Dead Silence.Org|The Serial Killer Blog

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Here’s an article to follow up the previous post about a Baltimore area serial killer.

Balt. Police Investigate Strangulations Of 5 Women

Mike Hellgren BALTIMORE (WJZ) ? Baltimore Police are forming a squad to investigate the recent strangulations of five women.

Mike Hellgren reports Amanda Bishop is one of five women strangled in Baltimore in less than four months. Many of the victims have histories of selling their bodies on the street.

Bishop’s lifeless body was found in a street lined with trash. The mother was strangled.

Her loved ones attached a memorial to a chain-link fence near where Bishop was killed. Her children wrote, “In loving memory of our Mommy who we love a lot.”

Sidney Ford knew several of the victims. She runs “You Are Not Alone,” an organization that provides food, shelter and counseling to prostitutes.

“We were very concerned. These are our sisters. These are also someone else’s sister, someone’s mother, someone’s daughter,” said Ford.

Now, a police task force is taking a closer look at these murders and whether there’s a connection.

The wide-ranging investigation is looking for patterns and not just in deaths this year.

“We were of course horrified. For us, this is very personal. We have 12-year-long relationships with the women,” said Ford.

The latest murder happened this week behind a church on Old Frederick Avenue. Police found the victim naked and bruised around her neck and throat.

“The women are terrified. It goes well beyond fear,” said Ford.

On June 11, police found 25-year-old Elizabeth Garrett dead on Buena Vista Avenue in Hampden. Nicole Sesker, the stepdaughter of former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm, who battled drug addiction, was found strangled on Garrison Avenue.

“With panties on and a bra. That’s it. No shoes,” said Elizabeth Eddins, who lives near the place Sesker’s body was found.

Police are still unsure if one person is behind all of the murders because they happened all over the city.

“The lives of the women who we serve are invisible for the most part, so we don’t hear. Other people don’t hear when horrific things happen,” said Ford.

They were invisible until now. They were mothers, sisters and daughters. Whoever killed them, whether it’s one person or more, remains on the loose.

Source: WJZ.com

While watching the local news this morning I heard a quick mention of a possible Baltimore City serial killer. Five women have been found strangled and out of the five, four have prostitution records. We all know that prostitutes are some of the favorite targets of serial killers for various reasons. Is it wrong that I’m kinda excited that there could be a local serial killer?

I was doing a search and came across TIME Magazines Top 25 Crimes of the Century. It’s no surprise to see a number of serial killers made the list. Those mentioned include Son Of Sam (12), John Wayne Gacy (13), Ted Bundy (14) and Jeffrey Dahmer (16).

I will say I’m surprised that The Zodiac didn’t make the list. It’s an unsolved murder that’s had people talking for years. It’s sparked tons of theories, ideas and suspects. TIME failed to mention one of the most well known unsolved crimes ever but included the theft of “The Scream” painting. Granted, “The Scream” is last on the list but I don’t understand how you include the theft of a painting but ignore “The Zodiac.” I’m sure the list was hard to put together and I don’t know what they went by in order to compile their list. If you think about it, half the list could’ve been made up of serial killers. You could’ve easily included “The Green River Killer” who escaped being caught for 13 years and even The BTK Killer who also spent years as a free man before being arrested.

Other crimes that made the list included The Black Dahlia (5), The Tate Murders (10), JonBenet Ramsey (20) and Andrea Yates (24).

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of “Twisted Confessions” by Charles E. Skoller. You might have noticed the Press Release that I posted last week. In exchange for a copy of the new book I agreed to write up a review.

“Twisted Confessions” was a good read. If you’re looking for gory details or graphic explanations of crime scenes and dead bodies, you won’t find it here. What you will find is a look behind the scenes as a new prosecutor tries to unravel truth from fiction to make sure the right man is put behind bars. You’ll learn how what witnesses do or don’t do can affect how a case is show to a jury. You’ll see how sometimes an answer can be staring you right in the fact for months before it finally jumps out at you.

While the book is said to be about the Kitty Genovese murder of 1964, I’d say it plays a small part in the novel. While it does play a factor in the book and the trial is featured, I’d say the book is more about unraveling a false confession. It’s about going over small details, retracing steps and thinking outside the box in order to find facts and new information. I do wish the book included more details about the three murders that are talked about and featured in the book. While the Kitty Genovese murder and Barbara Kralik murder were talked about in some detail, the murder of Annie Mae Johnson was barely touched in my opinion. The only thing that was talked about in detail with reguards to the Annie May Johnson murder was the incomplete autopsy that gave the cause of death as a stabbing and failed to discover the bullets that were lodged in her body.

Another suggestion I have is including photographs of the victims and perhaps some of the newspaper headlines from when the crimes took place. I feel that being able to see the victim(s) helps the reader connect with them and get more into the story. I don’t mean crime scene photos but just pictures of the women from everyday life. It shows them as people and not just a name in a book. As far as the newspapers go since the cases were headline news in 1963 it would’ve been nice to see how the stories were reported. While Skoller does explain how some papers were reporting bad information and being used as a tool in the trial itself, it’s still nice to see actual images from the time.

All in all, as I mentioned at the beginging, the book was very easy to follow. It wasn’t obvious that this was Skoller’s first book. I think he did a fine job and believe he will only get better with time if he continues to write. I’m sure he’s seen some very interesting trials and cases in his time and we’d love to read about them! If you love True Crime but you don’t want the gory details, this book is for you. In fact, I’d call this book a True Mystery instead of True Crime.

