Lady of Blood: Countess Bathory

Monday, August 11, 2008

Countess Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Báthory
August 7, 1560 - August 21, 1614

"Isten, give me help: and ye also, O all powerful cloud! Protect me, Erzsébet, and grant me a long life. I am in peril, O cloud! Send me ninety cats, for thou are the supreme Lord of cats. Give them thy orders and tell them, wherever they may be, to assemble together, to come from the mountains, from the waters, from the rivers, from the rainwater on the roofs, and from the oceans. Tell them to come to me. And to hasten them to bite the heart of [INSERT NAME] and also of [INSERT NAME] and of [INSERT NAME]. Let them rip to pieces and bite again and again the heart of Megyery the Red. And guard Erzsébet from all evil." - Erzsébet's Prayer.

There are many legends about vampires. However, there are official documents proving the existence of an authentic seventeenth-century countess, Erzsébet Bathory, who was the most bloodthirsty vampiress of all time!!!

Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Bathory was born in 1560 into one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Transylvania. Her parents were first cousins Anna and Gyorgy (George) Báthory, and she had many powerful relatives - a cardinal, princes, and a cousin who was prime minister of Hungary. The most famous Bathory was King Steven of Poland. 1575-86. She grew up in an era when much of Hungary had been overrun by the Turkish forces of the Ottoman empire and was a battleground between Turkish and Austrian (Hapsburg) armies. Raised on the Bathory estate at Ecsed in Transylvania, some reports say that as a child she was subject to siezures accompanied by intense rage and uncontrollable behavior.
In 1571, the eleven-year-old Erzsébet was engaged to the sixteen-year-old Count Ferencz Nadasdy; the match was arranged by his mother, Ursula. Three years later, Erzsébet became pregnant from an affair with a peasant; she was sequestered at a remote Bathory castle until the bastard daughter was born. On May 8, 1575, she and the young count were married - she was fifteen and he was around twenty-six (contradiction elsewhere). The count added her surname to his, so the countess kept her maiden name. They lived at Castle Csejthe in the Nyitra country of Hungary.

She also took over the household affairs at Castle Sarvar, the Nadasdy family estate, while Ferencz made war his "career" and began scoring victories against the Turks as early as 1578. He eventually earned the nickname "Black Knight of Hungary". He also lent the Hungarian Crown a great deal of money to finance the war against the Turks.

The first ten years of their marriage, Elizabeth bore no children because she and Ferenc shared so little time together as he pursued his military career. Then around 1585, Elizabeth bore a girl whom she named Anna, and over the following nine years gave birth to two more girls, Orsika (Ursula) and Kato (Katherine). In 1598, the Countess' only son, Pál (Paul), was born. At the time, she was around 38 years of age. The wet nurse for all of her children was her old nurse Jó Ilona (Helena Jo) who became one of her accomplices in her crimes. Ironically, judging from letters she wrote to relatives, she was a good wife and protective mother, which was not surprising since nobles usually treated immediate family very differently from the lower servants and peasant classes.

It was at Castle Servar that her career of evil really began - with the disciplining of the large household staff, particularly the young girls. In a time period in which cruel and arbitrary behavior by those in power toward those who were servants was common, Erzsébet's level of cruelty was noteworthy.

While her husband was away Elizabeth's manservant Thorko introduced her to the occult. For a brief time Elizabeth eloped with a "dark stranger". Upon her return to Castle Csejthe the count did forgive her for her leaving. Back at the castle, Elizabeth couldn't tolerate her domineering mother-in-law. With the help of her old nurse Ilona Joo, she began to torture the servant girls. Her other accomplices included the major-domo János Ujvary, Thorko, a forest witch named Darvula and a witch Dorottya Szentes.

She did not just punish infringements on her rules, but found excuses to inflict punishments and delighted in the torture and death of her victims far beyond what her contemporaries could accept. Reportedly, she would stick pins in various sensitive body parts, such as under the fingernails. In the winter she would execute victims by having them stripped, led out into the snow, and doused with water until they were frozen. Elizebeth actually got tips on how to torture from her husband who, as a soldier, used to brutalize Turkish prisoners-of-war. For example, he showed her a summertime version of her freezing exercise - he had a woman stripped, covered in honey, then left outside to be bitten by numerous insects. He died in 1604, and Erzsébet moved to Vienna soon after his burial. She also began to spend time at her estate at Beckov and at a manor house at Csejthe, both located in the present-day country of Slovakia. These were the scenes of her most famous and vicious acts.

The died on January 4, 1604 at the age of 49 [Ed. note: contradictory sources say the year was 1600; that he was 51; that he died either in battle or some unknown illness]. Erzsébet moved to Vienna only four weeks after his death, thus shocking the royal court. She also began to spend time at the estates at Blindoc (Beckov) and Csejthe (now Csejthe, Slovakia), both located in the present-day country of Slovakia. Under the terms of Ferencz's will, their Paul was placed under the guardianship of Imre Megyery. The witch, Anna Darvulia, began serving Erzsébet sometime during this year; with her arrival, the torture and killings escalated.
First, she sent her hated mother-in-law away. Erzsébet was very vain and afraid of getting old and losing her beauty. One day a servant girl accidentially pulled her hair while combing it - Erzsébet slapped the girl's hand so hard she drew blood, which fell onto her own hand. She immediately though her skin took on the freshness of that of her young maid. She was sure she found the secret of eternal youthful skin! She had her major-domo and Thorko strip the maid, cut her and drain her blood into a huge vat. Erzsébet bathed in it to beautify her entire body. Over the next 10 years Erzsébet's evil henchmen provided her with new girls for the blood-draining ritual and her blood baths.

Meanwhile, in 1607, after demanding for years that the Crown repay the debt owed to Ferencz, the Countess was so financially strapped that she was forced to sell her castle at Theben. At this point, the women in her employ began to actively procure girls. Two years later, in the winter, the Countess invited around twenty-five impoverished noblewomen to stay at Csejthe. Erzsébet accused one of them of killing others for jewelry and then committing suicide. But one of her intended victims escaped and told the authorities about what was happening at Castle Csejthe.

In 1610, the purported witch Darvulia probably died. Still having financial problems, Countess Bathory sold Castle Blindoc. The Bathory family secretly decided to spirit the Countess off to a convent for the rest of her days, but before this could be accomplished, Megyery deposed a formal complaint against her before the Hungarian Parliament. Underlying the inquiry, quite apart from the steadily increasing number of victims, were political concerns. The crown hoped to confiscate Erzsébet's large landholdings and escape having to pay back the extensive loan that her husband had made to the king. King Mathias of Hungary ordered the Lord Palatine, Erzsébet's own cousin Count Cuyorgy Thurzo who was governor of the province, to raid Castle Csejthe. He had been one of the members of the Bathory family who had planned to have her retired to a convent.

Erzsébet was put under house arrest on December 29, 1610, the apparent grounds for arrest pertained to alleged witchcraft, not vampirism per se, and the next day the castle was raided. The raiders were horrified by the terrible sights in Castle Csejthe - one dead girl in the main room, drained of blood and another alive whose body had been pierced with holes; in the dungeon they discoverd several living girls, some of whose bodies had been pierced. Below the castle, they exhumed the bodies of some 50 girls.

Erzsébet was placed on trial a few days later. The trial was conducted by Count Thurzo as an agent of the king. As noted, the trial was initiated to not only obtain a conviction, but also to confiscate her lands. On January 7, 1611, less than a week after the first trial, a second trial was convened at Bitscse. One of the trials was conducted in Hungarian, the other in Latin. Although Erzsébet petitioned the court to allow her to appear and defend herself against the charges, her cousin Thurzo would not allow her to appear and so disgrace the Bathory name. While the court condemned the Countess' actions, she was not actually to be punished.
At this trial, a register was found in Erzsébet's living quarters and was introduced as evidence. It noted the names of 650 victims, all recorded in her handwriting. Johannes Ujvary, major-domo, testified that about 37 unmarried girls has been killed, six of whom he had personally recruited to work at the castle. The victims were tied up and cut with scissors. Sometimes the two witches tortured these girls, or the Countess herself. Erzsébet's old nurse testified that about 40 girls had been tortured and killed. All the accomplices in the killings, except the Countess Bathory and the two witches, were beheaded and cremated, the manner determined by their roles in the tortures. A complete transcript of the trial was made at the time and it survives today in Hungary! See The Accomplices.

The court never convicted Countess Erzsébet of any crime. Not allowed to appear at her trial by her cousin, she refused to plead guilty or innocent and she reportedly attempted to escape to Transylvannia during the trial. King Matthias II of Hungary continued to try and bring her to trial and demanded the death penalty. Although Matthias did seem quite outraged about Countess Bathory's crimes, his motives in wanting to bring her to trial more involved his desire to seize her lands and cancel the debt owed her husband by the Crown than any feelings of justice for the poor girls she murdered. He took depostions from witnesses in July and December and a later tribunal with more than 200 witnesses was convened by him. Her relatives lobbied very hard to keep a full trial from actually taking place, and the king finally conceeded defeat and agreed to an indefinitely delayed sentence. Thus, She was consequently condemned by Thurzo to lifelong imprisonment in solitary confinement in her castle at Csejthe. Stonemasons were brought in to wall up the windows and doors of the small bedchamber with the Countess inside. They left a small hole through which food could be passed and a few slits for air.
Erzsébet passed her time writing on the walls of her tower. Gyorgy Drugeth, Count of Homonna, who was married to Katelin Nádasdy, Erzsébet's daughter, visited Erzsébet when she was sealed in her tower to bring her food. She dictated her last will and testament on July 31, 1614 to two cathedral priests from the Esztergom bishopric. She wished that what remained of her family holdings be divided up equally among her children, although her son Paul and his descendants were the basic inheritors.

A few weeks later, one of the countess's jailers wanted to get a good look at her, since she was still reputedly one of the most beautiful women in Hungary. Peeking through the small aperture in her walled-up cell, he saw her lying face down on the floor. Countess Elizabeth Bathory was dead. The date of her death is said to be either Augst 14 or 21.

