unidentified serial killers

8/12/2019 Unidentified Serial Killers

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Unidentified serial killers

ByImacolata

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Axeman of New Orleans

The Axeman of New Orleans was a serial killer active in New

Orleans, Louisiana (and surrounding communities, including

retna, Louisiana!, from "ay 1#1$ to Octo%er 1#1#& 'ress

reorts during the height of u%lic anic a%out the killingsmentioned similar murders as early as 1#11, %ut recent

researchers have called these reorts into )uestion&

As the killer*s seudonym imlies, the victims were attacked

with an axe& +n some of the crimes, the doors to the victim*s

homes were first %ashed oen with the same tool& The

Axeman was not caught or identified at the time, although hiscrime sree stoed as mysteriously as it started& The

murderer*s identity remains unknown to this day, although

various ossi%le identifications of varying lausi%ility have

%een roosed&

Not all of the Axeman*s victims died, %ut the savagery and

utter randomness of his attacks terrori-ed much of the

oulace& .ome early victims were +talian American, inarticular the son of 'ietro 'eitone who had killed Black

/and extortionist 'aul 0i ristina ('aolo "archese! several

years %efore, leading the newsaers to assume the killings

were somehow "afia related (similar to hicago*s Black /and

assassin .hotgun "an!& /owever, later crimes clearly did

not fit this rofile, and the arehension of the general u%lic

grew& /is victims included a regnant woman and even a %a%y

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killed in the arms of its mother& The Axeman also seemed to

draw direct insiration from 3ack the 4ier5 he (or someone

claiming to %e the Axeman! wrote taunting letters to city

newsaers hinting at his future crimes and claiming to %e asuernatural demon from /ell&

"ost notoriously, on "arch 16, 1#1#, a letter urorting to %e

from the Axeman was u%lished in the newsaers saying that

he would kill again at 17 minutes ast midnight on the night of

"arch 1#, %ut would sare the occuants of any lace where a

8a-- %and was laying& That night all of New Orleans*s dance

halls were filled to caacity, and rofessional and amateur%ands layed 8a-- at arties at hundreds of houses around

town& There were no murders that night&

Not everyone was intimidated %y the Axeman& .ome well

armed citi-ens sent the newsaer invitations for the Axeman

to visit their houses that night and see who got killed first& One

invitation romised to leave a window oen for the Axeman,olitely asking that he not damage the front door&

rime writer olin 9ilson seculates the Axeman could have

%een 3oseh "omfre, a man shot to death in Los Angeles in

0ecem%er,1#2: %y the widow of "ike 'eitone, the Axeman*s

last known victim& 9ilson*s theory has %een widely reeated

in other true crime %ooks and we% sites& /owever, true crime

writer "ichael Newton searched New Orleans and LosAngeles u%lic, olice and court records as well as newsaer

archives, and failed to find any evidence of a man with the

name 3oseh "omfre (or any reasona%le facsimile! having

%een assaulted or killed in Los Angeles& Newman also was not

a%le to find any information that "rs 'eitone (identified in

some sources as ;sther Al%ano, and in others simly as a

woman who claimed to %e 'eitone*s widow! was arrested,

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tried or convicted for such a crime, or indeed had %een in

alifornia& Newman notes that "omfre and variants was not

an unusual surname in New Orleans at the time of the crimes&

+t aears that there actually may have %een an individualnamed 3oseh "omfre or "umfre in New Orleans who had a

criminal history and may have %een connected with organi-ed

crime< however, local records for the eriod are not extensive

enough to allow confirmation of this, or to ositively identify

the individual& 9ilson*s exlanation is an ur%an legend, and

there is no more evidence now on the identity of the killer than

there was at the time of the crimes&One of the alleged early victims of the Axeman, an +talian

coule named .chiam%ra, were shot %y an intruder in their

Lower Ninth 9ard home in the early morning hours of "ay

1=, 1#12& The male .chiam%ra survived while his wife died& +n

newsaer accounts, the rime susect is referred to %y the

name of "omfre more than once& 9hile radically different

than the Axeman*s usual "O, if 3oseh "omfre was indeedthe Axeman, the .chiam%ras may well have %een an early

victim of the future serial killer&

Victims

> Joseph Maggiowas an +talian grocer who was attackedwhile sleeing alongside his wife, atherine, at their home on

the corner of ?erline and "agnolia .treets on the night of

"ay 22, 1#1$& /e survived the initial attack, %ut died minutes

after %eing discovered %y his %rothers 3ake and Andrew, who

lived next door and had come to investigate after hearing his

groans&

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> Catherine Maggiowas the wife of 3oseh "aggio& .he was

attacked during the night along with her hus%and on the night

of "ay 22, 1#1$& .he suffered numerous %lows to the head via

an axe and her throat had %een cut so dee that her neck wasnearly comletely severed&

> Louis Besumer, also a grocer, was attacked in the early

morning hours of 3une =, 1#1$, alongside his mistress Anna

Lowe& /e was critically wounded in the attack %ut managed to

survive&

> Anna Lowewas killed while in %ed with Louis Besumer&.he had %een %adly wounded and died a few hours later at

harity /osital&

> Mrs. Schneiderwas attacked in the early evening hours of

August 7, 1#1$& The $ months regnant .chneider awoke tofind a dark figure standing over her and she was %ashed in the

face reeatedly with an axe& .he was discovered later when

her hus%and returned from work& .he was treated for her

wounds at harity /osital and delivered a healthy %a%y girl 6

weeks after the attack&

> Joseph Romanowas an elderly man living with his two

nieces, 'auline and "ary Bruno& On August 1:, 1#1$, 'auline

awoke to find a man standing over her& .he screamed and the

man leaed off into the night& .he entered her uncle*s room tofind him critically in8ured& 9ith 4omano*s dying %reath, he

instructed his niece to call the hosital&

> Charles Cortimigliawas an immigrant who lived with his

wife and %a%y on the corner of 3efferson Avenue and .econd.treet in retna, Louisiana, a New Orleans su%ur%& On the

night of "arch 1:, 1#1#, screams were heard coming from the

ortimiglia 4esidence& Neigh%ors rushed in to find 4osie

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ortimiglia kneeling on the floor in a ool of %lood next to her

hus%and, who had a gaing hole in his torso&

> Rosie Cortimigliawas the wife of immigrant la%orer

harles ortimiglia& .he was attacked alongside her hus%and

on "arch 1:, 1#1# while sleeing with her %a%y in her arms&

.he was %adly wounded %y the axeman, %ut survived the

incident&

> Mary Cortimigliawas the two>year>old daughter of harles

and 4osie ortimiglia& .he was killed while sleeing in her

mothers arms with a single %low to the %ack of the neck whenshe and her arents were attacked on "arch 1:, 1#1#&

> Steve Bocawas a grocer who was attacked in his %edroom

as he slet %y an axe>wielding intruder on August 1:, 1#1#&

Boca survived his wounds& +t was duly noted that the assailantchisled his way through the %ack door, similar to other

Axeman attacks&

> Sarah Laumannwas attacked on the night of .etem%er 6,

1#1#& The 1#>year>old suffered numerous head wounds and

died at the hosital& This is the most mysterious of all of the

crimes %ecause Laumann was the only one in the house at the

time and there were no witnesses&

> Mike epitonewas killed on the night of Octo%er 2, 1#1#&/is wife was awakened %y a noise and arrived at the door of

his %edroom 8ust as a large axe>wielding man was rushing out

of it (some accounts say she saw twomen fleeing her

hus%and*s room&! 'eitone was transorted to harity /osital

where he died early the next morning&

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Bible John

Bi!le Johnis the nickname of an unidentified serial killer

who is thought to have oerated in lasgow, .cotland, in thelate 1#=:s& Three murders were attri%uted to him, %ut it is not

clear that they were the work of the same erson and officially

the olice still have an oen mind on this&

Murders

On e%ruary 26, 1#=$, the %ody of 27>year>old 'atricia

0ocker was found in a lasgow doorway& .he had %een

strangled& The revious night she had %een out dancing at a

near%y clu%, the Barrowland Ballroom&

On August 17, 1#=#, 3emima "c0onald, 62, went for a nightout at the Barrowland Ballroom& The next day she was found

in an old %uilding, strangled with her own stockings&

9itnesses said they had seen her leaving the clu% at midnight

with a tall, slim young man with red hair&

A coule of months later, on Octo%er 6:, 2#>year>old /elen

'uttock was found murdered& .he had %een to the BarrowlandBallroom the night %efore with a friend who recalled /elen

having %een last seen with a well>dressed young man C tall,

slim and with red hair C whom she descri%ed as %eing olite

and well>soken& .he also said the stranger had given his

name as 3ohn and that he had fre)uently )uoted from the

Bi%le&

The olice made a determined effort to hunt for the killer, nownicknamed Bi%le 3ohn, %ut although a num%er of susects


