered popular notions
featuring sensational stories of Myra Hindley, became the first of serial killers as ugly monsters.
the most grisly murders, appeared known compulsive killers to make Bundy looked like the kind of
in weekly instalments and was audio recordings of a victim. The upright, young man many parents
devoured by the British public. recording was played at their trial would want their daughter to meet.
and the court listened in silence to Bundy’s trial overlapped with the
Diaries and records harrowing evidence of the pair’s pioneering research of the Ressler-
By the 1950s, cameras and torture and abuse of 10-year-old era Behavioral Science Unit in
recording devices were widely Lesley Ann Downey. Virginia, which began to offer serial
affordable, and serial murderers killer profiles to police agencies
could create their own record of Serial killer cases continued across the western world.
their crimes. Aroused by the to be covered in the media. Shortly
images of bound, scantily clad after this, on the West Coast of the By the 1980s, serial murder
women on the covers of detective US, a killer calling himself “the rates were at an all-time high. The
magazines, serial murderer Harvey Zodiac” sent proof of his crimes to most notorious cases of the late-
Glatman abducted, tied up, newspapers in the San Francisco 1980s and 1990s included Andrei
photographed, and then murdered area, accompanied by strange Chikatilo in Russia and Jeffrey
at least three women in California. codes and letters threatening to Dahmer in the US, as well as Fred
Once apprehended, Glatman’s commit further carnage if he did and Rosemary West and Harold
not receive front page coverage. Shipman in the UK. ■

262

PMSEHUOERPEDLREERS…IPNOGFROTR

LIU PENGLI, 144–121 bce

IN CONTEXT S erial killers are by no means He was arrogant and cruel,
a modern phenomenon. and paid no attention to the
LOCATION Centuries before Jack the etiquette demanded between
Jidong, China Ripper, Rosemary and Fred West, or
Ted Bundy murdered their victims, ruler and subject.
THEME Prince Liu Pengli slaughtered Sima Qian
Serial killing thrill-seekers dozens of men, women, and
children in ancient China. Emperor Jing. Investigations finally
BEFORE brought Liu Pengli’s crimes to light,
313 bce In ancient Rome, Liu Pengli, one of five brothers, and he was found responsible for at
rumours circulate of a mass ruled over the principality of Jidong least 100 murders.
poisoning by Roman matrons during the second century bce.
after several men drop dead. It was a tempestuous time of Under pressure from his
Some 170 women are arrested. rebellion and political machinations courtiers, who demanded Liu
They claim that their potions that led to the banishment of Liu Pengli’s execution, the emperor
are medicinal but two of them Pengli’s father, the beloved younger acknowledged the severity of the
die when they are made to brother of Emperor Jing. crime, but was reluctant to kill his
drink their own concoctions. own nephew. Instead, he stripped
Soon after coming to power in Liu Pengli of his royal status and
AFTER Jidong, Liu assembled a gang of banished him to another province.
2007 In Russia, Alexander slaves and young men on the run. The sentence was considered the
Pichushkin is brought to trial Together, they went out at night to next best thing to execution. ■
for the murder of at least terrorize anyone they found. The
48 people between 1992 people lived in fear of their ruler.
and 2006. Known as the Liu killed his subjects and stole
Chessboard Killer, Pichushkin their possessions, with no higher
claims that he wanted to kill 64 motive than pleasure.
people – the number of squares
on a chessboard. Moscow’s In the 29th year of his rule, the
Bitsa Park, where Pichushkin serial killer’s run came to an end
played chess, is the scene of when the son of one of his victims
many of his murders. went to the only person who could
stop the wave of terror – Liu’s uncle,

See also: Ted Bundy 276–83 ■ Fred and Rosemary West 286–87 ■ Harold
Shipman 290–91 ■ Jeffrey Dahmer 293

SERIAL KILLERS 263

CTAHLEIRECTSEAAIHNIDADDDEAAMMOEN

ALICE KYTELER, 1324

IN CONTEXT T o lose one husband is elite. When le Poer’s children came
unfortunate; to lose four in to him with stories of finding
LOCATION rapid succession is bound satanic powders, the body parts of
Kilkenny, Ireland to raise eyebrows, especially if all unbaptized babies, and the toenails
the men are wealthy. When the of corpses boiled up in a robber’s
THEME death of Dame Alice Kyteler’s skull, the bishop did not probe too
Witchcraft and sorcery husband, John le Poer, left her a deeply. Dame Alice was brought
widow for the fourth time, local to trial and convicted. Delays in
BEFORE people accused her of witchcraft. procedure allowed Kyteler to
1317 Hugues Géraud, Bishop escape to England, but her
of Cahors, France, is flayed Satanic accusations maidservant, Petronilla de Meath,
alive and burned after an In the 14th century, Catholic was condemned for being her
ecclesiastical court finds him orthodoxy did not generally take accomplice, and was burned at
guilty of using sorcery in an the idea of sorcery seriously – the the stake on 3 November 1324. ■
attempt to assassinate Pope great European witchhunts took
John XXII. place in the 16th and 17th
centuries. However, the Catholic
AFTER church frowned on heresy, and
1597 In Scotland, the Great some members of the clergy were
Scottish Witch Hunt, which prepared to define this broadly.
began in the 1550s, concludes
with the trial and conviction of Dame Alice had repeatedly
200 people for witchcraft. clashed with Kilkenny’s Bishop of
Confessions are extracted Ossory, who resented her wealth
through torture, or guilt is and connections among Ireland’s
decided by witch prickers, who
pierce the accused with a Kilkenny’s Kyteler’s Inn, reputedly
sharp implement. If they fail to established by Dame Kyteler herself,
bleed, they are found guilty. continues to trade, bolstered by its
connection to the first person
convicted of witchcraft in Ireland.
See also: Lizzie Borden 208–11 ■ Dr Crippen 216

264

KMTHEAEEIDPBEHLNEOSROWDYOIOLUFLNG

ELIZABETH BÁTHORY, 1585–1610

IN CONTEXT B rick by brick, stonemasons The shadows will envelop you
walled a 50-year-old woman and you will find time to
LOCATION into a windowless suite repent your bestial life.
Kingdom of Hungary inside Cachtice Castle, Slovakia, Count Gyorgy Thurzo
with only small slits for air and food.
THEME For close to five years, the “Blood When Nadasdy died in 1604,
Murderous women Countess” remained trapped there Báthory grew even more sadistic.
in solitary confinement – a bleak Taking advice on torture from
BEFORE end to the life of the most prolific her children’s governess, one of
47–42 bce Prior to her five- female mass murderer of all time. Báthory’s many sexual conquests,
year reign as the first queen the countess began to abduct girls
of Sri Lanka, Anula of Countess Elizabeth Báthory de to torture and kill. At first, she took
Anuradhapura poisons her son Ecsed came from one of Hungary’s the daughters of local peasants,
and four of her husbands. most distinguished families. At 15, some of whom were lured by the
she married Count Ferenc Nadasdy promise of work. Later, she turned
AFTER in a ceremony attended by to wealthy girls who had come to
1876–96 Nurse Amelia European royalty. The couple went her school to learn etiquette.
Elizabeth Dyer murders an to live in Cachtice Castle.
estimated 400 infants in By this time, rumours were
Caversham, England. Nadasdy was the commander circulating about the countess.
of the Hungarian forces fighting A prominent Lutheran minister
1988 While inquiring about against the Ottoman Empire. denounced Báthory as a villainess.
a missing tenant, police find Called the “Black Hero of Hungary”, In 1610, one of Báthory’s victims
seven bodies buried in the he was particularly known for escaped from Cachtice Castle.
yard of a California boarding torturing the soldiers he captured.
house run by serial killer His wife seemed like any other
Dorothea Puente. noblewoman; attending parties,
opening an etiquette school for
1989–90 Former prostitute aristocratic ladies, and providing
Aileen Wuornos shoots and a haven for destitute war widows.
kills seven men in Florida
at point-blank range. She Dark obsessions
receives the death penalty, and Elizabeth was drawn to the occult.
is executed by lethal injection. She began consorting with women
who claimed to be witches, and
began to torture her servant girls.

SERIAL KILLERS 265

See also: The Dripping Killer 206–07 ■ Lizzie Borden 208–11 ■ Ted Bundy
276–83 ■ Ian Brady and Myra Hindley 284–85

The girl’s testimony prompted blood. One servant claimed to Medieval torture
the King of Hungary, Matthias II, have seen Báthory’s records, which
to order that Count Gyorgy Thurzo detailed more than 650 victims. From the 12th century, torture
start an investigation. increased in Europe, both as a
Báthory’s four conspirators were popular method to make
On 30 December 1610, Count beheaded and cremated. Báthory, suspects confess to their
Thurzo ordered a raid on the castle. however, was saved from execution crimes and as punishment for
The investigators found at least one by her noble status, and died in wrongdoing.
dead girl, drained of blood, and confinement in 1614. Some have
another dying. Further searches suggested that the powerful widow In 1252, Pope Innocent IV
uncovered several girls – still alive was a victim of a conspiracy by the authorized his inquisitors to
– in the dungeons, and about 50 ruling Hapsburg emperor – or use torture to gain confessions
buried beneath the castle. perhaps even her own children. ■ from suspected heretics.
These confessions made under
At a trial led by Thurzo, Báthory Elizabeth Báthory is often called the duress were especially useful
and her servants were accused of “blood Countess” or “female Dracula”. for prosecuting people for
torturing and killing hundreds of Her infamy has persisted since her crimes of belief – a growing
women between 1585 and 1609: death, with stories that she bathed in category of crime in the
beating, burning, freezing, and the blood of virgins to retain her youth. religious unrest that plagued
most notably, draining victims’ Europe’s medieval period.