Her body was intended to be buried in the church in the town of Csejthe, but the grumbling of local inhabitants found abhorrent the idea of having the "infamous Lady" placed in their town, on hallowed ground no less! Considering this, and the fact that she was "one of the last of the descendants of the Ecsed line of the Bathory family", her body was placed to the northeastern Hungarian town of Ecsed, the original Bathory family seat.

There are some connections between the Bathorys and the Draculas. The commander of the expedition that helped Dracula regain his throne in 1476 was Prince Steven Bathory. A Dracula fief, Castle Fagaras, became a Bathory possession during the time of Erzsébet. Both families had a dragon design on their family crests.
Erzsébet's accomplices stood trial from January 2 to January 7, 1611. They were convicted, tortured in various ways and then executed - with two exceptions... Kateline, who was found innocent and released, and Thorko (also known as Fizcko and Ujváry János) who was spared the torture and just beheaded.

Thorko (Ficzkó / Ujváry János)

Arrived in 1594 and served the Countess as a manservant for 16 years. A dwarf who was said to be cruel and vicious.

"I don't know how many women, but I killed 37 girls; the Mistress had five of them buried in a hole, when the Palatine was in Presbourg; two others in a little garden, beneath the caves; two others in the church at Podolie, at night."

Tried and convicted January 1611. Death by beheading with a sword on January 7, 1611. His body was thrown into a fire along with the other accomplices.

Jó Ilona

Served the Countess originally as a wet nurse for the Nádasdy children. She lived with the Countess for 10 years.

"She did not know how many girls had been killed, but said there were a great many. She neither knew their names or where they came from; she had killed about 50 herself."

Tried and convicted January 1611. On January 7, 1611, she had her fingers torn off one by one with hot pincers. She fainted after the fourth had been removed and was promptly thrown into the bonfire.

Dorottya Szentes (Dorkó)

Had been with the Countess 5 years, originally serving Erzsébet's daughter Anna Nádasdy before her marriage.

"Dorkó cut the veins of the arms with scissors; there was so much blood that it was found necessary to throw cinders all around the Countess' bed, and the latter used to have to change her dress and cuffs."

Tried and convicted January 1611. On January 7, 1611, while awaiting her execution, she fainted at the site of Jó Ilona's torture and was thrown into the bonfire with her.

Kateline Beniezky (Katá)

Arrived in 1605 and served as the washerwoman. The most sympathetic of the bunch, she reportedly never actually killed anyone.

"Katá was good-hearted: if she beat the girls, it was against her will; she used secretly to bring food for the imprisoned girls to eat, at great risk to herself."

Tried in January 1611. On January 7, 1611, she was found innocent of murder and released.

Anna Darvulia

Known as "The Witch of the Forest," she came to Erzsébet after the death of Ferenc Nádasdy in 1604. She taught Erzébet about the powers of witchcraft.

"It was Darvulia who initiated Erzsébet into the cruellest joys, who taught her to watch people dying and the significance of doing so. The Countess, until then, driven by the pleasure of making her servants suffer and bleed, had provided herself with the excuse of punishing some fault or other committed by her victims. But now the blood spilled was spilled for the sake of blood and death executed for death's sake."

Anna died many years before the others were caught.

Erzá Majorova

After the death of Anna Darvulia, Erzá, a sorceress, became the appointed healer of the house, with her spells and concoctions. Erzá convinced Erzsébet to bathe in the blood of nobility instead of peasants.

"Those bloodbaths have been useless because it was the blood of simple country girls, of servant not really different from beasts of burden. It doesn't take on your body, what you need is blue blood."

It is unclear what became of Erzá.

Kardoska

An old drunk woman who helped gather girls for Erzsébet. It is unclear what became of Kardoska.

Family Ties
Notable Extended Family

* Stephen Báthory (?-1586), King of Poland. Erzsébet's uncle. Died from epileptic complications.
* Sigismund Báthory, King of Transylvania. Erzsébet's cousin. According to Valentine Penrose, "On the pretext that his wife was so repulsive to him he couldn't help screaming at night when he found himself at her side, he made a public announcement that he wished to renounce the world."
* Gábor Báthory (Somlyo branch of Báthory family), King of Transylvania. Erzsébet's cousin. Had incestuous relations with his sister Anna. He was assassinated.
* Gábor Báthory (Ecsed branch of Báthory family). Erzsébet's uncle. Claimed to have been possessed by the devil.
* Klára Báthory. Erzsébet's aunt. She had four husbands and was said to have "gotten rid" of the first two. (She had her second husband smothered in his bed.) Erzsébet was said to have spent a lot of time with her and to have refined her cruel ways during her many visits.

Parents

* Anna Báthory first married to Gáspár Dragfy, with whom she had two sons: János and Gyorgy. Gáspár died in 1545. Anna then took Antal Drugeth as her second husband, who died shortly after. in 1553, she married her cousin Gyorgy Báthory, Erzsébet's father, who died when Erzsébet was 10.

Siblings (Erzsébet was the 2nd child)

* István Báthory married Frusina Drugeth. He was the last of the Báthory-Ecsed branch of the family.
* Zsofiá Báthory married András Frigedyi.
* Klara Báthory married Michaelis de Kisvardi.

Husband

* Ferenc Nádasdy, Count of Nadasd (Oct. 6, 1555-Jan 4, 1604). Erzsébet had been engaged to Ferenc since 1571 (when she was 11 and he was 17). They married in 1573. Ferenc, known as "The Black Lord" and a feared warrior, was rarely at home. And when he returned from battle, didn't care to "be burdened" about any of Erzsébet's sadistic activities. "Indeed, it was Ferenc, who had always been afraid of Erzsébet. He adored his wife's beauty, but feared her young vampire pallor." - Valentine Penrose. In 1604, he died of an undisclosed illness at the age of 49. [Ed. note: other sources state that the age difference betwen them was 11 years instead of 5-6; also, other state that the count died in 1600 at age 51 and was killed in battle]

Children

* Pál Nádasdy, Count of Nadasd (?-?) was said to have pleaded for the release of his mother after her capture in 1611, and tried to clean the Báthory reputation. He married Judith Revay, with whom he had two children.
* Andreas Nádasdy (?-?)
* Anna Nádasdy (1585-1625) married Count Zrinski Nikola.
* Katelin Nádasdy (?-1620) married Gyorgy Drugeth, Count of Homonna, who used to visit Erzsébet when she was sealed in her tower to bring her food. Erzsébet had passed her time writing on the walls of her tower, and her last entry had been regarding Katelin and her will.

Grandchildren

* Ferenc Nádasdy, Count of Nadasd, son of Pál. Married Anna Julia, Countess of Galantha.
* Anna Maria Nádasdy, daughter of Pál.
* Maria Drugeth, (?-1643) daughter of Katelin. Married Count Szechy Gyorgy.
* Erzso Drugeth, daughter of Katelin. Married Laszlo Revay, Baron of Terboszto.
* Janos Drugeth (?-1645), son of Katelin. Married Kata Jukassich.

Great-Grandchildren

* Ferenc Nádasdy, son of Ferenc. Count of Nadasd.
* Nicholas Nádasdy, son of Ferenc.
* Pal Antal Nádasdy, son of Ferenc.
* Laszlo Nádasdy, son of Ferenc. Bishop of Ganad.
* Michael Nádasdy, son of Ferenc.
* Tamas Nádasdy, son of Ferenc.
* Elisabeth Christine Nádasdy, daughter of Ferenc.
* Anna Teresia Nádasdy, daughter of Ferenc.
* Maria Magdolna Nádasdy, daughter of Ferenc.
* Orsolya Nádasdy, son of Ferenc.
* Juliana Nádasdy, daughter of Ferenc.
* Klara Revay, daughter of Erzso.
* Ilona Revay, daughter of Erzso.
* Laszlo Revay, son of Erzso.
* Zsigmond Revay, son of Erzso.
* Kata Drugeth, daughter of Janos.
* Gregory Drugeth, son of Janos. Count of Homonna.

[If you want to learn more about the life of Countess Bathory, I suggest reading Valentine Penrose's book The Bloody Countess: The Crimes of Elizabeth Báthory, not to be confused with that horrid book by Andrei Codrescu, The Blood Countess. Believe me, there is a world of difference...

Another link you may wish to try is a website created by a descendent of Erzsébet, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz. Dennis is a musician and has composed some wonderful music, some of which is available in MIDI form on his website. In addition to the music, his pages include the most complete bibliography I've seen on the Countess (complete with links), photographs of Csejthe Castle as it stands in ruin today, along with a rather detailed account of an opera he is writing and producing about Countess Bathory.]

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The Ted Bundy Story Attack!

Joni Lenz's roommates had not been particularly worried when they didn't see her in the morning of January 4, 1974. But when she still wasn't up and around that afternoon, they went into her basement bedroom to see if she was sick.

A horrifying sight confronted them.
Ann Rule in her now famous classic book on the subject, The Stranger Beside Me, wrote that Joni, 18, had been badly beaten. A bed rod had been torn away from the bed and savagely rammed into her vagina. Shortly after the discovery, Joni was transported to the hospital in a comatose state, suffering from damages that would affect her for the rest of her life.

The Only Living Witness
The Only Living Witness by Michaud & Aynesworth

However, she was lucky to be alive. Joni was one of the few victims to survive an attack by Ted Bundy, who reigned terror across the United States between 1974 and 1978. There were an estimated 35 more victims after Joni who were not so fortunate. Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth in The Only Living Witness suggest that perhaps 40 young women may have fallen prey to Bundy, but only Bundy knew for sure. It is a number that Bundy has carried with him to his grave.

The Early Years

Theodore Robert Cowell was born on November 24, 1946 to Louise Cowell following her stay of three months at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in Vermont. Ted's biological father, who was an Air Force veteran, was unknown to his son throughout his life. Shortly after his birth, Ted and his mother moved back to the home of his grandparents in Philadelphia. While growing up, Ted was led to believe that his grandparents were his parents and his natural mother was his older sister. The charade was created in order to protect his biological mother from harsh criticism and prejudice of being an unwed mother.

