True Crime Literature

The greatest conflict in Eric Larson's The Devil in the White City is the struggle between good and evil as played out be the character of H.H. Holmes, one of Chicago's earliest serial killers.

In 1980 the prosecution used teeth-mark evidence to convict Ted Bundy for 3 murders he committed in Florida. This jury felt with this and all the other evidence that Bundy was the killer. He was not the first to have his teeth come back and 'bite him in the butt'. At the time of Bundy's trial the teeth-mark defense had been used in court in at least a dozen trials.

Although the method has it's critics, as forensics have improved and better and more exact imaging machines are used for crime detection, it is certainly gaining more respect, and when paired with other evidence it can make a much stronger case.

Canadian serial killer Paul Bernardo would most likely qualify as a sadist killer. His victims were kept alive for days and were forced to endure horrendous treatment. He derived his pleasure from another's physical suffering.

Lee, Lori Grody, Lori Kristine Grody, Susan Lynn Blahovec. There may have been more but these were used most often.

The question doesn't specify exactly where Fannin County is. There is one in Georgia and Texas. Further, I could find only one serial killer from this county in either state. John Wesley Hardin was born in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. Hardin, by all accounts, was a deadly individual that had no problem pulling the trigger on another human. A notorious train robber, Hardin left a trail of bodies until he was finally caught and imprisoned.

Within 24 hours of her sentencing Melissa Huckaby was moved to Valley State Women's Prison in Chowchilla, CA.

She was recently transferred to CCWF, the other womens prison across from VSP, Chowchilla. My significant other works there and tells me she is in the special housing unit, where she get beat up on a regular basis.

Mark Furman, one of the detectives on the OJ Simpson case, wrote Murder in Greenwich. The murder of Martha Moxley of Greenwich, CT was a cold case over 2 decades old. After the book was published the case was re-opened and Michael Skagel, a neighbor boy, was charged and convicted of the crime.

Andrei Chikatilo was born in the Ukraine on October 16, 1936. He is known as The Butcher of Rostov and The Red Ripper. From 1978 to 1990 Chikatilo abducted and murdered 53 women and children. He was arrested on September 13, 1984 and was held for 3 months before he was released to kill again.

He was finally arrested and put on trial. Because of the nature of the crimes and the numbers that he killed, required police to put Chikatilo into a cage for his own protection during his trial. He was found guilty and executed for his crimes.

Ted Bundy is a perfect example of an intelligent, organized offender more or less self-destructing in disorganized escalation of his crimes. For years Bundy was careful, he planned his crimes, thought out all scenarios that could come up, and that is why he went undetected for so long.

But after escaping from a jail holding cell and fleeing across the country to Florida, he more or less fell apart. The murders at the sorority house deviated from his usual careful crimes of before. He was completely disorganized with the random choice of victims, weapon, crime scene, not to mention there were witnesses that were only a few feet from him as he made his way in and out of the sorority house. His last victim was not much better. 12 year old Kimberly Leach was abducted by Bundy and was soon found stuffed under an abandoned pig barn. He was arrested a short time later.

Many times with serial criminals there will be an escalation of the crimes. Killers may need more violence and thrills just like a drug addict needs a larger dose of drugs to acheive the same high. This is a lot of times their undoing. They get a little careless or may get the feeling that they are so clever that police will never catch them.

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Some more comments on the topic.

For the purpose of behavioral analysis, there are two distinct types of crime scenes: organized and disorganized. Occasionally, a crime scene will present elements of both.

Organized offenders are psychopathic and antisocial, irrational but sane. There will always be a specific stressor in the offender's life that precipitates the beginning of his murderous career. These can be related to finances, employment, a marriage, or any close relationship. Disorganized offender is psychotic with non-existent social skills. He works from a spontaneous fury sparked by either anger or passion, drugs or alcohol. If he remains uncaught, he may evolve into an organized offender through experience. Disorganization may arise from the youth of the offender, his lack of criminal sophistication, drug or alcohol abuse, or mental deficiency.

Organized Killers

Edmund Kemper, John Wayne Gacy, Bob Berdella, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Gerard John Schaefer, John Joubert, Monte Rissell, David Meierhofer, John Brennan Crutchley.

Disorganized Killers

Richard Trenton Chase, Herbert Mullin, Juan Corona, John Frazier.

Mixed Presentation Killers

Duane Samples, Ted Bundy who was organized until his Florida murders.

DeSalvo's wife's name is Irmgard.

He did. Some confirmed, some not. It is a fact though, that before they were married, Scott had a girlfriend that he flaunted in front of Laci. She ran out crying but somehow she was able to forgive him, and they married. I always wonder if she had not taken him back, she would be alive today.

We don't have any way of knowing that answer. It was well before history was written. A group of scientists examining the "Iceman" mummy found in the Alps in 1991 believe that this 5000 year old man had been pierced by an arrow to the shoulder. See the links below to read about Otzi.

The vast majority of murder victims are killed by someone they know. When police investigate a homicide they start with the people that knew the victim and were the closest to them. As they clear suspects from the victim's inner circle of family and friends and co-workers, they will widen the search. So for the police investigating Cleo Short was actually just basic, solid police work.

There was also the fact that Beth and her father, who lived in the Northern California town of Vallejo, had a nasty fight prior to her departure to Southern California. She lived with her father for a short time, about 3 weeks. But Cleo Short was cleared early on in the investigation due to a solid aliby.