Crime writer, suspected of murder, found dead: Macedonian journalist jailed on suspicion of murdering at least two women in crimes he wrote about for his newspaper has been found dead in his cell, police said Monday.

Suspected Michigan serial killer sentenced: Suspected serial killer smiled and proclaimed his innocence Wednesday before getting life in prison with no chance of parole for the violent slayings of two Lansing women last year.

Serial rapist, killer confesses after arrest in NE China: A serial rapist and killer who had murdered five people was arrested in a northeast China province on Friday, police said on Sunday.

Japan executes serial killer A serial killer convicted in the deaths of four girls was among three men executed in Japan on Tuesday.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Amber Childres at (512) 478-2028 x224

Twisted Confessions: The Kitty Genovese Story
Criminal prosecutor opens up about notorious murder trial

NEW YORK – In the early morning hours of March 13, 1964, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was brutally stabbed to death near her apartment in Queens. As police began investigating the murder, they discovered several people had witnessed the attack but did nothing to stop it. This outrageous news quickly spread across the country as national media swarmed in to report the gruesome details of one of New York City’s most notorious crimes.

The Kitty Genovese murder became synonymous with urban apathy and is still invoked in comparable crimes today. It shaped a psychological phenomenon, “Genovese Syndrome” or the “Bystander Effect,” where people are less likely to intervene in an emergency when they’re in groups than when alone.

Now, more than 40 years later, the prosecutor in the Genovese case, Charles E. Skoller, shares the untold story behind the murder in his true-crime book, Twisted Confessions: The True Story Behind the Kitty Genovese and Barbara Kralik Murder Trials (Bridgeway Books, April 2008). Based on court documents, face-to-face interviews and Skoller’s first-hand account, the book unravels his investigation into the Genovese murder, and how it turned into a prosecution nightmare.
“There is more drama in one minute of a criminal trial than in any TV program or movie,” says Skoller, who was thrown for a loop when Genovese’s killer confessed to two other murders. “I was prosecuting two different suspects for two different murders, and now one outrageously claimed that he was responsible for both.”

Around the time of Genovese’s death, New Yorkers were still reeling over the recent murders of Barbara Kralik and Annie Mae Johnson. Both women had been stabbed to death while peacefully asleep in their homes, sending a shudder down the community’s spine and fueling universal fear and vulnerability among New Yorkers.

Twisted Confessions takes readers inside the courtroom to reveal how Skoller’s investigation was complicated by multiple confessions, and how he prosecuted all three trials to find the truth and convict the actual killer. Though much has been written about the infamous Genovese case, Skoller reveals little-known facts about the murder that shook an entire nation.

In an interview, Skoller can discuss topics such as:
• How the murders of Kitty Genovese and Barbara Kralik are still relevant today
• Understanding the Bystander Effect
• Two confessions for the same crime: A prosecution dilemma
• What goes on inside the courtroom of a high-profile murder trial?

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Skoller earned his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1970. Throughout his 40 years of experience in trial work, Skoller served as lead counsel in a broad range of legal cases, both criminal and civil, as prosecutor, defense attorney and plaintiffs’ attorney. He has appeared on the History Channel, “Today Show” and the BBC, and continues to speak at universities across the country including Fordham University and Florida Atlantic University. Now retired, Skoller lives in Boca Raton, Fla., with his wife Myrna.

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I’ve seen some comments asking if “Helen Remus” was an actual victim of The Green River Killer and she was not. This is from an article discussing the Made For TV movie about the case.

But rather than just telling a cat-and-monstrous-mouse tale, the TV movie story line — this being on a network geared toward women — opts to fictionalize one of the Green River Killer victims. A young woman named Helen (Hel for short; get it?) grows up miserably in a trailer park, sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. She runs away and winds up as a prostitute on the Sea-Tac strip. And even after she’s killed she continues to narrate the movie, talking long about destiny.

Below is a short 8:00 minute video with Judith Ridgeway. You might know her better as the wife of “The Green River Killer.” I couldn’t imagine how she felt when the news came out about her husband. I’m not sure how I would react. I give her credit for being able to hold it together. I think when it comes to serial killers, people forget about the families. In my opinion, they are victims as well.

If you’d like to hear more about her times with Gary Ridgeway you might want to check out “Green River Serial Killer–Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife.” Here is a summary from Amazon.com:

Judith Ridgway had been neglected, misunderstood, and abused until she met the man of her dreams., Gary Ridgway, who has become known as The Green River Serial Killer by the rest of the world. For fourteen happy years, Judith shared her life with an attentive and kind husband, never suspecting there was a secret side to the man she loved until the storybook romance of her life turned into a terrifying nightmare. Gary Ridgway masterfully managed his two identities: one that included romantic vacations, bicycling, and raising Poodles with his wife, the other that included obsessions with a two-decade habit of soliciting prostitutes and young runaway girls near the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, strangling those who angered him. Subsequent to his arrest in 2001, Gary confessed to murdering 48 females, in a deal that spared his life. In addition, he alluded to his having killed many more too many to remember! Green River Serial Killer Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife examines America s most deadly serial killer through the loving eyes of his wife. Also included in this exclusive, authorized biography, are photographs from the Ridgway private albums, letters handwritten by Gary from prison, and the author s own professional analysis of his handwriting.

As you can see I changed the theme here at Dead Silence. I think it looks a little more professional which is what I’m doing for. As always, feel free to leave comments about the new look. You’ll notice I changed the Archives around as well. They are no longer featured on the sidebar but they now have their own page. Be sure to check it out.

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