CAPER serial killers special edition
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The Family
Terrifying its way through America
orn in Ohio in 1934, Charles Manson is notoriously connected to the brutal slayings of actress Sharon Tate and other Hollywood residents, but he was never actually found guilty of committing the murders himself. However, the famous Tate-La Bianca killings have immortalized him as a living embodiment of evil. Images of his staring “mad eyes” are still used today to illustrate countless serial-murder news stories. The Manson Family—including Charles Manson and his young, loyal dropout disciples of murder—is thought to have carried out some 35 killings. Most were never tried, either for lack of evidence or because the perpetrators were already sentenced to life for the Tate/La Bianca killings. In 2012, Manson was denied parole for the 12th time.
Charles Manson was born Charles Milles Maddox on November 12, 1934, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Kathleen Maddox, a 16-year-old girl who was both an alcoholic and prostitute. Kathleen later married William Manson, but the marriage ended quickly and Charles was placed in a boys school. Although the boy ran back to his mother, she didn’t want anything to do with him. Charles was soon living on the streets and getting by through petty crime. By 1951, Manson began spending time in prison, and early on, before he discovered the benefits of being a “model prisoner,” he was considered dangerous. He would eventually spend half of the first 32 years of his life behind bars. A new chapter in his life began in 1955 when he married a 17-year-old girl and moved with her to California. She became pregnant, but Manson resumed a life of crime again, once again stealing cars. It wasn’t long before he was back behind bars, and by 1956 his estranged wife had left with their child and her new lover. Manson later had another child with a different woman while out on probation.
He was described by probation reports as suffering from a “marked degree of rejection, instability and psychic trauma” and “constantly striving for status and securing some kind of love.” Other descriptions included “unpredictable” and “safe only under supervision.” From 1958, Manson was in and out of jail for a variety of offenses, including “pimping” and passing stolen checks, and he was sent to McNeil Island prison in Washington State for 10 years. During this time he had also raped a fellow male prisoner while brandishing a razor. Paradoxically, it was while he was incarcerated that he tapped into his creative talents and learned how to read music and play the guitar.
Manson was released on March 21, 1967, and the following year he would spearhead a murderous campaign that would make him one of the most infamous figures in criminal history. In many ways, Manson reflects personality traits and obsessions that are associated with gurus of cult-quasi-religious groups that began to emerge in the 1960s and are still with us today. He was pathologically deluded into believing that he was the harbinger of doom regarding the planet’s future, in much the same way that cult and evangelist figures today claim prophetic knowledge of the world’s end. Manson was also influenced not only by drugs such as LSD but by art works and music of the time such as The Beatles song “Helter Skelter” from their White Album. He had a strong belief and interest in the notion of Armageddon from the Book of Revelations and also looked into Scientology and more obscure cult churches such as Church of the Final Judgment.
If you’re going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy.
fter 1967, Manson gathered a group of followers who shared his passion for an unconventional lifestyle and habitual use of hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD and magic mushrooms. “The Family,” as they became known, moved to San Francisco and later to a deserted ranch in the San Fernando Valley. His followers, numbering around 100, also included a small hard-core unit of impressionable young girls. They began to believe, without question, Manson’s claims that he was Jesus and his prophecies of a race war. In August 1969, a series of Hollywood murders were to shock the world and tarnish the 1960’s free love and peace legacy, when Manson gathered a group of his most loyal Family followers to carry out a massacre among Tinseltown’s elite and “beautiful people.” The act would shock the nation and effectively bring the era to an end.
The first victims fell on August 9, 1969, at the home Roman Polanski had rented located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area just north of Beverly Hills. Manson chose four of his most obedient comrades—Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian—to carry out these heinous crimes. Kasabian acted as the getaway driver and was to become the star witness during the trial. The victims inside the house, actress Sharon Tate; writer Wojciech Frykowski and his partner, the coffee bean heiress Abigail Folger; and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, had returned to the Polanski residence after dining out. Polanksi himself was away in London shooting a film.
The first victim was 18-year-old Steven Parent, who had been visiting his friend William Garretson, who took care of and lived in a guest home on the Cielo Drive property which Polanski and Tate rented. He was spotted by the intruders and was shot as he drove away from the house in the dark early morning hours. Kasabian was horrified by the shooting of the boy, and she remained outside to keep watch. When the other three broke into the house, they herded the occupants into the living room and tied them up.
Manson himself took no part in the actual killings but directed his murderous disciples to the address and instructed them to kill everyone.
