AARON KIRKLAND – TRUE CRIME WRITER

Article on John George Haigh Jr.
1909 - 1949

BY AARON KIRKLAND

EARLY LIFE

Before being dubbed the vampiric “Acid Bath Murderer”, his birth name was John George Haigh. John was born Saturday, July 24, 1909 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England to parents John and Emily Haigh. Even though he was born in Stamford, he grew up in a nearby village called Outwood in West Yorkshire. His parents were part of a local religious group called Plymouth Brethren. His parents believed that the outside world was evil so John’s father built a 10 ft (3m) high fence to keep the ‘evil’ out. So the only friends John had growing up were the few pets that he had growing up and the neighbour’s dog when he would have to take care of it for them.

As a child his parents were very religious and strict so they would pound it into his head that there was a higher spiritual figure watching him at all times with a disapproving watch. Because his parents were so religious and strict with him he would have recurring nightmares of trees turning into crucifixes and weeping blood.

John’s father had a bluish blemish on his head and he was always told he got it because he sinned when he was young and it was his way of being punished, to be marked a sinner. He believed because his mom had not received a ‘mark’ that she was an angel, and pure. He realized as he was growing up that he might be special, invincible almost because he would commit little sins like lying or having a questionable behaviour and never received a mark.

MARRIAGE AND JAIL LIFE

In 1934, at the age of 25...John left his parents church and got married to a 21 year old woman by the name of Beatrice Hamer. They hadn’t known each other very long, and she was unsure of his character, but he was always charming, well dressed and had manners (which counted for a lot then). They were married on Friday, July 6, 1934 and then moved in with John’s parents.

4 months after they were married, John was arrested for fraud. Beatrice, while John was in prison, gave birth to a baby girl which she put up for adoption. Beatrice saw John one more time before their marriage ended. On this meeting he told her that their marriage was not official because he was still married to another woman, this was untrue.

John was released after a few months and wound up committing small time scams to live day to day. In 1936 he decided to move to London. He became a chauffeur for William McSwan owner of an amusement park. He would also do secretarial work for William.

In 1937 after he left the chauffeur job, John was again arrested and charged for fraud. He had been taking money from people and promising products and services in return of advanced payment. He received 4 years and was released in 1940 because the war caused authorities to allow early release of non violent offenders for a chance to get drafted.

By 1943, John had manage to swindle enough money from small time schemes to move to room 404 in a high end hotel called the Onslow Court Hotel in South Kensington (London).

THE DEATH OF DONALD, WILLIAM, AND AMY MCSWAN

In 1944 John met up with his old boss William McSwan. By now he had rented a basement workshop at 79 Gloucester Road in Kensington. He turned it into his death room.

He conceived ideas about disposing of bodies in Acid when he worked using sulphuric acid in the jails tin shop. He would test the effects of acid on mice and studied the outcome.

It was Saturday, September 9, 1944 when John had managed to lure William’s son Donald to his ‘workshop’ where he hit him over the head with a blunt object and then proceeded to slit his throat. In his diary, regarding Donald’s death, he wrote “I got a mug and took some blood, from his neck, in the mug, and drank it”. He found a 40 gallon drum and put Donald’s body in it. He then poured sulphuric acid over the body, covered it and left it over night to dissolve. After he left he went home to bed. He later claimed that after he had realized he actually killed someone, he started to have the same nightmares that plagued him as a child. He came back to his workshop the next day and dumped the liquid sludge that used to be Donald McSwan into a drain out back of his workshop. He felt overwhelmed with happiness when he dumped the sludge down the drain because he strongly felt that him doing this would make it so he never got caught.

Donald’s parents had started to get worried when there son hadn’t been seen in a few days so they asked John if he knew anything. He told them that Donald had fled to Ireland to escape being drafted into the army and would send fake post cards to Donald’s parents. John knew that would only hold them off for a while. They became worried when they heard the end of the war was near and they hadn’t seen Donald since he ‘left’ for Ireland so abruptly, so they asked John again if he knew anything. He then knew they had to go. He managed to get their trust enough to get them to come to his workshop and that is where he hit them in the head with a blunt object and dissolved their bodies in acid. He claimed that he again drank their blood before he killed them.

He disposed of their remains the next day and started work on forging transfer deeds for property that the McSwan’s owned. He was able to obtain the properties the McSwan’s owned but spent all the money he made on a betting system he devised for the dog track. He decided to go back to murdering the rich and taking their money after he dissolved the bodies.

THE HENDERSON MURDERS

In August 1947 a house went on the market owned by Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife Rosalie. John, who was broke, started to work a deal on a price for the house. He would tell them that he had a business deal fall through and he would not be able to buy the house right away, that he would buy it with payment installations…all apart of his big master plan to rob and kill these people who had no idea what they were about to get themselves into.

After a few meetings they became friends. John had a charm about him that he was able to make people feel safe or sit easy when he was around. Thursday, February 12, 1948...John drove Archibald to his workshop under the pretence that he wanted to show Mr. Henderson something he had been working on. Once in the workshop John took a different approach in killing his next victim. He shot the doctor in the back of the head and dumped his body in a vat of sulphuric acid. He left to get the doctors wife. He got back to the Henderson house and told Rosalie that her husband has fallen ill and asked for her to go to him. Off they went to John’s workshop. Again as they got inside he shot her in the back of the head and disposed of her
body the same way that her husbands body was. He then forged documents and letters to the servants, family and friends saying that they had moved to another country and “Mr. Haigh” would take care of all their stuff. Once he made enough money from selling off all the Henderson’s stuff, he lost it all to quite a few bookies.

THE DEATH OF OLIVIA DURAND-DEACON

In 1949 it was getting rough for John. He owed money to the bank, he owed back rent at the hotel he stayed at, and the management was getting tired of waiting for their money. So he was getting really desperate to get a hold of some money when he was sitting down to dinner in the hotels dining room and sitting across from him was a widowed woman by the name of Olivia Durand-Deacon.

The two of them had talked a bit about how he rents and leases high end cars to wealthy people, and how that she knew he was a businessman and might be able to help her promote an idea she had for manufacturing plastic fingernails to sell in stores. John liked the set up for his next victim and asked her to go to his workshop to further discuss plans to get this idea of hers onto paper.

John got the widow to his workshop, and yet again once inside he shot her in the back of the head, stripped her body as he did with the other victims, and put her body into a 40 gallon vat of sulphuric acid. Once it was fully dissolved he disposed of the liquids down the sewer drain and poured the solid waste, which was nothing more than sludge, onto the dirt in the back yard. In later questioning he told police that during the process of draining the vats, and scraping out the sludge he took a break and went to a restaurant nearby called ‘Ye Olde Ancient Prior’s Restaurant’ where he had an egg on toast.

He didn’t make much off of this killing but managed to sell off enough stuff to pay his back rent to the hotel, and other bills that needed to get payed. He then went to look for another victim.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE ACID BATH MURDERER

A little while after he killed Mrs. Durand-Deacon he felt he should make inquiries into her not being around much to avoid any one questioning him. He was one of the last ones seen talking to her. He went to talk to one of the widows closest friends Mrs. Constance Lane. He had asked her if she had talked to Olivia and Mrs. Lane mentioned that Olivia had told her that she was supposed to go to his workshop, and this kind of shocked John. He told her that he never took Olivia to his workshop and she mentioned about talking to someone to help look into where she might be. She could have gotten suspicious at any point so John said that he would go to the police station with her to file a report.

