Kristin. 16. New York. Vegetarian. Criminology. Reading. Cats. Sci-fi. Math.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Kenneth Erskine
Erskine was also known as the “Stockwell Strangler” and had the mind of an 11 year old child. His victims were all elderly men and women in South London whom he strangled to death. He would enter the house without showing signs of forced entry. He would then murder the inhabitants by slowly squeezing the victim’s throat with one hand while holding his other hand over their mouth and nose to suffocate them. It is unknown how many elderly citizens he murdered during 1986, however he was charged with 7 murderers and one attempted murder. When he was arrested, he told police “I don’t remember killing anyone. I could have done it without knowing. I am not sure if i did.” He was later able to give police details of the murders.
Carl Panzram
Panzram himself is unsure of exactly how many murders he committed. He once sstated, “I have murdered 21 human beings, I have committed thousands of burglaries, robberies, larconies, arsons, and last but not least I have committed sodomy on more than a thousand male human beings.” He most likely killed more than 21 people because of his travels around Europe and Africa. In 1928, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, however after killing a prison worker, he was sentenced to death. to those who fought to have his sentence revoked, he said “I wish you all had one neck, and I had my hands on it; I believe the only way to reform people is to kill them.” He even wrote a letter to President Hoover asking to be executed sooner. On September 5, 1930, he was hanged. His last words were “hurry up, you hoosier bastard, I could kill ten men while you’re fooling around.”
She was giving me oral sex, and she got carried away… So I choked her.
Arthur Shawcross
Robert Shulman
Between 1991 and 1996, Shulman confessed to have killed 5 prostitutes. He would pick them up and after doing drugs and having sex with them, he would beat them to death. His murder weapons were a hammer, baseball bar, or a set or barbells. He would cut of their arms post-mortem so they could not be identified. The remains would be dumped in different garbage bins around Long Island. Eventually, one girl was identified by a tattoo. They were able to link Shulman to the murder by his blue Cadillac. He was initially charged with two murders however, while in custody, he admitted to three others. He claimed that he would smoke crack with prostitutes and black out only to wake up and find one dead. He stated that he felt horrible about the murders and apologized to the families of his victims. He was found guilty of three murders and was sentenced to execution by lethal injection on April 30, 1999
New Yorks worst serial murder case of this century began with a routine traffic stop in the predawn hours of June 28, 1993. State troopers Deborah Spaargaren and Sean Ruane were working the graveyard shift in East Meadow, Long Island, when they spotted a pickup truck with no license plate ahead of them, at 3:15 A.M. The driver wasn’t speeding, but the absence of a tag was in itself a minor violation, and they turned the flashers on, prepared to write a quick citation.
Curiously, though, the driver of the pickup did not stop. He didnt speed up, either, but he kept on driving. When the troopers used their siren, he appeared oblivious; likewise when Ruane got on the loudspeaker and ordered him to stop. Ten minutes later, with a call for reinforcements on the air, their quarry missed a turn and crashed into a lamp post at a Mineola intersection. Faced with pistols now, the solemn driver gave his license up and stepped out of the car.
By that time, Ruane and Spaargaren had smelled his reeking cargo, moving toward the rear bed of the truck, where something long and thick was wrapped in plastic, bound with rope. A peek inside the tarp revealed a womans decomposing body. Motorist Joel Rifkin, now in handcuffs, helped identify the corpse as 22-year-old Tiffany Bresciani. She was a prostitute, he told the officers. I had sex with her, and then I killed her. He was on his way to dump the body near Republic Airport, he explained, when he was spotted by Ruane and Spaargaren. The case was open-and-shut, but it was far from simple.
In custody, Rifkin soon began confessing to other homicides, a total of seventeen, including Bresciani. The murders spanned four years, and all the victims were described as prostitutes by Rifkin, though surviving relatives of several vocally dispute his claim. Whatever their employment status, there was no doubt of the body count unless, some officers suggested, Rifkins estimate was low.
The son of unwed teenage parents, born in 1959, Joel was adopted by Ben and Jeanne Rifkin at three weeks of age. The couple was so happy with their son that they repeated the procedure, with a daughter, three years later. In 1965, the family settled in East Meadow, where Joel would spend most of his remaining years. He shared his mothers enthusiasm for photography and handicrafts, a brainy child who never quite fit in with other kids his age.