The most inhumane killing is arguably that of Sharon Tate, who despite pleading for the life of her unborn child was mercilessly stabbed in the stomach by Susan Atkins. Kasabian told of Atkins’s chilling words to Tate before she stabbed her: “Look, bitch, I have no mercy for you. You’re going to die, and you’d better get used to it.” Atkins then used Tate’s blood to write the word “pig” on the front door. Instead of this brutal massacre sating the pathological Manson, he instead criticized the murderers for being sloppy. The following night, on August 10, 1969, Manson took Family members Watson, Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten to the Los Feliz address of wealthy supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, and the couple was murdered in a similarly horrifying fashion. Ironically, Manson and his Family were arrested not on suspicion of the murders but simply on the belief that they had vandalized a portion of the Death Valley National Park while they were hiding out in the Mojave Desert. In 1969, the county sheriff had them in custody, not realizing that he had murder suspects on his hands. But it was the confessions of Susan Atkins, while held in detention on suspicion of murdering Gary Hinman during an unrelated incident, that led detectives to realize that Manson and his followers were involved in the Tate/LaBianca killings. Various motivations were examined during the course of the trial. The most feasible being that Manson’s pathological ego, insanity and belief in Armageddon were influences that led him to leave behind a trail of destruction. Manson believed that he was the new Messiah and that after a “nuclear attack” he and his followers would be saved by hiding in a secret world under the desert. His prophetic visions included a belief that the race war would result in a black victory, and Manson along with his Family members would have to mentor the black community, as they would lack experience to run the planet. As Manson and the Family were to be the beneficiaries of the race war, he told his followers that they had to help initiate it. According to defense witness and killer Van Houten, this was the primary reason why they murdered the LaBiancas. Manson had taken the wallet of murdered Rosemary Bianca with the intention that he would deposit it in a section of L.A. where an African American might find it, use it and then possibly have the murders pinned on them. Later in court, Van Houten, who was just 19 when she took part in the LaBianca killings, alleged that Manson had taken advantage of her vulnerability and dislike for her mother although she believed, like the other members,
“Look, bitch, I have no mercy for you. You’re going to die, and you’d better get used to it.” that he was a man of vision. Thirty years later, during a parole board hearing, she said she was horrified by what she had done that night and desperately wanted to redeem herself. Van Houten was denied parole in 2006 and again in 2010. Susan Atkins, possibly the most disturbed of all the killers, admitted in initial confessions to fellow prisoners that she had wanted to cut out Tate’s unborn baby but didn’t have the time. She also revealed that other grisly and macabre acts were to be perpetrated against the victims and that a list of other high-profile Hollywood stars were on a list to be killed and mutilated. These included Elizabeth Taylor and husband Richard Burton, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen and Tom Jones. When asked why they wanted to kill such people, Atkins replied that they (Manson and Family) wanted to commit murders that would shock the world and make people take notice. The trial began in June 1970. Ronald Hughes was a young lawyer with experience and knowledge of 1960s counter culture. He was assigned as Manson and Van Houten’s attorney but decided to drop Manson in favor of defending Van Houten, who he thought could convince the jury that she was under the influence of Manson. The move may have cost him his life, as in 1970, Hughes went camping and disappeared. His decomposed body was found several months later, and it is thought he was the victim of retaliation killing by members of Manson’s Family for, in their eyes, betraying their leader. During the trial, Manson released an album titled Lie in an effort to raise money for his defense. Manson reveled in media attention and during court proceedings turned up with an X carved into his forehead. Some of his female followers copied the act and shaved their heads, sometimes sitting outside the court house.
The X was gradually modified until it turned into a swastika. Throughout the trial, the killers often giggled and exchanged grimaces with Manson, showing no remorse for their crimes. On January 25, 1971, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder for directing the deaths of the Tate/LaBianca victims. He was sentenced to death, but this was automatically commuted to life in prison after California’s Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences prior to 1972. Kasabian was granted immunity for her part in acting as star witness. Susan Atkins was sentenced to death, but her sentence was later commuted to life in prison. She was incarcerated from 1969 until her death in 2009.
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Common traits amongst serial killers
5 Common traits amongst serial killers The first recorded serial killers date back to the Roman Empire when a group of matrons were said to have poisoned men using a deadly ring. Today, thanks to modern technology, psychologists and criminologists have defined and identified what makes a person commit such cold-blooded murders again and again. Working with Dr Elizabeth Yardley, Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University, Real Crime magazine has highlighted five key characteristics of serial killers...
Power Junkies ‘ Serial killers typically have a real affinity with power, even when they’ve been caught and know the game is up,’ explained the experts. ‘Intent on exerting some kind of control over the people around them, they often hold back bits of crucial information in a bid to maintain power over the situation, gain attention and assert a warped sense of authority.’ Ian Brady, the Moors Murderer who was convicted of killing five children with accomplice Myra Hindley between 1963 and 1965, withheld the location of victim Keith Bennett’s body from police which many believe was to assert power and control.
