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There's not much to say here, is there? I have a bit of an odd fascination with serial killers, psychology, among other things. I'd say I'm a pretty normal gal. Links:▼Ask ▼Serial Killer Index ▼ Psychology


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At seventeen, John Thomas Straffen had the mind of an 8-year-old. The youth, who had grown up in a school for mentally retarded children, assaulted a 13-year-old girl and the courts sent him to an institution. Released at age twenty-one, he lived in Bath until he strangled two girls, as he said, to annoy the police because he hated them. At his trial at the Taunton Assizes in October 1951, he was found unfit to plead and was commited to Broadmoor Asylum. Six months later he escaped. He was at large for only a few hours, but in that time he murdered another girl, Linda Bowyer. He told the police without being asked, “I did not kill the little girl on the bicycle.” His mental condition brought up several questions of how mentally incompetent defendants should be tried in capital cases. In his July 1952 trial for the third murder, he was found Guilty, but his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

At seventeen, John Thomas Straffen had the mind of an 8-year-old. The youth, who had grown up in a school for mentally retarded children, assaulted a 13-year-old girl and the courts sent him to an institution. Released at age twenty-one, he lived in Bath until he strangled two girls, as he said, to annoy the police because he hated them. At his trial at the Taunton Assizes in October 1951, he was found unfit to plead and was commited to Broadmoor Asylum. Six months later he escaped. He was at large for only a few hours, but in that time he murdered another girl, Linda Bowyer. He told the police without being asked, “I did not kill the little girl on the bicycle.” His mental condition brought up several questions of how mentally incompetent defendants should be tried in capital cases. In his July 1952 trial for the third murder, he was found Guilty, but his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.


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Paul John Knowles (April 17, 1946 - November 18, 1974) also known as The Casanova Killer, was an American spree killer tied to the deaths of eighteen people in 1974, though he claimed to have taken thirty-five lives. Born in Florida in 1946, he was first convicted at the age of nineteen, and in the years following he spent more time in prison. In 1974, he was granted parole and sought to marry Mrs. Angela Covic, with whom he had corresponded from prison. Allegedly because of something a psychic told her, she ended the relationship. After this rejection, Knowles went on a murderous spree across northern Florida. He was eventually caught in Georgia, but while he was claiming to assist officers in finding the officer’s pistol he had used in his last two murders, he tried to escape and was shot dead by a police officer. The Murders Alice Curtis was a 65-year-old resident of Jacksonville, Florida. Knowles gagged her on July 26, 1974, while stealing her belongings. She choked to death on her gag. Lillian and Mylette Anderson, aged eleven and seven respectively, were strangled early August 1974 and subsequently dumped in a nearby swamp. Marjorie Howe lived in Atlantic Beach, Florida. She was strangled with a nylon stocking. The motive, apparently, was that Knowles stole her television. Victim #5 remains unnamed. She was a hitchhiker, who Knowles raped and strangled. Kathy Pierce was strangled with the cord of her telephone on August 23, 1974. Her three-year-old son, who was also present, remained unharmed. William Bates met his fate on September 3, after having shared some drinks with Knowles in Lima, Ohio. His body was not discovered until October. His car, money and credit cards were all taken by Knowles. Emmett and Lois Johnson were out camping in Ely, Nevada, where Knowles murdered both on September 18, 1974. Charlynn Hicks was a woman whose motorcycle broke down in Sequin, Texas. Knowles raped her before strangling her and dragging her body through some barbed wire. This was on the 21st of September. Ann Dawson, from Birmingham, Alabama, met Knowles on September 23. They travelled together for a while, until Knowles killed her on the September 29. Her body was never found. Karen Wine and her 16 year old daughter, were killed on October 16, bound, raped, and strangled with a nylon stocking. They were discovered by Wine’s older daughter Cheryl. A tape recorder was missing from their home. Doris Hovey was fifty-three years old and lived in Woodford, Virginia. She was shot dead by Knowles with her husband’s rifle on October 19, 1974. Carswell Carr and his daughter met Knowles on November 6 in Macon, Georgia, and invited him over to his house. Subsequently, Knowles stabbed Carr but is said to have had a heart attack before Knowles strangled his fifteen-year-old daughter. He attempted to have sexual intercourse with her body, but failed. Edward Hilliard and Debbie Griffin were hitchhiking near Milledgeville, Georgia, on November 2. Hilliard’s body was found in nearby woods, but Griffin’s remains were never discovered. Knowles was not proven to have murdered them, but he was under very strong suspicion. Trooper Charles Eugene Campbell Trooper Campbell was abducted while on patrol and shot by Knowles in Pulaski County, Georgia. James Meyer was a businessman who was taken hostage along with Trooper Campbell. Knowles handcuffed them to a tree and shot them with the trooper’s gun. After being the subject of a massive manhunt, Knowles was finally put into custody after crashing his stolen car while trying to avoid a roadblock shortly after the double murder in Pulaski. Knowles belatedly claim to over thirty murders almost immediately after being arrested, but the true total will never be known for sure. On November 18, he was shot and killed by an FBI agent after picking his handcuffs and going for an officers gun while being transferred to a maximum security facility.

Paul John Knowles (April 17, 1946 - November 18, 1974) also known as The Casanova Killer, was an American spree killer tied to the deaths of eighteen people in 1974, though he claimed to have taken thirty-five lives. Born in Florida in 1946, he was first convicted at the age of nineteen, and in the years following he spent more time in prison. In 1974, he was granted parole and sought to marry Mrs. Angela Covic, with whom he had corresponded from prison. Allegedly because of something a psychic told her, she ended the relationship. After this rejection, Knowles went on a murderous spree across northern Florida. He was eventually caught in Georgia, but while he was claiming to assist officers in finding the officer’s pistol he had used in his last two murders, he tried to escape and was shot dead by a police officer.

The Murders

After being the subject of a massive manhunt, Knowles was finally put into custody after crashing his stolen car while trying to avoid a roadblock shortly after the double murder in Pulaski. Knowles belatedly claim to over thirty murders almost immediately after being arrested, but the true total will never be known for sure. On November 18, he was shot and killed by an FBI agent after picking his handcuffs and going for an officers gun while being transferred to a maximum security facility.


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Jeffrey Dahmer committed his first murder in the summer of 1978, at the age of 18. His father was away on business and his mother had moved out, taking his brother with her; Dahmer was left behind, alone. That June, Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and offered to drink beer with him back at his father’s house, planning to eventually have sex with him. When Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer bludgeoned Hicks to death with a 10 lb. dumbell, striking the back of his head, later saying he had committed the crime because “the guy wanted to leave and [he] didn’t want him to”.Dahmer buried the body in the backyard. Nine years passed before he killed again; in September 1987, Dahmer picked up 26-year-old Steven Tuomi at a bar and killed him on impulse; he later said he had no memory of committing the crime.After the Tuomi murder, Dahmer continued to kill sporadically: two more murders in 1988, and another in early 1989, usually picking up his victims in gay bars and having sex with them before killing them. He kept the skull of one of his victims, Anthony Sears, until he was caught. In May 1990, he moved out of his grandmother’s house for the last time and into the apartment that later became infamous: Apartment 213, 924 North 25th Street, Milwaukee. Dahmer picked up the pace of his killing: four more murders before the end of 1990, two more in February and April 1991, and another in May 1991. In the early morning hours of May 27, 1991, 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone (by coincidence, the younger brother of the boy whom Dahmer had molested) was discovered on the street, wandering naked, heavily under the influence of drugs and bleeding from his rectum. Two young women from the neighborhood found the dazed boy and called 911. Dahmer chased his victim down and tried to take him away, but the women stopped him. Dahmer told police that Sinthasomphone was his 19-year-old boyfriend, and that they had an argument while drinking. Against the protests of the two women who had called 911, police turned him over to Dahmer. They later reported smelling a strange scent while inside Dahmer’s apartment, but did not investigate it. The smell was the body of Tony Hughes, Dahmer’s previous victim, decomposing in the bedroom. The two policemen did not make any attempt to verify Sinthasomphone’s age and failed to run a background check that would have revealed Dahmer was a convicted child molester still under probation. Later that night, Dahmer killed and dismembered Sinthasomphone, keeping his skull as a souvenir. By summer 1991, Dahmer was murdering approximately one person each week. He killed Matt Turner on June 30, Jeremiah Weinberger on July 5, Oliver Lacy on July 12, and finally Joseph Brandehoft on July 19. Dahmer got the idea that he could turn his victims into “zombies” — completely submissive, eternally youthful sexual partners — and attempted to do so by drilling holes into their skulls and injecting hydrochloric acid or boiling water into the frontal lobe area of their brains with a large syringe, while the victim was usually still alive. Other residents of the Oxford Apartments complex noticed terrible smells coming from Apartment 213, as well as the thumps of falling objects and the occasional buzzing of a power saw. Unlike many serial killers, Dahmer killed victims from a variety of racial backgrounds.

Jeffrey Dahmer committed his first murder in the summer of 1978, at the age of 18. His father was away on business and his mother had moved out, taking his brother with her; Dahmer was left behind, alone. That June, Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and offered to drink beer with him back at his father’s house, planning to eventually have sex with him. When Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer bludgeoned Hicks to death with a 10 lb. dumbell, striking the back of his head, later saying he had committed the crime because “the guy wanted to leave and [he] didn’t want him to”.Dahmer buried the body in the backyard. Nine years passed before he killed again; in September 1987, Dahmer picked up 26-year-old Steven Tuomi at a bar and killed him on impulse; he later said he had no memory of committing the crime.After the Tuomi murder, Dahmer continued to kill sporadically: two more murders in 1988, and another in early 1989, usually picking up his victims in gay bars and having sex with them before killing them. He kept the skull of one of his victims, Anthony Sears, until he was caught.

