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The Real Birth Names of the World's Most Infamous Serial Killers

24/4/2017

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Names identify us as the people who were are... and although some of the world's most infamous serial killers are known by their nicknames (Yorkshire Ripper, BTK Killer, Dr Death or the Milwaukee Cannibal); some use an alias to escape capture, kept their names as on their birth certificate, or they changed their name for reasons which gives us an interesting insight into their private life and personal demons.  

As always, this is not a comprehensive or exhaustive list, and is updated as and when new information comes to light, therefore if any names are missing or are incorrect, don't get "stressy", share your wondrous knowledge with the rest of us. Enjoy the blog. Mx
  • Aileen Wuornos - born Aileen Carol Pittman (Pittman was her birth father's surname, but she took her mother's maiden name after her parents divorced)
  • Albert DeSalvo - born Albert Henry DeSalvo 
  • David Berkowitz - born Richard David Falco (he was abandoned by his mother at an early age and raised by Pearl & Nathan Berkowitz)
  • Dennis Rader - born Dennis Lynn Rader
  • Edmund Kemper - born Edmund Emil Kemper III
  • Jeffrey Dahmer - born Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
  • Joel Rifkin - born Joel David Rifkin
  • John Wayne Gacy - born John Wayne Gacy Jr (named after his father who physically and mentally abused him since he was a child, and scarred him for life)
  • Richard Ramirez - born Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramírez
  • Ted Bundy - born Theodore Robert Cowell (born illegitimate; Ted Bundy discovered in his teenage years that his sister Eleanor Louise Cowell was his mother and that his "parents" were actually his grandparents, Louise later married a hospital cook called Johnny Culpepper Bundy and Ted took his surname). 
  • Rodney Alcala - born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor (of Mexican parentage but living in Texas, Buquor is his mother's maiden name, used as his father abandoned him aged 3). 
  • Ed Gein - born Edward Theodore Gein
  • Ted Kaczynski - born Theodore John Kaczynski
  • H H Holmes - born Herman Webster Mudgett (known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, as well as a range of other nom-de-plumes including Henry W. Howard, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, Henry Gordon and Alexander Bond)
  • Albert Fish - born Hamilton Howard Fish (nicknamed "Albert" in honour of his dead brother, and to escape the nickname of "Ham & Eggs" that he was given at an orphanage)
  • Faye Copeland - born Faye Della Wilson (married co-serial killer Ray Copeland)
  • Janie Lou Gibbs - born Janie Lou Hickox (married name)
  • Judy Buenoano - born Judias Welty (also known as Judias Goodyear, Judy Morris, Judias Buenoano, Judy Goodyear and Judias Morris, names taken from the various husbands and boyfriends she murdered)
  • Kristen Gilbert - born Kristen Heather Strickland (married name)
  • Mary Elizabeth Wilson - born Mary Elizabeth Cassidy (surname taken from the fourth and final husband she murdered)
  • Dorothea Puente - born Dorothea Helen Gray (married name with her third husband)
  • Velma Barfield - born Margie Velma Bullard (married name with Jennings Barfield, who she was married to for just one month, before he "died")
  • John Reginald Christie - born John Reginald Halliday Christie
  • Graham Young - born Graham Frederick Young
  • Michael Lupo - born Michele de Marco Lupo
  • Patrick MacKay - born Patrick David Mackay
  • Robert Maudsley - born Robert John Maudsley
  • Donald Neilson - born Donald Nappey (later changed his name to Donald Neilson, as his original surname "Nappey" let to bullying and abuse from childhood up to his Army Service)
  • Dennis Nilsen - born Dennis Andrew Nilsen (to a Scottish mother Elizabeth Duthie Whyte and his father who was a six-foot-tall Norwegian soldier called Olav Magnus Moksheim, who later changed his name to Nilsen to blend in). 
  • Ian Brady - born Ian Duncan Stewart (to unmarried single mother Maggie Stewart, he was later fostered by Mary & John Sloan and was known as Ian Sloan, but aged 17 years old his mother married an Irish fruit merchant named Patrick Brady, and Ian took his surname)
  • Fred West - born Frederick Walter Stephen West
  • Rose West - born Rosemary Pauline Letts (later marrying Fred West)
  • Harold Shipman - born Harold Frederick Shipman (known as "Fredddy")
  • Peter Sutcliffe - born Peter William Sutcliffe (also known as Peter Coonan and Peter William Coonan; his mother's maiden name being Kathleen Frances Coonan)
  • Anthony Hardy - born Anthony John Hardy
  • Levi Bellfield - born Levi Rabetts (he is of Romani descent, to Jean & Joseph Rabetts; his mother's maiden name being Bellfield, although - having converted to Islam in prison - Levi Bellfield is now known as Yusuf Rahim
  • Steven Grieveson - born Steven John Grieveson
  • Stephen Griffiths - born Stephen Shaun Griffiths (although at his trail and against his lawyer's advice, he gave his name as the "Crossbow Cannibal", even though there is no evidence that he ate his victims, or even that he even owned a crossbow)
  • Trevor Hardy - born Trevor Joseph Hardy
  • Stephen Port - born Stephen John Port
  • Raymond Morris - born Raymond Leslie Morris
  • Robert Napper - born Robert Clive Napper 
  • George Joseph Smith - born George Joseph Smith (although he bigamously married under the aliases of Oliver George Love, Charles Oliver James and George Rose Smith)
  • Peter Tobin - born Peter Britton Tobin (although Tobin used up-to 40 alias including Peter Wilson, James Kelly, Paul Semple, John Tobin, Peter Proban and Pat McLaughlin)
  • Peter Manuel - born Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel
  • Beverley Allitt - born Beverley Gail Allitt
  • Steve Wright - born Steve Gerald James Wright
  • Henri Desire Landru - born Henri Desire Landru (although, during the four years he lured, robbed and killed 11 widows, he used a variety of aliases - including Monsieur Diard and Dupont - keeping meticulous notes on each fake identity he used, so as not to slip up). 
Serial killers whose names never changed, include: Cynthia Coffman, John George Haigh, Myra Hindley, Kenneth Erskine, Peter Bryan, Robert Black (taking his mother's name - Jessie Hunter Black - as his father was unknown), and Colin Ireland (who was born illegitimate, Colin Ireland never knew his father and neither was it listed on his birth certificate). 