Manipulators ‘Apparent vulnerability and the need to please have been used effectively time and time again by serial killers as a way of hiding a sinister personality,’ continued the experts. ‘Some of the world’s best known serial killers have a frightening ability to manipulate those around them, pressing the right buttons in order to present themselves in a false light.’ ‘Serial killers are also often able to manipulate a situation in order to pass the blame for their actions, using hot-button issues of the day or medical psychological research to try to explain their actions.’ Doctor Harold Shipman, for example, used his position as a medical expert to manipulate his patients into treatments that ultimately killed them while posing as a caring member of society.
Egotistical Braggers Elsewhere, Real Crime and Dr Yardley said: ‘Egoistical serial killers often can’t help but brag about the atrocities they’ve committed, whether it’s aimed at their accomplices, the next victim, law enforcement, or just themselves. ‘Take Brady and Hindley for example. They revisited the burial sites on Saddleworth Moor often, taking ghoulish trophy shots of the desolate landscape as a memento of their horrendous crimes. ‘Of course, these helped incriminate the pair and lead the police to the three bodies eventually found on the Moor.’ Convicted British serial killer Trevor Hardy, dubbed Beast of Manchester for his murders of teenage girls in the 1970s, bragged about one murder to his younger brother which led to his arrest.
Superficial Charmers ’Serial killers tend to have a very good grasp of other people’s emotions and are quick to pick up on any vulnerability or weakness in order to convince them into doing things they normally wouldn’t,’ added Dr Yardley. ‘They’ll get others on side and take charge of a situation with a mix of compliments and common sense.’ One example of such a ‘superficial charmer’ is Ted Bundy. Shortly before his execution in 1989, serial killer Bundy confessed to 30 murders in seven states between 1974 and 1978, although it is thought he killed many more. He raped and kidnapped women after winning their trust, either by feigning disability using fake slings or casts, or pretending to be a policeman or person of authority. He was often described as charming, charismatic and handsome.
Average Joes Meanwhile, Real Crime continued: ‘Possibly the scariest trait of all, many serial killers look like a pillar of the community on first sight. ‘However it’s a way of gaining trust, only to abuse it in the most appalling ways. This tactic has enabled many to get away with a lot of deviant stuff behind closed doors.’ Fred and Rose West, for example, appeared to be part of an everyday family. Between 1967 and 1987, the pair tortured and raped young women and girls, killing at least 12 including family members, and burying some in their garden. They lived in a residential street in Gloucester, in the UK. In the US, John Wayne Gacy, nicknamed ‘Killer Clown’ was politically active in his Chicago suburb and worked hard for the local community, even performing at parties and events as a ‘Pogo’ the clown. In private, he raped and murdered teenage boys, burying their remains on the grounds of his house.
JEFFREY DAHMER ANGEL FACED DEMON
orn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1960, Jeffrey Dahmer displayed troubling behavior following childhood surgery. He committed his first murder in 1978, and was arrested multiple times before claiming his second victim, in 1987. In addition to killing the men and teenagers he lured home, he mutilated, photographed and performed sexual acts on the
The only motive that there ever was was to completely control a person; a person I found physically attractive. And keep them with me as long as possible, even if it meant just keeping a part of them.
victims’ corpses, keeping body parts as mementos. Dahmer was captured in 1991 and sentenced to 16 life terms. He was killed by fellow prison inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994. Notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 21, 1960, into the household of Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. He was described as an energetic and happy child until the age of 4, when surgery to correct a double hernia seemed to effect a change in the boy. Noticeably subdued, he became increasingly withdrawn following
the birth of his younger brother and the family’s frequent moves. By his early teens, he was disengaged, tense and largely friendless. Dahmer claims that his compulsions toward necrophilia and murder began around the age of 14, but it appears that the breakdown of his parents’ marriage and their acrimonious divorce a few years later may have been the catalyst for turning these thoughts into actions. Just after he graduated from high school, in June 1978, Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and
took him home to his parents’ house, where he proceeded to get the young man drunk. When Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer killed him by striking him in the head and strangling him with a barbell. He dismembered the corpse of his first victim, packed the body parts in plastic bags and buried them behind his parents’ home. He later exhumed the remains, crushed the bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them across a wooded ravine. By the time of his first killing, Dahmer’s alcohol consumption had spun out of control. He dropped out of Ohio State University after one quarter term, and his recently remarried father insisted that he join the Army. Dahmer enlisted in late December 1978, and was posted to Germany shortly thereafter. Dahmer’s drinking problem persisted, however, and in early 1981, the Army discharged him. Although German authorities would later investigate possible connections between Dahmer and murders that took place in the area during that time, it is not believed that he took any more victims while serving in the Armed Forces. Following his discharge, Dahmer returned home to Ohio. An arrest later that year for disorderly conduct prompted his father to send Dahmer to live with his grandmother in Wisconsin, but his alcohol problem persisted and he was arrested the following summer for indecent exposure. He was arrested once again in 1986, when two boys accused him of masturbating in front of them, and he received a one-year probationary sentence. In September 1987, Dahmer took his second victim, Steven Tuomi. They checked into a hotel room and drank, and Dahmer eventually awoke to find Tuomi dead, with no memory of the