Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder - Ep. 83 | Brutal Serial Killers Who Turned Into Cold Cases

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

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There are some serial killers who we have the misfortune of knowing their names and hearing their twisted stories, or fortunate depending on how you look at it. But then there are those who managed to get away, slipping through the very cracks of history. They would leave behind bodies and fear. But more than anything else, they'd leave behind so many questions. It's as if they were just shadows. Who left no trace of a name or face that we could tie to the... the monstrosities they committed. These are three serial killers who vanished into history.

Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder, all things that I love to consume, and I know you do too, you sick, twisted, beautiful, intellectually minded freak. And today, we are talking about the scariest thing ever, and that is murderers, serial killers, just still walking around out there, potentially. So, without further ado, let's unbuckle our seatbelt, go mock-fired down the highway, slam all the brakes, and bust through this windshield into these uncought serial killers together. The Connecticut River flows through a group of small towns and farmlands near the border of New Hampshire and Vermont, and it's a spot where violent crime was once an almost unimaginable thing, full of dense woods, rich agriculture, and tight-knit communities.

But as the 1980s arrived at this quiet region, so did a series of unexplained murders. And the seeming innocence of northern New England would quickly disappear replaced by the haunting shadow of a serial killer. 27-year-old Catherine Milliken went to take pictures of birds after work on October 24th, 1978, and she parked her brown Volkswagen rabbit near the entrance of the Chandler Brook Wetland Reserve in New London, New Hampshire, and wandered in never to return, because her body was discovered the next day only a short distance away from where she was last seen with at least 29 stab wounds. And Catherine was one of the very first victims of what would later become known as the Connecticut River Valley murders. And just about three years later, Mary Elizabeth Critchley,

who was 37 years old, would disappear on July 25, 1981, near I-91 on the Massachusetts and Vermont border. And she was a student at the University of Vermont and was last seen by a friend who dropped her off around exit 13 of the Massachusetts Turnpike to hitchhike. And unfortunately, her body would be found a couple weeks later in a wooded area some 80 miles from that drop-off point to decompose to determine the cause of death. And then it took another three years for the violence to resume in 1984. So on May 30th, a nurse's aide named Bernice Cortmunch also vanished while hitchhiking from Claremont to Newport, New Hampshire.

and she went to visit her boyfriend, but after some time had passed without her reaching her destination, she was reported missing. And a fisherman would find her remains by the Sugar River, two years later, with stab wounds on her chest and a head injury and her throat slashed. And only a few weeks after Bernice's disappearance, Ellen Ruth Fryde, who was 26 years old, didn't show up for her work as a supervising nurse at Valley Regional Hospital. And the night before on July 21, 22nd, she had stopped at a payphone around 2 a.m. to call her sister. And they spoke for around an hour. And during the conversation, she mentioned that she could see an odd car driving back and forth and in circles around the parking lot. And she stepped away for a moment to make sure her car would turn on and then went back to the call. But that was the last time she was heard from. And her car was found a few miles from the payphone abandoned. And her remains were found in August showing signs of multiple stab wounds again and possible essay. And the killer, perhaps growing more bold from remaining uncought, struck again in broad daylight this time, claiming Linda Moore, who was 36 years old.

And she had been doing yard work at her home while her husband was at work on April 15, 1986. And when her husband returned home that evening, he discovered Linda dead with 25 stab wounds. after what appeared to be a fierce struggle. But there were no signs of robbery or forced entry, though witnesses do recall having seen a man suspiciously hanging around that home that afternoon. And that man was described to be around 20 to 25 years old, clean-shaven with a round face, stocky build, wearing dark-rimmed glasses and carrying a blue knapsack.

And then, loggers in Unity, New Hampshire, were startled to find the remains of Eva Marie Morse, who was 27. years old on April 25th, 1986, so the same year. Only 500 feet from where Critchley's body was found in 1981. And the single mother went missing a year prior after having last been seen hitchhiking near Charleston, New Hampshire. And examinations of the body revealed she suffered knife wounds to her chest and to her neck. So this discovery of multiple bodies in a short amount of time was alarming and the killer wasn't quite done. Because on January 10th, 1987 now,

Nurse Barbara Agnew, who was 38 years old, disappeared while heading home on a snowy night in Vermont. And her green BMW was found at a rest stop in Hartford with a cracked door and bloodstains on the steering wheel and back seat. And a dumpster nearby held her bloodstained belongings. And her body was found two months later on March 28th, near an apple tree in a wooded area. And she was also stabbed multiple times in the chest and the neck.

