The Serial Killer Compendium

by R. J. Parker

  In January of 2010, some crime scene photos of the Parkway murder victims were inappropriately used to instruct a class by a retired FBI photographer. These pictures leaked to the media and subsequently the investigation was re-opened. Investigators soon discovered dozens of pieces of evidence stored away for over twenty years that had never been tested for DNA. The FBI met with the victim’s families after much criticism from the media and had all the evidence sent to the crime lab at Quantico for DNA scrutiny. The families were told that the testing would take some time and continue into 2011.

  Update: October 19th, 2011 – Lynn-Marie Carty is a famous national private detective. There is no doubt in her mind that Michael Nicholaou is the Colonial Parkway Killer and she is working diligently to prove it. The FBI is now testing his DNA for comparison.

  You can see her story at this site: http://parkway.crimeshadows.com/nicholaou.htm

  The Missouri River Killer

  Dover, Missouri (10+ Victims)

  The Missouri River Killer, a.k.a. The Independence Avenue Prostitute Killer, has been haunting Kansas City since 1996. The body of Christy Fugate, twenty-one, was discovered on October tenth, 1996, after she was abducted, killed, and dumped in the Missouri River near Dover in Lafayette County. Since then, nine more bodies have been recovered.

  The killer is targeting the red light district and preying on prostitutes in the Independence Avenue area of Kansas City. In all cases, the young women are approximately the same height and weight, and authorities have warned women to be extra vigilant and report anything suspicious.

  In total, ten women, including Christy Fugate, have been found murdered, but more have disappeared who police believe may have worked in the Independence Avenue area.

  In March of 1997, Sherri Livingston’s body was discovered in the river nearby river. In April, it was Connie Wallace-Byas; the next day, Linda Custer; two weeks later, in May, Chandra Helsel’s body was found near Boonsville; and in April of 1998, Tammy Smith’s mutilated body was discovered near Sibly in the same river. The bodies of four other Kansas City women have been discovered along the water's edge. Police believe they too may be the victims of the mysterious Missouri River Killer.

  The I-70/I-35 Killer

  Texas (8+ Victims)

  Between April of 1992, and November of 1993, numerous women were killed in small businesses along Interstates I-70 and I-35. All of the victims were young women in their 20s and 30s. Witnesses provided details to a sketch artist and the killer was described as mid 20s to mid 30s, with short reddish hair, standing about 5’8”.

  At a Payless Shoe Store in Indianapolis, Robin Fuldauer, twenty-six, was murdered execution style on April 8th, 1992. Just days later on April 11th at a bridal shop in Wichita, Kansas, Trisha Smith, twenty-three, and Patricia Magers, were taken to the backroom and each shot in the head. A customer entered the store just as the shots were being fired and he ran away and contacted the police. The customer later provided a composite of the killer.

  Again, the killer struck on May 3rd when he entered a store in St. Charles, just off of I-70, and shot and killed twenty-five year old Nancy Kitzmiller. Four days later, on May 7th, he killed Sarah Blessing, thirty-seven, in a video store in Kansas City. There are possibly links to four more deaths along Interstates 35 and 45 in Texas. On September 25th, 1993, antiques store clerk Mary Ann Glasscock, fifty-one, was killed execution-style in a Fort Worth, Texas antique store. On November 1st 1993 Amy Vess, twenty-two, was murdered while working at a dancewear shop in Arlington, Texas.

  A Task force was set up and many suspects were eliminated. The only lead police have is the sketch and the bullets that were recovered. Hopefully, someday they’ll find the gun and be able to take ballistics comparisons, which will lead to an arrest.

  Serial Killer in Rapid City

  Rapid City, South Dakota (8 Victims)

  Eight homeless men have appeared drowned over the last sixteen months in a stream that runs through a park in Rapid City, South Dakota. When the first few bodies turned up in the stream on the edge of the Black Hills, police thought nothing of it. As more men died, however, law officers became suspicious. “There's just too many of them to say it’s coincidence. But it could be,” said Police Chief Tom Hennies. The latest to die was Timothy Bull Bear Sr., forty-nine, from the town of Allen on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was found in the creek on July 8th.

  Authorities have no witnesses, there are no bullet holes, stab wounds, or evidence of foul play. Police do not know where most of the men entered the stream. What investigators know is that six of the eight dead were Indians, and all but one had been drinking heavily just before they died. The homeless who live under bridges along the creek believe someone is pushing the men into the water when they are passed out drunk. Rumors reported to police include accusations that the creek people are being killed by a fellow homeless man, that they’re being killed by racist skinheads, a motel owner, members of a satanic cult, and a big white man on a bicycle. One report even accused a police officer.

  The Babysitter Killer

  Oakland County, Michigan (4-5 Victims)

  In 1976, an unidentified killer stalked Oakland County, Michigan, preying on inhabited children. The killer was nicknamed "The Babysitter" due to the abundant care he provided his young victims while he held them captive before murdering them.

