criminalhistories-blog

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ted tells a joke

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Serial Killer Robert Hansen dies at 75

Between 1971 and 1983, Robert Hansen abducted, raped, and murdered at least 17 women. Hansen would fly his victims out to his property in the wilderness of Alaska, where he would hunt them like game. He was sentenced to 461 years in prison, and died of a heart attack on August 21, 2014. 

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Disappeared-The Springfield Three 

By the day after Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall's high school graduation, they had, along with Suzie's mother Sherrill Levitt, disappeared without a trace. All three have been missing since June 7, 1992. 

The case is filled with a group of bizarre sightings, possibilities, and mysteries that have left it all but stagnant for over 20 years. 

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A Couple of Cannibals

 Japanese serial killer, cannibal, and necrophile, Tsutomu Miyazaki, murdered four girls, between ages 4-7, in 1988/89. He was known to drink their blood, and sometimes eat certain parts of their body. He would take pictures or film the acts of degrading the victim's corpse.On July 23, 1989, he attempted to insert a zoom lens into an underaged girl's vagina, but was caught by the girl's father. He returned later to pick up his car, and was apprehended by police, who had been called by the girl's grandfather. He was sentenced to death in 1997, and eventually hanged on June 17, 2008. 

Nikolai Dzhumagaliev is also known as "Metal Fang", due to the strange white metal false teeth he'd had implanted. In 1979 alone he raped and murdered five woman, all of whom he cannibalized. On August 21st of the same year, while in a drunken rage, he shot and killed a colleague of his, for which he was arrested. Declared insane by the Serbian Institute, and was released from custody less than a year later. He killed four more times before he was finally caught in 1980. He was committed to a mental asylum, but in 1989 escaped while being transported to a new facility. He was recaptured in 1991, and has been in custody ever since. In the 2000s doctors recommended him for release, but it was not granted. 

Self-proclaimed Devil-worshiper, Finnish murderer Jarno Elg broke into the house of a stranger on November 21, 1998, and strangled him to death. He is said to have tortured the man for a prolonged period of time before dissecting him, and devouring him with a group of accomplices. Elg claimed this all to be part of a Satanic ritual. Elg was sentenced to life in prison, his accomplices were sentenced to eight years, and two years, respectively. 

Between 1939 and 1940, Italian serial killer Leonarda Cianciull killed three women in Correggio, Italy, turning their bodies into soaps and teacakes. When her eldest son joined the army during WWII, Leonarda believed that in order to secure his protection she needed to make human sacrifices. She chose three middle-aged neighbor ladies. She would invite them over, kill them with an axe, and then gather their blood in basins. She would cook down their fat to make perfumed soaps, and out of their flesh and blood she'd make teacakes, which she would serve to her friends and family. The last victim was Viginia Cacioppo, whose sister-in-law grew suspicious after her disappearance. She informed the police, who interviewed Leonarda, who confessed in great detail to all three murders almost immediately. Found guilty of murder she was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. 

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Arlis Perry

On October 13, 1974, the body of Arlis Perry, a 19 year-old newlywed from North Dakota, was found dead on the floor of the Stanford University Memorial Church. Nude from the waist down, Perry had been violated with candle sticks. Her autopsy revealed that she had an ice pick jammed deep into the base of her skull. 

The case quickly went cold, but gained attention when is was discovered that Perry was mentioned in some of David Berkowitz' (aka Son of Sam) letters.  "Arliss [sic] Perry, Hunted, Stalked and Slain. Followed to Calif. Stanford University", one of the letters read. Perry was mentioned in several other letters. 

Berkowitz had been imprisoned since 1977 for committing a string of murders in New York city the previous year. Berkowitz had long claimed that he was a member of a satanic cult, and that he had only committed a portion of the murders he was accused of--that the others were done by other cult members. 

Investigators interviewed Berkowitz about Perry's murder, but determined that he had nothing of value to offer the investigation. Perry's murder remains unsolved. 

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Serial Killer Rodney James Alcala (on the Dating Game in 1978)

Rodney James Alcala is a convicted serial rapist and murderer, often dubbed the "Dating Game Killer" due to his 1978 appearance on popular TV show "The Dating Game", which actually occurred during the midst of his murder spree. [He 'won' the game, but the bachelorette refused to go out with him afterwards, finding him 'creepy']. 

Indeed, Alcala was 'creepy', to say the least. Between 1971 and 1979 he committed at least 7 murders, though he is suspected to have committed much more. Alcala is known for his enjoyment of 'toying' with his victims before finally killing them. Over time evidence of more victims has risen, and he has been convicted several times over again, most recently in 2013. 

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Infographic on forensic evidence

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Famous Last Meals: What They Ate Before They Were Executed

Timothy McVeigh (pictured above): This terrorist and mass murderer, detonated a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people and injuring over 600. He was executed on June 11, 2001 by lethal injection. 

For his last meal he had two pints of Ben and Jerry's mint chocolate chip ice cream. 

Aileen Wuornos: This prostitute turned serial killer was executed on October 9, 2002 for the murders of seven men, whom she shot to death in 1989/1990. 

Wuornos declined a last meal, and instead had a cup of coffee before she was executed by lethal injection. 

John Wayne Gacy: The Killer Clown was a serial killer and rapist who murdered at least 33 teenage boys between 1972 and 1978. 

Gacy ate quite the meal, consuming a dozen deep-fried shrimp, a bucket of KFC original recipe chicken, french fries, and a pound of strawberries. He was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994. 