In May 1990, he moved out of his grandmother’s house for the last time and into the apartment that later became infamous: Apartment 213, 924 North 25th Street, Milwaukee. Dahmer picked up the pace of his killing: four more murders before the end of 1990, two more in February and April 1991, and another in May 1991.

In the early morning hours of May 27, 1991, 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone (by coincidence, the younger brother of the boy whom Dahmer had molested) was discovered on the street, wandering naked, heavily under the influence of drugs and bleeding from his rectum. Two young women from the neighborhood found the dazed boy and called 911. Dahmer chased his victim down and tried to take him away, but the women stopped him. Dahmer told police that Sinthasomphone was his 19-year-old boyfriend, and that they had an argument while drinking. Against the protests of the two women who had called 911, police turned him over to Dahmer. They later reported smelling a strange scent while inside Dahmer’s apartment, but did not investigate it. The smell was the body of Tony Hughes, Dahmer’s previous victim, decomposing in the bedroom. The two policemen did not make any attempt to verify Sinthasomphone’s age and failed to run a background check that would have revealed Dahmer was a convicted child molester still under probation. Later that night, Dahmer killed and dismembered Sinthasomphone, keeping his skull as a souvenir.

By summer 1991, Dahmer was murdering approximately one person each week. He killed Matt Turner on June 30, Jeremiah Weinberger on July 5, Oliver Lacy on July 12, and finally Joseph Brandehoft on July 19. Dahmer got the idea that he could turn his victims into “zombies” — completely submissive, eternally youthful sexual partners — and attempted to do so by drilling holes into their skulls and injecting hydrochloric acid or boiling water into the frontal lobe area of their brains with a large syringe, while the victim was usually still alive. Other residents of the Oxford Apartments complex noticed terrible smells coming from Apartment 213, as well as the thumps of falling objects and the occasional buzzing of a power saw. Unlike many serial killers, Dahmer killed victims from a variety of racial backgrounds.


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Phillip Carl Jablonski (January 3, 1949—) is an American serial killer convicted of killing five women in California and Utah between 1978 and 1991. He grew up with an alcoholic father who beat and sodomized Jablonski’s mother and sisters. When he was 16, Jablonski attacked his 14-year-old sister by putting a rope around her neck and throwing her onto the bed. He had an erection and said, “I’m going to get some of that off of you.” She thought he was going to rape her; however he suddenly stopped and started to cry. When she told their parents, his father beat him. Jablonski met his first wife, Alice McGowan, in high school. He joined the military after high school and was sent overseas. They married in 1968 when he returned to the U.S. While living in Texas, Jablonski became sexually violent. During sex he put a pillow over McGowan’s face and attempted to suffocate her. On several occasions, he strangled her until she was unconscious. Jablonski met Jane Sanders in November of 1968 after McGowan left him. He raped her on their first date which she did not report. She became pregnant and they moved to California in July of 1969, after Jablonski left the military. On one occasion, while having sex, Sanders wanted to stop. Jablonski pulled out a gun and threated to shoot her if she did not continue. He hit her with the butt of the gun and she passed out. When she regained consciousness, he was having sex with her. She left him in 1972. CrimesJablonski was changed with the April 22, 1991 death of 38-year-old Fathyma Vann. Vann was a student at a local community college that Jablonski attended to satisfy conditions of his parole. Fathyma, a recently widowed mother of two teenage girls, was found shot in the head and sexually assaulted, lying naked in a shallow ditch in the Indio desert with the words “I Love Jesus” carved in her back. Her body had been subjected to other mutilations including removal of her eyes and ears. Carol Spadoni met and married Jablonski in 1982 after answering a newspaper ad placed while Jablonski was serving time for having murdered his first wife, Alice McGowan in Palm Springs, California in 1978. On April 23, 1991, Jablonski’s wife, Carol and her mother, Eva Peterson, 72, were murdered at their home in Burlingame. Spadoni was shot, suffocated with duct tape then stabbed, while Peterson was sexually assaulted and shot. Jablonski was also changed with the robbery and subsequent murder of Margie Rogers, 58, in Grand Country, Utah on April 27, 1991. He was captured the following day in Kansas. He was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death. In January 2006, the California Supreme Court upheld Jablonski’s death sentence on appeal. Jablonski spends his time now responding to dozens of letters sent to him monthly. He has not shown a hint of remorse for his crimes and often brags to pen pals about his crimes.

Phillip Carl Jablonski (January 3, 1949—) is an American serial killer convicted of killing five women in California and Utah between 1978 and 1991. He grew up with an alcoholic father who beat and sodomized Jablonski’s mother and sisters. When he was 16, Jablonski attacked his 14-year-old sister by putting a rope around her neck and throwing her onto the bed. He had an erection and said, “I’m going to get some of that off of you.” She thought he was going to rape her; however he suddenly stopped and started to cry. When she told their parents, his father beat him. Jablonski met his first wife, Alice McGowan, in high school. He joined the military after high school and was sent overseas. They married in 1968 when he returned to the U.S. While living in Texas, Jablonski became sexually violent. During sex he put a pillow over McGowan’s face and attempted to suffocate her. On several occasions, he strangled her until she was unconscious. Jablonski met Jane Sanders in November of 1968 after McGowan left him. He raped her on their first date which she did not report. She became pregnant and they moved to California in July of 1969, after Jablonski left the military. On one occasion, while having sex, Sanders wanted to stop. Jablonski pulled out a gun and threated to shoot her if she did not continue. He hit her with the butt of the gun and she passed out. When she regained consciousness, he was having sex with her. She left him in 1972.

Crimes
Jablonski was changed with the April 22, 1991 death of 38-year-old Fathyma Vann. Vann was a student at a local community college that Jablonski attended to satisfy conditions of his parole. Fathyma, a recently widowed mother of two teenage girls, was found shot in the head and sexually assaulted, lying naked in a shallow ditch in the Indio desert with the words “I Love Jesus” carved in her back. Her body had been subjected to other mutilations including removal of her eyes and ears.

Carol Spadoni met and married Jablonski in 1982 after answering a newspaper ad placed while Jablonski was serving time for having murdered his first wife, Alice McGowan in Palm Springs, California in 1978.

On April 23, 1991, Jablonski’s wife, Carol and her mother, Eva Peterson, 72, were murdered at their home in Burlingame. Spadoni was shot, suffocated with duct tape then stabbed, while Peterson was sexually assaulted and shot. Jablonski was also changed with the robbery and subsequent murder of Margie Rogers, 58, in Grand Country, Utah on April 27, 1991. He was captured the following day in Kansas. He was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death.

In January 2006, the California Supreme Court upheld Jablonski’s death sentence on appeal. Jablonski spends his time now responding to dozens of letters sent to him monthly. He has not shown a hint of remorse for his crimes and often brags to pen pals about his crimes.


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John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942—May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer. He was born and raised Catholic in Chicago and had a very distressed and distant relationship with his stern and abusive alcoholic father, John S. Gacy. He worked briefly in Las Vegas before returning to Illinois. He attended a business college and started a moderately successful career as a shoe salesman where he became a prominent member of the Jaycees. In 1964 he married and moved to Waterloo, Iowa where he managed a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant belonging to his wife’s family. However, Gacy’s first marriage fell apart after he was convicted of child molestation in 1968. He was sent to prison for this crime but he was a model prisoner and was paroled in 1970 after serving only 18 months. After he was released, he moved back to Illinois. He successfully hid this criminal record until police began investigating him for his later murders. In 1971, he bought a house in an unincorporated area surrounded by the Chicago neighborhood of Norwood Park, lived there with his widowed mother and established his own construction business, PDM Contracting. He married a woman he had known since high school, and she and her two daughters moved in with him, and his mother moved out. He became a prominent and respected member of the community. In addition to his clown act, he became a committee member for the Democratic Party. In this capacity, he was even able to meet and be photographed with future-First Lady Rosalynn Carter. It was also during this time that he claimed his first known victim, a teenage boy he picked up at a bus depot. His marriage fell apart and his wife divorced him in mid-1976. Gacy began a double life: respected member of the community by day, sexual predator and murderer by night. No suspicion fell on him until December 12, 1978, when he was investigated following the disappearance of a teenage boy, 15-year-old Robert Piest, who was last seen with Gacy. A search of his house, by Des Plaines detective Joseph Kozenczak, revealed a number of incriminating items related to other disappearances. On December 22, 1978 Gacy went to his lawyers and confessed. He claimed he had first killed in January 1972. He confessed to 33 murders, indicating where the bodies were in 29 of the cases—buried under his house and on his property. The other four he said were thrown into the nearby Des Plaines River after he ran out of space beneath the crawlspace under his house. Most of the victims were young male prostitutes or teenage runaways. Some victims were also teenage boys whom Gacy had hired through his contracting firm. At least one of the victims was picked up at the bus station. The youngest victim was nine years old. The oldest was around 20. Nine of the victims’ bodies were so badly decomposed that they were never identified. The bodies were uncovered from December 1978 to April 1979, when the last known victim was found downstream in the Illinois River. Trial and ExecutionOn February 6, 1980, Gacy’s trial began in Chicago. During the trial, he made a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. However, this plea was rejected outright—his lawyer made the claim that Gacy had moments of temporary insanity at the time of each individual murder, but before and afterwards, somehow regained his sanity to properly lure and dispose of victims. Also, Gacy had made an earlier confession to police, and was unable to have this pulled as evidence. He was found guilty on March 13 and sentenced to death. On May 10, 1994, Gacy was executed in the State Penitentiary in Joliet, Illinois, by lethal injection, after finishing his last meal consisting of shrimp, fried chicken, fresh strawberries, and then fries. His execution was a minor media sensation, and large crowds of people gathered for “execution parties” outside the penitentiary, with numerous arrests for public intoxication, open intoxicants and disorderly conduct. In an unusual display of gallows humor, the so-called “Gacy’s Day Parade” (a parody of the “Macy’s Day Parade”) ensued. Vendors sold T-shirts and Gacy merchandise, and the people cheered at the moment when Gacy was pronounced dead. Gacy’s execution also proved problematic when the chemicals used in the lethal injection were mixed in a way that caused them to solidify, and as a result, he reportedly took 27 minutes to die. As a result of this problem, Illinois adopted a different method of lethal injection. According to reports, Gacy did not express remorse. His last words were to the effect that killing him would not bring anyone back, and it is reported his last words were “You can kiss my ass”, which he said to the Chief Chaplain of the Illinois Department of Corrections, Dr. William Fontaine prior to Gacy being led into the execution chamber. Some have pointed to his poor relationship with his abusive, alcoholic father, his head trauma and subsequent blackouts in his teenage years as some basis for his acts. There has also been some speculation that murdering men and boys — whom he called “worthless little queers and punks” — was Gacy’s subconscious expression of self-hatred for his own homosexuality (Gacy claimed to hate gays and “gay-acting people,” and that he was bisexual.)

