PROFILES A-G:
ROBERT
BERDELLA
"The Butcher of Kansas City"
Right about the time that Dahmer was busy in Milwaukee, Kansas
City had a problem of it's own, although many were probably unaware
of it. This was another case of homosexual killings, and it didn't
really effect the majority of the city's residents.
Robert Berdella, a popular store owner of odd's and end's,
and a "throwback to the hippie age", sadistically tortured,
photographed, and killed six young men over the course of four
years.
In every case he picked up a young man, brought him home to
"party", and when the opportunity arose, he would overpower
and then drug his victim. Once the victim was weakened, he would
then begin a vicious game of torture and domination rarely seen
in the world of true crime.
Over the course of sometimes weeks, he would keep the victim
drugged, bound and gagged, tied to a bed with piano wire, where
he would repeatedly rape and punish the victim. To go one further,
he would periodically take photographs, showing a twisted progression
of events, while also logging in his "torture book"
exactly what he did, with how much of a particular drug.
What was incredible about the whole case was that the "everyday"
Berdella managed to be completely seperated from this side of
his life and managed to continue as if nothing was going on.
He went on uninterrupted with his business, "Bob's Bizarre
Bazarr", a place where people could find weird, exotic artifacts
from all over the world, mainly dealing with magic or spirituality.
He also managed to keep this torture game secret from his
neighbors. Berdella lived in a modest home in a middle-class area,
surrounded by other families. There weren't big yards seperating
the homes, everyone was close by. Yet over these four years of
torture and death, no one ever heard or saw anything strange.
That is, until the day of April 1st of 1988, when neighbors
reported a young man walking around naked, obviously dazed and
confused. When police arrived, they took the man in and were told
of this house where he was held captive for a few days by someone
named "Bob".
The man, Christopher Bryson, told police that he was picked
up by "Bob" in a desolate area of Kansas City days before.
A hustler, Bryson figured he was in for a little private party,
so he was all for Berdella's games. He even allowed Berdella to
tie him onto the bed like an animal.
Once tied, Bryson told police that Berdella immediately changed,
telling Bryson that he was nothing but a toy to play with. When
Bryson demanded that Berdella let him go, Berdella stated that
Bryson should shut up or he would end up like the others out in
the backyard.
After four days of repeated rape and torture, Bryson managed
to escape out a second story window when Berdella made the mistake
of leaving the house for a few hours, failing to make sure Bryson
was secure.
When police went over to the area with Bryson, it wasn't hard
for him to pick out the house he was in. The owner, Berdella,
was immediately arrested and police proceeded to check out the
home top to bottom.
Inside was a complete mess, with floor to ceiling collections
of odd artifacts Berdella accumulated over the years. Among the
items were skulls, occult material, and what appeared to be staged
photos of young men in different stages of torture.
Police knew right off the bat what they had, and proceeded
out to the backyard, remembering what Bryson said his captor stated
days before.
Out back, officers dug up six human skulls, but they couldn't
find any bodies.
After intense police interrogation Berdella eventually confessed
to six murders, later identified as: Howell, Larry Pearson, Robert
Sheldon, Walter Ferris, Mark Wallace, and Todd Stoops.
The authorities easily identified all the victims since police
discovered the photographs at the house. Each was explicitly showed
the victims with hyperdermic needles imbedded in their skin, tied
with wire to the bed, beaten and gagged.
One victim, Stoops, was photographed as he was shocked with
7000 volts of electricity sent through his body with a contraption
Berdella proudly thought up.
Berdella further confessed that he was able to dispose of
the bodies by cutting them up and putting the pieces in trash
bags for the city sanitation to pick up.
With all the evidence they needed, Berdella was convicted
of all six murders, along with a slew of other charges.
However, because of a slight mistake the authorities made
regarding the death penalty, and failure to notify the defendant,
Berdella was able to garner a six term life sentence for his torturous
hobby, where he sits today .
BOOKS: RITES OF BURIAL
ARTHUR
GARY BISHOP
The decade of the 1980's proved to be a rampant
one for serial killers, and it wasn't more evident than the Arthur
Gary Bishop case.
When all was said and done, even devout Mormons
in Utah weren't free of the rash of serial killings sweeping the
United States.
Raised as a worshipping Mormon in Salt Lake
City. Bishop also went on his "mission" in the Philippines
when he graduated high school. In addition to this, he was also
an Eagle Scout and honor student.
When he returned from his trek, Bishop graduated
college with honors, earning a degree in accounting, and seemed
to be on his way to a long and respectable life as a functional
Mormon in his community.
However, everybody who knew him were shocked
to find out that he was convicted in February of 1978 for embezzling
over $8000 from a used car dealership.
He pled guilty, and promised to pay restitution,
and for this, he was given a five-year suspended sentence.
Once given the chance, he bolted out of sight
and a warrant was issued. Since he didn't give himself up, even
after requests to do so from his church, he was excommunicated.
By the time all of this happened, he was going
by the alias "Roger Downs" in Salt Lake City, doing
admirable things like joining the Big Brother Program, spending
time with children who were disadvantaged.
In October of 1979, four-year-old Alonzo Daniels
disappeared from his apartment. "Roger Downs" was questioned
by the authorities investigating, since he lived just across the
hall. But they had no leads, no body, and no tips.
