Historic Crimes

San Francisco's Zebra Murders

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 26 Dec 2017 22:29:00 +0000

Art Agnos, San Francisco Mayor
targeted by Zebra Killers

The Zebra Murders were a series of racially motivated yet seemingly random murders and attacks that took place in San Francisco in 1973 and 1974.. The perpetrators of these murders and violent attacks were dubbed the "Zebra Killers."

The San Francisco press originated the term Zebra Killers/Murders. The name stuck, and even the police picked it up, using channel Z on their radios strictly for the Zebra case. The designation may have had something to do with the fact that the killings appeared to be committed by black people against white people.

The first known Zebra Murder took place on October 19, 1973. A young married couple, Quita and Richard Hague, were out walking in San Francisco when two young, well-dressed black men assaulted them. They were forced into a white van. Quita was sexually assaulted and then stabbed in the neck several times with a machete. Her head was nearly severed. After watching his wife be murdered, Richard was tortured and left for dead. He was found stumbling in the streets of San Francisco. The skin on his skull was hanging off in strips, such was the ferocity of the attack against him.

At this point, the police knew that a horrific crime had taken place, but there was no way of knowing how much the situation was going to escalate, but it wouldn't be long before it did just that. Another Zebra Murder occurred ten days later. Twenty-eight-year-old Frances Rose was pulling up to the University of California's Berkeley Campus when a young black man asked her for a ride. She tried to pull away, but the man opened the passenger side door and shot her three times. She died as a result.

Another Zebra attack occurred on November 9, 1973. A man named Leroy Doctor cornered 26-year-old Robert Stoeckmann and put a gun to his face. After a struggle, during which Robert was grazed by a bullet, Robert gained control of the gun. He then shot Leroy three times. Police found him nearby. He was arrested and convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. If police thought that they had the killer, they were wrong. Leroy was definitely involved, but he was not the only one by a long shot.

On November 25, 1973, Saleen Erakat was shot and killed in his grocery store by a black man. Saleen was not white. He was Arabic, but pale enough for one of the Zebra Killers to target him. A few weeks later, on December 11, 1973, one of the Zebra Killers targeted a young man who had stopped to use a pay phone. Paul Dancik was shot three times and died in the street.

Two attacks occurred on December 13–one of which was a high profile attack on San Francisco's mayor, who was shot. He barely lived. Later that night, 31-year-old Marietta DiGirolamo was shot three times in the street. Another double attack happened a week later. On December 20, 1973, Angela Roselli was shot three times in the street. She was only 20-years-old when she died. The next Zebra Murder victim of the night was 81-year-old Ilario Bertuccio. He was shot four times. Like Angela, he died in the street, suggesting utterly random attacks. The next double attack happened two nights later. Nineteen-year-old Neal Moynihan and 50-year-old Mildred Hosler were shot and killed within minutes of each other.

December 28, 1973, brought the worst night the Zebra Killers ever gave San Francisco. The following were Zebra Murders that occurred that night. All of the victims were shot. Jane Holly, 45 was shot in a laundromat. Tana Smith, 32, was shot twice in the street. Vincent Wollin, 69, was also shot twice in the street. John Bambic, 84, shot in the back in the street. Roxanne McMillan, 23, was lucky enough to escape with her life. She was shot twice as she walked from her car. She was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Obviously, the killings were unnerving San Francisco residents. Furthermore, tourists were afraid to visit the city. Who could blame them? The police were unable to do anything and after the bloodbath on December 28, the Zebra Murders stopped for several months. In April of 1974, five more people were attacked. Two of them died. The police were forced to offer a reward after they were unable to continue stopping people who fit the description due to civil rights issues. The reward worked.

A man named Anthony Harris came to the police with information about a group called the Death Angels. They were the Zebra Killers that had been terrorizing the city. Anthony explained to the police that they all worked at Black Self Help Moving and Storage, as had Leroy Doctor. These men were a Black Muslim sect with radicalized ideas about religion and race. They believed that an evil scientist had created white people and that they were inferior. They also believed that killing white people was a ticket to heaven. Police knew Harris was telling the truth when he told them about a murder that the public did not know about. A man had been chopped into pieces at the warehouse. The police found the body the previous December.

The Zebra Murders ended when police raided Black Self Help Moving and Storage. Seven men were arrested. Three were released. Jesse Lee Cooks, Manuel Moore, J.C. Simon and Larry Green faced a trial that lasted more than a year–the longest in San Francisco history. They were all convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Larry Green laughed as his verdict was read. There were people, at the time, who believed that the men were innocent. There is no denying that the crimes stopped when they were detained. It is highly likely that the police got the Zebra Killers.

Victor Lustig, the Con Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 14:42:00 +0000

Lustig pictured center

Victor Lustig, who preferred to be called Count Lustig, in spite of having no claim to the title, was an early 20th century confidence man. To hear some tell it, he was one of the greatest con artists of all time. He was always smooth and composed–the antithesis of the fast-talking con man. It was this poise combined with a knack for swindling that earned him a reputation as the man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice. While not exactly true, he did earn a pretty penny running scams.

The 81-story wrought iron Eiffel Tower was designed and constructed for the 1889 World's Fair. Even before construction began, there were people who hated it. One group even called it a monstrosity. It was quite an unusual structure for Paris at the time. It would definitely stand out, but construction commenced anyway. Victor Lustig was born the January after construction on the monument ended.

Lustig got the idea for his most famous con while reading about the Eiffel Tower in 1925. He learned that the rusting monument was proving costly to upkeep. There was some talk of tearing it down. It was never meant to remain in the city anyway. Lustig figured out a way to take advantage of this talk, devising a plan to get big scrap metal dealers to bid on the Eiffel Tower.

He had to look authentic, so Lustig stayed at a fancy hotel, rented limousines and used the official alias of Deputy Director of the Ministere de Postes et Telegraphs. He had 7,000 tons of scrap metal to pretend to sell, so he had to make the deal sound lucrative, and he had to make himself look like a true politician. So, Victor Lustig chose a mark from among the scrap dealers and offered him a deal. If the man gave Lustig $70,000, he'd ensure the man's company got the Eiffel Tower.

Victor Lustig got the bribe money and left the country. Andre Poisson, the man he swindled, was too embarrassed to come forward, so Lustig came back to try again. This time around, he was suspicious of one of his marks, so he left before completing the deal. However, some accounts say he actually did sell the Eiffel Tower twice, so who knows? With such a lengthy career and 47 known aliases, it's hard to tell how many cons this man pulled.

Lustig wound up in America after the Eiffel Tower job and went to work conning and counterfeiting. He even pulled a successful con on Al Capone. However, the Secret Service eventually caught up with him. He was jailed, escaped and jailed again before dying of pneumonia at a medical center for prisoners.

The Missing Princes in the Tower

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 22:24:00 +0000

The Princes in the Tower by Delaroche

The mystery of the Princes in the Tower is one of the most enduring scandals in England's history. It occurred when two young princes (one of whom was next in line to the throne) seemingly vanished while in their uncle's care. That uncle just so happened to become king himself–King Richard III. No one living today knows exactly what happened to these two boys. However, the circumstances of their disappearance were very suspicious, indeed.

The Princes

Prince Edward, or King Edward V, was the oldest son of King Edward IV and next in line to be King of England. His mother was the Queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Edward was born in Westminster Abbey in 1470 and sent to Ludlow Castle to be educated.

Prince Richard, the 1st Duke of York, was Edward's younger brother and the second son of Edward IV and his queen. Richard was married to five-year-old Anne Mawbry when he was just four-years-old.

The princes had a half-brother on their mother's side, who also plays into the story of their disappearance. His name was Lord Richard Grey.

The Death of King Edward IV

King Edward IV died of natural causes on April 9, 1483. His son Edward was twelve at the time. Richard was ten. Young Edward became King of England upon the death of his father. However, because he and his brother were so young, their uncle was named Lord Protector of King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York.

The coronation ceremony of Edward V was scheduled for June 22, 1483. At the time of his father's death, he was at Ludlow Castle. He left there for the Tower of London, where his coronation was to begin. He was accompanied by his half-brother and Lord William Hastings, among others.

The Interception of the Young King's Entourage

The Duke of Gloucester and a group of his co-conspirators intercepted King Edward V's entourage in Stony Stratford. This resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of Lord Richard Grey. Lord William Hastings was later beheaded when the duke accused him of conspiring to assassinate him.

King Edward V was taken from Stony Stratford to St. Paul unharmed and under the premise that he was still to be crowned king. His little brother, Richard was taken to Westminster Abbey with their mother. Edward was later brought to the Tower of London where he was supposed to be. His brother Richard met him there on June 16, 1483.

The Legitimacy of the Princes Comes Into Question

It was alleged that King Edward IV was engaged to Lady Eleanor Talbot before he married Elizabeth Woodville. Though the couple apparently never married, this engagement would have made the king's marriage illegal. Marriages that were illegal, or acts of bigamy, were considered null and void. If the marriage was illegal, the children of said marriage were illegitimate.

These accusations worked to the Duke of Gloucester's advantage when, on June 25, 1483, Parliament concluded that the engagement had taken place. Therefore, the princes were not legitimate heirs to the throne. In light of this, Richard, Duke of Gloucester was made King Richard III. He went on to have a lover of his late brother–Jane Shore–imprisoned in the Tower of London. Apparently, he wasn't happy with his brother's love life.

The Disappearance of the Two Princes

At some point after both princes arrived at the Tower of London, they both vanished. They were certainly seen there as late as July. However, no one is exactly sure when they were last seen. It is widely believed that neither of them ever left the tower. There is no record of them doing so. In fact, there is no record of them at all past 1438.

So, what happened to the two princes? Is it possible that their names just slipped out of recorded history? This is not likely, as the public noted their absence at the time of their disappearance. Could they have been hidden away to avoid further conspiracy against them? This is possible, due to the fact that if they were able to prove they were legitimate, Edward would have been able to retake the crown. However, there is no record of this, either. Could they have been murdered by order of the new king? This is certainly possible. There are clues that seem to point to this very thing. However, King Richard III was killed in battle three years after taking the throne, making way for the Tudor dynasty. It is possible that not Richard but one of the Tudors killed the princes in the Tower of London.

As stated above, it is not certain that the princes were murdered. Nonetheless, there were rumors, based on eyewitness claims, that King Richard III had them murdered. They were supposedly smothered with a pillow and then buried underneath a set of stairs. This matches up with evidence found in the Tower of London in 1674. That year, the skeletons of two children were found in a chest beneath the Chapel stairs in the tower. The remains were taken to Westminster Abbey and buried there, near some of the siblings of the princes.

In 1933, the bones were exhumed and examined. They were also photographed. The doctors who performed the examination concluded based on several clues that the bones could certainly belong to the princes. Unfortunately, authorities at Westminster Abbey have forbidden further examination of the bones to date. Nonetheless, scientists have studied the photographs that were taken and have come to their own varying conclusions.

Sources

Aiuto, Russel, The Princes in the Tower, retrieved 4/10/2010, trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/the_princes/8.htm

Edward V, retrieved 4/10/10, englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_13.htm

Princes in the Tower, retrieved 4/10/10, castles.me.uk/princes-in-the-tower.htm

The Assassination of Governor William Goebel

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 16:28:00 +0000

Governor Goebel

Governor William Goebel was the only United States Governor ever to be assassinated while in office. His death was the result of a heated rivalry between himself and Governor William Taylor. William Goebel was a Democrat who was a proponent of women’s and African-American civil rights. He was not a well-liked man in many political circles and was even charged with the murder of another politician, John Stanford. However, he was acquitted of the charges.

During the 1899 Kentucky elections, Republican William Taylor beat Democratic William Goebel 193,714 to 191,331. However, the Democratic General Assembly suspected that the election had been rigged and therefore challenged it. Following the start of the appeal, Goebel received death threats. It was said that if he won the appeal, he would be killed.

On January 30, 1900, William Goebel walked up the steps of the State Capitol Building, escorted by bodyguards. A sniper shot him on the steps from the office of the Secretary of State. The wounded man was removed to a hospital while a search for the assassin was conducted. The gunman was never discovered, officially. However, he may have been arrested later and never identified as the man who pulled the trigger.

The appeal showed that William Goebel had won the election. He was sworn in as Governor of Kentucky as he lay dying from his wounds in the hospital, on January 31, 1900. He died three days later, on February 3, 1900. He was laid to rest at the Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Sixteen men were indicted on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the case of the assassination of Governor William Goebel. Among these men were, Taylor’s Secretary of State-Caleb Powers, Henry Youtsey and Jim Howard. The thinking was that Caleb had planned the assassination in order to keep his boss in office. His boss, William Taylor was also indicted, but he fled to Indiana after the shooting and refused to return. Five of the sixteen men who were indicted were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Among them were Youtsey, Powers, Howard and Taylor.

Governor Wilson pardoned four of the five men who were found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murder of Governor William Goebel in 1908. Youtsey was not pardoned. It was Wilson’s thinking that Youtsey was the man who pulled the trigger and killed William Goebel. Nonetheless, it is still unknown whether he was guilty or not.

The Death of George Parkman: A Murder Among Boston's Elite

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 17:26:00 +0000

George Parkman was a wealthy doctor who was educated at Harvard Medical College and abroad. Helping the less fortunate was something of a passion for him. Thus, becoming a doctor was a natural choice. When he studied abroad, he was exposed to humane insane asylums, something that was nearly unheard of in the states. He decided to bring his ideals home with him. Sadly, he was never able to establish humane asylums in Boston, but he remained an advocate for the humane treatment of the insane until his untimely death.

Doctor George Parkman had inherited a substantial amount of wealth from his father and was a member of Boston's Brahmins or the "First Families of Boston." He had given Harvard College the very land on which Massachusetts General Hospital is located today. He was a well-known landlord. In short, he was one of Boston's elite. Therefore, when he turned up missing in 1849, the people of Boston were shocked. However, they were to be more shocked when another member of his elite social class was accused of murdering him.

John Webster was a well-liked professor at Harvard. He was also a Boston Brahmin. However, he was not as wealthy as Doctor George Parkman. In fact, he was forced to borrow money from his colleague several times over the years. Finally, the pair had a falling out when John Webster tried to obtain a loan using his mineral collection as collateral. He already had an outstanding loan with Parkman using the very same thing as collateral. This reportedly angered Doctor Parkman, who began seeking repayment immediately.

On November 23, 1849, George Parkman disappeared. He got up that morning, went to buy his daughter a head of lettuce, collected rents and paid John Webster a visit. He was supposedly never seen again, though some people claimed to have seen him after his visit with John. John Webster was questioned, but authorities thought he was too high class to have caused Parkman's disappearance.

That Thanksgiving, John Webster gave the janitor who lived next door to his lab at the college money for a turkey. The janitor–Ephraim Littlefield–found this suspicious, given John's financial problems. This suspicion supposedly led him to search John's lab and even go so far as to chip away a brick wall, where he found some bones and a set of dentures. Here is where things are muddled.