And she also had, quote, defensive wounds as well as a disabling wound, unquote. So the MO is just so extremely similar with all of these women, especially the way in which they are killed and the way in which they are disposed of. But the murderer's last known attack was against Jane Boroski, who was 22 years old on the night of August 6th, 1988. And the seven months pregnant, soon to be mother, was approached and pulled from her car at a closed convenience store in West Swansea, New Hampshire, because she had stopped on her way home from a fare to buy a soda from the vending machine when she noticed an unfamiliar Jeep

wagon near parked directly next to her. So she got back into her car, and that's when she saw a man exit the Jeep and move around the back of her car. And then he came to her window under the guise of asking if the payphone was working, but quickly grabbed her and pulled her from her car, accusing her of attacking his girlfriend. And Borowski confirmed she did not attack his girlfriend and knew nothing of the incident, but he continued, stabbing her 27 times before speeding off, leaving her for dead. But miraculously and thankfully, she survived and drove to a nearby friend's house who immediately called for help. And allegedly, she passed by her attacker on the way, and he pulled a U-turn to drive

by the house as she was taken care of before speeding off once more. Absolutely horrifying. But after that moment, he was never seen again. And Borowski was treated at a nearby hospital for a, quote, severed jugular vein, two collapsed lungs, a kidney laceration, and severed tendons in her knees and thumb. unquote. And miraculously again, somehow her unborn baby girl survived, though she was later diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy. Like what a miracle and what a fighter to be able to make it through that and still be able to help out the police and talk about the attacker. I just commend that

woman. So the attacker and his vehicle were visible enough for Boroski to provide a description for a composite sketch and the first three characters of the license plate. But there were no more related killings after her near-death experience. And some investigators do believe that the killer may have actually claimed a few more victims, but the MO is so off with some of the women dying of exfixiation or bludgeoning and the ages being completely different than all of the other victims. so they aren't put into this specific serial killer, but some speculate.

But the confirmed murders happened within about a 50-mile radius in the Connecticut River Valley, and many of the bodies were discovered in the remote wooded areas of Sullivan County, New Hampshire, suggesting the killer likely knew these areas quite well. So all in all, there were at least seven women that were murdered and one more that was attacked and survived between 1978 and 1980. and the consistent pattern of the victim profile

and brutal stabbings seemed to point to a single killer who terrorized to this otherwise peaceful region. And because these murders and their respective dump sites spanned over three states, including New Hampshire, Vermont, and bordering Massachusetts, law enforcement ran into a few coordination hurdles. Because these were generally small towns and rural areas,

police resources were not as plentiful as the bigger city counterparts. And the fact that these murders were the work of a serial killer and could be connected wasn't actually realized until midway through the 1980s, several years after the first murder had happened. And on top of that, police databases back then were essentially babies compared to the databases we have now.

Having a centralized location of information was a luxury yet to be realized. And not to mention DNA profiling had only just begun to gain traction around this time as well. If you're chasing data down, Instead of seeing it in one place, you need the Intuit ERP. Intuit Enterprise Suite. All your data in one place with built-in AI for real-time insights.

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Your style can make you cash. Start selling on Deepop where taste recognizes taste. But despite those difficulties, investigators got a major breakthrough with Jane Veroski. Because the composite sketch of her attacker and partial license plate gave them something tangible to go off of. Because this was the only actual eyewitness account of the killer. And sure, there was the description of the man at the Moore residence, but no one saw that man actually commit the murder. And investigators also noted a similar pattern of wounds on the victims, which were multiple, furious stab wounds, often upwards of 20, suggesting that these cases were in fact linked by a single killer with a love for using a knife specifically.

And though the supposed knife was never found and the crime scenes as a whole tended to have minimal physical evidence, the locations of the bodies provided a pattern as well. Because several of the victim's remains were found close to each other. Some very, very close, some within 500 feet of each other, which points to the killer having a deep knowledge and preference of wooded areas. And the investigation has continued even as recently as May 24, when authorities entered a home in Newport, New Hampshire, to execute a new search warrant.