About a year later, 11-year-old Kim Peterson
also disappeared when he went out to sell a pair of skates. The
police were told that the buyer was supposed to be a male adult,
but no one knew anything else, so police were still stuck without
a clue.
Almost a year later, in October of 1981, four-year-old
Danny Davis vanished from a busy supermarket, just a half-block
from the "Downs" residence. Again, he was questioned
because of the proximaty to the market, but with no reason to,
the police didn't suspect a thing.
Laying low for a year and a half, Bishop struck
again, abducting Troy Ward on his sixth birthday in June of 1983.
About a month later, 13 year-old Graeme Cunningham
also vanished just before he was supposed to go on a camping trip
with another boy, and an adult male chaperone, 32-year-old "Roger
Downs".
Now the authorities took notice, and began
to look into the past of this adult who seemed to always be around
children.
What they found was that this "Downs"
character was wanted for embezzling $10,000 from an ex-boss, while
using the alias "Lynn Jones."
With enough to arrest him, they brought him
in and began to question him about the disappearence of the Cunningham
boy.
To their shock, Bishop began to confess to
everything, even unveiling his true identity and telling them
of the five boys he killed.
To prove that he was telling the truth, Bishop
took the officers out the next morning to the Cedar Fort section
of Utah and produced three corpses from graves that he dug. They
were three of the young boys the police were looking for.
After another short drive south, he then showed
detectives where he buried the bodies of the other two boys.
This wasn't the end. Upon further questioning,
police revealed that Bishop had sexually molested scores of other
young boys in the Salt Lake area.
Incredibly enough, authorities also revealed
that in the four year run of Bishop's, there were even parents
who were aware of his activities, but for one reason or another,
they didn't report any of it, perhaps because of his promising,
respectable Mormon facade.
In a taped confession, Bishop told how he
murdered the boys, and even fondled them after their deaths, giggling
at times and stating that he was glad to be caught, since he would
do it again and again.
With this, he was found guilty, and sentenced
to death. Waiving all appeals, Bishop was executed by lethal injection
in June, 1988.
Look at "Hunting Humans",
as well as "Human Monsters", both good "encyclopedia's"
on serial murder.
WILLIAM
BONIN
"THE FREEWAY
KILLER"
As stated before in the profile of Randy Kraft,
the highways of California were the worst place to be if you were
a hitchhiker and a young male in the 1970's.
Between the years of 1972 and 1980 or so,
no less than 44 young men were killed over seven counties. At
first, authorities thought that there was one person at work,
but they soon realized this wasn't the case when Patrick Kearney
was caught in 1977 and the killings continued.
Arrested in 1974 for abducting and raping
a 14 year old boy, Bonin was sentenced to one to fifteen years
in prison. By 1978, Bonin, now 29, was set free, and this time
he was going to make sure he wasn't going to leave anyone alive
to identify him from now on.
In May of 1978, Bonin killed his first victim,
14 year old Thomas Lundgren, who was abducted near Reseda. In
August, Bonin struck again, killing Mark Shelton, 17, reported
missing from Westminster. The day after his appearance, 17 year
old Marcus Grabs was abducted in Newport Beach. By the end of
the day police discovered yet another young victim, 15 year old
Donald Hyden, who disappeared from Hollywood.
Bonin was now confident and killing at a rapid
pace. Just a week after the Hyden abduction, he murdered 17 year
old David Murillo, who was from La Mirada, and by the end of 1979,
four more young men were identified as the victims of this "new"
highway killer. All the bodies were sexually assaulted and strangled,
dumped off the sides of highways and back roads.
Bonin didn't wait long to strike in 1980,
killing 16 year old Michael McDonald on New Years Day, followed
by Charles Miranda, a 14 year old from Los Angeles on February
3rd.
Two days later Bonin was out again, snatching
12 year old James McCabe in Huntington Beach, his body found the
next day in a nearby campground.
In March of 1980, 18 year old Ronald Gatlin
disappeared in Van Nuys, while 15 year old Russell Pugh and 14
year old Glen Barker were reported missing from Huntington Beach
on the 21st. Their bodies also found in the same campground as
McCabe.
With authorities busy trying to find the man
responsible for scores of dead boys, Bonin didn't even begin to
slow down.
Just three days later, police found the body
of a recently reported missing teen, Harry Turner, 15, uncovered
in L.A.
In the month of April, Bonin abducted 16 year
old Steven Wood, and amazingly enough, turned right around and
then snatched 18 year old Lawrence Sharp just hours later.
Over the next two months, Bonin was on a tear.
He kept up his pace and managed to kill three more young hitchhikers,
all between the ages of 14-19.
Police finally got their break when an 18
year old came forward and admitted he knew the identity of the
"Freeway Killer".
He named 32 year old William Bonin, a Vietnam
veteran with priors such as kidnapping, molestation, and sodomy.
As a matter of fact, police were astonished to read about Bonin's
record, dating back to 1968.
In 1969, he was committed to Atascadero State
Hospital as a menatlly disordered sex offender. He was released
in 1974, when he was diagnosed as "no longer a threat to
society."
