Scene of the Crime Read online

  Scene of the Crime

  by

  Les MacDonald

  Copyright © 2014 by Les MacDonald

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or retrieval system without permission from the copyright owners.

  Brought to you by KeVkRaY

  Dedication

  This book is lovingly dedicated to my son Tristan Kent MacDonald, his beautiful partner Courtney Rose Kehler and their son (my grandson) Cayden Trent MacDonald. Wishing nothing but the very best in life for all three of you!

  Table of Contents

  Part I: Notorious Crimes

  1.) The Very Strange Mr. Fish

  2.) The Butcher of Plainfield

  3.) From the Pros to the Penitentiary

  4.) Nightmare on Elm Drive

  5.) The Brown’s Chicken Murders

  6.) The Kitty Genovese Murder

  7.) The Wichita Horror

  8.) The Hi Fi Murders

  9.) The Poster Boy For Capital Punishment

  10.) The Yogurt Shop Murders

  11.) The Vampire Rapist

  12.) The murder of James Bulger

  13.) Thrill Killers: The Leopold and Loeb Story

  14.) The Killing of Anita Cobby

  15.) Death in a Bottle 1: The Tylenol Murders

  16.) Death in a Bottle 2: The Excedrin Murders

  17.) Death in a Bottle 3: The Sudafed Murders

  18.) The Easter Sunday Murders

  19.) Murder at McDonald’s

  20.) The Luby’s Massacre

  21.)Charles Manson and Helter Skelter

  Part II: Quick Hits

  22.) Eric Smith

  23.) The Camden Killer

  24.) Killed Over a Kiss

  25.) The Bed and Breakfast Murders

  26.) Who Shot the War Hero?

  27.) The Colorado Springs Killings

  28.) Joseph Vacher

  29.) Jeanne Weber

  30.) Michael Hernandez

  31.) The Tourniquet Killer

  32.) A Woman Scorned

  33.) Killed Over Facebook Status

  34.) I Don’t Like Mondays

  The Very Strange Mr. Fish

  “I like children. They are tasty.”

  - Albert Fish

  Author’s note: The Very Strange Case of Mr. Fish comes with some explicit and graphic content. Most of this content comes in the quotes from his confessions and, as they are the killer’s own words, we felt that they should be kept in. The confessions appear towards the end of the chapter.

  New York City 1928: Hamilton Howard Fish was born in Washington, D.C. on May 19, 1870. At the time of his birth his father was 75 years old and his mother was just 32. His family suffered from a variety of mental challenges resulting in young Hamilton spending much of his childhood in orphanages. Two of his siblings were diagnosed with “mental afflictions” (remember we are talking 19th century here) while his mother suffered from frequent hallucinations. His father and grandfather also had a history of mental illness. His father passed away when Hamilton was just five years and the young boy began his trek through the child care system of the latter part of the 19th century. The orphanages would have a profound effect on Hamilton. These days it’s a well known fact that kids can be cruel. Well, it was the same back in the latter part of the 19th century. Hamilton was nicknamed “Ham” which wasn’t too bad but then they started calling him “ham and eggs”, a moniker that he despised. He began to demand to be called Albert. Child care in the latter part of the 19th century was much different than it is today. The line between discipline and abuse was a fine line and it was often crossed at the drop of a hat. At the orphanages Albert was forced to strip naked while he received frequent whippings and beatings.

  When Albert was 12 years old his mother was well enough to find work and she now brought her young son home. By now Albert was already exhibiting signs of some pretty odd behavior. He began drinking his own urine and eating feces. Even back in those days this was not considered the breakfast of champions. Unfortunately for many, Albert’s behavior would soon become more bizarre.

  During the last decade of the century Albert moved to New York City where the odd behavior continued. He began inflicting pain upon himself and embedded needles into his groin area…some were shoved in so deep that early 20th century doctors were unable to remove them. Still the only harm that Albert was doing was to himself. Soon though, the odd acts began morphing into criminal acts. Albert took to raping young boys and he kept getting away with it. By now he was married and would go on to father six children of his own. By 1917 that marriage was over and Albert was left to be a single parent. Perhaps it was this that triggered even more violence from the now 40 year old Albert. He became a regular visitor to the local brothels where he would pay the women to whip and beat him. I’m sure that some of the parents of his victims would have provided this service at no cost. He now took the act of inflicting pain upon himself much more seriously and to a completely new level. He continued embedding long needles into himself and was fond of hitting himself with a nail studded paddle. Here is my personal favorite. He would take some wool and soak it with lighter fluid, put it into his anus, and then light it on fire. I have been sitting here trying to come up with something witty to add to that but, dear readers, you are alone with this one. Despite all of the above, Albert Fish was still a free man. Albert was now 58 years old when, in 1928, a small classified ad in a New York newspaper would end up resulting in heartbreak for one family and the beginning of the end for Albert Fish.