At the age of four, Ted and his mother moved to Tacoma, Washington to live with relatives. A year after the move, Louise fell in love with a military cook named Johnnie Culpepper Bundy. In May 1951, the couple was married and Ted assumed his stepfather's last name, which he would keep for the rest of his life.

Over the years, the Bundy family added four other siblings, whom Ted spent much of his time babysitting after school. Ted's stepfather tried to form a bond between himself and Ted by including him in camping trips and other father-son activities. However, Johnnie's attempts were unsuccessful and Ted remained emotionally detached from his stepfather. According to Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth's book Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer, Ted became increasingly uncomfortable around his stepfather and preferred to be alone. This desire to be by himself increased and possibly led to his later inability to socially interact comfortably with others.

As a youth, Ted was terribly shy, self-doubting and uncomfortable in social situations. He was often teased and made the butt of pranks by bullies in his junior high school. Michaud analyzed Ted's behavior and decided that he was "not like other children, he looked and acted like them, but he was haunted by something else: a fear, a doubt -- sometimes only a vague uneasiness-— that inhabited his mind with the subtlety of a cat. He felt it for years, but he didn't recognize it for what it was until much later." Regardless of the humiliating experiences he sometimes suffered from being different, he was able to maintain a high grade-point average that would continue throughout high school and later into college.

During his high school years, Ted appeared to blossom into a more gregarious young man. His popularity increased significantly and he was considered to be "well dressed and exceptionally well mannered." Despite his emerging popularity, Ted seldom dated. His interests lay more in extra-curricular activities such as skiing and politics. In fact, Ted had a particular fascination with politics, an interest that would years later temporarily land him in the political arena.

Following high school, Ted attended college at the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington. He worked his way through school by taking on several low-level jobs, such as a bus boy and shoe clerk. However, he seldom stayed with one position for very long. His employers considered him to be unreliable.

Although Ted was inconsistent with his work outside of school, he was very focused on his studies and grades. Yet, his focus changed during the spring of 1967 when he began a relationship that would forever change his life.

Ted met a girl that was everything he had ever dreamed of in a woman. She was a beautiful and highly sophisticated woman from a wealthy Californian family. Ted couldn't believe someone from her "class" would have an interest in someone like him. Although they had many differences, they both loved to ski and it was during their many ski trips together that he fell in love. She was really Ted's first love, and, according to Ann Rule, possibly the first woman with whom he became involved with sexually. However, she was not as infatuated with Ted as he was with her. In fact, she liked Ted a lot but believed he had no real direction or future goals. Ted tried too hard to impress her, even if that meant lying, something that she didn't like at all.

Michaud writes that Ted won a summer scholarship to the prestigious Stanford University in California just to impress her, but at Stanford, his immaturity was exposed. He writes, "Ted did not understand why the mask he had been using had failed him. This first tentative foray into the sophisticated world had ended in disaster."

In 1968, after his girlfriend graduated from the University of Washington, she broke off relations with Ted. She was a practical young woman and seemed to realize that Ted had some serious character flaws that took him out of the running as "husband material."

Ted never recovered from the break-up. Nothing, including school, seemed to hold any interest for him and he eventually dropped out, dumb-founded and depressed over the break-up. He managed to stay in touch with her by writing after she returned to California, yet she seemed uninterested in getting back together. But Ted became obsessed with this young woman and he couldn't get her out of his mind. It was an obsession that would span his lifetime and lead to a series of events that would shock the world.

A Time of Change

To make matters worse, in 1969 Bundy learned his true parentage. His "sister" was actually his mother and his "parents," were actually his grandparents. Not unexpectedly, this late discovery had a rather serious impact on him. Michaud says that his attitude towards his mother did not change much, but he became nasty and surly to Johnnie Bundy.

It's hard to say whether the knowledge that his mother had deceived him all his life had any impact on his other character flaws which were beginning to blossom. Throughout Ted Bundy's high school and college years, there was always a cloud over his reputation for honesty. Many people close to him suspected him of petty thievery.

According to Marilyn Bardsley, Crime Library's serial killer expert, Ted's psychopathic nature was being revealed, but most of the people that witnessed it did not realize what they were experiencing. Stealing without any sense of guilt and, in fact, a sense of entitlement, is a common trait in a psychopath. Also, psychopaths get a thrill from the the excitement and danger that stealing and shoplifting presents to them. Ted's dishonesty evolved from stealing small things in work and school situations to shoplifting to burglarizing homes for televisions and other items of value.

He changed from a shy and introverted person to a more focused and dominant character. He was driven, as if to prove himself to the world. He re-enrolled at the University of Washington and studied psychology, a subject in which he excelled. Bundy became an honors student and was well liked by his professors at the university.

It is also at this time when Ted met Elizabeth Kendall (a pseudonym under which she wrote The Phantom Prince: My Life With Ted Bundy ), a woman with whom he would be involved with for almost five years. Elizabeth worked as a secretary and was a somewhat shy and quiet woman. She was a divorcee who seemed to have found in Ted Bundy the perfect father figure for her daughter. Elizabeth was deeply in love with Ted from the start and wanted to one day marry him. However, Ted said he was not yet ready for marriage because he felt there was still too much for him to accomplish. She knew that Ted didn't feel as strongly for her as she did him. She felt that on many occasions Ted was meeting with other women. Yet, Elizabeth hoped that time would bring him around to her and he would eventually change his ways. She was unaware of his past relationship with his girlfriend from California and that they still continued to keep in contact and visit each other.

Outwardly, Ted's life in 1969-1972 seemed to be changing for the better. He was more confident, with high hopes for his future. Ted began sending out applications to various law schools, while at the same time he became active in politics. He worked on a campaign to re-elect a Washington governor, a position that allowed Ted to form bonds with politically powerful people in the Republican Party. Ted also performed volunteer work at a crisis clinic on a work-study program. He was pleased with the path his life was taking at this time, everything seemed to be going in the right direction. He was even commended by the Seattle police for saving the life of a three-year-old boy who was drowning in a lake.

In 1973, during a business trip to California for the Washington Republican Party, Ted met up with his old girlfriend. She was amazed at the transformation in Ted. He was much more confident and mature, not as aimless as he was when they last dated. They met several other times afterwards, unknown to his steady girlfriend, Elizabeth. During Ted's business trips he romantically courted the lovely young woman from California and she once again fell in love with him.

Marriage was a topic brought up more than once by Ted over their many intimate rendezvous during that fall and winter. Yet, just as suddenly as their romance began, it changed radically. Where once Ted lavished affection upon her, he was suddenly cold and despondent. It seemed as if Ted had lost all interest in her in just a few weeks. She was clearly confused about this "new" Ted. In February 1974, with no warning or explanation, Ted ended all contact with her. His plan of revenge worked. He rejected her as she had once rejected him. She was never to see or hear from Ted again.

A Time of Terror

Lynda Ann Healy was a very accomplished young woman. At age 21, morning radio listeners heard her friendly voice announce the ski conditions for the major ski areas in western Washington. She was a beautiful girl, tall and slim with shiny clean, long brown hair and a ready smile.

The product of a good family and an uppper-middle-class environment, she was an excellent singer and a senior at the University of Washington, majoring in psychology. She loved working with children who were mentally handicapped.

Lynda shared a house near the university with four other young women. On January 31, 1974, she and a few friends went for a few beers after dinner at Dante's, a tavern that was popular with the university students. They didn't stay long and Lynda went home to watch television and talk on the phone to her boyfriend. Then Lynda went to bed. The roommate in the room next to Lynda heard no noises coming from Lynda's room that night.

Lynda had to get up every morning at 5:30 to get to her job at the radio station. The roommmate heard Lynda's alarm go off at 5:30 as it did customarily. What was unusual was that the alarm kept buzzing. When the roommate finally went in to shut off the alarm, she heard the phone ring. It was the radio station calling to see where Lynda was. The bed in Lynda's room was made and nothing looked disturbed, so the roommate assumed that Lynda was on her way to work.

When her parents called that afternoon to find out why Lynda had not shown up for dinner as expected, everyone became worried. Nobody had seen her. She seemed to have vanished from the house.

Lynda's parents called the police. In Lynda's room, they found that her bed had been made up in a way that Lynda had never made it up before. In fact, Lynda was not normally one to make up her bed. Oddly, a pillowcase and the top sheet were missing on this carefully made-up bed.

A small bloodstain of the same blood type as Lydna's was found on the pillow and the bottom sheet. Blood was also on her nightgown that was carefully hung in the closet. An outfit of hers was missing.

Another alarming clue was that one of the doors to the house was unlocked when the girls were always vigilant about locking it.

The police were not initially convinced that Lynda had been a victim of foul play, so no fingerprint, hair or fiber evidence was gathered.

Ultimately, police realized that an intruder had somehow gotten into the house, removed her nightgown and hung it in the closet, dressed her in a change of clothes, made up the bed, wrapped Lynda in the top bed sheet and carried her out of the house -- very quietly.

Killing Spree

During that spring and summer, more women students suddenly and inexplicably vanished. There were striking similarities among many of the cases. For instance, all the girls were white, slender, single, wearing slacks at the time of disappearance, had hair that was long and parted in the middle and they all disappeared in the evening.

Also around the time of the disappearances, police interviewed college students who told them of a strange man who was seen wearing a cast on either his arm or leg. Supposedly, the stranger seemed to be struggling with books and asking young women nearby for assistance. Other eyewitnesses reported a strange man in the campus parking lot who had a cast and asked for assistance with his car, a VW bug that he apparently had difficulty starting. Interestingly, around the same area where two of the girls mysteriously disappeared, there was seen such a man wearing a cast on his arm or leg.

Finally, in August of 1974 in Washington's Lake Sammamish State Park, the remains of some of the missing girls were found and two were later identified. It was remarkable that police were able to identify two of the bodies considering what was left -- strands of various colors of hair, five thigh bones, a couple of skulls and a jaw bone. The girls identified were Janice Ott and Denise Naslund, who disappeared on the same day, July 14th.