previous night’s activities. He bought a large suitcase to transport Tuomi’s body to his grandmother’s basement, where he dismembered and masturbated on the corpse before disposing of the remains. Dahmer’s killing spree lasted for more than 13 years. During that time he sought out mostly African-American men at gay bars, malls and bus stops, lured them home with promises of money or sex, and gave them alcohol laced with drugs before strangling them to death. He would then engage in sex acts with the corpses before dismembering them and disposing of them, often keeping their genitals or skulls as souvenirs. He frequently took photos of his victims at various stages of the murder process, so he could recollect each act afterward and relive the experience. Dahmer’s grandmother eventually tired of her grandson’s late nights and drunkenness—although she had no knowledge of his other activities—and in 1988 she forced him to move out, though not before he had killed another two victims on the premises. That September, Dahmer had an extremely
lucky escape: An encounter with a 13-year-old Laotian boy resulted in charges of sexual exploitation and second-degree sexual assault for Dahmer. He pleaded guilty, claiming that the boy had appeared much older. While awaiting sentencing for his sexual assault case, Dahmer again put his grandmother’s basement to gruesome use: In March 1989, he lured, drugged, strangled, sodomized, photographed, dismembered and disposed of Anthony Sears, an aspiring model. In May 1989, at his trial for child molestation, Dahmer was the model of contrition, arguing eloquently, in his own defense, about how he had seen the error of his ways, and that his arrest marked a turning point in his life. His defense counsel argued that he needed treatment, not incarceration, and the judge agreed, handing down a one-year prison sentence on “day release”—allowing Dahmer to work at his job during the day and return to the prison at night—as well as a five-year probationary sentence.
It’s a process, it doesn’t happen overnight, when you depersonalize another person and view them as just an object. An object for pleasure and not a living breathing human being. It seems to make it easier to do things you shouldn’t do. Years later, in an interview with CNN, Lionel Dahmer stated that he wrote a letter to the court that issued the sentence, requesting psychological help before his son’s parole. However, Jeffrey Dahmer was granted an early release by the judge, after serving only 10 months of his sentence. He briefly lived with his grandmother following his release, during which time he does not appear to have added to his body count, before moving back into his own apartment. Dahmer’s victim count accelerated over the following year, with 12 more lives taken in the same manner as his previous victims. He developed rituals as he progressed, experimenting with chemical
means of disposal and often consuming the flesh of his victims. Dahmer also attempted crude lobotomies, drilling into victims’ skulls while they were still alive and injecting them with muriatic acid. He was careful to select victims on the fringes of society, who were often itinerant or borderline criminal, making their disappearances less noticeable and reducing the likelihood of his capture.
Steven Hicks; top, and Steven Tuomo; bottom. Both victims of Jeffrey Dahmer.
n May 27, 1991, Dahmer’s neighbor Sandra Smith called the police to report that an Asian boy was running naked in the street. When the police arrived, the boy was incoherent, and they accepted the word of Dahmer—a white man in a largely poor African-American community—that the boy was his 19-year-old lover. In fact, the boy was 14 years old and a brother of the Laotian teen Dahmer had molested three years earlier. The police escorted Dahmer and the boy home and, clearly not wishing to become embroiled in a homosexual domestic disturbance, took only a cursory look around before leaving. Once the police left the scene, Dahmer killed the boy and proceeded with his usual rituals. Had they conducted even a basic search, police officwers would have found the body of Dahmer’s 12th victim, Tony Hughes. After killing four more men, Dahmer’s luck finally ran out on July 22, 1991, when two Milwaukee police officers picked up Tracy Edwards, a 32-year-old African American man who was wandering the streets with a handcuff dangling from his wrist. They decided to investigate the man’s claims that a “weird dude” had drugged and restrained him and arrived at Dahmer’s apartment, where he calmly offered to get the keys for the handcuffs. Edwards claimed that the knife Dahmer had threatened him with was in the bedroom, and when the officer went in to corroborate the story, he noticed photographs of dismembered bodies lying around. Dahmer was subdued by the officers, and subsequent searches revealed a head in the refrigerator, three more in the freezer and a catalog of other horrors, including preserved skulls, jars containing genitalia and an extensive gallery of macabre photographs. Given that the majority of Dahmer’s victims were African American, there were considerable racial tensions, and his trial began in January 1992 under strict security precautions, including an eightfoot barrier of bulletproof glass that separated him from the gallery. The inclusion of only one African American on the jury provoked further unrest, but was ultimately contained and short lived. Lionel Dahmer and his second wife attended the trial throughout. Dahmer initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, despite having confessed to the killings during police interrogation, but he eventually changed his plea to guilty by virtue of insanity. His defense then offered the gruesome details of his behavior, as proof that only someone insane could commit such terrible acts, but the jury chose to believe the prosecution’s assertion that Dahmer was fully aware that his acts were evil and chose to commit them anyway. On February 15, 1992, they returned after approximately 10 hours’ deliberation to find him guilty, but sane, on all counts. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison, with a 16th term tacked on in May. Dahmer reportedly adjusted well to prison life, although he was initially kept apart from the general population. He eventually convinced authorities to allow him to integrate more fully with other inmates. He found religion in the form of books and photos sent to him by his father, and he was granted permission by the Columbia Correctional Institution to be baptized by a local pastor.