Public torture aimed to
dissuade criminals and
preserve social order. The
medieval era was beset by
wars, famine, and disease,
and crime was a menace that
societies could do without.

Common techniques
included burning, mutilation,
and beheading. Often, torture
became a public spectacle.
Townspeople regularly
witnessed public floggings,
with criminals chained in
iron collars. As a punishment,
torture was often just a
prelude to public execution,
after which corpses, heads,
and body parts were impaled
on stakes on the city walls.

INNERDSIAWNOILTLHSEERNBDITYOOUF

JACK THE RIPPER, 1888



268 JACK THE RIPPER Attacks a prostitute at night in the sidestreets around
a pub where she picks up clients
IN CONTEXT
Slashes the victim’s throat and repeatedly
LOCATION stabs her in the stomach
Whitechapel, London, UK
Eviscerates her body and cuts off pieces of her
THEME organs as souvenirs
Serial murder of
prostitutes Displays the victim’s body in a
humiliating position
BEFORE
1866 French warehouse porter Disappears into the Whitechapel
Joseph Philippe murders six sidestreets to find another victim
prostitutes in Paris. He claims
to have been in a state of
“erotic catalepsy”, some sort
of sexual trance or blackout.

AFTER
1975–80 “Yorkshire Ripper”
Peter Sutcliffe kills 13 women,
some of whom are sex workers.

1982–98 Gary Ridgway,
known as the “Green River
Killer”, kills at least 48 sex
workers in Washington state.

1983–2002 Millionaire Robert
Pickton murders a number of
prostitutes – between six and
49 – and buries some at his
family’s pig farm in Vancouver,
British Columbia.

Around 3:30am on Tuesday, nearly 40 times in her throat and This victim was found by two
7 August 1888, cab driver abdomen. She was identified by her workers outside a stable on Buck’s
Albert Crow returned home husband as 39-year-old Martha Row at 3:40am on 31 August. Her
to the George Yard Buildings on Tabram, who earned her living as genitals were exposed. Arriving at
London’s Whitechapel Road, a prostitute. Investigators learned 4am, surgeon Henry Llewellyn
between the areas of Whitechapel that Martha’s body had not been on discovered two fatal slashes
and Spitalfields. Crow found what the landing when tenants Joseph running from left to right across her
he thought was a female vagrant and Elizabeth Mahoney returned throat. There were also multiple
passed out on a landing of the home at 2am. The killer must have postmortem incisions to the
property, her skirts hiked up. At committed the crime at some point abdomen. The warmth of her body
5am, tenant John Saunders Reeves, between 2am and 3:30am. and legs led Llewellyn to conclude
realized the truth: the unknown that she had not been dead for
woman had been murdered. Establishing a pattern longer than half an hour. A laundry
The grisly murder of a second mark on her petticoats from a
Dr Timothy Killeen, who woman, 24 days later, bore striking Lambeth workhouse identified her
performed the autopsy, concluded similarities to the Tabram slaying. as Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
that the victim had been stabbed

SERIAL KILLERS 269

See also: The Black Dahlia Murder 218–23 ■ Elizabeth Báthory 264–65 ■ Ted Bundy 276–83

At 6am on 8 September, market had slashed his victim’s throat Long described wore a brown
worker John Davis discovered the from left to right. A more thorough deerstalker cap and overcoat. The
body of a third woman in his examination revealed that a portion police also found a leather apron at
backyard, at 29 Hanbury Street in of the uterus had been excised. the scene of Chapman’s death.
Spitalfields. Whoever had done the Phillips estimated the time of death
grisly deed had eviscerated the at 4:30am or earlier. Local gossip transformed these
victim, draping her intestines over details into the tale of “Leather
her shoulders. Like the first two Early clues Apron”, a homicidal Hebrew who
victims, Annie Chapman worked Scant clues emerged about the preyed upon English prostitutes.
as a prostitute. Her body had been three murders, but at an inquest, John Pizer – a Polish Jew and boot-
posed to allude to this, with legs witness Elizabeth Long testified maker with the misfortune
splayed to degrade her even in death. she had seen Chapman speaking of having the nickname “Leather ❯❯
with a man at 5:30am near the
Dr George Bagster Phillips, crime scene. She described the Policemen discover a victim of Jack
arriving half an hour later, noted figure as around 40 years old, with the Ripper in this 1891 illustration from
that her handkerchief had been dark hair and a foreign, “shabby- Le Petit Parisien. The mysterious killer
tightened around her neck, causing genteel” appearance. The man became notorious not just in the United
asphyxiation. Once again, the killer Kingdom, but across the world.

270 JACK THE RIPPER

Apron” – was named by the media – underemployed men who were I am down on whores and I
as a suspect in the killings. On paid a pittance to walk the beat shant quit ripping them till
10 September, Pizer was arrested armed with nothing but a cudgel.
despite the lack of evidence against I do get buckled.
him. When Pizer was able to give The double event Jack the Ripper
an alibi for two of the murders he For a while, all was quiet, and the
was released. He later sued a local people of Whitechapel began to match and crept into the darkness.
newspaper for libel. relax. The increased police There, in the flickering light, he
attention and vigilantes probably beheld the body of a woman in a
With few leads, the people of deterred the killer from striking pool of blood. Her dead hand
Whitechapel took matters into their again. Then, on 30 September 1888, clutched a packet of cachous –
own hands. Local businessmen came the “double-event”. Two new
concerned about the effect the victims were discovered within an
murders were having on commerce, hour of each other.
organized the Whitechapel
Vigilance Committee to patrol the At 1am in east Whitechapel,
streets after dark. They elected a a steward of the worker’s club,
local builder, George Lusk, as the Louis Diemschutz, directed his
committee’s chairman. Each night pony-drawn cart into Dutfield’s
the group convened at 9pm at the Yard. When the animal began to
Crown pub to inspect patrollers act strangely, the steward struck a

3 8 September, 6am, Annie 2
Chapman discovered at 29
Hanbury Street 31 August, 3:40am, Mary
Nichols discovered at Buck’s
Spitalfields Row Stables [now known as
6 Durward Street]

9 November, 10:45am, Mary Whitechapel
Kelly dicovered at Miller’s Court,
off Dorset Street [now known as
White’s Row car park]

7 August, 3:30am, Martha
Tabram discovered at George
1 Yard Buildings [now known as

Gunthorpe Street]

The
City

5 Whitechapel and
neighbouring Spitalfields are
30 September, 2am, 4 areas of east London. In the
Catherine Eddowes 19th century, Whitechapel
discovered in Mitre Square 30 September, 1am, Elizabeth was home to the working
Stride discovered at Dutfield’s Yard class, migrants, and
[now known as Henriques Street] Jews, all crowded into
cheap accommodation.

SERIAL KILLERS 271

The “Dear Boss” letter was sent
to London’s Central News Agency on
27 September 1888, suggesting that
the killer wanted notoriety. He even
gave himself a name: Jack the Ripper.

sweets used to freshen the breath. law wife, Catherine Eddowes, after nothing.” Police Superintendent
Obviously, the attack had been reading in the paper about two Thomas Arnold was among the first
swift and unexpected. Later, pawn tickets found on her person. to arrive at the scene. Fearing that
Diemschutz testified that he the graffiti would spark antisemitic
believed the killer was still lurking Notes and graffiti rioting, he ordered the “Goulston
in the yard when he came upon the Searching along Goulston Street Street Graffito” to be washed away.
body. The victim was Elizabeth at 3am on the night of the double
Stride, a 44-year-old prostitute. event, PC Albert Long happened The high level of attention that
upon a bloodied piece of apron the killings received in the media
However, the night’s bloodshed discarded in a stairwell. A cryptic led to numerous hoax letters being
had just begun. Within an hour, the message was scrawled in white sent to the investigators. While
body of a second woman was found chalk on the wall: “The Juwes are initially considered to be another
in the south corner of Mitre Square, the men that will be blamed for hoax, a letter sent on 27 September,
a 15-minute walk from Dutfield’s written in red ink, would come to
Yard. Dr Frederick Brown attended take a particular hold on the
the scene at 2am. investigation – it claimed to come
from the killer, and promised to
Like Annie Chapman, her “clip the ladys ears off” the next
bowels were strung over her right victim. When the autopsy of
shoulder, and her legs were spread. Catherine Eddowes revealed a
This time the Ripper had used his mutilated earlobe, the police took
blade on her face, slicing off the tip the implications of the red letter
of her nose and eyelids, and carving seriously. They distributed copies
triangular incisions into her cheeks. of the letter among the public
During the autopsy, Dr Brown through handbills, hoping to get a
discovered that the left kidney and lead. The letter signed off with the
part of the womb were missing. first use of the nickname “Jack the
John Kelly identified the second Ripper”, which soon captured the
victim as his 46-year-old common- public’s imagination.

Prostitutes as victims police about the women he More clues were forthcoming.
murdered, “Green River Killer” On 16 October, a package arrived
Social stigma around sex work Gary Ridgway said, “I thought at the doorstep of George Lusk, ❯❯
often means that prostitutes I was doing you guys a favour,
have tenuous family bonds and killing prostitutes.”
poor relationships with police.
Their disappearances are not Sex workers are frequently
typically met with the same placed in vulnerable positions
outrage as those of other women. with strangers. The damaged
Their transient lifestyles mean egos of their clients, who are
they may travel from city to city often unknown quantities, can
without telling anybody, and are put prostitutes at risk. The
therefore not reported missing correlation between sex work
until it is too late. and substance addiction also
means that some are led by the
Their profession may provide desperation of their situation to
a twisted moral justification for lower their guard or take risks
killers – when speaking with they normally would not take.