If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at my other articles: such as serial killers and their diets, favourite drinks, height, IQ, star signs, lunar cycles, dates of birth, reasons for killing, music, nicknames, last meals and whether they're alive or dead... to name but a few. 
No plans this weekend? Looking for a curious & quirky treat for that certain special? Book onto Murder Mile Walks.

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
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Serial Killers - What Age Do They (Usually) Start Killing?

17/4/2017

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As part of my deeper look into the psyche of serial killers, I shall be delving into whether there are any common links between some of the world's most infamous serial killers, in terms of when their "career as a killer" began and how long it lasted. As with every question I start with no evidence, theories or opinion, this is simply a compilation of hard data to determine whether there are any common threads or interesting nuggets. Common threads like: what age do serial killers begin killing (is it part of a teenage angst, midlife crisis, end-of-life burst, or is there no average age)? How long their career span lasts? Across what age-range? If there are any similarities at all. 
Serial Killers - Career Span by Dates & Age
What follows is an alphabetic list of 54 of the UK & USA's most infamous serial killers, the dates (if known)​​ of their first and final killings and the killer's age when these crime were committed. 
  • Aileen Wuornos – 30th November 1989 to 19th November 1990 (33-34 years old)
  • Albert DeSalvo – 14th June 1962 to 4th January 1964 (31-33 years old)
  • Albert Fish – 11th July 1924 to 3rd June 1928/15th Dec' 1932** (54-58/62 years old**)
  • Anthony Hardy – December 2000 to December 2002 (49-51 years old)
  • Beverley Allitt – 21st February 1991 to 22nd April 1991 (22 years old)
  • Colin Ireland – 8th March 1993 to 12 June 1993 (39-40 years old)
  • Cynthia Coffman –   October to November 1986 (24 years old)
  • David Berkowitz – 24th December 1975 to 31st July 1977 (22-24 years old)
  • Dennis Nilsen – 30th December 1978 to 26th January 1983 (33-37 years old)
  • Dennis Rader – 15th January 1974 to 19th January 1991* (29-45 years old)
  • Donald Neilson - February 1974 to 14th January 1975 (37-38 years old)
  • Dorothea Puente – 1982 to 1988* (53-59 years old)
  • Ed Gein – possibly during 1947 and 1952 (41-46 years old)
  • Edmund Kemper – 27th August 1964 to 20th April 1973* (15-24 years old)
  • Faye Copeland – 1986 to 1989** (72-75 years old)
  • Fred West - July 1967 to June 1987* (26-47 years old)
  • George Joseph Smith – 1912 to 1914 (40-42 years old)
  • Graham Young – 21st April 1962 to February/March 1971* (14-23 years old)
  • H H Holmes – August 1886 to July 1894 (25-33 years old)
  • Harold Shipman – 1975 to 1998 (29-52 years old)
  • Henri Desire Landru – January 1915 to 15th January 1919 (45-49 years old)
  • Ian Brady – 12th July 1963 to 6th October 1965 (25-27 years old)
  • Janie Lou Gibbs – 1966 to 1967 (34-35 years old)
  • Jeffrey Dahmer – 18th June 1978 to 19th July 1991 (18-31 years old)
  • Joel Rifkin – 1989 to 1993 (30-34 years old)
  • John George Haigh – 6th September 1944 to 18th February 1949 (34-39 years old)
  • John Reginald Christie – 24th August 1943 to 6th March 1953 (44-53 years old)
  • John Wayne Gacy – 3rd January 1972 to 11th December 1978 (29-36 years old)
  • Judy Buenoano – 1971 to 83 (28-40 years old)
  • Kenneth Erskine - 9 April 1986 to 28 July 1986 (22-23 years old)
  • Kristen Gilbert – 1989 to 1996* (22-29 years old)
  • Levi Bellfield – 21st March 2002 to 19th August 2004 (33-34 years old)
  • Michael Lupo – mid 1980’s (30-35-ish years old)
  • Myra Hindley - 12th July 1963 to 6th October 1965 (19-23 years old)
  • Patrick MacKay - February 1974 to March 1975** (21-22 years old)
  • Peter Bryan – 1993 to January 2004* (24-34 years old)
  • Peter Manuel – 2nd January 1956 to 1st January 1958 (29-31 years old)
  • Peter Sutcliffe – 30th October 1975 to 17th November 1980 (29-34 years old)
  • Peter Tobin – 10th February 1991 to 26th September 2006** (44-60 years old)
  • Raymond Morris – 8th September 1965 to 19th August 1967 (36-38 years old)
  • Richard Ramirez – 10th April 1984 to 24th August 1985 (24-25 years old)
  • Robert Black – 12th August 1981 to 26th March 1986 (34-38 years old)
  • Robert Maudsley – 1974 to 1978* (21-25 years old)
  • Robert Napper – 15th July 1992 to November 1993 (26-27 years old)
  • Rodney Alcala – 12th June 1971 to 1979** (27-36 years old)
  • Rose West - June 1971 to May 1987 (18-33 years old)
  • Stephen Griffiths – 22nd June 2009 to 21st May 2010 (39-40 years old)
  • Stephen Port – 19th June 2014 to September 2015** (39-40 years old)
  • Steve Wright – 30th October 2006 to 9th December 2006 (48 years old)
  • Steven Grieveson – 26th May 1990 to 25th February 1994 (19-23 years old)
  • Ted Bundy – 1st February 1974 to 9th February 1978 (28-31 years old)
  • Ted Kaczynski – 25th May 1978 to 24th April 1994 (36-52 years old)
  • Trevor Hardy – 31st December 1974 to 8th March 1976 (29-31 years old)
  • Velma Barfield – 22nd March 1971 to 4th June 1978 (39-45 years old)
* murder spree interrupted by a prison sentence or confinement to an institution
** including suspected murders or theya re still under investigation for further murders