Shortly thereafter he was caught abducting
the young boy mentioned earlier, leading to his incarceration
until 1978.
With this evidence in their hand, officers
set up a round the clock surveillance on Bonin, and were given
what they wanted less than a day later.
On June 11th, 1980 police arrested Bonin when
they surprised him in his van, sodomising a young man. He was
held under suspicion of murder and various other charges.
From there, everything began to fall. Police
soon arrested 22 year old Vernon Butts as an accomplice to some
of the murders. Once charged, Butts began to tell officers of
even more accomplices, 19 year old James Munro, and 19 year old
Greg Miley.
Police now knew that there was a "team"
of men preying on these victims, helping to explain how so many
were killed in such a short time.
The young accomplices were eager to talk to
the authorities, telling them of how Bonin had this almost "hypnotic"
control over them, drawing them into this world of abduction,
rape, and murder.
They told officers how Bonin "loved those
sound of screams". The more the young victims were tortured,
the better it was for him.
With the huge trial that ensued, testimony
was given by all accomplices, except for Vernon Butts, who managed
to kill himself in his cell.
After a short deliberation, Bonin was found
guilty of ten murders, along with robbery charges thrown in for
good measure.
On January 5th, 1982, Bonin was sentenced
to death, but it wasn't until February of 1996 that it was finally
carried out. He was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin.
Shortly after his conviction, it was reported
that Bonin, talking with a local television reporter, stated that,"
I just couldn't stop killing. It got easier with each one we did."
It's also interesting to note that while in
prison waiting for his date with execution, Bonin passed his time
playing Bridge with fellow serial killers Lawrence Bittaker, Randy
Kraft, and Sunset Slayer Douglas Clarke. Between them, a death
toll of over 100.
BOOKS: MANY ENCYCLOPEDIA'S AND COLLECTIONS
HAVE BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF BONIN, BUT AS OF YET THERE HAVEN'T
BEEN ANY BOOKS WRITTEN SOLELY ON THE CASE.
THEODORE BUNDY
"The Killer Next
Door"
Where to begin with one of history's most
notorious multiple murderers? Certainly one of the most charasmatic
convicted murderers in the annals of crime. Certainly one of the
most promising citizens to be convicted of such a serious charge
as multiple murder.
Ted Bundy. The name itself carries such weight
wherever you go. Whether it's with a true crime afficionado or
anyone off the street, we've all been exposed to his crimes on
television, books, and even in the classroom. Convicted of a handful
of murders, rumored to be responsible for up to 100, he denied
his guilt until his execution in 1989.
Everything about Bundy seemed so normal compared
to other serial killers. An illegitimate child, Bundy grew up
in Philadelphia until he was four years old with his mother and
grandparents. The only oddity here was that for a while, he was
led to believe that his mother was his sister, while his grandparents
were his parents.
However, by the time he turned four he was
told the truth, and he and his mother moved to Tacoma, Washington
where she married a man by the name of John Bundy. As a child,
Ted still grew a reputation of a liar and a thief, but all in
all he led a normal life for a young child in the 1950's.
It wasn't until he was enrolled in college
at the University of Washington that Bundy began acting odd. He
quickly began peeping in on unsuspecting co-eds around campus,
and on the night of January 4th, 1974, Bundy acted for the first
time. On that date, he slipped into the basement apartment of
a young woman living near the campus. He immediately pounced on
his victim, using a metal rod he pulled from the bed frame to
club her repeatedly. He even used the rod to rape her, forcing
it into her vagina as far as it could go. The woman survived,
but she was left with brain damaged, leaving her unable to identify
her assailant.
Soon afterwards, a young college co-ed disappeared,
never to be seen again. And by the summer months five more area
girls vanished from the Seattle area. By this time Bundy was not
sneaking around into random apartments. He began using his good
looks and charm to lure his victims into his car. Once inside,
he felt comfortable enough to strike. Sometimes, he would even
prey on their kindness, posing with a cast on his arm, seemingly
in need of help. When the young girl would offer her help, he
would get them in a position where he could surprise her.
On July 14th, when two young girls disappeared
from a local crowded picnic area, police began suspecting something.
And when witnesses began telling of an attractive young man named
"Ted" who wore a sling, police acted.
Using the name as a guide, the police gathered
a list of some two thousand possible suspects. Bundy was indeed
on the list, but he wasn't considered a serious suspect. They
just could not believe that this seemingly successful, bright
young man could do such things. By the time the authorities discovered
decomposing bodies up in the area woods, thus realizing just what
they were dealing with, Bundy had moved on.
By the Fall of 1974 Bundy had moved on to
the University of Utah as a law student. This, however, didn't
slow him down with his other life. Young women around the Salt
Lake City began disappearing. One of his victims was the daughter
of a police chief. So badly beaten was she, her face was reduced
to a bloody pulp when her body was discovered.
But as the trail for the elusive killer deepened,
Bundy was off again, this time to Colorado in early 1975. It still
is not substantiated, but it is believed that Bundy murdered at
least five women while in Colorado before returning to Salt Lake.