They walked into the police station and one of the cops recognized John and checked out his background. He raised some suspicion with the officers so they brought him in for questioning on Monday, February 28, 1949.

John first denied having any ties to Mrs. Durand-Deacon’s disappearance but when he was told about what the investigators found at his workshop he shouted “Mrs. Durand-Deacon no longer exists! I’ve destroyed her with acid…you can’t prove murder without a body”. He misunderstood the term ‘Corpus Delecti’ thinking it meant that without a body there is no proof of murder, but there was still a body of murder.

GRUESOME WORKSHOP FINDINGS

When John had denied his involvement in Mrs. Durand-Deacon’s disappearance the officers that had John Haigh’s record felt something was fishy, so they went to John’s workshop and hotel room to search around to see if they could find any kind of smoking gun.

When they were at John’s workshop they found Mrs. Durand-Deacon’s gruesome remains, with just enough to make a proper identification. They found most of her remains hardened in the backyard into a sludgy compound. They also found 28 pounds of human fat that had been displaced over the backyard, partially corroded bones of a human foot, the widows plastic handbag that had not succumb to the acid, a plastic lip stick container cap, a full upper denture, 3 human gall stones and certain bones that were visible enough to realize it was female bones.

When the investigators searched John’s hotel room, they found a diary with abbreviated descriptions of his other murders, some personal items of the McSwan and Henderson families.

Monday, July 18, 1949 John Haigh was charged with Mrs. Durand-Deacon’s murder on went on trial. He would try and make it his big goal to make everyone think he was insane. When he was originally arrested on murder charges he had asked what would happen to him in the long run if he were to plead or make it look like he was insane.

While incarcerated in prison he kept the charade up of his insanity by drinking his own urine, and various other questionable acts that would make him seem insane.

When it came time for his trial, a psychiatrist was put on the stand to testify that he had given John an evaluation and had tested him and he had found that because of John’s childhood experiences he felt that John had become ‘paranoiac’ and that he had probably drank the blood from his victims. When the prosecutor was questioning the psychiatrist regarding John’s plea of insanity the doctor said John knew that his crimes were wrong…throwing Johns chances of pleading insanity right out the window. It took the jury 15 minutes to come to the verdict of guilty and with that John was sentenced to death.

Saturday, August 6, 1949 at Wandsworth Prison, John was hanged for his crimes and this ended the “Acid Bath Murderer’s” reign of terror.

In the end of it all the only real thing people still have a hard time understanding is how much he John really got from each murder. No real researched amount has been found, but it is still a big dispute as to how much he really made off of each victim.

VICTIM TIMELINE

Donald McSwan - Age 37 ---- Killed - Saturday, September 9, 1944

William McSwan - Age 70 ---- Killed - Monday, July 2, 1945
Amy McSwan - Age 65 ---- Killed - Monday, July 2, 1945

Dr. Archibald Henderson - Age 52 ---- Killed - Thursday, February 12, 1948
Rosalie Henderson - Age 41 ---- Killed - Thursday, February 12, 1948

Olive Durand-Deacon - Age 69 ---- Killed - Friday, February 18, 1949

QUOTES

"When I discovered there were easier ways of making a living than to work long hours in an office, I did not ask myself whether I was doing right or wrong. That seemed to me to be irrelevant. I merely said, 'That is what I wish to do.' And as the means lay within my power, that was what I decided." - He explains his reason for choosing a life of crime

"If I told you the truth, you would not believe me. It sounds too fantastic for belief." - what he said during
interrogation about Mrs. Durand-Deacon.

REFERENCES

http://www.usersites.horrorfind.com/home/horror/bedlambound/library/haigh.html

http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/906:338/1/John_Haigh_The_Acid_Bath_Murderer_.htm

http://www.serialkillerdatabase.net/johnhaigh.html

Martha Rendell

BY AARON KIRKLAND

Martha Rendell Was born in 1871 and not much is reported on her life up until 1908 when she was arrested and convicted of murdering her de facto (equivalent to common-law partners) Thomas Morris’s son, Arthur Morris. She was also thought to have killed her other two daughters, Annie and Olive.She had swabbed the children’s throats with Hydrochloric Acid, claiming her innocence, she protested she was treating the children for diphtheria. Stories say that she would severely beat her children forcing them to call her ‘Mother‘.She was convicted of the murder of Arthur Morris, the public wanted her to be convicted of the murders of her two other daughters, but had no success. Thomas Morris, being charged with willful murder, was later found not guilty and walked a free man. There were doubts raised that Martha herself was guilty due to evidence, but the public stayed strong in their wanting to see her hanged for what they felt she did. There were those in the public who felt that capitol punishment was wrong, especially with a woman. On Wednesday, October 6, 1909, at the age of 38, Martha Rendell was executed. Overweight, worn down, and middle aged and still proclaiming her innocence, she was led to the gallows at Fremantle Prison to meet her fate, and buried at the Fremantle Cemetery. She was the third and last woman to be hanged in Western Australia.Monday, October 26, 1964 convicted killer, Eric Edgar Cooke who was the last prisoner hanged at Fremantle Prison, was executed and buried on top of Martha Rendell’s remains.To this day people say there is an unusual image that appears on a window at the Fremantle Cemetery Church. It is that of Martha Rendell who the public believes watches over the prison. The weird part of the image is that it can only be seen from the outside. On the inside where the image would be located on the window, it looks normal, with no unusual shapes or textures.

WAYNE CLIFFORD BODEN

BY AARON KIRKLAND

Wayne Clifford Boden was born in 1948. Not much is known about his life before 1969 when he committed his first murder, other than that he was a male model before he was a salesman. Boden is a killer/rapist from Dundas, Ontario, Canada. He ran his rape/murder spree in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1969-1971. He was dubbed “The Vampire Rapist” because he bit the breasts on three of four of his victims. Boden actually helped Canada and USA learn more about Forensic Dentistry and he was the first person convicted in North America due to this research.

SHIRLEY AUDETTE: VICTIM #1

Shirley Audette was Boden’s first victim. She was wearing red wine coloured flared pants, turtleneck, and a brown leatherette vest when they found her out back of her Dorchester Boulevard apartment complex. She was found raped and strangled, with bite marks on her breasts. Strangely enough she had no skin evidence underneath her nails which some speculated that she was willing to the rough sex.

Shirley Audette was 20 years old, 5’2” and 135 lbs. At the time of her death Boden lived in the apartment complex right beside hers. Shirley was living with her friend, Kenneth Ehlert. Kenneth was working a night shift the night of the murder, which would cause Shirley to become nervous and she would have great feelings of loneliness. Shirley would usually call Kenneth at work and sit outside where she felt mildly comfortable. Friday, October 3, 1969, it was 2am and Shirley was sitting out front in one of her nervous fits, and that is where she met Boden for the first time. She called Kenneth at 3am to tell him she had met someone and that was the last time anyone heard from her. Kenneth called her back at 5am and got no answer. They then found her body; she was 5 weeks pregnant at the time.