Ephraim Littlefield was rewarded money for finding what the dentures somewhat proved was Doctor George Parkman's body. However, Littlefield also happened to share that wall where it was found with John Webster. Furthermore, he had been caught gambling in George's rooms and was chastised for it. Therefore, he had a small motive and plenty of opportunity himself. In addition, two questions arise from his discovery. Firstly, would a janitor have risked ransacking the lab of an elite Boston resident based on suspicion? Secondly, how did Littlefield know precisely where the body was hidden?

To be certain, none of these questions shows that Littlefield was guilty. Nonetheless, none of the evidence proved that John Webster was guilty either. In fact, modern day courts would not have seen the dentures as proof that the skeleton belonged to George Parkman. DNA testing would be required. All of the evidence in the Doctor George Parkman "murder" case was circumstantial. Without further evidence, the case would not have been successfully tried in Massachusetts today. It was in 1849, however.

John Webster was found guilty of murdering Doctor George Parkman after a 12-day trial. He was hanged for his supposed crime. Interestingly, the widow of George Parkman financially aided Webster's widow after her husband's death. Is it possible that Parkman's wife did not believe the man they hanged was guilty?

Pedro Lopez: "The Monster of the Andes"

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 17:38:00 +0000

Pedro Lopez may be the most prolific known serial killer of all time. He was convicted of the murder of 110 girls. He has confessed to the murder of more than 300. While more than 300 may be incorrect, he almost certainly killed more than the 110 he was convicted of killing. The story of his early life is known only from his lips, but if it is true, it certainly helps the "nurture" argument of what drives some people to kill. However, he could simply by lying, as serial killers are wont to do. True or false, here is his story. (His capture, incarceration, the information regarding his M.O. and the discovery of some of his victims are certainly true.)

Pedro Lopez was born in October of 1948 in Tolima, Colombia. According to Pedro, his mother was a prostitute who had 13 children of which Pedro had knowledge, including himself. At the time of his birth, Colombia was in turmoil. It was not a safe place for a child to grow up, nor was Pedro's home, if he is to be believed. His mother was domineering and openly promiscuous. Pedro had extensive knowledge of sexual relations at a young age because of this. While he may have exaggerated, it is easy to imagine such a man spending his formative years with such a woman.

At the age of eight, Pedro Lopez was caught molesting or raping his little sister. Rather than seeking counseling and a new home for the boy, Ms. Lopez kicked her son out of her home and left him to fend for himself. Though it is hard to imagine a woman of her class, location and personality being able to find such help, things might have turned out very different for many young girls if she had. It was not long before Pedro ran into yet another adult who would mistreat him.

According to Lopez, a man picked him up soon after he left his home. The man offered Pedro food and so Pedro went into this man's home. This man raped the 8-year-old boy repeatedly and then dumped him back outside. Pedro learned to be less trusting and acquired his food by begging, but one day in Bogota, Colombia, his fortunes changed. He was picked up by an American couple who lived in Bogota. The couple gave him a home and sent him to school. However, Pedro was again molested. This time, a male teacher at the school assaulted him. Pedro Lopez reacted by stealing some money from the school and going back to being a homeless beggar and a thief.

Pedro Lopez was 18-years-old in 1969 when he was arrested and jailed for stealing cars. His sentence was seven years, but he killed four men and was given an extra two years. The reason for this small addition to his sentence is that the murders were deemed self-defense. Within days of entering jail, he was gang raped by these four men. He stabbed each of them to death with a makeshift knife. Pedro got out in 1978 and began traveling in Peru. That is when he became the "Monster of the Andes."

While in Peru, Pedro began kidnapping, raping and killing little girls. He later said he killed more than 100 girls in Peru. The true extent of his killing spree is unknown and is not counted in the 110 he was convicted of killing. Eventually, a group of Peruvian natives caught him in the act of kidnapping one of their tribe. They tortured Lopez and would have killed him if a missionary had not convinced them to bring Pedro Lopez to the police. Astoundingly, the police simply sent him out of the country. He continued killing, racking up more than 200 more murders, if he is to be believed. He said he killed 100 in Colombia and 110 in Ecuador, of which he was finally convicted.

Pedro Lopez was captured by a group of good Samaritans in Ecuador when he was leaving a marketplace with a 12-year-old girl. He was reportedly incoherent when he was taken into custody. The police were unable to get any answers from Pedro, so they sent a priest, disguised as a prisoner, into Pedro's cell in hopes that Lopez would confide in his new "cellmate" and confide he did. By the second day, the priest was so repulsed that he needed to leave the cell.

Apparently, Pedro Lopez told the priest the manner in which he had killed the girls. He said that he would kidnap them, rape them and sometimes have "tea parties" with their bodies. He later said he even raped their corpses. Police convinced Pedro Lopez to take him to the graves of the little girls that he had killed. Pedro managed to locate one that contained the bodies of 53 girls. No other bodies were found at the time, but it is generally thought that at least parts of Pedro's confessions are true and many more than 53 girls met their end at his demented hands. He was given life in prison.

Rumor has it that Pedro Lopez was released from prison in 1998. No one seems to know if he is dead or alive. So much for life in prison. He was quoted once as saying, "The moment of death is enthralling and exciting. Only those who actually kill know what I mean." "When I am released, I will feel that moment again." Let us hope that he will not or that he has not.

Sources

Lohr, David, Pedro Lopez, retrieved 1/16/11, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killer/notorious.pedro_lopez/1.html

Pedro Lopez (Serial Killer), mundoandins.com/Colombia/Pedro-Lopez-serial-killer

Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka: The Ken and Barbie Killers

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 02:05:00 +0000

In the annals of criminal history, there are a slew of serial rapists and sadistic killers who target young women. Nearly all of them are men. However, a rare few sexually deviant killers are women. Many of these women are involved with men who have the same sick sexual appetite. Such was the case for Karla Homolka and her husband Paul Bernardo. They are otherwise known as the Ken and Barbie killers. This couple had a repugnant habit of forcefully involving teenage girls in their sexual forays. On at least three occasions, these rapes ended in murder.

Paul Bernardo's childhood was strange by most standards. He was the product of an adulterous affair by his mother. Nonetheless, he was accepted by his mother's husband and included in the family as if he was his adopted father's child. The man who accepted Paul was a pedophile who abused little girls, including his own daughter, Paul's sister. Mrs. Bernardo became aware of this somehow and reacted by becoming grossly overweight and depressed. Despite all of this, Paul Bernardo is said to have been a bright, handsome and well adjusted young man–at least until his mother told him the truth.

At the age of 16, Paul Bernardo learned that the pedophile who had been raising him was not his father. Instead of being relieved, he was furious with his mother. He hated his adoptive father, but hated even more the fact that he was illegitimate. He thought of his mother as a whore and began to hate women. When he went to college at the University of Toronto, he had a string of relationships that were marred by his love of forceful sodomy. He would beat and rape his girlfriends, but always managed to stay out of trouble. Paul Bernardo went to work as a junior accountant following his graduation. He had a respectful job and was reasonably attractive. The problem was that he was a rapist with an ever-increasing appetite for sadism.

Paul met Karla Homolka in October of 1987. Karla was the product of a seemingly happy home. She was attractive, bright (she worked in a veterinarian's office) and loved being submissive for Paul. The problem for Paul was that Karla was not a virgin, and she did not fulfill his need to rape and humiliate women. He engaged in sado-masochism with Karla, but she liked it. Lucky for him, and unlucky for society, Karla seemed to lack a conscience. She had no problem being Paul's aide de camp. Even more, she enjoyed involving herself in his sick pleasures (as video evidence would later show).

The very year they met, Paul Bernardo became the Scarborough Rapist. He attacked and raped fourteen women. Some, if not all, of these rapes came about with Karla Homolka's help. She was fully aware of Paul's behavior. She even encouraged it.

Police had a picture of Paul Bernardo sketched from his victims' recollections. However, they did not release it to the public until May of 1990. After some time, several people had come forward to say that the man in the picture was Paul Bernardo. Police went to his home and took samples from Paul to be tested against samples taken from his victims. They were a close match. Another round of tests was ordered in 1992, but they were ordered two years too late and conducted three years too late.

Karla Homolka had a lovely younger sister named Tammy. Tammy was a virgin and Karla was not, so Paul Bernardo became obsessed with Tammy and berated Karla for not being like her. Instead of leaving Paul, Karla catered to his obsession with her sister. She helped him see into Tammy Homolka's room so he could masturbate. Karla even began planning Tammy's rape by Paul for him. She arranged to have sedatives that she was familiar with from the veterinary clinic and carefully planned the drugging of her little sister. Tammy was just 15 years old.

On December 23, 1990, Paul Bernardo went to the Homolka's and videotaped the family in their festively decorated home. Tammy and Karla Homolka's parents had no idea that their older daughter's nice fiancé was about to use his video camera to film the rape of their younger daughter. What was worse, their oldest daughter was going to play a key role in that rape.

That night, when the elder Homolkas were in bed, Karla and Paul gave Tammy alcohol laced with sedatives. When the poor girl passed out, Paul began raping her and videotaping it. Karla Homolka held a sedative soaked cloth over her sister's mouth while her fiancé carried out the assault. They made one mistake that would prove both lucky and unlucky for young Tammy. Karla had given her too much sedative. This means that she slept through her attack, but also that she became very ill. Tammy began vomiting and Karla Homolka tried to keep her alive to no avail. Tammy died.

Paul and Karla simply cleaned up their mess, dressed Tammy and called for an ambulance. Officials believed Karla and Paul when they said that Tammy had too much to drink and choked on her own vomit, despite the chemical burns on the girl's face. Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka remained free to marry, rape and kill again.

Later, it was discovered that Karla Homolka had no regret about her sister's death. She even paraded around in Tammy's clothes and pretended she was her dead sister for Paul's pleasure. Sure, Paul was controlling, but Karla Homolka had every opportunity to prevent Tammy's death and the indignities heaped upon her memory. It was clear that Karla Homolka enjoyed the role she was playing. She and Paul bought a house and lured an untold number of girls there to participate in consensual and nonconsensual sex. Karla was as much a rapist as her twisted soon-to-be husband.

Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka had an extravagant wedding on June 29, 1991. They were a handsome couple. No one attending the wedding could have suspected what the couple was up to. None of them could have known that the bride's sister was dead for their pleasure or that just 15 days before, Paul had kidnapped a 14-year-old girl and brought her home to his wife. Both of them raped the poor little girl and videotaped it. They had her for several days before she died from Paul's rough treatment of her. Leslie Mahaffy's body was found in pieces in Lake Gibson right around the time Paul and Karla got married.

On April 16, 1992, Karla summoned 15-year-old Kristen French to her car saying that she was in need of directions. Kristen kindly attempted to assist, at which point Paul Bernardo kidnapped her at knifepoint. The couple raped and tortured Kristen for three days before they killed her. Her body was thrown unceremoniously into a ditch by the heartless couple.

In January of the following year, Karla Homolka left Paul Bernardo because he had beaten her badly. Apparently, she could stomach raping, torturing and killing girls with her husband, including her own sister, but she would not put up with being abused. A more cowardly and self-centered person would be difficult to find.

Police finally made the connection between Paul Bernardo and the rapes in Scarborough in February of 1993. Paul was arrested and Karla Homolka was brought in for questioning. On February 19, police searched their home and found a litany of sadist pornography and a video of Karla engaging in lesbian activity with two other women. It was enough to put the pressure on Karla, who eventually agreed to tell all, in exchange for a 12-year sentence with parole eligibility in less than four years. She was tried for the murders of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy in June of 1993. She was found guilty and given the sentence she bargained for. As of this writing, she's been free for more than a decade.

Paul Bernardo was brought to trial in May of 1995. It took two years because of drama surrounding certain videotapes that were revealed after Karla's trial. These videotapes would have eliminated the need to bargain with Karla Homolka. They were the tapes of the rape tortures of teenage girls and videotapes of both of the killers referencing the crimes in scenarios that need not be repeated. Those present in court were subjected to these tapes. Paul was eventually found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka are a rare sort, but not rare enough. Too often bad people get away with the sadistic sexual torture of children for years. In this case, and in many others, the killers could have been stopped if a little more due diligence had been applied when police and medical personnel became involved. Ken and Barbie could have been stopped after their first murder if Tammy Homolka's body had been autopsied properly and the burns on her face had been given any consideration. Sadly, no one did consider the handsome couple to be sexual deviants until it was too late. It probably seemed unimaginable to those involved.
Sources

Smith, Charlotte, Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo-Barbie and Ken, retrieved 12/30/10, agoracosmopolitan.com/home/New1/2006/03/06/01148.html Bardsley, Marilyn, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, retrieved 12/30/10, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/bernardo/14.html

The Boston Strangler Murders and Albert DeSalvo

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 21:08:00 +0000

Albert DeSalvo after turning
himself in for escaping imprisonment

The Boston Strangler was a presumed serial killer that operated in the Boston area from June of 1962 until January of 1964. The killer (or killers, as some would say) was responsible for the deaths of thirteen women. Of course, as with most serial killings, it is difficult to know whether more murders took place in other areas. One man in particular–Albert DeSalvo–is widely believed to have been responsible for the Boston Strangler murders. However, it is important to bear in mind that he was never charged with the murders. In fact, no one ever was.

The Boston Strangler first struck on June 14, 1962. The victim was 55-year-old Anna Slesers. Anna's son found her on the floor of the bathroom in her apartment on Gainsborough St. in Boston. She was wearing only a bathrobe, which had been left open, exposing her nude body. She had been sexually assaulted, but not raped. Anna was strangled with the belt of her bathrobe, which was left around her neck. It was tied in a bow.

Notably, the killer ransacked Slesers' apartment, but stole nothing. This would be the case in many of the murders to come. Why the attacker did this, no one knows. It was obvious to police that it was not a robbery gone awry. The killer must have known this after the newspaper reports on the murder came out. Why did he continue with the farce if he wasn't trying to throw police off his trail? Did he gain some sort of pleasure from rifling through his victims' belongings?

The Boston Strangler killed is second victim on June 30, 1962. Her name was Nina Nichols and she was 68-years-old. Nina was also sexually assaulted, but not raped. She was also in her bathrobe, which was pulled up, exposing her from the waist down. Her murderer strangled her with her pantyhose and he, again, left the weapon around his victim's neck, tied in a bow.

On July 2, 1962, the body of Helen Blake was found in her apartment on Newshall Street in Lynn. Post-mortem showed that the 65-year-old woman was killed on June 30. She had been strangled with her nylons looped through her bra. As before, they were left around her neck in a sadistic parody of a gift decoration. Also as before, her body had been violated, but not raped.

The Boston Strangler struck again on August 19, 1962. His latest victim was 75-year-old Ida Irga. Her body was not found in her apartment on Grove Ave. in the West End for three days. She had been strangled with a pillowcase that was left in the now familiar bow around her neck. Her body had been violated and left in a sexual pose.