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942—May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer. He was born and raised Catholic in Chicago and had a very distressed and distant relationship with his stern and abusive alcoholic father, John S. Gacy. He worked briefly in Las Vegas before returning to Illinois. He attended a business college and started a moderately successful career as a shoe salesman where he became a prominent member of the Jaycees. In 1964 he married and moved to Waterloo, Iowa where he managed a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant belonging to his wife’s family.

However, Gacy’s first marriage fell apart after he was convicted of child molestation in 1968. He was sent to prison for this crime but he was a model prisoner and was paroled in 1970 after serving only 18 months. After he was released, he moved back to Illinois. He successfully hid this criminal record until police began investigating him for his later murders. In 1971, he bought a house in an unincorporated area surrounded by the Chicago neighborhood of Norwood Park, lived there with his widowed mother and established his own construction business, PDM Contracting. He married a woman he had known since high school, and she and her two daughters moved in with him, and his mother moved out. He became a prominent and respected member of the community. In addition to his clown act, he became a committee member for the Democratic Party. In this capacity, he was even able to meet and be photographed with future-First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

It was also during this time that he claimed his first known victim, a teenage boy he picked up at a bus depot. His marriage fell apart and his wife divorced him in mid-1976. Gacy began a double life: respected member of the community by day, sexual predator and murderer by night.

No suspicion fell on him until December 12, 1978, when he was investigated following the disappearance of a teenage boy, 15-year-old Robert Piest, who was last seen with Gacy. A search of his house, by Des Plaines detective Joseph Kozenczak, revealed a number of incriminating items related to other disappearances. On December 22, 1978 Gacy went to his lawyers and confessed. He claimed he had first killed in January 1972. He confessed to 33 murders, indicating where the bodies were in 29 of the cases—buried under his house and on his property. The other four he said were thrown into the nearby Des Plaines River after he ran out of space beneath the crawlspace under his house. Most of the victims were young male prostitutes or teenage runaways. Some victims were also teenage boys whom Gacy had hired through his contracting firm. At least one of the victims was picked up at the bus station. The youngest victim was nine years old. The oldest was around 20. Nine of the victims’ bodies were so badly decomposed that they were never identified. The bodies were uncovered from December 1978 to April 1979, when the last known victim was found downstream in the Illinois River.

Trial and Execution
On February 6, 1980, Gacy’s trial began in Chicago. During the trial, he made a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. However, this plea was rejected outright—his lawyer made the claim that Gacy had moments of temporary insanity at the time of each individual murder, but before and afterwards, somehow regained his sanity to properly lure and dispose of victims. Also, Gacy had made an earlier confession to police, and was unable to have this pulled as evidence. He was found guilty on March 13 and sentenced to death.

On May 10, 1994, Gacy was executed in the State Penitentiary in Joliet, Illinois, by lethal injection, after finishing his last meal consisting of shrimp, fried chicken, fresh strawberries, and then fries. His execution was a minor media sensation, and large crowds of people gathered for “execution parties” outside the penitentiary, with numerous arrests for public intoxication, open intoxicants and disorderly conduct. In an unusual display of gallows humor, the so-called “Gacy’s Day Parade” (a parody of the “Macy’s Day Parade”) ensued. Vendors sold T-shirts and Gacy merchandise, and the people cheered at the moment when Gacy was pronounced dead.

Gacy’s execution also proved problematic when the chemicals used in the lethal injection were mixed in a way that caused them to solidify, and as a result, he reportedly took 27 minutes to die. As a result of this problem, Illinois adopted a different method of lethal injection.

According to reports, Gacy did not express remorse. His last words were to the effect that killing him would not bring anyone back, and it is reported his last words were “You can kiss my ass”, which he said to the Chief Chaplain of the Illinois Department of Corrections, Dr. William Fontaine prior to Gacy being led into the execution chamber.

Some have pointed to his poor relationship with his abusive, alcoholic father, his head trauma and subsequent blackouts in his teenage years as some basis for his acts. There has also been some speculation that murdering men and boys — whom he called “worthless little queers and punks” — was Gacy’s subconscious expression of self-hatred for his own homosexuality (Gacy claimed to hate gays and “gay-acting people,” and that he was bisexual.)


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Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka Video Tape Transcript These tapes were to be played on two 30-inch video monitors at the front of the gallery, one on each side of the courtroom. The sets were on 6-foot-high platforms that were discreetly sheathed in a somber black cloth. There were also two huge television sets in front of the jurors, while Bernardo, the defense, and the prosecution lawyers, along with the judge, all had their own smaller screens. Just before the tape was turned on that morning, Judge LeSage looked down at the gallery that was filled to capacity and issued a warning: “I want to caution the audience that what you are about to see next is explicit… if you wish to remain, you can.” Nobody moved. “Play it, please,” said Crown prosecutor Ray Houlahan. The first scene had been taped in the basement recreation room of the Homolka house not long after Tammy Lyn’s death. Karla Homolka was on her back, lying on a rug before the fireplace, naked, her legs spread wide apart while she masturbated for the camera, which was positioned a few feet away, at about knee level, and pointed directly at her vagina. Gasps of surprise and disgust, perhaps even shock, along with plenty of embarrassed giggles, could be heard throughout the courtroom as the camera lingered on Homolka’s exposed body for several minutes while she stimulated herself. To many in the courtroom, showing that particular video seemed an amazing way for the Crown to treat the woman who was scheduled to be their chief witness. For the previous two years, ever since her arrest, Homolka’s face had been almost as well know as the prime minister’s. She had been seen on television in footage taken at her wedding, with her friends, and at her trial. There had been countless photographs of her in newspapers and magazines around the world. But few people in the courtroom that day were expecting to see a triple-X-rated tape, a close study of the country’s most infamous woman in a variety of sexually explicit positions. The prosecutors, though, had their reasons for showing the video. On it, she and Bernardo talked about the death of Tammy Lyn. Although Bernardo’s trial for her death might well follow his trial for first-degree murder, the Crown wanted to present evidence on Tammy’s death as part of its general picture of the relationship between the two. Homolka’s dialogue on the tape, Houlahan had said in his opening address, had been scripted by Bernardo. That is, Bernardo had told her what to say when she was on camera, and if she didn’t obey him, she was punished with a beating. But what the court saw was a seemingly relaxed Homolka pulling down her husband’s pants, fondling his penis, which she called Snuggles, and then performing fellatio during most of the tape, stopping every now and then to talk about what had happeded to her dead sister. “I loved it when you fucked my little sister,” Homolka said to Bernardo, who was lying on his back beside the roaring hearth, moaning softly while she rubbed his penis. “I loved it when you fucked Tammy. I loved it when you took her virginity. You’re the king. I love licking your ass, Paul. I’ll bet Tammy would have loved to lick your ass. I loved it when you put Snuggles up her ass.” Bernardo could be seen reaching for his drink while Homolka continued to fondle his penis. She did it for several minutes, but he never climaxed. He took a sip from his drink, glancing at the back of her head while she worked on him, and asked about her thoughts on the night Tammy died. “How did you feel?” “I felt proud. I felt happy,” she replied. “What else?” “I felt horny. It’s my mission in life to make you feel good.” “This is why I’m gonna marry her,” Bernardo said, looking at the camera and holding up his drink while Homolka continued performing fellatio. “Sköl to the king.” “I’m glad you made me lick her cunt,” Homolka continued, after pausing to take a break from the oral sex. “Are you a fully fledged dyke?” Bernardo asked, a reference to Homolka having sex with her sister. “No, I’m not.” “You were having sex with your little sister.” “That was different. It was my little sister,” she replied, stroking his penis. “Love in the family,” Bernardo said. “Do you believe in that concept?” “You know I had fun doing it,” Homolka said. “You know I liked it.” “What did it teach you?” “Well… we like little girls, I like you to fuck them. If you’re gonna fuck them, then I’m gonna lick them. All the little girls.” “What age should they be?” “Thirteen.” “Why?” “Because it will make you happy.” “But why 13?” “That’s a good age.” “Because why?” he persisted. “Because they’ll still be virgins.” “What are you saying?” Bernardo asked, looking down at Homolka’s head. She stopped to look up at him. “I’m saying I think you should fuck them and take their virginity. Break their hymens with Snuffles. They’re all our children, and I think you should make them ours even more.” “You’re right,” Bernardo said. “You’re absolutely right. That’s a good idea. When did you come up with it?” “Just now,” she replied. She resumed the oral sex for a while longer, then stopped and told Bernardo she had a surprise for him. She walked past the camera to her bedroom, beside the rec room, came back with a paper bag a few minutes later, and sat down beside Bernardo. Inside the bag was a brassiere and a pair of panties. “It’s Tammy’s,” she said, handing him the bra. He smelled it while she began stroking his penis with the underwear, before resuming the fellatio. A few minutes later, when he still hadn’t reached a climax, she stopped and continued talking about her dead sister. “I want to rub Tammy’s underwear all over your body,” she said, and did so. “It will make you feel so good. I’m so glad you took her virginity, Paul. I wish we had four kids, Paul.” “Yes?” “So you could fuck each one of them. How does the king like that?” she asked, stroking his penis rapidly with her sister’s underwear. “Yeah,” he replied, in obvious pleasure. She continued for serveral minutes, but when he never climaxed, she said, “I think the king should turn over.” He did as he was instructed. “Okay,” he said. “Because his little slave has some more things to say and do.” Bernardo rolled off his back and got down on his hands and knees while Homoka positioned herself behind him. Then she probed with one hand for his anus and began licking it while she stroked his penis with her other hand. She did this for several minutes, and he moaned in pleasure, at times calling her his “little asslicker.” When he failed to reach a climax, they changed positions yet again. Bernardo lay on his back again and rested his hands behind his head. Homolka took a long-stemmed rose from a nearby vase and dragged it slowly across his chest, and then up and down his errect penis. “You know what we’re gonna do with this?” she asked, holding up the rose. “We’re gonna take this to Tammy’s tomorrow, and put it on her grave.” “Why?” “Because it will give you pleasure. You loved her. She loved you. You were her favorite, you know. The things that you did, you know I loved it. The way you fucked her in what, 60 seconds? She loved it. She loved it.” “Your titties are bigger than hers.” “I know.” “And they taste better,” he said. “When Tammy was alive, what did you used to do?” “You made me lick it,” she replied, resuming the oral sex, “and suck it. And now I’m doing it on my own because I loved it, Paul. I loved everything you did with her. She was our little playtoy.” “And we both loved her so much.” “Yes,” Homolka agreed, fondling his penis again. “Our little virgin. She loved us.” “What else?” “I didn’t give you my virginity, so I gave you Tammy’s instead. I loved you enough to do that.” Homolka then talked about another time Bernardo had brought a young girl home and had sex with her in the basement of her parents’ house while she watched. “You fucked her,” Homolka said, “with this.” She gazed at his penis, tenderly stroking it. “You fucked her cunt,” she said. “She sucked you. She sucked Snuffles. She put it in her mouth, like this.” After more minutes of oral sex with no climax, she continued: “You put her on her knees. You fucked her. And I let you do that because I love you, because you’re the king.” She rubbed his penis for several moments before saying, “I want you to do it again.” “When?” “This summer, because the weather is too bad in the winter. If we can do that then it’s good.” “Good,” he agreed. “If you want to do it 50 more times, we can do it 50 more times,” she said, a reference to him bringing home more young girls. “If you want to do it every weekend, we can do it every weekend. Whenever we can. Because I love you. Because you’re the king. Because you deserve it.” “Virgin cunts for me,” Bernardo chimed in. “Yeah.” “Virgins just for me. It’ll make me happy… going from one cunt to another, from one ass to another. Will you help me get the virgins?” “Yes, I’ll go in the car with you if you want, if you think that’s best. Or I’ll stay here and clean up afterwards. I’ll do everything I can because I want you to be happy. Because you’re the king.” Bernardo still hadn’t climaxed. Homolka shifted down toward his feet. “Ooh, footsies,” he said. She started sucking on his toes, first one foot, then the other. “Got to treat the king like a king,” she said. “Good. And what else?” “I’m your little cocksucker,” she said. “My nipples are so hard. I’m your cunt. Your little slut. Your little asslicker. Your little virgin.” “It’s good to be king,” Bernardo said, looking at the camera and raising his glass again. Homolka licked the soles of his feet. “I’m your cunt-licking slut,” she said, “the keeper of your virgins. Your ass-licking bitch. And I love you. I want to marry you.” And there the tape ended, with Bernardo still unable to climax. Crown prosecutor Ray Houlahan said the video would be played again, to enable the jurors to follow the dialogue on the second viewing with a transcript prepared by the police. But before the monitors were turned on, many in the public gallery got up and left. They had seen more than enough of the illustrious couple on the first playing of the tape.

Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka Video Tape Transcript

These tapes were to be played on two 30-inch video monitors at the front of the gallery, one on each side of the courtroom. The sets were on 6-foot-high platforms that were discreetly sheathed in a somber black cloth. There were also two huge television sets in front of the jurors, while Bernardo, the defense, and the prosecution lawyers, along with the judge, all had their own smaller screens.

Just before the tape was turned on that morning, Judge LeSage looked down at the gallery that was filled to capacity and issued a warning: “I want to caution the audience that what you are about to see next is explicit… if you wish to remain, you can.”

Nobody moved.

“Play it, please,” said Crown prosecutor Ray Houlahan.

The first scene had been taped in the basement recreation room of the Homolka house not long after Tammy Lyn’s death. Karla Homolka was on her back, lying on a rug before the fireplace, naked, her legs spread wide apart while she masturbated for the camera, which was positioned a few feet away, at about knee level, and pointed directly at her vagina.

Gasps of surprise and disgust, perhaps even shock, along with plenty of embarrassed giggles, could be heard throughout the courtroom as the camera lingered on Homolka’s exposed body for several minutes while she stimulated herself. To many in the courtroom, showing that particular video seemed an amazing way for the Crown to treat the woman who was scheduled to be their chief witness. For the previous two years, ever since her arrest, Homolka’s face had been almost as well know as the prime minister’s. She had been seen on television in footage taken at her wedding, with her friends, and at her trial. There had been countless photographs of her in newspapers and magazines around the world. But few people in the courtroom that day were expecting to see a triple-X-rated tape, a close study of the country’s most infamous woman in a variety of sexually explicit positions.

The prosecutors, though, had their reasons for showing the video. On it, she and Bernardo talked about the death of Tammy Lyn. Although Bernardo’s trial for her death might well follow his trial for first-degree murder, the Crown wanted to present evidence on Tammy’s death as part of its general picture of the relationship between the two. Homolka’s dialogue on the tape, Houlahan had said in his opening address, had been scripted by Bernardo. That is, Bernardo had told her what to say when she was on camera, and if she didn’t obey him, she was punished with a beating.

But what the court saw was a seemingly relaxed Homolka pulling down her husband’s pants, fondling his penis, which she called Snuggles, and then performing fellatio during most of the tape, stopping every now and then to talk about what had happeded to her dead sister.

“I loved it when you fucked my little sister,” Homolka said to Bernardo, who was lying on his back beside the roaring hearth, moaning softly while she rubbed his penis.

“I loved it when you fucked Tammy. I loved it when you took her virginity. You’re the king. I love licking your ass, Paul. I’ll bet Tammy would have loved to lick your ass. I loved it when you put Snuggles up her ass.”

Bernardo could be seen reaching for his drink while Homolka continued to fondle his penis. She did it for several minutes, but he never climaxed. He took a sip from his drink, glancing at the back of her head while she worked on him, and asked about her thoughts on the night Tammy died. “How did you feel?”

“I felt proud. I felt happy,” she replied.

“What else?”

“I felt horny. It’s my mission in life to make you feel good.”

“This is why I’m gonna marry her,” Bernardo said, looking at the camera and holding up his drink while Homolka continued performing fellatio. “Sköl to the king.”

“I’m glad you made me lick her cunt,” Homolka continued, after pausing to take a break from the oral sex.

“Are you a fully fledged dyke?” Bernardo asked, a reference to Homolka having sex with her sister.

“No, I’m not.”

“You were having sex with your little sister.”

“That was different. It was my little sister,” she replied, stroking his penis.

“Love in the family,” Bernardo said. “Do you believe in that concept?”

“You know I had fun doing it,” Homolka said. “You know I liked it.”

“What did it teach you?”

“Well… we like little girls, I like you to fuck them. If you’re gonna fuck them, then I’m gonna lick them. All the little girls.”

“What age should they be?”

“Thirteen.”

“Why?”

“Because it will make you happy.”

“But why 13?”

“That’s a good age.”

“Because why?” he persisted.

“Because they’ll still be virgins.”

“What are you saying?” Bernardo asked, looking down at Homolka’s head. She stopped to look up at him.

“I’m saying I think you should fuck them and take their virginity. Break their hymens with Snuffles. They’re all our children, and I think you should make them ours even more.”

“You’re right,” Bernardo said. “You’re absolutely right. That’s a good idea. When did you come up with it?”

“Just now,” she replied. She resumed the oral sex for a while longer, then stopped and told Bernardo she had a surprise for him. She walked past the camera to her bedroom, beside the rec room, came back with a paper bag a few minutes later, and sat down beside Bernardo. Inside the bag was a brassiere and a pair of panties.

“It’s Tammy’s,” she said, handing him the bra. He smelled it while she began stroking his penis with the underwear, before resuming the fellatio. A few minutes later, when he still hadn’t reached a climax, she stopped and continued talking about her dead sister.

“I want to rub Tammy’s underwear all over your body,” she said, and did so. “It will make you feel so good. I’m so glad you took her virginity, Paul. I wish we had four kids, Paul.”

“Yes?”

“So you could fuck each one of them. How does the king like that?” she asked, stroking his penis rapidly with her sister’s underwear.

“Yeah,” he replied, in obvious pleasure. She continued for serveral minutes, but when he never climaxed, she said, “I think the king should turn over.” He did as he was instructed.

“Okay,” he said.

“Because his little slave has some more things to say and do.”