MARIELLE ARCHAMBAULT: VICTIM #2

Boden’s second victim was Marielle Archambault. Marielle was 20, 5’5, and weighed 105 lbs. She was originally from Joliette, Quebec, and had moved to an apartment complex on Ontario Street. She worked at the Charbonneau Jewelry Boutique. One night at a local nightclub she met William Boden, she told friends later that she had been entranced by a man she met. She was picked up from work at the end of the day and introduced her new man as “Bill”. She met the same fate as Shirley Audette. She was found dead in her apartment at 1:45 pm on Wednesday, November 26, 1969. Marielle did not come in to work the following day so her boss tried calling her, when there was no response he went to her apartment to see if she was ok. When her boss arrived at her apartment he got the landlady to open the door and that is when they discovered her deceased. She was wearing brown pants and a green shirt with three buttons missing. Her bra and pantyhose had been torn and she was raped and strangled, and bite marks were found on her breasts. The room she was found in appeared to be clean and nothing disturbed. There were signs that she had put up a struggle but not enough to identify anyone. The police did find a crumpled, discarded photo which they had released to the public to see if they could get a hit on the person; it ended up not being anything but a photo of Marielle Archambault’s deceased father. This murder happened only 5 weeks after Boden killed his first victim.

JEAN WAY: VICTIM #3

Jean Way was an attractive young woman. She was 24, 4’11” and weighed 110 lbs. She lived at Lincoln Street in Montreal, and she was dating a man by the name of Brian F. Caulfield, who she had only been seeing for a month. Friday, January 16, 1970 Jean and Brian had been out at the local clubs until 3:15 am, Brian stayed for four hours and then left. Brian then called Jean on Saturday, January 17, 1970 around 5:30 pm to make plans to go out around 8pm. Brian showed up at Jean’s apartment around 8:15 pm and knocked on the door. There was no answer so he went to go grab a drink at the Cock’N’Bull, although Jean was being attacked at that point…Brian had no idea what was even going on. Off to the bar Brian went. He had a couple drinks and went back to Jean’s apartment around 9:30 pm. Brian went right into Jean’s apartment to check on her, saw what he thought was her sleeping in her bed except he couldn’t wake her. Her body wasn’t even cold yet and then he realized there was a gray-blue coloured wool belt wrapped around her neck. She was wearing nothing but a green bedspread with her feet being the only thing exposed when Brian found her.

Upon investigation, the cops revealed that she had no bite marks on her and the police also found fibers in her hand which they then determined there was a definite struggle with the person that attacked her. Police believe that Jean knew Boden enough that he would be allowed to enter her apartment. Boden killed Jean 8 weeks after he killed Marielle Archambault. Wayne then left for Calgary.

ELIZABETH ANNE PORTEOUS: VICTIM #4

Elizabeth Anne Porteous was last seen by coworkers stopped at a red light sitting in a blue Mercedes on the night of Monday, May 17, 1971.

Tuesday, May 18, 1971...Elizabeth didn’t show up for work that morning, she was a year old high school teacher in Calgary. Elizabeth’s apartment manager was called and asked to check on her. They discovered her on her bedroom floor, dead. She like the victims before her were raped, strangled and this time Boden bit her breasts. Her apartment showed that she had struggled with whoever had attacked her and when they were moving her body they realized there was a broken cufflink beneath her.

The two colleagues who told police that they say her the night before in the Blue Mercedes also mentioned that the car had a distinctive bull shaped advertising decal in the rear window. One of Elizabeth’s friends told police that she was dating a flashy dresser, with short, well kept hair, and that his name was “Bill”.

Wednesday, May 19, 1971 Wayne Clifford Boden was arrested after some patrolmen saw the Blue Mercedes parked close the crime scene, with Boden attempting to get into the car. Boden had told the detectives that he had moved to Calgary from Montreal a year prior to the crime, and that he was dating Elizabeth, and that the cufflink they had found was his. Although he claimed that Elizabeth was alive and well when he left the night she was murdered.

The police department was holding Boden under the suspicion that he killed Elizabeth Porteous, so they decided to investigate the bite marks on Elizabeth’s breasts.

THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF THE VAMPIRE RAPIST

Gordon Swann, an orthodontist in Calgary, was approached by authorities to try and see if Boden could be identified as the killer through the bite marks on Elizabeth’s breasts. Canada at that time had nothing in its literature about Forensic Dentistry so Gordon Swann decided to write to the F.B.I. for some info on the topic. Swann received a letter from J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the F.B.I at that time, telling Swann to get ahold of a man in England who had dealt with between 20 and 30 cases on the same issue.

Gordon Swann, armed with a cast of Wayne Boden’s teeth made the discovery that showed 29 points of similarities to the bite marks on Elizabeth Porteous’s breasts. The evidence was strong enough to convince a jury that Wayne Clifford Boden was guilty of murdering Elizabeth Porteous. The judge then sentenced Boden to life in prison.

Wayne Clifford Boden was transferred to Montreal where he admitted to the murders of the other three victims, and denied any involvement to another murder he was suspect to, which was solved in 1994 when another man confessed to that murder. Boden was given three more life sentences for the other murders and sent to Kingston Penitentiary where on Wednesday, February 16, 1972 he started his life behind bars.

Five years into Boden’s jail term, by now it was 1977, he was somehow granted a credit card through American Express. No one really understands how anyone was able to give a prisoner a credit card, but it happened. He took advantage of the card on a day pass he got somehow through Laval Prison and managed to escape for 36 hours. When he was finally picked up he was eating lunch in The Mount Royal Hotel Restaurant in Montreal. Three guards were punished and American Express investigated into how they managed to give a credit card to a life sentence serving prisoner.

Friday, February 17, 2006, Boden was admitted to Kingston Regional Hospital where he was being treated for his skin cancer. Monday, March 27, 2006 Wayne Clifford Boden had succumbed to his illness and was pronounced dead. The Vampire was now dead. So because of Wayne Clifford Boden North America has a better knowledge of Forensic Dentistry.

BY AARON KIRKLAND

THE EARLY YEARS

When you think of the Mafia you think of The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Sopranos, and you think of people like Al Capone, John Gotti, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. There is one man, who was the epitome of all that and then some! His name…Richard Leonard Kuklinski.

Richard was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on Thursday, April 11, 1935 to Anna and Stanley Kuklinski. His mother was a devoute Catholic and his father an abusive alcoholic. Anna worked at a meat packing plant and Stanley worked as a brakeman for the railroad.

Richard was born second to his brother Florian. When Richard and Florian were growing up Stanley would often beat the 2 boys, sometimes so bad that he would literally knock them out cold. They would also witness Stanley’s abuse towards Anna on several occasions! One day in 1940 Stanley was beating Florian when he hit him too hard and killed him unintentionally. He forced Anna to tell family and police that Florian had fallen down the stairs and died that way!

Richard hated his father. Even when he was sitting in jail being interviewed many years later he would attest how he regretted never killing his father for the pain he caused in his life.

Richard grew up in the projects with his sister Roberta (who was born premature) and his other brother Joseph, both of which were his younger siblings. His favourite thing in the whole world were true crime magazines. Richard all to often was beat up by local bullies. By the age of 10 Richard was taking his anger out by torturing animals. He would tie dogs to the bumpers of buses, and throw dogs off of rooftops. He would even go as far as throwing animals into the incinerator in his building.