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were )uestioned, no arrests were ever made, and no further

victims have %een attri%uted to him&

+n 1##=, olice exhumed the %ody of 3ohn +rvine "c+nnes, the

cousin of one of the original susects, from a Lanarkshire

graveyard& "c+nnes, who had served in the .cots uards, had

committed suicide aged @1 in 1#$1& 'olice ran a 0NA test and

comared it with semen found on /elen 'uttock*s tights and

announced a ossi%le match, %ut were later forced to retract

the claim&

Lord "ackay, then the Lord Advocate, said there was notenough evidence to link the murders with "c+nnes&

On 0ecem%er 12, 2::@, olice announced they were to 0NA

test a num%er of men in a further attemt to solve the case&

This followed the discovery of an $:D match to a 0NAsamle taken at the site of a minor crime two years earlier&

"ew developments

The recent arrest and conviction of 'eter To%in for the similarmurder of student Angelika Eluk has led to u%lic seculation

that To%in is Bi%le 3ohn& .imilarities %etween To%in*s olice

mugshot from that era and the hotofit artist*s imression of

Bi%le 3ohn strengthen the argument& Also comelling is thatTo%in moved away from lasgow in 1#=# which might

account for the cessation of the killings& 'olice are not

commenting uon any similarities %ut say that any surviving

forensic evidence will %e rechecked&

'resuming the hotofit came from the reorted sighting of

Bi%le 3ohn, the semen may well %elong to 'eter To%in %ut thehotfit of Bi%le 3ohn > that is the tall redhaired gentleman

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fre)uently )uoting the %i%le is unlikely to %e that of To%in >

who is etite and %rown haired > so small in fact that some

have wondered how he was a%le to overower two fourteen

year old girls and one sixteen year old&

Bi!le John in popular culture

The actions of Bi%le 3ohn insired a novel %y +an 4ankin,

Black and Blueof the +nsector 4e%us series u%lished in

1##, as well as a comic %ook (Bible John-A Forensic

Meditation! written %y rant "orrison in 1##1&

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Claremont serial murders

The Claremont serial murdersis the case of the unsolved

murders of two young Australian women and thedisaearance of a third in 1##= and 1## in laremont,

9estern Australia&

All three women disaeared from night sots in laremont, a

wealthy western su%ur% of 'erth, aroximately #km from the

B0& They disaeared in similar circumstances, leading

olice to %elieve that an unidentified serial killer may %e

%ehind the crimes& A fourth woman who disaeared in 1#$$

has also %een linked as another ossi%le victim&

The case %egan with the disaearance of .arah .iers, 1$, in3anuary 1##= from a nightclu% in the centre of laremont& /er

disaearance was comletely out of character and attracted

massive u%licity in 'erth&

.ome months later, 3ane 4immer, 26, disaeared from the

same art of laremont& The similarity in the circumstances of

her disaearance led many to seculate that a serial killer wasat large& /er %ody was found in %ushland in the far southern

su%ur%s of 'erth in August 1##=&

On "arch 1@, 1##, iara lennon, a 2>year>old lawyer, also

disaeared from the laremont area& /er %ody was found on

Aril 6, off a track in scru% in the far northern su%ur%s of

'erth&9ith this murder olice admitted that they were

searching for a serial killer&

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All three women had either gone to a u% called The

ontinental (since renamed The 4ed 4ock and now known as

The laremont /otel! andFor a nightclu% called lu%

Bayview&

ossi!le related case

+t has also %een suggested %y a 'erth radioFTG 8ournalist that

.arah .iers was not the first victim& /e wrote that olice

have told the father of a fourth missing woman, 22>year>old

3ulie utler, that his daughter was ro%a%ly the first victim of

the laremont killer&

"s utler, a university student from remantle, vanished after

leaving a staff function at the .heraton /otel in 'erth at #m

one night in 1#$$&

/er car was found in the surf near the groyne at ottesloe

Beach two days later& /er %ody has never %een found&

#nvestigation

A u%lic servant from ottesloe, 9estern Australia is the

rime susect, though to date no charges have %een laid&+t has%een reorted in the news, via rint, radio, television, and

online, that olice are also investigating the ossi%ility

Bradley 3ohn "urdoch, the convicted killer of 'eter alconio

may have %een involved, although "urdoch was serving acustodial sentence from Novem%er 1##7 until e%ruary 1##&

There has also %een some scrutiny on former Town of

laremont "ayor 'eter 9eygers& 9eygers was the mayor

during the time of the disaearances&

The ina%ility to arehend the culrit is seen as a ma8or

em%arrassment to the 9estern Australia 'olice& The "acroTask orce set u to investigate the murders has %een

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dis%anded and reformed several times& 'u%lic confidence has

not %een heled with several senior officers %eing imlicated

in corrution allegations in the 9A 'olice 4oyal ommission&

+n Octo%er 2::=, it was announced that "ark 0ixie, a man on

trial in the ?nited Eingdom over the murder in 2::7 of the 1$>

year>old model .ally Anne Bowman, is a rime susect in the

killings, and the 9A 'olice*s "acro Taskforce has re)uested

0NA samles from 0ixie to test against evidence taken during

the en)uiry&

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Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripperis an alias given to an unidentified serial

killer (or killers! active in the largely imoverished9hitechael area and ad8acent districts of London, ;ngland in

the latter half of 1$$$& The name is taken from a letter to the

entral News Agency %y someone claiming to %e the

murderer, u%lished at the time of the killings& The legendssurrounding the 4ier murders have %ecome a com%ination

of genuine historical research, consiracy theory and folklore&

The lack of a confirmed identity for the killer has allowed

RipperologistsC the term used within the field for the

authors, historians and amateur detectives who study the case

C to accuse a wide variety of individuals of %eing the 4ier&Newsaers, whose circulation had %een growing during this

era, %estowed widesread and enduring notoriety on the killer

owing to the savagery of the attacks and the failure of the

olice in their attemts to cature the 4ier, sometimes

missing the murderer at his crime scenes %y mere minutes&

Gictims were women earning income as casual rostitutes&

Tyical 4ier murders were eretrated in a u%lic or semi>

u%lic lace< the victim*s throat was cut, after which the %odywas mutilated& .ome %elieve that the victims were first

strangled in order to silence them and to exlain the lack of

reorted %lood at the crime scenes& The removal of internal

organs from some victims has led to the roosal that thekiller ossessed anatomical or surgical knowledge or skill&

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Victims

The num%er and names of the 4ier*s victims are the su%8ectof much de%ate& The canonical fiveare a su%set of the eleven

victims listed in the olice file documenting what were called

the 9hitechael murders&

The canonical five victims

The most widely acceted list, referred to as the canonical

five, includes the following five rostitutes (or resumedrostitute in ;ddowes* case! in the ;ast ;nd of London5

Mary Ann "ichols(maiden name "ary Ann 9alker,

nicknamed 'olly!, %orn on August 2=, 1$@7, and killed

on riday, August 61, 1$$$& Nichols* %ody was

discovered at a%out 65@: in the early morning on the

ground in front of a gated sta%le entrance in Buck*s 4ow(since renamed 0urward .treet!, a %ack street in9hitechael two hundred yards from the London

/osital&

Annie Chapman(maiden name ;li-a Ann .mith,

nicknamed 0ark Annie!, %orn in .etem%er 1$@1 and

killed on .aturday, .etem%er $, 1$$$& haman*s %ody

was discovered a%out =5:: in the morning lying on theground near a doorway in the %ack yard of 2# /an%ury

.treet, .italfields&

$li%a!eth Stride(maiden name ;lisa%eth ustafsdotter,

nicknamed Long Li-!, %orn in .weden on Novem%er

2, 1$@6, and killed on .unday, .etem%er 6:, 1$$$&.tride*s %ody was discovered close to :15:: in the early

morning, lying on the ground in 0utfield*s Hard, off

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Berner .treet (since renamed /enri)ues .treet! in

9hitechael&

Catherine $ddowes(used the aliases Eate onway

and "ary Ann Eelly, from the surnames of her twocommon>law hus%ands Thomas onway and 3ohn Eelly!,

%orn on Aril 1@, 1$@2, and killed on .unday, .etem%er

6:, 1$$$, on the same day as the revious victim,

;li-a%eth .tride& 4ierologists refer to this circumstance

as the dou%le event& /er %ody was found in "itre

.)uare, in the ity of London&

Mary Jane &elly(called herself "arie 3eanette Eellyafter a tri to 'aris, nicknamed inger!, reortedly

%orn in either the city of Limerick or ounty Limerick,

"unster, +reland ca& 1$=6 and killed on riday,

Novem%er #, 1$$$& Eelly*s gruesomely mutilated %ody

was discovered shortly after 1:5@7 am lying on the %ed in

the single room where she lived at 16 "iller*s ourt, off

0orset .treet, .italfields&

The authority of this list rests on a num%er of authors*

oinions, %ut the %asis for these oinions mainly came from

notes made rivately in 1$#@ %y .ir "elville "acnaghten as

hief onsta%le of the "etroolitan 'olice .ervice riminal+nvestigation 0eartment, aers which came to light in 1#7#&