The last people to have seen Ott, a couple picnicking near by, remembered a handsome young man approaching the young woman. From what the couple could hear of the conversation between Ott and the young man, his name was Ted and he had difficulty loading his boat onto his car because his arm was in a cast. He asked Ott for assistance and she agreed to help. That was the last time twenty-three-year-old Janice Ott was seen alive.

Denise Naslund was spending the afternoon with her boyfriend and friends when she walked towards the restroom in the park, never to return again. That afternoon, around where she disappeared, a man who wore a cast and asked for help with his boat approached a couple of women. They were unable to assist the attractive young man. However, Denise Naslund was the kind of girl to help someone in need, especially someone with a broken arm--an act of kindness that cost her life. Denise Naslund was not the last woman to disappear and be found dead.

This time the killer would travel to different states.
Midvale, Utah's, Police Chief Louis Smith had a seventeen-year-old daughter whom he frequently warned about the dangers of the world. He had seen all too much during his career and worried for his daughter's safety. Yet, his worst fears were to come true on October 18, 1974 when his daughter Melissa disappeared. She had been found 9 days after her disappearance -- strangled, sodomized and raped.
Thirteen days later on Halloween, seventeen-year-old Laura Aime disappeared. She was found on Thanksgiving Day in the Wasatch Mountains lying dead by a river. Aime had been beaten about the head and face with a crowbar, raped and sodomized. It was suspected that she was killed someplace other than where she was found due to the lack of blood at the crime scene. Other than her body, there was no physical evidence for the police to use.

Similarities

The similarities with the Washington State murders caught the attention of local police in Utah, who were frantically searching for the man responsible for the grisly crimes. With each murder, the evidence was slowly mounting. Utah police consulted with Washington State investigators. Almost all agreed that it was highly likely that the same man who committed the crimes in Washington State had also been responsible for the murders in Utah. Thanks to eyewitness accounts of the man in the cast seen near the areas where many of the women had disappeared, they were able to come up with a composite of the could-be-killer who called himself "Ted."
When a close friend of Elizabeth Kendall saw the account of Melissa Smith's murder in the paper and the composite of the could-be-killer, she knew that Ted Bundy must be the man. It wasn't just her intense dislike and mistrust for Elizabeth's boyfriend that led her to believe that Ted was the "man," but also the fact that he looked so much like the composite picture in the paper.
Deep down, Elizabeth must have known her friend was right. After all, Ted did resemble the sketch, he drove a VW similar to those seen by witnesses and she had seen crutches in his room even though he never injured his leg. According to the book The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, which was later written by Kendall, she anonymously called the Seattle Police Department in August 1974 and stated that her boyfriend "might be involved" in the recent murder cases. She called again later that fall and gave more pertinent information that might assist the investigators in the case. She also agreed to give recent pictures of Ted, to later be shown to witnesses. However, the witnesses did not make a positive I.D. after viewing the pictures and Elizabeth's report was eventually filed away. The investigators working the case decided to turn their attention towards more likely suspects and Ted Bundy was forgotten until a few years later.

The killer continued to elude investigators, assuming that by operating in different states the police would be unable to compare the cases. His behavior became increasingly bold and risky as he approached women. Those who escaped his advances would later recognize him and provide the police with valuable information.

Risky Attacks

It was on November 8th, 1974, when police investigators were to get the break in the case for which they had been waiting. That Friday evening, a strange but handsome man in a book store at a Utah mall approached eighteen-year-old Carol DaRonch. The stranger told her that he had seen someone trying to break into her car and asked her to go along with him to the parking lot to see if anything had been stolen.

Carol thought that the man must have been a mall security guard because he seemed so in control of the situation. When they arrived at the car, she checked it and informed the man everything was there. The man, who identified himself as Officer Roseland, was not satisfied and wanted to escort her to police headquarters. He wanted her to ID the supposed criminal and file a complaint. When he led her to a VW bug, she became suspicious and asked for identification. He quickly showed her a gold badge and then escorted her into the car.

He drove off quickly in the opposite direction of the police station and, after a short while, he suddenly stopped the car. Fear had set into Carol DaRonch. The "police officer" suddenly grabbed her and tried to put handcuffs on her. DaRonch screamed for her life. When she screamed, the man pulled out a handgun and threatened to kill her if she didn't stop. DaRonch found herself falling out of the car and then suddenly pushed up against the side of it by the madman. He had a crowbar in his hand and was ready to hit her head. Terror-struck, she kicked his genitals and managed to break free. DaRonch ran towards the road and caught the attention of a couple driving by. They stopped and DaRonch frantically jumped into their car. She was crying hysterically and told them a man had tried to kill her. They immediately took her to the police.

Sobbing, with the handcuffs still dangling from her wrists, she told the police what one of their men had done. But there was no man with the name of Roseland that worked there. Immediately police were dispatched to the place where DaRonch had struggled for her life just an hour earlier but the madman was long gone. However, the police were able to get a description of the man and his car and a few days later, from off the girl's coat, a blood type. The blood was type O, the same as Ted Bundy's, as police were later to learn.
That same evening, the director of a play at Viewmont High School was approached by a handsome man who asked for her assistance in identifying a car. Yet, she was far too busy and refused him. Again, he later approached her and asked for her assistance, and again she refused him. Something seemed odd, almost scary about the man, but she ignored it and kept on with the work at hand. It disturbed her to see the man again in the back of the auditorium and she wondered what it was he really wanted.

Debby Kent, who was watching the evening performance along with her parents, left early to pick up her brother at the bowling alley. She told her parents that she'd be back to pick them up shortly, but she never did. In fact, she never made it to the car, which stood empty in the school parking lot. Debby Kent was nowhere to be found. What police did find in the parking lot was a small handcuff key. Later, when police tried to fit the key that they found into the handcuffs worn by DaRonch earlier that night, it was a perfect match. Almost a month later, a man would call police to tell them that he had seen a tan VW bug speed away from the high school parking lot the night of Kent's disappearance.

On January 12, 1975, Caryn Campbell; her fiancé, Dr. Raymond Gadowski; and his two children took a trip to Colorado. Caryn hoped she could enjoy the break away from work and spend more time with the children, while her fiancé attended a seminar. While relaxing in the lounge of her hotel with Gadowski and his son and daughter one night, she realized she had forgotten a magazine and returned to her room to retrieve it. Her fiancé and the children waited for her return in vain. He knew she was a bit ill that night and went back to the room to see if she needed help. Caryn was nowhere in sight. In fact, she had never made it to the room. By mid-morning, confused and worried, Gadowski informed the police of her disappearance. They searched every room in the hotel but they found no trace of Caryn.

Almost a month later and a few miles from where she had disappeared, a recreational worker found Caryn's nude body lying a short distance from the road. Animals had ravaged her body, which made it difficult to determine the precise cause of death. However, it was evident that she received crushing fractures that could have been fatal.Like many of the victims found in Utah and Washington, she had suffered from repeated blows to the head possibly made by a sharp instrument. According to Richard Larsen's book Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger, the blows were so violent that one of her teeth was actually separated from the gum line in her mouth. There was also evidence that she had been raped. It was believed that she was murdered just hours after she disappeared. Apart from Caryn's brutalized remains, there was little evidence to be found at the scene.

A few months after Caryn Campbell's body was discovered, the remains of another person were found ten miles from where the bodies of Naslund and Ott were located. It was Brenda Ball, one of the seven women who had disappeared earlier that summer. The cause of her death was blows to the head with a blunt object.

Police searched the Taylor Mountains where the bodies were found. It would be only a couple days later when another body would be discovered. The body was that of Susan Rancourt, who had also disappeared earlier that summer. The Taylor Mountains had become the burial sight for the madman known as "Ted." Two more bodies were found that month; one of them was Lynda Ann Healy. All of the victims suffered from severe head contusions from a blunt instrument, possibly a crowbar.

Police continued unsuccessfully to look for the killer. Five more women were found dead in Colorado under similar circumstances. They were not the last to fall victim to Ted's killing spree.

A Suspect
On August 16, 1975, Sergeant Bob Hayward was patrolling an area just outside of Salt Lake County when he spotted a suspicious tan VW bug driving past him. He knew the neighborhood well and almost all the residents that lived there and he couldn't remember seeing the tan VW there before. When he put on his lights to get a better view of the VW's license plate, the driver of the bug turned off his lights and began speeding away.

Immediately, Sergeant Hayward began to chase the vehicle. The car sped through two stop signs before it eventually pulled over into a nearby gas station. Hayward pulled up behind the reckless driver and watched as the occupant got out of his car and approached the police car. Hayward asked the young man for his registration and license, which was issued to Theodore Robert Bundy. Just then, two other troopers pulled up behind the tan VW. Hayward noticed that the passenger seat in Bundy's car was missing. With mounting suspicion and Bundy's permission, the three officers inspected the VW. The officers found a crowbar, ski mask, rope, handcuffs, wire and an ice pick. Bundy was immediately placed under arrest for suspicion of burglary.
Soon after Bundy's arrest, police began to find connections between him and the man who attacked Carol DaRonch. The handcuffs that were found in Bundy's car were the same make and brand that her attacker had used and the car he drove was similar to the one she had described. Furthermore, the crowbar found in Bundy's car was similar to the weapon that had been used to threaten Carol earlier that November. They also suspected that Bundy was the man responsible for the kidnapping of Melissa Smith, Laura Aime and Debby Kent. There were just too many similarities among the cases for police to ignore. However, they knew they needed much more evidence to support the case against Bundy.

On October 2nd, 1975, Carol DaRonch along with the director of the Viewmont High School play and a friend of Debby Kent were asked to attend a line-up of seven men, one of whom was Bundy, at a Utah police station. Investigators were not surprised when Carol picked Ted from the line-up as the man who had attacked her. The play director and friend of Debby Kent also picked Ted from the line-up as the man they had seen wandering around the auditorium the night Debby Kent had disappeared. Although Ted repeatedly professed his innocence, police were almost positive they had their man. Soon after he was picked out of the line-up, investigators launched a full-blown investigation into the man they knew as Theodore Robert Bundy.