Richard had taken enough beatings and was fed up. Thoughts of going to the police went through his head but he kept telling himself “I’m no rat..” and would take matters into his own hands! It was a cold Friday night in January when Richard yanked a two-foot-long wooden pole out of the hall closet and went into the alley by his building. He waited in the shadows for what felt like hours, hoping and knowing that Charley Lane (leader of the gang of boys that used to beat on Richard) would walk by the alley on his way home. Just as he was ready to head inside he saw Charley in the distance...his nerves trembled with both fear and hatred to very strong feelings to feel all at once. He confronted his tormentor only to have Charley threaten him with violence if he didn’t get out of his way to which Richard replied “Yeah, try.” Charley went to attack Richard but Richard replied with a smack in the head, just above the ear, with the pole he swiped from his house…Charley stepped back now filled with anger he went to attack again…and again Richard attacked Charley with the pole this time knocking him down to the ground where Richard kept hitting him until he didn’t move anymore. He just wanted to lay a scare into the boy, not wanting to kill him. When Richard realized Charley was dead he grabbed a car that he had stolen for a joyride and stuffed the body in the trunk…drove around for a while till he came to a bridge with a pond under it near a forest in South Jersey. Richard grabbed a hammer and broke out Charley’s teeth and cut the tips of his fingers off, knowing that they were ways to identify a body from reading his true crime magazines. Richard then dumped the lifeless body over the bridge and as it broke through the ice he knew that he had to have the upper hand, he tasted what it was to be powerful and have someone’s life taken away because of his own hands and it felt good. Richard Kuklinski had experienced murder first hand at the age of 14.

LIFE AS A STREET TOUGH

After he killed Charley Lane, he got his revenge on the other boys who used to beat him!

Richard began hanging around pool halls beginning to pick the game of pool up like a pro. Because he had a thick frame and tall exterior there weren’t’ too many people that wanted to go toe-to-toe with Richard Kuklinski. Those who did were sorely mistaken.

Richard ended up starting a crew and took leadership. Calling themselves ‘the Coming Up Roses’ they were involved in many bar brawls and were soon known as a fearless and unbeatable crew.

One day Carmine Genovese of the De Cavalcante called upon Richard to take car of a mark with his crew. He had heard good things about Richards crew and wanted to see just how fearless and vicious they could be! The man lived near Lincoln Park and the hit had to be done quick, he “need to go” as Carmine so blatantly put it! One of the members of the gang offered to be the shooter as long as Richard drove, and Richard agreed…John Wheeler a big tough as nails kinda guy froze once he saw his target getting into his car…Richard saw this and said not to worry they could pull up to marks car and take him out through the window at the next traffic light. Wheeler froze up again at the next opportunity to take this easy target out. So with Richard now pissed that the job still wasn’t done they tailed him to this bar in Hoboken where Richard spoke up and said that he’d take the guy out. They waited for the guy to leave the bar. He finally left the bar and Richard got out of the car walked over to the mark and just as he was getting into his car *BOOM* Richard shot him in the head just above the ear. Killing him instantly. Richard calmly walked back to his own car and sped off. As they left the crime scene Wheeler looked at Richard and said “Man, Rich, you’re cold like ice!” They returned to Carmine and the crew earned $500 each and the doors to the underworld were now open to big possibilities for them!

The gang was given enough work to last them a while, they were making money hand over fist and Richard would gamble most of his winnings away, which would become a big problem for him in his future.

One day two of the members, John Wheeler and Jack Dubrowski thought they were invincible and held up a card game held by a made man in the De Cavalcante family. This was a bad idea because one of the members of the game recognized Wheeler even though they had there faces hidden. Word hit a soldier in the De Cavalcante family and he had a sit down with Richard. He told Richard about the card game being hit and that everyone knew that Richard had nothing to do with the robbery otherwise he’d be dead! Richard offered to tell Wheeler and Dubrowski to leave town and never come back, but that wasn’t good enough for the soldier! He wanted them taken out! See in the Mafia world you don’t mess with a made man! Ray Liotta
told us this in Goodfellas. So with that said Richard sealed their fates and gunned them down! Left them where they lay so that it would be known that the job was done. Much like Richards previous murders before these he was never identified as a suspect! He finally put the Coming Up Roses behind him and was looking forward to moving on with his new found fame as an extremely dangerous street tough and hit man for hire!

His first time having to torture someone was when Carmine Genovese, freshly released from jail, asked Richard to make this guy disappear. He disrespected one of his friends wives. Carmine made it clear he had to suffer! So Richard went to the marks work and scouted the place where the he worked and then set the trap up! The mark worked at a used car lot so Richard set it up to happen on a test drive. They went out on the drive and parked…Richard pointed at something and then *BAM*, hit the mark in the head knocking him out cold. Richard hog tied him, duct taped his mouth and shoved him in the trunk of his car. Richard drove out to a wooded area in the Jersey Pine Barrens, pulled the mark out of his trunk and placed him
against a tree and made him realize that he was gonna suffer! He pulled out a hatchet and proceeded to break his knees. He cut his fingers off one-by-one and was gonna use them as proof the mark had suffered but got a better idea…by this time themark had soiled himself. Richard finally killed the guy and buried what was left of him in a hole out in the woods. Richard soon left with the proof he needed for Carmine…his head!

SECRET LIFE

One thing that not many people at all knew about Richard was that he was married once before Barbara. Her name was Linda. She had taken a liking to Richard when he was sixteen and she was twenty-five-years old. She would go on to let him live with her and they would have sex numerous times a day, everyday. Richard would at times be violent with Linda (as he grew up witnessing his mom being beaten by his father), and other times he would bring her stuffed toys, fresh flowers, fancy candy, and clothing. After finding out that Linda was pregnant he ended up marrying her for the sake of the baby.

At 20, Richard was a father for the first time naming the child Richard Jr. He had no real feeling of love or emotion for the child…he felt the child was just an extension of lust and nothing else. Linda became pregnant again and nine months later gave birth to his second child they called David. Richard still had no emotional feelings of love towards his children but he did feel the need to protect them on occasion. One such instance was when the super-intendant slapped both Richards kids for allegedly being too loud. Linda called Richard at a local bar and told him and he lost it! He got in his car and drove to find the super at a bar he usually drinks at. Long story short the super was hospitalized for weeks, and Richard had to pay $3000 for knocking a cop (who was working as a bar tender at the bar this happened in) out. Richard and Linda’s relationship was going sour and they had stopped having sex to barely any at all.

One fateful evening Richard’s younger brother Joe, now all grown up, told Richard he had seen a guy, Sammy James, and his wife Linda go into a room at the Hudson Hotel. Room 16 his brother told him…ground level right near the Coke machine. So Richard in a fury left his brother and sped of for the hotel. He showed up at the hotel and booted the door in with all his might. Linda’s eyes popped out of her head in shock and fear. Richard looked at James started to beat the crap out of him and told him he was gonna break every bone in his body but one…and that if he ever heard he was around Linda again hewould find him and break that bone he did not break and went on to break ever bone but one. He then turned to Linda and said “If you weren’t the mother of my son’s” and pulled out a knife. He went to grab her left breast and she tried to put up a fight so he hit her and knocked her unconscious and proceeded to cut her nipples off. He never had any real contact with her after that and only saw his sons on occasion.

ROY DEMEO

Roy DeMeo would turn out to be an important role in Richards up and coming life as well as big a thorn in his side as his own father!