Bernardo rolled off his back and got down on his hands and knees while Homoka positioned herself behind him. Then she probed with one hand for his anus and began licking it while she stroked his penis with her other hand. She did this for several minutes, and he moaned in pleasure, at times calling her his “little asslicker.” When he failed to reach a climax, they changed positions yet again.

Bernardo lay on his back again and rested his hands behind his head. Homolka took a long-stemmed rose from a nearby vase and dragged it slowly across his chest, and then up and down his errect penis.

“You know what we’re gonna do with this?” she asked, holding up the rose. “We’re gonna take this to Tammy’s tomorrow, and put it on her grave.”

“Why?”

“Because it will give you pleasure. You loved her. She loved you. You were her favorite, you know. The things that you did, you know I loved it. The way you fucked her in what, 60 seconds? She loved it. She loved it.”

“Your titties are bigger than hers.”

“I know.”

“And they taste better,” he said. “When Tammy was alive, what did you used to do?”

“You made me lick it,” she replied, resuming the oral sex, “and suck it. And now I’m doing it on my own because I loved it, Paul. I loved everything you did with her. She was our little playtoy.”

“And we both loved her so much.”

“Yes,” Homolka agreed, fondling his penis again. “Our little virgin. She loved us.”

“What else?”

“I didn’t give you my virginity, so I gave you Tammy’s instead. I loved you enough to do that.”

Homolka then talked about another time Bernardo had brought a young girl home and had sex with her in the basement of her parents’ house while she watched. “You fucked her,” Homolka said, “with this.”

She gazed at his penis, tenderly stroking it. “You fucked her cunt,” she said. “She sucked you. She sucked Snuffles. She put it in her mouth, like this.” After more minutes of oral sex with no climax, she continued: “You put her on her knees. You fucked her. And I let you do that because I love you, because you’re the king.”

She rubbed his penis for several moments before saying, “I want you to do it again.”

“When?”

“This summer, because the weather is too bad in the winter. If we can do that then it’s good.”

“Good,” he agreed.

“If you want to do it 50 more times, we can do it 50 more times,” she said, a reference to him bringing home more young girls. “If you want to do it every weekend, we can do it every weekend. Whenever we can. Because I love you. Because you’re the king. Because you deserve it.”

“Virgin cunts for me,” Bernardo chimed in.

“Yeah.”

“Virgins just for me. It’ll make me happy… going from one cunt to another, from one ass to another. Will you help me get the virgins?”

“Yes, I’ll go in the car with you if you want, if you think that’s best. Or I’ll stay here and clean up afterwards. I’ll do everything I can because I want you to be happy. Because you’re the king.”

Bernardo still hadn’t climaxed. Homolka shifted down toward his feet.

“Ooh, footsies,” he said.

She started sucking on his toes, first one foot, then the other. “Got to treat the king like a king,” she said.

“Good. And what else?”

“I’m your little cocksucker,” she said. “My nipples are so hard. I’m your cunt. Your little slut. Your little asslicker. Your little virgin.”

“It’s good to be king,” Bernardo said, looking at the camera and raising his glass again.

Homolka licked the soles of his feet. “I’m your cunt-licking slut,” she said, “the keeper of your virgins. Your ass-licking bitch. And I love you. I want to marry you.”

And there the tape ended, with Bernardo still unable to climax.

Crown prosecutor Ray Houlahan said the video would be played again, to enable the jurors to follow the dialogue on the second viewing with a transcript prepared by the police. But before the monitors were turned on, many in the public gallery got up and left. They had seen more than enough of the illustrious couple on the first playing of the tape.


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Arthur Shawcross (June 6, 1945—November 10, 2008) was an American serial killer, also known as The Genesse River Killer in Rochester, New York. He was born in Maine but his family moved to Watertown in New York State when he was young. While several later tests showed Shawcross’ intelligence to be sub-normal or even “borderline retarded”, he received As and Bs in his first two years of grade school. His IQ was tested to be “low-normal” when he was in the fifth grade. Shawcross was prone to behaviors such as bullying, chronic bed writing and physical violence. He eventually dropped out of high school in 1960 and when he was 21 he was drafted by the Army, in April 1967. At this time he divorced his first wife and gave up the rights to their eighteen-month-old soon, whom he never saw again. After his tour of duty in Vietnam, he was assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma as an armorer. His second wife Linda experienced several aspects of his disturbing behavior, especially a penchant for starting fires; an Army psychiatrist told her that Shawcross gained “sexual enjoyment” from the act. Linda Shawcross also witnessed her husband kill their six-month-old puppy in a sudden fit of rage by throwing him against a wall. Shawcross moved with his wife (who would soon divorce him) from Oklahoma to Clayton, New York where he began committing crimes such as arson and burglary. His offenses earned him a five-year sentence to be served in Attica but he was eventually transferred to the Auburn Correctional Facility and would serve a total of twenty-two months. He was paroled in 1971 and returned to Watertown, eventually getting a job and marrying for the third time. In 1972, Shawcross sexually assaulted and murdered 10-year-old Jack Owen Blake after luring the boy into some woods. Four months later, he raped and killed eight-year-old Karen Ann Hill who was visiting Watertown with her mother for the Labor Day weekend. Arrested for these crimes, Shawcross confessed to both murders. Under a plea bargain he was to reveal where he laid Jack’s body. He was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment. He served 14 1/2 years in prison before being released on parole in 1987. After moving from place to place he ended up in Rochester, New York. He married Rose Walley while in Rochester. He also met Clara Neal, who became his mistress. Working nights as a food wholesaler and living near the center of town, he didn’t even have a car. People found him to be friendly, and mild mannered. They didn’t know of his dark past. In March 1988 the body of a 27-year-old prostitute was found floating in Salmon Creek. In September another body was found. Over a year later in October of 1989, a third was found and in early November, a forth. Later that month a fifth. Police believed the murders were too similar to be the work of different people. Arthur followed the news of the murders closely. He warned his wife Clara to be careful. He also hung out at the local Dunkin’ Donuts to talk with the cops about the case. He was captured soon later and was convicted of 11 murders (primarily prostitutes), with a 12th not officially charged to him. Shawcross was spotted by the surveillance team (and by an eyewitness) standing near his car, urinating, on a bridge over Salmon Creek; upon whose frozen waters the body of his final victim was dumped. He was stopped in Spencerport on January 3, 1990 and was later arrested. He eventually confessed in custody. Shawcross, who had served in Vietnam had told many outlandish tales of committing gruesome crimes (including cannibalism), often perpetrated while alone in the jungle. From the time Shawcros returned, he told acquaintances of seeing American soldiers “skinned from their neck to their ankles”, and claimed to have decapitated two women he had victimized, “placing” their heads on poles. FBI criminal profiler Robert K. Ressler reviewed the PTSD claim and wrote that “his claim of having witnessed wartime atrocities was patently outrageous and untrue.” Shawcross was gound guilty of 10 counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to 250 years to life in prison. A few months later, he was taken to Wayne Country to be tried for Elizabeth Gibson’s murder. He pleaded guilty and was given a life sentence. In a 2006 interview, Arthur Shawcross claimed to have been sexually abused as a child by his mother and also admitted sexually abusing his younger sister as a child. He also claimed to murder the prostitutes in revenge for supposedly having sex with an HIV-positive prostitute. A few of the prostitutes had their vaginas cut out which Shawcross ate, supposedly in order to speed up the process of death. Arthur Shawcross was held at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York until he died on November 10, 2008 at the Albany Medical Center.

Arthur Shawcross (June 6, 1945—November 10, 2008) was an American serial killer, also known as The Genesse River Killer in Rochester, New York. He was born in Maine but his family moved to Watertown in New York State when he was young. While several later tests showed Shawcross’ intelligence to be sub-normal or even “borderline retarded”, he received As and Bs in his first two years of grade school. His IQ was tested to be “low-normal” when he was in the fifth grade. Shawcross was prone to behaviors such as bullying, chronic bed writing and physical violence. He eventually dropped out of high school in 1960 and when he was 21 he was drafted by the Army, in April 1967. At this time he divorced his first wife and gave up the rights to their eighteen-month-old soon, whom he never saw again.

After his tour of duty in Vietnam, he was assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma as an armorer. His second wife Linda experienced several aspects of his disturbing behavior, especially a penchant for starting fires; an Army psychiatrist told her that Shawcross gained “sexual enjoyment” from the act. Linda Shawcross also witnessed her husband kill their six-month-old puppy in a sudden fit of rage by throwing him against a wall. Shawcross moved with his wife (who would soon divorce him) from Oklahoma to Clayton, New York where he began committing crimes such as arson and burglary. His offenses earned him a five-year sentence to be served in Attica but he was eventually transferred to the Auburn Correctional Facility and would serve a total of twenty-two months. He was paroled in 1971 and returned to Watertown, eventually getting a job and marrying for the third time. In 1972, Shawcross sexually assaulted and murdered 10-year-old Jack Owen Blake after luring the boy into some woods. Four months later, he raped and killed eight-year-old Karen Ann Hill who was visiting Watertown with her mother for the Labor Day weekend. Arrested for these crimes, Shawcross confessed to both murders. Under a plea bargain he was to reveal where he laid Jack’s body. He was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment. He served 14 1/2 years in prison before being released on parole in 1987.

After moving from place to place he ended up in Rochester, New York. He married Rose Walley while in Rochester. He also met Clara Neal, who became his mistress. Working nights as a food wholesaler and living near the center of town, he didn’t even have a car. People found him to be friendly, and mild mannered. They didn’t know of his dark past. In March 1988 the body of a 27-year-old prostitute was found floating in Salmon Creek. In September another body was found. Over a year later in October of 1989, a third was found and in early November, a forth. Later that month a fifth. Police believed the murders were too similar to be the work of different people. Arthur followed the news of the murders closely. He warned his wife Clara to be careful. He also hung out at the local Dunkin’ Donuts to talk with the cops about the case. He was captured soon later and was convicted of 11 murders (primarily prostitutes), with a 12th not officially charged to him. Shawcross was spotted by the surveillance team (and by an eyewitness) standing near his car, urinating, on a bridge over Salmon Creek; upon whose frozen waters the body of his final victim was dumped. He was stopped in Spencerport on January 3, 1990 and was later arrested. He eventually confessed in custody.