Investigation

During the fall of 1975, police investigators approached Elizabeth Kendall for whatever information she was able to give about Ted. They believed Elizabeth would most likely hold the key to Bundy's whereabouts, habits and personality. What investigators learned would later help link Ted Bundy to the murder victims.

On September 16th, 1975, Elizabeth was called into the King County Police Major Crime Unit building in Washington State and interviewed by Detectives Jerry Thompson, Dennis Couch and Ira Beal. She was visibly stressed and nervous, but willing to offer the police any information necessary to help the case. When asked about Ted, she stated that on the nights of the murders, she could not account for him. Elizabeth also told police that he would often sleep during the day and go out at night, exactly where she didn't know. She said that his interest in sex had waned during the last year. When he did show interest, he pressured her into bondage. When she told Bundy that she no longer wanted to participate in his bondage fantasies, he was very upset with her.

In a later interview with Elizabeth, investigators learned that Ted had plaster of Paris to make casts in his room, which she had noticed when they first began dating. She also noticed on a later occasion that in his car, Ted had a hatchet. But there was something else important to the case that Elizabeth would remember. She recalled that Ted had visited Lake Sammamish Park in July, where he had supposedly gone water skiing. A week after Ted had gone to Lake Sammamish Park, Janice Ott and Denise Naslund were reported missing.

After long hours of interviews with Elizabeth, investigators decided to shift their focus to Ted's former girlfriend in California. When police contacted her, she told them of how he had abruptly changed his manner towards her from loving and affectionate to cruel and insensitive. Upon further questioning, police learned that Bundy's relationship with his California girlfriend had overlapped with his relationship with Elizabeth and neither of them knew of the other woman. Ted seemed to be living a double life, filled with lies and betrayal. There was more to Ted than what investigators had initially expected.

Further investigation yielded more evidence that would later link him to other victims. Lynda Ann Healy was linked to Bundy through a cousin of his; more eyewitnesses would recognize him from Lake Sammamish Park during the time Ott and Naslund disappeared; an old friend of Bundy's came forward saying he had seen pantyhose in the glove compartment of his car; plus Ted had spent a lot of time in the Taylor Mountains where the bodies of victims had been found. Bundy's credibility was further dented when police discovered he purchased gas on credit cards in the towns where some of the victims had disappeared. Furthermore, a friend had seen him with his arm in a cast when there was no record of him ever having a broken arm. The evidence against Ted Bundy was building up, yet he still continued to profess his innocence.

Tribulations

On February 23, 1976 Ted was put on trial for the kidnapping of Carol DaRonch. Bundy sat in a relaxed manner in the courtroom, confident that he would be found innocent of the charges against him. He believed that there was no hard evidence to convict him, but he couldn't have been more wrong. When Carol DaRonch took the stand, she told of her ordeal that she suffered sixteen months earlier. When asked if she were able to recognize the person who attacked her, she began to cry as she lifted her hand and pointed a finger to the man who had called himself "Officer Roseland." The people in the courtroom turned their attention to Ted Bundy, who stared at DaRonch coldly as she pointed at him. Later in the trial, Ted had said he had never seen the defendant but he had no alibi to confirm his whereabouts the day of the attack.
The judge spent the weekend reviewing the case before he handed down a verdict. Two days later he would find Bundy guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of aggravated kidnapping. Ted Bundy was later sentenced on June 30th to one to fifteen years in prison with the possibility of parole.

While in prison, Bundy was subjected to a psychological evaluation that the court had previously requested. In Anne Rule's book The Stranger Beside Me, she stated that psychologists found Bundy to be neither "psychotic, neurotic, the victim of organic brain disease, alcoholic, addicted to drugs, suffering from a character disorder or amnesia, and was not a sexual deviate." The psychologists concluded that he had a "strong dependency on women, and deduced that that dependency was suspect." Upon further evaluation, they concluded that Ted had a "fear of being humiliated in his relationships with women."

While Bundy remained incarcerated in Utah State Prison, investigators began a search for evidence connecting him to the murders of Caryn Campbell and Melissa Smith. What Bundy did not realize was that his legal problems would soon escalate. Detectives discovered in Bundy's VW hairs that were examined by the FBI and found to be characteristically alike to Campbell's and Smith's hair. Further examination of Caryn Campbell's remains showed that her skull bore impressions made by a blunt instrument, and those impressions matched the crowbar that had been discovered in Bundy's car a year earlier. Colorado police filed charges against Bundy on October 22, 1976, for the murder of Caryn Campbell.

In April of 1977, Ted was transferred to Garfield County Jail in Colorado to await trial for the murder of Caryn Campbell. During preparation of his case, Bundy became increasingly unhappy with his representation. He believed his lawyer to be inept and incapable and eventually he fired him. Bundy, experienced in law, believed he could do the job better and he began to take up his own defense in the case. He felt confident that he would succeed at the trial scheduled for November 14, 1977. Bundy had a lot of work ahead of him. He was granted permission to leave the confines of the jail on occasion and utilize the courthouse library in Aspen, to conduct research. What police didn't know was that he was planning an escape.

The Great Escape

On June 7th, during one of his trips to the library at the courthouse, Bundy managed to jump from an open window, injuring his ankle in the process, and escaped to freedom. He was not wearing any leg irons or handcuffs, so he did not stand out among the ordinary citizens in the town of Aspen. It was an escape that had been planned by Ted for a while. Aspen Police were quick to set up roadblocks surrounding the town, yet Ted knew to stay within the city limits for the time being and lay low. Police launched a massive land search, using scent tracking bloodhounds and 150 searchers in the hopes of catching Ted. However, Ted was able to elude them for days.
While on the run, Bundy managed to live off the food he stole from local cabins and nearby campers, occasionally sleeping in ones that were abandoned. Yet, Bundy knew that what he really needed was a car, which would better enable him to pass through police barriers. He couldn't hide in Aspen forever. Ted believed that he was destined to be free. According to an interview with Michaud and Aynesworth, he felt as if he were invincible and claimed that, "nothing went wrong. If something did go wrong, the next thing that happened was so good it compensated. It was even better". Sure enough, Bundy found his ticket out of town when he discovered a car with the keys left in it. But, his luck would not last long. While trying to flee Aspen in the stolen vehicle, he was spotted.
From then on, he was ordered to wear handcuffs and leg irons while conducting his research at the library in Aspen. However, Bundy was not the type of man who liked to be tied down.

Almost seven months later, Bundy again attempted an escape, but this time he was more successful. On December 30th, he crawled up into the ceiling of the Garfield County Jail and made his way to another part of the building. He managed to find another opening in the ceiling that led down into the closet of a jailer's apartment. He sat and waited until he knew the apartment was empty, then casually walked out of the front door to his freedom. His escape would go undiscovered until the following afternoon, more than fifteen hours later.

By the time police learned of his escape, Bundy was well on his way to Chicago. Chicago was one of the few stops that Bundy would make along the route to his final destination, sunny Florida. By mid January of 1978 Ted Bundy, using his newly acquired name Chris Hagen, had settled comfortably into a one-room apartment in Tallahassee, Florida.

Ted Bundy enjoyed his new found freedom in a place that knew little if nothing about him or his past. Bundy was stimulated by intelligence and youth and felt comfortable in his new environment nearby Florida State University. He spent much of his free time walking around F.S.U.'s campus, occasionally ducking into classes unnoticed and listening in on lectures. When he was not wandering around campus, he would spend his time in his apartment watching the television he had stolen. Theft became second nature to Bundy. Almost everything in his apartment was stolen merchandise. Even the food he ate was purchased from stolen credit cards. Under the circumstances, Bundy seemed to have enough material things to make him content. What he didn't have and what he missed the most was companionship.

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Jack The Ripper History's Most Famous Unsolved Crime

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A serial killer murdered and mutilated at least five prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888 and because no one was ever arrested or tried for the murders, crime buffs are still fascinated with the Jack the Ripper case more than 115 years later.

"Jack The Ripper" is the name given to unknown killer due to correspondence at the time from someone claiming to be the killer signed with that name. But while the murders were taking place, the assailant was know as the Whitechapel Murder or "Leather Apron."

There is some dispute concerning how many victims Jack The Ripper claimed. Some believe that he killed only four prostitutes during his spree, while others think that he may have killed as many as nine. It is generally accepted that there were five victims.

Victims of Jack The Ripper

These are the Ripper's victims that most experts agree on:

• Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols, murdered on Bucks' Row, Friday, August 31, 1888.

• Annie Chapman, murdered at 29 Hanbury Street, Saturday, September 8, 1888.

• Elizabeth Stride, murdered on Berner Street, Sunday, September 30, 1888.

• Catharine Eddowes, murdered in Mitre Square, Sunday, September 30, 1888.

• Mary Jane (Marie Jeanette) Kelly, murdered at Number 13 Miller's Court, Friday, November 9, 1888.

Although there were 13 other women murdered in the East End area from December 1887 until April 1891, most observers agree that they were not the victims of the Ripper.

Casebook: Jack The Ripper

Larry S. Barbee

This is a brief review of the Jack the Ripper murders that occurred in London more than a hundred years ago. Much of the original evidence gathered at the time has been lost, and many "facts" are actually opinions by the various writers who have written about the case during the past century. Many aspects of the case are therefore contested, and so what follows is a summation of the case in general.There are many books available to the student of crime who wishes to grapple with the many mysteries associated with the case.

"Jack the Ripper" is the popular name given to a serial killer who killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888. The name originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the killer published at the time of the murders. The killings took place within a mile area and involved the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate, and the City of London proper. He was also called the Whitechapel Murderer and "Leather Apron."