Roy DeMeo was a well known tough like Kuklinski but Richard could never be made as he was of Polish decent. Roy looked up to people like Lucky Luciano, and Al Capone so he was really striving to become famous in the Mafia world. He was not liked by many but respected by all as a good earner in the underworld. He was not liked because of his explosive temper, which a lot of people said would be his downfall.

Richards first meeting with DeMeo would not be a good one. Richard at the time was distributing and directing porn, he never got into the porn, just saw it as a cash crop for him and ended up being the porn king of New York at one time! Richard was behind on a payment he owed to an investor. The investor happened to be friends with Roy and he got Roy involved. Richard went to see his investor but was met by Roy asking for the money. Roy knew that Richard was well over 6 feet and 300 pounds but he did not care as Roy was a hot tempered, loud mouth. They exchanged words Roy saw that he was not putting enough fear into Richard and Roy knew he didn’t want to go toe-to-toe with this mammoth of a man so he left to get his crew. When Roy left Richards investor told him who Roy was and that he was connected…he didn’t want to see Richard get hurt so Richard turned around to get on the elevator. He was met by DeMeo’s men who had their guns pointed on Richard. DeMeo stared Richard down and said “So tough guy, You want to die, you want to fucking die?” and right after that he hit Richard across the side of the head with the butt of his gun. DeMeo didn’t know that Richard was carrying a gun just like he always did…a .38 derringer. Richard knew that if he said anything or tried to go for the gun he would surly be shot! Soon all of DeMeo’s men were beating on Richard only enraging him, but doing his best to keep it cool so he did not get shot on the spot. They kept beating him but got tired when they couldn’t knock him out. DeMeo told him to get the money or
he was dead! Richard got up, angry as could be, and went to the washroom. Looked at himself in the mirror he was mad at the mess they made of him. He had to go to the hospital and got thirty-eight stitches on three different wounds on his head.

Richard made arrangements to pay his investor. He then went and found DeMeo at a club he owned called the Gemini Lounge. He walked in to the club and asked for DeMeo. DeMeo told him he was glad that he was making payment arrangements and said that he had balls for coming to the bar. He told DeMeo he wanted to talk and they talked. Richard told him that the two investors that had Roy confront Richard were stealing from each other and that he didn’t owe as much as they had made it seem! Roy said that maybe they got off on the wrong foot and proceeded to tell him that he had asked around about him and found out that Richard was actually a stand up guy, and also told him that he knew Richard had a gun on him and it took balls not to go for it. They talked about the money they could make together in the future all the while Richard was scheming a plan to kill DeMeo…he would wait for the right opportunity, but he wanted to make some money first.

First piece of business was to pretty much rule the porn industry in New York. With DeMeo’s help Richard was pushing massive amounts of pirated porn and Disney movies in the underworld.

BARBARA KUKLINSKI (PEDRICI)

Probably the biggest downfall in Richard’s life. Although throughout the relationship together Richard loved Barbara more than anyone he had ever loved before.

Barbara is first introduced into Richard’s life at a soda machine at Swiftline Trucking Company where Richard worked. They walked by each other at the machine, said hi to each other and went about there way. They kept running into each other around the workplace, Barbara worked in the office and Richard worked in the loading bay and where ever else his boss could take advantage of his massive frame. One day while Richard and Barbara stopped to talk to each other…their boss, Sol Goldfarb, saw this and got upset. Sol had a crush of sorts on Barbara and didn’t like that she was talking to someone as bad as Richard was. This was something that would haunt Barbara for the rest of her life…people telling her to watch out for Richard that he was in with bad people, that he had a bad reputation for being extremely violent. She couldn’t see this
as Richard had two sides to him…Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Throughout their lives together they had 3 children. Their names are Merrick, Christin, and Dwayne. Because there was so much physical abuse towards Barbara, she would tend to shield Dwayne from seeing it because she did not want to see him grow up to become like Richard the way Richard saw his dad beat his mom growing up. Richard actually was jealous of Dwayne because he was a new male introduced into the environment and Richard being the alpha male that he was didn’t like that Barbara gave Dwayne so much attention. Richard never layed a hand on his kids, not even the kids he previously fathered as Barbara told him that if he ever did that she would kill him where he stood!

Regardless of what people thought of Richard Kuklinski, he was always a family man. He kept his personal life (meaning the Mafia, and the fact that he was the biggest distributor of Porn in New York) away from his family because he didn’t want to hurt them in anyway. Near the end of his career as a hit man and professional killer he even thought of quitting the business and taking off with his family to a place where no one knew who or what he was.

PETER CALABRO

Roy DeMeo had many of the NYPD cops on his side, and payed them handsomely for looking the other way at certain times or giving up info on cases against him and his crew. One of these cops was Peter Calabro. Peter wanted his wife killed so Roy did it for him. It would be this killing that made DeMeo a fully informed man when it came to busts, and info on anything that DeMeo needed.

Sammy “The Bull” Gravano was a well known man in the Mafia world. He was not a man to mess with being John Gotti’s right hand man. When Gravano needed a cop killed he contacted DeMeo and he referred Richard. DeMeo had a feeling it was gonna be Peter Calabro that was going to be the hit, and he wanted nothing to do with it…that and the fact that he was a cop.

Gravano contacted Richard and set up the hit…supplied him with the proper tools and gave him all the info that he needed to know…when and where he was going to be where he was to be hit! The biggest piece of info that Gravano and DeMeo forgot to mention was that he was a cop.

March 14, 1980 it was cold and snowing. Richard had followed Calabro for a while and learned his routes and followed him that day and finally went ahead of him and parked on the side of the road with his emergency lights on. He knew it would force Peter Calabro to slow down as he was driving by. He waited until Calabro drove directly by his window…with a shotgun ready at window level he fired and killed his mark instantly.

Richard found out the next day that the man he had killed was a cop and that made him more livid than any moment he had ever experienced. He knew that it was then that he had been too careless with his killings.

MISTER SOFTEE

Richard first met him at a hotel in Queens where he was hunting for his next mark on contract. He thought the guy was there after him so he played it cool. Richard walked into a bathroom, stepped up to a urinal and then the guy walked in and stepped up to the urinal directly next to the one the Richard was using…Richard was about ready to battle it out with this guy, he was not taking going to let this make him a victim. It wasn’t till they both went to the sinks to wash their hands that Richard talked to him. He asked him if his business was with him and the other guy asked if Richard had business with him, they both said no and that was that. They both knew they were hit men, and only another hit man can see a hit man a mile away.

A few days later Richard sat there in his car with a tranquilizer gun, which was a new weapon that he had introduced into his arsenal of death, when he heard a Mister Softee truck coming around the corner. He flagged the truck down and walked over to get some ice cream. When he got to the window he was in shock to see the ice cream man was the same hit man he ran into at the hotel while Richard was on surveillance. They introduced themselves to each other and this is where we first meet Robert Pronge. They talked shop and Robert told Richard that he used the Mister Softee truck to do surveillance, Richard was impressed. Robert Pronge used to be a Special Forces soldier and had extensive training in Explosives and killing. It was here that Richard would first be introduced to a weapon he loved to use more than any gun or rat cave he had…POISON. They exchanged methods of offing their marks and became friends then and there. It would prove to be fatal for Robert Pronge.