The next Boston Strangler victim was discovered in her apartment on Columbia Road in Dorchester on August 30. She was 67-year-old Jane Sullivan and she had been dead for ten days. She was found in her bathtub with her nylons tied around her neck. Police were unable to ascertain if she had been molested due to decay. However, it can probably be assumed that she was. This was the first time the killer did not ransack the apartment.

There would be a lot more changes in the next murder attributed to the Boston Strangler. His next victim was 20 years old, African-American (all before her had been Caucasian) and she had been raped. Her name was Sophie Clark and her body was found in her apartment in the Back Bay on December 5. She had been strangled with her stockings, which were around her neck, along with her slip. She was otherwise naked and she had been positioned sexually. If this was the Boston Strangler, he was progressing to rape and widely expanding the victim pool.

On December 31, 23-year-old, Patricia Bisette was found in her apartment in the Back Bay. She had been raped and strangled with her stockings and her blouse. The murder weapons were still around her neck. However, unlike the others, she was not lewdly positioned; she was covered with her blanket up to her neck. She was one month pregnant at the time of her death.

On May 6, 1963, the Boston Strangler murdered 23-year-old Beverly Samans. She was found on the couch in her apartment. An attempt had been made to strangle her. However, the cause of death was stab wounds to the neck and chest. The murderer left his signature bow around her neck, this time made out of two hankies and a stocking. One handkerchief was stuffed in her mouth, another lie over it. The knife used to kill her was in the sink.

The Boston Strangler briefly returned to older victims on September 8, 1963, with the murder of 58-year-old Evelyn Corbin. She was found in her apartment in Salem lying nude face up on her bed. Police found sperm in her mouth along with underwear that had been stuffed there.

On November 23, 1963, the body of 23-year-old, Joann Graff was discovered in her Lawrence apartment. She was raped and strangled with a nylon stocking that was tied in a bow around her neck. Her killer bit one of her breasts during or after the attack.

The last victim of the Boston Strangler was 19-year-old Mary Sullivan. Mary was left in a very gruesome near-sitting position with a broomstick handle in her vagina. A bow made out of the nylons and two scarves she was killed with was around her neck. There was a New Year's card resting on her foot.

The above are the eleven murders that police had attributed to the Boston Strangler, at that point. That number would go up by two when the police heard a confession from a man who was awaiting trial for rape and breaking and entering. That man was Albert DeSalvo.

Albert DeSalvo was a working-class man with a wife and two children when he was arrested and jailed for breaking into women's houses and raping or molesting them. Although, on some occasions he would simply tie them up at knifepoint and then apologize before leaving the premises. He would later claim that the number of women he had attacked was around 300.

Albert DeSalvo was raised by his mother after his father abandoned the family when Albert was 8 years old. Albert's father Frank DeSalvo was an alcoholic who abused his wife and children. There are even claims that he brought prostitutes home and forced his children to watch him have sex with them. This is not certain, though it is certain that Albert came from one messed up background. When he was seventeen, he joined the army. He met and married his wife while stationed in Germany. The couple moved back to the U.S. in 1954, where DeSalvo was stationed at Fort Dix.

While Albert was stationed at Fort Dix, he was arrested for molesting a nine-year-old girl. The charges were dropped and he was honorably discharged in 1956. He and his family then moved to Massachusetts, where they eventually settled in Malden. Despite having a job, DeSalvo turned to breaking and entering and theft. Around the same time, he began a series of crimes that earned him the title "Measuring Man." He would tell women that he worked for a modeling agency and then convince them to allow him to take their measurements, naked or clothed. He was never charged for anything regarding this behavior. The police did take notice, however. DeSalvo was jailed for breaking and entering in 1961 and served 6 months in prison.

Sometime after the last Boston Strangler murder, Albert began his life as the "Green Man." The Green Man was the name Albert was given during his time breaking into women's houses and assaulting them. He was finally taken into custody when one of his victims was able to identify him. He was first brought to the Bridgewater State Hospital (a mental facility) and then placed in Cambridge Prison. However, he was brought back to Bridgewater because of his mental state.

While in Bridgewater, Albert DeSalvo told another inmate that he was the Boston Strangler. That inmate (George Nassar) told his lawyer, Lee Bailey. Lee Bailey contacted the police and informed them that he was going to question Albert, which he did. Albert gave them a startlingly accurate confession. However, it should be noted that Albert gave them a few false details as well. He also confessed to two other murders that the police had not linked to the Boston Stranger, those of Mary Brown and Mary Mullen. It should be pointed out that Albert DeSalvo was known for being a boastful man. That is not to say that he lied, but that it is possible he wanted the attention that being the Boston Strangler would get him.

Prosecutors were unable to try Albert for the murders because his confession was useless unless they let him plead insanity, which they would not. However, DeSalvo was found competent to stand trial for the rapes he had committed, and for those he was found guilty and sentenced to life in Bridgewater State. After he escaped from Bridgewater State and turned himself in, he was sent to Walpole maximum-security prison. He was stabbed and killed in his cell there on November 25, 1973.

Many people have claimed that Albert DeSalvo was not the Boston Strangler. They say that because his motive for confessing may have been money and that some of the details he gave in his confession did not add up that he must not have been the killer. Furthermore, some people have stated that the Boston Strangler did not exist and that several killers were at work. The killer may not have been Albert DeSalvo, but one thing is certain. He was linked by DNA to the murder of Mary Sullivan in 2013. The similarities between that case and the others make it likely he was behind all of them.

The Infamous Mutiny on the Bounty

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 14:48:00 +0000

J. Ruffell portrait of William Bligh

Back in 1798, the most infamous mutiny in history occurred on a ship known as the Bounty. The story has been immortalized in film and the history books. While, it's often sensationalized for the sake of entertainment, the true story is just as action-packed.

Captain William Bligh was in command of the Bounty when it went on its fateful journey. He was hired to bring the Bounty to the South Pacific in search of breadfruit trees. Bligh was able, but quite strict. During the voyage, he kept a meticulous account of the ship's provisions, rationing out food carefully based on his calculations. He was also keen on keeping his men on task. At one point during the voyage, Captain Bligh was compelled to flog some of his men for attempting to desert the Bounty. A harsh punishment surely, but it was the practice.

Captain Bligh's nature began to wear on master at arms Fletcher Christian, who began to show visible disdain for the captain. However, Bligh later claimed that he believed he was on good terms with Christian and did not sense that the man was mutinous. There is evidence to the contrary. Reports say that Christian announced he had been in hell on the Bounty. There was also an incident over missing coconuts, in which Fletcher Christian was involved. Nonetheless, Captain Bligh didn't notice or failed to act. It all came to a head when Christian rounded up a gang of co-conspirators.

On the night of April 28, 1789, Captain Bligh was asleep in his cabin when he was awakened and tied up. It soon became obvious to him that Christian and some other men were intent on taking over the Bounty. The Captain was brought up on deck and forced into a 23-ft. launch with only meager provisions for himself and his supporters. They were then cast out into the Pacific. William Bligh’s account of the incident suggests that the mutineers planned on returning to the island of Otaheite. The island was something of a paradise to the men and the natives were extremely friendly.

In all, 18 men were on the launch with Captain Bligh-25 remained on the Bounty. It was later revealed that not all of the men that stayed with the Bounty were willing participants in the mutiny. As for those that set out on the launch, they would soon have reason to be thankful for the captain’s strict provisioning. The food and water on the launch were not nearly enough for the journey the men were forced to take.

Captain Bligh and his men were quickly forced to seek out food and water on any island they came across. At one island natives confronted them, and one of the men was killed on the beach. From then on, Captain Bligh was careful to seek out islands that had no inhabitants or at least obviously friendly ones. They were able to gather more small provisions on these stops, but the men were quickly suffering from hunger and exposure.

The launch finally reached Coupang in Timor on June 14. The men had been traveling for 48 days and had traveled an astounding 3,618 miles. They were forced to remain there for some time and one of the men succumbed to his ailments and died while in Coupang. Captain Bligh was eventually able to procure a vessel and the men went on their way to England. After changing ships and some minor incidents, Captain Bligh finally returned home to England on March 14, 1790–11 months after the mutiny on the Bounty.

A ship called the Pandora was sent out to capture the mutineers and find the Bounty. When the Pandora arrived in Tahiti, three of the mutineers from the Bounty swam out to meet her. They were immediately arrested. One of them told the captain of the Pandora what had occurred after the Bounty left Bligh and his men. Apparently, Christian left sixteen of the men on Tahiti and left; obviously Tahiti was not the paradise he had been looking for.

The men of the Pandora managed to find thirteen of the mutineers in Tahiti. The ship then set out in search of the other mutineers from the Bounty. They were ultimately unsuccessful in finding Christian and his men and were forced to head home. Unfortunately, the Pandora sank off of the Great Barrier Reef and three of the captives went down with the ship. Ten were brought back to England to face trial. Seven of the men were released and on October 29, 1974, three of them hanged for their crimes.

Fletcher Christian and the other men were never brought to justice. Twenty years later it was discovered that they had settled on Pitcairn Island. Their descendants still reside there to this day.

Sources

Linder, Douglas, The Story of the Court Martial of the Bounty Mutineers, retrieved 7/27/09

Lindon, George, Nicol, 1790, William Bligh’s Narrative of the Mutiny on the Bounty, retrieved 7/27/09, law.umkc.edu/faculty/ftrials/Bounty/blighnarrative.html

Dana Sue Gray: Killing for a Shopping Spree

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 17:34:00 +0000

Dana Sue Gray is a serial killer who is hard to categorize. She was a nurse, but she did not kill her patients. She killed elderly women, but she did not poison them as so many nurse killers are wont to do. Her serial murders were violent, but she did not have a male counterpart helping her as many female serial killers who commit violent murders do. She is not unique, though. She had a clear motive, a modus operandi that could be compared to those of other serial killers and she had a lack of remorse that is all too familiar in the world of serial killings.

Dana Sue's parents divorced when she was two-years-old. Her mother raised her, though she died of cancer when Dana was still a teenager. Rumor has it that she tried to live with her dad, but that she could not get along with her stepmother. She graduated from high school with average grades and behavior. From there, she went to nursing school.

While Dana Sue Gray was in nursing school, she dated athletic men and became something of an athlete herself. She dated a skydiving instructor and became a proficient diver herself. It is said that the couple conceived two children together, but that Dana aborted both. Her next boyfriend was a windsurfer, who also taught her his craft. In 1981, she graduated from nursing school and went to work as a nurse. Her career was uneventful. She worked in all of the gruesome situations that nurses find themselves in, but she did not reveal the true person lurking underneath her athletic blonde exterior.

In 1987, Dana Sue married William Gray, a man with whom she had gone to high school. The couple was married for roughly six years when a petition for divorce was filed. Dana was still technically married to William when her life fell apart. She went into debt, started dating a man who lived in a trailer with his son and started killing elderly women for money. They were not divorced until she was behind bars, but that was still roughly one year away when the petition was filed.

Dana's stepmother maintained a relationship with her mother-in-law from her first marriage. The elderly Norma Davis was ailing, but living on her own with a little help from Dana's stepmother. On February 14, 1994, someone broke into Norma's house and stabbed her 11 times with two different kitchen knives. She was also strangled with a telephone cord. A friend found her body with the two knives still sticking out of it two days later and reported it to police. The initial investigation pointed nowhere near Dana Gray.

Fourteen days after the Davis murder, 36-year-old Gray tricked June Roberts into letting her into her home. She then strangled June with a phone cord. She stole two credit cards and a bankbook from the deceased 66-year-old woman and went on a shopping spree. First, she just spent money on the credit cards. Later, she withdrew 2,000 dollars from Roberts' bank account, a feat she tried again, but was refused the second time around. Salespeople remembered Dana Sue Gray as happy. She spent her shopping hours with her boyfriend's son and told clerks they were having a shopping day.

On March 10, 1994, Dana Gray went into an antiques store and attacked 57-year-old Dorinda Hawkins in the back. She strangled her with nylon rope until she was unconscious. She then stole roughly 25 dollars from the premises, left and went shopping with the Roberts' credit cards again. She believed Dorinda Hawkins was dead, but she was wrong.

While Dana was spending her murder victims' money, Dorinda was describing her to the police. The drawing and descriptions from sales clerks led law enforcement to Dana Sue Gray on March 16, 1994. While they were detaining her at the police station, they received word of another murder. Earlier that day, Dana tricked her way into 87-year-old Dora Beebe's home. She beat Dora to death with an iron and stole her credit cards. She went on another shopping spree, but this would be the last of her life.

Police and prosecutors were sure they had enough to put Dana away forever or even get the death sentence. She initially said that she merely found the woman's credit cards and bankbooks. After a while, it became clear that farce was not working. She did admit to having a shopping addiction and, to this day, money is believed to be the motive behind these sick crimes. When the trial began in 1995, Dana changed her story from not guilty to an insanity plea. Three years and long proceedings later, she finally entered a guilty plea for two of the murders, but was not charged with Norma's murder.

Today, Dana Sue Gray is carrying out a life sentence in the California Women's Prison.

Jesse Pomeroy: The Boston Boy Fiend

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:29:00 +0000

Drawing of Jesse Pomeroy

Jesse Pomeroy or Boston's "Boy Fiend" is numbered among the most sadistic and remorseless serial killers of all time. He was brutal, demented and, well, fiendish. However, unlike most criminals who are dubbed "serial killers," his murder count was quite low. Jesse Pomeroy was guilty of killing only two people (two people is two too many, but few in the world of serial killers). Another very strange fact about Jesse Pomeroy that is also frightening is that he was only 14 years old when he committed these murders. He was even younger when he began torturing young boys.

Jesse Pomeroy was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts on November 29, 1859. His full name was Jesse Harding Pomeroy and he was the younger of two children (both boys) born to Ruth and Charles Pomeroy. According to his mother and records, Jesse took ill when he was just a baby. He fully recovered and was described as intelligent when he was older. However, his mother cited this in her defense of her demented son later. Jesse was also afflicted with a cataract that left his right eye almost completely white. What caused this cataract is uncertain, but it may have been a viral illness or a bad reaction to a vaccine.

The disgust and/or fear that Jesse Pomeroy's eye caused people to feel was compounded by the fact that Jesse was a large boy for his age and is said to have had a large head, even for his size. He is also described as having a sinister and pernicious look about him. However, the people who describe him as such were aware of his crimes before they had anything to say about it. Jesse's appearance is likely to have caused many problems for him in his youth, lending to his sociopathic nature. Even more, his father was allegedly cruel when he disciplined his sons.

Charles Pomeroy Sr. was, by all accounts, a wicked man who delighted in abusing his young sons. It is said that he beat them often, but one instance always comes up in accounts of Jesse's childhood as it has great significance. One day, when Jesse was 10 years old, his father took him out behind the family's outhouse in Chelsea, Massachusetts, forced the boy to take off all of his clothes and beat him relentlessly with a whip. Whether or not this is the only instance in which this punishment was doled out is unknown. However, it soon became clear that Jesse was more inclined to violence than even his father was. Ruth caught him torturing a neighborhood cat, and several family pets died mysteriously.