What age is a serial killer most likely to start killing? Statistically in their twenties, with that figure tailing off the older they become, but there are an unusually high proportion of serial killers (including Gacy, Shipman, Sutcliffe, Dahmer and Bundy) who all began their "killing" careers as their 20th and 30th birthday loomed nearer or passed by.
  • First killed in their teens - 6 out of 54; Graham Young (aged 14), Edmund Kemper (15), Jeffrey Dahmer (18), Rose West (18), Myra Hindley (19) and Steven Grieveson (19).
  • Twenties - 22 out of 54; Patrick MacKay (21), Robert Maudsley (21), Beverley Allitt (22), David Berkowitz (22), Kenneth Erskine (22), Kristen Gilbert (22), Cynthia Coffman (24), Peter Bryan (24), Richard Ramirez (24), H H Holmes (25), Ian Brady (25), Robert Napper (26), Fred West (26), Rodney Alcala (27), Judy Buenoano (28), Ted Bundy (28), Peter Manuel (29), Trevor Hardy (29), Dennis Rader (29), Peter Sutcliffe (29), John Wayne Gacy (29), Harold Shipman (29).
  • Thirties - 16 out of 54: Joel Rifkin (30), Michael Lupo (30), Albert DeSalvo (31), Aileen Wuornos (33), Dennis Nilsen (33), Levi Bellfield (33), Robert Black (34), John George Haigh (34), Janie Lou Gibbs (34), Raymond Morris (36), Ted Kaczynski (36), Donald Neilson (37), Velma Barfield (39), Stephen Griffiths (39), Colin Ireland (39), Stephen Port (39).
  • Forties - 7 out of 54: George Joseph Smith (40), Ed Gein (41), John Reginald Christie (44), Peter Tobin (44), Henri Desire Landru (45), Steve Wright (48), Anthony Hardy (49)
  • Fifties - 2 of 54; Dorothea Puente (53), Albert Fish (54)
  • Sixties & Above - 1 of 54; Faye Copeland (72)​
What is the average span of a serial killer's "career"? This is the hardest question to answer as serial killers tend not to quit, they usually only stop when they are caught. The FBI states that the average male serial killer has a "career" span of 2-3 years, with female serial killers lasting almost 11 years. Often females are rarely caught as (1) they don't hang around after the murder, (2) they tend not to take souveniers, and (3) they usually kill by poisoning, which means they don't have to be in the same room, street or country as their victim.