Significance and Importance

Jack the Ripper has remained popular for a lot of reasons. He was not the first serial killer, but he was probably the first to appear in a large metropolis at a time when the general populace had become literate and the press was a force for social change. The Ripper also appeared when there were tremendous political turmoil and both the liberals and social reformers, as well as the Irish Home rule partisans tried to use the crimes for their own ends. Every day the activities of the Ripper were chronicled in the newspapers as were the results of the inquiries and the actions taken by the police. Even the feelings of the people living in the East End, and the editorials that attacked the various establishments of Society appeared each day for both the people of London and the whole world to read. It was the press coverage that made this series of murders a "new thing", something that the world had never known before. The press was also partly responsible for creating many myths surrounding the Ripper and ended up turning a sad killer of women into a "bogey man", who has now become one of the most romantic figures in history. The rest of the responsibility lies with the Ripper. He may have been a sexual serial killer of a type all too common in the 1990s, but he was also bent on terrifying a city and making the whole world take notice of him by leaving his horribly mutilated victims in plain sight. Lastly, the Ripper was never caught and it is the mysteries surrounding this killer that both add to the romance of the story and creating an intellectual puzzle that people still want to solve.

The Victims

It is unclear just how many women the Ripper killed. It is generally accepted that he killed five, though some have written that he murdered only four while others say seven or more. The public, press, and even many junior police officers believed that the Ripper was responsible for nine slayings. The five that are generally accepted as the work of the Ripper are:

1. Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols, murdered Friday, August 31, 1888.
2. Annie Chapman, murdered Saturday, September 8, 1888.
3. Elizabeth Stride, murdered Sunday, September 30, 1888.
4. Catharine Eddowes, also murdered that same date.
5. Mary Jane (Marie Jeanette) Kelly, murdered Friday, November 9, 1888.

Besides these five there are good reasons to believe that the first victim was really Martha Tabram who was murdered Tuesday, August 7, 1888, and there are important considerations for questioning whether Stride was a Ripper victim. As to the actual number of women that the Ripper killed, Philip Sugden wrote in his excellent book, The Complete History of Jack the Ripper, "There is no simple answer. In a sentence: at least four, probably six, just possibly eight."

All five of these listed plus Tabram were prostitutes and were killed between early August and early November 1888. All but Tabram and Kelly were killed outdoors and there is no evidence to suggest that any of them knew each other. They varied in both age and appearance. Most were drunk or thought to be drunk at the time they were killed.

Method of Operation

Surprisingly, a full understanding of the Ripper's modus operandi was not established until several years ago. The Whitechapel murderer and his victim stood facing each other. When she lifted her skirts, the victim's hands were occupied and was then defenseless. The Ripper seized the women by their throats and strangled them until they were unconscious if not dead. The autopsies constantly revealed clear indications that the victims had been strangled. In the past some writers believed that the Ripper struck from behind when the victims were bent forward, their skirts hiked up their backsides while waiting to engage in anal sex. This is a very awkward arrangement and the risk that they may scream or elude his clutch's make this unacceptable. The Ripper then lowered his victims to the ground, their heads to his left. This has been proven by the position of the bodies in relation to walls and fences that show that there was virtually no room for the murderer to attack the body from the left side. No bruising on the back of the heads shows that he lowered the bodies to the ground rather than throwing or letting them fall. Given the inclement weather and filth in the streets it is unacceptable that the prostitutes or their client would have attempted intercourse on the ground. He cut the throats when the women were on the ground. Splatter stains show that the blood pooled beside or under the neck and head of the victim rather than the front which is where the blood would flow if they had been standing up. In one case blood was found on the fence some 14 inches or so from the ground and opposite the neck wound and this shows that the blood spurted from the body while in the prone position on the ground. This method also prevented the killer from being unduly blood stained. By reaching over from the victim's right side to cut the left side of her throat, the blood flow would have been directed away from him, which would have reduced the amount of blood in which he would have been exposed. If the victim was already dead before their throats were cut, then the blood spilt would have not been very much. With the heart no longer beating the blood would not have been "pressurized," so only the blood in the immediate area of the wound would have evacuated gently from the cuts. The Ripper then made his other mutilations, still from the victim's right side, or possibly while straddling over the body at or near the feet. In several cases the legs had been pushed up which would have shortened the distance between the abdomen and the feet. No sign of intercourse was ever detected nor did the Ripper masturbate over the bodies. Usually he took a piece of the victim's viscera. The taking of a "trophy" is a common practice by modern sexual serial killers. In the opinion of most of the surgeons who examined the bodies, most believed that the killer had to have some degree of anatomical knowledge to do what he did. In one case he removed a kidney from the front rather than from the side, and did not damage any of the surrounding organs while doing so. In another case he removed the sexual organs with one clean stroke of the knife. Given the time circumstances of the crimes (outside, often in near total darkness, keeping one eye out for the approach of others, and under extremely tight time constraints), the Ripper almost certainly would have had some experience in using his knife.

The Ripper Letters

It is commonly accepted by the experts on the case that none of the letters purported to have been written by the Ripper were in fact written by him. A letter dated September 25 and received on the twenty-seventh by the Central News agency was the first to be signed "Jack the Ripper". A postcard post marked October 1 followed. Because it referred to a "double event" the police thought it might be from the killer since it was posted the day after the Ripper killed two women. The post card also referred to the letter and must have come from the same source as the letter had not been released to the public yet. If the post card had been sent on September 30, the day of the "double event", instead of October 1, the likelihood that it was really written by the murderer would be significantly greater. The Whitechapel Murderer may have written the letter/post card but there is no evidence to suppose that he did and the police seem convinced that they were the work of a journalist. A recently discovered document states that a journalist from the Central News agency, Tom Bulling, was the writer.

One other letter may have been written by the killer. In mid-October a small parcel was sent to George Lusk, who was head of a vigilance committee in Whitechapel. Inside was half a human kidney and a letter from someone claiming to be the killer, and that it was part of the kidney he removed from the victim Eddowes. It is impossible to know for sure if the Ripper really did send it. Most of the arguments in favor of it being from Jack have been based on inaccurate information and the myths rather than the facts surrounding the case. However, Eddowes did suffer from Bright's disease and the description of the kidney does match what a Bright's disease kidney would look like.

Evidence

In a time before forensic science and even finger printing, the only way to prove someone committed a murder was to catch either him or her in the act, or get the suspect to confess. The Whitechapel Murders unhappily fall into this period of time. One interesting feature of this case is that not one, but two police forces carried out investigations. The Metropolitan Police, known as Scotland Yard, was responsible for crimes committed in all the boroughs of London except the City of London proper. The single square mile in the heart of London known as the City of London had their own police force. When Eddowes was killed, it was in their territory and this brought them into the Ripper case. It is believed that the rank and file of the two forces got along and worked well together, but there is evidence that the seniors in each force did not. To what degree, if any, their failure to cooperate fully had on solving the case is not known. Most sources do not fault either police force for failing to solve the Jack the Ripper mystery, rightly pointing out that catching serial killers is still a hard task even by today's science and technology. Other than autopsies and taking statements from everybody who might know something there was little else that the Metropolitan police force did. The attitude of the people at the time was that the police were incompetent and that the Commissioner, Sir Charles Warren, was only good for policing crowds and keeping order rather than detective work. He was especially criticized for not offering a reward in the hope that a confederate or accomplice would come forth and inform against the Ripper. In fact, Warren had no objections for a reward being offered and it was his superior, Henry Matthews, the Home Secretary who refused the sanction of a reward. The City of London Police seems to have done a better job although they did not apprehend the killer either. City police officers made crime scene drawings, took many photographs of the victim Eddowes, and even though she was not in their jurisdiction, they took photographs of the Kelly victim. She is the only victim who was photographed at the crime scene. One of the splits between the leadership of the two forces was over graffito found in Goulston Street on the night of the "double event". A piece of Eddowes' apron, which the Ripper used to wipe off his knife, was found by a constable near a doorway that had a chalked message over the door. This message, "The Juwes are the men That Will not be blamed for nothing", may have been written by the Ripper and the City police officers wanted to photograph it. Warren felt that leaving it until it was light enough to be photographed might cause riots against the Jews living in Whitechapel whom the bigoted English residents already believed were responsible for the murders. Warren did not even compromise by willing to erase or cover up the word "Juwes" only. In the end the police never charged any suspect with the murders committed by the Ripper which shows they did not have a sufficient amount of evidence that would gain a verdict of guilty in criminal court.

Suspects

In 1894, Sir Melville Macnaghten, then Chief Constable, wrote a confidential report in which he names the three top suspects. Although some information concerning the suspect he believed most likely to have been the murderer had been available before the turn of the century, the name of that suspect was not made public until 1959. Macnaghten's suspect was M.J. Druitt, a barrister turned teacher who committed suicide in December 1888. Unfortunately for Macnaghten who wrote his memoranda from memory, the details he ascribes to Druitt are wrong. According to the Chief Constable, Druitt was a doctor, 41 years of age, and committed suicide immediately after the Kelly murder. In actuality Druitt was 31, not a doctor, and killed himself nearly a month after the last official murder. No other police officer supported Macnaghten's allegations, and one in fact, stated that the theory was inadequate and that the suicide was circumstantial evidence at best that the drowned doctor was the Ripper. While it is still possible that he was the Ripper, correct information gathered about Druitt so far makes him seem an unlikely candidate.

In 1903, Frederick Abberline, a retired crack detective who had been in charge of the Ripper investigation at the ground level stated that he thought that multiple wife poisoner Severin Klosowski, alias George Chapman, might be Jack the Ripper. As with Macnaghten, no other officer has concurred with his opinion and modern criminal profiling science tends to reject Klosowski as a serious candidate.

The name of Macnaghten's second suspect was confirmed as Aaron Kosminiski in the early 1980s when a researcher came upon Donald Swanson's personal copy of Robert Anderson's book of memoirs. Both Swanson and Anderson were officers who participated in the Ripper investigation; indeed, they were the ones given the responsibility of being in charge of the case. Anderson had written in his memoirs that appeared for the first time in 1910 that the police knew who the Ripper was. According to Anderson the Ripper was a Polish Jew who was put away in an insane asylum after the crimes, and then died soon after. Swanson had made some notes in his copy of the book concerning Anderson's suspect, and wrote that the suspect's name was Kosminski. At first it seemed that the case had been solved, but research has found a number of problems with the theory. No other officer supports' Anderson's allegation, and Swanson's notes seem to question his superior's claims rather than support them. Aaron Kosminski was a real person and was placed in an insane asylum. His records show him to be a docile and harmless lunatic that heard voices in his head and would only eat food from the gutter. The dates of his incarceration are wrong, and he did not die soon after his committal but lived on until 1919. Some researchers have tried to explain the problems by saying that the name Kosminski' was confused with another insane Polish Jew, who really was dangerous.