  Of the six victims accredited to The Babysitter Killer, two were raped. The corpses of four of the children were washed clean and carefully laid on the fresh snow. The obsessive scrubbing of the corpses suggested that the killer could have been practicing some type of purification rite, or simply removing any incriminating evidence.

  Because of the diverse killing methods used by the attacker, authorities initially believed they were searching for up to four different killers; however, by the sixth victim, eleven-year-old Timothy King, police started to believe that they were searching for one killer. After Tim's disappearance, his mother went on television promising the boy his favorite chicken if he returned home. But Tim never made it back home alive. The killer, however, did feed him a chicken dinner before suffocating him.

  A Detroit psychiatrist published an open letter in March of 1977 directed to the killer theorizing on the killer’s motives for preying on children. Of the many responses he received, one stood out: "The article was wrong you better hope it doesn't snow anymore." The psychiatrist received more letters from a man called calling himself Allen who claimed that his roommate was the mysterious killer. Both men were Vietnam vets, and he claimed buddy was targeting suburban children in his war against affluent America.

  There were no more deaths attributed to The Babysitter. Authorities believe the killer might have retired, died, moved, or become incarcerated for an unrelated crime. Perhaps he moved to warmer climates where he never again saw fresh snow.

  In the 1980s, suspicion focused on a former Warren autoworker in Norberg when, among his belongings, relatives found a cross inscribed with the first name of a victim, Kristine. Although he died in a car wreck in 1981, on August 29th, 1999, Michigan authorities announced they were going to his exhume his grave in Wyoming and take DNA samples to match it against a hair found on the body of one of his suspected victims. This turned out to be negative.

  The St. Louis Killer

  St. Louis, Missouri (8+ Victims)

  On the Southside of St. Louis in the late 1990s, a serial killer raped and killed at least eight women.

  The first victim found was Lolina Collins, forty-one, whose autopsy revealed that she had been strangled. Her body, dressed only in a bra, was found with a trash bag over her ankles and a second trash bag over her arms. The mother of three children had worked at a state hospital until April, and was planning to become an elementary school teacher. Police identified the second victim as Brenda Beasley, thirty-three, of St. Louis. A motorist found her naked body lying by a fire hydrant, her wrists and ankles bound with duct tape. It was uncertain if she was sexually assaulted, but apparently
she had died due to blunt force trauma to the head. She was a mother of four children and worked full-time at a fast food restaurant.

  The bodies of six other women have been found in the same general area in East St. Louis since November of 1999. Most were in areas frequented by prostitutes and drug users. There were no witnesses and the authorities have nothing to go on. The killings, however, have since stopped.

  Possible Columbus Serial Killer

  Columbus, Mississippi (3-5 Victims)

  In a small community of Columbus, Mississippi in 1995, five senior citizens were killed. The Police Chief Donald Freshour warned that a serial killer was targeting the elderly in the community of only 24,000 citizens.

  Louise Randal, eighty, was found strangled in her home on November 21st, 1995. Louise was a retired server and needed a walker to get around. Just three weeks later, Betty Everett, sixty-seven, a retirement home hairdresser, was also strangled in her home. Both of these women were had been gagged and bound with tape.

  On October 13th, Robert Hannah was beaten on his head and strangled in his home and his house set fire. The police believe that the fire was set to cover up the murder. The following year, on July 8th, 1996, the body of Mack Fowler, seventy-eight, was found in his kitchen, and the corpse of George Wilbanks, seventy-five, was found Nov. 2nd, 1997 in the Wilbank home. The investigations into these killings did not lead to any credible suspects.

  Three years later, however, on April 17th, 2000, the authorities announced they were close to solving at least two of five unsolved killings of local senior citizens. Police said they no longer considered the five murders to be the work of a serial killer, and that they believed only two of the deaths were linked together. In fact, they said they had evidence linking an unnamed suspect to the murders of Betty Everett and Louise Randall.

  "I would like to bring some closure to this for several reasons," Chief Billy Pickens said. "One is for the families of the victims, and the other is for the community. I think the community has accepted that there wasn't a wild serial killer running around." Columbus City Councilman Chuck Weldon said people do not talk much these days about the unsolved killings, and that widespread anxiety seems to have diminished. "Everybody is just anxious to get them solved," he added.

  The crimes have yet to be solved. Did the killer move on, die, just stop killing, or has he been incarcerated for another crime?

  The Highway of Tears Killer

  Highway 16 - Yellowhead, British Columbia (40+ Victims)

  Along a 500-mile section of highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, at least forty-three young women have disappeared since 1969. This section of road is now called the Highway of Tears, and a website has been launched in the victims honor by Prince George businessperson Tony Romeyn, who was moved by the stories of women who have gone missing along Highway 16, and wanted to help the families of the victims.

  http://www.highwayoftears.ca/website%20Launched.htm

  On the site, there is a map of Highway 16 that shows the general area where nineteen victims were found or is said to have disappeared. Four of the nineteen girls are listed as missing, while the bodies of the other fifteen have been found and the cases considered homicides. Ann Bascu, who went missing in 1983, is the only one who went missing outside of B.C., in Hinton, Alta.