Shawcross, who had served in Vietnam had told many outlandish tales of committing gruesome crimes (including cannibalism), often perpetrated while alone in the jungle. From the time Shawcros returned, he told acquaintances of seeing American soldiers “skinned from their neck to their ankles”, and claimed to have decapitated two women he had victimized, “placing” their heads on poles. FBI criminal profiler Robert K. Ressler reviewed the PTSD claim and wrote that “his claim of having witnessed wartime atrocities was patently outrageous and untrue.” Shawcross was gound guilty of 10 counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to 250 years to life in prison. A few months later, he was taken to Wayne Country to be tried for Elizabeth Gibson’s murder. He pleaded guilty and was given a life sentence.

In a 2006 interview, Arthur Shawcross claimed to have been sexually abused as a child by his mother and also admitted sexually abusing his younger sister as a child. He also claimed to murder the prostitutes in revenge for supposedly having sex with an HIV-positive prostitute. A few of the prostitutes had their vaginas cut out which Shawcross ate, supposedly in order to speed up the process of death. Arthur Shawcross was held at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York until he died on November 10, 2008 at the Albany Medical Center.


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Tsutomu Miyazaki (August 21, 1962—June 17, 2008), also known as The Otaku Murderer, The Little Girl Murderer, and Dracula, was a Japanese serial killer. Between 1988 and 1989, Miyazaki mutilated and killed four girls, aged between four and seven, and sexually molested their corpses. He drank the blood of one victim and ate a part of her hand. These crimes shocked Saitama Prefecture, which had few crimes against children. During the day, Miyazaki was a mild-mannered employee. Outside of work, he randomly selected children to kill. He terrorized the families of his victims, sending them letters recalling in graphic detail what he had done to their children. To the family of victim Erika Nanba, he sent a morbid postcard assembled using words cut out of magazines: “Erika. Cold. Cough. Throat. Rest. Death.” He let the corpse of his first victim, Mari Konno, decompose in the hills near his home, then chopped off the hands and feet which he kept in his closet. He charred her remaining bones in the furnace, ground them into powder and sent them to her family in a box along with several teeth, photos of her clothes and a postcard reading: “Mari. Cremated. Bones. Investigate. Prove.” On July 23, 1989, he attempted to insert a zoom lens into the vagina of a grade school-aged girl in a park near her home. He was attacked by the girl’s grandfather. Eventually he was promptly arrested by police who had responded to the grandfather’s call. A search of Miyazaki’s two-room bungalow turned up a collection of 5,763 videotapes, some containing anime and slasher films (later used as reasoning for his crimes). Interspersed among them was video footage and pictures of his victims. He was also repeated to be a fan of horror films and had an extensive collection. He retained a perpetually calm and collected demeanor during his trial, appeared indifferent to his capture. The media soon came to call him “The Otaku Murderer”. His killings fueled a moral panic against otaku, accusing anime and horror films of making him a murderer.  Miyazaki’s father refused to pay for his son’s legal defense and eventually comitted suicide in 1994. During the trial, Miyazaki often blamed his atrocities on “Rat Man” an alter ego whom he claimed forced him to kill. Believed to be insane, Miyazaki remained incarcerated throughout the 1990s while Saitama Prefecture put him through a battery of psychiatric evaluations. The Tokyo District Court judged him still aware of the gravity and consequences of his crimes and therefore accountable. He was sentenced to death on April 14, 1997 and was hanged on June 17, 2008.

Tsutomu Miyazaki (August 21, 1962—June 17, 2008), also known as The Otaku Murderer, The Little Girl Murderer, and Dracula, was a Japanese serial killer. Between 1988 and 1989, Miyazaki mutilated and killed four girls, aged between four and seven, and sexually molested their corpses. He drank the blood of one victim and ate a part of her hand. These crimes shocked Saitama Prefecture, which had few crimes against children.

During the day, Miyazaki was a mild-mannered employee. Outside of work, he randomly selected children to kill. He terrorized the families of his victims, sending them letters recalling in graphic detail what he had done to their children. To the family of victim Erika Nanba, he sent a morbid postcard assembled using words cut out of magazines: “Erika. Cold. Cough. Throat. Rest. Death.”

He let the corpse of his first victim, Mari Konno, decompose in the hills near his home, then chopped off the hands and feet which he kept in his closet. He charred her remaining bones in the furnace, ground them into powder and sent them to her family in a box along with several teeth, photos of her clothes and a postcard reading: “Mari. Cremated. Bones. Investigate. Prove.”

On July 23, 1989, he attempted to insert a zoom lens into the vagina of a grade school-aged girl in a park near her home. He was attacked by the girl’s grandfather. Eventually he was promptly arrested by police who had responded to the grandfather’s call. A search of Miyazaki’s two-room bungalow turned up a collection of 5,763 videotapes, some containing anime and slasher films (later used as reasoning for his crimes). Interspersed among them was video footage and pictures of his victims. He was also repeated to be a fan of horror films and had an extensive collection. He retained a perpetually calm and collected demeanor during his trial, appeared indifferent to his capture. The media soon came to call him “The Otaku Murderer”. His killings fueled a moral panic against otaku, accusing anime and horror films of making him a murderer. 

Miyazaki’s father refused to pay for his son’s legal defense and eventually comitted suicide in 1994.

During the trial, Miyazaki often blamed his atrocities on “Rat Man” an alter ego whom he claimed forced him to kill. Believed to be insane, Miyazaki remained incarcerated throughout the 1990s while Saitama Prefecture put him through a battery of psychiatric evaluations. The Tokyo District Court judged him still aware of the gravity and consequences of his crimes and therefore accountable. He was sentenced to death on April 14, 1997 and was hanged on June 17, 2008.


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Mohammed Bijeh Persian: محمد بيژه ) (February 7, 1975-March 16, 2005) was an Iranian serial killer. He confessed in court to raping and killing 16 young boys between March and September 2004, and was sentenced to 100 lashes followed by execution. Nicknamed the “Tehran Desert Vampire” by the press, Bijeh and an accomplice lured young boys into the desert telling them they were hunting for animals. The actual number of victims is believed to be higher than 16. His accomplice, Ali Gholampour, (or Ali Baghi) was sentenced to 100 lashes and 15 years in prison. Execution: On March 16,2005, in front of a crowd of about 5,000, his shirt was removed and he was handcuffed to an iron post, where he received his lashings from different judicial officials. He fell to the ground more than once during the punishment, but did not cry out. A relative of one of the victims managed to get by security and stab Bijeh. A blue nylon rope was then put around his neck and he was hoisted about 10 meters in the air by a crane until he died. He was hanged in Pakdasht, Iran, the town near the desert area where the killings occurred.

Mohammed Bijeh Persian: محمد بيژه ) (February 7, 1975-March 16, 2005) was an Iranian serial killer. He confessed in court to raping and killing 16 young boys between March and September 2004, and was sentenced to 100 lashes followed by execution.

Nicknamed the “Tehran Desert Vampire” by the press, Bijeh and an accomplice lured young boys into the desert telling them they were hunting for animals. The actual number of victims is believed to be higher than 16. His accomplice, Ali Gholampour, (or Ali Baghi) was sentenced to 100 lashes and 15 years in prison.

Execution: On March 16,2005, in front of a crowd of about 5,000, his shirt was removed and he was handcuffed to an iron post, where he received his lashings from different judicial officials. He fell to the ground more than once during the punishment, but did not cry out. A relative of one of the victims managed to get by security and stab Bijeh. A blue nylon rope was then put around his neck and he was hoisted about 10 meters in the air by a crane until he died. He was hanged in Pakdasht, Iran, the town near the desert area where the killings occurred.