On December 26, 1871, two men walked up Powder Horn Hill in Chelsea. On the hill was a very small cabin. Inside of the cabin was four-year-old William Paine. William was tied up by his wrists. He had been beaten with a whip or switch. He was also half-naked and nearly unconscious. The cold had left him pale and shaken. His ordeal had rendered him incapable of identifying his attacker. Little did police know that this boy was the first victim of the "Boy Fiend" who would terrorize Boston for the next two years. Jesse Pomeroy was 12 years old at the time.

The "Boy Fiend" found his next victim two months later, on February 22, 1872. A boy by the name of Tracy Hayden was taken to Powder Horn Hill and beaten in much the same way as William had been. Tracy was seven years old. His front teeth was knocked out and his nose was broken. He had been whipped repeatedly, and his attacker had threatened to cut off his penis. Unfortunately, Tracy was only able to describe Jesse Pomeroy as a boy with brown hair.

On May 20, 1872, Jesse Pomeroy attacked eight-year-old Robert Maier in Chelsea. This time, the "Boy Fiend" forced his victim to strip and the beat the boy while forcing him to swear. Jesse, still only 12 years old, reportedly masturbated while he beat his latest victim. Police searched for the attacker to no avail. They now had information that he had a wispy beard, which was far from the truth. Sadly, their lack of information gave Jesse the freedom he needed to continue his sadistic pattern.

Jesse Pomeroy attacked again on July 22, 1872. He brought 7-year-old Johnny Balch to Powder Horn Hill and stripped the boy, beat him and masturbated as he had done with Robert. Not long after the attack on Johnny, Ruth Pomeroy and her boys moved to South Boston. She had already kicked her husband out of the house. Jesse had no problem finding victims in Boston.

On August 17, 1872, the "Boy Fiend" found seven-year-old George Pratt on the shore in South Boston. He made the boy strip, tied him up and beat him. This time, Jesse Pomeroy bit his poor victim's cheek, ripping off a chunk of it. He then scratched the boy with his nails and stabbed him repeatedly with a long sewing needle. When he tried to stab little George in the eye with it, George fought back and rolled onto his stomach. Jesse then bit off a chunk of the boy's buttock and left.

Just a few weeks later, on September 5, 1872, Jesse attacked a six-year-old boy named Harry Austin. Jesse tied him up, made him strip and beat him as he had the other boys. This time, however, he stabbed his victim with a pocketknife. Harry suffered a stab wound beneath each of his arms and one between his shoulders. He also committed the horrible deed of trying to slice the boy's penis off. Luckily, something or someone interrupted him and he ran away.

Less than one week later, the "Boy Fiend" found a seven-year-old boy named Joseph Kennedy and forced him to kneel. Jesse Pomeroy then told him to say the Lord's Prayer with a few choice words added. Joseph refused and so Jesse cut his face. He then took him to the bay where he doused the boy's knife wounds in salt water. Again, less than a week later, Jesse found another victim. This time it was five-year-old Robert Gould. He took Robert to a site near some railroad tracks in South Boston, forced him to get naked and tied him to a post. He then beat him, but was interrupted by railroad workers. Jesse Pomeroy was able to run before they saw him, but young Robert noticed something that the other boys had not and told the police about it. They now knew about the "Boy Fiend's" white eye.

The South Boston Police searched for the "Boy Fiend" at Jesse Pomeroy's school on September 21, 1872. They brought Joseph Kennedy along with them. Joseph was unable to identify Jesse or any of the other boys as his attacker. However, Jesse decided to walk into the South Boston Police Station on his way home from school that day. Sitting there with the detectives was Joseph, who identified him quickly. The moment Jesse saw Joseph, he ran, but police quickly caught him. They detained the 12-year-old boy and questioned him for hours before he finally confessed.

The next day, in a Boston jail, Jesse Pomeroy's victims all arrived to identify him. Each of them said he was their attacker. That afternoon, Jesse had a hearing, at which Ruth Pomeroy declared her son to be a "good boy" and said he was innocent. Jesse, on the other hand, had only this to say in his defense, "I couldn't help myself." While he was locked up, he asked a boy who was in a cell near him if he "looked like a bad boy." He was apparently conscious of his frightening appearance, but showed no remorse for his deeds.

Jesse Pomeroy was sentenced to live in the Massachusetts House of Reformation in Westborough until he turned 18. While in the home, Jesse was a model "prisoner." School records show that he enjoyed it when other boys were punished (physical punishment was common), but that he never did anything that warranted punishment himself. With that in mind and with the help of his mother's appeals for the release of her son, the "Boy Fiend" was released on February 6, 1874. He had spent less than two years incarcerated for his heinous crimes.

Jesse Pomeroy was 13 years old when he was released into the care of his mother, who lived on Broadway St. in South Boston. His mother ran a dressmaker's shop across the street from the Pomeroy home. His older brother ran a newsstand outside. Jesse helped his family run their respective businesses after he was released.

On March 18, 1874, Jesse was opening the shop and the newsstand when a girl who wanted to purchase a notebook approached him. Pomeroy told her that there was a shop in the basement and that she should follow him into the basement. What happened next is unclear because Jesse's story and the wounds on 10-year-old Katie Curran's body told a different story. Furthermore, by the time her body was found, it had decomposed to the point where it was difficult to tell what wounds she had suffered. We do know that Jesse decapitated her, mutilated her genitals and stabbed her abdomen. He then hid the body, washed up and went back to work.

Katie's parents looked for her and suspected that Jesse Pomeroy was responsible for her disappearance. However, police told them that Jesse was fully reformed and that he only attacked boys. They did not look into it until a day later, at which time they found nothing. (They did not search hard enough) A few weeks later, the case was closed when the police got a vague clue that she had been kidnapped.

A little over a month later, the "Boy Fiend" went for a walk and picked up a four-year-old boy named Horace Millen. Horace walked with Jesse Pomeroy past numerous people that day. The pair held hands and even stopped to eat sweets and talk to a few people. A little after noon, Jesse lured the boy into a secluded area near the harbor. There, he slashed the boy's throat. Poor little Horace did not die, however. This angered Jesse, who then stabbed him the chest repeatedly. Wounds on the boy's body showed that he lifted his arms to block the attack, only to be stabbed in his tiny hands and forearms. Jesse eventually succeeded in severing Horace's windpipe. Whether he did this before or after he mutilated the boy's genitals and stabbed in the chest eighteen times is unknown. It is likely that at least some of the wounds were inflicted after the boy had died. The investigation revealed that Horace had suffered and fought a great deal. Jesse could not have cared less.

The body of little Horace Millen was discovered just a few hours after Jesse Pomeroy killed him. Police knew who had done it nearly immediately. Jesse was arrested by the following day. Jesse denied having done it until the police forced him to look at Horace's body. He gave a full confession, which he later recanted because his mother had pleaded with him not to say he was guilty, if he was not. He certainly was. However, what little remorse the "Boy Fiend" had was directly related to his mother. In fact, he requested that the police not tell his mother when he confessed. From the day he recanted his confession on, he maintained his innocence. His mother always maintained his innocence. However, it is hard to believe that not even a small part of her knew the truth.

After a trial where Jesse's victims testified, the monstrous 14-year-old boy was found guilty of first-degree murder. He had not been tried for Katie's murder, but her body had been discovered after Ruth sold the shop to a local merchant. Jesse was sentenced to death, as was the norm for murderers in Boston at the time. However, there was a lot of controversy over hanging a boy for murder. Two years later, Jesse's sentence was commuted to life in solitary confinement. He served 40 years in solitary. He was allowed a visitor once a month. His mother was his only visitor until her death on January 10, 1915. After 40 years, he was allowed into the general prison population. He died at the Bridgewater Prison Farm on September 29, 1932. He had been moved there two years earlier.

A person like Jesse Pomeroy appalls the average person. His age and the deeds he committed cause our minds to revolt against the thought of him. It is almost as if he cannot have been real. He must just be a scary story. However, Jesse Pomeroy was unfortunately quite real. He was a horrific creature, who would have evoked pity, had he not allowed the bad side of his nature and nurture to drive his deeds. One could have cried for Jesse, had he lived a good life despite his father's beatings and his unsavory appearance. Instead, he evokes anger and disgust. The only pity his story evokes is pity for his small, precious and innocent victims.

Sources

Reynolds, Arthur & Sandlin, Jennifer & Rose, Sarah & Shomo, Adam, Jesse HardingPomeroy, retrieved 7/25/10

Tommy Lynn Sells: American Serial Killer

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 18:23:00 +0000

Tommy Lynn Sells is an American serial killer who claims to have killed more than 50 people, possibly more than 70. Like many serial killers, his claims and reality may be very different. Nevertheless, Tommy Lynn Sells is known to have been responsible for several murders, all of them heinous.

Sells was born on June 28, 1964. He was a twin. His twin was a girl named Jean. The twins had two older brothers. Three younger brothers would follow. Their mother was a careless woman named Nina. It is unclear who Tommy's father was. He was supposed to have been a man named William Sells. However, Tommy often told investigators his father's name was Joe Levins.

When Tommy and Jean Sells were about a year and a half old, they were living in St. Louis. At that time, they came down with meningitis. Jean did not survive. Six months later, Nina sent Tommy Lynn to live with her aunt Bonnie. Nina rarely, if ever, visited the child, so Bonnie sought to adopt the boy. Nina caught wind of this and took Tommy away from Bonnie after he had been living with her for roughly three years.

Tommy was a troublemaker as a boy and, as far as investigators and biographers can tell, Nina did not care. Therefore, when a man came into Tommy Lynn Sells' life when he was eight and began buying him things, Nina allowed her son to sleep at the man's house. That man allegedly raped and/or molested Tommy for some time. Most people agree that Nina was indifferent and did nothing to save her own son from the consequences of her neglect.

Tommy got into drugs and alcohol before he was 11 years old. As a young teenager, he tried to rape his mother and was given a psychiatric evaluation. It did him no good. By the time Tommy Lynn Sells was 14 years old, he had left home with his eighth grade education and a lust for drugs and crime. He became addicted to drugs in general. He would take anything he could get his hands on. He was arrested on several occasions and even jailed, but authorities had no idea what kind of person he really was. Authorities were only able to fill in the details of the transient Tommy Lynn Sells' life after his arrest for murder in 2000. Even then, they were not sure if what he said was true. The following is what is generally regarded as fact, or as close to it as you can get from the deranged mind of Tommy Lynn Sells.

In July of 1985, Tommy met a woman named Ena Cordt and her four-year-old son, Rory in Forsyth, Missouri. Sells was working at a carnival that Rory and Ena visited one night. By the next morning, both Rory and Ena were beaten to death with Rory's baseball bat. Tommy later told police that Ena invited him to her home and had consensual sex with him, after which, she tried to rob him. This angered him and he beat her and the boy to death. A more likely scenario is that he followed her home and raped her before killing her and Rory. This is probably not the first time that Tommy Lynn Sells committed murder, but it is hard to tell considering Tommy's propensity for taking drugs and lying.

Two years later, Tommy Lynn Sells managed to get into the Illinois home of Keith and Elaine Dardeen. Police found Keith's body in a field. He had been shot and his genitals mutilated. They found the bodies of Elaine, her three-year-old son and her premature infant daughter in Keith and Elaine's bed. Elaine and the two children had been beaten to death and Elaine had been raped. It is thought that Elaine went into labor prematurely during Tommy's assault. She then gave birth in the presence of a monster who beat her newborn infant to death. It is assumed by many that Tommy Lynn Sells managed to trick or force his way into the home. This is not what Tommy says happened, but we already know he's full of something worse than sh*t.

In 1992, Tommy Lynn Sells was arrested in Charlestown, West Virginia for raping and stabbing, then beating a woman near to death with a piano stool. Apparently, the women had taken the homeless serial killer into her home to feed him when he raped and stabbed her. She managed to get the knife from him and inflict 23 knife wounds on her attacker. However, Sells grabbed a piano stool and beat her into submission. He left her for dead. She was not. She managed to describe him to police and he was arrested. He spent a mere four years in prison for malicious wounding.

During Tommy Lynn Sells' time in prison, he married Nora Price. When he was released in May of 1997, he went to live with his new wife. However, he continued to work odd jobs that took him out of town. He abandoned Price in less than a year. The October 1997 strangling murder of 13-year-old Stephanie Mahaney in Springfield, Missouri is often attributed to Tommy Lynn Sells. He did not stay in the area long.

In 1998, Sells met 28-year-old Jessica Lavrie in Del Rio, Texas while he was working for a carnival. Despite having never divorced Nora, Tommy married Jessica and went to live with her and her four children. He continued to travel, use drugs and murder innocent people. His wife seemingly had no idea.

On April 4, 1999, Sells raped and stabbed a 32-year-old woman and stabbed her eight-year-old daughter in Tennessee. Both died as a result of the attack. On April 18, 1999, Tommy Lynn Sells kidnapped nine-year-old Mary Bea Perez from a music festival in San Antonio, Texas. He molested her, killed her and then dumped her body in a creek. Less than a month later, Tommy raped 13-year-old Haley Mchone in Lexington Park, Lexington, Kentucky. He then strangled her to death. Tommy was arrested later that night for public intoxication. Police had no idea that they had the man who was responsible for Haley's disappearance. They let him go the following morning. Roughly two months later, Tommy raped, shot and killed 14-year-old Bobby Lynn Wofford.

Later that year, Sells began attending services at the Grace Community Church in Del Rio, Texas. There he met the Terry and Crystal Harris. He was taken into their home on more than one occasion. Tommy had 'befriended' Terry. The Harris' had three children, one of them a beautiful preteen girl that Tommy targeted. The Harris' had no idea that they had a serial killer in their midst and that that serial killer was going to murder their daughter.

On December 31, 1999, Sells heard that Terry Harris was going to be out of town for a while. That night, Tommy broke into Terry's trailer in Del Rio, Texas through a window. The window led into the room of 14-year-old Justin Harris. Justin was awakened by the sound, but believed it to be his siblings and went back to sleep. Justin was blind, so he did not see that the intruder was Tommy Lynn Sells. Sells left Justin untouched and went to the next room. Here was a 7-year-old girl who was staying with the family. Tommy left her alone too and moved on. In the next room, Crystal and her 12-year-old daughter were asleep. He quietly moved on to the next room where he found his target.

There was a bunk bed in the room where Tommy Lynn Sells found 13-year-old Kaylene "Katy" Harris. She was asleep on the bottom bunk. Tommy lay on the bed beside her and woke her up. He then cut of her clothing and underwear and began molesting her. She jumped up and yelled, "Go get Mama!" At this point, Tommy cut her and then moved around behind her to slit her throat-twice. Tommy then stabbed her 16 more times. Meanwhile, 10-year-old Krystal Surles, a friend of the family, lay on the top bunk, paralyzed by fear. Tommy noticed her and reached across her slender neck and sliced it with his knife. He then left the house through the front door.

