Cleveland Torso Murders (Kingsbury Run)

[Chris Scott]

I have been meaning for ages to read again about the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run case aka the Cleveland Torso Murders
I haven't read anything on this for, literally, years and was just wondering if anyone is aware of any new(ish) literature or thinking on the case
I remember when this case first caught my interest (back in the 80s) there was only one book on the subject which I had one hell of a job tracking down, and never did find a copy to buy
Any feedback or advice much appreciated as I am really out of touch with this fascinating case

[sdreid]

Hi Chris,

Which book were you looking for? There were a couple of books back then and at least a couple more now although one is mostly trying to tie the case in with The Black Dahlia murder. The two older books were Torso (top rate) with its tie-in to Eliot Ness and The Butcher's Dozen which also covered some other Cleveland murders. Rasmussen's book has the Dahlia connection and the other release is In the Wake of the Butcher which is great although a little heavy pushing one suspect in my view.

There are four main suspects, I'd say.

[Chris Scott]

Hi Stan
The one I managed to order through the library back then was Torso, which remains the only one I've read on this fascinating case
many thanks for your reply and the info - very much appreciated
Chris S

[sdreid]

Chris-I have two of those books and have read three. If you have read Torso you are very well informed. It's my favorite I think.

Too bad, the coroner, Samuel Gerber didn't write a book since his career was essentially bracketed by this and the unsolved Dr. Sheppard case.

[Gman992]

As someone who actually lives in Cleveland, Ohio, I've been fascinated with this case mainly because of the local setting and it involves when of my ultimate favorite heroes from history, Elliot Ness. As for books, there are a good couple of books out there-even a couple of fiction books. About ten years ago, Brian Bendis wrote a graphic novel called, Torso, which has been in development hell in Hollywood. And if you visit the Cleveland police museum you can actually see the death masks of some of the victims...There have been a couple of suspects, including the nephew of a local congressman and the man that they think is also responsible for the Black Delilah murder.


So far, that's about it...(of course, this has taking back stage to the guy they arrested recently who was killing young woman and stuffing them in the walls of his house.) And they say, Cleveland is boring...


woo...woo...woo...unsolved Sheppard case?

[TomTomKent]

I just want to point out that Torso was one of the best comic Brian Michael Bendis has written. And the man has written some fine comics in his time.

[sdreid]

woo...woo...woo...unsolved Sheppard case?

Well, Sheppard was likely guilty but it's officially unsolved.

Wilson, Sweeney, Dolezal and Johnson are the main named Torso suspects I think.

[belinda]

Hi Stan Do you think these and the Black Dahlia are really connected? I haven't read much about this but have seen a couple of Documentarys mainly playing up the Ness angle

[sdreid]

Hmm, I answered this once and it didn't go through.

Anyway Belinda, it's possible but, no, I don't think there's a Dahlia connection.

[ChainzCooper]

I remember seeing an episode of Unsolved Mysteries about this case (One of the best shows EVER btw Robert Stack, man, how I miss him) and didn't Eliot Ness supposedly know the identity of the killer but he could never prove it? I think he retired shortly thereafter and enigmatically replied when some reporter asked him about the case that it had been solved.

[belinda]

Robert Stack was wonderful.

Trivia

His daughter lived near here in the 1980s and he would give interviews on the local Radio Station on a regular basis.
He was a really nice man. Much missed

[sdreid]

UM was the best show ever on TV! They did the Torso Case twice. The first time was straight and the other folded in the Dahlia angle.

[ChainzCooper]

Yeah I've seen every original epsiode of Unsolved Mysteries ,man, it was so great, Robert Stack was perfect on that show you can only really describe it as magic. They recently brought it back and reformatted it with Dennis Farina as the host and while good, its just not the same. I think they should use the original format and get someone like Leonard Nemoy in there with some new cases and updates. But I doubt it will be as good as the original its hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice.

[Doug Irvine]

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[RockySullivan]

It stuck out to me how there was a Marijuana cigarette in the bloody railway car near murder swamp and Andrassey likely sold marijuana. I'm surprised they couldn't pinpoint any common figures but then again nearly everyone was Unidentified. The murder swamp & kings bury run are obviously the work of one killer it's a shock the author badel won't admit it but it doesn't match his suspect. Authors can be so shallow in the end.