Castration serial murders

Last updated
Castration serial murders
Details
Victims2–5+
Span of crimes
1980 –1986 (confirmed)
CountryUnited States
State(s) Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Utah, Georgia, Connecticut;
Others possible
Date apprehended
Never apprehended

The castration serial murders were a series of murders of young men committed in between two and at least five American states between August 1980 and November 1986. All the victims were kidnapped, shot in the back of the head and castrated post-mortem, from which the case got its namesake. They were initially considered unrelated due to the crime scenes' geographic remoteness until 1989, when forensic evidence concluded that two of the victims had been killed with the same revolver, with the other three likely being related as well. [1] [2]

Contents

Victims

Investigation

In November 1989, a forensic ballistic examination revealed that Rifendifer and Shook had both been shot with the same .38 caliber revolver, possibly of Charter Arms manufacture. [3] Since the victims were found close to roads frequented by truck drivers, the investigators suggested that their killer might be a truck driver or a door-to-door salesman, after which they requested that the FBI conduct a psychological portrait of their offender. [2] [7]

In 1991, FBI agent Terry Green, then-director of the VICAP program, suggested that due to the fact that no similar killings have occurred after 1986, [7] it was more than likely that the offender is either deceased, imprisoned for another crime or has left the United States. [7]

In the 2000s, the police arrested a resident of San Francisco, California, in whose house a can of preservative fluid was found, containing a severed human scrotum. It was sent for examination in an attempt to extract a tissue sample to establish the identity of the victim, but due to the long-term conservation of the scrotum, no DNA could be extracted. [6] After examining the edges and shapes of the victims' wounds from photographs taken during the original investigations, the forensic pathologist concluded that the scrotum did not belong to any of the known victims. None of the killings have been solved, and are considered cold cases. [6]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "TENACIOUS INVESTIGATORS KEEP ON TRACK OF SERIAL KILLERS". Deseret News . November 1, 1990. Archived from the original on July 3, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Brent Israelsen (December 10, 1989). "GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER". Deseret News. Archived from the original on July 3, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Authorities Fear Hitchhiker Death Has Georgia Link". The Albany Herald . December 10, 1989.
  4. ↑ "Deville Man Shot to Death in Wyo". The Town Talk . August 13, 1980. p. 23.
  5. ↑ "Two suspects in area murder are released in Colo". Casper Star-Tribune . December 1, 1982. p. 3.
  6. 1 2 3 4 John Beauge (April 27, 2021). "Hitchhiker's slaying 40 years ago in Clinton County remains an active investigation: state police". The Patriot-News . Archived from the original on July 3, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Fred Bayles (January 18, 1991). "Killers who don't stop". Moscow-Pullman Daily News .
  8. ↑ "Former Wilkes-Barre Man Found Murdered in Woods". The Citizens' Voice . August 31, 1981. p. 14.
  9. ↑ "Still no murder clues". The Deseret News. June 30, 1982.
  10. ↑ "Mutilated Torso Held to Be That of County Man". Los Angeles Times . November 29, 1986. Archived from the original on July 3, 2021.
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