Despite a tested IQ of 128, Joel did poorly in school, at least part of his problem traceable to the merciless teasing of class-mates. They called him The Turtle, mimicking his slouched posture and slow footsteps, seldom missing a chance to make him the butt of cruel jokes. Rifkin graduated from high school in 1977, but he could never quite cut in college, despite sporadic attempts over the next twelve years.
He drifted in and out of jobs, mostly living at home, enjoying one brief relationship with a girl who recalls him as sweet, but always depressed. In February 1987, Rifkins father killed himself to end the pain of cancer, and Joel delivered the eulogy at his funeral. Things seemed to go downhill from there.
On August 22, 1987, Rifkin was arrested in Hempstead, Long Island, for soliciting a prostitute. He paid a fine and managed to conceal the incident from his mother, ranging farther afield to seek hookers in Manhattan when he felt the urge. On the side, he began collecting books and press clippings on serial killers of whores, including the unidentified Green River Killer and New Yorks own Arthur Shawcross. Somewhere along the way, he moved from abstract study of the killers into emulation of their brutal crimes.
Rifkins first two victims have never been found or identified. He recalls killing one hooker in 1989 and another in 1990, dismembering their bodies and dropping the pieces into Manhattan canals, but the butcher work repulsed him, and he didnt really hit his stride until 1991. On July 14 of that year, 31-year-old Barbara Jacobs was found, strangled and rotting, in the Hudson River; her body had been wedged inside a plastic bag, then forced into a cardboard box.
Another 31-year-old victim, Korean hooker Yun Lee, was fished out of the East River on September 23, her body folded inside a steamer trunk. Mary Ellen DeLuca, age twenty- two, had been missing for a month when her nude, strangled body was found in a field upstate, at Cornwall, New York. Lorraine Orvieto, age twenty-eight, was strangled by Rifkin a few days before Christmas, jammed in a 55-gallon oil drum and dropped into Coney Island Creek, where her body would remain undiscovered for over six months.
The oil drum was a new kink with Rifkin, used at least four times by his count. A Jane Doe victim, thus entombed, was dredged from Newtown Creek, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on May 13, 1992. Maryann Holloman, age 39, was retrieved from Coney Island Creek in her oil drum on July 9, two days before passers-by found the skeletal remains of Lorraine Orvieto nearby. There was another oil drum victim, Joel insists, although he doesnt know her name and cant recall exactly when he dropped her body in the Harlem River.
Still, Rifkin liked to vary his technique from time to time. With 25-year-old Iris Sanchez, strangled in April 1992, he simply drove to JFK Airport and left her body in a vacant lot, beneath a mattress. (It was still there, waiting for detectives, at the time of Joels arrest.) On May 25, 1992, he strangled crack addict Anna Lopez, dumping her corpse in some woods off Interstate 84, in Brewster, New York. Jenny Soto was the fighter, breaking off her fingernails on Rifkins face before he snapped her neck on November 16, 1992.
Three months later, he killed Leah Evens and left her in rural Northampton, where her skeleton was found on Mothers Day. With Joels confession in hand, police descended on Jeanne Rifkins home, scouring the premises for evidence. In Joels room, they struck pay dirt, recovering dozens of ID cards, drivers licenses and credit cards, photographs, articles of jewelry, and piles of womens clothing taken from his victims.
Out in the garage, they found a wheelbarrow and a chainsaw stained with human blood. Neighbors had noted a foul odor emanating from the Rifkin garage, where corpses were occasionally stored before disposal, but the stench was attributed to fertilizer and insecticide Joel used on his landscaping job.
Despite his confessions and the overwhelming evidence against him, Rifkin pled not guilty at his murder trial. Conviction was a foregone conclusion, however, and in the absence of a death penalty statute, he received the maximum sentence of twenty-five years to life.
In early 1994, it was reported that Rifkin had engaged in a jailhouse scuffle with mass murderer Colin Ferguson over the use of a public telephone. The argument over whose killings were better reportedly ended when Ferguson punched Rifkin in the mouth.
(Source: murderpedia.org)
The Frankford Slasher
The Frankford area of Philadelphia was once a town older than the City of Brotherly Love itself. At one time, it was a prosperous area, but by 1980 it had become a crime-ridden slum populated by prostitutes, junkies, and small businesses struggling to survive. This was the area that Sylvester Stallone selected as the setting for his film Rocky.