As is usually the case, this elusive killer
who led police in multiple states on a wild goose chase was done
in by his own stupid error. On August 16th of 1975, police noticed
a gold or tan Volkswagon Beetle driving erratically. When they
pulled the driver over to see what was wrong, they found Ted at
the wheel. When they searched his car, they were disturbed to
find what seemed to be a "robbery kit". Also found in
the car upon further inspection were human hairs matching one
of the earlier victims.
Now in custody, Bundy was not speaking. But
his car yielded police further evidence of his guilt. More hairs
were found, and when a women who escaped the clutches of her attacker
was brought in, she promptly identified Bundy as the man who attacked
her.
By now authorities in three states were comparing
notes on what they had. Numerous disapperances were coinciding
with Bundy's travels. He was convicted in Utah of attempted kidnapping
and was then extradited to Colorado to stand trial for murder.
While incarcerated there, he was given permission to use the law
library at the Aspen Courthouse to prepare for his case.
Bundy used this opportunity to try an escape,
jumping from a two story window and running off into the dense,
cold, Colorado woods. It took police a total of eight days to
catch Bundy, but he wasn't done just yet. On December 30th, 1977,
he sawed his way out of his cell, and this time he wasn't caught
so quickly. He managed to make it all the way to Tallahassee,
Florida.
Many believe that if Bundy could have now
led a "normal" life, that is, fight the dark drive within
himself and tried to blend in with his surroundings, he may have
escaped detection altogether. However, the evil inside him took
over, and before he knew it, he was back to his ways.
On January 15th, 1978, thousands of miles
from where he escaped, Bundy went wild. He slipped into the Chi
Omega sorority house on the campus of Florida State University
where he raped and killed two women, crushing their skulls as
they slept. He then savagely assaulted two others before making
his escape. So brutal was his attack that on one of his victims,
he severed a nipple, and left deep bite marks on her buttocks.
He then moved onto another sorority house
where he fractured the skull of another young woman. About a month
later, after escaping detection for these crimes, Bundy followed
up with the abduction and rape of a 12 year old girl.
By now, authorities knew what was up. It wasn't
hard to figure out that Bundy had somehow managed to make his
way south, and it was soon after that police caught Budy in a
stolen car.
Bundy was convicted on two counts of murder
on July 23rd, 1979, and was sentenced to the electric chair. He
was able to stall his execution, using the smooth, intelligent
charm he showed many years before, for ten years before exhausting
all his resources. He even tried to stall his own death by "confessing"
to 28 murders. But this didn't help, and on January 24th, 1989,
Bundy was executed for his crimes.
It was quite the media event when Bundy was
put to death, and it was just proof of how powerful a legend was
built around the man who many, to this day, cannot explain away
with psychological babble, or sociological rhetoric.
Bundy was a seemingly brilliant student, a
charming, attractive young man, and someone many deemed a bright
political prospect for the future. However, it was all a veil.
Book(s): TOO MANY TO LIST HERE. CHECK
MY BIBLIOGRAPHY SECTION. "STRANGER BESIDE ME" IS STILL
ONE OF THE BEST.
RICHARD TRENTON CHASE
"The Vampire of Sacramento"
In the two years 1978-79, Richard Chase killed six people
in what had to be one of the stranger cases of serial murder recorded.
In 1975-76, Chase was already slipping further and further
into insanity. He was experimenting with drugs, and was neglecting
his personal hygiene. He was also obsessed with his own "inner
workings", listening to his heart for hours on end, sure
that he was dying. At one point he was sure that someone had stolen
his pulmonary artery, and that every once in a while his heart
stopped beating.
By this time he was already convinced that he needed to drink
blood, since his own blood was "drying up". Naturally,
he started with animals like rabbits, squirrels, which he killed,
then drank from. He was once found by his father, suffering a
form of toxic shock from drinking rabbit blood, attracting the
attention of some doctors who decided that he be treated.
While in the psychiatric ward for treatment, he once managed
to kill two small birds, draining them of their blood. He was
found on the hospital grounds walking around with blood smeared
all over his face, leading to him being nicknamed "Dracula"
by hospital nurses and patients alike.
In June of 1977, Chase was released, and moved into his own
apartment on Watt Avenue in Sacramento, living off Social Security
since he was deemed unfit to work. This was the perfect situation
for Chase to "cure" himself. Over the course of the
next year, dogs and cats (among other animals) were disappearing
from the neighborhood. By this time Chase was also talking of
curious "plots" against him, by people such as Nazis,
and UFO's.
In August of 1977, Chase embarked on what was his final animal
feast before he decided that he needed HUMAN blood to get better.
On August 3, police found Chase in the Walker River Reservation
in Nevada, naked, and covered in blood, along with a bucket filled
with the same. He was immediately arrested, but soon released
when it was discovered that the blood was in fact Cattle blood.
What they didn't realize was that he was already on his way
to bigger and better things. By December of that year, Richard
Chase had already shot and killed his first human victim, Ambrose
Griffin. A month later, he killed his second victim, Teresa Wallin.
Pretty much on cruise control by now, Chase entered the home
of Evelyn Miroth on the 27th of January, which was about two miles
of his apartment. Inside was Miroth, as well as her six year old
son, Jason, her 22 month old nephew, David Ferreira, and her friend
Daniel Meredith.
By the time Chase was done, he killed them all, taking his
time with the bodies afterwards, bathing in their blood. When
he was ready to leave, he decided to take along the body of the
22 month old toddler.
