Cleveland Torso Murderer
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The Cleveland Torso Murderer was an unidentified serial killer active in the Cleveland, Ohio, area in the early 20th century. The official toll of the murderer, who was also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run was 12, killed between 1935 to 1938, but some believe that there may have been as many as 40 victims in the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown, Ohio, area between the 1920s and the 1950s. Two strong candidates for addition to the list of those killed are the unknown victim nicknamed the Lady of the Lake, found on September 5, 1934, and Robert Robertson, found on July 22, 1950
Most investigators consider the last official murder to have been in 1938. One very strongly suspected individual was a Dr. Francis E. Sweeney, who permanently entered institutionalized care shortly after the last official murders, in 1938. Dr. Sweeney had been personally interviewed by famed lawman Eliot Ness, who oversaw the official investigation into the killings. During this discreet interrogation, Sweeney is said to have "failed to pass" a very early polygraph machine test. Nevertheless, Ness apparently felt that there was very little chance of obtaining a successful prosecution of the doctor, especially as he was the first cousin of one of Ness's political opponents, the U.S. Congressman Martin L. Sweeney. In any case, with Sweeney voluntarily committing himself to a hospital days after the interview, there were no more leads or connections that police could make to him as a possible suspect. Sweeney died in a Dayton veteran's hospital in 1965.
The victims were usually drifters whose identities were never determined, although there are several exceptions to this (victims #2, #3 and #8 were identified as Edward Andrassy, Flo Polillo and possibly Rose Wallace, respectively). Invariably, all the victims, male and female, appeared to be from the lower classes of society—easy prey in Depression-era Cleveland.
The Torso Murderer always beheaded and often dismembered his victims, sometimes also cutting the torso in half. Most of the male victims were castrated, and some victims showed evidence of chemical treatment of their bodies. Many of the victims were found a considerable period after their deaths, sometimes a year or more, which made identification nearly impossible, especially since the heads were often not found.
On August 24, 1939, Frank Dolezal, a suspect in the Torso murders, died under suspicious circumstances in the Cuyahoga County Jail. He was discovered to have six broken ribs, injuries his friends say he did not have when arrested by the County Sheriff several months before. Most researchers believe that there exists no evidence that Dolezal was involved in the murders, although at one time he admitted killing Flo Polillo in self-defense. He recanted that confession, saying he had been beaten until he confessed. He is often called the 13th victim of the Torso Murderer.
Eliot Ness was the Public Safety Director of Cleveland during the period of "official" murders. Failure to apprehend the murderer was perhaps the major failure of his tenure and is thought by many to be a contributor to his declining status in later years. Some have called Ness the 14th victim of the Torso Murderer.
The 1947 murder of The Black Dahlia by an unknown perpetrator in Los Angeles bears distinct similarities, as well as some significant differences, when compared to the Torso Murder's work. Most researchers familiar with both crimes do not feel that the same person was at work, but Elizabeth Short's murderer might have copied aspects of the Cleveland crimes. Those who see a link between the Black Dahlia and Torso Murders have pointed out that a petty criminal named Jack Wilson, who was not a suspect in the Black Dahlia murder at the time but was put forth as suspect in John Gilmore's 1994 book Severed, is known to have lived in Cleveland during the murders and reportedly talked of viewing the death mask of victim #4, the unknown "tattooed man". At least one reference also discusses a mysterious Torso suspect named Jack Wilson who was never found for questioning, but this may not have been the same person. Sources give the date of birth of the Jack Wilson in Severed as 1920 or 1924, either of which would make him improbably young to have commited many of the Torso Murders.
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Victims
Most researchers consider there to be twelve definite victims of the Torso Murder, and anywhere from one to thirty possible victims.
Victim #1 was an unidentified male found in the Jackass Hill area of Kingsbury Run (near East 49th and Praha Avenue) on 9/23/1935. It was estimated that victim #1 had been dead seven to ten days when found.
Edward W. Andrassy was found in the Jackass Hill area of Kingsbury Run on 9/23/1935, about thirty feet from victim #1. It was estimated that Andrassy had been dead two to three days when found.