"acnaghten*s aers reflected his own oinion and were not

necessarily shared %y the investigating officers (such as+nsector rederick A%%erline!& "acnaghten did not 8oin the

force until the year after the murders, and his memorandum

contained serious errors of fact a%out ossi%le susects& or

this and other reasons, some 4ierologists refer to remove

one or more names from this list of canonical victims5

tyically .tride (who had no mutilations %eyond a cut throat

and, if one witness can %e %elieved, was attacked in u%lic!,andFor Eelly (who was younger than other victims, murdered

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indoors, and whose mutilations were far more extensive than

the others!& Others refer to exand the list %y citing "artha

Ta%ram and others as ro%a%le 4ier victims& .ome

researchers have even osited that the series may not have%een the work of a single murderer, %ut of an unknown

num%er of killers acting indeendently&

;xcet for .tride (whose attack may have %een interruted!,

mutilations of the canonical five victims %ecame continuously

more severe as the series of murders roceeded& Nichols and

.tride were not missing any organs, %ut haman*s uterus was

taken, and ;ddowes had her uterus and a kidney carried awayand her face mutilated& 9hile only Eelly*s heart was missing

from her crime scene, many of her internal organs were

removed and left in her room&

The five canonical murders were generally eretrated in the

dark of night, on or close to a weekend, in a secluded site to

which the u%lic could gain access, and on a attern of dateseither at the end of a month or a week or so after& Het every

case differed from this attern in some manner& Besides the

differences already mentioned, ;ddowes was the only victim

killed within the ity of London, though close to the %oundary

%etween the ity and the metroolis& Nichols was the only

victim to %e found on an oen street, al%eit a dark and deserted

one& "any sources state that haman was killed after the sunhad started to rise, though that was not the oinion of the

olice or the doctors who examined the %ody& Eelly*s murder

ended a six>week eriod of inactivity for the murderer& (A

week elased %etween the Nichols and haman murders, and

three %etween haman and the dou%le event&!

A ma8or difficulty in identifying who was and was not a

4ier victim is the large num%er of horrific attacks against

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women during this era& "ost exerts oint to dee throat

slashes, mutilations to the victim*s a%domen and genital area,

removal of internal organs and rogressive facial mutilations

as the distinctive features of 3ack the 4ier&

Other possible victims

Gictims of other contemorary and somewhat similar attacks

andFor murders have also %een suggested as additions to the

list& Those victims are generally oorly documented& They

include5

'(airy (ay')a nickname for an unknown murder victim

reortedly found on 0ecem%er 2=, 1$$ with a stake

thrust through her a%domen& +t has %een suggested that

airy ay was a creation of the ress %ased uon

confusion of the details of the murder of ;mma ;li-a%eth.mith with a searate non>fatal attack the revious

hristmas& The name of airy ay does not aear for

this alleged victim until many years after the murders,

and it seems to have %een taken from a verse of a oular

song called 'olly 9olly 0oodle that starts are thee

well my fairy fay& There were no recorded murders in

9hitechael at or around hristmas 1$$= or 1$$, and

later newsaer reorts that included a hristmas 1$$

killing consicuously did not list the .mith murder& "ost

authors agree that airy ay never existed&

Annie Millwood, %orn c1$7:, reortedly the victim ofan attack on e%ruary 27, 1$$$& .he was admitted to

hosital with numerous sta%s in the legs and lower art

of the %ody& .he was discharged from hosital %ut died

from aarently natural causes on "arch 61, 1$$$&

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Ada *ilson, reortedly the victim of an attack on "arch

2$, 1$$$, resulting in two sta%s in the neck& .he survived

the attack&

$mma $li%a!eth Smith, %orn c1$@6, was attacked in

Os%orn .treet, 9hitechael Aril 6, 1$$$, and a %lunt

o%8ect was inserted into her vagina, ruturing her

erineum& .he survived the attack and managed to walk

%ack to her lodging house with the in8uries& riends

%rought her to a hosital where she told olice that she

was attacked %y two or three men, one of whom was a

teenager& .he fell into a coma and died on Aril 7, 1$$$&This was the first killing in the 9hitechael murders

file in contemorary olice files&

Martha +a!ram(name sometimes misselled as

Ta%ran< used the alias ;mma Turner< maiden name

"artha 9hite!, %orn on "ay 1:, 1$@#, and killed on

August , 1$$$& .he had a total of 6# sta% wounds& Of thenon>canonical 9hitechael murders, Ta%ram is named

most often as another ossi%le 4ier victim, owing to

the evident lack of o%vious motive, the geograhical and

eriodic roximity to the canonical attacks, and the

remarka%le savagery of the attack& The main difficulty

with including Ta%ram is that the killer used a somewhat

different modus oerandi (sta%%ing, rather than slashingthe throat and then cutting!, %ut it is now acceted that a

killer*s modus oerandi often changes, sometimes )uite

dramatically& /er %ody was found at eorge Hard

Buildings, eorge Hard, 9hitechael& This was the

second victim listed in the 9hitechael murders olice

file& (The third through seventh %eing the canonical five

listed a%ove&!

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+he *hitehall Mystery, term coined for the headless

torso of a woman found in the %asement of the new

"etroolitan 'olice head)uarters %eing %uilt in 9hitehall

on Octo%er 2, 1$$$& An arm %elonging to the %ody hadreviously %een discovered floating in the Thames near

'imlico, and one of the legs was su%se)uently discovered

%uried near where the torso was found& The other lim%s

and head were never recovered and the %ody never

identified&

Annie (armer, %orn in 1$@$, reortedly was the victim

of an attack on Novem%er 21, 1$$$& .he survived withonly a light, though %leeding, cut on her throat& The

wound was suerficial and aarently caused %y a %lunt

knife& 'olice susected that the wound was self>inflicted

and ceased to investigate her case&

Rose Mylett(true name ro%a%ly atherine "ylett, %ut

was also known as atherine "illett, ;li-a%eth 0runkenLi--ie 0avis, air Alice 0owney or simly air

lara!, %orn in 1$=2 and died on 0ecem%er 2:, 1$$$&

.he was reortedly strangled %y a cord drawn tightly

round the neck, though some investigators %elieved that

she had accidentally suffocated herself on the collar of

her dress while in a drunken stuor& /er %ody was found

in larke*s Hard, /igh .treet, 'olar& This was the eighthcase listed in the 9hitechael murders file&

$li%a!eth Jackson, a rostitute whose various %ody arts

were collected from the 4iver Thames %etween "ay 61

and 3une 27 1$$#& .he was reortedly identified %y scars

she had had rior to her disaearance and aarent

murder&

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Alice Mc&en%ie(nicknamed lay 'ie Alice and used

the alias Alice Bryant!, %orn circa 1$@# and killed on 3uly

1, 1$$#& .he died reortedly from the severance of the

left carotid artery %ut several minor %ruises and cutswere found on the %ody& /er %ody was found in astle

Alley, 9hitechael& This was the ninth crime listed in

9hitechael murders file&

+he inchin Street Murder, a term coined after a

torso was found in similar condition to The 9hitehall

"ystery, though the hands were not severed, on

.etem%er 1:, 1$$#& The %ody was found under a railwayarch in 'inchin .treet, 9hitechael& An unconfirmed

seculation of the time was that the %ody %elonged to

Lydia /art, a rostitute who had disaeared& The

9hitehall "ystery and The 'inchin .treet "urder

have often %een suggested to %e the works of a serial

killer, for which the nicknames Torso Eiller or Torso

"urderer have %een suggested& 9hether 3ack the 4ierand the Torso Eiller were the same erson or searate

serial killers of uncertain connection to each other (%ut

active in the same area! has long %een de%ated %y

4ierologists& This was the tenth of the 9hitechaelmurders&

(rances Coles(also known as rances oleman, rances/awkins and nicknamed arrotty Nell!, %orn in 1$=7

and killed on e%ruary 16, 1$#1& "inor wounds on the

%ack of the head suggest that she was thrown violently to

the ground %efore her throat was cut& Otherwise there

were no mutilations to the %ody& /er %ody was found

under a railway arch, .wallow ardens, 9hitechael&

This was the eleventh and last of the victims included in

2:


21/56

the 9hitechael murders olice file, which was closed as

unsolved&

Carrie Brown(nicknamed .hakeseare, reortedly for

)uoting sonnets %y 9illiam .hakeseare!, %orn circa

1$67 and killed Aril 2@, 1$#1, in "anhattan, New Hork

ity, New Hork, ?.A& .he was strangled with clothing

and then mutilated with a knife& /er %ody was found with

a large tear through her groin area and suerficial cuts on

her legs and %ack& No organs were removed from the

scene, though an ovary was found uon the %ed& 9hether

it was urosely removed or unintentionally dislodgedduring the mutilation is unknown& At the time, the murder

was comared to those in 9hitechael though London

olice eventually ruled out any connection&

,oulston Street gra--iti

After the dou%le event of the early morning of .etem%er

6:, olice searched the area near the crime scenes in an effort

to locate a susect, witnesses or evidence& At a%out 65:: a&m&,

onsta%le Alfred Long discovered a %loodstained scra of

cloth in the stairwell of a tenement on oulston .treet& The

cloth was later confirmed as art of ;ddowes* aron&

There was writing in white chalk on the wall a%ove where the

aron was found& Long reorted that the graffiti read5 The3uwes are the men That 9ill not %e Blamed for nothing&

Other olice officers recalled a slightly different message5The 3uwes are not The men That 9ill %e Blamed for

nothing&

'olice .uerintendent Thomas Arnold visited the scene and

saw the graffiti& /e feared that with day%reak and the

%eginning of the day*s %usiness, the message would %e widely

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22/56

seen and might exacer%ate the general Anti>.emitic sentiments

of the oulace& .ince the Nichols murder, rumours had %een

circulating in the ;ast ;nd that the killings were the work of a

3ew du%%ed Leather Aron& 4eligious tensions were alreadyhigh, and there had already %een many near>riots& Arnold

ordered a man to %e standing %y with a songe to erase the

graffiti, while he consulted "etroolitan 'olice ommissioner

.ir harles 9arren& overing the graffiti in order to allow

time for a hotograher to arrive was considered, %ut Arnold

and 9arren (who ersonally attended the scene! considered

this to %e too dangerous, and 9arren later stated heconsidered it desira%le to o%literate the writing at once&

9hile the writing was found in "etroolitan 'olice territory,

the aron was from a victim killed in the ity of London,

which has a searate olice service&

.ome officers disagreed with Arnold and 9arren*s decision,

esecially those reresenting the ity of London 'olice, whothought the graffiti constituted art of a crime scene and

should at least %e hotograhed %efore %eing erased, %ut the

message was wied from the wall at aroximately 756: a&m&

"ost contemorary olice concluded that the writing of the

graffiti was a semi>literate attack on the area*s 3ewish

oulation& Author "artin ido notes that the graffiti included

dou%le negatives, a common feature of ockney seech& /esuggests that the graffiti might %e translated into standard

;nglish as The 3ews are men who will not take resonsi%ility

for anything and that the message was written %y someone

who %elieved he or she had %een wronged %y one of the many

3ewish merchants or tradesmen in the area&

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23/56

There is disagreement as to the imortance of the graffiti in

the 4ier case& .everal ossi%le exlanations have %een

suggested %y various authors5

Author and consiracy theorist .tehen Enight suggested

that 3uwes referred not to 3ews, %ut to 3u%ela, 3u%elo

and 3u%elum, the three killers of /iram A%iff, a semi>

legendary figure in reemasonry, and furthermore, that

the message was written %y the killer (or killers! as art

of a "asonic lot (however, there is no evidence that

anyone rior to Enight had ever referred to those three

figures %y the term 3uwes! The murderer wrote the graffiti and then droed the

iece of aron to indicate a link

The writing on the wall was already there and the

murderer wanted to indicate a link in suort of the

message

The message was already there and the murderer droed

the scra coincidentally, without interest in making a link(erhas failing to notice the graffiti!

The writing was added sometime after the aron iece

was droed C resuma%ly shortly after the murder

(thought to have haened 8ust %efore 15@7am! C %ut%efore the discovery of the scra at 6am

Ripper lettersOver the course of the 4ier murders, the olice and

newsaers received many thousands of letters regarding the

case& .ome were from well>intentioned ersons offering

advice for catching the killer& The vast ma8ority of these were

deemed useless and su%se)uently ignored&

'erhas more interesting were hundreds of letters whichclaimed to have %een written %y the killer himself& The vast

26


24/56

ma8ority of such letters are considered hoaxes& "any exerts

contend that noneof them are genuine, %ut of the ones cited as

erhas genuine, either %y contemorary or modern

authorities, three in articular are rominent5

The 0ear Boss letter, dated .etem%er 27, ostmarked

and received .etem%er 2, 1$$$, %y the entral News

Agency, was forwarded to .cotland Hard on .etem%er

2#& +nitially it was considered a hoax, %ut when ;ddowes

was found three days after the letter*s ostmark with one

ear artially cut off, the letter*s romise to cli the ladys

ears off gained attention& 'olice u%lished the letter onOcto%er 1, hoing someone would recognise the

handwriting, %ut nothing came of this effort& The name

3ack the 4ier was first used in this letter and gained

worldwide notoriety after its u%lication& "ost of the

letters that followed coied the tone of this one& After the

murders, olice officials contended the letter had %een a

hoax %y a local 8ournalist&

The .aucy 3ack ostcard ostmarked and received

Octo%er 1, 1$$$, %y the entral News Agency, had

handwriting similar to the 0ear Boss letter& +t mentions

that two victims C .tride and ;ddowes C were killed

very close to one another5 dou%le event this time& +t has

%een argued that the letter was mailed %efore the murderswere u%licised, making it unlikely that a crank would

have such knowledge of the crime, though it was

ostmarked more than 2@ hours after the killings took

lace, long after details were known %y 8ournalists and

residents of the area& 'olice officials later claimed to have

identified a secific 8ournalist as the author of %oth this

message and the earlier 0ear Boss letter&

2@


25/56

The rom /ell letter, also known as the Lusk letter,

ostmarked Octo%er 17 and received %y eorge Lusk of

the 9hitechael Gigilance ommittee on Octo%er 1=,

1$$$& Lusk oened a small %ox to discover half a humankidney, later said %y a doctor to have %een reserved in

sirits of wine (ethyl alcohol!& One of ;ddowes*

kidneys had %een removed %y the killer, and a doctor

determined the kidney sent to Lusk was very similar to

the one removed from atherine ;ddowes, though his

findings were inconclusive& The writer claimed that he

had fried and ate the missing kidney half& There issome disagreement over the kidney5 some contend it had

%elonged to ;ddowes, while others argue it was a

maca%re ractical 8oke, and no more&

.ome sources list another letter, dated .etem%er 1, 1$$$, as

the first message to use the 3ack the 4ier name& "ost

exerts %elieve this was a modern fake inserted into olice

records in the 2:th century, long after the killings took lace&They note that the letter has neither an official olice stam

verifying the date it was received nor the initials of the

investigator who would have examined it if it were ever

considered as otential evidence& +t is also not mentioned inany remaining olice document of the time&

Ongoing 0NA tests on the still existing letters have yet toyield conclusive results&

#nvestigation

27


26/56

eorge Lusk, 'resident of the 9hitechael Gigilance

ommittee&

+t is imortant to areciate that investigative techni)ues andawareness have rogressed greatly since 1$$$& "any valua%le

forensic science techni)ues taken for granted today were

unknown to the Gictorian>era "etroolitan 'olice& The value

of interreting motives of serial killers, the concet of criminal

rofiling, fingerrinting, and other such knowledge and

intelligence that have develoed were oorly understood if not

altogether unknown& 'olice recognised a sexual motive orelement to the attacks, %ut were otherwise thoroughly

unfamiliar with such crimes&

The investigation into the 9hitechael murders was initially

conducted %y 9hitechael (/! 0ivision &+&0& headed %y

0etective +nsector ;dmund 4eid& After the Nichols murder0etective +nsectors rederick A%%erline, /enry "oore and

9alter Andrews were sent from entral Office at .cotlandHard to assist& After the ;ddowes murder, which occurred

within the ity of London, the ity 'olice under 0etective

+nsector 3ames "c9illiam were also engaged&

On 2: Novem%er 2::=, the British television channel ive

released an ;>+T>generated hoto illustration showing what

the researchers affiliated with the documentary %elieve theserial killer may have looked like& A former "etroolitan

2=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:George_Lusk%2C_President_of_the_Whitechapel_Vigilance_Committee.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:George_Lusk%2C_President_of_the_Whitechapel_Vigilance_Committee.jpg


27/56

'olice commander, 3ohn rieve, was )uoted as saying5 This

is further than anyone else has got& +t would have %een enough

for coers to get out and start knocking on doors&&& they

would have got him& ;xerts on the case, including author.tewart '& ;vans, reacted with sceticism, noting that facial

comosites are usually only ut together through direct

)uestioning of a live witness and that various Gictorian olice

officials investigating the 4ier killings stated that either no

one had got a good look at the killer, or erhas only one or

two, %ut certainly not the alleged 16 witnesses rieve and

others affiliated with the documentary claimed to have %asedthe image on&

The Whitechapel Vigilance Coitteewas a grou of eole

that atrolled the streets of London during the 3ack the 4ier

murders of 1$$$ & The committee atrolled London mainly at

night in search for this murderer& The committee was led %y

eorge Lusk in 1$$$ and later %y Al%ert Bachert&

Media

2
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28/56

!unchcartoon %y 3ohn Tenniel (22 .etem%er 1$$$!