272 JACK THE RIPPER

the Chairman of the Whitechapel hacked beyond recognition. At I send you half the Kidney
Vigilance Committee. It contained 1:30pm, Superintendent Arnold I took from one women …
a letter signed “From hell” and a instructed his men to forcibly tother piece I fried and ate
human organ. Examining the enter the dwelling.
organ, Dr Thomas Horrocks it was very nice.
Openshaw, a surgeon at London Upon examining the corpse’s Jack the Ripper
Hospital, concluded that it was a state of decay, doctors Thomas
human kidney preserved in spirits. Bond and George Bagster Phillips Then, as suddenly as they had
On 19 October, the Daily Telegraph both concluded that the murder had begun, the killings stopped.
reported that the kidney belonged occurred between 2 and 8am. The Although some similar subsequent
to an alcoholic female in her mid- level of mutilation was unparalleled: murders were suspected to be the
forties, but Dr Openshaw himself the victim’s skin had been stripped Ripper’s work – such as the slaying
claimed that this was impossible from her legs, her breasts and of Frances Cole in February 1891
to determine. Ultimately, most internal organs removed and – Kelly is usually considered to
of the police and surgeons arranged around her remains, and have been the final Ripper victim.
attributed the kidney to a prank her face disfigured by countless
perpetrated by medical students. gashes. Only one organ – her heart Difficult investigation
– was unaccounted for. Today, it seems inconceivable that
Final victim the Ripper would be able to elude
The last act in the Ripper’s spree Kelly’s mutilations were far the authorities for more than a few
occurred on 9 November 1888, at worse than those of the other weeks, let alone an eternity. The
13 Miller’s Court: the home of a victims, and she was considerably investigations were hampered,
25-year-old Irish prostitute named younger. While police at the time however, by a lack of evidence and
Mary Kelly. Thomas Bowyer, a rent investigated her murder as a Ripper eyewitnesses – the murders being
collector for Kelly’s landlord, John case, it has since been suggested committed so late at night in a
McCarthy, stopped by the address that Kelly was killed by someone dangerous area – and also by the
at 10:45am with orders to obtain attempting to pass off the murder interference of the press.
29 shillings in back rent from the as the Ripper’s work – perhaps
tenant. After knocking on the door even her boyfriend, Joseph Barnett. Initially, the police believed the
and receiving no answer, he peered However, Barnett was questioned “Whitechapel murders” to be the
through the makeshift curtains by police for hours after Kelly’s work of local gangs – largely due
and swiftly recoiled. Kelly’s naked death, and released without charge. to the death of Emma Smith, who
body lay sprawled across her bed, The police were yet again unable to was attacked by a gang on 3 April
find any useful clues as to the true 1888, and erroneously included in
Pioneering policing identity of Jack the Ripper. Scotland Yard’s Ripper files.

If Jack the Ripper gave birth Bond employed what is now The police investigation was
to the modern serial killer, law termed “linkage analysis”, frustrated at every turn. In
enforcement must be credited identifying signature techniques September 1888, Scotland Yard
for creating the serial killer’s to establish the likelihood that a sent in Frederick George Abberline,
arch nemesis: the criminal series of crimes were committed a policeman who had worked in
profiler. Following the murder by a single individual. Whitechapel for 14 years before
of Mary Kelly, Dr Thomas Bond, being promoted out of the area.
surgeon to the Metropolitan From the way each woman They hoped he would be able
Police’s “A” Division, submitted was lying down when they were
a report on the deaths of the murdered, each with their throat
“Canonical Five” – Nichols, cut, Bond saw the murders as
Chapman, Stride, Eddowes, and erotically motivated mutilations
Kelly – to Scotland Yard. The committed by one person. His
document has been recognized focus on the psychology of the
as being ahead of its time. killer was a big improvement on
the phrenological approaches to
criminal profiling that were
popular at the time.

SERIAL KILLERS 273

Painter Walter Sickert (left), Prince and his physician, Sir William came to cutting into his victims.
Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (centre), Gull, to psychologically tortured The image of him as a doctor or
and Sir William Gull (right) have all wretches like Polish hairdresser surgeon has persisted, however,
been suggested as suspects by modern Aaron Kosminski. Today, we are no thanks to reports of the Ripper
“Ripperologists” due to their poor alibis. closer to discovering the Ripper’s carrying a Gladstone bag, often
identity than we were in 1888. used by medical professionals.
to use his knowledge of local
criminals to get some information At the inquest into Annie Profiling the Ripper
about the killer. This was not the Chapman’s death, Dr Phillips put Modern social scientists largely
case – it is unlikely that the Ripper forward the opinion that the Ripper agree that the Ripper was a
was a known Whitechapel criminal, may have been a medical man, resident of London’s East End.
and the man worked alone. None due to the anatomical knowledge Although we may never know the
of the criminals in the area were displayed in his removal of the Ripper’s real name, advances in
able to provide any useful leads for victims’ organs. However, Dr Bond our understanding of serial killers
Abberline’s investigation. disagreed, stating after the Kelly can provide strong indications as
murder that the killer did not even to the kind of person he was.
The Ripper was also a press have a butcher’s accuracy when it
sensation. Not only did articles There is a strong likelihood that
about the murderer create more The murderer is likely to he suffered from chronic or episodic
work for the police – who had to be a quiet, inoffensive- impotence, which may have caused
deal with false leads, copycats, and or resulted from his abnormal, and
terror in the community – but looking man. violent, sexual impulses. Like his
journalists also went to extreme Dr Thomas Bond fellow “rippers” Andrei Chikatilo
lengths to investigate the murders. and Robert Napper, he was
Some followed policemen around as probably aroused by stabbing,
they investigated; others went so cutting, or mutilating his victims.
far as to dress up like prostitutes An alienated individual, it is likely
and wait for the Ripper to appear. that he struggled to form intimate
relationships – particularly with
In the more than 125 years women. These deductions may
since, countless detectives, writers, perhaps explain why the murderer
and armchair sleuths have proffered targeted prostitutes. ■
suspects from the Duke of Clarence

274

BWTHEIETDYHE’DAMDRETAHTHAENRBE

HARVEY GLATMAN, 1957–58

IN CONTEXT L ocked in a toolbox in the Photographs models
apartment of Harvey posing in bondage
LOCATION Glatman was a collection of positions
Los Angeles, California, US photographs. Some of the pictures
showed women with their hands Photographs the same
THEME bound behind their backs, eyes models as he binds and
Trophy killers wide with terror. Others showed
the same women dead, their bodies assaults them
BEFORE set in particular poses. Photographs the models
1950s Wisconsin farmer Ed
Gein, inspiration for Robert The photographs were the in positions of his
Bloch’s novel and subsequent personal signature of one of the own choosing after
Hitchcock movie Psycho, made most terrifying serial killers of strangling them
everyday items such as bowls the 1950s. They ultimately led to
out of his victims’ body parts. his conviction. to death

AFTER Teenage rapist Keeps all of the
1969 Police arrest serial killer Raised in Colorado, Harvey photos to relive
and shoe fetishist Jerome Glatman was a skinny loner with
Brudos in Oregon. He is later buck teeth. As a child, he began each stage of
sentenced to life in prison for to exhibit antisocial behaviour and the crime
murdering three women. bizarre sexual tendencies. In his
teens, he started to break into
1996 In the Ukraine, police women’s apartments, where he tied
capture Anatoly Onoprienko, them up and raped them, and then
responsible for killing 52 took pictures as mementoes.
people. Onoprienko, who
targets isolated properties and In 1945, Glatman was caught
then murders everyone inside, breaking into a house and was
keeps the underwear of his charged with burglary. While on
victims – both male and bail, he raped a woman, and served
female – as souvenirs. eight months in prison as a result.

Following his release, Glatman
moved to Albany, New York, where
he was soon convicted of a series
of muggings. He was imprisoned

SERIAL KILLERS 275

See also: Jack the Ripper 266–73 ■ Ian Brady and Myra Hindley 284–85 ■ Jeffrey Dahmer 293

Los Angeles police officers question
Glatman following his arrest for his
assault on Lorraine Vigil near Santa
Ana, Orange County. Glatman readily
confessed all his crimes.

and diagnosed as a psychopath. On 27 October 1958, a motorcycle Conviction and sentence
However, Glatman was also a cop came across Glatman Knowing that investigators would
model prisoner, and he was granted attempting to abduct a woman soon find the incriminating
parole in 1951. For the next seven named Lorraine Vigil. The officer photographs of his victims in his
years, he worked as a television saw a car pulled over at the side apartment, Glatman confessed to
repairman in Denver, Colorado. of the road. Inside the car, a man the three murders and eventually
was aiming a pistol at a woman’s led police to the toolbox containing
Photographic bait head and attempting to tie her up. the images. He was found guilty
In 1957, Glatman moved to Los The officer quickly intervened and of two counts of first-degree
Angeles. Using pseudonyms, he arrested Glatman. murder and sentenced to death.
posed as a photographer to attract On 18 September 1959, Glatman
pretty young women with the Souvenir killers was executed in the gas chamber
promise of a modelling career. at San Quentin State Prison.
Many serial killers keep
He trawled modelling agencies mementoes of their murders. Psychiatric study of Glatman’s
for victims and lured the women Often they are trophies, used desire to collect souvenirs of his
to hotel rooms, where he paid to revisit the pleasure derived victims changed how serial killings
them to pose in bondage positions from the murder. Psychiatrists are investigated in America – the
for pictures he claimed were for say the act is a twisted FBI’s Violent Crime Apprehension
publication in detective magazines. deviation of the impulse that Program was founded to look
Two of those models, Judith Dull motivates collectors of mundane for serial patterns in violent crime.
and Ruth Mercado, were bound and items, such as baseball cards, Glatman’s obsessions largely
sexually assaulted by Glatman as coins, or stamps. explained the serial nature of his
he photographed them. He then offences, and he was indeed later
strangled them, photographed their Some of the most notorious classified as a “serial killer”. ■
bodies, and dumped them in the killers have collected souvenirs.
desert. A third victim, Shirley Ann In Victorian times, Jack the A number of serial killers have,
Bridgeford, met Glatman through Ripper was alleged to keep like Glatman, photographed
a classified advertisement. human remains of his victims. their victims’ final moments.