And potential evidence was allegedly collected and a person was interviewed, but no arrest came of it. But the important part is that the show's investigators are actively looking into lead still. And years after the murders, a man named Michael Niccolo became a prominent suspect. And he was a decorated army helicopter pilot who served in the Vietnam War

before being charged with murder and attempted murder for a strafing incident against civilians. And strafing, for those who aren't familiar, is firing automatic weapons from a low-flying air, really fucking dangerous and illegal. But the charges were ultimately dropped,

but Niccolo returned from the war bitter against the US Army and sued them. And he suffered from PTSD and received treatment from the Veterans Administration for the rest of his life. But ultimately, his life would end in the way you can't talk about on YouTube, if you know what I mean, on New Year's Eve in 2005, during which he also shot his

then estranged wife, Eileen, and his stepdaughter, Terran. So after hearing the news of this death, private investigator Lynn Marie Cardi was compelled to dive into his history, and she had actually already been hired by the mother of Niccolo's first wife, Michelle, to look into the disappearance of her daughter. So as Cardi reached Nicola's past,

she also began to look into other New England crimes that happened around Michelle's disappearance, and this led her to the Connecticut River Valley murders. and there were a few points of interest that she couldn't ignore, namely that Michelle was a nurse, which was the same profession that a few other victims also shared. And though Niccolo's home was some distance away from the murders, Cardi discovered that Michelle had relatives in the area.

And in 1986, she was at the same hospital Barbara Agnew would disappear from just one year later. And Niccolo also owned a Jeep Wagoneer in the 1980s, which of course is the same, vehicle, Jane Barowski reported that her attacker drove. Coincidence, I think I don't know, but it's, it doesn't, I feel like it's not a stretch. And Cardi connected with Barowski and shared the evidence she had discovered, and Barowski allegedly initially claimed that Niccolo bore some resemblance to her attacker, but she later believed that he was not. So authorities have not made any conclusive

link to Niccolo and the murders to date. And other suspects have appeared into the limelight. over the years, but unfortunately, left as quickly as they came. One was Delbert Talman, who confessed to essay and murder of Heidi Martin, but he later recanted this confession and was fully acquitted, though he would eventually be convicted as a you-know-what offender for a later crime. But there was no current link to him and the Connecticut River Valley murders. And another lead that ultimately fell through the cracks was the confession of Gary Westover, a paraplegic from New Hampshire. and he claimed he was picked up by three friends one night for some partying,

and they ended up abducting and murdering Barbara Agnew. And Westover relayed this to his uncle, Howard Minnan, who was a retired deputy sheriff. And Minnan attempted to give this confession to his law enforcement contacts who allegedly didn't care about the information. So whether ignored by authorities or simply just inconclusive, it did not lead to any new developments in the case. So a lot of interesting suspects, but nothing, nothing concrete, nothing conclusive.

And though the killer remained elusive, their ammo was rather consistent and extremely brutal. Because his victims were women that were alone and isolated in vulnerable locations, and several of them were hitchhikers or in or near their cars alone. And then there was a weapon of choice, which was a knife, and in which he used to the extreme, and he would focus a lot of the wounds to the chest in the neck specifically. And this just suggests a release of pent-up rage. And the killer just seemed to enjoy ambushing his victims.

Not to mention, he seemed to move the bodies after the attacks, as many of the bodies were found in those wooded areas that we talked about. But many have theorized that the Connecticut River Valley killer was very likely a serial offender who was organized and familiar with the area on a deeply intimate level. And this ability led investigators to believe that the killer was either someone who lived, locally or someone that had long-term ties to the area, someone who would be able to move around and be seen without arousing suspicion. And criminal psychologist John Philpin posed the idea that the killer was not one who stalked their victims in advance. Rather, Philippine suggested that they

hunted for victims by bouncing back and forth between favored spots in hopes of finding the right opportunity. So an opportunistic serial killer. And they would then carry out the crime and move the body to a pre-selected dump site. And the idea came about when Philippine had the opportunity to interview Borowski while she was under hypnosis. And the circumstances pointed to the fact that she was not stocked that day, as her decisions to attend the fair and stop for the soda were very last minute ones, not part of her usual day-to-day activities.

And Philippine believed that the killer had an addiction to the struggle, and this is supported by the fact that they appeared to continue the attacks against Boroski and as she intensely fought for her unborn daughter's life. And once she began to fade and the struggle subsided, so did the killer's interest. And the evidence that a struggle ensued with the other victims supports this idea as well, though for them, he fully finished the job.