criticising the olice*s alleged incometence&

!unch, .etem%er 2#, 1$$$5 > The Nemesis of Neglect&

The 4ier murders mark an imortant watershed in modern

British life& 9hile not the first serial killer, 3ack the 4ier*s

case was the first to create a worldwide media fren-y& 4eforms

to the .tam Act in 1$77 had ena%led the u%lication of

inexensive newsaers with wider circulation& These

mushroomed later in the Gictorian era to include mass>

circulation newsaers as chea as a halfenny, along with

oular maga-ines such as the"llustrated !olice #ews,

making the 4ier the %eneficiary of reviously unaralleledu%licity& This, com%ined with the fact that no one was ever

convicted of the murders, created a haunting legend that cast a

shadow over later serial killers&

.ome %elieve the killer*s nickname was invented %y

newsaermen to make for a more interesting story that could

sell more aers& This %ecame standard media ractice withexamles such as the Boston .trangler, the reen 4iver Eiller,

2$
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jack-the-Ripper-The-Nemesis-of-Neglect-Punch-London-Charivari-cartoon-poem-1888-09-29.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jack-the-Ripper-The-Nemesis-of-Neglect-Punch-London-Charivari-cartoon-poem-1888-09-29.jpg


29/56

the Axeman of New Orleans, the Beltway .nier, and the

/illside .trangler, %esides the derivative Horkshire 4ier

almost a hundred years later and the unnamed eretrator of

the Thames Nude "urders of the 1#=:s, whom the ressdu%%ed 3ack the .trier&

The oor of the ;ast ;nd had long %een ignored %y affluent

society, %ut the nature of the murders and of the victims

forci%ly drew attention to their living conditions& This

attention ena%led social reformers of the time to finally draw

attention from the resecta%le classes to the light of the oor&

A letter from eorge Bernard .haw to the $tarcommentedsarcastically on these sudden concerns of the ress5

9hilst we .ocial 0emocrats were wasting our time oneducation, agitation and organi-ation, some indeendent

genius has taken the matter in hand, and %y simly

murdering and disem%owelling four women, converted

the rorietary ress to an inet sort of communism&

Suspects

Main article% Jack the Ripper suspects

"any theories a%out the identity of 3ack the 4ier have %een

advanced& None have %een entirely ersuasive&

Jack the Ripper in popular culture

3ack the 4ier has %een featured in a num%er of works of

fiction and oular culture, either as the central character or in

a more eriheral role& .ee 3ack the 4ier fiction for

information&

At the time of the murders, a theatrical version of 4o%ert

Louis .tevenson*s %ook $trange Case of &r Jek'll and Mr

2#


30/56

('dewas %eing erformed& The su%8ect matter of horrific

murder in the London streets drew much attention, even

leading the star of the show to %e accused %y some mem%ers

of the u%lic of %eing the 4ier himself, although this theorywas never taken seriously %y the olice&

+n 2::=, 3ack the 4ier was selected %y the BB /istory

"aga-ine and its readers as the worst Briton in history& (BB!

The legend of the 4ier is still romoted in the ;ast ;nd of

London, with many guided tours of the murder sites& The Ten

Bells, a Gictorian u% in ommercial .treet that had %eenfre)uented %y 3ack the 4ier*s victims, was the focus of such

tours for many years& To caitali-e on this %usiness, the

owners changed its name to the *3ack the 4ier* in the 1#=:s,%ut following rotests %y feminists and others, the u%

returned to its old name&

To date more than 17: works of non>fiction have %een

u%lished which deal exclusively with the 3ack the 4ier

murders, making it one of the most written>a%out true>crime

su%8ects of the ast century& 'hili .ugden*s )he Coplete

(istor' of Jack the Ripperis widely considered the %est

general overview of the case& .ix eriodicals a%out 3ack the

4ier have hit the market since the early 1##:s5Ripperana

(1##2>resent!,Ripperologist(1##@>resent, electronic format

only since 2::7!, the Whitechapel Journal(1##>2:::!,Ripper #otes(1###>resent!,Ripperoo(2:::>2::6! and the

)he Whitechapel $ociet' Journal(2::7>resent!&

6:


31/56

Original Night Stalker

riginal "ight Stalkeris the nickname for an unidentified

serial killer and raist who murdered six eole in .outhernalifornia from 1#$: through 1#$=& /is crimes are totally

unrelated to 4ichard 4amire-, a serial killer who was du%%ed

+he "ight Stalker, or to the 1#:s television show of the

same name& .ix murders in Gentura, 0ana 'oint and +rvine,

A, have %een linked %y 0NA to this killer& According to the

AI; old ase eisode that rofiles him, the original night

stalker is considered one of the worst offenders in alifornia

history&

On "arch 16, 1#$:, harlene .mith, 66, and Lyman .mith,@6, were found murdered in their home in Gentura, A& A log

from the firelace was used to %ludgeon the .miths& Their

wrists and ankles were %ound with draery cord and anunusual hinese knot was used on their wrists&

On August 1#, 1#$:, Eeith /arrington, 2@, and 'atrice

/arrington, 2, were found %ludgeoned to death in their home

in the Niguel .hores gated community in 0ana 'oint, A&

Although there was evidence that the /arringtons were %ound

at the wrist and ankles, the killer removed the ligatures and the

murder weaon from the scene& The /arringtons were married

only three months at the time of their deaths& 'atrice was a

nurse in +rvine, while Eeith was a medical student at the

?niversity of alifornia, +rvine&

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On e%ruary 7, 1#$1, "anuela 9itthuhn, 2$, was murdered in

her home in +rvine, A& The ligatures and murder weaon

were removed from the crime scene& "anuela 9itthuhn, a

loan officer, was married& Het, her hus%and was recueratingfrom an illness in the hosital, thus leaving alone at the time of

the attack& A lam and crystal curio were removed from her

house, resuma%ly %y the killer& Also, detectives remarked

that "rs& 9itthuhn*s television was found in the %ackyard,

which was ossi%ly the killer*s attemt to make it aear as a

%otched ro%%ery&

On "ay @, 1#$=, 3anelle Lisa ru-, 1$, was found %ludgeonedto death in her +rvine, A home& /er family was on holiday in

"exico& A ie wrench was reorted missing %y ru-*

stefather and was the ro%a%le the murder weaon&

An additional four murders in oleta, Ain 1## and 1#$1,

are often considered to %e the work of the same individual,

although there is no 0NA link %etween those crimes and therest& The eretrator*s odus operandiwas to stalk middle

class neigh%orhoods for victims who lived in single story

homes& /e sought out women who were alone and coules& /e

stealthily entered their living sace late at night, then took

control, ro%a%ly with a handgun, in a surrise home invasion&

All victims were %ound with ligatures the criminal %rought to

the crime scene& Law enforcement theori-es the male victimswere killed first %y %ludgeoning& emale victims suffered rae

%efore their death %y %ludgeoning&

+n 2::1, alifornia law enforcement linked 0NA evidence

from the Original Night .talker*s crimes to 0NA found from

Northern alifornia three victims of an unidentified serial

raist du%%ed the ;ast Area 4aist& The three linked raes are

not connected to the rest of the crimes considered to have %een

62


33/56

committed %y the ;ast Area 4aist %y 0NA evidence, %ut %y

resumed modus oerandi similarities&

Zodiac Killer

+he /odiac &illerwas a serial killer who oerated inNorthern alifornia for ten months in the late 1#=:s& /is

identity remains unknown&

The Jodiac coined his name in a series of taunting letters he

sent to the ress until 1#@& /is letters included four

crytograms (or cihers!, three of which have yet to %e solved&

The Jodiac murdered five known victims in Benicia, Galle8o,

Lake Berryessa, and .an rancisco %etween 0ecem%er 1#=$

and Octo%er 1#=#& our men and three women %etween the

ages of 1= and 2# were targeted& Others have also %een

susected to %e Jodiac victims, %ut there has %een thus far noconclusive evidence to link them to the killer&

+n Aril 2::@, the .an rancisco 'olice 0eartment marked

the case inactive, %ut reoened it some time %efore "arch

2::& The case remains oen in other 8urisdictions as well&

+he victims

Confirmed

Although the Jodiac claimed in letters to newsaers that he

murdered as many as 6 eole, investigators agree on only

seven confirmed victims, two of whom survived& They are5

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34/56

0avid Arthur (araday, 1, and Betty Lou Jensen, 1=5

.hot and killed on 0ecem%er 2:, 1#=$, on Lake /erman

4oad 8ust within the city limits of Benicia&

Michael Renault Mageau, 1#, and 0arlene $li%a!eth(errin, 225 .hot on 3uly @, 1#=#, at Blue 4ock .rings

olf ourse arking lot on the outskirts of Galle8oknown susected

victims are5

Ro!ert 0omingos, 1$, and Linda $dwards, 15 .hot

and killed on 3une @, 1#=6, at a %each near Lomoc&

;dwards and 0omingos were named as ossi%le Jodiac

victims due to the secific similarities %etween theirattack and the Jodiac*s attack at Lake Berryessa&