Velma Barfield: Dubbed "Death Row Granny", Velma was convicted of one murder, but eventually confessed to six. 

She also rejected having the typical last meal, but did as for a bag of Cheez Doodles and a can of Coca-Cola. She was executed by lethal injection in 1984. 

Ted Bundy: This famous serial killer killed at least 30 young women and girls at least by 1974 (although some attribute crimes to him as early as 1961), and 1978. The elusive killer had escaped police custody twice, to continue his killing rampages. 

Bundy declined a last meal also, so he was given the traditional last meal--steak, eggs, hash browns, toast, and coffee. He refused to eat any of it. He was executed in the electric chair in 1989. 

Bruno Hauptman: Convicted of the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, Bruno's actual guilt is highly questioned today. 

Nevertheless, he ate quite the last meal: chicken, french fries, buttered peas, a bowl of olives and celery, with some cherries, and a slice of cake.  He was executed on April 3, 1936, by electrocution. 

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The Educated Serial Killer Not all criminals are uneducated degenerates, as the public often perceives. In fact many are quite educated, to name a few: 

Harold Fredrick Shipman

January 14, 1946 - January 13, 2004

Shipman was a medical doctor (M.D.), who studied at Leeds School of Medicine. He had received a full scholarship, due to his high academic standing and scholastic performance. 

Eventually he was convicted of 15 murders, though how many he actually committed is unknown. Some speculate well into the hundreds. Most of Shipman's victims were his elderly patients. 

Herman Webster Mudgett (aka H.H. Holmes) 

May 16, 1861 -May 7, 1896

Holmes, like Shipman, was also a medical doctor. He received his degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1884, and afterwards pursued a career pharmaceuticals. 

He is best known today for his "murder castle", disguised as a hotel, during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The hotel was complete with hidden gas chambers and embalming rooms. Nine deaths were confirmed, but Holmes confessed to 27 upon his arrest. 

Andrei Chikatilo 

October 16, 1936 - February 14, 1994

Chikatilo had a teaching certificate in Russian literature from Rostov University. His nine year teaching career was marred with many accusations that Chikatilo molested his students. 

Eventually, he became known as the Butcher of Rostov, and between 1978 and 1990 raped, murdered, and mutilated at least 52 women and children. There is cause to believe that there were actually many more victims. 

Theodore "Ted" Kaczynski (aka the Unabomber) {seen pictured above}

May 22, 1942 - Present 

Kaczynski was a mathematician. With an IQ of 167, he entered Harvard University at only 16, graduating at 20 with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics. He also received a PHD in Mathematics from the University of Michigan. 

For 20 years Kaczynski sent self-made bombs through the U.S. postal service, he injured 23 people and killed 3. Once a highly educated youth and young professor, he became a recluse who wanted to warn people against the dangers of modern technology. 

He has been incarcerated since 1998, and is serving out a life sentence, with no possibility of parole. 

The educated killer is far more dangerous. They not only have the intellectual means to commit and often get away with murder, but they also can "mask" themselves from society by hiding as the local doctor, pharmacist, or teacher, etc. These "masks" give them the perfect disguise, often for many, many years. 

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View our infographic showing crimes through time and the punishments that came with them!

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New: Body found in suitcase in Bali

19 year-old Heather Mack and her 21 year-old boyfriend are facing charges in Bali for the murder of her mother, 62 year old Sheila von Wiese-Mack. If they are found guilty they could be executed by firing squad. 

You can read more about this developing story...

Chicago Tribune 

Huffington Post 

The Guardian 

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Elizabeth Short (aka the Black Dahlia)

 On January 15, 1947, a mother walking Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California, with her young child, noticed what she originally believed to be a discarded store mannequin. The body was that of a young woman, she had been terribly mutilated, her body severed in half, and had been completely drained of blood. With no blood at the crime scene, it was pretty obvious that the victim had been killed somewhere else. There were rope marks on her wrists and ankles, showing that she had been restrained, and possibly tortured.  

Fingerprints were lifted from the victim, and enlarged, then sent to F.B.I. headquarters in Washington D.C.. They were eventually matched to Elizabeth Short--a small (5'5") woman with brown (dyed black) hair and blue eyes--who once held a mail room job at an army base in California. 

Elizabeth Short was born in Boston on July 29, 1924, and grew up in Medford, Massachusetts. She was the third of five daughters born to Cleo and Phoebe Short. Most of the family's money was lost in the 1929 stock market crash, and in 1930 Cleo Short had parked his car on a bridge and vanished, leading many to believe that he had committed suicide, but he had not, and later they would discover that he was alive, and living in California. At 19 Elizabeth joined her father in California, but an altercation caused Elizabeth to move out. She took a variety of small jobs, once working at the army's post exchange, and in 1943 was arrested for underage drinking. Afterwards she split her time between visiting family in both Florida and Massachusetts before returning to California in 1946. 

During the last six months of her life, Elizabeth was all but homeless, constantly living in a new hotel or apartment. She took odd jobs as a cocktail waitress or taxi dancer, which was common for young women looking to make it into show business. 

Due to the often outrageous media coverage of the case, many men (and a couple of women) confessed to the crime, but all were ruled out as suspects by the police. The police originally looked at about 25 suspects, but couldn't make any headway in the case. Taunting letters, supposedly from the killer, were sent to the police. Although there is some speculation that this may have actually been a ploy by the media in order to keep sensationalizing the story. 

No charges were ever filed, and there have been no new developments in the case since.