That said, often females are not included in lists of serial killers as they tend to kill many victims in a very short period of time, which categorises them as a "spree-killer". Therefore, what follows is the same 54 serial killers with their "career span" listed shortest to longest. 
  1. Steve Wright – 1 ½ months
  2. Beverley Allitt – 2 months
  3. Colin Ireland – 3 months
  4. Cynthia Coffman – 2 months
  5. Kenneth Erskine – 3 months
  6. Donald Neilson – 11 months
  7. Stephen Griffiths – 11 months
  8. Aileen Wuornos – 1 year
  9. Patrick MacKay – 1 year 1 month**
  10. Stephen Port – 1 year 3 months**
  11. Richard Ramirez – 1 year 4 months
  12. Robert Napper – 1 year 4 months
  13. Raymond Morris – 1 year 11 months
  14. Albert DeSalvo – 1 year 7 months
  15. David Berkowitz – 1 year 7 months
  16. Trevor Hardy – 1 year 9 months
  17. Anthony Hardy – 2 years
  18. Peter Manuel – 2 years
  19. George Joseph Smith – 2 years (est)
  20. Janie Lou Gibbs – 2 years (est)
  21. Ian Brady – 2 years 3 months
  22. Myra Hindley – 2 years 3 months
  23. Levi Bellfield – 2 years 5 months
  24. Faye Copeland – 3** (est)
  25. Albert Fish – 3 years 11 months or 8 years 5 months
  26. Steven Grieveson – 3 years 9 months
  27. Ted Bundy – 4 years
  28. Joel Rifkin – 4 years (est)
  29. Henri Desire Landru – 4 years
  30. Robert Maudsley – 4 years*
  31. Dennis Nilsen – 4 years 1 month
  32. John George Haigh – 4 years 6 months
  33. Ed Gein – 5 years (est)
  34. Michael Lupo – 5 years-ish (est)
  35. Peter Sutcliffe – 5 years 1 month
  36. Robert Black – 5 years 7 months
  37. Dorothea Puente – 6 years* (est)
  38. John Wayne Gacy – 6 years 11 months
  39. Kristen Gilbert – 7 years*
  40. Velma Barfield – 7 years 3 months
  41. H H Holmes – 7 years 11 months
  42. Rodney Alcala – 8 years** (est)
  43. Edmund Kemper – 8 years 8 months*
  44. Graham Young – 8 years 10/11 months*
  45. John Reginald Christie – 9 years 7 months
  46. Peter Bryan – 10 years* (est)
  47. Judy Buenoano – 12 years
  48. Jeffrey Dahmer – 13 years 1 month
  49. Peter Tobin – 15 years 7 months**
  50. Ted Kaczynski – 15 years 11 months
  51. Rose West – 15 years 11 months
  52. Dennis Rader – 17 years*
  53. Fred West – 19 years 11 months*
  54. Harold Shipman – 23 years** (est)​
* murder spree interrupted by a prison sentence or confinement to an institution
** including suspected murders or they are still under investigation for further murders
​(est) indicates that exact dates cannot be accurately stated

If you "enjoyed" this blog post try; Murderers by Motive; Odds of a US Presidential Assassination, Killer Couples Part 1 & Part 2, Famous British Serial Killers - Where Are They Now? Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Killers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals
No plans for this weekend? Looking for a curious & quirky treat for that certain special? Book onto Murder Mile Walks.

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
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Executed & Convicted Murderers Who Were Innocent - UK

10/4/2017

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Dr H Crippen on trial for the "murder" of his wife
As complicated and precise as it may seem, the British legal system isn't infallible. So when the accused is found guilty by a jury of their peers, it is widely believed that the right man was caught, the sentence was just, and that the evidence was conclusive. But having been the foreman of a jury myself, the jury can only base their decision on the evidence presented before them; some of which may be sketchy, misleading, biased and often outright lies. Therefore - sometimes - those who the court convicts and sentences to death, may actually be entirely innocent. 