In a bizarre twist to this
strange urge to record such
gruesome crimes, there is also a
market for “murderabilia”: items
related to murderers. These
might be the clothes worn by
murderers when they committed
their crimes, weapons that were
used, or postcards or letters sent
from jail. The online company
eBay banned the sale of
murderabilia in 2001, although
buyers and sellers are still active
on other e-commerce sites.

KILLI JUST LIKE TO

TED BUNDY, 1961–78



278 TED BUNDY

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION
Seven US states, from
Washington to Florida

THEME
College student killer

BEFORE
1966 Richard Speck receives
life imprisonment for
strangling and stabbing eight
student nurses in Chicago.

1973 Known as the Co-ed
Killer, Edmund Kemper
receives concurrent life
sentences for the murders
of at least six female students
in California, as well as
those of his own mother
and best friend.

AFTER
2004 Derrick Todd Lee is
convicted of murder after DNA
evidence links him to a string
of murders committed around
Louisiana State University.

T ed Bundy was a good- would pose as a young man in need Smooth operator Ted Bundy
looking law student. He – wearing a fake cast on his arm, (centre), in consultation with the
seemed charming and with his arm in a sling, or hobbling Assistant Public Defender Ed Harvey
bright. No one would ever take on crutches – eager for help with a (left) and a Leon County police officer,
him for a serial killer, like Charles sailboat or his schoolbooks. Once during his trial in 1979.
Manson or Dennis Nilsen. Ted’s he had lured them close to his
many victims were different, too. Volkswagen Beetle, Bundy reached residence – at night to abduct and
They were mostly pretty, white, under the car for his tyre iron and kill. He was particularly drawn to
middle-class college students, and hit them on the head. He then college girls with long, brown hair
not the vulnerable women serial bundled them into the car and parted in the middle. It was the
killers usually preyed upon. handcuffed them. style of the day, but some wondered
if he was unconsciously taking his
Ted Bundy’s 30 known victims Theatrical psychopath revenge on a girlfriend who had
did not realize they were Bundy loved the play-acting, the worn her hair that way. Perhaps,
vulnerable. They often became setup. He would also enter they speculated, she dumped him
victims because they stopped to apartments – and even a student or belittled him.
help him out in some way. Bundy

SERIAL KILLERS 279

See also: Jack the Ripper 266–73 ■ Harvey Glatman 274–75 ■ Colin Pitchfork 294–97

I don’t feel guilty for Bundy attracts sympathy by wearing a sling,
anything. I feel sorry for putting on a fake cast, or using crutches
people who feel guilt.
He asks a young woman for help gathering his
Ted Bundy books or crossing the road

Disturbed child He lures the woman to his Volkswagen car
Bundy’s family background was
complicated. He grew up in He hits the woman with a tyre iron, handcuffs her,
Philadelphia believing that his and drives her away
grandparents were his parents and
that his real mother, Eleanor, was Murders the woman and drives
his sister. her corpse to a national park
nature reserve for burial
From a very early age, Teddy –
then Theodore Robert Cowell – were sent away when Bundy was he had with his mother with two
enjoyed scaring people. His family four or five years old. They went brothers and two sisters. In an
later revealed how, as a three-year- as far west as possible, to Tacoma, attempt to tighten the family ties
old, he had delighted in placing Washington, to live with an uncle. and make Johnnie Bundy a father
large, sharp kitchen knives around Eleanor began to use her middle figure for the young Teddy, he was
his teenage aunt as she slept. name, Louise, and passed herself renamed Theodore Robert Bundy.
When his aunt awoke, she was off as a widow or a divorcée.
terrified, and her reaction thrilled However, Teddy was missing
the laughing toddler. In 1951, Eleanor met and later something – and it was more than
married a hospital cook named a father, a mother who wanted him,
Dr Dorothy Otnow Lewis, a Johnnie Bundy. Together they had or a home life devoid of violence.
psychiatrist who has researched four children. Ted now had to share Teddy was missing empathy. He
the mental makeup and motives what little emotional connection was missing an ability to form ❯❯
of serial killers and got to know
Bundy when he was on death row,
described this behaviour as
“extraordinarily bizarre” for such a
young child. It suggests Bundy may
have endured trauma at a very
young age: perhaps he experienced
abuse himself, or witnessed
extreme violence between
members of his family.

Whether it was because of the
incident with the knives, or for
other reasons, Teddy and Eleanor

280 TED BUNDY

Murder is not about lust and was never found. Bundy was only Bundy’s VW, the scene of his crimes,
it’s not about violence. It’s 14 years old when Burr vanished was later bought by Lonnie Anderson,
about possession. and always denied having anything a former Salt Lake County sheriff’s
Ted Bundy to do with her disappearance. deputy. It is now in the US National
However, detective Robert Keppel’s Museum of Crime and Punishment.
emotional bonds with his fellow claim that Bundy never revealed the
human beings. He was missing name of his first victim has fuelled Bundy’s first acknowledged murder
a conscience. speculation that he did kill the girl. was in January 1974. He was 27
A taste for murder and had graduated with a degree
Bundy’s first victim may have been There is good reason to think in psychology from the University
eight-year-old Ann Marie Burr, who that Ann was Bundy’s first victim. of Washington in Seattle two years
disappeared from her home in Ted and his mother lived with earlier. Bundy abducted 21-year-old
Tacoma, Washington, in the early family members in the Burr’s Lynda Ann Healy, a student at
morning of 31 August 1961. She neighbourhood before his mother the same university, from the
married. Bundy continued to visit basement bedroom of a house she
those relatives after they moved. shared with friends. Just over a
Although Tacoma police dismissed year later, in March 1975, her skull
the speculation about Ann Burr’s was found on Taylor Mountain,
disappearance, her parents did not. east of Seattle.
Furthermore, Dr Ronald Holmes, a
professor in the Department of After Healy’s murder, Bundy
Justice Administration at the was unstoppable. Between
University of Louisville who February 1974 and August 1975,
interviewed Bundy in prison, with brief breaks of just a few
claimed he admitted committing weeks between murders, he killed
his first murder at the age of 15. more than a dozen young women.

SERIAL KILLERS 281

Bundy’s Florida victims included
21-year-old student Margaret Bowman
(right), who was murdered in her bed,
and 12-year-old Kimberly Leach (far
right), who was abducted from school.

During this time, Bundy moved
to Utah to enrol at the University
of Utah Law School.

First arrest movie was not showing locally. DaRonch was approached by Bundy
Bundy’s first arrest came in August During a search of the vehicle, in Murray, Utah. Pretending to be a
1975. It was 3am, and he was Hayward found a torn pair of tights, police officer, Bundy claimed her
driving his VW through the a crowbar, rope, and a ski mask. car was stolen and told her to go
suburbs of Salt Lake City when a Although Bundy was calm, and with him to the station to fill out
highway patrol officer, Sgt Bob provided an explanation for having a report. DaRonch got into his
Hayward, noticed that Bundy had each of these items, a highly VW, but when she pointed out
not turned on his headlights. When suspicious Hayward booked him that Bundy was driving away from
Hayward tried to pull Bundy over, a for avoiding arrest. the police station, he became
chase through residential streets aggressive and tried to handcuff
ensued, which ended when However, it was an incident that her. As DaRonch struggled with
Hayward cornered Bundy in an had taken place the previous year Bundy, he mistakenly fixed both
abandoned petrol station. Asked by that clinched Bundy’s conviction. In cuffs around the same wrist. ❯❯
Hayward to account for his November 1974, 18-year-old Carol
movements that night, Bundy
explained that he was a Utah law
student and had lost his way after
leaving the local drive-in movie.
Dressed in a black turtleneck and
trousers, Bundy looked the part, but
Hayward knew that his claim to
have watched The Towering
Inferno was a lie, because that

Ted Bundy When Bundy’s unmarried mother, his first abandonment. In 1947,
22-year-old Eleanor Louise Cowell, Eleanor returned to collect the
found herself pregnant in 1946, baby at the insistence of her
she travelled to the Elizabeth father. They called him Teddy.
Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in
Burlington, Vermont, to give birth. For years, Bundy believed
Her father Samuel was a violent that Eleanor was his sister
and abusive man, who dominated and that his grandparents were
his wife and children. Eleanor was his parents. One of his teachers
unable to confirm the identity of later suggested that Bundy
her unborn baby’s father, and “snapped” when, at 15, he found
rumours began to circulate that out he was illegitimate. After
Samuel Cowell was the father. his mother married in 1951, her
husband, Johnnie Bundy, legally
On 24 November 1946, adopted her son. However, Ted,
Theodore Robert Cowell was unimpressed by his stepfather’s
born. Eleanor went home, leaving low intelligence, never bonded
her baby son at the facility. It was with him.