  It was on May 25, 1928 that Edward Budd put the following ad in the classified section of the New York World. “Young man, 18, wishes position in country. Edward Budd, 406 West 15th Street.” Albert intended on checking Edward out and hopefully making him another rape victim. Several days later, using the alias Frank Howard, he visited the Budds with the offer of a job for Edward. However, his attention soon shifted to that of Edward’s 10 year old sister Grace. Albert left the Budd’s to return home and revise his plan. About a week later he returned with a job offer for Edward. Albert informed the Budd’s that he would take Edward with him and give him a job but first he had to attend his little niece’s birthday party at his sister’s that night. He offered to take little Grace to the party and that afternoon ten year old Grace Budd left home with Albert Fish. She never returned.

  Grace Budd far right circa 1928

  Six years passed before the Budd’s learned of their daughter’s fate. It would come in the form of an anonymous letter addressed to Mrs. Budd. A portion of that letter is repeated here complete with errors etc. exactly as written by the killer. “On Sunday, June 3, 1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese – strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester. I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all of my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her name. Then I hid in the closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down the stairs. I grabbed her and she said that she would tell her mamma. First I stripped her naked. How she did kick – bit and scratch. I choked her to death then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms. Cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could have had I wished. She died a virgin.”

 
The letter was the killer’s undoing. The envelope had the letters N.Y.P.C.B.A. stamped on it. The police found that to stand for New York Private Chauffeur’s Benevolent Association. They tracked the stationary to a janitor who had taken some home for his personal use. When he had moved away from his rooming house he had left the envelopes behind. The address was 200 East 52nd Street. The new tenant was Albert Fish. He was soon arrested and charged with murdering Grace Budd.

  The trial began on March 11, 1935. Predictably Albert’s lawyers decided on an insanity defence. There seemed little doubt that this man was insane. The defence backed up this claim with testimony from three psychiatrists. The prosecution countered with the testimony of the chief of the Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital where Fish had been in 1930. He concluded that Fish was sexually abnormal (really?) and said that he was sane. Every member of the jury thought that Albert Fish was quite insane. However, they were also of the belief that he should be put to death regardless. The jury found him sane and also guilty. The judge sentenced him to death.

  Albert’s sons attended his trial

  While in Sing Sing prison Fish confessed to the 1924 murder of eight year old Francis McDonnell as well as the 1927 murder of four year old Billy Gaffney. What follows is once again a word for word quote from the killer’s confession to the murder of Billy Gaffney.

  “I brought him to the Riker Ave. dumps. There is a house that stands alone, not far from where I took him. I took the boy there. Stripped him naked and tied his hands and feet and gagged him with a piece of dirty rag I picked out of the dump. Then I burned his clothes. Threw his shoes in the dump. Then I walked back and took the trolley to 59 St. at 2 A.M. and walked from there home. Next day about 2 P.M., I took tools, a good heavy cat-of-nine tails. Home made. Short handle. Cut one of my belts in half, slit these halves in six strips about 8 inches long. I whipped his bare behind till the blood ran from his legs. I cut off his ears – nose – slit his throat from ear to ear. Gouged out his eyes. He was dead then. I stuck the knife in his belly and held my mouth to his body and drank his blood. I picked up four old potato sacks and gathered a pile of stones. Then I cut him up. I had a grip with me. I put his nose, ears and a few slices of his belly in the grip. Then I cut him through the middle of his body. Just below the belly button. Then through his legs about 2 inches below his behind. I put this in my grip with a lot of paper. I cut off the head – feet – arms – hands and the legs below the knee. This I put in sacks weighed with stones, tied the ends and threw them into the pools of slimy water you will see all along the road going to North Beach. I came home with my meat. I had the front of his body I liked best. His monkey and pee wees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat. I made a stew out of his ears – nose – pieces of his face and belly. I put onions, carrots, turnips, celery, salt and pepper. It was good. Then I split the cheeks of his behind open, cut off his monkey and pee wees and washed them first. I put strips of bacon on each cheek of his behind and put them in the oven. Then I picked 4 onions and when the meat had roasted about 1/4 hour, I poured about a pint of water over it for gravy and put in the onions. At frequent intervals I basted his behind with a wooden spoon. So the meat would be nice and juicy. In about 2 hours, it was nice and brown, cooked through. I never ate any roast turkey that tasted half as good as his sweet fat little behind did. I ate every bit of the meat in about four days. His little monkey was as sweet as a nut, but his pee-wees I could not chew. Threw them in the toilet.”

  Albert Fish was executed in the electric chair at New York’s Sing Sing Prison on January 16, 1936. His last words were, “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

  Albert Fish in Sing Sing’s electric chair

  The Butcher of Plainfield

  “She isn’t missing. She’s at the farm right now.”

