#bonniewritmore

[storiesweneedtotell]

Vera Renczi

(1903-1960) Vera Renczi was married shortly before the age of 20, her first marriage was to a wealthy Austrian banker named Karl Schick, many years her senior. They had a son named Lorenzo. Left at home daily whilst her older husband worked, she began to suspect that her husband was being unfaithful.

One evening, in a jealous rage, Renczi poisoned his dinner wine with arsenic and began to tell family, friends, and neighbours that he simply left her and their son. After a year of "mourning", she then declared she had heard word of her supposedly estranged husband's death in a "car accident".

Shortly after "hearing the news of the car accident", Renczi remarried. This time to someone closer to her age, but the relationship was a tumultuous one and once again her suspicions got the better of her. After only months of marriage her second husband disappeared, and she again told family, friends, and neighbours that he had abandoned her. Another year passed, and a letter arrived from her supposedly estranged husband proclaiming his intentions of leaving her forever. This would be her last marriage.

Although Renczi didn't remarry, she spent the next several years carrying out a number of affairs, some clandestine with married med, and others openly. The men came from an array of backgrounds and social positions, all would vanish within months, weeks, and in some cases even days after becoming romantically involved with Vera Renczi. When connected to the men she was openly having affairs with, she would simply say they had been unfaithful or had left her.

Her final victim's wife reported his disappearance to the Police, who ignored her; so she continued investigations on her own and discovered Vera was her husband's mistress. She went back to the Police, who sent two inspectors to the chateau. Vera admitted the victim had been her lover, but that he too had left her. Impressed by her beauty, wealth, and excellent reputation, the Police abandoned their search. The wife went back to the Police and started asking questions that should have been asked a long time ago: Where were her husbands? Where was her son? What happened to the numerous other lovers of Vera's that had suddenly disappeared?

Finally the Police went back to see Renczi; at which point she denied she knew the victim contradicting her last statement, so the Police found proof by way of a love letter she had written to him. From this the Police got a search warrant and discovered a locked round cellar underground. In it were 35 spaces, each filled with a zinc-lined coffin. In the middle of the cellar was a red armchair, a big church candle and an empty bottle of champagne. Vera told the Police they were all her family members by they insisted on opening one; in which was the decomposed body of a man; they opened the others, which contained the same thing. Arrested, she confessed she had poisoned all of them with arsenic when she suspected they had been unfaithful to her, or when she believed their interest was waning. She also confessed to Police that on occasion, she liked to sit in the armchair surrounded by the coffins of her former lovers.

She was convicted of all 35 murders and sentenced to death, however, at the time Yugoslavia didn't execute women. She was instead condemned to life in prison.

[storiesweneedtotell]

Scott Amedure

[WARNING: Graphic Content] (January 26 1963 - March 9 1995)

On March 6 1995, Scott Amedure videotaped an episode of The Jenny Jones Show, in which he admitted to being a secret admirer of Jonathan Schmitz, who lived near him. Until the taping, Schmitz didn’t know who his admirer was, but claims it was implied by the producers of the show that his admirer would be a woman. During the segment, Amedure was encouraged to describe his fantasies with Schmitz, after which Schmitz was brought onstage for an awkward embrace with his now not-so-secret admirer.

In response to Amedure’s displays of affection, Schmitz simply laughed and then stated he was “completely heterosexual”. According to the footing of the murder trial, it was later stated by a friend of Amedure that Amedure and Schmitz went out drinking together the night after the taping, and an alleged sexual encounter occurred. According to the testimony, three days after the taping, Amedure left a “suggestive” note at Schmitz’s house. After finding the note, Schmitz withdrew money from a bank, purchased a shotgun, and then went to Amedure’s mobile home. He then shot Amedure twice in the chest, killing him. After the shooting, Schmitz left Amedure’s home, called 9-1-1, and confessed to the killing.