While leaving the house, he was seen by a few eyewitnesses
who later told police that there was an "odd-looking young
man", who was "obviously disturbed". Once a sketch
was developed, a former friend of his, who was also concerned
over his condition in the last few years, identified Chase to
the police.
On the 28th, just a month after killing his first victim,
Police converged on his apartment. Although Chase never answered
the door when they knocked, police stood hiding, positive that
he was inside. As it was, Chase was indeed inside, and decided
to come out when he thought the coast was clear. He was immediately
arrested, and what police discovered inside the apartment was
more than any of them ever expected.
Upon entering the apartment, the cops were immediately hit
with a strong stench. What they saw was even worse. Everything,
the walls, floors, windows, even the bathtub and bed, were stained
with blood. Everything in the aprtment was covered in the dark,
immistakable shade of old blood. Also on the walls were charts
which showed the detailed cutaways of the human body. Also found
were numerous leashes and collars, which belonged to the many
pets Chase brought home over the years.
One of the more interesting things found in his apartment
was a calender which had the word "Today" marked on
the 23rd and 27th of January. It was also discovered that the
word was also marked on 44 other days on the calender, proving
to police that Chase was far from done.
The most well-known objects found in his home were the blenders,
as well as a ketchup bottle, on his kitchen counter. When examined,
police were stunned to find human blood in the ketchup bottle,
and encrusted human tissue in the blenders.
On May 8th, 1979, Chase was found guilty of all six murders,
and was sentenced to death by lethal injection in San Quentin.
This is actually incredible when one considers his past! It's
amazing that he was not deemed insane, and put into an asylum.
However, Chase beat them all to the punch. While he awaited
excecution, he was prescribed a 150-milligram dose of a drug called
Sinequan to battle his depression (How ridiculous is this!!!).
At some point Chase began to hoard the pills, and on the 26th
of December, just short of a year after his first murder, he killed
himself by ingesting all of them.
Although he basically was a spree-killer, committing his murders
over the course of a month, Richard Chase has always been considered
one of the more interesting killers of the modern age.
Book(s): "The Vampire Killer","The
Dracula Killers", Time-Life "Compulsion to Kill".
DEAN
CORLL
"THE MAN WITH THE CANDY"
Where to begin with perhaps the most sadistic and interesting
serial killer in American history?
In the early 1970's, the Houston area suddenly had a large
number of young boys turn up missing. Strangly enough, year after
year, the local authorities didn't even find this alarming enough
to search for any connection or clues. A lot of this had to do
with the fact that all the boys came from a lower-class area of
Houston called the "Heights".
Take into account that this was also in the early 70's, in
an age of "free-love" and "dropping-out".
So it wasn't crazy for these boys to have taken off for what they
thought was a better place.
Still, we aren't talking about 5 or 6 boys. All told, 27 young
area teens ended up raped and murdered at the hands of a local,
well respected candy-factory owner and ex-military man named Dean
Corll.
Since birth, Dean Corll was a momma's boy, something that
was fine with Mrs. Corll. She doted on her son, something that
would continue right until the very end.
After a stint in the U.S. Military in the late 60's, Corll
came home to Houston and took over operations at his mother's
candy factory. Nothing large by any means, it was however a successful
business that Mrs. Corll started by making her own peanut brittle,
which eventually led to her own factory.
By this time, Corll had already taken to hanging out with
area teens, specifically boys. He would often have parties where
he would give out candy, whiule also "allowing" some
beer and glue to show up as well. Soon area teens all knew that
Corll's house was the place to be for some good glue-sniffin'
and beer drinking.
The parents never suspected anything was wrong, as Corll was
looked upon as a well-mannered young man who was still close to
his mother, as well as being very soft-spoken.
By 1971, local kids were wasting their days away in the Corll
home drunk or high on modeling glue. This was the perfect setting
for Corll to rape and then murder. He recruited two teens, Wayne
Henley and David Owen Brooks, to get victims for him at $200 apiece.
A hefty amount of money even now for a young poor kid, they were
happy to bring over school friends to the parties Corll was throwing
every other week or so.
The victims would immediately be given alcohol or glue, with
Corll just waiting for the child to be lost in a haze. When this
was reached, Corll would then take the boy into his bedroon, away
from the others, and take out his "torture rack", a
piece of plywood that had hand-cuffs at each corner to cuff the
victim in place, rendering him helpless.
There was hardly ever any struggle since the kid was already
helpless because of the drugs or drink. Once cuffed to the board,
Corll then "went to work."
A sadistic fuck if there ever was one, Corll would brutally
rape the child and then play games with their bodies before killing
them, sometimes days later. He was said to have stuck glass rods
up the penis' of somevictims, while shoving a large bullet-like
object up the rectum of others. He would enjoy pulling the pubic
hairs one by one from their pubic areas, ending with Corll strangling
and then burying the child in a shed he rented at a nearby boatshed.
After three years of his methodical killing, it seemed as
if Corll was truly unstoppable. With his own home for privacy,
a rented shed to bury the bodies, and two teens that brought victims
right into his living room, he was now cruising.
It wasn't until August of 1973 that it all fell apart,
and fast, for Corll.