  -Ed Gein

  Plainfield, Wisconsin 1947-57: The union of George and Augusta Gein was not what one could call a blissfully happy one. George was an alcoholic who had trouble holding down a job. He was completely dominated by his wife Augusta who was a deeply religious woman. Okay, let’s be honest here. The woman was a religious fanatic. She also had no use for her husband or for sex which begs the question, where did Henry and Ed come from? Well, we can make an educated guess that George and Augusta had sex at least twice as Henry was born in 1899 and Edward followed in 1906.

  As the boys were growing up Augusta did her level best to insulate them from the outside world. There were daily bible readings and constant warnings to stay away from women. She believed that if the boys became sexually interested in women that they would surely go straight to hell. What Augusta didn’t know was that hell would have been a walk in the park when compared to the events that were still to come.

  To be fair to Augusta, she wasn’t all bad. She started up a grocery store in La Crosse, Wisconsin and worked very hard to support her family. By 1914 she had made more than enough money to purchase a 200 acre farm out in the country. The family now lived in Plainfield, Wisconsin, far from the evil influences of city life.

  The Gein farmhouse in Plainfield

  As the boys grew into their teens they made few friends. Augusta made them keep to themselves while Ed had an effeminate side that alienated him from his schoolmates. The two boys depended on each other for companionship. The older brother Henry was worried about what he seemed to believe was Eddie’s unnatural obsession with his mother. The siblings remained on the farm with their mother and were still there when George passed away in 1940. The younger brother’s dependence on his mother seemed even stronger with the father out of the picture. Henry was openly critical of his mother which did not sit well with Ed. Henry may have paid for this with his life as he was found dead near the farm under very suspicious circumstances. No one could believe that Eddie could have been involved in his brother’s death and no charges were ever filed. Eddie, who had turned 34 years old, now had his mother all to himself.

  Eddie’s world turned upside down when, in 1945, Augusta suffered a series of strokes and passed away. Eddie had always had either his brother or his mother to fall back on. Now nearly 40 years old Eddie Gein was all alone in the world. Things were about to get very strange in and around Plainfield, Wisconsin.

  Eddie took to doing odd jobs to support himself. He sealed off the rooms that Augusta had used and preserved them like a shrine. He took to reading stories about anatomy and learned how to shrink heads and properly exhume corpses…not exactly light reading. It would not be long before Eddie Gein began putting into practice what he had been learning in the books. Ed was now over 40 years old and still had never had sex with a woman. Apparently Ed had taken his childhood lessons from Augusta to heart. His favorite section of the newspaper became the obituaries where he would read about the deaths of local women. He began visiting the graves late at night and, in some cases, peeled the skin off of the women and wore it as his own. He became fascinated with women and dreamed of becoming one. He started collecting an assortment of female body parts, going so far as keeping preserved female heads in his bedroom. I imagine that might be quite the conversation piece, you know, if you had a young lady over for dinner. Of course the phrase “having a young lady for dinner” might mean something very different to Eddie…but I digress.

  In the late 1940’s and into the 1950’s there were a series of disappearances in and around Plainfield that baffled the authorities. Eight year old Georgia Weckler was taken on May 1, 1947 while on her way home from school. In 1953, 15 year old Evelyn Hartley vanished from La Crosse while babysitting. In 1954 a bar owner, Mary Hogan, disappeared without a trace. In all of the above cases there were no bodies and very little forensic evidence to go on. Then on November 16, 1957 a local store owner, Bernice Worden disappeared.

  Mary Hogan

  Worden’s store in La Crosse

  A check of the stores receipts showed that Ed Gein had been in the store and had purchased a gallon of anti-freeze. It was also the last receipt issued meaning that it was certainly
possible that Ed Gein had been the last person to see Bernice Worden before she disappeared. The police went off in search of Ed Gein but had no idea what they would encounter down on the farm. Here is a list of some of the horrors that the police came upon when they reached the farm. Bernice Worden’s headless body was found hanging upside down in a shed. Human skulls were secured to the bedposts. There was a lampshade made from the skin of a human face. Four noses. Mary Hogan’s head was found in a paper bag. The head of the very recently departed Bernice Worden was found in a burlap sack. There were nine masks made from human skin. A belt made from female nipples. Two chairs which had been re-upholstered with human skin. There were bowls in the kitchen cupboards made from human skulls. Ten human skulls with the tops removed. A set of lips on a drawstring used to open and close the blinds.

  Ed Gein pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. After a 30 day examination it was determined that he was mentally incompetent and unfit to stand trial. He was sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Nowadays that hospital’s name would be considered politically incorrect but it sure hit the nail on the head when thinking of Ed Gein. In 1968 doctors determined that Gein, now 62 years old, was well enough to stand trial. He was found guilty of first degree murder and also found to be insane. He would live out his remaining years in a mental institution.