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Paul Kenneth Bernardo, (born August 27, 1964 in Scarborough, Ontario), is a Canadian serial killer, known for the murders he committed with his wife Karla Homolka. They were dubbed the “Ken and Barbie” murderers by the press.  Early LifeBernardo was the product of an extramarital affair between his mother, Marilyn, and an ex-boyfriend; her husband, Kenneth, listed the baby’s last name as Bernardo to avoid her indiscretion becoming public. Kenneth Bernardo was a pedophile and peeping tom who molested his daughter; the scandal surrounding Kenneth Bernardo’s crimes notably affected his son, who excelled in school to overcome the public shame. When Bernardo was a teenager, his mother told him he was illegitimate during an argument. Bernardo graduated in 1987 from the University of Toronto at Scarborough. He joined the Toronto office of PricewaterhouseCoopers that September. A few months later, he met Homolka, and they started dating. Homolka would later say that he began abusing her immediately, calling her his “sex slave.” They each encouraged each other’s violent behavior: Homolka said she would not deny him anything, and urged (or at least allowed) him to brutalize her and, eventually, other women. Bernardo, meanwhile, demanded from her total submission, which included helping him commit murder and rape. CrimesBy 1990, Bernardo was spending large amounts of time with the Homolka family, who liked him. He was engaged to the eldest daughter and flirted constantly with the youngest one. He had not told them that he had lost his job as an accountant, and instead was smuggling cigarettes across the nearby U.S.-Canadian border. He had become obsessed with Tammy Homolka, peeping into her window and entering her room to masturbate while she slept. Karla Homolka helped him by breaking the blinds in her sister’s window to allow Bernardo access. In July, Bernardo took Tammy across the border to get beer for a party. While there, Bernardo later told his fiancee, “they got drunk and began making out.” According to Bernardo’s testimony at his trial on July 24, 1990, Karla Homolka laced spaghetti sauce with crushed Valium she had stolen from her employer, Martindale Animal Clinic. She served dinner to her sister, who soon lost consciousness. Bernardo began to rape Tammy while Karla watched. Over the summer, he supplied Tammy and her friends with gifts, food, and sodas that had “a film and a few white flecks on the top.” Six months before their 1991 wedding, Karla Homolka stole the anaesthetic agent Halothane from the clinic. On December 23, 1990, Homolka and Bernardo administered sleeping pills to the 15-year-old in a rum-and-eggnog cocktail. After Tammy was unconscious, Homolka and Bernardo undressed her and Karla applied a Halothane-soaked cloth to her sister’s nose and mouth. Karla Homolka wanted to “give Tammy’s virginity to Bernardo for Christmas” as, according to Homolka, Bernardo was disappointed by not having been Karla’s first sex partner. With Tammy’s parents sleeping upstairs, the pair filmed themselves as they raped her in the basement. Tammy began to vomit. The pair tried to revive her, then called 911, but not before they hid evidence, dressed Tammy, and moved her into her basement bedroom. A few hours later Tammy Homolka was pronounced dead at St. Catharines General Hospital without having regained consciousness. On June 15, 1991, Bernardo kidnapped fourteen-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, whom he then raped and murdered. Her dismembered body was found in Lake Gibson near St. Catharines, Ontario. On April 16, 1992, Bernardo, with Homolka’s help, kidnapped Kristen French from a church parking lot. Again, Bernardo abused her, then murdered her. Later that year Bernardo increasingly became abusive towards Homolka, and as a consequence she left him in January 1993. In return for a plea bargain (12 years in prison) Homolka agreed to testify against Bernardo in his murder trial. This plea bargain received much public criticism from Canadians. Six videotapes found at the home of Bernardo and his wife Homolka were used as evidence in Bernardo’s trial. Depicted are the rapes of Tammy Lyn Homolka, Kristen French, and Leslie Mahaffy. Also depicted is the rape of an unidentified girl known only as “Jane Doe.” TrialBernardo’s trial for the murders of French and Mahaffy took place in 1995, and included detailed testimony from Homolka and videotapes of the rapes. The trial was subject to a publication ban to prevent the public from knowing details until after the trial. This led to many people driving to the United States and sharing newspaper reports from there. The trial was held in Toronto rather than St. Catharines, due to the inability to find an impartial jury in the city where the killings occurred. During the trial, Bernardo claimed the deaths were accidental, and later claimed that his wife was the actual killer. On September 1, 1995, Bernardo was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. Later, Bernardo was also declared a “Dangerous Offender”, virtually ensuring that he will never be released on parole. Since his conviction, he has been held in solitary confinement at the Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario. He occupies a very small cell 23 out of 24 hours a day and is allowed one hour of exercise in a small walled-in yard. He is kept apart from the other male prisoners to ensure his safety. Homolka’s releaseHomolka was released from prison on July 4, 2005. Several days before, Bernardo was interviewed by police and his lawyer, Tony Bryant. According to Bryant, Bernardo claimed that he had always intended to free the girls he and Homolka kidnapped. However, once Mahaffy’s blindfold fell off, allowing Mahaffy to see Bernardo’s face, Homolka was concerned that Mahaffy would identify Bernardo, and hence report Homolka to the police. Further, Bernardo claimed that Homolka planned to murder Mahaffy by injecting an air bubble into her bloodstream, eventually causing an embolism.

Paul Kenneth Bernardo, (born August 27, 1964 in Scarborough, Ontario), is a Canadian serial killer, known for the murders he committed with his wife Karla Homolka. They were dubbed the “Ken and Barbie” murderers by the press. 

Early Life
Bernardo was the product of an extramarital affair between his mother, Marilyn, and an ex-boyfriend; her husband, Kenneth, listed the baby’s last name as Bernardo to avoid her indiscretion becoming public. Kenneth Bernardo was a pedophile and peeping tom who molested his daughter; the scandal surrounding Kenneth Bernardo’s crimes notably affected his son, who excelled in school to overcome the public shame. When Bernardo was a teenager, his mother told him he was illegitimate during an argument.

Bernardo graduated in 1987 from the University of Toronto at Scarborough. He joined the Toronto office of PricewaterhouseCoopers that September. A few months later, he met Homolka, and they started dating. Homolka would later say that he began abusing her immediately, calling her his “sex slave.” They each encouraged each other’s violent behavior: Homolka said she would not deny him anything, and urged (or at least allowed) him to brutalize her and, eventually, other women. Bernardo, meanwhile, demanded from her total submission, which included helping him commit murder and rape.

Crimes
By 1990, Bernardo was spending large amounts of time with the Homolka family, who liked him. He was engaged to the eldest daughter and flirted constantly with the youngest one. He had not told them that he had lost his job as an accountant, and instead was smuggling cigarettes across the nearby U.S.-Canadian border. He had become obsessed with Tammy Homolka, peeping into her window and entering her room to masturbate while she slept. Karla Homolka helped him by breaking the blinds in her sister’s window to allow Bernardo access. In July, Bernardo took Tammy across the border to get beer for a party. While there, Bernardo later told his fiancee, “they got drunk and began making out.”

According to Bernardo’s testimony at his trial on July 24, 1990, Karla Homolka laced spaghetti sauce with crushed Valium she had stolen from her employer, Martindale Animal Clinic. She served dinner to her sister, who soon lost consciousness. Bernardo began to rape Tammy while Karla watched.

Over the summer, he supplied Tammy and her friends with gifts, food, and sodas that had “a film and a few white flecks on the top.”

Six months before their 1991 wedding, Karla Homolka stole the anaesthetic agent Halothane from the clinic. On December 23, 1990, Homolka and Bernardo administered sleeping pills to the 15-year-old in a rum-and-eggnog cocktail. After Tammy was unconscious, Homolka and Bernardo undressed her and Karla applied a Halothane-soaked cloth to her sister’s nose and mouth.

Karla Homolka wanted to “give Tammy’s virginity to Bernardo for Christmas” as, according to Homolka, Bernardo was disappointed by not having been Karla’s first sex partner. With Tammy’s parents sleeping upstairs, the pair filmed themselves as they raped her in the basement. Tammy began to vomit. The pair tried to revive her, then called 911, but not before they hid evidence, dressed Tammy, and moved her into her basement bedroom. A few hours later Tammy Homolka was pronounced dead at St. Catharines General Hospital without having regained consciousness.

On June 15, 1991, Bernardo kidnapped fourteen-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, whom he then raped and murdered. Her dismembered body was found in Lake Gibson near St. Catharines, Ontario. On April 16, 1992, Bernardo, with Homolka’s help, kidnapped Kristen French from a church parking lot. Again, Bernardo abused her, then murdered her. Later that year Bernardo increasingly became abusive towards Homolka, and as a consequence she left him in January 1993. In return for a plea bargain (12 years in prison) Homolka agreed to testify against Bernardo in his murder trial. This plea bargain received much public criticism from Canadians.

Six videotapes found at the home of Bernardo and his wife Homolka were used as evidence in Bernardo’s trial. Depicted are the rapes of Tammy Lyn Homolka, Kristen French, and Leslie Mahaffy. Also depicted is the rape of an unidentified girl known only as “Jane Doe.”

Trial
Bernardo’s trial for the murders of French and Mahaffy took place in 1995, and included detailed testimony from Homolka and videotapes of the rapes. The trial was subject to a publication ban to prevent the public from knowing details until after the trial. This led to many people driving to the United States and sharing newspaper reports from there. The trial was held in Toronto rather than St. Catharines, due to the inability to find an impartial jury in the city where the killings occurred. During the trial, Bernardo claimed the deaths were accidental, and later claimed that his wife was the actual killer. On September 1, 1995, Bernardo was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. Later, Bernardo was also declared a “Dangerous Offender”, virtually ensuring that he will never be released on parole. Since his conviction, he has been held in solitary confinement at the Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario. He occupies a very small cell 23 out of 24 hours a day and is allowed one hour of exercise in a small walled-in yard. He is kept apart from the other male prisoners to ensure his safety.

Homolka’s release
Homolka was released from prison on July 4, 2005. Several days before, Bernardo was interviewed by police and his lawyer, Tony Bryant. According to Bryant, Bernardo claimed that he had always intended to free the girls he and Homolka kidnapped. However, once Mahaffy’s blindfold fell off, allowing Mahaffy to see Bernardo’s face, Homolka was concerned that Mahaffy would identify Bernardo, and hence report Homolka to the police. Further, Bernardo claimed that Homolka planned to murder Mahaffy by injecting an air bubble into her bloodstream, eventually causing an embolism.