At trial, Schmitz attorneys argued that he committed the murder by way of the “gay panic defense”. This is a legal defense used by attorneys to claim that their client attacked in a state of violent and temporary insanity, because of unwanted same-sex sexual advances. A defendant may allege to have found the advances so offensive or frightening that they were provoked into reacting or were acting in self-defence. Schmitz was found guilt of second-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to 25-50 years in prison, but his conviction was overturned on appeal. Upon retrial, he was found guilty of the same charge once again, and his sentence was reinstated. He was released from prison on August 22 2017.

[storiesweneedtotell]

The Black Dahlia

[WARNING: Graphic Content]  (July 25 1924 - January 15 1947)

Elizabeth Short was an American woman found murdered in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Her case became highly published due to the graphic nature of the crime, and the mystery of her death.

Short was last seen Jan 9 1947, when she returned to her home from a brief trip with Robert Manley, a 25-yo married salesman she’d been dating. Manley said he dropped her off at the Biltmore Hotel and that she was to meet her sister, who was visiting from Boston, that afternoon.

Jan 15, Short’s naked body was found severed in two on a vacant lot in Leimert Park. At the time, the neighbourhood was largely undeveloped. A local resident discovered the body whilst walking with her 3-yo daughter, she initially thought she had found a discarded store mannequin. When she realised it was a corpse, she rushed to a nearby house and called the police. Short’s severely mutilated body was bisected at the waist and drained of blood, leaving her skin white. M.E.’s determined that she had been dead for around 10 hours prior to discovery, meaning her time of death was estimated as either during the evening of Jan 14, or the early hours of Jan 15. Her face had been cut from the corners of her mouth to her ears, creating an effect known as the “Glasgow smile”. She had several cuts on her thighs and breasts. The lower half of her body was positioned a foot away from the upper, and her intestines had been tucked neatly beneath her bottom. She had been posed with her hands over her head, her elbows bent at right angles, and her legs spread apart. Near the body, detectives found a heel print on the ground amid tire tracks and a cement sack containing watery blood. There were ligature marks on her ankles, wrists, and neck, as well as cuts covering her body varying in severity. Upon discovery, a crowd of both passers-by and reporters gathered. Cause of death was determined as haemorrhaging (massive blood loss) from her cuts to her face and shock from blows to her head. There was also evidence of sexual assault, but no semen was found. Her body had also seemingly been washed by the killer.

Jan 21, someone claiming to be Short’s killer called James Richardson, the editor of the Examiner, congratulating him on the newspaper’s coverage of the case, and stated he planned on eventually turning himself in, but not before allowing the police to chase him further. He also told Richardson to expect “some souvenirs of Beth Short in the mail”.

Jan 24, a suspicious manila envelope was discovered by a U.S. Postal worker. The package had been addressed to “The Los Angeles Examiner and other Los Angeles papers” with individual words cut and pasted from newspaper clippings; a large message on the face of the envelope read “Here is Dahlia’s belongings, letter to follow”. The envelope contained Short’s birth certificate, business cards, photographs, names written on pieces of paper, and an address book with the name ‘Mark Hansen’ embossed on the cover. The package had been carefully cleaned with gasoline, similarly to Short’s body, which led police to suspect it had been sent directly from her killer. A handbag and black suede shoe was also found a short distance from where the body was discovered, both were also wiped clean with gasoline, destroying any fingerprints.

Mar 14, an apparent suicide note was found tucked into a shoe in a pile of men’s clothing by the ocean’s edge in Venice, U.S.A.; The note read: “To whom it may concern: I have waited for the police to capture me for the Black Dahlia killing but have not. I am too much of a coward to turn myself in, so this is the best way out for me. I couldn’t help myself for that, or this. Sorry, Mary.” The clothes gave no clues about the identity of their owner.

