Most intriguing unsolved non-JtR serial killer cases

[sdreid]

One that hasn't been mentioned yet was the so-called "Valley Killer" along the New Hampshire - Vermont border 1978-1988. It's a creepy one. Nine women were attacked and 8 were killed. I hadn't heard of the case until Unsolved Mysteries did a segment on it in the early 90s. The killer was apparently scared straight with the escape of his final victim. There is some suspicion that he might have been responsible for other slayings going back to 1968.

[Dr. John Watson]

I watched The Boston Strangler: The Untold Story last night and I'd just judge it as acceptable although likely more accurate than the Curtis film. It takes the attitude that DeSalvo was innocent of the murders which is probably correct in my view. He's basically portrayed as the dupe of a thinly disguised "Nassar type" character. One of the detectives in the film says that the case is bigger than JtR. I don't agree with that.

Just popped in for a second. Interesting thread. If you rely on television documentaries to provide all the facts in a case, don't. They usually have biased premise that almost always attacks the historic, and accepted, view. It's a one-sided presentation, like a jury hearing only from the defendant's attorney. The case of the Boston Strangler is a case in point. No one who has studied the complete history of the case, reviewed the police reports and - most importantly - read the complete transcript of DeSalvo's confessions, can ever doubt that he and he alone committed all of the murders attributed to the Strangler. Since the case was solved by DeSalvo's confessions, it certainly cannot compare with JTR.

[sdreid]

Alternate name(s):

10-The Snow Killer
7-The Diamond Knot Killer-The East Area Rapist

More alternates for #7 - Bedroom Killer - Chinese Knot Killer

Actually, I prefer one of those two or Diamond Knot Killer because East Area Rapist is incomplete and Original Night Stalker is a quite unoriginal name. The latter seems to be the one that's most caught on however.

[sdreid]

Last week, America's Most Wanted did a fairly extensive segment on The Grim Sleeper (another dime novel name for a serial killer but whatever). Despite my first take, it is a quite interesting case. It hasn't gotten the publicity that others have received; I suspect because the victims are black as is the killer from what we know and the dorky name doesn't help. The protracted time line reminds me some of EAR and BTK.

[sdreid]

Some other interesting ones that I don't believe have been mentioned on this thread yet.

Name (Time) Place (Victims)

Thames Torso Murders (1887-89) England (4)

Bingham Poisonings (1911) England (4)

Toledo Clubber (1925-26) Ohio (5)

The Duff-Sidney Case (1928-29) England (3)

Sweethearts of the Rodeo Murders (1974) Wyoming (4)

Orange Coast Killer (1977-79) California (6)

[Frank]

The German police are looking at the moment for the so called "Maskenmann" (mask man) or "Der schwarze Mann" (bogeyman, lit. 'man in black') who sneaks unseen and unnoticed in (school) youth hostels and tent camps when all children are sleeping. Then he wakes one of the boys and takes him to a secluded spot.
He is supposed to have sexually abused more than 30 boys and to have killed at least five. The patterns of the assults are very similar.
The children describe the man as about 30-50 years old, broad-shouldered, standing about 2m (I think 6 feet 7, or so, for our non-metric friends), wearing a black leather jacket and a black woolen mask with eye-slits. The series began in 1992, maybe even in 1989 with the death of a boy in The Netherlands.

[sdreid]

Thanks for that update Frank. Are these attacks ongoing? I hope this guy gets caught. How many 2 meter men are there around?

[Frank]

There was a new assault mid of june which people and press think was the mask man. He took a ten-year-old boy out of his bed in a youth hostel and brought him to a nearby park. He forced the boy to take of his pyjama trousers but them let him go (or the boy could escape, there are different press reports).
End of april in the very same town of Rheine a man forced his way into an apartment (but there were no signs of housebreaking) and molested a boy sleeping in his bed. He threatened the boy with a screwdrivers. But the cries of the boy alarmed his sister and the man fled. This incident only came to public after the first I mentioned.
Since I haven't found any English websites to the topic, I'd like to give a little overview:

* In the night of 31.3.1992 the 13-years old Stefan J. disappered out his boarding school near Rotenburg (Lower Saxony). He left his pyjama in his room, the window was open. One month later his tied up and strangled body was found buried in a dune near Verden. While all the later victims were naked or almost naked, the body of Stefan was dressed.