  The RCMP, or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, have examined the similarities among the murders and disappearances and have ascertained that eighteen of the victims share positive links.

  The Highway of Tears Symposium was held in March 2006 by several Prince George-area aboriginal groups. The outcome was the Highway of Tears Symposium Recommendation Report, published June 2006. It states: "There is much community speculation and debate on the exact number of women that have disappeared along Highway 16 over a longer 35 year period; many are saying the number of missing women, combined with the number of confirmed murdered women, exceeds 30.” The report says the term Highway of Tears was the result of the "fear, frustration, and sorrow" that grew "within First Nations communities along the highway upon each reported case of a young woman's disappearance, or confirmation of a recovered body."

  John Wayne Gacy

  The Killer Clown

  Victims (33)

  Background

  John Wayne Gacy was born on March 17th, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois, to John and Marion Gacy. He died May 10th, 1994 by lethal injection, at the age of fifty-two.

  Gacy’s childhood was an abusive one. His father was an alcoholic who beat his wife and children on a regular basis and he referred to the younger Gacy as a stupid little sissy and a mama’s boy. When Gacy was nine years old he was molested by a family friend. At eleven, he developed a blood clot in his head after being hit in the head by a swing and began to have blackouts. His father believed that his son was faking the blackouts; however, Gacy was eventually treated to dissolve the clot.

  At twenty years old, John Gacy left home and headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked for three months at a mortuary before quitting and returning to Chicago. In Chicago, he enrolled in the Northwestern Business College and got hired by the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company in Springfield, Illinois, as a salesperson. It was there that he met fellow employee, Marlynn Myers. Two years later, in September of 1964, he and Marlynn were wed.

  After completing his apprenticeship, Gacy was promoted to manager of his department. He became active in local Springfield organizations, joined the Jaycees, and rose to vice-president of the Springfield chapter by 1965.

  Sexual Deviant

  Gacy’s father-in-law offered him a position managing three Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Waterloo, Iowa. By this time, Gacy had a family: two children, a son named Michael, and a daughter, Christine. Not long after moving to Iowa, Gacy had his first known homosexual experience with a colleague of the Waterloo Jaycees, which he had joined after moving there. Gacy became involved in pornography, drugs, and prostitution on a regular basis, and in 1967 he molested a teenage male employee at one of his restaurants.

  Gacy opened a private club in his basement which catered to his employees. He would often encourage his patrons to drink and then make sexual advances towards them. Gacy once permitted a teen to have sex with his wife in order to blackmail the teen into having oral sex with him. However, his little club came to a grinding halt when in March of 1968, two teens – aged fifteen and sixteen – accused Gacy of sexual assault. Gacy was arrested and ordered by the judge to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Psychiatric Hospital of the State University of Iowa. Over a seventeen-day period, two doctors concluded that Gacy was mentally competent to stand trial, but that he had an antisocial personality and would likely repeat his sexual behavior.

  On December 3rd, 1968, John Wayne Gacy was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to ten years at the Anamosa State Penitentiary in Iowa. That day, his wife filed for a divorce, petitioning for all the matrimonial property and alimony payments. The Court ruled in her favor, and in September, 1969, the divorce was finalized. Gacy never saw his ex-wife or two children ever again.

  Gacy was a model prisoner. While in prison, he completed sixteen high school courses, obtained his diploma, helped to secure an increase in the prisoner’s daily pay, and supervised several in-prison projects. He was released on parole with a twelve-month probation period on June 18th, 1970. He promptly left Iowa and moved home to live with his mother in Chicago the next day.

  Gacy, with assistance from his mother, bought a house in Chicago, and it wasn’t long before he met Carole Hoff, who he married on July 1st, 1972. By this time, however, Gacy had already begun his killing spree. Just eighteen months out of prison, Gacy murdered his first victim.

  Murder Spree

  Timothy McCoy, a boy fifteen years old, was traveling from Michigan to Omaha on January 2nd, 1972, when Gacy picked him up at Chicago’s Greyhound Bus Terminal. Gacy brought the boy back to his house, reassuring the boy that he’d return him to the bus station the next morning. Timoth
y ended up being stabbed to death and buried in a crawl space which was then covered in cement.

  Three years later, one of Gacy’s employees, John Butkovitch, seventeen years old, disappeared in July. The day before, John had threatened Gacy as Gacy owed him two weeks back pay. According to Gacy, he lured John to his home and then strangled him to death and buried him under the cement floor in the garage. It is interesting to note that John’s parents called the police more than one hundred times over a three year period, urging them to investigate Gacy to no avail.

  In March of 1976, Gacy’s wife left him. As he suddenly had the house to himself, this gave Gacy the opportunity to kill more often, and he didn’t waste any time. Between April and October of 1976, Gacy killed a minimum of eight youths between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, seven of whom he buried in his crawl space, and the other beneath his dining room floor. In December of 1976, Gregory Godzik, another employee of Gacy, also went missing. In the time that he worked for Gacy, Gregory had told his family that Gacy had put him to work digging trenches for a drain in the crawl space beneath his house.