Richard and Robert would carry their friendship on for a while before Richard thought that Robert was truly crazy. Now I remember writing this earlier but Richard would never kill a woman or child…ever! So what befell Robert Pronge was that he asked Richard to kill his wife and eight-year old son. He told Pronge that he didn’t do that kind of thing and that he thought it morally wrong and wouldn’t do it. Another issue that upset Richard was that Robert wanted to poison a reservoir that serviced an upstate community with drinking water. He was only doing it because a guy was gonna pay him several thousand dollars to poison a certain family, but Richard though it unnecessary to poison so many people for no reason…all Richard could think about was all the young kids that would die for no reason.

Richard went to see Robert and put an end to his psychopathic tendencies. It was mid-august when Richard crept into Roberts garage where he kept his truck and his killing tools. Richard was always known for having a cat-like walk when he was hunting for his prey. He wanted them to be surprised when they saw him (if they ever did) at the last second of their lives. So Richard walked up on Robert, pulled out his .22 pistol stocked with a silencer and put 5 bullets into Robert Pronge’s body. Richard felt sad as he did genuinely like Robert, but didn’t trust his psychopathic ways.

The Downfall Of Richard Kuklinski

Richard wasn’t killing as much as eh was laying low from the Peter Calabro killing. He was into a bunch of things…Money Laundering in Zurich and the states, Porn distribution, the odd contract, and he went back to doing breaking and entering.

He was working with a B&E crew that consisted of Al Rinke, Gary Smith, Danny Deppner and Percy House. They scored from houses all over New Jersey. Richard had experience doing B&E’s because that is what he did before he started doing big time hits for the Mafia.

One day while robbing a house, Al Rinke was caught and arrested. He tried to make a deal with the police in order for him giving up the rest of his crew. Detective Pat Kane (who had at the time been investigating a string of house robberies) had been questioning him for two-days when he gave up the names: Danny Deppner, Gary Smith, Percy House and the head of the crew…a guy he only knew as “Big Rich”, a name that Pat Kane would have come across him from now on!

Percy House was the first to be arrested, and he wouldn’t say anything (he knew the reputation of Big Rich). The other guys were no where to be found. Danny Deppner’s wife went to the police with details about what they were looking for. She told the police that Danny and Gary were afraid to come out of hiding because they didn’t want Richard to kill them. They considered Richard the Devil. She told them of how Richard helped them and put them up somewhere safe away from the cops and told them to stay put till he told them it was okay to come out of hiding.

Richard helped Gary and Danny out by putting them up in a hotel for the time being and helped them with food if they needed it. Richard told them to stay put so they did not get seen. Gary got it into his head to leave for a couple hours to see his daughter. Richard found out about this and decided it was his time to go.

Richard went to a diner near by and bought three hamburgers for each of them to eat. He sprinkled poison on just Gary’s burger and took it too them. Richard put on a front to make the guys feel east about him being there and he really wanted to watch the life leave Gary Smith’s body. They sat down to eat the burgers and almost instantly the poison worked on Gary. Richard made Danny strangle Gary to finalize his death and make sure there was no coming back for Gary! Richard then had Danny dispose of Gary’s body by putting it underneath the bed of the hotel room they were in (this would be a big mistake on Richard’s part). Deppner was next. He would eat a roast beef sandwich that was laced with cyanide. You’d think he would have learned not to eat anything Richard brought with him. After Danny ate the sandwich he was almost dead when Richard shot him in the head with a silenced .22.

Richard was also involved with another one of his close personal friends Phil Solimene. Richard never trusted anyone but Barbara, and Phil was the only other person he trusted. Phil was the owner of a pharmacy. Richard knew Phil for many years, and committed many crimes with him including murder.

Phil had gotten himself in some trouble and Pat Kane had approached him to get him to set Richard up. It was either that or serve jail time. So Phil agreed to set up the only man that ever trusted him with his life. An undercover agent was set up as a fake Mafia hit man who’s background was a fresh jail releasee that was looking to get back into the game.

Phil would try and get Richard to the store to have coffee and meet his “friend” that he knew would get along well with Richard. Richard was reluctant at first and many times after that. By this time Richard was flying all over the world and laundering money for different big time people.

Finally Richard agreed to come to the store and hang out. Phil had been trying for so long now to get Richard to come to the store and he finally had his chance. Richard for a long time now had wanted to kill Pat Kane because he had been investigating Richard for some time (I am talking a couple years have passed since the Deppner-Smith killings). It started when Pat came to Richards house and stirred up the pot by bringing his personal life to his house, something he had been desperately trying to keep away from his family for so long. Pat was investigating the murders of Danny Deppner and Gary Smith.

When Phil first tried to sell Richard on his new “friend” he told him that he was a big timer with connections to anything Richard needed, drugs, guns, hit men, anything really. So Richard called up Phil and asked to meet with Dominick, the undercover cop. Richard was looking for cyanide. Cyanide specifically because he used it in a spray bottle mixed with a certain amount of cyanide and water. This acted as a deadly spray that when sprayed in someone’s face (provided only a little cyanide, just enough to kill a grown man, was used) is would cause them to die instantly and make it look as if they suffered a heart attack.

Richard and Dominick’s first encounter was where Richard was looking for some silencers and cyanide. Dom said he would look into getting what Richard needed…knowing that he can’t really supply him with any killing agents, he would string him along saying he knew a female DEA officer that could get him the silencers and he knew a guy that could get the cyanide. Richard became impatient about having to wait so long to get what he needed, and he started to become distant with Dom because of having to wait. Richard was asking all over for cyanide to kill this cop that was a thorn in his side. So finally one day Dom got a hold of Richard and they talked about getting the cyanide for the last time as Dom threw him a curve ball and stated that he was looking for a hit man to do in a loud mouth customer of his that was Rich and he wanted to rob and kill him. Richard said he would be up for it. To keep him strung along Dom asked about ways he could do it and that is what sealed his fate. Richard had been talking to Dom on a bugged phone, all the while Richard was not even suspicious of this. A man that all his life had never said much to people about who he was or what he did told the most unlikely of people that he would take a contract, while being recorded.

THE DAY HIS WORLD CAME CRASHING DOWN

It was almost like a scene right out of Goodfellas. Richard and his family were getting ready for another Kuklinski Christmas when he was contacted by Dom with info on when and where they were gonna rob Dom’s customer.

It was set up for early in the morning on a Wednesday. They would meet the buyer and deal business with him in the back of a van. Dom mentioned that every time they meet at this place he orders an egg sandwich. Dom said that he would supply the sandwich and the vial of cyanide, again Richard never thought in his mind that this guy was trying to set him up. All Richard was thinking about was putting a bullet in both Dom and the buyers head. Richard wanted to save the cyanide that was gonna be used in the buyers sandwich for Pat Kane.

December 17, 1986 Richard was off to meet Dom for what was going to be a big day for the Jersey police and the Anti Mafia Justice League.

They met on time that morning and said there hellos. Dom mentioned that eh was going to meet the buyer and bring him to Richard’s van where he would test the coke out before he would buy it from Dom. Dom handed Richard the cyanide and the egg sandwich making sure to say everything clearly so the wire he was wearing would pick it up. Richard was feeling now that he was possibly being set up and said that he was going to go and pick his van up, that he’d be back with the van. Dom kept trying to get Richard to put the cyanide on the egg sandwich there so that they could bust him on the spot, but he didn’t. They let him go. Richards plan was he was going to drive off and come back in a different car to see if the buyer really was going to show up…all he would have said was his van wouldn’t start so he got a bigger car.