So perhaps the fact that Borowski was fighting for her unborn child is the reason that she held on longer than the others. It's obviously very hard to say for sure. But regardless, the signs of struggle seem too common for them to be a mere coincidence among the many victims. But as of today, the Connecticut River Valley murders are still officially unsolved. They are considered a cold case or, if actually, disconnected, a series of

cases in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. And though the case went cold after the 1980s, it was not forgotten and has been reviewed and re-examined by cold case units. And with the many forensic advances we've made since the 1980s, there is still hope that the case could be cracked. Whether the break would come from preserved crime scene evidence like victims clothing, hair, or any potential biological samples or something else is yet to be determined. But so far no DNA profile match for the killer has been made. And authorities still urge anyone with any information to come forward. Though officially speaking, the Connecticut River Valley killer is still at large. The

likelihood is that he is rather old and age now if he is even still alive. But the case continues to be one of New England's most haunting unsolved killing sprees. And we can only hope that one day that truth will be found and some sort of peace can be brought to the victim's families. Marvel Television's Wonder Man, an eight episode series, now streaming on Disney Plus. A superhero remake, not exactly what we'd expect from an Oscar winning director. Action! Simon Williams, audition for Wonder Man. I'm going to need you to sign this, assuming you don't have superpowers.

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When dismembered limbs started to appear in various public places. And the press would call the perpetrator the severed leg killer, as their calling card seemed to be these lone legs left for discovery. Oh, my fucking God, that's disturbing. And as they continued to be found without so much as an inkling of the butcher's identity, a fear set in over the city. quote, Turkey's first real serial killer, unquote, was on the loose. And it began when a man in Istanbul's busy spice bazaar collecting papers from the trash

noticed that there seemed to be blood on some of the papers on the morning of January 8, 2000. And upon closer inspection, he found a severed human leg. And police would determine that the leg had once belonged to a woman about 26 to 27 years old, and that it was removed from the body one to three days earlier and that it was well taken care of. In that it was clean-shaven and pedicured, suggesting the woman took care of her appearance. And only a few short months later,

in the early morning of May 19th, a captain docked his ship at Amino Newport, where he heard something repeatedly bumping against his boat. And checking the water, he discovered that a severed leg was causing the noise. Initially, believing it to be a leg, leg from a mannequin, he pulled it out only to realize it was actually a human leg. And right after the captain found the leg, one of the passengers found another leg on the shore.

And forensic analysis examined the legs, determining them to be from a woman 25 to 30 years old. And the toes on both legs seemed to have dark red nail polish on them. So potentially the same person's legs. Oh, it's just terrifying. And they estimated it had been one to two weeks since the legs were removed from the body, though this was difficult to determine with the decomposition from the salt water. And on December 7th, yet another severed leg was found, and this time by a group of high school students.

And the leg belonged to a woman between the ages of 22 to 24, and was also well taken care of, just as the previous legs have been. And it was thought to be about one to two days. old. Excema is unpredictable. But you can flare less with ebbglis. A once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four in 10 people taking ebb glis, achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. Emglyss, Lebrichizumab, LBKZ. A 250 milligram per 2-millimeter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children

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So these grim limb findings would continue on into 2001 as well, with the first pair of the new year discovered on March 12. And two garbage bags were found in the Haydard district about 50 meters apart from each other. And each bag was home to a severed leg, though this time they were from different. In one bag, the leg was determined to be from a 20 to 22 year old woman, and in the other, the leg belonged to a 25 to 30 year old man this time, so the ammo has changed slightly. And the woman's leg had been removed from the body cleanly, while the man's leg featured much rougher cuts. And also, traces of drugs and alcohol were found in the man's blood sample, suggesting he may have been incapacitated during the incident. And just 10 days after the discovery,

of the two limbs in bags, a breakthrough occurred on March 22nd. When two garbage collectors found a severed leg in a subway line, this leg would belong to the only victim that was ever positively identified throughout the entirety of the case, and that was 17-year-old Yasamine Dergun, who went missing two days prior after last being seen at a post office. And no blood was found at the discovery site, suggesting that the leg had been dunked in hot water, after dismemberment, possibly in an attempt to cleanse it. And her belongings were discovered two days later in a park with only her phone missing, which was discovered later.

And a phone call was placed to a payphone at Durgan's school on March 25th. When a student answered the call, a voice described as intoxicated or psychotic said, Don't look for that girl. You won't find her. Chelling as hell. And another similar call occurred, a couple minutes' later and the anonymous taunting paints a picture of a killer aware of how the news of the crimes was spreading and enjoyed stirring the pot because he's a sick fuck and the last known victim's leg belonged to a 30 to 35 year old man and it washed up along the shore of multi pay on July 20th and notably

this leg had been severed at the knee and toxology reports showed a high level of alcohol in his system similar to that of the other male leg that was discovered months earlier. But no more severed legs were found after mid-July, which brought the final count to seven victims as two of the eight legs belonged to the same victim. So investigators believe that each of the seven victims was claimed by the same killer. There were six female legs belonged to five total victims, and two male legs belonged to two total victims,

and their ages ranged from 17 to 35 years old. And as mentioned, many of the legs appeared to be in good condition relatively so. That is to say, they were well taken care of by the victims themselves. Clean shaved and pedicured or painted nails. And the only confirmed victim was the youngest of them and that she was a student with no known over-rebellious behavior. So it just seemed to deepen the mystery. And the other six victims remain unidentified as Istanbul, Jane, and John Does. So Istanbul police were dealing with an unprecedented case in Turkey's history.