Krystal believed that everyone in the house was dead. She herself was very close to death. She somehow managed to get to the neighbors house, who called 911. The knife had gone through Krystal's windpipe, so she was unable to speak, but her need was obvious. Katy did not survive the attack. Krystal did. This young woman would become the reason that Tommy Lynn Sells is behind bars today.

Krystal Surles described Tommy Lynn Sells to police, and later picked him out of a group of photographs from her hospital bed. He was arrested on January 2, 2000. He began confessing everything and more to police. He went to trial in September of 2000. The trial lasted only three days. The jury deliberated for only an hour and came back with a verdict of guilty on charges of capital murder. Sells is currently on death row in Texas.

It is important to note here that Tommy Lynn Sells' extensive confessions led to the release of a mother who had been convicted of murdering her young son as he slept. The murder occurred on October 13, 1997 in Lawrenceville, Illinois. Sells confessed that it is very likely that he committed it. Julie Harper spent nine years in prison for murdering her son, Joel. Her latest trial has made it painfully obvious that it is highly unlikely she committed the crime. Of course, the prosecutor disagrees.

Update: Tommy Lynn Sells was executed by the state of Texas on April 3, 2014.

Sources

Rhodes, Dusty, The End, retrieved 6/3/10, illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-3319-the-end.html

Krajicek, David, Tommy Lynn Sells, retrieved 6/3/10, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/tommy_sells/index.htm

Fred and Rosemary West: British Serial Killer Couple

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 14:45:00 +0000

Fred and Rosemary West are one of the thankfully rare serial killer couples in England's history. They are also among the most demented, cruel and sexually sadistic killers in world history. It is always shocking when more than one person is involved in a string of serial murders. However, it is even more shocking when it came to Fred and Rosemary West. They were a married couple with several children, two of which they brutally murdered.

Before Fred and Rosemary West met and married, they were both on the wrong path. Fred was aggressive with women from his teenage years on. He claimed that his father raped his sisters and Fred himself was guilty of impregnating his own younger sister, a crime that made him a convicted child molester by the age of 20. When Fred was 17, he was in a serious motorcycle accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury and a plate in his head. He hurt his head again when he put his hand up a girl's skirt and she pushed him off a fire escape. Experts have hypothesized that these injuries may have contributed to Fred's later behavior. His father could have had something to do with Fred's personality as well, if you can believe Fred's stories.

Rosemary West's childhood was not any better than Fred's was. Her father was a tyrant and abuser. Her mother was depressed. When she was pregnant with Rose, she had shock therapy. There is no way of knowing if this had an effect on the fetus, but it is possible. It is said that Rosemary was a promiscuous young woman. She may have walked around her parents' home naked when she got out of the shower. There have also been claims that she molested her younger brother. There is some speculation that she had an incestuous relationship with her father, a relationship that some say continued into adulthood.

Fred had several girlfriends and one wife before he met Rosemary. He killed one of his girlfriends and their unborn child in 1967. Most of his girlfriends were too young for him. He was masochistic with them and abused them regularly. He also had some children before he met Rose–how many is unclear. He later claimed that he had more than 40 children. Two of his known children were female. He began openly molesting them at a young age. Fred somehow managed to keep these children and send their mother back to her home in Scotland.

Fred West met Rosemary in 1968. Rose was 16 years old. She quickly became pregnant and moved in with Fred and his two daughters. The couple engaged in various forms of lewd sexual activity. They enjoyed using 'toys,' most of them for violent purposes. Unfortunately, they also included Fred's daughters in these acts. The child that Rosemary was carrying when they moved in together was also a girl. They named the poor child Heather. She was to live a short and tortured life.

Fred and Rosemary West were married in 1972. Not long after they were married, they moved into 25 Cromwell St. in Gloucester, England. They had another daughter, whom they named Mae. That same year the couple raped 17-year-old Caroline Owens. Her parents learned of the rape and notified the police. Fred convinced atuhorities that Caroline was a willing participant. Around the same time, the Wests murdered Linda Gough. Anna Marie (Fred's daughter) was around eight by that time. She became yet another victim of her deranged parents' abuse. Her father raped her while her stepmother held her down.. She would be raped and abused by both the elder Wests throughout her childhood. In 1973, Rosemary gave birth to a son. In December of that year, she and her husband abducted, tortured and murdered Lucy Partington.

In 1974, either Fred, Rosemary or both killed Fred's young daughter Charmaine. Rosemary disliked the child, though she was very cruel and abusive to all of the couple's children. Fred was in jail at some point during that year, so it is unclear who killed the girl. If the murder took place when Fred West was in jail, then it must have been Rosemary. Neither ever confessed to the murder, but her body was found buried at the first home the couple shared. Fred was responsible for removing her fingers, toes and kneecaps before burying her. This was a habit of his. Therefore, if Rosemary were the killer, Fred at least assisted her in the burial, if not the murder. When Charmaine's mother, Rena came back looking for her daughter, Fred killed her too.

Timeline of the Wests' activities between 1974 and 1986:

1974-1975- Raped, sexually tortured, killed and buried Therese Siegenthaler, Shirley Hubbard and Juanita Mott

1977- Fred impregnated 17-year-old Shirley Robinson. Some 7 months later, she and her unborn child were murdered. Rose gave birth to another daughter.

1978- Rose gives birth to yet another daughter.

1979- Raped, sexually tortured and killed Alison Chambers. Fred impregnated his daughter Anna Marie. She had to abort because the pregnancy was ectopic. Anne Marie West moved out of the house of horrors that year. Fred turned his attention to Heather and Mae.

1980- Rose gives birth to a boy.

1982- Rose gives birth to a girl.

1983- Rose gives birth to another girl.

*Note: Not all of these children were fathered by Fred West. At least two of them were fathered by Rose's clients, whom she often entertained in front of Fred for his pleasure. Also, Fred and Rosemary allowed other people to have sex with their victims, including their children. It is unknown whether any of these participants had knowledge of the murders that were taking place.

1986- Heather tells her friends about the abuse she is being subjected to at home. The police are notified and they come to the house. The police find child pornography in the couple's basement. Little did they know that the Wests were using the basement as a torture and murder chamber. The Wests are subsequently arrested and the younger children are put in the care of social workers. Amazingly, the older children are left with Rose, who was released before Fred. Fred was eventually released too and the charges were dropped because two of the witnesses (his children) refused to testify.

Following this incident, the Wests were not happy with their daughter Heather. She paid the ultimate price for her honesty near the end of 1986. Her father buried her beneath the patio at 25 Cromwell St. The Wests found themselves in trouble again in 1992, but nothing came of it. However, suspicion as to the whereabouts of their daughter, Heather West, had been raised. In 1994, detectives decided to take a closer look at 25 Cromwell St.

Before detectives began searching the property, they interviewed both Fred and Rosemary West. Fred was taken into custody and confessed to killing Heather, a confession of which Rose was not aware until later and which Fred quickly recanted. Both parents had some harsh things to say about their daughter. Fred said that he assumed she had taken a new name and gone into prostitution. Rose said that she was lazy and difficult. Both said that she had run away and that they believed she was a lesbian.

When police searched the property and came up with three bones, Fred confessed again. He said that he had killed Heather, but that he had not killed anyone else. There was one problem; the bones did not belong to Heather West. Fred also described the killing of his daughter in sickening detail. He told of how he strangled her and then cut her body into pieces to be buried. He even described the sound the knife had made when he cut her head off. All the while, he maintained that his wife had nothing to do with Heather's murder. When the other murders were brought to light, he said she had nothing to do with those either. Rosemary said the same thing. She even went so far as to shun her husband, the man with whom she had killed at least 10 girls. (Fred was guilty of 12 murders) When Rose did this, Fred hanged himself in his jail cell. Rosemary faced trial for the murders alone.

Rosemary was eventually convicted of ten murders and sentenced to life in prison. She maintained her innocence throughout the trial and to this day. However, her nasty temper got the better of her in court and she implicated herself on several occasions. Her children also painted a picture of an aggressive, abusive and depraved Rosemary West that has convinced many people of her guilt. It is also rather hard to believe that her husband could have killed that many people right under her nose and buried most of them right in her backyard and under her house without her noticing anything. There is suspicion that the couple, Fred in particular, were guilty of many more murders than police were able to prove. However, with Fred dead and Rosemary in jail refusing to tell the truth, we may never know.

Sources

Bardsley, Marilyn, FRED & ROSE WEST, retrieved 4/2/10, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/weird/west/index_1.html

February 24, 1994, Rose West, The Unprinted Interview, retrieved 4/2/10, neil-paton.tripod.com/inter.htm

Infamous Police Shootouts in U.S. History

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 19:40:00 +0000

Police shootouts, are about the closest thing to warfare as U.S. citizens typically experience. They terrorize both the lawmakers and the civilians who find themselves witnessing gunfire and even explosions. Here are a few shootouts that are infamous in the collective memory of this country.

The 1985 MOVE Shootout and Subsequent Fire

MOVE is a commune style group that preaches against technology and for living in harmony with the Earth. However, they were not averse to using violence. Their name is not an acronym for anything, though their members do all adopt the last name "Africa." The group is still active as of 2016.

On May 13, 1985, police approached the home of the MOVE group on Osage Ave. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Neighbors had been complaining of loud preaching and anti-American sentiment being broadcast from the house. They also complained of trash strewn in the yard for making compost and that there were nude children walking around the property. The group was known for a previous shooting and killing of a local police officer.

The police were met with resistance while attempting to search the property. They initially gassed the house in response, while the fire department doused the roof with water cannons. MOVE members fired shots at police, who fired back. Eventually, police dropped a bomb on the house, which set fire to explosives the group already had in the home. Five children perished in the fire while hiding in the basement. Six adult members also died. There were only two survivors–one adult and one child.

The fire went out of control and burned 61 houses. In all, roughly 50,000 rounds were fired in the MOVE home. The city has had to pay roughly 50 million dollars in damages to date.

Jerry Dove and Ben Grogan

1986 FBI Miami Shootout

On April 11, 1986, FBI Agents Ben Grogan and Jerry Dove spotted two men who were suspected of a string of bank robberies sitting in a car in Miami. The agents pursued the men, who fled in their vehicle. Eventually, the men came to a stop and fired at the two agents with .357 pistols, rifles and a shotgun. Despite the arrival of backup, the heavy arms fire cornered the two agents.

At the time, the FBI agents had smaller caliber pistols than those they are issued now. They hit the gunmen repeatedly during the exchange, but their bullets were not enough to stop them. Both Grogan and Dove were killed during the firefight. Five more agents were wounded and agents eventually killed both William Matix and Michael Platt–the perpetrators. Because of the result of this shootout, police and FBI forces across the country were given better weapons.

1980 Norco Bank Robbery

In terms of property damage, deaths and injuries, this shootout seems like something only Hollywood could produce. However, it did not happen in the studios of Hollywood. It happened for 25 miles across Norco and into San Bernardino, California. It all began on May 9, 1980 after 3 p.m., when police got a call that four men were holding up the Security Pacific Bank while one stood outside as a lookout. Deputy Glyn Bolasky was the first to arrive at the scene.

When Glyn Bolasky pulled up to the scene, he the lookout immediately shot at him. He put his car in reverse, eventually stopping and taking cover behind it. The four other robbers came out of the bank with roughly 20,000 dollars and R-15 machine guns. They all shot at the pinned officer and then jumped in their getaway van. Bolasky returned fire into the van with his shotgun, killing the driver and effectively stopping the van in the process. Other officers arrived and helped get Bolasky out of the area. He had been shot and was bleeding enough to go into shock by the time he was driven to the hospital. There were 47 bullet holes in his car.

The robbers were able to steal a truck. They left behind their van, the money, 2,000 rounds and 15 bombs that could have changed that day's outcome. Police chased them for 25 miles. The suspects fired at every patrol car they came across, even dropping grenades into the road. They managed to shoot a police helicopter, forcing it to land. In the end, they stopped the truck and ambushed Deputy Evans, who was killed. After this, the killers dispersed into the woods. Two days later, three were captured and another was killed by SWAT. In all, 33 police cars were damaged or destroyed, one helicopter was damaged, three criminals were dead and nine officers were injured. There were also civilian casualties.

The 1993 Waco Siege, Shootouts and Fire

The Waco Siege and shootouts of 1993 are arguably the most infamous events on this list. The story involves alleged overuse of force by government law enforcement agencies, alleged child abuse, molestation and rape by the criminals involved, the deaths of numerous ATF agents, children and adult Branch Davidian cult members. The situation lasted 51 days and appalled the world.

Leading up to February of 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms received information that the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas had amassed close to 200,000 dollars in weapons, ammunition and explosives. There were also allegations that the cult leader, David Koresh, was having sex with minor cult members. Later evidence suggested that some of the children on the Branch Davidian "Ranch Apocalypse" were the result of illegal relations with minors.

On February 28, 1993, the ATF arrived at Ranch Apocalypse to serve a search warrant. The cult appeared to have known of the ATF's impending arrival. A two-hour shootout ensued, during which the ATF was unable to serve or carry out the warrant in their possession. Four ATF special agents and six cult members died in the firefight. Sixteen additional ATF agents are wounded.

Following the shootout, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over the situation. A siege began which involved strange requests from David Koresh, video showing some of the minors he allegedly engaged in sexual acts with, hostage negotiations that Koresh continued to drag out, psychological tactics by the FBI in an attempt to get people to leave the ranch, the release of some women and children and the gathering of heavy firearms and tanks by the federal authorities.

On April 19, 1993, around 6 p.m., law enforcement began pumping tear gas into the compound. They continued this for four hours, but no one left the ranch. It is assumed that gas masks were used within the compound. There was more shooting between police and Branch Davidian members, but the real danger came at around noon when three fires began in the ranch. The FBI insists that the cult members started the fires, while the few survivors say the police started them, whether on accident or on purpose is unknown. In the end, 75 cult members died and only nine survived.

These are a select few of the many police shootouts that have occurred in U.S. History. Other notable shootouts include the North Hollywood Shootout, the Newhall Massacre, the Battle of Barrington and the Symbionese Liberation Shootout.

Sources

Moore, Martha T., 1985 Bombing in Philadelphia Still Unsettled, retrieved 8/1/11, usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-11-philadelphia-bombing.xhtm

FBI to Commemorate Bloody 1986 Miami Shooting, retrieved 8/1/11, miami.cbslocal.com/2011/04/11/fbi-to-commemorate-bloody-1986-miami-shootout/

The Norco Bank Robbery, retrieved 8/1/11, rcdsa.org/norcorobbery/robbery.html

The Bloody Benders: A Murderously Greedy Family

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 19:51:00 +0000

The Bender family was a group of killers that settled in Labette County, Kansas in the late 1800's. Witnesses say that they were from Germany or Holland, but that is uncertain. There were four of them altogether. John, “Pa” or William Bender was the father; Ma Bender (real name unknown), was the mother, John Jr. or John Bender the adult son and Kate Bender the adult daughter. At least, it assumed that this was the family dynamic and those were their names, but even that is unknown. Some sources claim that the only two who were actually related were Ma and Kate and that the last name Bender was taken from Ma’s first husband. Whether “Pa” Bender was really her husband and who John Jr. was is a matter of speculation.