Cheri Jo Bates, 1$5 .ta%%ed to death and nearly

decaitated on Octo%er 6:, 1#==, at 4iverside

ommunity ollege in 4iverside& Bates* ossi%le

connection to the Jodiac only came to light four years

after her murder when $an Francisco Chroniclereorter

'aul Avery received a ti regarding similarities %etween

6@


35/56

the Jodiac killings and the circumstances surrounding

Bates* death&

&athleen Johns, 225 A%ducted on "arch 22, 1#:, on

/ighway 162 %y +>7$:, west of "odesto& 3ohns escaedfrom the car of a man who drove her and her infant

daughter around on the %ackroads %etween .tockton and

'atterson for some three hours& After escaing to the

olice station in 'atterson, she saw the Jodiac*s wanted

oster and identified him as her kidnaer&

0onna Lass, 275 Last seen .etem%er 2=, 1#:, in .outh

Lake Tahoe& A ostcard with an ad from orest 'inescondominiums (near +ncline Gillage at Lake Tahoe!

asted on the %ack was received at the Chronicleon

"arch 22, 1#1, and has %een interreted %y some as the

Jodiac claiming Lass* disaearance as a victim& The

ostcard has not %een conclusively linked to the Jodiac

nor has Lass* %ody %een found&

+imeline

Lake erman !oad

The first incident widely attri%uted to the Jodiac Eiller was

the shooting of high school students Betty Lou Jensenand0avid (aradayon 0ecem%er 2:, 1#=$, 8ust inside the Benicia

city limits&

The coule were on their first date and lanned to attend a

hristmas concert at /ogan /igh a few %locks from 3ensen*shome& +nstead they visited a friend and stoed at a local

restaurant, then drove out Lake /erman 4oad& At

aroximately 1:517 m araday arked his mother*s 4am%ler

in a gravel turnout, which was a well>known lover*s lane&

67


36/56

.hortly after 11 m, another car ulled into the turnout and

arked %eside them& The driver aarently got out with a istol

and ordered them out of the 4am%ler& 3ensen exited first&

9hen araday was halfway out, the man shot araday in thehead& 3ensen, fleeing, was gunned down twenty>eight feet

from the car %y five shots through her %ack& The man then

drove off

Their %odies were found minutes later %y .tella Borges, who

lived near%y& .he alerted atain 0aniel 'itta and Officer

9illiam T& 9arner& 0etective .ergeant Les Lund%lad of the

.olano ounty .heriff*s 0eartment investigated the crime,%ut no solid leads develoed&

Blue !ock Sprin"s

.ome time around midnight on 3uly @> 3uly 7, 1#=#, 0arlene

(errinand Michael Mageaudrove to the Blue 4ock .rings

olf ourse in Galle8o, four miles from the Lake /erman

4oad murder site, and arked& 9hile they sat in errin*s car,

another car drove into the lot and arked %eside them& +t drove

away almost immediately, then returned a%out 1: minutes

later and arked %ehind them& The driver then got out and

aroached the assenger side door, carrying a flashlight and a

# mm handgun& /e first shone the light in their eyes to %lind

them, then shot %oth of them multile times and %egan to

return to his car& 9hen "ageau moaned in ain, the driverreturned and shot them %oth again& /e then drove off&K2

At 125@: am, a man honed the Galle8o 'olice 0eartment to

reort and claim resonsi%ility for the attack& /e also took

credit for the murders of 3ensen and araday six and a half

months earlier& The olice traced the call to a hone %ooth at a

gas station at .rings and Tuolumne, a%out three tenths of a

6=
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37/56

mile from errin*s home and only a few %locks from the

Galle8o .heriff*s 0eartment&

errin was ronounced dead at the hosital& "ageau survived

the attack desite %eing shot in the face, neck, and chest&

0etectives 3ohn Lynch and ;d 4ust of the Galle8o 'olice

0eartment initially investigated the crime& 0etective 3ack

"ulanax took over the case in the 1#:s&

The #odiac letters be"in

On August 1, 1#=#, three letters reared %y Jodiac werereceived at the Valle*o )ies-(erald, the $an Francisco

Chronicle, and the $an Francisco +,ainer& The nearly

identical letters took credit for the shootings at Lake /erman

4oad and Blue 4ock .rings& ;ach letter also included one>

third of a @:$>sym%ol crytogram which the killer claimedcontained his identity& Jodiac demanded they %e rinted on

each aer*s front age or he would cruse Ksic around all

weekend killing lone eole in the night then move on to kill

again, until + end u with a do-en eole over the weekend&

The Chronicleu%lished its third of the crytogram on age

four of the next day*s edition& An article rinted alongside the

code )uoted Galle8o 'olice hief 3ack ;& .tilt- as saying

9e*re not satisfied that the letter was written %y the

murderer and a re)uest to the writer to send a second letter

with more facts to rove his identity& The threatened murdersdid not haen, and all three arts were eventually u%lished&

On August , 1#=#, another letter was received at the $anFrancisco +,ainerwith the salutation, 0ear ;ditor This is

the Jodiac seaking& +t was the first time the killer had

referred to himself with this name& The letter was in resonse

to hief .tilt- asking him to rovide more details to rove hekilled araday, 3ensen and errin& +n it, the Jodiac included

6


38/56

details a%out the murders which had not %een released to the

u%lic as well as a message to the olice that when they

cracked his code they will have me&

On August $, 1#=#, 0onald and Bettye /arden of .alinas,

alifornia, cracked the @:$>sym%ol crytogram, which did not

contain Jodiac*s name& The message, including missellings,

read5

2 " ".+ .""#/ !+0!+ B+CA1$+ ") "$ $0 M1C(

F1# ") "$ M0R+ F1# )(A# .""#/ W"& /AM+

"# )(+ F0RR+$) B+CA1$+ MA# "$ )(+ M0$)&A#/+R01+ A#AMA 0F A )0 ."

$0M+)("#/ /"V+$ M+ )(+ M0$) )(R""#/+2!+R+#C+ ") "$ +V+# B+))+R )(A# /+))"#/

301R R0C.$ 0FF W")( A /"R )(+ B+$) !AR)

0F ") "$ )(A+ W(+# " &"+ " W" B+ R+B0R# "#

!ARA&"C+ A#& )(+" (AV+ ."+& W"

B+C0M+ M3 $AV+$ " W" #0) /"V+ 301 M3#AM+ B+CA1$+ 301 W" )R3 )0 $0" &0W#

0R A)0! M3 C0+C)"0/ 0F $AV+$ F0R M3

AF)+R"F+ +B+0R"+)+M+)((!")" 3

The meaning of the final eighteen letters has not %eendetermined&

Lake Berr$essa

On .etem%er 2, 1#=#, Bryan 1artnelland Cecelia

Shepardwere icnicking at Lake Berryessa on a small island

connected %y a sand sit to Twin Oak 4idge& A man

aroached them wearing a %lack executioner*s>tye hood

with cli>on sunglasses over the eye>holes and a %i%>like

device on his chest that had a white 6x6 cross>circle sym%ol

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39/56

on it& /e aroached them with a gun /artnell %elieved to %e a

&@7& The hooded man claimed to %e an escaed convict from

0eer Lodge, "ontana, where he killed a guard and stole a car,

and exlained that he needed their car and money to go to"exico& /e had %rought recut lengths of lastic clothesline

and told .heard to tie u /artnell, %efore tying her u

himself& The Jodiac checked and tightened /artnell*s %onds

after discovering she %ound him loosely& /artnell initially

%elieved it to %e a weird ro%%ery, %ut the man drew a knife and

sta%%ed them %oth& /e then hiked 7:: yards %ack u to

Enoxville 4oad, drew the cross>circle sym%ol on /artnell*scar door with a %lack felt>ti en, and wrote %eneath it5

Valle4o5678798:;55Sept 78:?@95!y kni-e.