And as such, how could they be sure what they were dealing with? So as best as they could, they initially treated the first discovery as just one murder, naturally, as you do. Or maybe it was even from someone digging up corpses from graveyards. But as more and more legs turned up, it was clear that something bigger was at hand. And authorities, of course, tried to match the legs to their original owners through missing persons report, and they even got close with a pair of legs that had dark red nail polish on them, suspecting she was a Lady of the Knight who was based out of Axari and Taxum districts. But unfortunately, no confirmation would come as they were unable to locate and contact the woman's family to get any DNA comparison.

So it's entirely possible that several of the victims were involved in sensitive situations like Lady of the Nighting, which only served to increase the difficulty of identification. And add that along with the fact that the killer only left legs behind as opposed to heads or fingers and traditional identification was essentially thrown out the window. And limited forensic capabilities at the time also posed challenges because DNA profiling was still relatively young at this time and experts had little to compare DNA against. And managing the public panic too proved difficult because the limbs were discovered in public places generally by your average person. So it's very easy to understand the widespread fear this might cause, because everybody's thinking, who would be next? It might be me.

You know, you don't know. And it seemed obvious that the killer wanted these to be found, and he wanted to spread fear. So keeping information under wraps was essentially impossible with the way that he was disposing of the legs. And if the information wasn't immediately publicly visible, then surely people talked about it and it was eventually leaked. But there really wasn't much to go on in,

regards to physical evidence other than the limbs themselves. And the difference in the cuts on the female versus the male legs does seem to be of note. Though what it means could be a number of different things. Maybe the killer struggled if the male bodies were heavier, or maybe the situations involving the males left the killer open to being interrupted, forcing a botched job. And it's also rather interesting that only the male victims seem to have been drugged or intoxicated, possibly suggesting that the killer needed extra help in subduing the males or that they initially targeted men that were already under the influence of something. Either way, it just made it easier for the killer to subdue them. And the lack of blood in Yasmin Dirkoun's case is fascinating as well, because why did

the killer seem to go through more effort to conceal this particular murder? And even more so, how did this murder become the only one to be fully identified? And as mentioned, Yasmin's belongings were found, which is a rare bit of evidence considering nothing of the sort was found for any of the other victims. And on top of that, the calls to her school are more than the killer did for any of the other victims that we know of. But ultimately, there's just a significant lack of evidence. There's very little CCTV and no witnesses from a city with millions of people who could potentially be a suspect left a very hard situation for law enforcement to overcome. So eventually, Istanbul authorities reached out for help abroad. And they got it from an infamous American profiler, Richard Walter, who some view as one of the creators of modern profiling.

And a 2023 New York magazine article did accuse him of overstating his credentials and achievements. But either way, Walter studied the case and came up with a detailed psychological profile for an unknown killer. And according to this profile and some alleged personal commentary from the article it comes from, the killer was likely a male in his mid-20s. the murders of the female victims seem to be sexually motivated, possibly due to his own inadequacy or that he wants to be attracted to women but is instead attracted to men potentially. And the murders to the male victims were likely due to their ties to the female victims.

And maybe they're partners of the victims or clients if they were ladies of the night. Or maybe they're just collateral damage since they just happened to be present at the time of the murders of the female victims. and the killer had a killing ground of sorts, which was a single location in which he committed all of the murders, and he would dismember the victims into six pieces, each arm, each leg, torso, and head, but only the legs would be shown to the public, suggesting the killer wanted these specific parts found

to make himself known and spread fear. But the rest of the parts would remain hidden, either to prevent full identification or just to be kept as trophies. And it also suggested that the killer would revisit that the crime scenes later on to enjoy the chaos, reliving the thrill. And Walter's profile describes a killer as someone who was not originally from Istanbul, potentially moving there for work. And this thought stems from the seeming lack of personal connections that could tie him to any of the missing persons.