“Pa” and John Bender placed a claim in Labette County in the early 1870's and subsequently built a house there, which was one story and consisted of a single large room. The women soon followed and the house was crudely split into two portions by hanging a piece of canvas. The foremost portion of the house served as a general store and inn for travelers. The rear portion of the house was for the Bender family’s private use. It has been suggested that Kate (who was reportedly attractive) sometimes worked as a prostitute to lure in wealthy guests. It is known that she earned a reputation conducting seances and such.

It is presumed that wealthy guests of the inn, and of Kate, were tricked into believing they were safe before one of the Bender men bashed their skulls in with a hammer. There was also evidence that some of them had their throats slashed. That may have been done postmortem, however. After the victim was killed, the body was relieved of all its possessions and pushed into the basement via a small trapdoor. The bodies were later buried on the property. The Benders were able to do this unimpeded for roughly two years.

The story about how the Benders were found out differs depending on who is telling it. One story goes that a man who was looking for his brother alerted the authorities and they got there to find the Benders were gone. The man’s brother’s corpse was buried on the property. Another story goes that a local meeting had been called to discuss the missing people and that the Bender men had attended this meeting. It was decided by the locals that every home in the area was to be searched. A few days later, a neighbor noticed that the Bender family home had been deserted. Upon further investigation, roughly ten bodies, some of them dismembered, were found buried in the area. At least one was a young child.

Rumors flew about the Bender family’s whereabouts for some time after their disappearance. There were several claims that vigilante justice had been carried out on the murderers. There were other claims that the women had been found, but that turned out to be false. The Benders were never officially found and punished for their alleged crimes.

The Lindbergh Kidnapping

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Wed, 18 May 2016 19:11:00 +0000

Wanted Poster

Charles Lindbergh is an American aviation legend. At the height of his career, he was a record-breaking hero. History remembers him as such, but he was more than that. Charles Lindbergh was the father of a boy who was not even two years old when he was stolen from his family and murdered. Charles and his wife Anne endured months of ransom notes and searching for their child only to find that he had probably been dead before they realized he was missing. The horrible crime created a media frenzy that drove the Lindberghs from the United States.

On the night of March 1, 1932, the Lindbergh family was relaxing in their Hopewell, New Jersey home. Charles Lindbergh Jr. was tucked away in his crib. The rest of the household was going about business as usual. At around 10 o'clock, the Lindberghs' nanny went to check on her charge. He was not in his room. She informed the baby's parents immediately. A search was conducted and the police were informed. The child was not in the house. It is though that the kidnapper(s) stole him from his room around 9 p.m. A note asking for $50,000 in ransom money was on the windowsill of the room.

When police arrived to conduct their investigation, they found several clues, but none of them would prove helpful until years later. There was mud on the floor of Charles Lindbergh Jr.'s room, presumably dragged in on the kidnapper's shoes. Also found were the remains of a broken ladder, which the kidnapper probably used to reach the boy's window. Police found footprints below the window, but none were clear enough for forensic use. There was no indication that the kidnapper hurt Charles Lindbergh Jr. inside of the home.

Police spoke with household workers and people close to the Lindbergh family. There were no leads. All they had to go on was the ransom note and twelve others that followed. Charles Lindbergh got the second ransom letter on March 6. It stated that the amount required was now $70,000. A third note arrived two days later, stating the correspondence would now go through the newspaper. Negotiations for payment of ransom began the next day. Several more ransom notes followed, all handled through an agreed upon intermediary. The kidnapper(s) produced the child's sleepwear as proof that they had Charles Jr. After a series of more exasperating communications, the amount was increased to $100,000.

Eventually, $50,000 was turned over to a man with the alias John in exchange for information on Charles Lindbergh Jr.'s whereabouts. The information was false. The area was searched several times. The child was not there. John lied and ran with the money. More than one month later, a motorist found Charles Lindbergh Jr.'s body on the side of the road less than five miles from the Lindbergh residence. The baby suffered massive head injuries. His tiny body was marked with animal bite wounds and it was decaying rapidly. An autopsy showed that the kidnapper killed Charles Jr. right after he stole him. It is possible that the kidnapper accidentally dropped the baby when exiting the house.

The investigation continued, this time in an effort to catch the person or persons who had stolen Charles and Anne Lindbergh's son, murdered him and then extorted money from his grieving parents. There were numerous false leads and claims. Police sifted through these whilst trying to find the money used to pay the killer or killers. It was years before investigators finally got a worthwhile lead.

On August 20, 1934, some of the gold certificates used as ransom turned up in New York. These certificates eventually led back to Bruno Hauptmann, who fit the description of John. The police searched his house and found $13,000 of the ransom money, the same type of wood used to make the ladder, the intermediary's contact information and goods paid for with ransom money. Later, his handwriting was compared with that on the ransom notes–it matched. Bruno's case did not look good, but he denied everything.

Hauptmann was brought to trial on January 3, 1935. Charles Lindbergh was there every day of the five-week trial. A the trial, the Lindberghs could no longer bear to live in the United States where the press hounded them and their loss haunted them. It did not matter that Hauptmann was found guilty and executed; they would never find peace.

Conspiracy theorists posited the possibility that Hauptmann was framed. Crime buffs stated (correctly) that Hauptmann was convicted on circumstantial evidence that left a shadow of a doubt. The fact is that the evidence against Bruno was convincing even if it was circumstantial. If he was framed, it was an elaborate frame-up. Either way, Charles Lindbergh Jr. was denied a long life because someone sought the wealth of his parents.

Sources

FBI, The Lindbergh Kidnapping, retrieved 12/2/10, fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/the-lindbergh-kidnapping

Johnny Frank Garrett and the Murder of Sister Benz

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 03 May 2016 15:00:00 +0000

More than half of the United States still use the death penalty. It is also still used in federal and military cases. However, there are strict laws regarding when the use of the death penalty is appropriate, legally speaking. It is not something that is handled lightly, in most cases. It is also reserved for the most heinous of crimes. The death penalty is considered for nothing short of murder. Nonetheless, there are times when there is doubt as to whether the death penalty was the right punishment or if the party was even guilty of the crimes that resulted in the death penalty. Such was the case with Johnny Frank Garrett.

Johnny Frank Garrett was 17-years-old when he allegedly raped and murdered a 76-year-old nun in a nunnery. He reportedly broke into the convent, entered Sister Benz's room, raped her and killed her. One piece of evidence against him was an alleged confession that he never signed and of which there are no audio recordings. Other evidence included a clairvoyant pointing the finger at Johnny and Johnny's fingerprints at the scene. According to "The Last Word," a documentary about Garrett, Garrett had been in the convent helping move furniture within a few weeks of the murder.

Other evidence at the site of the Benz murder included black curly hairs that clearly did not belong to the straight-haired Caucasian Johnny Frank Garrett and which did not match the victim, a t-shirt that evidently did not belong to Johnny and an officer seeing Johnny near the convent that night. Johnny Frank Garrett lived across the street from the convent. Two knives were found at the scene, one was a butter knife with Garrett's prints on it, but neither was used to kill the nun. Police discarded DNA evidence found at the scene. The State of Texas even threatened to sue Garrett's surviving family members if they asked for the DNA in a court of law.

A few outside factors make the Johnny Frank Garrett case even more intriguing. Other elderly women in the area had recently been raped and murdered in a very similar way. Johnny was not guilty of those crimes. Another man later confessed to killing the nun and was convicted of other killings. He also claimed the white t-shirt found at the scene of the crime was his. The very church that was traumatized by the elderly nun's death argued against the death penalty in Garrett's case. Not only was he just 17 when he was tried, he was also allegedly mentally handicapped and he may well have been innocent.

Johnny Frank Garrett supposedly committed murder in 1981. Eleven years later, he was put to death by lethal injection. He maintained his innocence until his death. Without any clear DNA evidence, there is no telling if Johnny Frank Garrett was truly guilty. However, there remains the question of whether there was enough evidence to convict him and whether executing a person with mental disabilities is morally correct.

Sources

Actual Innocence: Johnny Frank Garrett and Bubbles the Clairvoyant, retrieved 5/13/11, skepticaljuror.com/2010/04/fine-folks-of-amarillo-wanted-justice.html

Dena Riley and Richard Davis: Sadistic Serial Killer Couple

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 14:42:00 +0000

Richard Davis and Dena Riley were drug-crazed serial killers willing to do the unthinkable. They were the classic killer couple, feeding off each other's depravity and, in the case of Dena, willing to do anything to please her partner. There were few lines this duo did not cross, even though their killing spree was relatively short and included comparatively few victims.

Richard "Ricky" Davis was a repeat sex offender and general lawbreaker who was raised in Kansas City. He was institutionalized as a teenager. Later, he was imprisoned for stealing. Within months of his release, he was back in prison for raping a woman at knifepoint. He was sentenced to 25 years but was released in May of 2005 after roughly 18 years.

For nine months after his release, Ricky Davis catered to a bondage, strangulation and sexual murder fetish with pornography. At the same time, he attended sex counseling, drug counseling and kept in touch with his parole officer religiously. His compliance with his parole was probably an attempt to stay out of jail. What he really wanted to do was make snuff films. In other words, he wanted to film himself raping and killing women. It was just a fantasy until Ricky met the perfect accomplice–Dena Riley.

Dena Riley was 38-years-old when she met 40-year-old Richard Davis. She was also a Missourian who lived in and around Kansas City. Her methamphetamine addiction gave her a working knowledge of the seedy underbelly of meth circles in the area. Ricky had been away for a while and needed help finding his victims. Dena, apart from short stints in jail, had been active in the scene for a long time. She had lost her four children, allegedly sold her body for drugs and had nothing left to lose, apart from her humanity.

The couple met in a metal factory in Kansas City just a few months after Ricky's release from prison. They began dating each other and living together in Independence, MO shortly thereafter. Authorities believe that Dena helped find willing participants for Ricky's violent sex fantasies by seeking meth addicts who needed money or drugs. He allegedly asked one of these women to kill with him, but she refused and distanced herself from Ricky and Dena. Dena, on the other hand, was not repulsed by Ricky's fantasies.

On May 15, 2006, police found the body of Marsha Spicer, a meth addict who was choked to death and violently raped. On May 16, one of the women whom Dena had lured in for Ricky tipped off the police about his violent behavior and use of meth addicts as victims. The next day, the police showed up at Dena Riley and Ricky Davis' apartment. Because they did not have a warrant, they were unable to search the premises. They asked Ricky and Dena to leave until they could obtain one and conduct the search. The couple complied, knowing that they were now on the run. They knew what police would find in the apartment, but they had a head start.

After obtaining the warrant, police found video of Dena and Ricky raping and killing Marsha in the apartment. They also found video of them doing the same to another woman who was later identified as 38-year-old Michelle Ricci–another meth addict. Dena and Ricky were long gone before police even had an idea of where to look for them. They went and picked up Ricky's niece with the pretense that they would return the five-year-old girl to her parents after taking her out. Ricky's sister called police when they child was not returned. It was only then that she learned the danger her daughter was in. By the time she was found, the little girl needed surgery to fix the damage done by Ricky and Dena when they sexually assaulted her.

Dena accidentally turned herself in when she called 911 and asked for directions. Police went to the location Dena had given and found Ricky unconscious in their vehicle, which Dena was trying to push out of a ditch. A helpful passerby had the little girl in his car. It is unclear whether the injuries inflicted on her were obvious or if the man thought she was hurt in the apparent car accident. The two were arrested on the spot and are still incarcerated today.

Update: Davis is on death row. Riley is serving a lifesentence.

Sources

Krajicek, David, Ricky and Dena, retrieved 11/12/11, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/partners/richard_dean

Children Who Murder

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 18:06:00 +0000

Any time a murder occurs it is shocking and frightening. However, when the person who perpetrates the murder is the person you would least expect, it is even more shocking and scary. It is often hard to imagine that we would have to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the murderous intentions of a child, but there are children out there who are very dangerous. The following are some infamous murders where the murderer or murderers turned out to be shockingly young.

The Murder of Shanda Sharer: Melinda Loveless and Toni Lawrence

Melinda Loveless was sixteen-years-old in 1992, when she instigated and participated in the murder of twelve-year-old Indiana native Shanda Sharer. Melinda was a lesbian who was in a relationship with a younger girl, fourteen-year-old Amanda Heavrin. Amanda Heavrin began a relationship with Shanda while she was still going out with Melinda. When Melinda found out, she was enraged. On Friday, January 10, 1992, Melinda Loveless set out with the intention of harming Shanda, by the end of the night, she and her accomplices, who were still children themselves, had murdered young Shanda.

Melinda Loveless, her friend Laurie Tackett, 17, and her two friends, Hope Rippey, 15, and Toni Lawrence, 15, arrived at Shanda’s residence at around 12:30 a.m. Toni, Laurie and Hope went to the door and convinced her to leave with them, saying that they were going to meet up with Amanda. Shanda reluctantly got in the car, where Melinda was waiting. Once Shanda was in the car and they had been driving for a little bit, Melinda came out from under a blanket she had been hiding under and put a knife to Shanda’s throat. They then took her into the woods where Loveless ordered her out of the car and forced her to take all of her clothes off, except her panties.

At this point, Melinda Loveless began beating little Shanda and then tried to slit her throat. The knife was too dull. Laurie Tackett joined in and both she and Loveless began stabbing Shanda in the chest. The wounds were not deadly, so Tackett decided to strangle her with a length of rope, while Melinda held her down. The girls then put her in the trunk. She still wasn’t dead. What followed was a night of driving around and intermittently beating the girl in the trunk. She was stabbed again by Tackett, who also beat her over the head with a tire iron so brutally that a piece of her skull broke off. Either Melinda Loveless or Laurie Tackett sodomized Shanda with the tire iron as well.

The poor child survived all of this, only to be burnt alive in the woods by the two crazed girls. The other two girls don’t seem to have participated in the beatings and killing of Shanda directly. However, neither of them called for help and they had ample opportunity. One of them also helped carry Shanda to the place where she was burned. Both Loveless and Tackett are currently serving 60-year sentences for Shanda’s murder.

The Frontier Middle School Shooting: Barry Loukaitis

On February 2, 1996, Barry Loukaitis walked into his school in Moses Lake, Washington dressed as an old-time gunslinger. He wore a long coat, underneath which were two pistols and a rifle. When he went into his algebra class, he proceeded to shoot and kill his teacher and two of the children in his class. He also shot a young girl in the arm. He held the class hostage for a matter of minutes before he was stopped by the school coach. He later claimed that he was inspired by the Pearl Jam video for their song “Jeremy.” It has also been speculated that he got the idea from the movie “The Basketball Diaries” and Stephen King’s book “The Rage.” However, the blame squarely falls on Loukaitis. Barry Loukaitis is currently serving two life sentences and then some. As much as he deserves them, it is a little disturbing that he is serving a longer sentence than both Loveless and Tackett combined.