Barbara had been feeling ill for a while now, and Richard went to find a pay phone to call her to see how she was doing. They talked for a few minutes and asked if she wanted to go for breakfast, she said yes, and he was on his way home to pick up his wife…the love of his life and the only woman he ever felt true love for. By this time Richard said screw Dom and would call Phil and tell him he thought that Dom was full of it and ask why he would talk so highly of someone so full of it.

By now the cops knew that Plan A was out of the question and they felt they had enough on Richard Kuklinski that they could just go and pick him up on what they had, which was Richard on tape talking about ways he had killed people and various other murder and mob related incidents. Off they went to arrest the mammoth murderer of a man that his neighbours knew as just Rich they family man, not The Iceman worlds greatest hit man.

Richard and Barbara were just getting set in the car to go to breakfast. They were gonna go for breakfast and Richard wanted to take Barbara to the doctors to get looked at because she was still not feeling to well. Richard had no idea what was about to happen next. There were a pile of undercover cars parked up the road monitoring the Kuklinski home. The local cops had no idea what was going on and a neighbour called the local police and they almost ruined the whole operation. Richard and Barbara were in the car and Richard started it and they were off up the street. No sooner did they get up the road when they were surrounded by cops and agents. Richard wanted to grab the gun he had under his seat but was afraid with all the bullets that might be flying around one might hit Barbara.

Richard was ripped from the car, and about to be put to the ground when Barbara was ripped from the car too. This infuriated Richard, he kept shouting to them that she had nothing to do with this and they should leave her alone. But they threw her to the ground and this upset him to the point of no return. It took eight strike force officers to get the hulking man to the ground and handcuffed, all the while thinking about how they had hurt his only true love. He would kill Pat Kane if he died trying.

Long Story Short…

Barbara was let out but charged with possession of a gun that was found under the seat of the car they were busted in, but the charges were later dropped when they convicted Richard. Richard was charged with nineteen felony offences and 4+ murder charges were added to his list of charges. He was sentenced to 2 life sentences as they could only prove that he killed Smith-Deppner, and Louis Masgay.

More can be learned about Richards trial and the actual numbers of charges he ended up with by reading the book “The Iceman: Confessions Of A Mafia Contract Killer” by Philip Carlo, or by searching for his name on the internet.

Richard Kuklinski has said in later interviews that he killed 200+ people. Some for fun, some for money, some were hobos he was trying new weapons out on, some where heads of Mafia families. He was claimed to have been part of the Jimmy Hoffa killing, which to this day had been unconfirmed.

Right before Richards death on Sunday, March 5, 2006 of unknown causes, he tried to bring down Sammy “The Bull” Gravano (as he was the one who had Richard unknowingly kill a cop) for the killing of Peter Calabro. When Richard died all charges were dropped against Gravano and the secret of the Hoffa killing would be voided, and never brought up again. Richard just before he died was paranoid that someone was poisoning him and that was the reason he was getting sick. He could never get anyone to believe his complaints and no evidence of what he died of has yet to be given to the public.

REFERENCES

1) The Iceman: Confessions Of A Mafia Contract Killer
2) www.serialkillercalendar.com
3) www.Wikipedia.com
4) www.freeinfosociety.com

Mary Flora Bell

BY AARON KIRKLAND

Mary was born Sunday, May 26, 1957 in a town called Scotswood, a depressed area of Newcastle, a city in Northumberland (which is a county North East of England). Mary’s mother was a prostitute who married a man named Billy Bell. Mary’s mother had a tendency to take off for long periods of time leaving Mary with her step dad, or other relatives.

The town she lived in was a struggling town. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the local men to be out of work, drunk, gambling their family’s savings away, or committing petty crimes.

First Brush With Trouble

Saturday May 11, 1968 Mary and her next door neighbour/friend, Norma Joyce Bell (age 13, no relation), were questioned in the assault on a young boy (who was Mary’s cousin) named John G.

John (who was only 3 years old) was found behind some sheds injured and bleeding from the head. The girls both gave the same statement (which was obviously false) that they couldn’t figure how John had gotten behind the sheds and that they had never taken him there to play.

Second Brush With Trouble

Sunday, May 12, 1968, the day after 3 year old John G. was found injured, the cops were called out to look into an incident where Mary and Nora would be questioned yet again.

One of the neighbourhood women, Mrs. Peterson, was the one who called the cops. She told the cops that between 3pm and 5pm at a local sandpit, that either Mary or Norma had tried to strangle her daughter Pauline (7 years old), and two of her friends Cindy Hepple (6 years old) and Susan Cornish (6 years old).

Norma gave her statement: “Mary put both hands round the girl's (Cindy's) throat and squeezed. The girl started to go purple. I told Mary to stop, but she wouldn't. She did this for a while and then she put her hands round Pauline's throat and she started to go purple as well. Both Pauline and the other girl were crying.”….“Another girl, Susan Cornish, came up and Mary did the same to her. Susan had some rock (sweet rock) and Mary took this off her. I said to Mary, 'There's be trouble,' and then Mary asked me if I wanted some rock. I said 'Yes,' and had a piece from her. I then ran off and left Mary, I am not friends with her now.”

Mary’s statement was different from Norma’s. She never mentioned anything about the three girls. She mentioned in her statement: “…I went behind the shed to play. When I was behind the shed I heard Pauline scream. I came up from behind the shed and saw Pauline running away towards the fence. She was holding her throat and screaming. I asked Norma what happened and she said that Pauline had fallen and hurt her throat on the edge of the sandpit…”

The police looked into the statements and other inquiries and decided not to take any actions other than informing the Children’s Department and letting the girls know what will happen in future incidents.

The Murder of Martin Brown

Martin Brown was found dead just after 3pm on Saturday, May 25, 1968, a day before Mary’s 11th birthday. He was found in a back bedroom in a run down abandoned house bleeding and drooling from the mouth.

Martin was seen just a few minutes earlier buying candy and talking with construction workers near the abandoned house. He was found by three boys looking for scrap wood to make a dovecote (a structure that small birds live in). When they foundMartin’s body they freaked out and called out to the construction workers who ran in and tried to save him. They were too late.

Just at that moment Mary and Norma were on their way into the building when they were stopped and told to go away. Mary was bringing Norma to the house to show her that she had killed Martin. When the girls were told to leave they went straight to Martin’s aunt and told her there was an accident and that Martin might be involved. They said there was blood all over, and Mary told Martin’s aunt she would take her to the scene.

The Criminal Investigation Department was never called in because upon further investigation, the police found an empty bottle of Aspirin near Martin’s body, no strangulation marks or any other marks of foul play and ruled it an accidental death

The community was outraged and marched and protested about the large amount of abandoned buildings in the area and the amount of dangers they presented.

Mary and Norma would ask Martin’s aunt creepy questions like: “Do you miss Martin?”...”Do you cry for him?”...”Does June Miss him?”. June being Martin’s mother. When they would ask these questions they would have big grins on their faces as if they were taunting the grieving aunt. She had enough one day and told them to go away and never come back.

