Oliver’s Twist

We rely on the justice system; this is one of the things that help us to sleep peacefully, to understand that we live in a society where retribution still accompanies a criminal act. When a murderer who is generally known to be guilty is accepted back into civilized society, we tend not to feel so secure in our dwellings. We all have a need for justice- there is nothing worse than a criminal who cheats the system- a system that fails us. Expert witness and critically acclaimed author Wanda Draper can attest to this.

Most serial killers go about their business with the intention of not getting caught (most of the time). Serial killers often travel under the radar until they are identified. In certain instances, police are not quite sure whether any killings are related until the murderer lays it out for them. In other instances, the absence of witnesses leaves the narrative distressingly inadequate.

The Cleveland Torso Murderer

Until now, the Cleveland Torso Murderer has not been identified, and between 1935 and 1938 has been attributed to up to 20 homicides. At least twelve victims are publicly linked to this criminal’s job, and each of them had been brutally cut into pieces. Those who operated on the Cleveland Torso Murderer case claim that he might be accountable for other kills including some of the 1920s and 1950s murders there.

This mass murderer has a propensity to attack vagrants and some of the casualties have never been confirmed due to this. There was no gender preference and he killed men and women alike.

All of the victims were beheaded, and the bodies were cut in half in some instances, which is what inspired the sinister nickname for the killer.  Most male victims had their reproductive organs removed, and some victims exhibited evidence of some kind of chemical treatment on their bodies. Many were recovered long after their deaths, and the late phases of decomposition also made identification of the bodies problematic. To contribute to the confusion, many of the heads have never been found.

One possible perpetrator was Dr. Francis E. Sweeney, a veteran of the First World War who was a master of field amputations- a war medic. Eliot Ness, the Cleveland Safety Officer at the time, investigated Sweeney and he was issued two lie detector tests, both of which he failed. Sweeney decided to commit to a psychiatric ward, and there was no additional evidence to suggest that he was the culprit.

The I-70 Killer

Most people visualize serial murderers conducting calculated kills from a point-blank range. However, a murderer went on a killing spree throughout the Midwest for a month in 1992 at such cold blood that in one case he may not even have known the gender of his victim.

The murderer went for people employed at mom-and – pop shops, driving off Highway 70 into tiny stores. From behind, he would surround the shop clerk and aim a bullet at the back of their heads. He would then grab a tiny sum of cash from the register, get back on the highway and repeat the action only a couple days later, hundreds of miles away.

It has been said that in 30 days, the perpetrator took six souls. Officials also believe there is a high probability that the same person also committed two other murders and a near-death killing / shooting in Texas in 1994.

The I-70 killer was extremely organized, and that the surviving victim’s characterization of the murderer’s clothing, coupled with his old-fashioned weapon and his method of murder, implies someone that has worked in agriculture — and perhaps butchered livestock.

Today the murderer could potentially be in his 40s or 50s if still living.

The Freeway Phantom

Police have been attempting to crack the Freeway Phantom case since 1971. To this day, no one has ever been positively identified as being accountable for the six killings linked to the Phantom, and a firm suspect does not appear to be present. Despite having received numerous tips via phone and e-mail that vaguely alluded to possible suspects, the Metropolitan Police Department’s investigation team is no closer to resolving this case. Any of the tips obtained were easily discarded whilst some had to endure extensive inquiries. There were some intriguing suspects throughout the case, but beyond that, the Freeway Phantom still stands a mystery.

The first crime suspected to be perpetrated by the Phantom Freeway was that of Carol Spinks, a 13-year-old child who had been sent to a convenience store. She was murdered whilst walking around, and six days later her corpse was discovered in a river adjacent to the I-295 motorway.

Around the period that such killings were being prosecuted, it became standard procedure for the investigation reports in the Metropolitan Police Department to be held in the archives retained by the officers appointed to investigate the crime. Some of the Freeway Phantom case files and reports have been destroyed. For all of the initial witnesses now retired or deceased, it could be nearly impossible to track down the serial killer.

The cold case of the Freeway Phantom is still open.

Marie Besnard

Marie Joséphine Philippine Davaillaud was born in Loudun, France, in 1896. Her family was considered to be frugal, so she studied at a convent school. Her own schoolmates characterized her as unjust, brutal, a thief, and one to hang around dangerous men. 

Marie wedded Auguste Antigny, her cousin, in 1920, and stayed together until his death in 1927. Marie ended up marrying Léon Besnard in 1928, somewhat less quickly after her first husband died. The family quickly discovered that the opportunity to make a profit was out of their control before their family members passed away. Subsequently, members of their family began dying and leaving their financial wealth to Marie and Léon.

Soon after Leon ‘s parents had acquired a vast sum of cash, they were welcomed to come and stay with Leon and Marie. Shortly after that, Leon’s father passed away of poisoning, allegedly from consuming the incorrect species of mushrooms. His mother died three months later, too, and the reason was identified as pneumonia.

The pair wound up extrapolating some of the rooms to a couple who were rich and without kids. The Rivets, Toussaint and Blanche, were Leon’s neighbors. On the 14th of July 1939, Toussaint perished from pneumonia, and in December 1941, Blanche succumbed to aortitis. In their will, Marie was named their only inheritor.

Autopsy results revealed that each victim had been steadily contaminated with arsenic over a span of time. In that era, though, it was difficult to prove this because toxicology was a fairly modern discipline, and Beroud, the forensic physician, had trouble justifying his findings and defending them while the trial attorneys challenged him on the stand. For this reason, the first two trials did not result in any conviction.

She was put on trial for the third time in 1961. However, once again, the prosecution was effective in dismantling the validity of the arsenic facts, and Marie was exonerated of all the murders. Marie Besnard presumably died a natural death in 1980. he remained a free woman until her death.

The West Mesa Bone Collector

Once police found the victims in the mountains south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, little was left of their remains aside from bones. Eleven women — many of them Hispanic, and most of them sex workers — were discovered in shallow graves scattered roughout 92 acres of undeveloped earth.

These women had went missing between 2001 and 2006, but their bones were only found in 2009. One of the girls, 22-year-old Michelle Valdez, was pregnant at the time. Everyone except one of the victims — Syllania Edwards, 15 years old — lived in New Mexico.

Two of the “identified” women among the remains were later determined to actually be alive. No one has been publicly arrested since the time of the press, although Joseph Blea — an accused and convicted serial rapist — is a suspect in the killings. Another violent serial offender — Lorenzo Montoya, who has since died — is also a possible suspect.