Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Shoemaker” Joseph Kallinger Pt. 2

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

In the 1970s, after abusing his children and getting away with it, Joseph Kallinger enlists his son in a mission from God that terrorizes the suburbs of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, sexual assault, rape, and child abuse. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On January 8, 1975, Edwina Romaine lay face down on her living room floor. Her hands and feet were bound behind her, and a coat was draped over her head. Her 21-year-old daughter, Reda, was next to her, restrained in the same way. Her daughter's friend Maria was on the ground too, legs and feet tied up with a blue wool jacket covering her face.

Edwina listened as a strange man and a teenage boy dragged Redda's boyfriend Jeffrey down to the basement. Meanwhile, her hands worked slowly and deliberately to untie the cords around her wrists. Minutes later, Edwina heard footsteps coming back up the stairs and she stopped moving, careful not to arouse their suspicion. The intruders paced around me.

the room. She held her breath as they stood next to her. She could tell from their anxious whispers and indecisive steps that they were trying to decide what to do next. Little did she know, the man knew exactly what he was going to do. Joseph Callenger was just trying to decide which woman he wanted to kill first. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parkast. Every episode we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're finishing our look at Joseph Kalensher, a killer sometimes known as The Shoemaker. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from

Parcast for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Last time, we discussed the brutality and torture Joseph suffered as a child, his escalating mental illness, and a severe abuse of his own children. Today we'll delve into the robberies Joseph committed with his teenage son and the unthinkable acts of brutality he performed even against his own family. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

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Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash killers. That's Shopify.com slash killers. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter, whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer. the hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for, like Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Unit Bomber.

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didn't do. Before we continue, a quick note, to protect their privacy, we've changed some of the names in this story. Even though Joe had burned his 13-year-old daughter Isabel on her thighs and beat his son Tommy, the courts decided his family was still better off with their father at home. Even though he'd gotten off with the smallest slap on the wrist, Joe wasn't satisfied. When he returned to his shoe repair shop, he'd lost nearly all of his clients. No one wanted to get their shoes fixed by a man who beat his children.

Joe decided that the only way to get his clientele back was if he cleared his name. So that's what he set out to do. Almost immediately after his release, Joe got to work trying to convince his children to recant their statements and to admit they'd made everything up. If they wanted to live a nice life, he needed people to trust him, he said. After some convincing, Tommy agreed to help. So Joe had his son right out of a second. set of backdated journal entries to prove the kids were lying.

The entries written by Tommy, but mostly dictated by Joe, claimed that Isabel had made up the whole story to get back at her father for not letting her date older boys. While his lawyer worked on getting him a new trial based on the evidence in the journals, the hallucinations Joe had been having since he was a boy escalated. In the past, voices had ordered him to do things like burn down his house or to heal humanity with shoe heel inserts. But now the requests were more criminal and sadistic.

We should note that though Joe claimed to have these visions, we can't be certain he was telling the truth. It's possible that he lied to diminish his accountability, which would explain some of the contradictory statements he made after the fact. However, the contradictions could also be due to his mental illness. Schizophrenia is a serious disease, where reality sometimes becomes distorting. What follows is Joe's version of the events that took place.

Whether or not they're completely true isn't for us to determine, but it's good to keep that in mind. According to Joe, God spoke to him in the winter of 1973. He told Joe that he had a supreme mission, a task only he was capable of. Something so big, it would change the course of human history. But first, Joe had to prove himself. He had to demonstrate that he was worthy of the undertaking. To prove himself, Joe had to rob and ransack people's homes, and for some reason, he enlisted his 12-year-old son, Michael, to help him. The two had a pretty reliable, foolproof system. Twice a week, father and son would board buses headed to random towns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

They never knew where they were going. But when they got there, they'd break into a house and steal as many things as they could. Jewelry, electronics, cash, anything of value that they could get their hands off. By June of 1974, they'd robbed dozens of homes, stealing thousands of dollars' worth of stuff. With that, Joe had successfully proven that he was up to the task, and now it was time to up the ante. God had spoken to Joe again, and this time, he had revealed his mission. Joe needed to slaughter every living person on earth with a butcher knife. Then he'd descend to heaven and become a God himself. It was a daunting task, and Joe needed to slaughter.

didn't want to embark in the assignment alone, so he asked Mike for his help again. The 12-year-old got on board. Even though Joe didn't tell him about his mission from God, Mike's willingness to help indicates a troubling dynamic in their father-son relationship. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. According to social learning theory, children Children exposed to violent or criminal behavior will often replicate those actions in their own lives. If a child watches their parent beat another parent or child, they begin to internalize the idea that violence is how to solve a problem, or to successfully get what one wants.