Florence Genevieve Polillo, also known by numerous aliases, was found behind a business at 2315 E. 20th Street in downtown Cleveland on 1/26/1936. It was estimated that Pollilo had been dead two to four days when found.
Victim #4 was an unidentified male, also famously known as the 'tattooed man', found in Kingsbury Run on 6/5/1936. It was estimated that victim #4 had been dead two days when found. The victim possessed six unusual tattoos, one including the names "Helen and Paul" and another displaying the initials "W.C.G."; his undershorts bore a laundry mark indicating the owner's initials were J.D. In addition, despite morgue and death mask inspections by thousands of Cleveland citizens in the summer of 1936, the 'tattooed man' was never identified.
Victim #5 was an unidentified male, found in the sparsely populated Big Creek area of Brooklyn, west of Cleveland on 7/22/1936. It was estimated that victim #5 had been dead two months when found. This was the only known West Side victim.
Victim #6 was an unidentified male, found in Kingsbury Run on 9/10/1936. It was estimated that victim #6 had been dead two days when found.
Victim #7 was an unidentified female, found near Euclid Beach on the Lake Erie shore on 2/23/1937. It was estimated that victim #7 had been dead three to four days when found. The body of victim #7 was found at the same spot as the 1934 non-canonical victim, nicknamed 'The Lady of the Lake' (see below).
Victim #8, possibly Rose Wallace, was found beneath the Lorain-Carnegie bridge on 6/6/1937. It was estimated that victim #8 had been dead one year when found, which casts some doubt that the victim was Wallace, who was known to have disappeared only ten months earlier.
Victim #9 was an unidentified male, found in Cuyahoga River in the Cleveland Flats on 7/6/1937. It was estimated that victim #9 had been dead two to three days when found.
Victim #10 was an unidentified female, found in Cuyahoga River in the Cleveland Flats on 4/8/1938. It was estimated that victim #10 had been dead three to five days when found.
Victim #11 was an unidentified female, found at the East 9th Street-Lakeshore Dump on 8/16/1938. It was estimated that victim #11 had been dead four to six months when found.
Victim #12 was an unidentified male, found at the East 9th Street-Lakeshore Dump on 8/16/1938. It was estimated that victim #12 had been dead seven to nine months when found.
Possible victims
Several non-canonical victims are commonly discussed in connection with the Torso Murderer. The first was nicknamed The Lady of the Lake and was found near Euclid Beach on the Lake Erie shore on 9/5/1934 at virtually the same spot as canonical victim #7. Some researchers of the Torso Murderers' victims count 'The Lady of the Lake' as victim #1, as well as "Victim Zero".
A headless, unidentified male was found in boxcar in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on 7/1/1936. Three headless victims were found in boxcars near McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, on 5/3/1940. All bore similar injuries to those inflicted by the Cleveland killer. Others note that headless bodies were occasionally found in the swamps in this area of Pennsylvania as early as the 1920s.
Robert Robertson was found at a business at 2138 Davenport Avenue in Cleveland on 7/22/1950. He had been dead six to eight weeks when found and appeared to have been intentionally decapitated.
References
- James Jessen Badal; In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders; The Kent State University Press; ISBN 0-87338-689-2 (paperback, 2001)
- John Stark Bellamy II; The Maniac in the Bushes and More Tales of Cleveland Woe; Gray and Company, Publishers; ISBN 1-886228-19-1 (paperback, 1997)
- Steven Nickel; Torso: Eliot Ness and the Search for a Psychopathic Killer; John F Blair Publishers; ISBN 0-895-87246-3 (paperback, 2001)
- Rasmussen, William T.; CORROBORATING EVIDENCE, published by Sunstone Press (2004, hardback) Connects the Cleveland Torso Murders to the murder of the Black Dahlia,ISBN 0-86534-440-X
External links
- Cleveland Police Historical Society and Museum (http://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/torso1.htm)
- The Kingsbury Run Murders (http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/unsolved/kingsbury/index_1.html)
- Connections between the Cleveland Torso Murders and the murder of the Black Dahlia (http://www.williamtrasmussen.com)