At 5@: &m&, the man called the Naa ounty .heriff*s office

from a ay telehone to reort his crime& The hone was

found still off the hook minutes later at the Naa ar 9ash on

"ain .treet in Naa %y EGON radio reorter 'at .tanley,

only a few %locks from the sheriff*s office and 2 miles fromthe crime scene& 0etectives were a%le to lift a still>wet alm

rint from the telehone %ut were never a%le to match it to a

susect&

A man and his son who were fishing in a near%y cove had

discovered the victims after hearing their screams for hel and

summoned hel %y contacting ark rangers& Naa ounty.heriff 0euties 0ave ollins and 4ay Land were the first law

enforcement officers to arrive at the scene of the assault&

ecelia .heard was conscious when ollins arrived and gave

him a detailed descrition of the attacker& /artnell and

.heard were taken to Mueen of the Galley /osital in Naa

%y am%ulance& .heard lased into a coma during transort to

the hosital and never regained consciousness& .he died two

days later, %ut /artnell survived to recount his tale to the

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40/56

ress& Naa ounty .heriff 0etective Een Narlow, who was

assigned to the case from the outset, worked on solving the

crime until his retirement from the deartment in 1#$& K17

%residio ei"hts

On Octo%er 11, 1#=#, a man entered aul Stines ca% at the

intersection of "ason and eary .treets in .an rancisco and

re)uested to %e taken to 9ashington and "ale .treets in

'residio /eights& or reasons unknown, .tine drove one %lock

further to herry .treet< the man shot him once in the head

with a #mm, then took his wallet and car keys and tore off hisshirt tail& /e was o%served %y three teenagers across the street

at #577 m, who called the olice as the crime was in rogress&

They o%served the man wiing the ca% down, and thenwalking away towards the 'residio, one %lock to the north&

The olice arrived minutes later, and the teen witnesses

exlained that the killer was still near%y&

Two %locks from the crime scene, officer 0on ouke, also

resonding to the call, o%served a white man walking along

the sidewalk then steing onto a stairway leading u to the

front yard of one of the homes on the north side of the streetage letter in which he claimed thattwo olicemen stoed and actually soke with him three

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42/56

minutes after he shot .tine& ;xcerts from the letter were

u%lished in the Chronicleon Novem%er 12, including the

Jodiac*s claim< that same day, 0on ouke wrote a memo

exlaining what had haened that night& The 6@: characterciher has never %een decoded& "any ossi%le solutions

have %een suggested, %ut cannot %e acceted since they do

away with codemaking conventions&

On 0ecem%er 2:, 1#=#, the Jodiac mailed a letter to Belli and

included yet another swatch of .tine*s shirt< the Jodiac

claimed he wanted Belli to hel him&

&odesto

On the night of "arch 22, 1#:, &athleen Johnswas driving

from .an Bernardino to 'etaluma to visit her mother& .he was

seven months regnant and had her 1:>month>old daughter%eside her& 9hile heading west on /ighway 162 near

"odesto, a car %ehind her %egan honking and flashing its

lights& .he ulled off the road and stoed& The man in the car

arked %ehind her, stated her right rear tire was wo%%ling, and

offered to tighten the lugs& After finishing his work, the man

drove off, and when 3ohns ulled forward the wheel came off

the car& The man stoed, %acked u, and offered to drive her

to the nearest gas station for hel& .he and her daughter

clim%ed into his car& They drove ast several service stations

%ut the man did not sto& or some three hours he drove themu and down the %ackroads around Tracy, and when she asked

why he was not stoing, he would change the su%8ect&

9hen the driver stoed at an intersection, 3ohns 8umed out

with her daughter and hid in a field& /e came out to look for

her, %ut when a truck driver sotted the scene, 3ohns* a%ductor

drove off& 3ohns hitched a ride to the olice station in'atterson& As she gave her statement to the sergeant on duty,

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43/56

she noticed the olice comosite of 'aul .tine*s killer and

recogni-ed him as the man who a%ducted her and her child&

earing the Jodiac might come %ack and kill them all, the

sergeant had 3ohns wait in near%y "il*s 4estaurant in the dark&/er car was eventually found torched and gutted&

There are many conflicting accounts of the 3ohns a%duction&

"ost claim he threatened to kill her and her daughter while

driving them around, %ut at least one olice reort disutes

that& 3ohns* account to 'aul Avery of the Chronicleindicates

her a%ductor left his car and searched for her in the dark with a

flashlight< however, in the two reorts she made to the olice,she stated he did not leave the vehicle& .ome accounts state

3ohns* vehicle was moved then torched, while others contend

it was located where she*d left it& The various discreancies

among 3ohns* accounts over the years have led many

researchers to )uestion if she was an actual Jodiac victim&

'urther communications

The Jodiac continued to communicate with authorities for the

remainder of 1#: via letters and greeting cards to the ress&

+n a letter ostmarked Aril 2:, 1#:, the Jodiac wrote, "y

name is K%lank, followed %y a 16>character ciher& The

Jodiac went on to state that he was not resonsi%le for the

recent %om%ing of a olice station in .an rancisco (referring

to the e%ruary 1$, 1#:, death of .gt& Brian "c0onnell at'ark .tation in olden ate 'ark! %ut added there is more

glory to killing a co than a cid Ksic %ecause a co can shoot

%ack& The letter included a diagram of a %om% the Jodiac

claimed he would use to %low u a school %us& At the %ottom

of the diagram, he had written5 1:, .'0 :&

@6
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44/56

Jodiac sent a greeting card ostmarked Aril 2$, 1#:, to the

Chronicle& 9ritten on the card was, + hoe you en8oy

yourselves when + have my BLA.T, followed %y the Jodiac*s

cross circle signature& On the %ack of the card, the Jodiacthreatened to use his %us %om% soon unless the newsaer

u%lished the full details he wrote& /e also wanted to start

seeing eole wearing some nice Jodiac %utons Ksic

+n a letter ostmarked 3une 2=, 1#:, the Jodiac stated he was

uset he did not see eole wearing Jodiac %uttons& /e wrote,

+ shot a man sitting in a arked car with a &6$& +t has %een

roosed the Jodiac was referring to the murder of .gt4ichard 4adetich a week earlier, on 3une 1#& At 7527 A",

4adetich was writing a arking ticket in his s)uad car when an

assailant shot him in the head with a &6$>cali%er istol&

4adetich died 17 hours later& .'0 denies the Jodiac was

involved in this murder< it remains unsolved&

+ncluded with the letter was a 'hillis == ma of the .anrancisco Bay Area& On the image of "ount 0ia%lo, the

Jodiac had drawn a crossed>circle similar to that he had

included in revious corresondence& At the to of the crossed

circle, he laced a -ero, and then a three, six, and a nine, so the

annotation resem%led a clock face& The accomanying

instructions stated that the -ero was to %e set to "ag& N& The

letter also included a 62>letter ciher that the killer claimedwould, in con8unction with the code, lead to the location of a

%om% he had %uried and set to go off in the autumn& The %om%

was never located& The killer had signed the note with

12, .'0 :&

+n a letter to the Chronicleostmarked 3uly 2@, 1#:, the

Jodiac took credit for Eathleen 3ohns* a%duction, four months

after the incident&

@@
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45/56

+n his 3uly 2=, 1#: letter, the Jodiac arahrased a song from

)he Mikado, adding his own lyrics a%out making a little list

of the ways he lanned to torture his slaves in aradice&

The letter was signed with a large, exaggerated cross circlesym%ol and a new score5 16, .'0 :& A final note

at the %ottom of the letter stated, '&.& The "t& 0ia%lo code

concerns 4adians P Q inches along the radians& +n 1#$1, a

close examination of the radian hint %y Jodiac researcher

areth 'enn led to the discovery that a radian angle, when

laced over the ma er Jodiac*s instructions, ointed to the

locations of two Jodiac attacks&

On Octo%er 1#:, the Chroniclereceived a three>%y>five

inch card signed %y the Jodiac with the drawn with

%lood& The card*s message was formed %y asting words and

letters from an edition of the Chronicleand thirteen holes

were unched across the card& +nsectors Armstrong and

Toschi agreed it was highly ro%a%le the card came from theJodiac&

!iverside

On Octo%er 2, 1#:, Chroniclereorter 'aul Avery (who had

%een covering the Jodiac case! received a /alloween card

signed with a letter *J* and the Jodiac*s cross circle sym%ol&

/andwritten on the card was the note 'eek>a>%oo, you aredoomed& The threat was taken seriously and received a front

age story on the Chronicle& .oon after, Avery received ananonymous letter alerting him to the similarities %etween the

Jodiac*s activities and the unsolved murder of Cheri Jo

Bates, which had occurred four years earlier at the city college

in 4iverside in the Los Angeles area, more than @:: miles

south of .an rancisco& /e reorted his findings in theChronicleon Novem%er 1=, 1#:&

