Famous killers: dark history, #2

By Phillips Tahuer

Is man born evil or is he corrupted by society? It is a question that divides philosophy into two waters. The truth is that humans are one of the few animals that kill their own species, and find pleasure in it...

Not all assassins are the same. Some are by accident when a fight got out of control; others were simply following orders, although that does not take away the reprehensibility of their actions.

Others, on the other hand, kill for fun, for pure entertainment or to obtain economic profit. There are those who kill to kill, such as serial killers. In this volume of the series, we will discover the most famous serial killers and summarize their cases.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ediciones Afrodita
• Release date: Mar 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215656105

Book preview

• Albert DeSalvo

(1931 - 1973) Albert DeSalvo was born in Chelsea, a small town in Massachusetts, separated from the Boston Mystic River. As a child, he was raised by his alcoholic father.

From an early age, he began to commit petty crimes, but from his criminal youth, he was never suspected of coming to brutal crimes.

However, at the age of 29, he began to behave strangely, which landed him in prison for a year. His attempt to pass himself off as a model specialist who entered women's homes to pretend to take measurements on them was considered a crime. Of course, there was a fun, sexual motive for him. His stay in the army was also full of misdeeds, as well as disobedience to the orders given to him.

He married Irmgard Beck, who was German. With her, he had two children, the first of whom was born with a disability. They may not have been a rich family, but at the same time, his wife could not complain about any inconvenience caused by Albert. His rather quiet marriage contributed to his not being identified as a potential killer.

In the years 1962-1964, women of all ages were murdered. The youngest victim was 20 years old, while the oldest woman was killed at 85 years old. During this time, 11 bodies of women were found in Boston who had been strangled with their own underwear or stockings. The same modus operandi indicated the same author.

By the time the next victim was found, the Boston newspapers reported the threat very strongly. All the victims were raped. In addition, the brutality of the events was fueled by the fact that almost all the women were mature and lived alone. Albert DeSalvo posed as various professionals to get to the victim's home. He played the role of an electrician, a plumber, and even a detective. The victims didn't know they were letting a serial killer into his apartment.

The first victim was Anna Slesers, 55, who was murdered on June 14, 1962, in her apartment. Her body was found on the floor with a gown strap tied around her neck. It was with this belt that Albert strangled the woman and then tied a decorative bow, letting it be known that this was not the end of his activities. Before being strangled, Anna was sexually abused.

Just two weeks later, the murder of 85-year-old Mary Mullen took place, who was also raped and then strangled with her own stockings. Two days later, 65-year-old Helen Blake shared the same ending. Both women were in striking poses so that their private parts were visible. After these three murders, the investigators already knew that it was a serial killer.

The next victims were Nina Nichols, Ida Irga, and Jane Sullivan. They were all over 67 years old. This was one of the clues that a man should be sought, who supposedly wanted revenge on his mother through his crimes. However, this theory fell apart after a pause of several months, until in December 1962 the bodies of a 20-year-old black woman, Sophie Clark, and 23-year-old Patricia Bissette were found. Another murder occurred in March of the following year, the victim was Mar Brown, 69 years old.

In May 1963, the Boston Strangler attacked 23-year-old Harvard student Beverly Samans. This time, the crime was different from the previous ones, because the young woman died from numerous stab wounds inflicted on her chest. After her, three other women were killed, among whom the youngest, Mary Suliccan, was 19 years old.

The breakthrough in the Boston Strangler case was a mistake made by the killer. On October 27, 1964, Albert DeSalvo posed as a detective, later gaining entry to the possible victim's home. During an attempted rape, the offender suddenly got up, apologized to the woman, and left the house. In this way, the woman was able to make a description of the man that clearly pointed to Albert DeSalvo.

Most controversial is the fact that Albert DeSalvo simply confessed to the charges against him, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, despite a lack of material evidence. The biggest mystery is the fact that six years after his conviction, Albert DeSalvo absolutely wanted to contact his attorney. However, the next day he was found dead. He was probably killed by a fellow inmate, but the case was quickly dismissed, giving rise to many conspiracy theories.

