Melvin Rees (1933-1995)
Melvin Rees, also known as the Sex Beast, was an American serial killer who was active between 1957 & 1959. Rees sexually assaulted & murdered Margaret Harold, girlfriend of US Army soldier Sgt. Roy D. Hudson & also killed 4 members of the Jackson family 2 years later. After being convicted for the killings, Rees confessed to 2 more murders, with authorities believing his was involved in at least 2 more. Before his arrest and imprisonment Rees was known as a jazz musician in the Washington, D.C. area. Not much is known about his early life, but during the 1950s Rees was a student at the University of Maryland in College Park, just outside of D.C. Classmates later said that he was a talented musician. He dropped out before graduation in order to pursue a music career. He travelled around D.C. playing at local jazz clubs. In 1955 Rees was arrested for the assault of a 36-year-old woman whom he tried to force into his car – she escaped, but did not want to press charges & the case was dropped. Rees’ friends later claimed not to have thought much of this incident until after his killing spree was made public.
It was June 26, 1957, when Margaret Harold & her US Army sergeant boyfriend were forced off the road in Annapolis, Maryland, by Rees. After getting out of his vehicle, Rees asked the couple to roll down their window – at gunpoint. Rees demanded money & cigarettes – Harold’s boyfriend refused, resulting in her being shot point-blank in the face. The boyfriend, horrified at what had just happened, ran away, crossing several fields before reaching a farmhouse, where he called law enforcement. As the soldier was collected from the farmhouse, other officers arrived at the scene of the crime, where they discovered Rees had stripped and sexually assaulted Harold. Whilst searching the area for Rees (who had not at that time been identified), police came across an abandoned building & noticed that a basement window had been broken in. Inside the basement, investigators found a collection of violent porn and autopsy photos of females taped up on the walls. They also found a yearbook photo of Wanda Tipton, a 1945 UMD graduate. Police found & questioned Tipton, who denied knowing anyone matching the description of a tall, dark-haired man as described by Harold’s boyfriend. As there were few leads & forensic science was primitive in 1957, Harold’s murder became a cold case until Rees killed again 2 years later.
Carroll Jackson, his wife Mildred & their young daughters, Janet & Susan, had been visiting relatives in Apple Grove on January 11, 1959, when they disappeared. They were a happy family with no enemies, which made their disappearance all the more puzzling. A female relative of the Jacksons, who was also driving home from the same reunion in Apple Grove, discovered the family’s abandoned car at the roadside & called police. The car was inspected but there were no indications of a struggle. Despite a huge search for the missing family, they were not found – until March 4. 2 men gathering brush near Fredericksburg found the decaying body of Carroll Jackson in a ditch; it was discovered that he had been shot in the back of the head, with his hands tied behind his back. His body had been dumped on top of the corpse of 18-month-old Janet, who had been left in the ditch alive & had suffocated under the weight of his body. On March 21, the bodies of Mildred & Susan Jackson were found in an Annapolis forest showing signs of torture and sexual assault.
Not long after the disappearance of the Jackson family, a local couple reported that they had a scary experience with a tall, dark-haired man that very afternoon. The man drove behind & around them, flashing his headlights & forcing them off the road. He then got out of his car and approached the couple – luckily, they sensed danger & fled. After Mildred & Susan Jackson’s bodies were discovered, detectives found an abandoned building near their dump site (believed to be the same building searched after Margaret Harold’s murder). Inside, police discovered a red button which was missing from Mildred’s dress, which indicated that she was taken there after being kidnapped. Tire marks were discovered outside the building. After finding similarities between the Harold & Jackson cases, investigators started to believe that both murders were committed by the same person. An anonymous letter (later revealed to have been sent by Glenn Moser of Norfolk, Virginia) suggested that authorities look into Melvin Rees. Moser explained that he & Rees often had philosophical discussions, one of which was about whether murder could ever be considered acceptable. Rees, under the influence of Benzedrine at the time, told Moser that he considered murder to be part of the “human experience”, & something that he wanted to take part in. “You can’t say it’s wrong to kill,” Rees is alleged to have said to Moser, “only individual standards make it right or wrong.” This discussion supposedly took place the day before the Jackson family disappeared – on hearing of their murders months later, Moser suspected Rees to be responsible. When confronted, Rees did not confess to the killings but also didn’t deny that he was responsible. In the anonymous letter, Moser voiced his suspicion that Rees had been responsible for the 1957 murder of Margaret Harold as well, as the men were working in the Annapolis area as salesmen at the time. Authorities followed the lead & decided to question Rees, but found that he had moved out of his house, leaving no forwarding address. They also looked for Rees at the jazz clubs he was known to have performed in but still couldn’t find him. After running a background check, police found that Rees had attended UMD & had once been in a relationship with Wanda Tipton, their person of interest in the Margaret Harold case. After further questioning, Tipton admitting to having a relationship with Rees, but said she broke it off after Rees claimed he was married.
The writer of the anonymous letter came forward as Glenn Moser in 1960 to tell authorities that Rees had been in touch and was currently working at a music shop in West Memphis, Arkansas. Rees was arrested & after searching his home police found notes describing the murders of the Jackson family. The man who witnessed the murder of Margaret Harold confirmed that Rees was the man he saw shoot his girlfriend. Rees was convicted by the state of Maryland of Margaret Harold’s murder & was sentenced to life in prison. Virginia added a death sentence for the other 4 murders, which was changed to life in 1972. Melvin Rees died in prison in 1995.