282 TED BUNDY

DaRonch escaped capture and description that Carol DaRonch had line-up, he was arrested for
went to the police. She described given of her kidnapper in Murray kidnapping and assault. Detectives
her attacker as a fairly good-looking the previous year. suspected him of murder but
man driving a VW and wearing a needed hard evidence.
smart pair of shiny shoes. A subsequent police search of
Bundy’s apartment found evidence This came when hairs from
Luckily, Detective Jerry that he had visited several of the murder victim Caryn Campbell
Thompson, who was investigating towns from which girls had were found in his car. On 30 June
the disappearances of several girls disappeared. When his car was 1976, Bundy was placed in Utah
in the area, matched the examined, strands of the girls’ hair State Prison, Colorado. In October,
appearance of the man booked by implicated Bundy further. When he was charged with Campbell’s
Hayward in Salt Lake City with the DaRonch identified Bundy in a murder and taken to Pitkin County
Courthouse in Aspen for trial.

Policeman Off-duty Escaping justice
fireman Taking advantage of his law
studies, Bundy served as his
own lawyer. During a break in
proceedings, he was granted
permission to use the court’s law
library. Left on his own, Bundy
jumped out of a library window and
made a run for Aspen Mountain.
For six days, Bundy roamed hiking
trails and campsites until police
discovered the fugitive in a stolen
car. Bundy was placed in Garfield
County jail, Colorado.

His second escape involved
months of preparation: Bundy got
hold of the prison’s floorplan and a
hacksaw from fellow prisoners, cut
through the ceiling of his cell, and
lost enough weight to squeeze
through the gap. After practising
his escape route several times,
Bundy broke out of prison on
30 December 1977. He stole cars,
hitchhiked, boarded planes, and
travelled by train to Tallahassee,
Florida, where he rented a room
near Florida State University. A
week after he arrived in town,
Bundy crept into Chi Omega

Student Student Bundy took pleasure in dressing up
“Chris “Kenneth and assuming other identities, and
Hagen” Misner” would flick through local telephone
directories for inspiration. With the aid
of various hairstyles, fake moustaches
and moles, glasses, and clothes, Bundy
developed a range of alter egos.

SERIAL KILLERS 283

During Bundy’s trial, Nita Jane
Neary said she saw Bundy leaving the
Chi Omega sorority house at Florida
State University on the morning two
students were murdered.

sorority house late one night and Carole Boone, and became a father Several appeals for new trials and
attacked four young women, killing – they reportedly bribed a guard to for a stay of execution were denied.
two of them. He then attacked a look the other way. He “consulted” In his last days on death row,
fifth woman in a nearby apartment. with police about other serial Bundy confessed to 36 murders
killers, and cooperated with authors that he was suspected of, and gave
A couple of weeks later, Bundy writing about him. details of others that had not
abducted 12-year-old Kimberly previously been associated with
Diane Leach from in front of her Interviews with killers him, linking him to some 50
school. Her body was later found murders in all. However, a court-
in a pigsty. Within a week of her Scientists researching criminal appointed psychiatrist put the
disappearance, Bundy was arrested pathologies, investigators number of victims at around 100,
for driving a stolen vehicle. hoping for a lead, and journalists and Bundy himself told Dr Ronald
Witnesses placed him at the sorority out for a sensational scoop have Holmes that he had committed 300
house and at Kimberly’s school. all been granted permission murders across 10 states. Bundy
There was also physical evidence to conduct interviews with offered to give more details about
that linked him to the murders. serial killers in prison. As a other missing women if his
Convicted of all three murders, consequence, hundreds of execution was postponed for a
Bundy was sentenced to death. hours of interview footage few months, but Florida Governor
exists, much of it now available Bob Martinez refused to “negotiate
Death row on the internet. with a killer”.
For nine years and six months
Bundy corresponded from Florida’s However, the study of these On the evening of 24 January
death row with dozens of people, interviews does not necessarily 1989, 42-year-old Ted Bundy died
including Beverly Burr, the mother offer many insights into the in the electric chair. The answer to
of Ann. He married a loyal friend, mind of a serial killer. Given why he killed so many women may
be deduced from one of the last
explanations that he gave: “I just
liked to kill. I wanted to kill.” ■

a chance to present themselves
and their behaviour to the public
outside the prison walls, serial
killers are theatrical, often
playing up to the interviewers’
desire to gain an understanding
of their subjects and to be
shocked by them. From Ted
Bundy’s cold pretence of
remorse, to Charles Manson’s
wilfully insane diatribes, and
Jeffrey Dahmer’s astonishingly
candid responses, the
performances of these men
make a convincing psychological
portrait of a serial killer seem
increasingly elusive.

284

CALCULATED, CRUEL,
COLD-BLOODED
MURDERS

IAN BRADY AND MYRA HINDLEY, 1963–65

IN CONTEXT O n 12 July 1963, 16-year-old I would always be covered in
Pauline Reade was on her bruises and bite marks.
LOCATION way to a dance near He threatened to kill my
Saddleworth Moor, near Manchester in northwest England, family. He dominated
Manchester, UK when killer Myra Hindley pulled me completely.
over in her car and convinced the Myra Hindley
THEME teenager to get in.
Toxic relationships
Hindley, 21, drove the girl to a
BEFORE nearby rural area, with her boyfriend
29 January 1958 Teenagers Ian Brady following closely behind
Charles Starkweather and Caril on his motorcycle. Brady then raped,
Ann Fugate are arrested after tortured, and sexually abused
a 60-day road trip across the Reade, before slitting her throat and
American Midwest, during burying her body in the bogs of
which they kill 11 people. Saddleworth Moor.
Fugate, aged 14 at the time of
the spree, later claims to have Monstrous obsession to procure vulnerable children for
been Starkweather’s hostage. Reade was the couple’s first victim him to assault sexually, torture,
– but she would not be their last. and strangle.
AFTER Between 1963 and 1965, Brady and
17 February 1993 Canadian Hindley abducted, abused, Months after Pauline Reade’s
rapist and killer Paul Bernardo tortured, and killed four more murder, on a Saturday afternoon in
is sentenced to life in prison. children in a case known as the November 1963, the pair abducted
His wife, Karla Homolka, Moors Murders. Four of their 12-year-old John Kilbride. Brady
participates in the murders, victims were discovered buried raped him and then strangled the
but strikes a deal with the on Saddleworth Moor. One of them boy with a string.
police for a reduced sentence. has never been found.
Now jointly revelling in Brady’s
Myra Hindley was 18 years old depravity, the couple abducted
in 1961, when she began to date their next victim, 12-year-old Keith
Ian Brady. He was 22. Despite Bennett, while the boy was on his
regularly being dominated and way to visit his grandmother in
abused by her boyfriend, Hindley Manchester. On 16 June 1964,
became obsessed with him. In an Brady and Hindley drove Bennett to
attempt to please Brady, she began Saddleworth Moor and buried him.

SERIAL KILLERS 285

See also: Ted Bundy 276–83 ■ Fred and Rosemary West 286–87 ■ Colin Pitchfork 294–97

These iconic images of Ian Brady
and Myra Hindley were taken during
their trial for multiple murders in April
1966. Their volatile relationship was
behind the deaths of five children.

Despite extensive and systematic Smith, hoping to involve him in the pornographic photos and audio
searches of the moor, his body murders. Brady then bludgeoned recording of Downey, along with
remains undiscovered. Evans with an axe, while Smith a large collection of pictures that
watched in horror. He helped Brady were taken on Saddleworth Moor.
On 26 December, Brady and and Hindley to clean up, then ran As many as 150 police officers were
Hindley visited a fairground, where home to his wife. The Smiths called assigned to conduct an extensive
they approached 10-year-old Lesley the police from a phone box, and search of the moor. There, they
Ann Downey and asked her to led them to Evans’s body. discovered the bodies of Lesley
carry some packages. They Ann Downey and John Kilbride.
abducted Downey, bound her with Both Brady and Hindley were
rope, and forced her to pose for arrested. During the search of the In 1966, Ian Brady and Myra
pornographic photographs. The couple’s home, police found the Hindley were both found guilty
pair also made a 13-minute audio of three murders. Following their
recording of Downey screaming conviction, they also confessed
and pleading for her life. She was to the murders of Pauline Reade
then strangled and buried. and Keith Bennett.

Admission and downfall Aftermath
By then, Brady had grown arrogant In 1987, after a 100-day-long search,
and confided his murderous secrets Pauline Reade’s decomposed body
to David Smith, Hindley’s 17-year- was found buried in a shallow grave
old brother-in-law. In October 1965, on the moors. One of her killers,
after luring engineering student Myra Hindley, died in prison on
Edward Evans, also 17, to their 15 November 2002, at the age of 60.
home, Brady sent Hindley to fetch In 1985, Ian Brady was declared
criminally insane and confined to
Serial killers in abusive relationships a high-security hospital. He claims
that he has no desire to be released
Throughout history, women dominant partner will attempt and has repeatedly asked to be
with no previous criminal past to control their victim, while allowed to die. ■
have participated in gruesome denying them of the right to
crimes with their boyfriends and make their own decisions.
husbands. In some of these
cases, the women later claimed Whether this was the case
that they were dominated and with Myra Hindley is fiercely
manipulated by their partners. debated. The victims’ families
contend that she was a willing
In an abusive relationship, participant in the murders.
a manipulative partner may However, in several interviews
attempt to isolate their lover Hindley claimed that she did
and destroy their self-esteem. In not have a compulsion to kill
some situations, this could lead and that she was emotionally
to physical, emotional, verbal, manipulated and physically
mental, and sexual abuse. The abused by Ian Brady.