* In the night of 24.6.1995 between 3:00 and 5:45 a.m. the 8-years-old Dennis R. disappeared out of a tent camp in Schleswig-Holstein. Two weeks later his strangled body was found in a dune in Denmark. In the very same camp a masked man already had abused several children in the years 1992 to 1994.

* On 10.8.1998 the 11-years-old Nicky V. disappeared in an unexplainable manner out of a tent camp in the Netherlands. He was last seen at 5:30 a.m. by another child. At 6.00 a.m. he was vanished. His dead body was found in a nearby tree nursery.

* On 5.11.2001 the 9-years-old Dennis K. disappeared out of a school youth hostel near Cuxhaven. He was with his class on a school trip and vanished in the night. His choked body was discovered two weeks later by a mushroom harvester (collector?). His pyjama did not reappear until today.

* In the night of 7.4.2004 the 11-years-old Jonathan C. disappeared out of a youth hostel in St. Brevin les pins (Western France), only wearing his pyjama. More than one month later his tied up body was found in a lake about 30 km away. The cause of death is unknown, but he is not drowned.

(Source: http://true-crime.info/wiki/index.php/Soko_%22Dennis%22)

There have been several other cases with the same pattern, in which the man didn't kill the children but "only" sexually abuse them. Maye there is something ritualistic in it for there were always three years delay between the murders.

I hope this gives you a small overview of this case, I try to find more English information on the www. Sorry for the bad English, I just hope that everyone could understand the important points.

Best regards,
Frank

[Frank]

Hi Stan,

the two meters are taken from the description of the scared children who survived. So I think anything from 1,85 m upwards is possible. And I think there a lot of guys of this height running through the north of Germany. The bastard is said to speak an accentless High German, so I suppose he is more probably from the north of Germany.

Best regards,
Frank

[sdreid]

Good work Frank. It's heartbreaking to look into the eyes of those victims. If you catch this guy maybe you should deport him to America where we still have the death penalty.

Was this case kept under wraps for a while? The reason I ask is because I don't see it in The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Perhaps they just missed it.

[Frank]

Maybe the cases are not linked by hard evidence yet, e.g. dna samples. As far as I know it is mainly the modus operand which links them.
Another reason could be that special task forces from three different countries are involved, although they are working close together.

The source I cited (actually I just tried to translate the important points) also mentions an arrest in the Dutch case but that was in January 2007 and nothing more is told whether they could prove his guilt. But since even the website of the police of Lower Saxony still mention the case of Nicky V, I think they could not.
I would be surprised if there were two murderers with this very special modus operandi.
Maybe I should mention that the causes of death of Nicky V. are not definitely known, but police assume a capital crime.

[Fisherman]

Having read the German text, I think it should be added that the two first victims - the boys found buried in the sand dunes - were actually killed shortly before they were found. This would mean that the perpetrator kept them alive for 4 and 2 weeks, respectively, before ending their lives.
Chilling stuff.

The best,
Fisherman

[Frank]

I don't think that he kept them alive for several weeks. The German text is a little bit unclear.

Ca. einen Monat spaeter wurde Stefan getoetet und gefesselt in den Duenen vergraben aufgefunden.

This could be read as: he was killed one month later and then found dead and tied up buried in the dunes, or it could be read as: one month later he was found killed und tied up buried in the dunes. I think the second one is the correct one.

[sdreid]

In several respects, this guy reminds me of Dean Corll.

[Vess]

Zodiac is certainly the top choice, although I am biased by years of interest in his case...

But my second one is Italy's foremost and grittiest mystery - the Monster of Florence. I have to say I'm surprised it has not been mentioned yet... although, admittedly, I used to be interested in it for years, and then, sadly, fell for the nonsensical propaganda which the corrupt "investigators" tried to sell to the public for 2001. For a few years I haven't even looked at the case, and only regained interest in it after learning of Douglas Preston's and Mario Spezi's recent book and reading of their investigation that essentially identified the top suspect...