In this two-part blog, I shall be delving into many of the UK and the USA's most infamous miscarriages of justice, which have changed legal history forever... and (hopefully) for the better. 
Timothy Evans – INNOCENT & EXECUTED - On 30th November 1949, Timothy John Evans walked into a Merthyr Tydfil police station and admitted to the unlawful death of his wife Beryl, following a botched abortion, but upon the discovery of his wife’s strangled corpse and that of his infant daughter Geraldine, Evans was charged with double murder. Being barely literate, a known fantasist and easily led, Evans’ trial lasted just three days with much of the evidence not shown to the jury and after just 40 minutes of deliberation, Evans was found guilty. He was executed by hanging at Pentonville Prison. 
Three years later, Evan’s co-lodger and the ex-Policeman whose own witness testimony had helped convict and execute Timothy Evans was arrested for the murder of six women (including his own wife and Beryl) in the same house at 10 Rillington Place; his name… was John Reginald Christie. Following an official inquiry in 1968, 18 years after Evan’s death, Evan’s was found innocent and was granted a posthumous pardon, which helped bring about the abolition of capital punishment in the UK in 1965. Read more. ​
Derek Bentley - INNOCENT & EXECUTED - On 2nd November 1952, 19 year old Derek Bentley and 16 year old Christopher Craig broke into a Croydon-based sweet factory – Barlow & Parker – Bentley was armed with a knuckle-duster and a knife, Craig with .455 Webley service revolver. When confronted by the Police, Bentley who had already been restrained by Police and who wanted Craig to drop his weapon, allegedly exclaimed “let him have it, Chris”. Confusion remains to this day over whether Bentley meant “let him have it (the gun)” or “let him have it (shoot him)”, but Craig opened fire and shot Police Constable Sidney Miles in the head.
As Craig was under 18 he could not be executed, and – although Bentley hadn’t fired the deadly shot itself and both of the weapons he had (the knife and the knuckle-duster) were still in his pockets – Bentley was charged under the “joint enterprise” law, with Lord Chief Justice Goddard describing his actions as "mentally aiding the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles". On 28th January 1953 at 9am, Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison. Craig served ten years for murder, was released in May 1963 and later became a plumber. In 1998, the Court of Appeal quashed Bentley's conviction for murder and he was given a posthumous pardon. Medical records show that Derek Bentley had an IQ of just 66 (the average is 98). 
Stephen Downing – INNOCENT & OVERTURNED - On 12th September 1973, 32 year old legal secretary Wendy Sewell was beaten about the head with a pick-axe handle in a Bakewell cemetery, and died of her injuries two days later. Police arrested 17 year old gardener Stephen Downing owing to bloodstains on his clothes having found her body in the cemetery where he worked. Despite having a learning difficulties, Downing (who had the mental age of an 11 year old) was arrested and questioned for nine hours, without a solicitor present and forced to sign a confession. Downing was found guilty of murder and detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure, and – because he’d pleaded “not guilty” – he was not eligible for parole. 
Following a review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 1997, where it was proven that Downing’s confession was inadmissible as evidence and that key witnesses had lied, Downing was released in 2001 (after 27 years in prison) and his conviction quashed in 2002, making this one of the longest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. In January 2014, a pathology report which had gone “missing” in 1973, proved Downing’s innocence. . ​

The Birmingham Six - INNOCENT & CONVICTED - On 21st November 1974, two bombs exploded in two central Birmingham pubs – The Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town – killing 21 people and injuring 182. Believing they were planted by the Provisional IRA, Police arrested six Belfast men - Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker - who lived in Birmingham and shortly before the explosions had boarded a train to Northern Ireland to attend the funeral of James McDade (a friend and IRA member who’d killed himself planting a bomb in Coventry).

Once arrested, the six men were tested for explosives, interrogated for up to 12 hours, denied food, sleep, repeatedly assaulted and even subjected to a mock execution by the Birmingham Criminal Investigation department. Although forensic tests found traces of explosives on two of the men, the jury found the six guilty and they were each sentenced to 21 life sentences. On 14th March 1991, the Court of Appeal quashed their convictions having discovered that the Police had suppressed and fabricated evidence (including the explosive tests), all six were freed and awarded compensation between £840k to £1.2million. Superintendent George Reade and two other officers were charged with perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice… but were never prosecuted. Watch a World in Action Special on the Birmingham Six here. 
The Guildford Four - INNOCENT & CONVICTED - On 5th October 1974, the IRA detonated 6lb gelignite bombs in two Guildford pubs – The Horse & Groom and The Seven Stars – all of which were full of British military personnel. Three Northern Irish men and one English woman were arrested - Paul Michael Hill, Gerard Conlon, Patrick Armstrong and Carole Richardson – even though they didn’t match the profile of IRA terrorists; they lived in a squat, shoplifted, took drugs and even slept rough in the city’s parks. 
But during lengthy interrogations, which included torture, threats and drug withdrawal, all four confessed to the bombings (statements which they later retracted citing coercion), they were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
​
Following a re-investigation of the case by Avon & Somerset Police in 1989, they found the confessions inadmissible, that interview notes had been heavily edited and rewritten, and that the bombings were likely to be the work of the Balcombe Street Siege gang (known IRA terrorists), who later claimed responsibility. The convictions of the Guildford Four were quashed in 1989 and 1991 having spent 15-16 years in prison. Three Police officers - Thomas Style, John Donaldson and Vernon Attwell - were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice… but were found not guilty. Read more. ​
The Bridgewater Four - INNOCENT & CONVICTED - On 19th September 1978, 13 year old schoolboy Carl Bridgewater was shot in the head with a shotgun at close range as he delivered a newspaper to Yew Tree Farm (Stourbridge). Believing that Carl must have disturbed a burglary, Police arrested four known armed robbers - Patrick Molloy, James Robinson, Michael Hickey and Vincent Hickey – having coerced Molloy (an alcoholic burglar) into admitting to being in the house and hearing the gunshot. Although all four denied the charges, they were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years served. Patrick Molloy died in 1981 in prison.
On 21st February 1997, the Court of Appeals found that Police had fabricated evidence, coerced Molloy into making a false confession and the remaining three men were exonerated. Today, the murder of Carl Bridgewater remains unsolved. Prime suspect was convicted murderer Hubert Spencer, who drove a blue Vauxhall Viva (seen at Yew Tree farm that afternoon), owned a shotgun and regularly fired it at the farm, but was eliminated as a suspect after the arrest of the Bridgewater Four. A few weeks after Carl's murder, “Bert” Spencer shot 70 year old Hubert Wilkes at Holloway Farm (next door the Yew Tree Farm), using a shotgun, to the head, as Wilkes was forced to sit on a sofa – identical to the killing of Carl Bridgewater. Watch a documentary here. 
Stefan Kiszko - INNOCENT & CONVICTED - On 5th October 1975, 11 year old Lesley Molseed was raped and murdered on Rishworth Moor (West Yorkshire), numerous stab wounds had pieced her heart, her body had been posed and the killer had ejaculated onto her knickers. Police arrested 23 year old Stefan Kiszko after four teenage girls - Maxine Buckley, Catherine Burke, Debbie Brown and Pamela Hind – stated that Kiszko had exposed himself to them the day before the murder, as well as believing he fitted the profile and finding pornographic magazines and a “bag of sweets” in his car. He was the Police’s only suspect. After three days of interrogation and coercion by West Yorkshire Police, where he was denied a solicitor, he was tried and given a life sentence. 
​Following a 1991 re-investigation of the case, it was proven that Kiszko was innocent; he suffered from hypogonadism, that meant he was infertile which contradicted the forensic evidence and that the four teenage girls who’d accused him of “exposing himself” to them, had lied because they thought it would be “a laugh” and “it was funny”. In prison, Kiszko was repeatedly beaten by fellow prisoners and developed schizophrenia. Upon his release in 1992, he became a recluse, needing psychiatric care and died of a heart attack on 23rd December 1993. Detective Superintendent Dick Holland (in charge of the original investigation) and the forensic scientist were charged with perverting the course of justice… but were cleared of any wrongdoing.