The search continues. The third Macnaghten suspect, Michael Ostrog, has been investigated and there is nothing to indicate that he was nothing more than a demented con man.

Dr. Francis Tumblety, the latest serious suspect, only became known to students of the Jack the Ripper murders in 1993. A collector of crime memorabilia obtained a cache of letters belonging to a crime journalist named G.R. Sims. Among the letters was one from John Littlechild, who had been in charge of the Secret Department in Scotland Yard at the time of the murders. Dated 1913, Littlechild writes to Sims: "I never heard of a Dr. D. (which many assume is a reference to Druitt as Macnaghten thought Druitt was a doctor and Sims was a confident of the Chief Constable), in connection with the Whitechapel Murders but amongst the suspects, and to my mind a very likely one, was a Dr. T . . . He was an American quack named Tumblety . . . " A book by the collector who found the letter goes to great lengths in trying to prove that Tumblety is the final solution for the mystery. Unfortunately, he fails to do so. There is no doubt that Tumblety was a legitimate suspect and that when he fled to America, Scotland Yard detectives came over to investigate him further. It is unlikely that Scotland Yard continued to view him as a serious suspect. James Monro, who succeeded Warren and was in overall command of the Secret department before becoming Commissioner, thought that the Alice McKenzie murder of July 1889 was the work of the Ripper. He stated in 1890 that he did not know who the Whitechapel murderer was but that he was working on his own theory.

Ripper Research

At the time of the murders and for the next few years, a lot was written about the murders including some tabloid type books. Most of it is worthless and only helped to set up many myths that have clouded serious attempts to figure out what really happened that autumn in London. Other than memoirs of officers who worked on the case, which is valuable, little else was written until after the first world war. In 1929 the first full length book in English about the Ripper, The Mystery of Jack the Ripper by Leonard Matters, was published. Once more there was growing interest in the murders again in that the Ripper was appearing in both nonfiction works and fictional formats such as Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger. Cult-like interest, the interest that has really never left, began in the 1950s. Dan Farson did a television show about the Ripper and uncovered a version of the McNaghten memoranda. The first really good books began to be published in the 1960s, such as Tom Cullen's Autumn of Terror and Robin Odell's Jack the Ripper in Fact and Fiction. Interest in Jack the Ripper exploded in 1970 when a new theory was published in which the grandson of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, was accused of being the Ripper. Just like his nemesis in fiction, Sherlock Holmes, the 1970s saw Jack being either paired with someone famous or identified as being someone famous. It was a decade that also featured some entertaining but patently absurd conspiracy theories explaining who the Ripper really was. Plots involving Freemasons, court physicians, and sinister figures from occult organizations, have been paraded before the public as the final solution. In the midst of the madness some good came out. Donald Rumbelow's The Complete Jack the Ripper was published, and police files still existing from the investigations were made available to all and sundry. The 1980s saw a tide of books published to cash in on the centennial of the Murders in Whitechapel, and lost evidence was returned anonymously to the police and Swanson's notes on Anderson's suspect were found. The FBI's Behavioral Science Unit did a criminal profile of the Ripper and aspects of the murders were discussed in various professional journals. During the 1990s, two new books have appeared that are musts for people who are interested in the Ripper murders. The Jack the Ripper A to Z by Paul Begg, Martin Fido, and Keith Skinner is indispensable for doing research and Sugden's The Complete History of Jack the Ripper has replaced Rumbelow's worthy tome as the authoritative source for information. An interesting phony diary supposedly written by the Ripper was published and the authentic letter revealing the suspect Dr. Francis Tumblety has also been released to the public.

The Future

In the past ten years more evidence has been recovered, new information garnered through the young criminal sciences, and serious research conducted on the mystery of Jack the Ripper than at any other time since the case was officially closed in 1892. After more than a hundred years the case is still fascinating, and results are still being gotten through research. Nick Warren, a student of the crimes and a practicing surgeon, studied the second Kelly crime scene photograph that was recently recovered, and was able to establish that a hatchet was used by the Ripper to split one of his victim's legs! The likelihood of the case ever being solved is open to debate. If the police solved it but for some reason kept the Ripper's identity a secret, then I think that the odds are good that the answer will be rediscovered. Unfortunately, I and I think most serious students on the subject, do not think that the police did solve the case. Individual officers had strong opinions on who Jack the Ripper was, but not the Forces as a whole. This makes the challenge much more difficult as today's researchers must find new evidence rather than unearth that which has been lost. The evidence lost is considerable. Virtually all of the City of London Police files were lost in the Blitz during the last world war. What remains of the Metropolitan Police files are available to the public but the files are sparse. Some have claimed that the files were purposefully destroyed to keep the Murderer's identity a secret. The truth is more pedestrian and unromantic. Almost from the beginning items were removed for souvenirs. Often in those olden days when they ran out of room, the clerks would go to the end of the shelve and simply dump out the old files by the armful. When Abberline was interviewed in 1903, the journalist noted that the retired Scotland yard Inspector was surrounded by official files. Once, upon the death of a retired officer, a trunk full of files concerning his old cases was found in his possession. Modern day "Ripperologists" were not above souvenir hunting themselves. A number of documents were taken in the late 1970s/early 1980s and as a result the remaining material was put on microfilm. It seems perfectly possible that Jack the Ripper's identity may one day be discovered; it may be one of the serious suspects mentioned in this report, or one that the police dismissed too cavalierly all those years ago, or it may be someone completely unknown at this time. The future may or may not reveal the Ripper's name.

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Richard Ramirez - The Night Stalker

The Baby of the Family:

Ricardo Leyva a.k.a. Richard Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas, on February 28, 1960, to Julian and Mercedes Ramirez. Richard was the youngest child of six, epileptic, and described by his father as being "a good boy," until his involvement with drugs. Richard admired his father, but at the age of 12, he found a new hero, his cousin, Mike, a Vietnam veteran and ex-Green Beret.

Ramirez Finds a Hero:

Mike, home from Vietnam, shared gruesome pictures of rape and human torture with Richard, who became fascinated with the pictorial brutality. The two spent a lot of time together, smoking pot and talking about war. On one such day, Mike's wife began to complain about Mike's laziness. Mike's reaction was to kill her by shooting her in the face, in front of Richard. Because of Mike's war record, he was sentenced to seven years for the killing.

Drugs, Candy and Satanism:
By the age of 18, Richard was a habitual drug user and chronic candy eater, resulting in tooth decay and extreme halitosis. He also became involved in Satan worshipping and his general poor appearance enhanced his satanic persona. Already arrested on numerous drug and theft charges, Ramirez decided to move to southern California. There he advanced from simple theft to breaking and entering into homes. He became very proficient at it and eventually began to linger in the homes of his victims.

Pure Evil:
On June 28, 1984, his burglaries turned into something far more evil. Ramirez entered through an opened window of Glassel Park resident, Jennie Vincow, age 79. According to Philip Carlo's book, 'The Night Stalker,' he became angry after not finding anything of value to steal, and began stabbing the sleeping Vincow, eventually slitting her throat. The act of killing aroused him sexually, and he had sex with the corpse before leaving.

Savored Memories Fade:
Ramirez remained quiet for eight months, but the memory he savored of his last killing had run dry. He needed more. On March 17, 1985, Ramirez jumped 22-year-old Angela Barrio outside her condo. He shot her, kicked her out of the way, and headed into her condo. Inside, was roommate, Dayle Okazaki, age 34, who Ramirez immediately shot and killed. Barrio remained alive out of pure luck. The bullet had ricocheted off the keys she held in her hands, as she lifted them to protect herself.

The Thirst for More:
Within an hour of killing Okazaki, Ramirez struck again in Monterey Park. He jumped 30-year-old Tsai-Lian Yu and pulled her out of her car onto the road. He shot several bullets into her and fled. A policeman found her still breathing, but she died before the ambulance arrived. Ramirez's thirst was not quenched. He then murdered an eight-year-old girl from Eagle Rock, just three days after killing Tsai-Lian Yu.

Post-mortem Mutilations Become His Mark:
On March 27, Ramirez shot Vincent Zazarra, age 64, and his wife Maxine, age 44. Mrs. Zazzara's body was mutilated with several stab wounds, a T-carving on her left breast, and her eyes were gouged out. The autopsy determined that the mutilations were post-mortem. Ramirez left footprints in the flower beds, which the police photographed and cast. Bullets found at the scene were matched to those found at previous attacks, and the police realized a serial killer was on the loose.

Ramirez's MO - Kill the Man Quickly:
Two months after killing the Zazzara couple, Ramirez attacked again. Harold Wu, age 66, was shot in the head, and his wife, Jean Wu, age 63, was punched, bound, and then violently raped. For unknown reasons, Ramirez decided to let her live. Ramirez's attacks were now in full throttle. He left behind more clues to his identity, and was named, 'The Night Stalker,' by the media. Those who survived his attacks, provided the police with a description - Hispanic, long dark hair, and foul smelling.

Pentagrams Found at the Crime Scene :
On May 29, 1985, Ramirez attacked Malvial Keller, 83, and her invalid sister, Blanche Wolfe, 80, beating each with a hammer. Ramirez attempted to rape Keller, but failed. Using lipstick, he drew a pentagram on Keller's thigh and on the wall in the bedroom. Blanche survived the attack. The next day, Ruth Wilson, 41, was bound, raped, and sodomized by Ramirez, while her 12-year old son was locked in a closet. Ramirez slashed Wilson once, and then bound her and her son together, and left.

His Killing Spree Terrorized Los Angeles: Ramirez's 1985 killing and rape spree continued:

• June 27 - Ramirez raped a 6-year-old girl in Acadia.