286

CMTHAONARNEEWXTPEORRRERDSISBSLE

FRED AND ROSEMARY WEST, 1971–87

IN CONTEXT Pick up female Invite friends Turn on
hitchhikers in and prostitutes their own
LOCATION to their house children
Gloucester, UK their car
for parties
THEME
Killer couples Trap victims in their house for extended sessions
of sexual torture and abuse
BEFORE
1890–93 Australian couple Kill victims if they threaten to leave the house
John and Sarah Jane Makin or report the Wests’ crimes
run an orphanage at their
home. They take payments Dismember victims’ bodies and bury them in
from unwed mothers, but kill their garden and local fields
the babies in their care and
bury them on their property. I n October 1972, 17-year-old by invitations to join the couple’s
Caroline Owens met Fred and “sex circle”, Owens quit her job and
AFTER Rosemary West while she was left the Wests’ house within weeks.
1986–89 An elderly couple, hitchhiking out of Gloucester. The
Faye and Ray Copeland, kill Wests picked her up in their grey In December, the Wests saw
drifters whom they hire to Ford Poplar, got chatting, and soon Owens walking alone again. They
work as farmhands on their offered her a job as a nanny for their asked her to come home with them
Missouri ranch. children. Owens moved in the next for a cup of tea, to apologize for
day. However, profoundly disturbed their earlier indiscretion. Owens
January–February 1987 accepted. The couple then
Michigan couple Gwendolyn
Graham and Cathy Wood kill
five elderly women in the
nursing home where they both
work. They perform necrophilic
acts on their victims.

SERIAL KILLERS 287

See also: Ted Bundy 276–83 ■ Ian Brady and Myra Hindley 284–85 ■ Colin Pitchfork 294–97

subjected her to a horrifying
12-hour ordeal in which they bound
and raped the 17-year-old. After
the assault, Owens broke down in
tears. This had some effect on Fred
West, who said that she could
leave, provided she promised to
return and continue working as
their nanny.

Traumatized, Caroline Owens
fled back to her mother’s house
and called the police. However,
Owens was too ashamed to report
the rape, and so in 1973, the Wests
were charged at Gloucester
Magistrates Court with the lesser
offence of indecent assault, fined
£100, and released.

Continuing nightmare abuse and a missing girl. They An artist’s impression of Fred
This initial case merely hinted at searched the house and removed and Rosemary West at Gloucester
the criminal depravity that went five children from the home, placing Magistrates Court on 30 June 1994.
unnoticed inside the Wests’ home them in foster care. Fred was charged with 12 murders, but
at Cromwell Street, Gloucester, Rosemary was only charged with 10.
for almost 20 years. The couple However, another year elapsed
“harvested” their victims by hiring before social workers called police what they had done to Charmaine.
teenage girls as nannies, renting to report comments from the Fred and Rosemary’s daughter
rooms to young women, and rescued children about 16-year-old Heather suffered a lifetime of
abusing their own children. Heather West – daughter of Fred molestation and beatings and was
and Rosemary. During the search eventually murdered in June 1987
In the summer of 1992, social of the house the children indicated by Rosemary, in her husband’s
workers and police officers once that Heather was “under the patio”. absence, after a “blazing row”.
again visited the Wests’ home, This began what became the
alerted by reports of both child investigation of Britain’s most In total, nine bodies were found
notorious killers. buried at 25 Cromwell Street. One
I met Rose at sixteen more was discovered at the Wests’
and trained her to Police excavated the garden at previous home in Gloucester, and
what I wanted. 25 Cromwell Street and discovered two others were buried nearby in
Fred West not only the remains of Heather and a remote field. The couple were
Fred West’s eight-year-old daughter accused of collectively killing
Charmaine, but also the skeleton 12 people in the span of 20 years.
of Charmaine’s mother, Catherine
Costello. Charmaine is believed to Fred West confessed his guilt,
have been the Wests’ first victim, but used a blanket in his cell to
killed by Rosemary in 1971 in order asphyxiate himself, 10 months before
to sever links with Costello, who his trial. Rosemary maintained her
was Fred’s first wife. Costello was innocence, but she was eventually
subsequently killed by the couple convicted of 10 murders, and
when they feared she suspected sentenced to life imprsonment. ■

288

TTSHHPIEESAZKIOSIDNIGAC

THE ZODIAC KILLER, 1968–69

IN CONTEXT T he 4 July 1969 should have find kids in a brown car. They were
been a wonderful night for shot with a 9-mm Luger. I also killed
LOCATION Michael Mageau. Fireworks those kids last year. Goodbye.”
San Francisco, California, were exploding over San Francisco
US Bay, and he had a date with Coded messages
beautiful 22-year-old Darlene Ferrin. On 31 July letters and coded
THEME The two were sitting in Darlene’s messages arrived at the San
Expressive/transformative car at Blue Rock Springs in Vallejo, Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco
serial homicide when a vehicle pulled up. The driver Examiner, and Vallejo Times-
got out, shone a torch into their car, Herald. They contained a sinister
BEFORE and began to fire a pistol at them. threat: if the ciphers did not appear
1945–46 William Heirens, Ferrin died but Mageau survived. on the newspapers’ front pages by
the so-called “Lipstick Killer”, Soon after, a man phoned the Vallejo the following afternoon, the author
leaves messages in lipstick police department saying, “I want to would go on a killing rampage. The
at the scenes of his crimes report a murder. If you will go 1 mile letters claimed responsibility for
in Chicago. east on Columbus Parkway, you will Ferrin’s murder and another double

AFTER Expressive/transformative violence
1976–77 Serial killer David
Berkowitz leaves handwritten Drawing upon social psychology, of identity. He seeks to unite his
letters signed “Son of Sam” criminologist Lee Mellor’s fragmented personality in the
near the bodies of his victims expressive/transformative guise of a murderer, even going
in the Bronx, New York. theory of violence proposes that so far as to wear a costume and
offenders who communicate use a moniker such as “Zodiac”.
1990–93 Heriberto Seda, with the police – whether In his sample of 10 expressive/
a copycat Zodiac Killer, kills through sending letters, leaving transformative offenders, Mellor
three people in New York. messages at a crime scene, or by found that 90 per cent were
symbolically posing a victim’s single at the time of their
body – are engaged in a process offences, and that a majority
of identity negotiation. Due to felt that they had never really
social inadequacies, the offender grown up, were unstable in
cannot establish an acceptable their masculinity and vocation,
sense of self and therefore and obsessed with police and/or
suffers from a perpetual crisis military culture.

SERIAL KILLERS 289

See also: The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping 178–85 ■ The Black Dahlia Murder 218–23 ■ Ted Bundy 276–83

homicide committed in Vallejo in San Francisco police circulated this Prime suspect
December 1968, which had an composite of the “Zodiac” killer based Of all the names to surface in the
identical modus operandi. on the accounts of three witnesses hunt for the killer, that of Arthur
interviewed shortly after the murder of Leigh Allen has been the most
After some hesitation, the papers Paul Stine in October 1969. mentioned. When questioned in
printed their portions of the cipher. 1969, Allen admitted that his mother
A second letter arrived at the Herald The final murder definitively linked had recently given him a Zodiac
on 4 August, in which the author to the Zodiac occurred in San brand watch, featuring a crossed
referred to himself as “the Zodiac”. Francisco on 11 October 1969. That circle symbol. A friend of Allen’s
night, cabbie Paul Stine was shot in claimed that after he received the
Fatal finale the head by a passenger with a watch, Allen mentioned a desire to
By 8 August 1969, a couple living in pistol. The killer ripped away a murder random couples and taunt
Salinas decoded the 408 symbol bloodstained section of Stine’s shirt, police with letters signed with the
cryptogram, in which the author stole his wallet and keys, and wiped Zodiac symbol. Allen lived within
said that he hunted people. The the car down. He was spotted by minutes of the 1968–69 murders and
Zodiac described killing as a three witnesses, but their differing owned the same ammunition that
thrilling experience and claimed accounts of his appearance and was used in the 1968 attack.
that after his death, the victims colour ensured that he was never
would be his slaves in the afterlife. arrested. Although police recovered In 2002, 10 years after his death,
a bloody fingerprint and black gloves Allen’s DNA was compared to a
On the afternoon of 27 August, from the taxi, the killer remained saliva sample taken from a Zodiac
Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard unidentified. The killer sent a letter envelope. They did not match, so he
were relaxing at Lake Berryessa in to the Chronicle two days later with was excluded by police. However, it
Napa when they were approached a bloody piece of Stine’s shirt. The later emerged that Allen asked
by a gunman in a strange black letters continued until 1978, but the others to lick envelopes for him,
mask and costume. He bound Zodiac killer was never caught. because he claimed that the taste
them with rope and stabbed them made him feel nauseous. ■
repeatedly. Hartnell survived to
recount the details but Shepard The case against Arthur Leigh Allen
died. Before leaving, the killer drew
the Zodiac symbol on their car door. Was given a Zodiac Told friends he would
brand wristwatch by his like to murder random
mother, which featured the couples and taunt police
cross-in-the-circle symbol
with coded letters

Lived only a few Owned the same brand
minutes from the of ammunition as those
scenes of the crimes
used by the Zodiac