Police interviewed Manley and Mark Hansen in the days after Short’s death (the owner of the address book in the package sent to the Examiner) as they believed them to be suspects. Short’s roommate told investigators that Short had recently rejected Hansen’s sexual advances, and that this might be cause for him to have killed her, but both he and Manley were quickly cleared of suspicion. A total of 750 investigators, including L.A.P.D. officers, sheriff’s deputies, and State Patrol officers worked on the case. 150 men were interviewed as possibly suspects but to date, no arrests have been made.  

Bittersweet Lining: Feb 2 1947, Republican state assemblyman C. Don Field was prompted by the case to introduce a bill calling for the formation of a sex offender registry; the state of California would become the first U.S. state to make the registration of sex offenders mandatory.

[storiesweneedtotell]

JonBénet Ramsey

[WARNING: Graphic Content] (August 6 1990 - December 25 1996) 

Patricia “Patsy” Ramsey found a note on her kitchen staircase December 26 1996, it was two and a half pages long and handwritten. The note demanded $118,000 for the safe return of her kidnapped six year old child, JonBénet.

The note contained specific instructions against contacting the police but Patsy called them at 5.52am. She also called family and friends. Two officers responded to the 9-1-1 call and arrived within three minutes. They conducted a cursory search of the house but didn’t find any signs of forced entry. 

Patsy’s husband and JonBénet’s father, John began making arrangements to meet the ransom. A forensics team was dispatched to the house. The team initially believed that she had been kidnapped, so her bedroom was cordoned off to prevent contamination of evidence. No other precautions were taken to prevent contamination of evidence however, in the rest of the house. Friends and the family’s minister arrived at the home to support the Ramsey's. Victim advocates also arrived at the scene. A detective arrived around 8am with the goal of awaiting kidnapper(s) instructions, but there was never an attempt by anyone to claim the money. 

At 1pm, Det. Arndt asked John and a family friend to search the house and see if “anything is amiss.” They started their search in the basement, John opened a latched door previously overlooked and found his daughter’s body in one of the rooms. 

John picked up his daughter and carried her body upstairs. In his apparent grief, he contaminated the crime scene by moving the body. Critical evidence was lost. Meanwhile, visitors had been picking up and cleaning surfaces in the kitchen, potentially destroying further evidence.

The family were then immediately suspects. Each of the Ramsey’s (including their son Burke [9]) provided DNA and handwriting samples to the police. All three also participated in interviews following JonBénet’s death, but no concrete evidence could be found to charge anyone and the trail went cold.

DNA evidence extracted in December 2003 was found belonging to an unknown male person and excluded the Ramsey family; the DNA was searched through C.O.D.I.S. but no match was found. John Karr, a 41-yo elementary school teacher, was arrested in Thailand on Aug 15 2006 when he falsely confessed to murdering JonBénet. He claimed that he had drugged, sexually assaulted, and accidentally killed her, however he was not a DNA match to the sample either, nor did the evidence he gave go any further than basic facts that were publicly known about the case. No charges have ever been filed for the murder of JonBénet Ramsey and her killer has sadly never been found. 

[storiesweneedtotell]

Samuel Little

[WARNING: Graphic Content]

Samuel Little was convicted in 2012 for the murders of three women in California between 1989 - 1989, and in 2018 for the murder of one woman in Texas in 1994. He’s allegedly murdered many other women across 19 states over a quarter of a century ending around 2005.

1961, Little was sentenced to three years in prison for breaking into a furniture store in Lorain; he was released in 1964. By 1975, he had been arrested 26 times in 11 states for crimes including theft, assault, attempted rape, fraud and attacks on government officials.

1982, Little was arrested in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and charged with the murder of Melinda Rose LaPree (22), who had gone missing in September of that year. A grand jury declined to indict Little for the murder of LaPree. 

However, while under investigation, Little was transferred to Florida to be brought to trial for the murder of Patricia Ann Mount (26), whose body was found in September 1982. Prosecution witnesses identified Little in court as a person who spent time with Mount on the night before her disappearance. Due to mistrust of witness testimonies, Little was acquitted in January 1984. 