Mike may have been modeling the example given by Joe that aggression and cruelty are acceptable ways to behave. It's also important to note that since Joe was diagnosed with schizophrenia, it's possible that Mike, Mike also had the illness. Schizophrenia is hereditary, and if one parent has it, their children are more likely to inherit the disorder. There's no way to know for sure, though. Whatever the reason, Mike agreed to help out with his father's new, more violent plan, and there was no turning back.

On July 7, 1974, they headed out on foot to look for their first victim. Unlike the robberies, though, they decided to stay in Philadelphia. Around 6.30 that evening, they stopped in front of the victim. stopped in front of a recreation center and community pool. Even though it was getting dark, a lot of kids were still gathered around outside. That's when Mike spotted 10-year-old Jose Coyazo standing apart from the crowd. The pair approached the boy and told him they needed help moving some boxes and said they'd be willing to pay.

Jose agreed to come help, but told them his mother was expecting him home by nine. Joe and Mike nodded assuringly, insisting that they had plenty of time. but they knew then Jose's mom would never see her son alive again. Joe and Mike took the boy to an abandoned rug factory just a few blocks away. When they walked inside, the building was pitch black. Jose must have suspected that something wasn't right because he tried to back away, saying that he had to go home, but Joe and Mike grabbed him by the arms and led him up a staircase.

Jose tried again to escape, but it was no use. When they got to the top of the stairs, Joe and Mike sexually assaulted and killed him. Then they grabbed his clothes, dumped them in a nearby scrapyard, and went home. After they'd killed Jose, the father and son were even closer. When Joe told Mike they would kill again, he was apparently excited at the thought. According to Joe, Mike had always had an icy, unemotional demeanor, and committing murder seemed to do very little to change that. But their next attack would test both of their ruthlessness,

because this time the victim would be someone they both knew very well. A few weeks after they'd killed Jose, Joe had a vision. He saw a boy being pushed off a mountain and falling to his death. The boy was his 13-year-old son, Tommy. Joe believed that the vision was an order from God to kill Tommy. Even though they had a turbulent relationship, he was still his son, and Joe was distressed by the command. Still, he believed that he was on his way to becoming a god himself,

and he was determined to prove his worthiness. With that in mind, Joe told Mike that he wanted to kill Tommy. Initially, he was nervous that a son might refuse to help, or that he'd be repulsed or even terrified at the suggestion. But the only reaction Mike had to the news was excitement. Joe was surprised, but relieved. Without Mike's help, he didn't think. he could go through with it. He told him they'd strike in a few days. Then he got to work planning.

One of the first things Joe did was take out a $45,000 life insurance policy on Tommy. This is an important detail because it brings into question Joe's real motivation for killing his son. The pair had never had the greatest relationship. Tommy was rebellious and unruly, and he was always getting into trouble. It's possible that Joe was tired of his defiance. Maybe he saw an an opportunity to make some money and get rid of his disobedient son at the same time. Whatever the real reason, Joe faltered in his plans once more. Each time, his resolve weakened at the last minute. But after two failed attempts to kill Tommy, Joe had another hallucination. God reproached him for not following through on his mission and reminded him of his purpose.

Eventually, Joe decided he couldn't put it off any longer. On July 28th, Joe gathered Tommy and Mike and took them out for a bite to eat. Then he told them they were going to an area north of Market Street to take photos. There, dozens of buildings were partially or completely torn down, making it an interesting backdrop for a photo shoot, and the perfect place to dump a body. Joe knew that Tommy loved having his picture taken,

and that his tastes were far from conventional. The teens sometimes took photos wearing handcuffs or in odd positions. So when Joe said he brought chains, Tommy was eager to try them out in the photos. After walking through the neighborhood for a few minutes, Joe, Mike, and Tommy found an old novelty shop that had been stripped bare. In the back of the shop was a door slightly open. It was dark, so they pulled out their flashlights and shone them inside.

They could see that they were at the top of a spiral staircase, leading them to a partially flooded basement. Joe and Mike nodded at each other. This was it. oblivious to what was about to happen. Tommy led the way down the stairs. The farther down they went, the wetter the stairs became. Eventually, the steps were completely submerged and they couldn't continue.

Looking around, Joe spotted a ladder leaning against the wall. He knew exactly what to do. Mike told his brother to stand with his back against the ladder, so they could chain him to it and take some photos. Mike fastened Tommy's wrists and ankles to the steel. Then nodded at a little. his father. It was time. Together, they leaned the ladder forward and dropped it into the water.

Tommy's head thrashed violently beneath the surface, but he was trapped. After a few moments, he stopped struggling. He was dead. Joe and Mike fished the ladder out of the water and unchained Tommy's body, laying it on the steps. Then they grabbed their things and made a hasty exit. Joe had just done the unthinkable. He had more than. murdered his own son, and now nothing would stand in his way. Coming up, Joe and Mike crash a party, and things turn bloody. I'm Sarah Turney, host of Disappearances, a Spotify original from Parkast.