That day, Wayne Henley brought over his girlfriend along with
yet another boy for Corll to have his way with. After a few hours
of glue-sniffing and drinking, Henley awoke to find himself fastened
to the torture board. Corll was naked and screaming at him that
he would now suffer the consequences of bringing his girlfriend
to the party.
Corll was telling Henley that he was now going to shoot him,
whereas Henley pleaded with him that if he would spare him, he
would rape and murder his girlfriend while Corll would do the
same to the boy that came along.
Corll loved the idea, and was quick to release Henley. While
they were getting the other two so they could put them on the
"rack", Henley grabbed Corll's gun and emptied the it
into Corll's chest, killing him instantly.
As the two near-victims ran out of the house, Henley was sound
enough to call the police, telling them he had just killed a man,
and that he would be waiting in front of the house for their arrival.
It was only then that the whole story unfolded. Police were
stunned to hear from Henley himself how Corll managed to kill
27 (some books say 32) teenage boys over the last three years,
burying them in his rented shed at the boatyard.
What police found when they went to the shed was a large,
empty, scorching shed, with only a few bags of lime and some steel
drums strewn about.
Noticing freshly dug soil, they began to dig, and surprising
no one, the bodies began to surface. All told, police recovered
25 bodies, some rotted to nothing more than skeletal remains,
while others were wrapped in plastic and still decomposing in
the sweltering metal sheet-made boatshed.
Later on, at the trial of both Henley and Brooks, both were
found guilty of murder, and were both sentenced to life.
The case spurred a national outcry as to why no one seemed
to care, or notice that such a large number of young men could
disappear with no one growing suspicious. Most of the boys knew
each other, and all grew up in the same area.
This is something we see again at the end of the decade in
Atlanta, Georgia and the Wayne Williams trial.
BOOKS: "MASS MURDER IN HOUSTON"; "THE
MAN WITH THE CANDY"
NIKOLAI
DZHUMAGALIEV
"The Metal Fang"
During the heat of the Cold War in 1980, while the U.S. was
boycotting the Olympic Games in Moscow, the Soviet region of Kazakhstan
experienced a rash of murders that terrorized it's inhabitants.
A man named Nikolai Dzhumangaliev, who had already spent a
year in jail for manslaughter in the late 1970's, began working
as a laborer at a nearby site in Alma-Ata.
He was considered by all who knew him as a well-spoken, clean-shaven
gentleman. He was always neatly dressed, but had one physical
flaw that everyone who knew him would look past. He possessed
white metal teeth, losing his natural teeth years before.
Though not exactly a "loner", he would generally
keep to himself, walking around town trying to meet different
women wherever he went.
His favorite spot in town was near a river bank, where he
would meet a young lady and lure her into the dark end of the
park nearby. There, he would then rape the woman, finishing off
by hacking the body up with a knife and axe he carried at all
times.
However, he wasn't done yet. He would then proceed to cook
up parts of his victims and eat their flesh. The rest he would
bag up in a sack and take home with him.
Later on, when he was discovered, police realized that Nikolai
was also often inclined to throw little get-togethers with friends
where he would cook up large amounts of meat to be shared with
his guests. These "get-togethers" were always thrown
right after one of his murders. He was feeding his unwitting guests
parts of his recent kill.
What eventually led police to Nikolai were two town drunks
who were invited back to his house for some "snacks".
When entering the home, the drunks discovered a woman's head along
with intestines, in the kitchen, ready for cooking.
He was charged with seven murders in all. However, the court
decided that he was not responsible for his actions and had him
committed to a mental institution in Tashkent.
Interestingly enough, when being transported to another institution
in 1989, Nikolai escaped from authorities. So not to alarm the
public, no announcement was ever made of this, and for two long
years the local law enforcement searched and hoped against hope
that killings would not start up somewhere else in the Soviet
Union.
He was captured in August of 1991 in Fergana, Uzbekistan,
after being reported by a local woman who claimed that a young
man was propositioning her earlier in the day.
He remains in a mental institution to this day.
Not much available on this guy:
Check out a little clip of him in "The Encyclopedia
of Serial Killers", although there's nothing more than what
appears here.
LARRY
EYLER
One of the many serial killers who struggled
with the fact that he was homosexual, Larry Eyler was the youngest
of four children brought up in Indiana, often beaten by step-fathers
and sent to live by his mother with a bunch of other families.
Eyler, a house painter and liquor store clerk,
stalked the streets of midwestern cities and towns of Indiana,
Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin, even though he wasn't a "transient"
by any stretch.
He had three areas where he worked and played,
as well as killed. He could be found in Greencastle, Indiana,
where he worked in a liquor store, a friend's place in Terre Haute,
Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois, where he shared his space with
not only his lover, but the lover's wife and kids.
Living this way gave him a wide area to find
victims to fullfill his violent sexual needs. And when he would
be satiated, he would take out his anti-gay sentiments on his
victim, usually ending up with the victim dead of stab wounds
while bound.
In March of 1982 it all began, with Jay Reynolds
found stabbed to death outside Lexington Kentucky.
In October of the same year, police found
the body of 14 year old Delvoyd Baker outside Indianapolis. Two
weeks later, another body, that of 19 year old Steven Crockett
was found, stabbed 22 times, in Lowell, Indiana.