On November 28, 1994, in accordance with his inclusion in regular work details, Dahmer was assigned to work with two other convicted murderers, Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver. After they had been left alone to complete their tasks, guards returned to find that Scarver had brutally beaten both men with a metal bar from the prison weight room. Dahmer was pronounced dead after approximately one hour, with Anderson also succumbing to his injuries days later.
I don’t even know if I have the capacity for normal emotions or not because I haven’t cried for a long time. You just stifle them for so long that maybe you lose them, partially at least. I don’t know. Following his death, the city of Milwaukee was keen to distance itself from the horrors of Dahmer’s actions and the ensuing media circus surrounding his trial. In 1996, a group of local businessmen raised more than $400,000 to purchase the items he used for his victims, including blades, saws, handcuffs and a refrigeWrator to store body parts, which they promptly destroyed. Jeffrey Dahmer’s name returned to the headlines again in August 2012, nearly two decades after his death, when it was reported his childhood home in Bath, Ohio—where he committed his first murder in 1978, and buried his victim’s remains—was on the market. Its owner, musician Chris Butler, stated that the property would make a great home, as long as the buyer could “get past the horror factor.” In 2015, Christopher Scarver spoke to the New York Post about his reasons for killing Dahmer. Scarver alleged that he was disturbed not only by Dahmer’s crimes, but by a habit Dahmer had developed of fashioning severed limbs from prison food to antagonize other inmates. After being taunted by Dahmer and Anderson during their work detail, Scarver said that he confronted Dahmer about his crimes before beating the two men to death. He also claimed that prison guards allowed the murders to happen by leaving them alone.
John Wayne Gacy
Laughing
Mattersa
ohn Wayne Gacy was a born on St. Patrick’s Day 1942 at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago. Johnny was the second of three children. His older sister Joanne had preceded him by two years and two years after his birth came that of sister Karen. The Gacy children were raised as Catholics and all three attended Catholic schools where they lived on the north side. Growing up, Gacy was a quiet boy who worked odd jobs for spending money, like newspaper routes and bagging groceries, and busied himself with Boy Scout activities. He was never a particularly popular boy but he was well-liked by his teachers, co-workers and friends from school and the Boy Scouts. He seemed to have a normal childhood, except for his relationship with his father and a series of health problems that he developed. When Gacy was 11, he was playing on a swing set and was hit in the head with one of the swings. The accident caused a blood clot in his brain that was not discovered until he was 16. Between the time of the accident and the diagnosis, Gacy suffered from blackouts that were caused by the clot. They were finally treated with medication. At 17, he was also diagnosed with a heart ailment that he was hospitalized for several times during his life. He complained frequently about it over the years but no one could ever find a cause for the pain that he claimed to be suffering. In his late teens, he began to experience problems with his father, although his relationship with his mother and sisters remained strong. His father was an alcoholic who physically abused his wife and berated his children.
His family problems extended out into his schoolwork and after attending four high schools during his senior year and never graduating, Gacy dropped out and left home for Las Vegas. He worked part time as a janitor in a funeral home and saved his
A clown can get away with murder. money to buy a ticket back to Chicago. Lonely and depressed, he spent three months trying to get the money together. His mother and sisters were thrilled to see him when he returned. After his return, Gacy enrolled in business college and eventually graduated. While in school, he gained a real talent for salesmanship and he put these talents to work in a job with the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company. He excelled as a management trainee and he was soon transferred to a men’s clothing outlet in Springfield, Illinois. Soon after his move, Gacy’s health took a turn for the worse. He gained a great deal of weight and began to suffer more from his mysterious heart ailment. He was hospitalized and soon after getting out, was back in the hospital again, this time with back problems.