Because when it came to transporting the bodies, the killer probably carried them in a suitcase or used public transit as the dump sites were generally busy central areas and would be very difficult accessing with a car. And this caused Walter to believe the killer didn't own a car at all. And he also likely worked a job that let him off work earlier in the day or maybe he worked nights. And the free time, granted in the mornings and early afternoons, are what allowed him to operate when others would have had difficulty. And given the methodical approach of the crimes, Walter believed that the killer had a history of violence and or institutionalization. And the suggestion that he targeted Ladies of the Night or others in potentially vulnerable positions, at least initially,

was so he could build up his confidence to more difficult targets. And once he could see the success of his efforts, he was able to switch his focus. And now whether his profile is fully true or accurate remains to be seen, but we have at least seen enough to confirm the following about his ammo. The system was surprisingly simple at surface level. The killer would murder their victim, take a short amount of, of time varying from a day to several days judging from when the legs were found to dismember at least one leg from the victim's body and they would take this leg whether by public transport or simply

walking and place it in a highly public area to be discovered later and these public areas allowed for the quickest discovery and the greatest level of shock and then the killer seemed to sit back and watch as the events unfolded as evidenced by the phone call shortly after the dergoon murder And it also appears that the killer operated on some sort of schedule because the incidents happened around weeks to months apart and often during the early hours of the morning. And the more desired targets looked to be women, as there were many more women legs found than men legs. But unfortunately, where the case stands today is cold.

And to add insult to injury, the statute of limitations on the case expired in 2021 for the last of the murders, meaning that even if we were to learn the true, identity of the killer today, they could not be tried in Turkey for these specific crimes. I will never understand the statute of limitations. Who made that up? Who made that up? They should go to jail, okay? No statute of limitations on the guy that made statute of limitations.

Okay, fuck you. But the investigation is closed in an official capacity as unsolved and the files have been archived. And the killer most likely just roams free, assuming that the initial beliefs of their age were correct. And since a case is deemed closed, there are no active investigation efforts. Though, there are undoubtedly many armchair detectives still looking into it periodically. But all known leads have gone cold

and in light of no resolution in the case, the statute of limitations also comes into question. Because would the people be satisfied with the outcome that the killer is found, but nothing can be done? I know I wouldn't be. But as it stands, there's nothing to be done unless the killer could be found guilty of something else, Turkey's first real serial killer has left quite a mark on the country, as many

firsts do. But one thing we do know is at least six unknown names will never know justice, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Growth and change are two constants that the city of Austin, Texas, knows all too well. And this was true even back in the 1880s. Because back then, Austin was in the process of evolving from an old town on the frontier into a full-fledged modern city. But in 1884, multiple malicious murders against the working class would push the city into a state of fear. And they would mark one of the earliest recorded serial killer cases in America. So the spree began on December 30th, 1884, when 25-year-old Molly Smith, who was an African-American servant at the time, was attacked in the home of her employer.

And the attacker snuck into Molly's room while she slept and hit her on the head with an axe. And after that, she was essayed and then dragged from the bedroom to the backyard. And 30-year-old Walter Spencer, her partner, was also present that evening and was attacked as well, receiving serious wounds. But fortunately, he survived.

But Molly wasn't as lucky. And he was initially suspected, but his injuries and apparent lack of motive move suspicions away from him. And then there was Clara Strand and Christine Martinson, who were both Swedish immigrants and young domestic servants, who were viciously attacked in the servants' quarters a few months later on March 19th, 1885. And the two were seriously injured for life from the attack, but they did luckily survive. However, due to their attacker striking in the dark, they were unable to provide any detailed description.

Yet their attack did begin to suggest a pattern, and it appeared as if someone was targeting, servant girls. And on May 7th, the killer struck again. And the victim was 30-year-old Eliza Shelley, a mother of three and a cook for a prominent family in town. And Eliza was found murdered in her bed that morning. And some accounts say by her coworkers and others say her children as they were in the room asleep when it occurred. And her head had reportedly been bludgeoned with again an axe. And a little over two weeks later, 33-year-old African-American servant Irene. Cross was attacked with a large knife in her home on May 23rd, and some accounts say May 22nd. But those who came to help found her in critical condition with deep wounds.