It was here in 1985 where the first victim was found in a railroad yard.
Helen Patent was nude from the waist down and she had been posed in a sexually provocative position, with her legs open and her blouse pulled up to expose her breasts. She was 52 when she died, and while it was clear to the police that she had been stabbed many times, it took an autopsy to determine the official cause and manner of death. She had been sexually assaulted and had died from 47 stab wounds to her head and chest. She had also been stabbed in the right arm, and one vicious and deep slash across her abdomen had exposed the internal organs.
Between seven and eight women from 28-68 became the victims of this violent rapist and serial killer in an old section of Philadelphia. Leonard Christopher, a quiet black man who worked in the area, was arrested and convicted for the murder of one victim in the series. But the quality of the evidence used to convict Christopher is controversial, especially since another likely killing in the series occurred while he was in jail.
(Source: crimelibrary.com)
We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow.
Ted Bundy
Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris
while serving time in prison, these two diagnosed psychopaths crossed paths and found out just how much they have in common They both are domineering men who wish to hunt and sexually abuse women. Upon release, the two men bought a van which they deemed the “Murder Mac” planning on kidnapping a young girl. On June 24, 1979, the pair kidnapped 16 year old Cindy Schaeffer. After being raped repeatedly, she was strangled to death with a coat hanger. On July 8, the two picked up Andrea Joy Hall and sexually abused her until sticking an ice pick through her ear and into her brain, killing her. In early September, Norris and Bittaker kidnapped two girls, aged 5 and 13, and after 2 days of torture, strangled them and threw the bodies off of a cliff. On Halloween, the same was done to Shirley LEdford, her bod being left on someone’s lawn. Sometime between the last two murders, Norris and Bittaker kidnapped and raped a young girl but let her go. she later identified them as her attackers. Norris had also been boasting about his crimes to another ex-convict who had the morality to inform police. Lawrence Bittaker received the death sentence, however, in exchange for his testimony against Bittaker, Norris gained immunity from the death penalty and received life imprisonment.
Edmund Kemper frequented a bar in Santa Cruz across from the courthouse called The Jury Room. He became friendly with the police officers who also spent a lot of time there. They gave him a police training badge and a set of handcuffs which he used to subdue the less submissive victims.
John Duffy
Duffy was known as the “Railway Killer” for his tendency to attack his victims on the North London Link railway line. His wife told investigators how he would often tie her up for sex sayine “rape is a natural thing for a man to do.” Duffy raped dozens of women on the railway and killed three of them. He was caught when a 14 year old whom he had raped caught a glimpse of her perpetrator after her blindfold briefly slipped. Surprisingly, Duffy did not kill her. She went to police with a description of Duffy. He was the first criminal to be caught using psychological profiling.
Duffy’s first rape occured in 1982. At this time, he had a partner. His partner still remains unidenntified. In July of 1985, Britain launched “Operation Hart” to track down the serial rapist. A month later, Duffy was arrested for unrelated charges of assault. Since the charges involved violence, his name was submitted into the “Operation Hart” database. After his third murder, the list of suspects was narrowed down from 5000 to 1999 people using a blood sample from one of the victims. Each suspect was called in for interrogation but he refused to give them a blood sample which would have matched the blood found on Tamboezer’s body. He bbribed a friend to mug him so he could put himself into a psychiactric hospital to recover from the “trauma.” Wen released, he stuck for the last time. his victim was able to identify him as her rapist and police found his name on the lis of suspects for the “Railway Killer” case. After some surveillance, John Francis Duffy was arrester for rape and murder.
His trial began in January of 1988. He claimed that he was suffering from amnesia. Duffy was described by Mr. Justice Farquarson as “little more than a predatory animal who behaved in a beastly, degrading and disgusting way.” On February 26, he was sentenced to 7 consecutive life sentences with a minimum of 35 years in prison.
Rodney Alcala
Alcala was born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor in San Antonio, Texas to Raoul Alcala Buquor and Anna Maria Gutierrez. His father abandoned him when he was 12. At this point, his mother moved him and his sisters to Los Angeles. At age 17, he joined the army but was discharged after being diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder.