Police didn't make any connection yet, when
in November, they found the body of Robert Foley in a field outside
Joliet, Ill.
Now they were seeing a pattern of assaults
on young men, with stabbing and strangulation present in every
case.
On Christmas of 1982, Eyler murdered 25 year
old John Johnson outside Belshaw, Indiana. Incredibly, three days
later he killed two more, 21 year old John Roach in Belleville,
and 20 year old Steven Agan in Newport Indiana.
Eyler was now on cruise control. He settled
into the fact that he could now have his homosexual flings, and
seemingly "cover-up" his disguist by eliminating his
lovers and dumping them off the highways around the midwest.
1983 was no different, as he began killing
around Illinois. In July of 1983, Eyler was now responsible for
12 murders, and he was now increasingly mutilating his victims
after death. The sex and murder was no longer enough.
On August 31st, Robert Calise was murdered
near Lake Forest, Ill. He was bound with clothesline and tape,
and stabbed 17 times.
A month later, a police officer in Indiana
spotted a pick-up truck off the side of Interstate 65, with two
men nearby walking towards a group of trees. It appeared that
one of the men was tied up. When the officer approached them,
the bound young man told him that Eyler made homosexual propositions,
including asking permission to tie him up.
When the officer searched the truck, he found
surgical tape, clothesline, and a hunting knife stained with blood.
Eyler was immediately taken in, where forensic
experts matched the blood on the knife with that of Calise. Experts
were also able to match tire tracks left at the Calise sight with
that of Eyler's truck.
You would think that this was enough to put
Eyler behind bars, but authorities let him go, while they continued
their investigation.
And on October 4th, 1983, 14 year old Derrick
Hansen was found dismembered near Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Almost two weeks later, a "John Doe"
was found near Effingham, Ill., with yet two other victims, this
time Richard Wayne, and an unidentified male, found dead outside
Indianapolis.
By this time, Eyler was under intense constant
surveillance, albeit not a very good job of it to say the least.
Eyler went as far as filing a civil suit with
authorities for what he claimed was harrassment against the Lake
County Sheriff's Office.
What he got was arrested for the Calise murder,
seemingly putting an end to a serial killers reign on the Interstates
of Mid-America.
However, once again, officials blew it, as
on Feb. 5th, 1984, at a pretrial hearing, it was determined that
all evidence recovered from Eyler's truck was not allowed into
court.
Eyler was free once again. And embarrassed
law officials rushed to regain control of the case that was in
the palm of their hands just a few days before.
On May 7th, 1984, 22 year old David Block
was found murdered near Zion, Ill. The M.O. was the same as the
other slaying attributed to Eyler.
Then Eyler did something that even the local
authorities could not botch.
In August, the janitor where Eyler lived was
led to garbage bags neatly placed on the sidewalk for removal
by his excited dog.
When the janitor opened them, he found the
dismembered remains of a local 15 year old hustler named Danny
Bridges.
Finally, Eyler slipped enough for the authorities
to lock him up for good. Convicted of the Bridges murder, Eyler
was sentenced to die in July of 1986.
He's till on death row in Illinois to this
day.
Book: FREED
TO KILL.
HARVEY
GLATTMAN
"The Man
with the Camera"
Harvey Glattman was an amazing case in Serial Killer history.
This was a man that was active in an era when it seemed that the
serial killer was on the downshot. This was a man that left us
with some of the most compelling, eternal pictures ever seen in
the true crime genre.
Glattman grew up in New York City, with his over-protective
parents, and was found very early on to have problems beyond that
of a growing boy. He was already showing signs of "odd behavior"
by the age of three, according to his mother, as he kept to himself
and rarely socialized with others his age.
All throughout his childhood things never changed. He never
hung out with other children. It was then that he developed a
taste for the "True Detective" magazines, and other
sketchy "rags" of the times. However, Harvey was a great
student, easily maintaining an "A" average, and keeping
this false sense of promise in his parent's eyes.
After a move out west to Denver, Co., where his father was
a cab driver, he kept his grades up, while he fine tuned "bondage
games" with himself. He liked to play with ropes to tie up
his legs, or put a length around his neck while masterbating.
By the age of 12, normal masterbation was a thing of the past.
It did nothing for him. He kept fantasizing about tying up women
and having his way with them. This was the only way, or so it
seemed, that he would be able to "have a woman".
Day after day he became obsessed with this scenario. At the
same time he would continue to play with ropes more and more,
nearly choking himself on many occasions while bringing himself
to orgasm.
Fast forward to 1951, Harvey now 24 years-old, and he is just
released from prison for petty robbery (Harvey took to this for
some added excitement-his fantasies not cutting it any longer),
he moves out to Los Angeles with his mother's help and sets up
a television repair shop. Figuring he was always good with mechanical
things, Mother Glattman hoped this would help Harvey straighten
out and settle down with "a plan" for his life.
At about the same time, Harvey becomes interested in the world
photography. He begins to take photos around town as a hobby,
joining various photographer's clubs and meeting for "shoots".
It was then that he found out that for the right price, you could
"rent" a model for the purpose of taking some pictures.