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46/56

On Octo%er 6:, 1#==, eighteen year>old Bates sent the

evening at the camus li%rary annex until it closed at #5:: m&

Neigh%ors reorted they heard a scream around 1:56: m&

Bates was found dead the next morning a short distance fromthe li%rary %etween two a%andoned houses slated to %e

demolished for camus renovations& The wires in her

Golkswagen*s distri%utor ca had %een ulled out& .he was

%rutally %eaten and sta%%ed to death& A man*s Timex watch

with a torn wrist%and was found near%y& The watch had

stoed at 1252@, %ut olice %elieve the attack occurred much

earlier& Also discovered were the rints of a military>styleshoe&

The onfession

A month later, on Novem%er 2#, 1#==, nearly identical

tyewritten letters were mailed to the 4iverside olice and the

Riverside !ress-+nterprise& Titled The onfession, the

author claimed resonsi%ility for the Bates murder, roviding

details of the crime not released to the u%lic, and warned that

Bates is not the first and she will not %e the last&

+n 0ecem%er 1#==, a oem was discovered carved into the

%ottom side of a deskto in the 4iverside ity ollege li%rary&Titled .ick of livingFunwilling to die, the oem*s language

and handwriting resem%led those of the Jodiac*s letters& +t was

signed with what were assumed to %e the initials rh&

.herwood "orrill, alifornia*s to Muestioned 0ocuments

@=
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47/56

examiner, exressed his oinion that the oem was written %y

the Jodiac&

On Aril 6:, 1#= C the six>month anniversary of Bates*

murder C Bates* father 3oseh, the!ress-+nterprise, and the

4iverside olice all received nearly identical letters& +n

handwritten scrawl, the!ress-+nterpriseand olice coies

read Bates had to die there will %e more, with a small

scri%%le at the %ottom that resem%led the letter *J*& 3oseh

Bates* coy read .he had to die there will %e more without a

*J* signatureR

On "arch 16, 1#1, nearly four months after 'aul Avery*s

first article on Bates, the Jodiac mailed a letter to theos

Angeles )ies& +n it he credited the olice instead of Avery fordiscovering his 4iverside activity, %ut they are only finding

the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there&

The connection %etween heri 3o Bates, 4iverside, and the

Jodiac remains uncertain& The 4iverside 'olice 0eartment

maintains that the Bates homicide was not committed %y the

Jodiac, %ut did concede some of the Bates letters may have

%een his work to falsely claim credit&

Lake Tahoe

On "arch 22, 1#1, a ostcard to the Chronicleaddressed to'aul Averly C intended for 'aul Avery and %elieved to %e

from the Jodiac C aeared to take credit for the

disaearance of 0onna Lassfrom .outh Lake Tahoe on

.etem%er 2=, 1#:& "ade from a collage of advertisements

and maga-ine lettering, it featured a scene from an ad fororest 'ines and the text .ierra lu%, .ought Gictim 12,

eek through the ines, ass Lake Tahoe areas, and

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48/56

around in the snow& Jodiac*s cross circle sym%ol was in the

lace of the usual return address&

Lass was a nurse at the .ahara Tahoe hotel and casino& .he

worked until aroximately 25:: am on .etem%er 2=, treating

her last atient at 15@: am, and was not seen leaving her

office& The next morning, her work uniform and shoes were

found in a aer %ag in her office inexlica%ly soiled with dirt&

/er car was found at her aartment comlex, and her

aartment was sotless& Later that day %oth her emloyer and

her landlord received hone calls from an unknown male who

falsely claimed Lass had to leave town due to a familyemergency& The olice and sheriffs* office initially treated

Lass* disaearance as a missing ersons investigation,

susecting she simly left on her own& Lass was never found&

9hat aeared to %e a grave site was discovered near the

laire Taan Lodge in Norden, alifornia, on .ierra lu%

roerty, %ut excavation yielded only a air of sunglasses&

Santa Barbara

+n a Valle*o )ies-(eraldstory that aeared on Novem%er

16, 1#2, .anta Bar%ara .heriff*s 0etective Bill Baker (ret&!

theori-ed that the murders of a young coule in .anta Bar%ara

ounty may have %een the work of the Jodiac&

On 3une @, 1#=6, five and a half years rior to the Jodiac*sfirst known murders on Lake /erman 4oad, high>school

senior Ro!ert 0omingosand fiancSe Linda $dwardswereshot to death on a %each near Lomoc, having skied school

that day for .enior 0itch 0ay& 'olice %elieved that the

assailant attemted to %ind the victims, %ut when they freed

themselves attemting to flee, he shot them reeatedly in the

%ack and chest with a &22>cali%er weaon& /e then laced their

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49/56

%odies in a small near%y shack and tried, unsuccessfully, to

%urn it down&

The suggestion that 0omingos and ;dwards* murders are the

work of the Jodiac is due to the similarities %etween their

attack and the Jodiac*s attack at Lake Berryessa&

The final letters

After the 'ines card, the Jodiac remained silent for nearly

three years, after which the Chroniclereceived a letter from

the Jodiac, ostmarked 3anuary 2#, 1#@, raising )he+,orcistas the %est saterical Ksic comidy Ksic that he had

ever seen& The letter included a sniet of verse from )he

Mikadoand an unusual sym%ol at the %ottom that has gone

unexlained %y researchers& Jodiac concluded the letter with a

new score, "e 6, .'0 :&

The Chroniclereceived another letter ostmarked e%ruary

1@, 1#@, informing the editor that the initials for the.ym%ionese Li%eration Army selled out an Old Norse word

meaning kill& /owever, the handwriting was not

authenticated as the Jodiac*s&

Another letter received %y the Chronicle, ostmarked "ay $,

1#@, featured a comlaint that the movieBadlanaswas

murder>glorification and asked the aer to cut itsadvertisements& .igned only A citi-en, the handwriting,

tone, and surface irony are all similar to rior Jodiac

communications&

The Chroniclereceived an anonymous letter ostmarked 3uly

$, 1#@, comlaining a%out one of its columnists, "arco

.inelli& The letter was signed the 4ed 'hantom (red with

rage!& The Jodiac*s authorshi of this letter is de%ated&K72

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50/56

Another four years assed without communication C

urorted or verified C from the Jodiac& A letter of Aril 2@,

1#$, was initially deemed authentic, %ut was declared %y

three other exerts to %e a hoax less than three months later& +nrecent years, however, the letter has %een deemed in some

)uarters as authentic& Toschi, the .'0 homicide detective

who had %een on the case since the .tine murder, was thought

to have forged the letter, since author Armistead "auin

thought it similar to fan mail he received in 1#= that he

%elieved was authored %y Toschi& 9hile he admitted writing

the fan mail, Toschi denied forging the Jodiac letter and waseventually cleared of any charges& The authenticity of the

letter remains in )uestion&

On "arch 6, 2::, it was reorted that an American reetings

hristmas card sent to the Chronicleostmarked 1##: in

;ureka had %een recently discovered in their hoto files %y

editorial assistant 0aniel Eing& +nside the enveloe with the

card was a hotocoy of two ?&.& 'ostal keys on a magnetkeychain& The handwriting on the enveloe resem%les Jodiac*s

rint, %ut was declared inauthentic %y forensic document

examiner Lloyd unningham& Not all Jodiac exerts,

however, agree with unningham*s analysis& There is noreturn address on the enveloe nor is his crossed>circle

signature to %e found& The card itself is unmarked&The

Chronicleturned over all the material to the Galle8o 'olice0eartment for further analysis&

Current status

The last .'0 investigators of the case were /omicide 0etail

+nsectors "ichael N& "aloney and Eelly arroll& They were

the first to su%mit 0NA evidence from Jodiac*s letters for

analysis, which resulted in a artial genetic rofile& 0NA

7:


51/56

testing seems to have conclusively ruled out their lead susect,

Arthur Leigh Allen,and later "ike 4odelli*s susect, a

rominent .an rancisco %usinessman who lived near 'aul

.tine*s murder scene&

The .'0 marked the case inactive in Aril 2::@, citing

caseload ressure and resource demands& They reoened the

case some time %efore "arch 2:: and returned evidence to

Galle8o olice for additional 0NA testing& The case also

remains oen in other 8urisdictions&

Arthur Leigh Allen

Main article% Arthur eigh Allen

Though many eole have %een susected of %eing Jodiac

through the years, only one, Arthur Leigh Allen (0ecem%er

1$, 1#66 > August 2=, 1##2!, was seriously investigated& +n

3uly 1#1, a friend of Allen*s reorted his susicions a%out

him to the "anhattan Beach 'olice 0eartment, and the reortwas forwarded to the .'0& 9hen )uestioned later, Allen

claimed without romting that the %loody knives he had in

his car the day of the Lake Berryessa attack had %een used to

kill chickens& 9hen asked if he had read )he Most &angerous

/ae, Allen relied that he had and said it had made an

imression on him& This interested the olice, as the @:$>

character ciher aears to reference that short story&

Allen was the only susect in the case whom olice had

enough evidence against to execute not 8ust one, %ut three

search warrants5 on .etem%er 1@, 1#2< e%ruary 1@, 1##1rock%and, released a song on their "ay =, 2::6 al%um,Alter,

entitled )his is the 4odiac $peaking& The song contains

many references to the Jodiac killer*s letters, with a

chorus that rings with the line )his is the 4odiac

speaking&

unidentified serial killers

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