His first crime was committed in 1968. He was seen luring an eight year old girl into his home. A witness called police. When they arrived, they found the girl alone in the apartment after being raped and beaten with a steel bar. Alcala had escaped to New York using the name John Berger. He was captured in 1971 wen two children called police after seeing an FBI wanted poster. The victim’s family had refused to let her testify so Alcala was put on parole after spending only 34 months in jail. Two months later, he was jailed again for assaulting a 13 year old girl. He was paroled after two years. He moved back to Manhattan and was interviewed in the Hillside Strangler case. He served a brief sentence for possession on marijuana. During this time, he convinced hundreds of young men and women that he was a photographer and took naked photos of them.
He was convicted when the earrings of a 12 year old girl found dead in Los Angeles were found in a locker rented by Alcala. He was sentenced to death in three separate trials. His DNA linked him to four additional murders. In his trial, he was his own attorney. He acted as an interrogator using a deeper voice and addressing himself as Mr. Alcala. He claimed the earrings were his own and showed a clip of himself from “The Dating Game” stating that he was wearing the earrings, however his hair was covering his ears. This created his nickname “Dating Game Killer.” He was again sentenced to death and awaits execution in San Quentin State Prison.
Albert Fish’s letter to the family of one of his victims
Dear Mrs. Budd. In 1894 a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the Steamer Tacoma, Capt. John Davis. They sailed from San Francisco for Hong Kong, China. On arriving there he and two others went ashore and got drunk. When they returned the boat was gone. At that time there was famine in China. Meat of any kind was from $1–3 per pound. So great was the suffering among the very poor that all children under 12 were sold for food in order to keep others from starving. A boy or girl under 14 was not safe in the street. You could go in any shop and ask for steak—chops—or stew meat. Part of the naked body of a boy or girl would be brought out and just what you wanted cut from it. A boy or girl’s behind which is the sweetest part of the body and sold as veal cutlet brought the highest price. John staid there so long he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to N.Y. he stole two boys, one 7 and one 11. Took them to his home stripped them naked tied them in a closet. Then burned everything they had on. Several times every day and night he spanked them – tortured them – to make their meat good and tender. First he killed the 11 year old boy, because he had the fattest ass and of course the most meat on it. Every part of his body was cooked and eaten except the head—bones and guts. He was roasted in the oven (all of his ass), boiled, broiled, fried and stewed. The little boy was next, went the same way. At that time, I was living at 409 E 100 St. near—right side. He told me so often how good human flesh was I made up my mind to taste it.
On Sunday June the 3, 1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese—strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down the stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mamma. First I stripped her naked. How she did kick – bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms. Cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could of had I wished. She died a virgin.
David John Birnie was born in 1951 to Margaret and John Birnie. He was the oldest of six children. Margaret and John were both alcoholics who had a great deal of trouble raising their children due to the family’s low income. The children were periodically removed from the household by social services when Margaret and John were unable to afford them. When his parents divorced, neither wanted custody of David and he became a ward of the court.
Catherine was born in 1951. Her mother passed away when she was only 10 months old. She was sent to South Africa to live with her father; he sent her back to Australia two years later to live with her grandparents. Approximately one year later, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle. She was a very sad child and did not have any friends. Many of the neighborhood children had been forbade by their parents to associate with her. She felt very lonely and rejected and possessed a strong desire to be loved. David and Catherine met as children; their parents lived next to each other.
The two were reunited in their late teens. By that time, David had spent much of his life in juvenile detention halls. He and Catherine embarked on a crime spree. On June 11, 1969, they were charged with eleven counts of theft and breaking and entering. David was sentenced to nine months in prison. Catherine was pregnant at the time and only received probation. The following month, the two appeared before the Supreme Court, charged with another eight counts of theft. Three more years of imprisonment were added on to David’s sentence and Catherine received an additional four years of probation.
On July 21, 1970, David escaped from Karnet prison and reunited with Catherine again. It was not long before the two were once again in trouble with the law. They were arrested on July 10, 1970 and charged with 53 counts of theft, breaking and entering, trespassing and illegal operation of a motor vehicle. In their possession, police found wigs, radios, dynamite, detonators and fuses. Catherine admitted to knowing that her actions were wrong, but claimed that she loved David and would do absolutely anything for him. David was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and Catherine was sentenced to 6 months of imprisonment. Her baby was taken by welfare services.