OJ Simpson was born on July 9, 1947 which would make him 63 years old.

Most people have three names. First, middle and last or sir name. It is a common practice that when reporting news, the media use all three names of any given suspect.

As per request of the defense, the trial of Scott Peterson (a resident of Modesto, CA) was moved to Redwood City, CA, which is located just south of the city of San Francisco. Known as a 'change of venue', usually requested by the defense, it moves a trial out of the county or district where the crime occured to another location, for crimes that have garnered a lot of pre-trial publicity. It is meant to insure an unbiased jury pool and a fair and just verdict for the defendant.

I really have no idea what this question is trying to ask. If we're talking attempted murder intent is all important. That and the fact that the victim didn't actually die which is where the attempted part comes in. Law is all about degrees. First, second, third or manslaughter, ect. And what was the intent of the accused at the time of the crime.

Anthony Hardy is the serial killer known as The Camden Ripper. Hardy killed 3 women in London, he was found guilty on all counts and is now serving 3 life sentences.

Dr. Carl Von Cosel, born in Dresden Germany on Feb. 8 1877, he was employeed as a respriathory thearapist at the US Marine Hospital. Although Von Cosel was a married man with 2 daughters he lived as a single man in Key West Florida.

That is where he met a Cuban-American named Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos on April 22, 1930. She was suffering from tuberculosis and came to the hospital for lung treatment. To say Von Cosel fell head over heels in love would be an understatement. Von Cosel (who claimed to be a count) became obsessed with Hoyos, and in all fairness, if he could have cured her illness he would have. But he was not even a medical doctor, but led Hoyos to believe that he could cure her. Hoyos, being a married woman, although her husband abandoned her after a miscarriage, was still married in her mind and only wanted Von Cosel as a friend.

He gave her and her family much hope when there really was no hope of a cure. She believed him for a while. As her condition worsened it became clear that a cure would not be forthcoming. Elena died in 1931, and though it was hard for her family, it was worse for Von Cosel.

Within a short time, Von Cosel crept into the cemetery at night and stole Hoyos' body. For the next 7 years he kept her body with him, most of the time in an old airplane, where he tended to her body, trying to preserve it and keep it as life-like as he could. He would eventually replace her skin, eyes, hair and vagina. He dressed her in a wedding gown and held his own ceromony, so they would be joined forever.

Seven years down the road, Hoyos' family found out that their loved one was not where she was supposed to be. Von Cosel took Elena's sister to her body in the airplane where he lived and planned to fly them to the outer stratosphere, and the poor woman almost fainted looking at her long-dead sister or what was left of her. The family confiscated the body and filed charges against Von Cosel. He was arrested and charged with destruction of a tomb, but he was never prosecuted. There is a statute of limitations on his crimes, so he was finally released. The family of Hoyos buried her body in a secret unmarked tomb, afraid "the Count" would repeat his crime. Before her final burial, city officials displayed her body for 6000 lookee-loos and the press.

Although Hoyos' family was horrified and upset, once charges were dropped they had no enthusiasum for revenge. It was time to let their Elena rest in peace.

Carl Von Cosel moved to Zephyrhills, Florida where he lived until his death on July 23, 1952. Rumor had it that he was found dead lying in a makeshift coffin beside a life-size doll that looked just like his beloved Elena.

As unbelieveable as the story is, Von Cosel had a wife and daughter (a second daughter died at the age of 2 from diptheria) in a nearby town. Von Cosel gave up a loving wife and child to live with a corpse. When news broke of his misdeeds, his wife endured among other things, extreme embarassment. (they had the same name of course)

Interesting fact:The body was examined before reburial and it was discovered that Von Cosel was in fact having sex with the corpse. I doubt few were surprised.

Gary Ridgway The Green River Killer.

I will have to disagree. Gary Ridgeway wasn't identified by DNA until 2001. Prior to that, a number of rapists and murderers were identified by DNA evidence, but were not considered "serial killers" because they were caught having committed one or two murders; it takes at least three to be called a serial killer.

The very first murderer to be caught by DNA was in Leicester, England; after a man had confessed to two rape murders, DNA proved his confession false and identified Colin Pitchfork as the true killer. This was in 1986 and the DNA was key to exonerating one man and identifying and convicting another. But this case was for two murders.

The first serial killer case in the US, was in 1988 when Timothy Spenser was identified as the "Southside Strangler" in Richmond, VA.. He was arrested based on DNA for the rape murders of four women and a fifth victim was later identified. Another man had been convicted of a 1984 murder and spent five years in prison until DNA connected that murder to Timothy Spenser, for a total of five convictions. Also exonerating an innocent man and identifying a guilty one.

See the links below for more information.

Statistics can be manipulated to a certain degree but more serial killers come from the states of California, Washington, Texas, Florida and Georgia. With the exception of Washington state killers seem to like warmer weather.

From the reports, the arteries and vessels, the police scoured that house with forensic equipment and found zero traces of any blood. They also looked in Scott and Laci's vehicles and found a minuscule amount of blood in Scott's truck (on the driver side door) which Scott explained away as saying that he "cut himself on his tool box door." Stabbing is just not possible with forensic evidence to prove it.

William McKinley on September 14th 1901