On another day Mary had knocked at June Brown’s (Martin’s mother) door. June answered and Mary had requested to see Martin. June replied, “No, pet, Martin is dead” Mary then stated “Oh I know he’s dead. I wanted to see him in his coffin.”. Mary then again had a huge grin on her face. June then was shocked by the morbid attitude displayed by Mary and she slammed the door in Mary’s face.

Mary Is Becoming Uncontrollable

On Sunday, May 26, 1968, Mary’s 11th birthday, she was at Norma’s house playing with Norma’s sister Susan (11 years old). All of a sudden Susan’s dad heard her screaming and ran into the room to find Mary’s hands wrapped around Susan’s neck. Susan’s dad recalled: “I chopped Mary’s hands away and gave her a clip on the shoulder.” Mary then threatened to tell her father but nothing ever came of it.

On Monday, May 27, 1968 in the early hours of the morning, teachers were arriving at the Day Nursery nearby were shocked to find the place was broken into and ripped apart. The suspects had broken in through the roof by removing slats on the roof.

There were 4 notes found and read as follows:

“I murder so THAT I may come back”

“fuch of we murder watch out Fanny and Faggot”

“we did murder Martain brown Fuck of you Bastard”

“You are micey Becurse we murdered Martain Go Brown you Bete Look out THEREare Murders about By FANNYAND and auld Faggot you Srcews”

The police disregarded them and filed them as a sick joke. So nothing was done about the notes. Mary would admit later that she had written the 4 letters as a joke.

After that break in, the school installed a security system.

Friday, May 31, 1968 the alarm went off at the Day Nursery. Mary and Norma were caught. They denied having anything to dowith the previous break in (although they did or at least Mary). They were let go to their parent’s custody till their court date.

A week later Mary accosted Norma near the Nurseries sandpit. A young boy claimed to have seen Mary scratch and kick in the eye.

The Murder Of Brian Howe

Mary visited Brian Howe’s home near the end of July, just before Brian’s murder. The subject of Martin Brown’s murder was brought up and Mary chimed in, “I know something about Norma that will get here put away.” The Howe’s were interested in what she had to say. “Norma put her hands on a boy’s throat.” she said, “It was Martin Brown. She pressed and he just dropped.” Mary had called Norma’s mom later that day to apologize for her comments.

Wednesday, July 31, 1968 a search for 3 year old Brian Howe was started when Brian’s sister Pat, who was taking care of the family because their mother left, couldn’t find Brian.

Mary and Norma offered to help find Brian. Mary and Norma as well as other locals all went to the area where the local kids played among the construction materials, old cars and various other debris.

Mary suggested that Brian might be playing behind a pile of cement blocks. Pat said that he can’t be because he never plays there. Mary was trying to make Pat find her dead brother’s body.

When they couldn’t find Brian the police were called in to search for him. 11:10 pm Brian’s body was found in the very place Mary was trying to get Pat to look in. His body was found covered in grass and purple weeds, and had visible signs on his neck of strangulation. Near his body they found a pair of broken scissors. He had stab wounds on his thighs, his genitals were partly skinned, and clumps of his hair were cut off. They found an ‘M’ that had been carved on his belly. It was only visible days later, but it looked like someone had originally carved an ‘N’ but it looked as if someone else added an extra mark to turn it into an ‘M’. The cuts and puncture marks on his body were found to be sort of adventurous…playful and vicious. It pointed to a child that fit the profile of their suspect.

The Downfall Of Mary Flora Bell

24 hours had passed and the town of Scotswood had been flooded with C.I.D. officers and children were sent home with questionnaires. Mary and Norma also received a questionnaire and both admitted to have spent the better part of that day together. Their statements didn’t match up and they changed their statements twice. Mary claimed that she had seen an 8 year old boy playing with Brian. She said she saw him hit Brian for no reason and said he was playing with a pair of silver coloured scissors that had something wrong with them. No indication of scissors being found near the body was made public, no one knew outside of the police about the scissors.

The Chief Inspector on the case stated, “By the night of Friday, August 2 we had pretty well eliminated everybody except for Mary and Norma Bell, it had to be them or one of them.”

Detective Constable Thompson went to Norma’s house Sunday, August 4 to question her about the inconsistencies of her statement. Norma all of a sudden broke down and started to cry. She asked to speak to the detective without her father around. They stepped aside and she told the detective she was at Delaval Road with Mary and her dog, and that Mary had taken her to see Brian. She later told Chief Inspector Dobson that she went with Mary to the blocks that day, when they were walking around she tripped on something, looked down and saw Brian’s head covered with grass. She stated that Mary told her: “I squeezed his neck and pushed up his lungs. That’s how you kill them. Keep your nose dry and don’t tell anybody.”

Norma said Brian’s lips were purple and Mary ran here fingers on his lips. She said Mary then showed her a razor and lifted Brian’s shirt to reveal tiny cuts she had made on Brian’s belly. Norma then told Dobson that Mary hid the razor under the blocks and told her not to tell or she (Mary) would get in trouble.

The Chief Inspector then took Norma to the blocks and Norma reached under and pulled out a tiny Gillette razor blade. They took Norma to the police station and had her write a formal statement.

Mary Bell Is Taken Down

Monday, August 5, 1968, 12:15 am….Mary Bell is woken from her sleep and brought down to the station for questioning. Three hours of interrogation and she was sticking to her story of not knowing anything.

Wednesday, August 7, Brian’s family were burying little Brian. Mary was at this point not charged with anything. The Chief Inspector witnessed Mary laughing and rubbing her hands as Brian’s coffin was being brought out of the Howe’s house.

4:30 pm that same day Chief Inspector Dobson sent a policewoman to get Mary. She was pale, stressed and not wanting to cooperate. She finally agreed to give a statement. She claimed that it was Norma who killed Brian. She stated: “She (Norma) started to feel up and down his neck. She squeezed it hard, you could tell it was hard because her fingertips were going white. Brian was struggling, and I was pulling her shoulders, but she went mad… His face was all white and bluey, and his eyes were open… Norma covered him and I said, ‘Norma, I’ve got nothing to do with this. I should tell on you but I’ll not.”

Thursday, December 5, 1968, Mary and Norma’s trial for the murders of Martin Brown and Brian Howe’s murder started and lasted 9 days.

Mary and Norma stuck to their stories that it was the other that committed the murders. Norma’s behaviour and attitude in the court room made her story more believable.

Dr. Robert Orton, who had already seen Mary on 2 different occasions, said that Mary suffered from a psychopathic personality, and defined some symptoms as a lack of feeling, a liability to act on impulse, aggression, and a lack of remorse.

Norma was cleared on the charges on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The jury found Mary guilty of Manslaughter on Martin Brown and Brian Howe. Judge Justice Cusack sentenced Mary to detention for life in a detention center. Over the years Mary’s case would be reviewed and if at any time the psychiatrists think Mary has been cured of her psychopathic personality. Wednesday, May 14, 1980, at the age of 23, Mary was finally released from the detention center.

Wednesday, May 21, 2003, now at age 46, was granted lifelong anonymity. Mary Bell and her daughter can now live their lives in secret without fear of any vigilante justice. All though the victims families are outraged and disgusted that a killer be allowed such anonymity.

References

http://www.angelfire.com/ks/nin420/bell.htnl
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/bell/index_1.html

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