Upon her release from prison, Catherine found work as a live-in servant in Fremantle. She fell in love with a young man named Donald McLaughlan, the son of her employers. They married on her 21st birthday, May 31, 1972. Soon after, Catherine gave birth to their first child. Unfortunately, the baby died at only 7 months old after being struck by a moving vehicle. Catherine witnessed the accident. Over the years, the couple had five more children and their marriage began to sour. Catherine did not take care of her house or her family. She found herself missing David.
She left her husband and children to move in with David. They were never officially married, but she had her surname changed to his and became his common-law wife. David had an unquenchable sexual appetite and the couple began considering abducting and raping young women to add zest to their sex life. They realized their shared fantasy in October of 1986; that is when the killing began.
By November 5, 1986, Detective Sergeant Paul Ferguson became convinced that a serial killer was on the loose. Denise Brown was the fourth person to be reported missing in a span of 27 days. It struck him as odd that two of the missing persons had made contact with family/friends after being reported missing. Chief Bill Neilson agreed with the serial killer theory and the two began their investigation. The detectives would receive their big break only five days later.
On November 10, 1986, a 17-year-old girl ran into a local supermarket. She was half-naked and hysterical, but managed to announce that she had been raped. She was taken to the police station, where she told her story of survival. She said that she was abducted and held at knifepoint by a couple that had asked her for directions. She recalled being taken to a house where she was stripped and chained to the bed. The male raped her as the female watched. The following morning, she was alone in the house with the female, the male had left for work. She pleaded for the woman to unchain her; much to her amazement, the woman complied. The woman forced her to call her family and tell them that she was visiting with some friends. When the female accomplice left to answer the door, the girl escaped out of the open window in the bedroom.
Despite her harrowing ordeal, the girl was very intelligent and managed to remain alert. She was able to provide police officers with the address and phone number of the couple. She led police to the house, where they hid outside in a parked van. When Catherine returned home, she was immediately arrested. She told police where to find David, who was then arrested. The couple denied the accusations against them and claimed that the young girl had consented to sexual intercourse. In the house, police found a pocketbook and pack of cigarettes that the young lady was smart enough to hide there.
Police were still in need of a confession, since there was no concrete evidence against the couple; it was their word against the girl’s. The couple was interrogated separately. This is a common police tactic. If interviewed together, the two would influence and corroborate one another’s story. If separated, the bond between them is temporarily broken and the likelihood of a confession is greater. The tactic worked and David admitted to committing the murders. His confession prompted Catherine to confess as well.
The couple led police to the burial sites of the four victims. David and Catherine were formally charged with the four murders on November 12, 1986. The trial took place on March 3, 1987 and only lasted a half hour. Both received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a minimum of twenty years. David was sent to Casuarina prison and Catherine was sent to Bandyup prison. The two kept in touch for several years. In February 2005, a man received a large settlement after claiming that he was raped by Birnie while imprisoned at Casaurina. On October 7, 2005, David committed suicide, hanging himself in prison. His body remained in the morgue for over a month because no one was willing to claim it. He was given a covert funeral on November 21, 2005.
(Source: crimecasefiles.com)
Jack the Ripper
His killings were referred to as the Whitechapel murders because they all took place in Whitechapel, England. Although there were many suspects in the case, the Ripper’s identity was never confirmed. All of his victims were prostitutes and his modus operandi was similar for each one. He would wait until the woman’s hands were both lifting her skirt so she would not have enough time to defend herself. Then he would strangle her into unconsciousness. He would gently lay the body down in the street or on a bed on his left side. He would slit her throat and then cut open and mutilate the body. He would usually take part of an organ as a trophy. Victims: Mary Ann Nichols(body in picture)-Friday, August 31, 1888. Annie Chapman-Saturday, September 8, 1888. Elizabeth Stride-Sunday, September 30, 1888. Catharine Eddowes-Sunday, September 30, 1888. Mary Jane Kelly-Friday, November 9, 1888. Many other killings were suspected to be linked to the Ripper, however these five have the most evidence indicating they had been committed by Jack the Ripper.
Victim of Dean Corll, “The Candy Man.” His young accomplices would lure teen boys to Corll’s house where they would be given drugs and alcohol until they passed out. At this point, Corll would strap them to a board and rape and torture them before finally killing them. One of his accomplices eventually called the police saying that he shot and killed Corll for fear that he would be his next victim. The boy led police to Corll’s boat house where he buried 27 bodies. Police brought inmates in to dig up the bodies. Most were very decomposed because Corll had covered them with limestone before completely burying them.