​On 5th November 2006, DNA evidence led to the arrest of Ronald Castree of Oldham, whose semen matched that which was found of Lesley Molseed’s underwear, he was found guilty and jailed for life. When Police looked into his history, it appears that in 1976, just months after Lesley Molseed’s murder, Castree was convicted of the indecent assault of a 9 year old girl in Rochdale, for which he was fined just £25 (£162 today). Watch a documentary here. ​

Other cases of the innocent convicted (and executed) of murder include: 
  • George Kelly - hanged for the double murder of a cinema owner and his aide during a botched robbery in Liverpool in 1949, and even though Donald Johnson had confessed to the crime, Police kept this small piece of "evidence" from the trial. 
  • Mahmood Mattan - a Somali fisherman hanged for the murder of Lily Volpert in Tiger Bay (Cardiff) in 1952, and yet there is no evidence that he was even at the scene, except an unreliable witness statement by a known racist with a violent past. Mattan's conviction was overturned and a £1.4million payout was shared between the Volpert and Mattan's family
  • George Thatcher - served 18 years in prison following a botched robbery and murder in Mitcham, as Thatcher (a known safe-breaker) was named by one of the actual burglars (under interrogation) as an accomplice, even though he wasn't there
  • Andrew Evans - convicted for 25 years for the murder of a 14 year old girl - Judith Roberts - after walking into the police station and claiming he kept "seeing her face in a dream", which convinced him that he must be the killer... but his amnesia had removed the memory. 
And - of course, one of the most infamous murderers of all - Dr H H Crippen. 
Dr H H Crippen - INNOCENT & EXECUTED: On 23rd November 1910, Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen was hanged for the murder of his wife Cora, when - after her unexplained disappearance on 31st January 1910 - Dr Crippen's lover Ethel "Le Neve" Neave moved into his home at Hilldrop Crescent, and started wearing his wife's clothes and jewellery. Although Dr Crippen had claimed that Cora had died, he later retracted this statement when questioned by the Police stating that she'd left him to live with her lover - Bruce Miller - and that Crippen was just too ashamed to admit it. The following day Crippen and Neave panicked and fled to Canada on the SS Montrose but were intercepted by Police, owing to a marvellous new invention called the telegram. 
Having already searched Crippen's home three times, on the fourth search Police discovered the skin of a human torso (but no head, limbs or skeleton) underneath the brickwork in his hall. Upon examination, Home Office Pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury found a small appendix scar on the skin which was consistent with his wife's medical history and based on this evidence Dr Crippen was hanged for the murder of his wife Cora. 

In October 2007, David Foran a forensic researcher at Michigan State University analysed the scar tissue and compared the DNA with those of three members of Cora's immediate family, and proved that the DNA was not that of Cora Crippen, in fact the body found under the hall, wasn't a woman at all... it was a man. Dr H H Crippen was hanged solely on the evidence by Home Office Pathologist Sir Bernard Spilbury, who's conduct and evidence on numerous cases has since come into question, with many believing that Spilsbury fabricated evidence in order to make a name for himself, during an era when forensic science was still in its infancy, and was seen by the law as "new fangled" and "unreliable". Read more here. ​

If you "enjoyed" this blog post try; Murderer's Motivations - Why Killer's Kill? Odds of a US Presidential Assassination, Killer Couples Part 1 & Part 2, Famous British Serial Killers - Where Are They Now? Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Killers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals
No plans for the weekend, or if you're looking for a curious & quirky treat for certain special? Book onto Murder Mile Walks.