290

IMWNEAHDSIISCSAOOLMWGENOSEDOYRETS,OHFE

HAROLD SHIPMAN, 1975–98

IN CONTEXT M arried since the age of in Shipman’s care chose cremation
20, and a father of four, for their end, a funeral parlour
LOCATION Dr Harold Shipman was employee voiced her suspicions to
Hyde, near Manchester, UK seen as a kindly doctor. There had Dr Linda Reynolds of Brooke Surgery
been a blip in 1975 when he was in Hyde, who in turn passed them
THEME caught forging prescriptions to sate on to the South Manchester District
Medical homicides his pethidine addiction, but after coroner. However, after a cursory
he paid the £600 fine and went to check, the police found no evidence
BEFORE rehab, his indiscretion soon passed of any wrongdoing.
1881–92 Dr Thomas Neill out of memory.
Cream, a Scottish-Canadian Flawed reputation
medical practitioner, poisons Nevertheless, the frequency with John Shaw was a cabbie who
multiple US and British women which his patients died suddenly and regularly drove Shipman’s patients
with chloroform. unexpectedly did not entirely escape to his surgery in Hyde, and became
notice. Observing that an unusually friends with many of them. In March
1895–1901 Jane Toppan, high number of female senior citizens 1995, the sudden death of Netta
a Massachusetts nurse, poisons Ashcroft left Shaw feeling that
at least 30 victims, including something was amiss. Well aware of
her patients and family. the doctor’s good reputation in the
community and convinced that the
1970–82 “Angel of Death” police would not believe him, Shaw
Donald Harvey murders maintained a tortured silence as
between 37 and 57 patients more and more of Shipman’s patients
in various hospitals, using an died. It was not until August 1998
extensive range of methods. that Shaw was convinced that
Shipman had murdered 21 of his
AFTER patients – and finally voiced his
1988–2003 Charles Cullen concerns to the police.
kills 40 patients during his
time as a nurse in New Jersey. The harmless looks of Dr Harold
Shipman in this police mugshot taken
2001–02 Colin Norris, a male at the time of his arrest belie the reality
nurse, kills many of his elderly of his terrible crimes. The doctor’s
patients in Glasgow, Scotland. activities went unnoticed for years.

SERIAL KILLERS 291

See also: Burke and Hare 22–23 ■ John Edward Robinson 298–99 ■ The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko 326–31

By that time, Shipman had already found in her system. Shipman, He simply… enjoyed
slipped up. On 24 June 1998, who had listed her cause of death the feeling of control over
81-year-old Kathleen Grundy, the as “old age”, was arrested on
wealthy former mayor of Hyde, was 7 September. A typewriter of the life and death.
discovered dead in her home. When same make used to forge Grundy’s Coroner John Pollard
Grundy’s daughter, solicitor Angela will was recovered from Shipman’s
Woodruff, read the will – which surgery, and his fingerprints were A fellow prisoner explained that
declared that all Grundy’s wealth found all over the document. Shipman had recently received a
was to be given to her doctor, Harold letter from his entirely supportive
Shipman, instead of to her family – Arrogance and denial wife Primrose, asking him to tell
she alerted the authorities to the Following these revelations, police her “everything, no matter what.”
forgery. Grundy’s body was brought charges against Shipman
exhumed and traces of diamorphine, for the murder of 15 other female The notion that Shipman was
an opioid used for pain relief, were patients. On 31 January 2000, he addicted to holding power over life
was convicted on all counts. Rather and death has largely been
Shipman visits his than obtaining £386,000 from accepted as his motive, because
patients at their home Kathleen Grundy’s will, Shipman his clumsy attempt at financial
received 15 concurrent life benefit actually precipitated his
Injects patients with a sentences. In a subsequent downfall. However, of the 100 items
lethal dose of heroin enquiry, he was found responsible of her jewellery seized by police,
for a minimum of 218 deaths. The Primrose could only prove that 66
real number may exceed 250. items belonged to her. ■

Despite overwhelming evidence
of his guilt, Shipman refused to
confess. He turned his back on
police interviewers throughout
hours of extensive interrogation.

However, one day before his
58th birthday, Shipman hanged
himself from his cell window.

Victimization of the elderly

Provides fake causes of In 2006, British criminologist pensioners often occupy
death and advocates David Wilson pointed out that dwellings that are easy to break
cremations the elderly represent a large into in places where there is
part of the victim demographic often little sense of community.
Murders at least in the UK. The figure, however, Deaths of the aged are also more
218 patients before was vastly inflated by Harold likely to be attributed to natural
Shipman’s many killings. causes than those of other
he is caught by citizens and they are therefore
the authorities Wilson noted that the old – less likely to be investigated.
particularly those estranged
from their family or without one It is notable that the vast
– often endure invisible lives in majority of Shipman’s victims
which weeks or months might were working or lower-middle
pass without anybody checking class men and women. Only the
on them. Due to inadequate death of a wealthy, high-profile
social services, impoverished citizen finally aroused suspicion.

292

AOFMNISATTAUKREE

ANDREI CHIKATILO, 1978–90

IN CONTEXT T he official party line was Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo,
that there were no serial during court hearings in 1993, which
LOCATION killers in the USSR – but revealed the full horror of his 52 brutal
Union of Soviet Socialist from early 1983, when the mutilated killings to a stunned Russian public.
Republics (USSR) bodies of numerous young women
and children were found in the When a young woman’s body
THEME wilderness around Rostov-on-Don, was found in the same woods,
Serial mutilators the authorities were forced to Chikatilo’s name resurfaced. He
reassess. The wound patterns were was arrested and a sample of his
BEFORE so striking that police were forced semen taken. It was discovered to
1944 Los Angeles resident to admit that a single predator was be type AB – Chikatilo was a rare
Otto Wilson kills and responsible for at least six murders. individual whose blood type
eviscerates prostitutes to differed from that of his semen.
satisfy a perverse erotic desire. Following extensive surveillance, Chikatilo confessed and was
a detective arrested Andrei executed in February 1994. ■
AFTER Chikatilo. He was carrying a knife
1985–99 Peter Dupas murders and rope, and resembled a man
at least three women in suspected of murder. They obtained
Melbourne, Australia. He a sample of his blood, but it was
removes the breasts from his found to be Type A; the killer’s
victims as souvenirs. semen indicated a blood type of AB,
so Chikatilo was released.
1992–93 Robert Napper
sexually attacks dozens of In 1990, a spike in the killings
women in southeast London, encouraged the police to step up
and kills three of them. He their activity. On 6 November,
keeps body parts from his Chikatilo was spotted leaving the
victims as trophies. woods near Donleskhoz station. His
knees and elbows were stained and
his cheeks smeared red. The
undercover officer looked over his
earlier papers and filed a report.

See also: Jack the Ripper 266–73 ■ Ted Bundy 276–83 ■ Colin Pitchfork 294–97

SERIAL KILLERS 293

IOBWROTAEHSVISL,ICOKR

JEFFREY DAHMER, 1978–91

IN CONTEXT J ust before midnight on Dahmer also admitted that he had
22 July 1991, a distraught experimented with cannibalism, by
LOCATION young man with a handcuff eating the body parts of his victims.
Ohio and Wisconsin dangling from his wrist approached
two Milwaukee police officers. He Trial and death
THEME said that some “freak” had tried to Dahmer’s trial began on 30 January
Necrophilic killings restrain him. The three men headed 1992. The purpose of the trial was to
back to the aggressor’s apartment. determine whether or not he was
BEFORE They were greeted at the door by criminally responsible for his actions.
1947–52 Ed Gein steals the tenant, Jeffrey Dahmer. Despite persuasive arguments from
bodies from cemeteries in both sides, he was declared sane,
Wisconsin and makes Dahmer tried to talk his way out and received 15 life sentences. He
keepsakes from the remains. of the situation, but the appalling was beaten to death with a metal bar
stench of death gave him away. In by a fellow prison inmate Christopher
1964–73 Edmund Kemper Dahmer’s bedroom, an officer found Scarver on 28 November 1994. ■
embarks on a crazed spree Polaroid photos of nude male bodies
of necrophilia, serial killing, in varying stages of dismemberment. I acted on my fantasies
and cannibalism in his The background in the photos and… everything
native California. indicated that they had been taken went wrong.
in the very same room. Dahmer Jeffrey Dahmer
1978–83 Dennis Nilsen was immediately arrested. The
strangles and kills around police then searched his apartment
12 men at his home in London, and discovered boxes, a 215-litre
England. He stores some of the (57-gallon) drum, a freezer, and a
bodies under the floorboards. fridge filled with human body parts.
Several painted skulls and a human
AFTER skeleton hung from his showerhead.
1994–2004 Sean Gillis rapes
and murders eight women in Back at the police station,
Louisiana. He is unable to Dahmer confessed to the murders of
account for the brutality of 17 young men, and engaging in
his mutilations. necrophilic acts with their corpses.

See also: Jack the Ripper 266–73 ■ Ted Bundy 276–83

294 IN CONTEXT

AWTODOAYMONEUGNNERG LOCATION
Leicestershire, UK
COLIN PITCHFORK, 1983–86
THEME
DNA convictions

BEFORE
1968–72 Samuel P. Evans
of Seattle is convicted for two
murders 39 years after the
crimes were committed, in the
oldest cases ever solved using
DNA evidence.

AFTER
1987 Serial rapist Tommie Lee
Andrews is the first criminal
in the US to be convicted as
a result of DNA evidence.

1988 Virginian Timothy
Wilson Spencer becomes the
first US murderer convicted as
a result of DNA testing.

2003 Steven Avery of
Wisconsin is exonerated by
DNA evidence, and released
after 18 years in prison.

O n 2 August 1986, the
small English village of
Narborough was shaken
by the discovery of the body of a
15-year-old girl. Dawn Ashworth
had vanished two days earlier on
her way home from a friend’s house.
She had been assaulted, raped, and
strangled to death. Her body was
found in a field near the footpath
she had taken. Forensic analysis
was able to identify a semen
sample, which proved that the
criminal was a male with type A
blood and a rare enzyme profile.

Three years before Dawn’s
murder, on 21 November 1983,
Lynda Mann’s body had also been
found on a Narborough footpath.