And one reporter said she looked as if she was nearly scalped. And she did initially survive the attack, but only for a short time. And during that time where she was alive, was unable to provide any notable details of her attacker. And as the late summer of 1885 arrived, so did yet another bloody stretch of murders. starting with 11-year-old Mary Ramey, who slept in bed with her mother, who was 50 years old, and on August 30th, Rebecca was attacked and knocked unconscious,

after which the attacker took Mary outside, where she would be stabbed with a rod through her ears, and S-8, absolutely disgusting and heartbreaking. And she would pass away from her wounds while her mother was inside and couldn't do anything because she was unconscious. And Rebecca did survive, but she was severely wounded. And then there was the double murder of Gracie Vance,

a 20-year-old African-American servant again, and Orange Washington, her 25-year-old partner. And it took place on September 28th, where the couple were again sleeping in a shack behind Vance's employer's house when they were attacked with an axe as well. And both were hit repeatedly again on the head, and Vance would also be taken outside

and S-Aid. And then two other people, Lucinda Boddy and Patsy Gibson, were also in the household and severely beaten, but did survive the attack. But the murders finally reached their climax on Christmas Eve with a rather surprising turn of events, because this time the victims were Susan Hancock and Yula Phillips, both somewhat prominent white women this time, who were killed just a few hours apart. And 41-year-old Hancock was the first of the two to be slain, described by one reporter as, quote, one of the most refined ladies in Austin, unquote. And she was found in the backyard by her husband, and she had been dragged from her bed and attacked with an axe once again, and she died from her wounds. And then there were 17-year-old

Phillips, who was murdered just a short while later. And her, unclothed body was found in an alley behind her father-in-law's home, and she had also perished from the same type of wounds. And her husband, four-year-old James Phillips was found nearby, also beaten and knocked unconscious from a head wound, but he would survive. And then, no related attacks occurred following the Christmas Eve massacre. So the murders initially focused primarily

on African American servant girls and their families, as all the early murder victims, Smith, Shelley, Cross, Rabie, and Vance were African American women working as servants or were the family of servants. So it's not a stretch that authorities suspect a racist or personal vendetta attack to the black community. However, as time passed and the total murder count reached eight people, seven women in one man,

and at least seven injured survivors spanning racial and social barriers, that assumption didn't hold as true. And the murders of Hancock and Phillips, as white women of higher social standing, changed the outlook. And the methods of attack was fairly consistent across all incidences. The killer would strike late at night, often while the victims were sleeping in their beds, and they would usually be bludgeoned with an axe.

Then, some of them would be dragged outside, and they would be assaulted. And this could explain why the loved ones who were close by in a few situations never woke up in time, because the killer may have quickly knocked out the victim and then snuck them outside without a sound. But many of the victims were reportedly essayed, demonstrating a sexual motive. In addition to the desire to kill. And the killer also seemed to have a signature because several of the bodies had allegedly been posed in a similar way.

And six of the victims had a sharp object inserted into their ears as well. And so the initial response of police was seemingly brute force, arresting as many men as possible in hopes of catching those responsible. And at least 400 men were arrested through 1885, according to a December New York Times article in that year.

And as a symptom of the Times, the racial tensions of the investigation were significant as well. And Austin was segregated as evidenced by servants sleeping in separate housing. And the early murders committed against African-American servants may not have even gotten police attention if they didn't take place in more prominent white homes, which is incredibly sad. And many of the men that were rounded up were African-American men. And they were beaten for information, demonstrating racial assumptions by authorities. And when the murders continued, groups of vigilantes began roaming the streets at night, expressing their anger, fear, and frustration at the situation.

And some African-American communities even believed the killer or killers to be white men possessing magic powers. Some sort of voodoo magic, as no dogs seem to bark nearby as the incidents happened as well, which is very odd. And as authorities were desperate to keep peace among the chaos, outside investigators were brought in. But unfortunately, this did little to help as they often took the same approach as local authorities. And the African-American community as a whole did whatever they could to fight back against the unknown enemy, expressing their disappointment that not enough was being done as they were targeted in these incidences.

And it wasn't until Hancock and Phillips were murdered that the entirety of Austin woke up to the issue at hand. And more police officers were swiftly hired and rewards were finally offered for information. and the citizen vigilance committees were formed. And the killer would soon be reported to have moved on or out of town as the murders just seemingly stopped. But the killer slipped away without a trace. And the investigation certainly wasn't helped by the widely varying and contradicting descriptions of the attacker.

Because of the fairly large numbers of survivors, police did manage to get some eyewitness testimony, but it led to just more confusion than clarity. because some witnesses reported the killer as white, others as dark complexioned. And others even described them as a yellow man, which could mean a number of things at the time, including a lighter-skinned black man

or someone of mixed race. And regarding clothing, some described the killer as wearing a slouch hat and one account reportedly saw a man in a mother Hubbard style dress feeling the crime scene. And some reports spoke of multiple attackers working together. And it was suggested that even a gang might be the culprit.

But the many discrepancies made it quite difficult for investigators to focus on one profile of suspect and the different accounts to show how unreliable witness testimony really can be, especially at night during stressful situations and during just like a peak of racism. And the reality is that the killer most likely intentionally took advantage of the night for the element of surprise and low visibility.