While living in Springfield, Gacy became involved in several organizations that served the community, including the Jaycees, to which Gacy devoted most of his efforts and was eventually a vice-president and named “Man of the Year”. Many who knew Gacy considered him to be ambitious and working to make a name for himself in the community. In September 1964, Gacy
I would defInitely not be homosexual. I have nothing against what they do and I don’t deny that I’ve engaged in sex with males but Im bisexual. met and married a co-worker named Marlynn Myers, whose parents owned a number of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Iowa. Gacy’s new father-in-law offered him a position with the company and soon the newlyweds were moving to Iowa. Life seemed to hold great promise for Gacy and there was no foreshadowing of the horrific events to come. Gacy began learning the restaurant business from the ground up, working 12 to 14 hours each day. He was enthusiastic and eager to learn and hoped to take over the franchises one day. When not working, he was active with the Waterloo, Iowa Jaycees. He worked tirelessly performing volunteer work and he made many friends. Marlynn gave birth to a son shortly after they moved to Iowa and not long after, added a daughter to the happy family. They seemed to have the picture perfect life -- a loving and healthy family, a good job, a house in the suburbs -- and it seemed almost too good to be true. And it was…
Jeffrey Rignal, managed to escape from Gacy.
Rumors were starting to spread around town, and among Jaycees members, about Gacy’s sexual preferences. No one could help but notice that young boys always seemed to be in his presence. Stories spread that he had made passes at some of the young men who worked in the restaurants but those close to him refused to believe it -- until the rumors became truth. In May 1968, a grand jury in Black Hawk County indicted Gacy for committing an act of sodomy with a teenaged boy named Mark Miller. The boy told the courts that Gacy had tricked him into being tied up while visiting Gacy’s home and he had violently raped him. Gacy denied the charges but did say that Miller willingly had sex with him in order to earn extra money. Four months later, more charges were filed against Gacy. This time, he was charged with hiring an 18 yearold boy named Dwight Andersson to beat up Mark Miller. Andersson informed the officers who arrested him for the assault that Gacy had hired him to attack the other boy. A judge ordered Gacy to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to see if he was mentally competent to stand trial. He was found to be competent but psychiatrists stated that he was an antisocial personality who would likely not benefit from any known medical treatment. Soon after the report was submitted, Gacy entered a guilty plea to the sodomy charge. He received ten years at the Iowa State Reformatory, the maximum time for the offence, and entered prison for the first time at the age of 26. Shortly after he went to prison, his wife divorced him on the grounds that he had violated their wedding vows. Gacy adhered to all of the rules in prison and stayed out of trouble. Described as a model prisoner, he was paroled after only 18 months. On June 18, 1970, he left his cell and made his way back to Chicago. He moved in with his mother and obtained work as a chef in a city restaurant, settling into the
position and trying to get his life back on track after serving time. Gacy lived with his mother for four months and then decided to move out on his own. She helped him to obtain a new house at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue in the Norwood Park Township. Gacy owned one-half of the house and his mother and sisters owned the other. He was very happy with his new, two-bedroom ranch house. It was located in a clean, quiet neighborhood and he quickly went about making friends with his neighbors, Edward and Lilla Grexa, who had lived in the neighborhood since it had been built. Within seven months of moving in next door, Gacy was spending Christmas with the Grexa’s. They became close friends and often gathered for drinks and card games. The Grexa’s had no idea of Gacy’s criminal past -- or his most recent run-in with the law. Just a month before the Grexa’s had invited Gacy over for Christmas dinner, he had been charged with disorderly conduct for forcing a young boy, whom he had picked up at the bus station, to perform sexual acts on him. He managed to slip through the system when the charges against him were dropped, thanks to the fact that his accuser never showed up in court. In June 1972, Gacy married Carole Hoff, a newly divorced mother of two daughters. Gacy romanced her when most vulnerable and she fell for his charm and generosity. She knew about his time in prison but believed that he had changed his life for the better. Carole and