The Murder of Tiffany Eunick: Lionel Tate

Lionel Tate was twelve-years-old in 1999, when his mother began babysitting six-year-old Tiffany Eunick. The two children were watching television when Lionel’s mother decided to go upstairs in her apartment in Pembroke Park, Florida. She was upstairs for at least forty-five minutes, when at about 10:40, Lionel came upstairs to tell her that Tiffany wasn’t breathing. She was unable to be resuscitated. An autopsy showed that Tiffany had suffered a fractured skull, damage to her internal organs and bruising all over her body, with a total of 35 injuries.

Lionel said that he had only been trying out a wrestling hold on her and that she had hit her head. He was sentenced to life without parole for the murder of Tiffany Eunick, a sentence that was later reduced. He was let out of jail when he was seventeen with ten years of parole. He wound up back in jail after committing several acts of robbery and violence.

The Murder of James Bulger: Robert Thompson and Jon Venables

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson (both of them 10-years-old) were playing hooky from school on February 12, 1993. They went to the Bottle Strand Shopping Center near Liverpool, England and began committing petty theft there. At some point the boys decided that they would kidnap a child. Jon later said that it was because Robert wanted to make the child get hit by a car. Robert said that Jon wanted to hit a ‘kid.’ After getting caught trying to grab one little boy, they managed to convince two-year-old James Bulger to leave the mall with them. Security cameras caught the three children leaving the mall at 3:42 p.m. Little James was holding Jon’s hand.

Jon and Robert brought James on an eventful hours long walk that day. They traveled through the streets, in plain view, for nearly two and a half miles. They were seen striking the boy, and it was noticed by several people that James was visibly upset. He was even returned to Robert and Jon when a woman noticed that they had left him at the edge of a local canal. Most of the people said later that they thought Jon and Robert were babysitting, that they didn’t want to get involved or they didn’t know what to do.

At around 5:45 p.m. Jon and Robert had James by a set of railroad tracks. They splashed his face with blue paint, then hit him with stones, bricks and an iron bar. At one point they took off the small child’s shoes and pants. It has been said that inspection of the injuries suggests that the older boys may have sexually assaulted their captive. After they were finished tormenting James Bulger, Jon and Robert laid him on the tracks and weighed his head down with bricks. He was still alive at the time. However, he died before a train came along and severed his tiny body in two.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were released less than ten years after the crime was committed. Their names were changed and they were put into a sort of protection program after several people expressed a wish to murder the two young men. They will be watched for the entirety of their lifetimes and they are not allowed to contact each other. That should be easy considering the fact that Jon has already been stuck back in prison under some serious allegations that have yet to be divulged to the public. Rumors of child pornography are currently flooding the internet.

Cases like these often make us cringe at the horror and rail against the injustice of it. Where were these child murderers’ parents? How did no one notice that there was something seriously wrong with these children? What was happening to these children to cause them to turn to this sort of violence? How could something like this happen?

The truth of it is that most of these child murderers did display obvious signs of mental disturbance, but so do many children who never go on to commit atrocities such as these. A few of them were abused both mentally and physically at home as well. However, it is hard to imagine an abusive parent coming forward and saying there is something wrong with their child, so that he or she may get the help they so desperately need. So, who’s going to stop the cycle of abuse? Who would imagine that something like this could happen and notice it in time to stop it? The answer should be “all of us.”

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley: The Moors Murderers

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 17:44:00 +0000


The street on which the couple lived. Photo by Gene Hunt (Mikey)

The Moor Murders were some of the most horrific serial killings ever committed by a couple. The monsters behind these murders were IanBrady and Myra Hindley. The bulk of their murders were committed in Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. They were the sort of couple that fed off each other's sadistic, dark and brooding characteristics to the point where neither could see the evil in the other's actions. They were child torturers and murderers–sexually sadistic pedophiles who murdered at least five children. Myra would have had people think that she had little to no hand in the killings. Ian asserts that she was just as involved as he was. The evidence suggests that Ian was telling the truth.

Myra led a relatively normal life. She was raised by her mother the first few years of her life, but later went to live with her doting grandmother. She was not abused. She was not abandoned. She was given all of the average opportunities that an average girl from an average family is expected to have. According to those who knew her, she showed no signs of violence or sexual sadism in her youth. In fact, she was a popular choice for a babysitter in her neighborhood. This fact is more than a little disturbing, given her later behavior.

Ian Brady was cared for by his mother in his infancy. No one but her knows who his father was and she never told. She had difficulty supporting Ian, so she gave him to a couple with children of their own. She signed over her welfare checks to them and came to visit Ian once a week until he was 12-years-old, at which time she remarried and disappeared from his life for several years. He did not find out that she was his mother until much later.

Ian's adoptive parents were not abusive. They did the best they could with Ian, who was increasingly troublesome. He was, by all accounts, above average in the intelligence department. However, he never applied himself in school. He was a brooding, creepy outcast. Later, he became a thief. He was sent to live with his biological mother after being caught breaking and entering three times. After a stint with her and his stepfather, he found himself in more trouble. He was jailed at the age of 17 and let out when he was 21-years-old.

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady met in 1961 and began dating in 1962. Ian Brady was into Nazi culture and dark literature. He let Myra in on his most twisted beliefs and Myra never questioned them. She began dressing in leather boots and mini-skirts because that is what Ian liked. She also bleached her hair. We are left with this image of her from her mug shots–bleached blonde hair, dark apathetic eyes and a remorseless expression.

It did not take long for the couple to start stealing, raping and killing children. Their first known victim was 16-year-old Pauline Reade. Pauline was walking to a dance on July 12, 1963, when Myra offered her a ride. She asked her to come to Saddleworth Moor to help her find a fictitious lost glove. The pretty and kind girl agreed. Ian was not far behind. When they got to the Moor, Ian hit Pauline in the head with a shovel and brutally raped her before slitting her throat so savagely that he nearly removed her head. He then buried her nearby. Only Myra and Ian know for sure how much Myra participated in Pauline's brutal murder.

On November 23, 1963, Myra managed to get 12-year-old John Kilbride to take a ride home from the grocery store with her. Like Pauline before him, John was tricked into thinking that Myra had lost a glove on Saddleworth Moor. Once they arrived, Ian brutally beat and raped the poor boy. He then attempted to slit his throat and failed. He opted instead to strangle him with a piece of string - a method that would become a habit with Ian. John was also buried in the moor. Myra later claimed she sat in the car through John's ordeal.

Their next victim was Kyle Bennett, who had just turned 12-years-old when Myra Hindley and Ian Brady killed him. Kyle's murder was nearly identical to that of John, except Ian took pictures of his sadistic deeds. Myra reportedly burned them later, after police had arrested Ian. That's kind of an odd act for someone who was not a willing participant in the murder. Kyle's body is the only one that has yet to be found. His still grieving mother has pleaded with her son's killers for the location of his tiny, tortured body, but to no avail. Ian's cruelty and selfishness knows no bounds.

The next and youngest victim of the Moor Murderers was 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey. Myra and Ian met her on the Ancoats Fairground on December 26, 1964. They asked her to help them carry boxes at their house. She agreed. Once there, they tied her up, tortured her, raped her and strangled her. Her tiny body was later taken to the moor and buried. Police would later find pictures of her bound. They also found an audiotape of her torture. In it, little Lesley gags, cries and begs for her life. In the background, you can hear both of her tormentors, proving that Myra was more than just a bystander. Sadly, Lesley's mother was needed to identify her daughter's voice on the tape for police.

On October 6, 1965, 17-year-old Edward Evans was brought to the Hindley/Brady house. His was to be the last of the Moor Murders. Ian slaughtered him with an ax. While he was in the act, Myra's brother-in-law arrived at the house. He witnessed the murder. Ian and Myra made him help them clean up the mess. He was there for hours before going home the next morning terrified and physically ill. He told his wife what he had seen and they both went to the police. Ian was arrested soon after. Police had arrived at the house and found Edward's body in an upstairs bedroom.

Ian was eventually found guilty of three murders - Myra of two. The Moor Murderers kept in touch through letters until 1970, when Myra stopped writing Ian. Myra died in jail at the age of 60. Ian still lives. He has been on hunger strike for the past ten years. He is force fed through a tube to keep him alive. He shows no remorse for his killings, but he never wanted to be let out of jail. He never once appealed.

Sources

Steel, Fiona, Murder on the Moors, retrieved 9/28/10, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/moors/index_1.html

Moor Murders, retrieved 9/28/10, monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Moors_murders

Serial Killers in History

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 21:13:00 +0000

Copy of a portrait of Elizabeth Bathory

While the term “serial killer” is a relatively new one, it would seem that serial killers have existed for a very long time. There are some historical serial killers that have been documented as well as they can be, given the age of the killings. We can also safely assume that there have been cases of serial killings that have simply been lost to history. Some experts even think that early tales of werewolves, vampires and the like may have been based on historical serial killers. The following are three serial killers in history whose killings were documented well enough to be generally accepted cases.

Jack the Ripper

No list of historical serial killers would be complete without the man that some people mistakenly believe to be the world’s first serial killer. The case of Jack the Ripper certainly was one of the first highly publicized serial killings. However, there were unsolved cases in the United States and likely elsewhere before Jack the Ripper’s 1888 killing spree. There were even some that matched the Ripper’s brutality, such as the Servant Girl Annihilator of Austin, Texas. Nonetheless, Jack the Ripper remains perhaps the most infamous serial killer of all time.

The murders that are generally credited to Jack the Ripper took place from the late summer into the early winter of 1888. The Ripper is thought to have had at least five victims. All of his victims were prostitutes and they were all found in the Whitechapel District in London and the surrounding areas. The murders that are thought to have been the work of Jack were those of Annie Chapman, Mary Ann Nichols, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly.

Jack the Ripper would slash the throats of his victims and would then mutilate them. It is thought by many that he may have been a surgeon, due to the nature of his killings. However, we may never know. The identity of this historical serial killer has never been ascertained and probably never will be.

Gilles de Rais

The historical serial killer, Gilles de Rais, is best known for the serial killings and rapes of young children that he reportedly committed during the 1400s. He was also chief advisor and general for Joan of Arc. He was responsible, in part, for the liberation of Orleans. He was also considered one of France’s bravest and most successful soldiers. By 1430, he was the Marshall of France. However, after his war days were over, he turned his attention to something far more sinister.

Gilles was a wealthy man of noble birth and therefore had a castle and servants at his disposal. His castle reportedly became the scene of horrific child murders and his servants and friends became his accomplices. When Gilles de Rais confessed to these murders, he claimed that his first murder took place in 1432 or 1433. He also said that he had murdered so many children that he was unaware of the exact number.

Gilles and his accomplices would lure small children (mostly boys) to his castle. Once they were there, Gilles would torture them, sodomize them and murder them. He is even said to have sat on the stomachs of young boys and laughed as they died. Some of the acts that Gilles de Rais is said to have committed with these children are truly unspeakable. He confessed under threat of torture and was hanged on October 26, 1440. He is thought to have killed anywhere between 30 and 140 children.

Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Bathory

One of the best known historical serial killers is Elizabeth Bathory. Elizabeth Bathory was a noblewoman who lived in Castle Csejthe, in the remote regions of the Carpathian mountains in Transylvania. She was a headstrong and vain woman who reportedly delighted in torturing others, particularly young female servants. It is said that she developed a love for torture with the help of her husband, who was a soldiering man. He taught her how to make others suffer and she enjoyed it so much that she continued to commit these evil deeds, even after her husband’s death.

Elizabeth’s husband died somewhere between 1602 and 1604. He was supposedly stabbed to death by a prostitute, whom he hadn’t paid. Elizabeth was roughly 43 years old, at the time. She soon became obsessed with her aging complexion and one day convinced herself that the blood of a servant, whom she had been beating severely, had made her skin look younger. Elizabeth surrounded herself with self-proclaimed occultists, who confirmed her delusion.

It was at this time that Elizabeth became a serial killer. She would locate young female virgins with the help of her friends and bring them to her castle. Once she had them there, she would torture them and drain them of their blood while they were still alive. The crazed woman would then bathe in their blood. There are stories that she even drank the blood of the prettiest ones.

Bathory was eventually discovered and punished for her crimes in 1610. She was locked in a closet in her castle for the last four years of her life. Some of her occultist friends were burned alive. Elizabeth was exempt from this because of her noble blood. She never confessed to her crimes, but she was blamed for the disappearance of roughly 600 women, nonetheless.

So, you see, serial killers have existed in our history for quite some time. Serial killers are not modern phenomena. Unfortunately, they will probably continue to exist, despite modern forensic psychologists’ attempts to explain just why these people commit such atrocious crimes.

Sources

Krause, Jerome C., Erzsebet (Elizabeth Bathory), retrieved 12/3/09, aba.com/~jkrause/bathory.html

Grubben, Mark, Gilles de Rais, retrieved 12/3/09, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/rais/index_1.html

The Original Night Stalker: A Serial Killer Who Was Never Caught

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:22:00 +0000

Police composite sketch
of the Original Night Stalker

The Original Night Stalker is a serial killer and rapist who operated in both the northern and southern parts of California from 1976 until the mid-1980s. He is assumed to be one of the most active serial rapists and murderers in California history. He is also one of the most active unidentified serial killers in world history. The only reasons we know he exists are the links between his horrific crimes and the DNA taken from several crime scenes. Even with the DNA database that California is now keeping of criminals, the killer has yet to be caught.

The name "Original Night Stalker" derives from that of a serial killer/rapist arrested in California after the crimes of this serial killer were committed. The crimes of the "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez differed from those of the Original Night Stalker in many ways and other evidence rules Richard out as the perpetrator of the previous crimes. Richard was caught and nearly killed by a mob before police could catch him. His picture had been posted on the news. A sketch of the Original Night Stalker was also posted on the news, before he began killing his victims. It was of no use.

The crimes of the Original Night Stalker began in northern California in 1976. He would meticulously case houses, break in days or even weeks before the crime and ready the house for his rape. In many cases, he loosened window screens so his passage into the house would be easy and quiet. In one case, he found the household gun and emptied the clip. He would then break into the house at a later date, parking his car away from the residence so no one could report his vehicle.

His modus operandi was to enter the house quietly and then shine a flashlight in his victim's face, yelling at her to wake up. He would then tie her up using a specific diamond knot. He would rape her and often stay in the house for hours, stealing small keepsakes and even eating in some residences. The women he attacked described his behavior as torturous. His attacks were both physically violent and psychological.

When it was posted on the news that he was attacking women alone, he changed his methods. He began attacking couples in their homes. He would tie up the woman and the man and then tell the man that if he tried to stop the rape, he would kill the woman. He had a gun with which to commit murder. However, he did not commit any murders during this time of which police are aware.