October 1984, he was arrested for kidnapping, beating and strangling Laura Barros (22), who survived. One month later, he was found by police in the backseat of his car with an unconscious woman, also beaten and strangled, in the same location as the attempted murder of Barros. Little served two and a half years in prison for both crimes. Upon his release in February 1987, he immediately moved to L.A. and committed more than 10 additional murders. 

He was arrested on September 5 2012, at a homeless shelter in Kentucky, and extradited to California to face a narcotics charge, during with authorities tied Little’s DNA to three murders between 1987 and 1989. He was charged on January 7 2013.

Bittersweet Linings: Since his incarceration, Little has been linked to 93 murders in total, meaning the families of the victims are closer to closure.

[storiesweneedtotell]

1984 NYC Subway Shooting

[WARNING: Graphic Content] December 22 1984, four men (Barry Allen, Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey, and James Ramseur) were shot and wounded by Bernhard Goetz after they surrounded him on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan.

Goetz surrendered to police nine days after the incident and he was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and several firearms offences. Similarly to the story arc in 2019′s Joker, the media took the story by storm and Goetz initially became a hero of the people defending himself in a harsh city. He was seen as a vigilante and he received widespread public recognition and support. 

However, public opinion soon turned against Goetz due to statements and damaging details of the incident that later surfaced. He confessed on video tape to intentionally wanting to hurt his victims, even shooting Cabey a second time which gave him permanent brain damage and left him paralysed. 

A quote from Goetz’s website later discussing the shooting stated: “I immediately looked at the first two to make sure they were "taken care of," and then attempted to shoot Cabey again in the stomach, but the gun was empty. I thought Cabey was shot twice after reading a media account no shots missed; I had lost count of the shots and while under adrenaline I didn't even hear the shots or feel the kick of the gun. 'You don't look too bad, here's another', is a phrase I came up with later when trying to explain the shooting while I was under the impression that Cabey was shot twice. Cabey, who was briefly standing prior to the shooting, was sitting on the subway bench during all attempted shots. The others were standing. Shortly after the shooting my vision and hearing returned to normal.” 

Despite all this, a jury found him not guilty of all charges except for one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm, for which he served eight moths of a one-year sentence. 

Bittersweet Linings: 1996, Darrell Cabey obtained a civil judgement of $43 million against Goetz- to date Cabey is yet to receive this money from Goetz.

[storiesweneedtotell]

The Acid Bath Murderer

[WARNING: Graphic Content] (July 24 1909 - August 10 1949)

John Haigh was a young man with a charming smile and the good looks of a matinee idol. He was also a serial killer with access to an acid bath in a storeroom in Crawley, Sussex, where he carried out his depraved work.

February 1949, Haigh was living at the Onslow Court Hotel in South Kensington, London. Here he met and befriended Olive Durand-Deacon, a wealthy widow in her late sixties. She mentioned a scheme she had to make artificial fingernails, and Haigh invited her to visit his storeroom where, he said, there might be equipment and substances that could be of relevance. 

They drove down to Crawley in his car. In the storeroom were gallons of acid and a bath specially treated to withstand corrosive materials. Haigh shot Mrs Durand-Deacon in the back of the neck, stripped her body of anything valuable, and then set about dissolving it in acid, a process that took several days. 

As a known friend of Mrs Durand-Deacon, he had to report her disappearance; the police were immediately suspicious since Haigh already had a criminal record. They searched the storeroom and found the murder weapon and a receipt for the victim’s coat, which Haig had taken to a cleaner’s in Reigate. More damningly, outside the storeroom, they also found fragments of human bone and other remains, later identified as all that was left of Mrs Durand-Deacon.

Having been charged with her murder, Haigh confessed to eight other killings, though only five were eventually attributed to him. He made a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to construct a defence of insanity, claiming that he had killed simply to drink his victims’ blood. Evidence that he had killed for financial gain was overwhelming, however, and he was convicted of murder and hanged a month later at Wandsworth Prison.