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
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Famous American Serial Killers - Where Are They Now?

3/4/2017

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Following on from my blog - Famous British Serial Killers - Where Are They Now? - which asked whether our most infamous serial killers are alive or dead, and if so, what happened to them and where are they now. I'm continuing the series with Famous American Serial Killers - Where Are They Now*? Obviously there's so many to choose from, so I've picked a handful of the most famous. *As before, this article is accurate as of March 2017, when it was written, so any issues? Blame time.. 
John Wayne Gacy "The Killer Clown" - DEAD - Between 1972-78, Gacy - a married man who hid his homosexuality after an abusive childhood with an alcoholic father - raped, tortured and murdered 33 teenage boys and men, hiding 26 of his victims bodies under his house's crawlspace until the smell of decomposing flesh became so unbearable it was impossible to hide. Having spent 14 years on Death Row at Menard Correctional Centre in Chester (Illinois), on the 9th May 1994 Gacy had his final meal - KFC, shrimp, fries, strawberries and a Diet Coke - and was executed by lethal injection. 
The procedure took 18 minutes. With no remorse for his victims, Gacy's final words were simply "Kiss my ass". After death, Gacy's brain was removed and is held in possession by Dr. Helen Morrison, a defence witness at Gacy's trial who was conducting a study into possibly brain abnormalities in psychopaths. Gacy's brain showed no abnormalities. ​
Albert DeSalvo "The Boston Strangler" - DEAD - Between 1962-64 in Boston, thirteen women were raped and murdered by an unknown assailant, also dubbed "Measuring Man" who'd con his way into their homes. Although DeSalvo was never imprisoned for these murder (instead he was arrested for a spate of similar sex attacks), he repeatedly confessed and retracted his confession. On 25th November at Walpole Maximum Security Prison, fellow inmate Robert Wilson stabbed DeSalvo to death for selling amphetamines at a price deemed too low for the prison's crime syndicate. In July 2013, DNA found in seminal fluid recovered from the murder scene of Mary Sullivan proved a positive match to the DNA recovered from the exhumed corpse of Albert DeSalvo. 
Edmund Kemper "The Co-Ed Butcher" - ALIVE - Having murdered his own grandparents aged 15, Kemper was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and committed to Atascadero State Hospital. Six years later, having convinced psychiatrists he was "sane", Kemper was released and went on a killing-spree; abducting, decapitating, defiling and cannibalising the corpses of various young women (including his mother), before turning himself in. At his trial in 1973, he was found to be "sane" and although he requested the death penalty for his crimes, the state of California had temporarily suspended capital punishment, so Kemper received eight life sentences served at the California Medical Facility. 
Kemper is considered a "model prisoner", who is responsible for scheduling prisoner's psychiatric appointments as well as being a skilled potter. Although eligible, he was denied parole in 2007 and 2012. His next parole hearing in this year (2017). ​
Joel Rifkin "Joel the Ripper" - ALIVE​ - Convicted of murdering 9 prostitutes between 1989-93 in New York City & Long Island, Rifkin was arrested on 28th June 1993 following a high-speed pursuit when officers spotted him driving without licence plates. The chase ended when he crashed into a lamp-post, outside of the courthouse where his trial would ultimately take place. As New York doesn't have the Death Penalty, Rifkin was sent to Attica Prison where - following a spat with murderer Colin Ferguson over who had the most victims - Rifkin spent the next four years in solitary confinement. 
In 2000, the state rejected Rifkin's lawsuit which claimed that being in solitary for 1540 days was unconstitutional, a lawsuit which - had he won - would have netted him $77 million. Rifkin was sentenced to a total of 203 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole on 26th February 2197. And before you ask? No, that number is not a typo. ​
Richard Ramirez "The Night Stalker" - DEAD - Between June 1984 and August 1985, Ramirez, a devout satanist terrorised Los Angeles and San Francisco with a spate of 14 burglaries, 11 rapes, 5 attempted murder and 13 brutal murders, many using a machete, a tyre iron and a hammer. ​On 30th August 1985, Ramirez was the lead story on all news networks and noticing his photo on every newspaper he attempted to steal several cars to escape, but was chased, restrained and hit over the head with a metal bar by his pursuers. On 20th September 1989, Ramirez was sentenced to 13 death sentences at the gas chamber in California... but died of secondary complications to B-cell lymphoma (a type of blood cancer) on 7th June 2013. Aged 53, he had been on Death Row for over 23 years. 
Jeffrey Dahmer "Milwaukee Cannibal" - DEAD - Between 1978-91, Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys, some of whose corpses he raped, decapitated and even ate. On 22nd July 1991, he lured 32 year old Tracey Edwards into his home with the promise of $100 to take a few nude photos. Once inside, sickened by a foul odour and unnerved by a drum of muriatic acid (which he used to dissolve body parts), Edwards fled and Dahmer was arrested. Although diagnosed with a schizotypal & psychotic personality disorder, Dahmer was found to be legally sane, and on 15th February 1992 he was sentenced to 15 (later 16) life sentences plus 70 years, as the Death Penalty had been abolished in Wisconsin in 1853. 