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Albert Henry DeSalvo “The Boston Strangler” (September 3, 1931 - November 25, 1973) was a serial killer active in Boston, Massachusetts in the early 1960s. Between June 14, 1962, and January 4, 1964, thirteen single women between the ages of 19 and 85 in the Boston area were murdered. All thirteen women were murdered in their apartments, strangled with articles of clothing after being sexually assaulted. Without any sign of forced entry into their dwellings, the women apparently either knew their assailant or voluntarily allowed him into their homes. While the police were not convinced that all of these murders were the work of a single individual, the public believed so. Despite police efforts to solve the case, it was the alleged Strangler who caused his own capture. On October 27, 1964, a stranger entered a young woman’s home posing as a detective. He tied his victim to her bed, proceeded to sexually assault her, and suddenly left, saying “I’m sorry” as he went. The woman’s description led police to identify the assailant as Albert Henry DeSalvo and when his photo was published, many women identified him as the man who had assaulted them. Earlier that night, he had posed as a motorist with car trouble and attempted to enter a home in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The homeowner, future Brockton police chief Richard Sproles, became suspicious, and eventually fired a shotgun at DeSalvo. At this point, DeSalvo was not suspected of being involved with the stranglings. It was only after he was charged with rape that he gave a detailed confession of his activities as the Boston Strangler. However, there was no evidence to substantiate his confession. As such, he stood trial for earlier, unrelated crimes of robbery and sexual offences. DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in 1967. He was murdered six years later in the prison infirmary. Lingering doubts remain as to whether DeSalvo was indeed the Boston Strangler. At the time that he confessed, people who knew him personally did not believe him capable of the vicious crimes (however, it is not uncommon for people who knew a serial killer to never have suspected him to be capable of such violence. In the case of Mary Sullivan, murdered January 4, 1964, at age 19, DNA) and other forensic evidence gathered nearly 40 years later by her nephew Casey Sherman and published in his book A Rose for Mary (2003) suggested that DeSalvo was not responsible for her death. For example, DeSalvo confessed to sexually penetrating her, yet the forensic investigation revealed no evidence of sexual activity. There are also suggestions from DeSalvo himself that he was covering up for another man, the real killer. DeSalvo was the subject of the 1968 Hollywood film The Boston Strangler, starring Tony Curtis as DeSalvo, and Henry Fonda and George Kennedy as the homicide detectives who apprehend him. The movie was highly fictionalized; it assumed DeSalvo was guilty, and it portrayed him as suffering from multiple personality disorder and committing the murders while in a psychotic state. DeSalvo was never diagnosed with, or even suspected of having, that disorder. DeSalvo was one of the serial killers whose murders were recreated by the killer in the movie Copycat.

Albert Henry DeSalvo “The Boston Strangler” (September 3, 1931 - November 25, 1973) was a serial killer active in Boston, Massachusetts in the early 1960s. Between June 14, 1962, and January 4, 1964, thirteen single women between the ages of 19 and 85 in the Boston area were murdered. All thirteen women were murdered in their apartments, strangled with articles of clothing after being sexually assaulted. Without any sign of forced entry into their dwellings, the women apparently either knew their assailant or voluntarily allowed him into their homes.

While the police were not convinced that all of these murders were the work of a single individual, the public believed so. Despite police efforts to solve the case, it was the alleged Strangler who caused his own capture.

On October 27, 1964, a stranger entered a young woman’s home posing as a detective. He tied his victim to her bed, proceeded to sexually assault her, and suddenly left, saying “I’m sorry” as he went. The woman’s description led police to identify the assailant as Albert Henry DeSalvo and when his photo was published, many women identified him as the man who had assaulted them. Earlier that night, he had posed as a motorist with car trouble and attempted to enter a home in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The homeowner, future Brockton police chief Richard Sproles, became suspicious, and eventually fired a shotgun at DeSalvo. At this point, DeSalvo was not suspected of being involved with the stranglings. It was only after he was charged with rape that he gave a detailed confession of his activities as the Boston Strangler. However, there was no evidence to substantiate his confession. As such, he stood trial for earlier, unrelated crimes of robbery and sexual offences. DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in 1967. He was murdered six years later in the prison infirmary.

Lingering doubts remain as to whether DeSalvo was indeed the Boston Strangler. At the time that he confessed, people who knew him personally did not believe him capable of the vicious crimes (however, it is not uncommon for people who knew a serial killer to never have suspected him to be capable of such violence. In the case of Mary Sullivan, murdered January 4, 1964, at age 19, DNA) and other forensic evidence gathered nearly 40 years later by her nephew Casey Sherman and published in his book A Rose for Mary (2003) suggested that DeSalvo was not responsible for her death. For example, DeSalvo confessed to sexually penetrating her, yet the forensic investigation revealed no evidence of sexual activity. There are also suggestions from DeSalvo himself that he was covering up for another man, the real killer.

DeSalvo was the subject of the 1968 Hollywood film The Boston Strangler, starring Tony Curtis as DeSalvo, and Henry Fonda and George Kennedy as the homicide detectives who apprehend him. The movie was highly fictionalized; it assumed DeSalvo was guilty, and it portrayed him as suffering from multiple personality disorder and committing the murders while in a psychotic state. DeSalvo was never diagnosed with, or even suspected of having, that disorder. DeSalvo was one of the serial killers whose murders were recreated by the killer in the movie Copycat.


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Yang Xinhai “The Monster Killer” He was a Chinese serial killer who confessed to committing 65 murders and 23 rapes between 1999 and 2003, and was sentenced to death and executed for 67. He was dubbed the “Monster Killer” by the media. He is the most prolific serial killer China has seen. Early life: Yang was born on July 29, 1968 in Zhumadian, Zhengyang County, Henan Province, China. His family was one of the poorest in their village. The youngest of four children, Yang was clever but introverted. He dropped out of school in 1985, at age 17, and refused to return home, instead traveling around China and working as a hired labourer. Crimes: In 1988 and 1991, Yang was sentenced to labor camps for theft in Xi’an, Shaanxi and Shijiazhuang, Hebei. In 1996, he was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted rape in Zhumadian, Henan and released in 1999. Yang’s killings took place between 1999 and 2003 in the provinces of Anhui, Hebei, Henan and Shandong. At night, he would enter his victims’ homes, and kill all of the occupants mainly farmers with axes, hammers and shovels, sometimes killing entire families. Each time he wore new clothes and large shoes. In October 2002, Yang killed a father and a six-year-old girl with a shovel and raped a pregnant woman, who survived the attack with serious head injuries. Arrest, trial and execution: Yang was detained on November 3, 2003 after acting suspiciously during a routine police inspection of entertainment venues in Cangzhou, Hebei. Police took him in for questioning and discovered that he was wanted for murder in four provinces. As news of his arrest and crimes spread, the media dubbed him the “Monster Killer”. Shortly after he was arrested, Yang confessed to 65 murders, 23 rapes and five attacks causing serious injury: 49 murders, 17 rapes and five attacks in Henan; eight murders and three rapes in Hebei; six murders and two rapes in Anhui; and two murders and one rape in Shandong. Police also matched his DNA with that found at several crime scenes. On February 1, 2004, Yang was found guilty of 67 murders and 23 rapes, and sentenced to death in Luohe City Intermediate People’s Court, Henan. At the time of his sentencing, official Chinese media believed he had carried out China’s longest and grisliest killing spree. Yang was executed on February 14, 2004, by a gunshot to the back of the head. Motive: According to some media reports at the time of his arrest, Yang’s motive for the killings was revenge against society as a result of a break up. Allegedly his girlfriend had left him because of his previous sentences for theft and rape. Later media reports claimed that his enjoyment of robbery, rape and murder was the motive. While Yang never formally provided a motive, he was quoted as saying: “When I killed people I had a desire. This inspired me to kill more. I don’t care whether they deserve to live or not. It is none of my concern…I have no desire to be part of society. Society is not my concern.”

Yang Xinhai “The Monster Killer”

He was a Chinese serial killer who confessed to committing 65 murders and 23 rapes between 1999 and 2003, and was sentenced to death and executed for 67. He was dubbed the “Monster Killer” by the media. He is the most prolific serial killer China has seen.

Early life: Yang was born on July 29, 1968 in Zhumadian, Zhengyang County, Henan Province, China. His family was one of the poorest in their village. The youngest of four children, Yang was clever but introverted. He dropped out of school in 1985, at age 17, and refused to return home, instead traveling around China and working as a hired labourer.

Crimes: In 1988 and 1991, Yang was sentenced to labor camps for theft in Xi’an, Shaanxi and Shijiazhuang, Hebei. In 1996, he was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted rape in Zhumadian, Henan and released in 1999.

Yang’s killings took place between 1999 and 2003 in the provinces of Anhui, Hebei, Henan and Shandong. At night, he would enter his victims’ homes, and kill all of the occupants mainly farmers with axes, hammers and shovels, sometimes killing entire families. Each time he wore new clothes and large shoes.

In October 2002, Yang killed a father and a six-year-old girl with a shovel and raped a pregnant woman, who survived the attack with serious head injuries.

Arrest, trial and execution: Yang was detained on November 3, 2003 after acting suspiciously during a routine police inspection of entertainment venues in Cangzhou, Hebei. Police took him in for questioning and discovered that he was wanted for murder in four provinces. As news of his arrest and crimes spread, the media dubbed him the “Monster Killer”.

Shortly after he was arrested, Yang confessed to 65 murders, 23 rapes and five attacks causing serious injury: 49 murders, 17 rapes and five attacks in Henan; eight murders and three rapes in Hebei; six murders and two rapes in Anhui; and two murders and one rape in Shandong. Police also matched his DNA with that found at several crime scenes.

On February 1, 2004, Yang was found guilty of 67 murders and 23 rapes, and sentenced to death in Luohe City Intermediate People’s Court, Henan. At the time of his sentencing, official Chinese media believed he had carried out China’s longest and grisliest killing spree.

Yang was executed on February 14, 2004, by a gunshot to the back of the head.

Motive: According to some media reports at the time of his arrest, Yang’s motive for the killings was revenge against society as a result of a break up. Allegedly his girlfriend had left him because of his previous sentences for theft and rape. Later media reports claimed that his enjoyment of robbery, rape and murder was the motive.

While Yang never formally provided a motive, he was quoted as saying: “When I killed people I had a desire. This inspired me to kill more. I don’t care whether they deserve to live or not. It is none of my concern…I have no desire to be part of society. Society is not my concern.”


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Items found in Ted Bundy’s 1968 Volkswagen Beetle after a 1975 arrest.

Items found in Ted Bundy’s 1968 Volkswagen Beetle after a 1975 arrest.