her daughters soon settled into Gacy’s home and forged a close relationship with the Grexa’s. The older couple was often invited over to the Gacy’s house for elaborate parties and cook-outs. However, they were often bothered by the horrible stench that often wafted throughout the house. Lillie Grexa was convinced that an animal had died beneath the floorboards of the place and she urged Gacy to do something about it. He blamed the odor on a moisture buildup in the crawlspace under the house though -- refusing to reveal the true, and much more sinister, cause for the smell. He would keep this secret for years to come. In 1974, Gacy started a contracting business called Painting, Decorating and Maintenance or PDM Contractors, Inc. He hired a number of teenaged boys to work for him, explaining to friends that hiring young men would keep his payroll costs low. In truth, Gacy’s desires were starting to get out of control and he was having trouble hiding his true nature from those closest to him, especially his wife. By 1975, Carole and Gacy had drifted apart. Their sex life had ended and Gacy’s moods became more and more unpredictable, ranging from jovial to an uncontrollable rage that would have him throwing furniture. He had become an insomniac and his lack of sleep seemed to make his mood swings even worse. And if his personality changes were not enough, his choice of reading material worried her even more. Carole
had started to find magazines with naked men and boys in them around the house and when confronted, Gacy casually admitted they were his. He even confessed that he preferred young men to women. Naturally, this was the last straw for Carole and she soon filed for divorce. It became final on March 2, 1976. Gacy dismissed his marital problems and refused to let them hamper his need for recognition and success. To most people, Gacy was still the outgoing and hardworking man that he always had been. So many people had experienced divorces that no one thought a thing about it. Gacy made up for any lingering questions about him with his natural talent for persuading others to his ideas and thoughts and he always came up with creative ways to get himself noticed. It was not long before he gained the attention of Robert F. Matwick, the Democratic township committeeman for Norwood Park. As a free service to the committeeman, Gacy volunteered himself and his employees to clean up and repair Democratic Party headquarters. Unaware of the contractor’s past and impressed by his sense of duty and dedication to the community, Matwick nominated Gacy to the street lighting commission. In 1975, Gacy became the secretary treasurer but his political career was short-lived -- no matter how he thought he was hiding it, rumors again began to circulate about Gacy’s interest in young boys. One of the rumors stemmed from an actual incident that took place during the time that Gacy was working on the Democratic headquarters. One of the teenagers who worked on the project was 16 year-old Tony Antonucci. According to the boy, Gacy made sexual advances toward him but backed off when Antonucci threatened to hit him with a chair. Gacy recovered his composure and made a joke out of it. Several weeks later, while visiting Gacy’s home, Gacy again approached Antonucci. He tricked the young man into a pair of handcuffs and then tried to undress him. Antonucci had made sure that he was loosely cuffed though and when he slipped free, he wrestled Gacy to the ground and cuffed the older man instead. He eventually let him go when Gacy promised not to bother him again. That was the last time that Gacy ever made advances toward Antonucci and the boy remained working for the contracting company for almost a year after the incident. Tony Antonucci would not realize how lucky he had been that day. Others would not fare as well.
LAST WORDSor Ted Bundy “I’d like you to give my love to my family and friends.”
Aileen Wuornos “I’d just like to say I’m sailing with the rock, and I’ll be back like Independence Day, with Jesus, June 6th. Like the movie, big mother ship and all. I’ll be back.”
John Wayne Gayce “Kiss my ass.”
Thomas J. Grasso “I did not get my Spaghetti O’s. I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”
rds
Jeffrey Dahmer “I don’t care if I live or die. Go ahead and kill me.”
H. H. Holmes “Take your time. Don’t bungle it.”
Ned Kelly “Such is life.”
Israel Keyes “Okay, talk is over, words are placid and weak. Back it with action or it all comes off cheap. Watch close while I work now, feel the electric shock of my touch, open your trembling flower, or your petals I’ll crush.”
Albert Fish “I don’t even know why I’m here.”
Richard Ramirez:
T he N ight S talker
Dubbed the “Night Stalker,� Richard Ramirez was an American serial killer who broke into California homes, raping and torturing more than 25 victims and killing at least 13 over a two-year rampage.