• June 28 - Patty Higgins, age 32, was beaten and her throat slit.

• July 2 - Mary Cannon, age 75, was beaten and her throat slit.

• July 5 - Deidre Palmer, age 16, survived being beaten with a tire iron.

• July 7 - Joyce Lucille Nelson, 61, was bludgeoned to death.

• July 7 - Linda Fortuna, 63, was attacked and Ramirez tried to rape her, but failed.

• July 20 - Maxson Kneiling, 66, and his wife Lela, also 66, were shot and their corpses, mutilated.

• July 20, Chitat Assawahem, 31, was shot and his wife Sakima, 29, was beaten then forced to perform oral sex. Ramirez then collected $30,000 in valuables, but before leaving, he sodomized the couple's eight-year-old son.

• August 6 - Ramirez shot both Christopher Petersen, 38, and his wife, Virginia, 27, in the head. Both somehow survived.

• August 8 - Ramirez shot Ahmed Zia, 35, and raped and sodomized his wife, Suu Kyi, 28, and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

On Aug. 24, 1985, Ramirez traveled 50 miles south of Los Angeles, and broke into the home of Bill Carns, 29, and his fiancée, Inez Erickson, 27. Ramirez shot Carns in the head and raped Erickson. He demanded she swear her love for Satan and afterwards, forced her to perform oral sex on him. He then tied her and left. Erickson struggled to the window and saw the car Ramirez was driving.

A teenager wrote down the license plate number of the same car, after noticing it cruising suspiciously in the neighborhood.

The information from Erickson and the young man enabled police to locate the abandoned car, and get fingerprints from inside. A computer match was made of the prints, and identification of the Night Stalker became known. On August 30, 1985, the arrest warrant for Richard Ramirez was issued and his picture released to the public.

A Face Revealed:
On August 30, 1985, an arrest warrant for Richard Ramirez was issued and his face revealed to the public. Ramirez, unaware that his picture was all over the newspapers, got off of a Greyhound bus, and walked into a liquor store. The woman working inside recognized him and began yelling that he was the Night Stalker. Shocked, he quickly fled the store and headed toward the heavily populated Hispanic area of east Los Angeles. A small mob had formed and were following close behind him.

Captured by a Mob:
Ramirez tried to steal a car, but the owner was underneath it doing repairs. When Ramirez started the engine, the man pulled out from beneath the car and began chasing Ramirez. The mob that was in pursuit of Ramirez, now armed with steal rods, caught up with him. He was subdued, while some of the mob beat him, until the police arrived. Reportedly, Ramirez raised his hands to the police, begging for protection, and identified himself as the Night Stalker.

Endless Appeals:
Because of the endless appeals on the part of the defense, the Ramirez trial did not end for over four years. One such appeal was to overturn the decision by a judge, for refusing to remove Judge Tynan from the case. In addition, defense attorney, Daniel Hernandez, suffered from stress, which resulted in numerous medical delays.

Haunts of the Charlie Manson Trial:
During the trial, Ramirez attracted several groupies who wrote to him regularly. The trial scene had haunts of the Charlie Manson trial, with women hanging around, clad in black robes. When one of the juror's failed to show up one day, and was discovered dead in her apartment from a gun shot wound, many wondered if some of Ramirez's followers were responsible. But in actuality, it was the woman's boyfriend who killed her, during an argument that erupted while discussing the Ramirez case.

The Virgin Doreen:
In 1996, Ramirez tied the knot with one of his groupies. She is 41-year-old Doreen Lioy, who has described herself as a virgin, prior to her marriage to Ramirez. Since death-row inmates are not permitted to have conjugal visits, then she may still be a virgin, not that anyone would care, other then Ramirez, who said her virginity is what attracted him to her.

Mixed Marriage:
Doreen Lioy believes her husband is innocent of the charges against him. Lioy, who was raised as a Catholic, respects Ramirez's Satanic worship. This was demonstrated when she gave him a silver wedding band to wear, since Satanic worshipers do not wear gold.

Sentenced to Die :
On September, 20, 1989, The Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, was found guilty on 43 counts in Los Angeles County, including 13 murders, and charges including burglary, sodomy, and rape. He was sentenced to death on each count of murder. After receiving his sentence, Ramirez responded, "Big deal," he said. "Death always went with the territory." and told reporters, "I'll see you in Disneyland." Currently Ramirez is in San Quentin Prison, where he sits on death row, until he is out of appeals.

During the sentencing stage, it was reported that Ramirez did not want his attorney's to beg for his life. It will be interesting to see if this same bravado will be demonstrated by him on the day he dies.

He has already outlived some of the victims that survived his attack.

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David Berkowitz - The Son of Sam

David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, is an infamous 1970s New York City serial killer who killed six people and wounded several others. His crimes became legendary because of the bazarre content in the letters that he wrote to the police and the media and his reasons for commiting the attacks. With the police feeling the pressure to catch the killer, "Operation Omega" was formed, which was comprised of over 200 detectives – all working on finding the Son of Sam before he killed again.

Berkowitz's Childhood: David Berkowitz, born June 1, 1953, was the adopted son of Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz. The family lived in a middle-class home in the Bronx. The couple loved and doted on their son yet Berkowitz grew up feeling rejected and scorned because of being adopted. His size and appearance did not help matters. He was larger than most of the kids his age and not particularly attractive. His parents were not social people and Berkowitz followed in that path, developing a reputation for being a loner.

Berkowitz was Plagued with Guilt and Anger: Berkowitz was an average student and did not show any particular flair for any one subject. He did, however, develop into a decent baseball player which became his main outside activity. Around the neighborhood he had a reputation for being hyper and a bully. Believing his natural mother died while giving birth to him was the source of intense guilt and anger inside Berkowitz. Some believe it was the reason for his anti-social and aggressive behavior as a child.

The Death of His Mother: Pearl Berkowitz had a reoccurrence with breast cancer and died in 1967. Berkowitz was devastated and became severely depressed. He viewed his mother’s death as a master plot designed to destroy him. He began to fail in school and spent most all of his time alone. When his father remarried in 1971, his new wife did not get along with the young Berkowitz, and the newly wed couple moved to Florida leaving 18-year-old Berkowitz behind.

Berkowitz Reunites with His Birth Mother: Berkowitz joined the army and after a disastrous three years he left the service. During that time he had his one and only sexual experience with a prostitute and caught a venereal disease. When he returned home from the army, he found out his natural mother was still alive and that he had a sister. There was a brief reunion, but eventually Berkowitz stopped visiting. His isolation, fantasies, and paranoid delusions were now in full force.

Driven By Demons: On Christmas Eve 1975, Berkowitz’s “demons” drove him out into the streets with a hunting knife to find a victim to kill. Later he confessed to plunging his knife into two women, one which could not be confirmed. The second victim, 15-year-old Michelle Forman, survived the attack and was treated for six knife wounds. Soon after the attacks, Berkowitz moved out of the Bronx to a two-family home in Yonkers. It was in this home that the Son of Sam would be created.

Howling Dogs and General Jack Cosmo: Howling dogs in the neighborhood kept Berkowitz from sleeping and in his deranged mind, he turned their howls into messages from demons that were ordering him to go kill women. He later said that in attempt to quiet the demons, he began to do what they asked. Jack and Nann Cassara owned the home and in time Berkowitz became convinced that the quiet couple was in truth, part of the demon conspiracy, with Jack being General Jack Cosmo, commander in chief of the dogs that tormented him.

A Thirst for Blood: When he moved away from the Cassaras into an apartment on Pine Street, he failed to escape the controlling demons. His new neighbor, Sam Carr, had a black Labrador named Harvey, who Berkowitz believed was also possessed. He eventually shot the dog, but that did not offer him relief because he had come to believe that Sam Carr was possessed by the most powerful demon of them all, possibly Satan himself. Nightly the demons screamed at Berkowitz to go kill, their thirst for blood unquenchable.

The Arrest of the Son of Sam : Berkowitz was eventually caught after receiving a parking ticket at the time and near the place of the Moskowitz murder. That evidence along with letters he wrote to Carr and the Cassaras, his military background, his appearance, and an arson incident, led police to his door. When he was arrested he immediately surrendered to police and identified himself as Sam. After being evaluated, it was determined that he could stand trial. He pled not guilty and received a 365-year sentence.

Berkowitz's Crime Spree:

• July 29, 1976 – Jody Valenti and Donna Lauria were shot as they sat talking in a parked car outside Donna’s apartment. Lauria died instantly from a gunshot wound to her neck. Valenti survived the attack.

• October 23, 1976 – Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan were shot while sitting in Denaro’s parked car. Both survived, but Carl was struck in the head by one of the bullets.
• November 26, 1976 – Donna DeMasi and 18-year-old Joanne Lomino were walking near Joanne’s home after a late movie. Berkowitz followed them briefly, then shot them. Donna survived without suffering permanent physical harm, but Joanne was paralyzed for life.
• January 30, 1977 – 26-year-old Christine Freund and her fiance John Diel were shot as they sat in a parked car. Christine died and John Diel survived the attack.
• March 8, 1977 – Virginia Voskerichian, a Barnard College honor student was shot and killed while walking home from class.
• April 17, 1977 – 18-year-old Valentina Suriani and her 20-year-old boyfriend Alexander Esau, were both shot twice. Both died as a result of gunshot wounds. Berkowitz left a letter at the scene, signed “Son of Sam.”
• June 26, 1977 – Judy Placido and Sal Lupu were shot while leaving a disco. Both survived although Judy was shot three times.
• July 31, 1977 – Bobby Violante and Stacy Moskowitz were shot in the car while parked at a lover’s lane. Stacy died from a gunshot wound to her head and Bobby lost vision in one eye and partial vision in the other eye.

The Ressler Interview In 1979, Berkowitz was interviewed by FBI veteran, Robert Ressler. Berkowitz admitted that he invented the “Son of Sam” stories so that if caught he could convince the court that he was insane. He said the real reason he killed was because he felt resentment toward his mother and his failures with women. He found killing the women to be sexually arousing.

Today Berkowitz is a born-again Christian and described as a model prisoner.

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