So at the time of the murders, the people of Austin were left with many possible that the idea of a single serial killer was fairly unpopular. However, more modern looks into the case by historians and researchers in search of identifying the killer have brought a compelling suspect to the surface, and that is Nathan Elgin. And the theory increased in popularity after it was featured on the PBS show History Detectives in 2014, and Elgin was a 19-year-old African-American cook who was living in Austin during the time of the murders. And one very important piece, to the puzzle was that Elgin was missing a toe on his right foot. Keep that in the back of your mind,

which batched a bloody footprint that was found at Phillips' murder site. And Elgin also worked at a place not too far from the crime scenes, which suggests local knowledge of the area. And he was known to have great strength and a temperamental attitude, which fit the profile of someone capable of overpowering multiple people. And just over a month after the final murder in February of 1880s. Elgin was involved in a violent situation, and he drunkenly dragged a girl out of a saloon and attacked her with a knife as she screamed for help. And nearby people came out to help attracting the attention of a police officer who also intervened, and Elgin was shot and died the next day. The timing of his death and the prompt stopping of the murders is of note, and potentially

suggestive, but inconclusive. And Elgin's age also is fitting of the killer's description as a young man that some reports referenced. But in the end, without the ability to examine the DNA and no confession, we're unable to definitively claim that Nathan Elgin is the killer. But this theory is widely accepted as the best explanation. And another rather interesting theory about the case suggests that the Austin killer and Jack the Ripper may actually have been the same person potentially. And the idea originated shortly after Jack the Ripper murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Adows by an editor for the Atlanta Constitution. And some writers have entertained the theory over the years. And one notable supporter was Shirley Harrison, who wrote,

in her book, Jack the Ripper, the American Connection, that a cotton merchant from Liverpool named James Maybrick had spent time in Austin during the times of the murders, and therefore could have possibly committed both sets of crimes. Though most people find this theory pretty far-fetched as the emmows of both killers varied significantly. I think it's a stretch. Because the Ripper targeted ladies of the night and did horrible things to their body. Not that the servant girl killer didn't.

He obviously also did that. But Jack the Ripper was horribly more creative with it. You'll have to watch this video to get more on that. But I digress. So there is no conclusive link between the two sets of murders other than a short difference in time, which is about three years apart. But in terms of more relevant suspects,

husbands and partners were wrongly accused on multiple occasions, including Walter Spencer, Molly Smith's partner, Moses Hancock, Susan Hancock's husband, and James Phillips, Yula Phillips husband. And as it's common practice to assume the husband did it, there were at least reasonable suspicions. And though they were charged, and in Phillips case actually convicted.

Fortunately, they were all acquitted. And Phillips' conviction was actually overturned. But as mentioned, no theories or suspects seem to fit the case as well as Nathan Elgin. And the murder pattern just suggests a classic serial killer driven by lust and rage. And the fact that so many of the victims were African American could simply have been that they were easier to target.

And authorities unfortunately would not devote as many resources, to catching them. Regardless of the motive, the killings were unlike typical crimes of the times, and the concept of a serial killer was not a common one in the minds of law enforcement. And during the time of the murders, a man by the name of William Sidney Porter, who went by the name O. Henry for his short stories, was living in Austin. And on May 10, 1885, he wrote a letter to a friend writing about the murders, referencing the killers. He believed there were multiple. As the servant girl annihilators and thereby coining the term that would stick when describing the murders going forward.

Quote, town is fearfully dull except for the frequent raids of the servant girl annihilators, who make things lively during the dead of night, unquote. That's in pretty poor taste, if you ask me. He basically just said, you know, it's pretty, pretty lame around here, except for the mass murders that are happening. That seems exciting. Just bleak as hell. But the case of the servant girl Annihilator is still one of America's most notorious unsolved serial murder cases, especially considering the murders happened before serial killers existed and shortly before the Jack the Ripper murders. And it's considered to be one of the very first serial killer cases in U.S. history. And for the city of Austin, it's a fascinating part of the city's lore. And though

music and tech are now its primary draws, the killer that once roamed the streets with an axe is forever ingrained in its history. And this is one of those cases too where it probably will never be solved. And it's awful, but all we can do is just remember the victims. And, you know, heart goes out to the families that are honestly most likely deceased

at this point, at least close family. But that is it for the three uncought serial killers video. Let me know what other cases you would like me to deep dive into down below. And for goodness sake, do not ever hitchhike. please and stay safe up there. Alright? Bye.