Theft turned to violence in 1984. Ramirez’s first known murder took place on June 28, 1984; his victim was 79-year-old Jennie Vincow, who was viciously sexually assaulted, stabbed and murdered during a burglary in her own home. What followed was a spree of brutal murders, rapes and robberies, leaving more than 25 victims in its wake. Ramirez’s second known killing occurred nearly nine months after his first. On March 17, 1985, he attacked Maria Hernandez, who managed to escape him, and then killed her roommate, Dayle Okazaki. Not satisfied with these assaults, he also shot and killed Tsai Lian Yu the same evening, spurring a media frenzy that saw Ramirez dubbed the “Valley Intruder” by the press. Just 10 days later, on March 27, Ramirez murdered 64-year-old Vincent Zazzara and Zazzara’s 44-year-old wife, Maxine, using an attack style that would become a pattern for the killer: The husband was shot first, then the wife was brutally assaulted and stabbed to death. In this case, Ramirez also gouged ichard Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas, on Feb- out Maxine Zazzara’s eyes. ruary 29, 1960, Richard Ramirez was an American A full-scale police operation yielded no concrete results, and Ramirez repeated serial killer who over a two-year rampage raped and tortured more than 25 victims and murdered more than a dozen—most of them in their own homes. Dubbed the “Night Stalker,” Ramirez was turned on to Satanic worship at an early age by his cousin, a soldier who had recently returned from the war in Vietnam. Following a four-year trial, in 1989, Ramirez was convicted of 13 killings. He received the death penalty and was sent to San Quentin Prison in California. He died on June 7, 2013, at age 53. Richard Ramirez was born Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramírez on February 29, 1960, in El Paso, Texas, the youngest of seven children born to Mercedes and Julian Ramírez, a Mexican American railway worker. Known as Richard or Ricky, Ramirez had a troubled childhood and was heavily influenced by his older cousin, a Green Beret named Mike who had recently returned from fighting in the Vietnam War. Mike told Ramirez fascinating stories about the torture and mutilation he had inflicted on several Vietnamese women, corroborating these stories with horrific Polaroid pictures. The two also discussed Satanic worship and smoked marijuana together, and Ramirez’s teenage rebellion led him to commit petty crimes to fuel his drug habit, which further alienated him from his Catholic parents. As a result, he spent even more time with his cousin. When Mike murdered his wife, Ramirez was present, sowing the final developmental seeds for the future serial killer. Ramirez’s criminal record began in 1977, when he was placed in juvenile detention for a string of petty crimes. He also received a probationary sentence in 1982 for marijuana possession. He soon moved to San Francisco, California, and then to Los Angeles, progressing to cocaine addiction and burglary, and cultivating an interest in weapons and Satanism. A car theft charge in 1983 led to a jail sentence. The following year, Ramirez was released from jail Richard Ramirez on trial a conscienceless, Satanic criminal with poor hygiene, rotten teeth and no prospects.
You don’t understand me. You are not expected to. You are not capable. I am beyond your experience.
I am beyond good and evil. I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells in all of us.
his attack pattern on pensioners William and Lillie Doi in April 1985. Over the next two months, his murder rate escalated rapidly, claiming another dozen victims in a frenzy of burglary, assault and brutal violence—complete with Satanic rituals—and driving Los Angeles into a panic. After the press demanded that the police do more to catch the killer, a dedicated task force comprised of hundreds of law-enforcement officers was established, and the FBI stepped in to assist. This relentless media and police pressure, aided with photo-fit descriptions from his surviving victims, forced Ramirez to leave the L.A. area that August. He moved north to San Francisco, taking his first victims there, Peter and Barbara Pan, on August 17. His unmistakable MO, complete with Satanic symbolism, meant that his “Valley Intruder” moniker was no longer applicable, so the press quickly coined a new name for the criminal: the “Night Stalker,” as most of his assaults took place at night in his victims’ homes. Ramirez’s next—and final—attack, on August 24, 1985, led to the identification of his stolen car by the victim four days later. After a televised appeal, the car was found, complete with his fingerprints inside, and his criminal record enabled the police to finally put a name to the “Night Stalker.” National television and print media coverage featuring his prison photo, along with a series of clues from witnesses and survivors, led to Ramirez’s capture on August 30, after he was badly beaten by East L.A. residents while attempting a carjacking and police were called to the scene. Ramirez claimed that he has been mistakenly identified and did everything possible to delay the onset of the trial, which saw him charged with 14 murders and 31 other felonies in connection to his killing spree. Because he changed his legal counsel a number of times and the geographical spread of his attacks also complicated the scope of the trial with jurisdictional issues, some of the charges against Ramirez were dropped in order to expedite what was becoming a long journey to justice. Almost three years after his apprehension, on July 22, 1988, the jury selection process began. The case took a full year to hear, given the number of witnesses and sheer amount of evidence. During this time, Ramirez attracted a large, cult-like following— many of whom were black-clad Satan worshipers—who appeared daily at his trial. One of his supporters was Doreen Lioy, whom he married while serving time in prison. Further unsettling the jury was Ramirez’s own nonchalant behavior. Yet another delay occurred when one juror was found murdered on August 14, 1989, but rumors that Ramirez had orchestrated her death proved unfounded. On September 20, 1989, the jury finally returned a unanimous guilty verdict on 43 charges, including 13 counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, 11 sexual assault charges and 14 burglary charges. On November 7, 1989, Ramirez received 19 death sentences, to which he responded, “No big deal. Death always comes with the territory. I’ll see you in Disneyland.” He was subsequently transferred to San Quentin Prison in California. Following his conviction, Ramirez was linked to several more vicious crimes, most recently in 2009, when a DNA sample connected him with the April 10, 1984, rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in San Francisco After 23 years on death row, Richard Ramirez died on June 7, 2013, at the age of 53, from complications related to B-cell lymphoma. According to San Quentin corrections officers, Ramirez’s death came shortly after he was taken to Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, California.