Rumour had it that if you asked nice enough, they would even take
their clothes off for some "blue" photo's as well.
For Harvey, this was perfect. It was the final piece which
would lead to straight into his fantasy world.
Knowing that these girls would never suspect him of doing
anything "rough" (As you saw from the photo above, Harvey
was a small, non-threatening man who couldn't seem to harm a fly),
Harvey developed a scheme to get a woman to "model"
for him, opening up a chance for him to ask if she would pose
for a few bondage shots, the kind that appeared on the cover of
"True Detective" magazine.
These bondage shots were always the same. They would show
a high-heeled, garter-clad woman, in some sort of undress, bound
both at the hands and feet, with a gag in her mouth, with some
screaming headline like,"Held as sex-slave in den of horrors!"
above her head.
This was the perfect scam, and Harvey knew it. He took it
one step further by now stating that he was indeed a photographer
for such a magazine, and he would offer good money for only two
hours worth of work.
On August 1st, 1957, Harvey hired his first model, 19 year-old
Judy Dull. Using the name Johnny Glynn, he told her he was a professional
photographer, and needed some bondage shots for a local detective
magazine.
Once inside Glattman's place, he was nearly delerious at how
easy this was going to be. He was astonished at how quickly she
got into the role of captive, letting herself be tied up and gagged.
Once she was secured, he began to fondle and caress her. Now realizing
what was going on, she tried to struggle, but was helpless. Harvey
took advantage of this and raped her repeatedly. For the first
time he felt in control, powerful, what he thought every man felt
like.
When he was satisfied, he was prepared to let the girl go,
but began to worry about her going to the police. Almost immediatley,
he realized he had to kill her, since he WAS NOT going to go to
prison. This was something he was never going back to. He knew
he wouldn't survive any extended trip to jail.
While still bound, Harvey put her in the back seat of his
car and began to drive. He waited until nightfall so no one would
see him getting in the car with the girl. He decided to drive
out to the desert, where he knew he could find a secluded spot
to kill and bury his victim.
Upon finding a good spot, he convinced the girl that he just
wanted to take some external shots of her bound and gagged, then
he would let her go out in the desert. As any victim hoping for
freedom tends to do, she believed him, and allowed herself to
be photographed a little longer out under the desert stars.
When Glattman couldn't contain himself any longer, he raped
her again, until he couldn't put off her death another second.
Calmly, he choked her to death and buried her, where her remains
wouldn't be found for another five months.
By this time, Glattman had already grown to live with this
secret, as was ready for his second victim. And on March 9th,
1958, he found her in Shirley Bridgeford, a 24 year-old divorcee.
Under the same ruse, although using the name "George
Williams" this time, he managed to take a few phtoto's before
raping her. As with the first victim, he got her in the car and
took her out to the desert. This was now a part of the routine,
instead of a last minute decision.
Once there, he raped her again, after a few more photos, and
then choked her to death, burying her like Judy Dull.
A few months later, he found Ruth Mercado, a part-time model
looking to make a little extra money. Again, Glattman followed
his plans to the fullest, and without a hitch. Before he knew
it, he was back out in the desert, sexually well-spent and with
a great roll of shots taken, choking and killing what was to be
his third victim. Unlike the previous two, Ruth tried to talk
to Harvey, hoping to make him think that she liked him, but he
realized that even if this was true, she had to die. He just could
not run the risk of jail.
By now the area police realized that there were three missing
women on their hands, all sharing the same background. And it
was Glattman's fourth victim that led them right to him.
In October, 1958, now using the name "Frank Johnson",
Harvey called a local modeling agency, asking for a model to do
detective photography. They sent over amateur model Lorraine Vigil.
Upon arrival, Glattman decided to skip his house and go directly
to the desert, explaining to Vigil that he needed outdoor shots.
On the way out to the desert, Glattman pulled out a gun, never
expecting the girl to fight back. As a matter of fact, Glattman
became so confident in his routine, that he never in his wildest
dreams thought that anything would go wrong. However, Vigil instinctively
grabbed for the gun, and a struggle ensued, with the gun accidentally
going off and shooting her in the thigh. Coming to a halt on the
side of the road, they continued to struggle until she got control
of the gun. In the end it was ironic that he would be overpowered
by a woman.
Once in control, she kept him at bay until a passing patrol
car stopped to help. The beginning of the end was at hand. Once
in police apprehension, he tried to tell the officers that it
was the first time he ever tried such a thing. However, with the
three others still missing, and with Glattman obviously hiding
something, the police went over to his house to see what, if anything,
they could find. Inside the run-down home, police found piles
of photos of women being bound and gagged, but it wasn't he usual
stuff they saw in magazines. These models really looked terrified,
and some of them actually looked dead.
The three missing victims were identified in some of the photos,
trussed up and either alive with fear, or dead. Glattman was done.
He eventually confessed to everything, helping police recover
the three skeletal remains baked in the desert sun.
Unlike this day in age, where appeals drag out the final sentence,
Glattman was sentenced to death on November 1958, and was executed
at San Quentin in the gas chamber a year later, partly due to
the fact that Harvey himslef refused to appeal, stating, "It's
better this way. Iknew this was the way it would be."
Read: "Rope" by Michael Newton.