See also: The Stratton Brothers 212–15 ■ Kirk Bloodsworth 242–43 SERIAL KILLERS 295
■ Harvey Glatman 274–75
DNA and forensic
Like Dawn Ashworth, she was 15 Colin Pitchfork, depicted by a court evidence
years old and a victim of assault, artist, appeals against the length of
rape, and strangulation. Police had his sentence at the Court of Appeal Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
never solved the crime, but a semen in London in May 2009. His 30-year is a molecule that stores and
sample taken at the time matched sentence was commuted by two years. carries all our biological
the blood type and enzyme profile information. Every individual
of Dawn Ashworth’s killer. Genetic fingerprinting has a different pattern. In
Local police contacted the 1981, Professor Alec Jeffreys,
The similarities between the geneticist Dr Alec Jeffreys about the a British geneticist from the
circumstances of the girls’ deaths, murders of the two girls. They hoped University of Leicester, was
as well as this genetic link, led to use his recently discovered studying hereditary diseases
police investigating the murder “genetic fingerprinting” technique in families when he discovered
of Dawn Ashworth to believe that to further their investigations. They the technique for genetic
both crimes were committed by had a suspect in custody, 17-year old fingerprinting – a crucial way
the same man. Headlines in local Richard Buckland, who had learning for modern criminologists to
newspapers reflected the villagers’ disabilities. Buckland’s confession identify individuals from
fear that it was only a matter of confused the police. He admitted to forensic evidence.
time until the murderer claimed his committing the first murder, but not
third victim: “If we don’t catch him, the second. However, at the time ❯❯ Nazi war criminal Josef
it could be your daughter next.” Mengele (pictured below) fled
to South America at the end of
World War II. He died in 1979,
aged 67, when he had a
swimming accident in Brazil.
However, repeated sightings
of Mengele reported around
the world led to doubts about
his death, and calls that he
be brought to justice for his
crimes. It was only when
Jeffreys compared DNA from
a thigh bone of Mengele’s
exhumed skeleton with DNA
from his son, Rolf, that the
so-called “Angel of Death”
could be conclusively
confirmed as deceased.

296 COLIN PITCHFORK

of Lynda Mann’s murder, Buckland that he had been with his son, and I have no doubt whatsoever
was just 14 years old. Of course, was released from further that Buckland would
the police realized that children questioning. As one of the 5,000
sometimes kill other children – men tested by the police, Pitchfork have been found guilty had it
however, they delayed charging gave a DNA sample. This sample, not been for DNA evidence.
Buckland until they learned more like many others, did not match the Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys
about the second murder. Could it killer’s. However, months after all
be the work of a copycat? the DNA had been checked, a victims. It was a perfect match.
colleague of Pitchfork’s named Ian Instead of going to trial, Pitchfork
Dr Jeffreys compared the genetic Kelly was overheard bragging pleaded guilty to both rapes and
profiles of the semen samples from during a drunken conversation at a murders. His claim to have been
both murders against that of a blood local pub. Kelly claimed that he had with his son on the night of Lynda
sample from Buckland. This proved taken the DNA test on Colin Mann’s murder was true – but he
conclusively that both girls were Pitchfork’s behalf. had left his son in the car while
killed by the same man – and that he committed the crime.
man was not Buckland, who was Kelly was asked to take the
released. The police launched a test as a favour to Pitchfork, who Evolution of a killer
manhunt, asking 5,000 men in three falsely claimed to have taken it After interviewing Kelly, the police
surrounding towns to give a sample already in the name of a friend and judge said that his immense
of their blood or saliva. Jeffreys was who had a conviction for indecent gullibility made it “just about”
amazed at the trust the police put exposure. Kelly accepted the illegal possible to believe that Kelly was
in him, and in the new science of invitation. Pitchfork doctored his taken in by Pitchfork’s lie. When
DNA fingerprinting. It took six passport to allow Kelly to enter Pitchfork was eventually convicted,
months to process the 5,000 one of the testing stations using he would receive an additional
samples. No match was found. Pitchfork’s identity. charge for perverting the course
of justice by manipulating Kelly.
The course of justice After six weeks, a woman who
Local man Colin Pitchfork, a baker, overheard the conversation in the During questioning, Pitchfork
had previously been questioned by pub went to the police. As a result revealed his development from
the police about his whereabouts of her evidence, Pitchfork was flasher to killer. He relished the
on the night that Lynda Mann was immediately arrested. Dr Jeffreys fact that he had exposed himself
killed. He truthfully informed them compared Pitchfork’s DNA with to hundreds of women and girls,
that of the semen found on the two a compulsion that began in his
early teens. Pitchfork had no
problem describing some of the
girls he exposed himself to in
order for the police to verify his

British geneticist Professor Sir Alec
Jeffreys studies DNA codes in his
laboratory at Leicester University.
His groundbreaking technique has
transformed criminal investigations.

SERIAL KILLERS 297

The key steps involved in
“DNA fingerprinting”, which
starts with a cheek swab or
saliva sample.

1. A DNA sample is taken. 2. DNA is 3. DNA fragments 4. The DNA
extracted from are separated into band pattern is
the sample. bands in an transferred to a
agarose gel. nylon membrane.

9. The X-ray film is 5. A radioactive
developed to create a DNA probe is
visible “DNA fingerprint”. prepared.

8. X-ray film is laid 7. Excess DNA is washed off and 6. The DNA probe
over the membrane the radioactive probe is bound to sticks to specific
to detect the the DNA pattern. DNA sequences on
radioactive pattern. the membrane.

claims. Two further counts of Colin Pitchfork was the world’s first unimpressed by such behaviour.
sexual assault were brought killer to be convicted of murder “Life should mean life,” said the
against Pitchfork as a result of his based on DNA fingerprinting. mother of one of the girls.
willingness to provide details of He was sentenced to life in prison,
his crimes. with a minimum term of 30 years. Pitchfork’s sentence was reduced
It was evident from the trial that to 28 years, with the caveat that
Pitchfork revealed that soon Pitchfork was compulsively violent “the safety of the public is assured.”
after he started flashing girls, he towards women. There was every Whilst in prison, he also became an
also began to follow them. The chance that he would murder artist. One of the sculptures he
rapes of Lynda Mann and Dawn again, given the opportunity. produced was exhibited at the
Ashworth insidiously developed Royal Festival Hall in London in
out of this tendency – the result Appeal for clemency April 2009. Entitled Bringing the
of pure opportunism as Pitchfork In 2009, Pitchfork appealed his Music to Life, it depicted a
spotted them in a secluded area. sentence. The court heard how well miniature orchestra and choir, made
The state of the teenagers’ bodies Pitchfork had adapted to prison life. in meticulous detail by folding and
indicated that Pitchfork had He had spent his time training to tearing the score of Beethoven’s
beaten them before he strangled transcribe printed music into Braille Ninth Symphony. It was sold for
them to death. and promised to help the blind when £600. However, when British
he was released. He had studied and newspapers heard about it, the
During questioning, Pitchfork become well educated, had never public was outraged and the
was totally unwilling to accept the been in trouble while in custody, sculpture was removed from display.
violent brutality of his behaviour, and was trusted to help fellow
and exhibited a psychopathic lack inmates adapt to prison life. His In 2016, 30 years after Dawn
of distress. Pitchfork claimed that victims’ families, however, were Ashworth’s murder, Pitchfork was
he strangled both of his victims denied parole. He was, however,
purely to protect his identity. moved to an open prison. ■

298

LTREHETEA’DSPOTYAOSLUSKIRBAAILBDIO.TUIETS

JOHN EDWARD ROBINSON, 1984–99

IN CONTEXT I n 1984, 19-year-old Paula John Edward Robinson used
Godfrey accepted an offer to online forums for BDSM – bondage and
LOCATION work as a sales representative discipline, dominance and submission,
Kansas and Missouri, US for Equi-II. The balding founder sadism and masochism – in order to
of the company, John Edward select his murder victims.
THEME Robinson, arrived at the Godfreys’
Classified ad killers home on 1 September to pick Paula In 1987, Robinson struck again.
up for training in San Antonio, After answering a newspaper job
BEFORE Texas. Two days later, a handwritten advertisement, Catherine Clampitt,
1900−08 Belle Gunness kills letter, allegedly from Paula, was 27, left her child behind in Texas
dozens of the suitors she meets delivered to her parents. It stated and moved to Kansas City. Her
through classified ads. that she was safe, but her father, family never saw her again.
suspicious, went to the police. She
1947−49 Martha Beck and was put on the missing persons’ From 1987 to 1993, Robinson
Raymond Fernandez, known list, until a second letter, also from served time for a number of fraud
as the “Lonely Hearts Killers”, “Paula”, arrived at the police convictions. At Western Missouri
meet their victims through department. This letter claimed Correctional Facility, Robinson
classified lonely heart ads. that she did not wish to see her befriended prison librarian Beverly
family and, believing the letter to be
AFTER genuine, police dropped the case.
2005 In Osaka, Japan,
Hiroshi Maeue seeks sexual Three more victims
gratification by strangling That same year, Robinson accepted
three people that he meets $2,000 (about £3,300 today) to
via an online suicide club. He arrange an adoption for his childless
receives the death sentence. brother. Posing as “John Osborne”,
he lured 19-year-old Lisa Stasi and
2011 Preacher Richard Beasley her baby, Tiffany, to a motel on
and his 16-year-old accomplice 10 January 1985. The following day,
Brogan Rafferty kill three Robinson met his brother and sister-
middle-aged men, that Beasley in-law at the airport and handed
lures into the Ohio wilderness the baby over to them along with
with a Craigslist ad for a job a set of forged adoption papers.
on a cattle ranch. Lisa Stasi simply disappeared.