Finally, in 2013, DNA tests were carried out, in which the material from Albert DeSalvo was compared with the material collected at the scene of the murder of one of the victims. The results clearly indicated the man's guilt, so any other conjecture was closed... although the doubt persists.

• Alexander Pichushkin

(1974) In five years, the Russian Alexander Pichushkin killed at least 49 people: he committed most of the murders in the Bitsevsky Forest, hence his nickname The Bitsevsky Maniac. Initially, this maniac planned to take the lives of 64 people, based on the number of cells on the chessboard, however, due to his own negligence (and luckily), his plans were not destined to come true.

Pichushkin's childhood was not easy: his father left the family when Alexander was not yet a year old, and at the age of three he fell from a swing, receiving a serious head injury, after which he had problems with his speaking, which is why he was often teased at school. He became aggressive and short-tempered, and the only consolation in his life was the chess he played with his grandfather.

At the age of 14, Pichushkin learned about the story of Andrei Chikatilo, was inspired by his example, and caught fire with the idea of killing. He shared his plans with his friend Mikhail Odiychuk and even called him as a partner. He initially agreed, but later changed his mind; Pichushkin then killed his friend who he knew too much about, luring him to Bitsevsky Forest. Later, the maniac admitted that he liked to kill his acquaintances: he listened to his most intimate wishes and life plans and ensured that they did not come true.

Pichushkin, with particular cruelty, killed people who were in a deliberately defenseless state: old or young, disabled or mentally disturbed.

The killer was arrested in 2006. His last victim was a work colleague Marina Moskaleva. He asked her out on a date, and she told her son this and left her partner's phone number just in case, which ultimately led to the murderer's investigation. During the arrest, he found a maniac with a chessboard on which he kept statistics of his murders. After the trial, the Moscow City Court found Alexander Pichushkin guilty of committing 52 crimes and sentenced him to life in prison. At the same time, the killer did not regret his deed of him, he repeatedly stated that he would still have time to complete what he started, and also reported that law enforcement managed to save the lives of many people:

Pichushkin is serving his sentence in the Polar Owl special regime penal colony located in the village of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.

• Alexander Spesivtsev

(1970) Alexander Nikolayevich Spesivtsev is a Russian serial killer, also known as The Monster of Novokuznetsk and The Siberian Ripper.

He was born in Novokuznetsk. He became the second child in the family after his older sister Nadezhda. His father Nikolai loved alcohol and beautiful women and did not hide his betrayal of his wife Lyudmila. However, he put up with it and decided to divorce only when Alexander was 15 years old.

For Alexander, his mother always had a special love and pity for him: although he was born on time, he was underweight, and after that, he grew up as a sickly child. The hyper-custody reached the point that the boy got his own bed by himself at the age of 12, and before that he slept next to his mother. Alexander grew up as an unsociable child, had a rather quarrelsome character, and was distinguished by his craving for vandalism.

At some point, Spesivtsev made Adolf Hitler his idol, and soon the walls at the entrance to the apartment building where they lived were covered with images of swastikas and laudatory inscriptions directed at the fascist dictator. Matches in locks, broken mailboxes, burnt doorbells, and broken elevator buttons - all of this was also the work of Alexander.

One day Lyudmila brought home volumes of criminal cases, which were filled with photographs of torn victims. Alexander was very interested in the contents of the folders, and for many nights the Spesivtsev family spent studying the details of the murders. This fascinated the young man much more than studying at school, from which he graduated with difficulty. At first, Spesivtsev worked part-time as a repairman for small household appliances, and in 1988 he joined the army.

During the medical examination, serious mental problems were detected. Therefore, instead of a military unit, he ended up in the Novokuznetsk psychiatric hospital, but after a short treatment, he returned home. And in 1991, 21-year-old Spesivtsev met 17-year-old Evgenia Guselnikova, and they began an affair. Alexander was even introduced to the family of her beloved