Over the course of three years, the Original Night Stalker raped more than 50 women. Profilers later said that he must have been intelligent and aware of police procedure. He wore a mask and gloves, but he was known to be white because women saw the bare skin of his legs. He would steal bicycles and use them to leave the scene of the crime so his car was not connected to them. He also began calling his victims after the rapes and making horrible threats, but he never stayed on the line long enough to get a trace. The recordings are a chilling record of his existence and one of the few records we have.

The rapist behind these rapes came to be known as the East Area Rapist. At least two witnesses believe they saw the man leaving a neighborhood or entering it at one time or another, so police were able to make a sketch of him. The sketch was released and the crimes stopped for some time. However, they began again in neighboring areas within months. Then, in 1979, they stopped altogether. It was not until 2001 that police were able to prove that the rapes stopped in northern California because the East Area Rapist had gone to southern California to commit a series of murders and murder/rapes.

During his killing spree, the Original Night Stalker killed four couples and two individual women. His murders were violent, particularly for the women. He would bludgeon them to death with blunt objects. In one case, he used a fireplace log to commit the murders. As before, he would do extensive casing of his targets. It is quite possible that, like with the BTK killer, several people got lucky when his planning went awry in some way. The murders stopped in California as suddenly as they started. Police tried to find a link to him elsewhere in the country, but thus far, nothing has turned up.

Some assume that the Original Night Stalker must be dead or in prison. It is almost guaranteed that he is not in prison in California. He may have been killed when entering someone's house, but police followed that hypothesis as well and found nothing. Given the typical starting age of serial killers and the Original Night Stalker's profile, it is assumed that he was in his twenties or early thirties when he was committing his rapes. That would make him 50 or 60 by now. Sadly, the case gets colder all the time. If he is dead, we may never know who he was. If he is alive, he may never pay for his crimes.

Sources

THS Investigates: The Original Night Stalker, 2009

Santa Cruz, Nicole & Chawkins, Steve, DNA testing sheds new light on Original Night Stalker Case, retrieved 11/13/11, L.A. Times, March, 2011

The Long Island Serial Killer

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 23:10:00 +0000

Few things are as terrifying as knowing a serial killer is on the loose and not knowing if he or she is still active. Unfortunately, that is the situation the residents of Long Island face with the so-called Long Island or Gilgo Beach Killer. The killer's victims come from several states, but the dumping ground is always in Long Island, leading police and locals to wonder if the killer is one of their neighbors. It is a tough case with few leads, but police are continuing to work on it, as of early 2014.

The true beginnings of the Long Island Killer case go back to at least 1996, but realization that a serial killer is at work in the area did not come until 2010. The discoveries of at least 10 related bodies began with the unrelated disappearance of a young escort named Shannan Gilbert. Shannan had been working when she ran off from her client's house, as her driver watched. She screamed for help, banging on people's doors and even calling 911 to say, "they" were going to kill her. This was in May of 2010. This prompted a search for the girl that turned up nothing for some time.

In December of the same year, police were either training a cadaver dog or looking for Shannan, depending on the source, when the dog found the skeletal remains of a woman in a burlap sack off Ocean Parkway. Two days later, three more bodies were found, all in burlap sacks, all in the same area of the parkway. What was happening soon became self-evident. By April of 2011, another four bodies were found. Though the additional bodies were killed and disposed of using a different M.O than the initial bodies found in burlap sacks, police believe they are all connected. They noted the differences initially, but later asserted that they have reason to believe they were all killed by the same person. Some of the details have yet to be released.

Interestingly, some of the body parts discovered in 2011 were matched to remains found years earlier. Two legs washed up on Fire Island in 1996. Partial remains found in April of 2010 matched those legs. Another of the victims was matched to remains found on November 19, 2000. The forearm, hands and skull of Jessica Taylor match remains found 45 miles away from the area near Gilgo Beach in 2003.

Because of the disappearance timeline of the known victims and these earlier discoveries, it is known that, if this is truly a single killer, he or she was active for at least the 14 years between 1996 and 2010. It is unclear if the killer is still active in the area or has found a new dumping ground.

The Victims of the Long Island Killer are as follows:

Maureen Brainard - Barnes, a 25-year-old prostitute who advertised on Craigslist. She was strangled and her body was found in a burlap bag on Ocean Parkway. She disappeared on July 9, 2007.

Melissa Bathelemy, a 24-year-old prostitute who advertised on Craigslist. She too was strangled and left on the Ocean Parkway in a burlap bag. She disappeared on July 10, 2009.

Megan Waterman, a 22-year-old prostitute who advertised on Craiglist, died and was disposed of in the same manner as Brainard, Barnes and Bathelemy. She disappeared on June 6, 2010.

Amber Lynn Costello, a 27-year-old prostitute who advertised on Craiglist and disappeared on September 2, 2010. She was strangled and left on Ocean Parkway in a burlap sack.

(Note: The four victims above were the only four who followed this seemingly strict modus operandi. However, the victims who were murdered and disposed of by different means appear to have been killed before the Craigslist victims, showing that the change in M.O came later, if the following victims are indeed from the same killer.)

Jessica Taylor was 20 years old when she was killed. She was working as a prostitute. Some of her remains were found in 2003. Her forearms, hands and skull were found when police found all of the other victims.

The rest of the victims are unidentified:

Jane Doe No. 6 was about 5' 2" and was between 18 and 35 years old at the time of death. The rest of her body was found on November 19, 2000.

A young Asian male victim was between 17 and 23 years old when he died. He was dressed as a woman and beaten to death. The victim and method of murder is different in this case, but police say they have reason to believe it is connected.

The body of a toddler was found near the young Asian man. She was about 16 to 24 months old when she was murdered. Her body was wrapped in a blanket. One of the victims found in April 2011 was determined to be a relative of the child, possibly her mother.

A young male between 20 and 30 washed up on Amagansett Beach. His head has yet to be found.

Multiple other murders are speculated to be related. However, no positive links have been confirmed between these 10 victims and any others. Of course, there is always the possibility of more victims.

As for the killer him or herself, very little is known. There has been speculation that he or she has solid knowledge of police procedure because virtually no evidence is left on the victims. In one case, an effort was made to remove the victim's tattoos, but that effort was never seen in other victims. Even personal belongings were left on some of them. What we do know is based on police and media profiling. The killer is assumed to be a white male because that is typically the case with such murders. That is all there is to the public's knowledge.

Some hoped to connect known New York City serial killer Joel Rifkin to the murders. The M.O is quite similar, including the profession of the victims. Nonetheless, there is an obvious glaring hole in the theory. Rifkin was apprehended in 1993. Sure, maybe one or two of the victims died before then, but all of the known victims disappeared after Rifkin was put in jail. It's a worthless connection.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, no more evidence has been found in the case since the initial discoveries, as far as the public is concerned. Nonetheless, the police have stated categorically that this is not considered a cold case and investigations are moving forward. There is always the hope that the remaining victims will be identified and their killer will be brought to justice.

Infamous Killer Couples in History

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 18:40:00 +0000

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

Serial killings and murders are typically a difficult thing to understand for those of us who do not commit them. Most of us respond to knowledge of these deeds with shock and disgust. How could a person behave so sinisterly? This feeling of shock is even worse when a couple commits the killings. How could two people like this find each other? How can both people be so sick that neither attempted to put a stop to it? Such was the case with the following killer couples. Two sick individuals managed to find each other and neither had enough conscious to stop the killings that followed.

Infamous Killer Couples: Caril Ann Fugate and Charles Starkweather

Charles Starkweather was 19 years old when he and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, went on a killing spree. Like many killer couples, the pair had a sort of twisted, parasitic relationship. They relied on each other for self-confidence and happiness, though neither would find it.

After Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate were dating for about two years, Charles committed a robbery/murder. Caril was not present for this crime, but she would be for the next. On January 21, 1958, Charles arrived at the house where Caril lived with her mother, stepfather and two-year-old sister. All three were murdered. Caril claims that she did not know that her family was killed. Some believe she was in the house when it happened. She almost certainly helped Charles hide the bodies in the backyard of the Nebraska home.

Charles and Caril stayed at the house for nearly a week before going on a road trip to Wyoming. By the time they were apprehended on January 29, 1958, the body count was up to eleven. Caril later claimed that she had nothing to do with the murders and that she feared for her own life. Her own testimony proved that she had numerous opportunities to escape. Charles was found guilty and executed. Caril was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled in 1976.

Infamous Killer Couples: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, or simply Bonnie and Clyde, met in January of 1930. Bonnie had a thing for criminals. Though only 19 years old, she was already married to a man who was in jail for murder. Not long after she met Clyde, he was put in jail for stealing. Bonnie managed to get a gun to him and he escaped.

The crimes for which they are famous began in 1933. At that time, they were part of a five-person gang of robbers. It was only a matter of months before two of them were arrested and one was killed. Bonnie and Clyde were then on their own. They continued on their crime spree until they were shot and killed on May 23, 1934. Officers were forced to fire on their vehicle when they attempted to flee an ambush of sorts. The couple was responsible for an estimated thirteen murders, which were committed as they robbed banks, stole cars and conducted prison breaks.

Infamous Killer Couples: Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck

Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, "The Lonely Hearts Killers," met through dating advertisements. Raymond had been defrauding women through these ads when he met Martha, who he also attempted to swindle. In fact, he was living in the apartment of one of these women, who had willed him everything and then died under suspicious circumstances.

Raymond's attempt to scam the obese Martha Beck failed. She arrived with her two children (one from a short-lived marriage and one from an ill-fated fling) at his apartment in New York in January of 1948. He allowed her to stay, but told her that she had to get rid of her kids. She dropped them off at a Salvation Army and promptly returned to her new man. Soon after, Raymond confessed his deeds to Martha, who decided to join him in his crimes.

One of the first women they swindled together (Martha often posed as his sister) died when Raymond drugged her so she would sleep heavily enough to be robbed and placed on a bus. Martha beat another of their victims, 66-year-old Janet Fey, to death with a hammer in a fit of jealousy. Raymond helped her cover up the murder. In January of 1949, they met their last victim, Delphine Downing.

Delphine and Raymond carried on a relationship while Martha looked on jealously. One night, Raymond and Delphine had an argument and Martha convinced Delphine to take a sleeping pill to calm down. She agreed, but her two-year-old daughter began acting up. Martha tried to strangle the child and left marks on her neck. Afraid that Delphine would alert the police, Raymond shot her in the head. The couple buried her in the basement. A few days later, Raymond convinced Martha to kill the young girl. She did so by drowning her in a metal tub. The poor child was buried next to her mother.

Later that night, neighbors called the police, who came to Delphine's house and arrested Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez. Both were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. They were executed on March 8, 1951.

Infamous Killer Couples: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are certainly the most depraved murderers on this list. You may know them as the Moors Murderers. Between 1963 and 1965, the couple lured children in, sexually abused them (Myra had a lesser hand in this, but is equally guilty) and killed them in the Greater Manchester area. Five children were killed in total. The youngest was 10 and the oldest 17. The oldest may not have been sexually assaulted. One victim's torture was recorded on audio tape. Her tormented mother had to listen to it so police could identify the victim as her daughter.

Both Myra and Ian were eventually found guilty, Myra of two murders and Ian of three. Hindley has since died, while Brady continues to rot in prison. He is on hunger strike and has to be force-fed. Why authorities continue this farce is anyone's guess.

These couples remind us that relationships can be loving and wonderful, they can be difficult and abusive or they can be downright sadistic. These types of people feed off each other's criminality and unleash their sick kind of love for each other on society. On that note, remember that the "bad guys" are not always "guys" and they are not always alone.

Sources

Gado, Mark, The Lonely Hearts Killers, retrieved 11/14/10, trutv.com/library/crime/serial-killers/partners/fernandez/1.html

Bardsley, Marilyn, Charles Starkweather & Caril Fugate, retrieved 11/14/10, trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/starkweather/index_2.html

Bonnie and Clyde, retrieved 11/14/10, fbi.gove/about-us/history/famous-cases/bonnie-and-clyde

The Murders at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin

noreply@blogger.com (Shelberius) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 22:00:00 +0000

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an architectural genius who designed and oversaw the construction of many famous buildings in the late 1800's and early 1900's. His beautiful designs and his knack for building one-of-a-kind structures made him very famous during his lifetime. That is why, in 1914, people were shocked to hear that Frank’s house–Taliesin–was set ablaze and seven of his friends and loved ones were murdered on the property. At the time, Frank Lloyd Wright’s mistress and her two children were living at the home. One of their own servants was responsible for the tragedy.

In 1909, Frank Lloyd Wright left his wife and children for a woman named Mamah Borthwick Cheney. Mamah was the wife of one of Frank’s clients. She left her husband and took her two children to go live with Frank. The couple spent the next few of years traveling in order to avoid the negative stigma of their affair.

Frank Lloyd Wright built Taliesin in 1911 in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Mamah, her children and Frank moved into Taliesin soon after it was finished. The site chosen by Wright for Taliesin was dear to the architect’s heart. He spent much of his youth at a farm his uncle worked in at Spring Green and he grew to love the valley. Taliesin was built for Frank’s personal use and after its construction he used it as a residence on and off for the rest of his life. He even had the building renovated after the horrific murders so that he could continue using it.

On August 15, 1914, tragedy struck at Taliesin. Wright was away on business in Chicago and Mamah, her two children, John age 11, and Martha age nine, a foreman named Thomas Brunker, two draftsmen named Emil Brodelle and Herb Fritz, a gardener named David Lindblom, a carpenter named William Weston and his son Ernest age 13, also two servants, Julian and Gertrude Carlton remained at Taliesin. That night, Julian served Mamah and her children dinner on the porch, the rest of the group ate in the dining room. While the group ate, Julian asked Weston for permission to use some gasoline to clean a rug; Weston agreed. Within minutes of this request, chaos broke out at Taliesin.

Julian took the gasoline, poured it all over the door to the dining room and set it on fire. The occupants of the room were then forced to escape through the window. Julian had a hatchet which he used to kill Mamah and her children before going to wait outside of the dining room window. Herb Fritz was the first through the window and he suffered only minor injuries before fleeing. William Weston came next and when he made it through Julian was waiting for him. He hacked Weston twice with the hatchet before leaving him for dead. Weston survived however, and ran for help. Emile Brodelle was murdered upon his exit through the window. Ernest Weston and David Lindblom both received serious injuries, but managed to escape with the help of their friends. Sadly, they both died later.

There were only three survivors of the murders at Taliesin. Julian’s wife Gertrude escaped the fire through the basement, though she later claimed to have no prior knowledge of Julian’s intentions. William Weston and Herb Fritz both survived their injuries. Julian Carlton was found hours after the murders, he had swallowed acid and died a few weeks later. A motive for the murders at Taliesin has never been discerned.

Sources

PBS, Weekly Home News, August 20, 1914, “Murderer of Seven Sets Fire to Home of Frank Lloyd Wright Near Spring Green, Wright at the Time, retrieved 6/30/09, pbs.org/flw/buildings/taliesin/taliesin_wright02.html

Taliesin (studio), retrieved 6/30/09, wikipedia.en.org/taliesin_(studio)