But on the morning of 28th November 1994, at the Columbia Correctional Institution, as he began his duty of mopping the prison showers, fellow prisoner Christopher Scarver bludgeoned him to death with a 20-inch (51cm) metal bar. As was his wishes, Dahmer's body was cremated and his ashes were divided between his divorced parents. ​
Dennis Rader "The BTK Killer" ​- ALIVE - Radar was a sadist who's ominous signature was to "Bind, Kill & Torture" his ten victims between 1974-91. Always believing he was smarting than the Police, he'd often taunt them with letters published in the press, but on 16th February 2005 he sent a floppy-disk of his writing to Wichita news outlet KSAS-TV. On the disk was a Microsoft Word document, the metadata of which identified the writer's place of work (Christ Lutheran Church, of which he was President) and that it was last updated by someone called "Dennis". 
Knowing the evidence was circumstantial, Police obtained a warrant to test the DNA on his daughter's pap-smear, which proved a genetically similar DNA match. Radar was arrested and - as Kansas doesn't have the Death Penalty - was sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences at El Dorado Correctional Facility where he lives in solitary confinement for his own protection. He will be eligible for parole after 175 years.
Ted Bundy – DEAD - Between 1974-78, across seven states; Washington, Utah, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Idaho and California, Ted Bundy (serial killer, kidnapper, rapist and necrophile) assaulted and murdered at least 30 young women, often returning to their decapitated corpses to fulfil his sexual needs until they were so purified, that sex was not possible. Although Bundy was arrested on 16th August 1975 by a police officer who spotted him prowling a residential area in his VW Beetle at dawn in possession of a crowbar, ski-mask, rope, handcuffs and an ice-pick, they were only assumed to be burglary tools. Following a hunch, when Bundy sold his car a month later, the FBI swabbed it and found the hair strands from three unsolved murder cases. 
But before he could be arrested for murder, Bundy would kill six more women as they slept in their beds. He was executed by electric chair at Raiford Prison (Florida) on 24th January 1989 at 7:16 am, cremated at Gainesville and his ashed were scattered in an undisclosed location in the Cascade Range of Washington State. ​
Aileen Wuornos – DEAD - Between 30th November 1989 and 19th November 1990, Wuornos robbed and shot at point-blank range seven men who (she claimed) had tried to rape her as she worked as a prostitute; a defence she would later recant citing robbery. Having sold many of her victim's possessions, and even seen by witnesses driving one of her victims' cars, on 9th January 1991 Wuornos was arrested on an outstanding warrant, during which time Police convinced her former lover - Tyria Moore - to elicit a telephone confession from her in return for immunity. One week later, Wuornos confessed to the murders and was sentenced to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on 9th October 2002 at 9:47 am. She declined a last meal and simply had a cup of black coffee. Her body was cremated and her ashes sprinkled under a tree in her native Michigan by her childhood friend Dawn Botkins. ​
David Berkowitz "Son of Sam" - ALIVE - Between 29th July 1976 and 31st July 1977, alleged satanist David Berkowitz terrorised The Bronx (New York) by killing six people and wounding seven others, most of whom were amorous couples "making-out" in cars. Although the "Son of Sam" killings sparked one of New York's largest man-hunts, eluding Police for a year, Berkowitz was arrested when he attempted to kill dog-walker - Cacilia Davis - who noticed that he escaped in a 1970 yellow Ford Galaxie... which Patrolman Michael Cataneo has ticketed a few minutes earlier for illegal parking. On 10th August 1977, as he left his home, Berkowitz was arrested; his car and home was searched and they found a rifle, a duffel-bag of ammo', a map of the crime scenes, as well as three meticulously written diaries. 
On 12th June 1978 Berkowitz was sentenced to serve 25 year-to-life for each murder, at the Attica Correctional Facility. Although he claimed his murders were the direct orders of a demon who manifested itself as a dog called "Harvey" which belonged to his neighbour "Sam", Berkowitz was found sane to stand trial. Since his incarceration, "Son of Sam" has found God as an Evangelical Christian, hence he has now been dubbed by fellow convicts - "Son of Hope". ​

​If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at my other blogs which examine a different side to serial killers such as; Killers as Siblings, Killers As Kids, Killers By Birthday, Killers By County, Killers By Diet , Killers By Drink, Killers By Height, Killers By IQ, Killers By Job, Killers By Lunar Cycle, Killers By Music, Killers By Name, Killers By Nickname, Killers By Star Sign, Killers Last Meals, Killers Last Words, Killers Not Caught, Killers On TV and Killers & Pets. 
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
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