In 2020, I used social media to help bring justice to my sister Alyssa's nearly two decades-long disappearance. Now, I'm exploring the many reasons people disappear, and finding that the truth truth may be even harder to locate than the person. Who forced a famed explorer to lose his way? What did a missing Hollywood starlet leave behind? And how could the heiress to a Chicago candy fortune just vanish? Every Thursday on Disappearances join me for a deeper look into history's most gripping missing persons cases.

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Now back to the story. On July 28, 1974, Joe Callenger headed home after he and his son, Mike, killed his other son, 13-year-old Tommy. Later that evening, Joe and his wife Betty reported Tommy missing. Almost immediately after, Joe set up a tip hotline at a shoe repair store and pretended to search for leads about his son's whereabouts. He cooperated with the police in their investigation and insisted that Tommy hadn't run away, not this time. Joe would later say his actions warrant a performance. He said that he had no memory of killing his son, that he really did believe he was missing. Whether or not he was lying, we can't say, but it's possible he blocked out the memory of the murder, or that his mental illness caused him to disassociate.

Nevertheless, on August 9th, demolition crews discovered Tommy's body in the basement of a building. Theory circled about the cause of his death, with many neighbors believing he'd been killed by some of the shady characters he hung around with. The police, however, had their own suspicions. In September, they brought Joe in for questioning. To them, a father who severely abused his children and then took life insurance policies out on them was more than capable of murder. Unfortunately, they didn't have any evidence, and Joe insisted that he was innocent. As hard as they tried to break him, he refused to give them anything. They would just have to wait for him to slip. Joe was bothered by the police's constant badgering and incessant questions and

accusations, but he had other things on his mind. His youngest daughter, 14-month-old Brittany, had been born with a rare medical condition that left purple patches all over her skin. During one of Joe's hallucinations, a demon told him about a cure for her ailment. He had to combine his semen with a woman's vaginal fluid and perfume, then rubbed the vile mixture on Britney's sores. So on November 22nd, 1974, when Joe and Mike headed out for one of their robbery excursions, the elder Callenger had more than theft on his mind. he wanted to look for a home with a woman, preferably one who was alone.

The pair boarded a bus and headed to Camden, New Jersey, 15 minutes away from Philadelphia. They stopped in the neighborhood of Lindenwald and staked out the area. The first house they tried was empty. They ransacked the home, stealing a suitcase, a camera, and jewelry, and then continued on their way. It's unclear what Mike believed they were doing that day, but he seemed to understand they were looking for more than things to steal. They were looking for a woman to kill. After walking around for a while, Mike saw a house on a corner lot a little away from the rest. It looked perfect. Joan Cardi was home alone that day, and when Joe and Mike knocked on the door, she turned them away.

But they weren't going anywhere. They pushed their way inside, shutting the door behind them. They led Joan to the bedroom, forced her to undress and bound her to the bed. Then they put a pillowcase over her head and began going through her things, stuffing cash and jewelry into a suitcase they'd found. Joe also made sure to steal a bottle of her perfume for Britney's ointment. When they were done ransacking the bedroom, Joe told Mike to search the rest of the house. He was going to deal with Joan.

When Mike left the room, Joe undressed and tried to rape her, but he was unable to perform. The insecurities he had about his body since childhood refused to go away. Joe was frustrated, but he wasn't going to leave completely empty-handed. He made sure to still collect some of Joan's vaginal fluid, setting it aside in a rubber glove he brought with him. When he was done, he got dressed and prepared to leave. As he turned to go, he looked back at Joan,

still bound to the bed, a pillowcase over her head. Chillingly, he said, You just aren't my type, that's all. Joe found Mike sitting on the couch in the living room waiting for him. Their perverse mission complete, the two headed out. When they got home later that evening, Joe headed to his workshop to create his twisted concoction. Then he placed Britney in a high chair and rubbed the mixture all over her skin. He continued applying the ointment over the next couple of days,

but Joe eventually realized it wasn't working. The spots hadn't faded in the slightest. He was angry, but also felt renewed in his mission. Once he was a god, he'd be able to fix any problems. He just had to keep going. So he told Mike that they were going out again the next day. And this time, they wouldn't leave their victims alive. On December 3, 1974, Helen Bogan left her home in Susquehanna Township, Pennsylvania, to run an errand.

She was having some friends over later for lunch and a game of bridge, and she had a few last-minute things to pick up to make sure the afternoon, went perfect. A little while later, she pulled back up in front of her house and walked up to the door, fiddling with her keys anxiously. Her friends would be there soon, and she needed to get everything ready. But when she stepped inside, a pair of uninvited guests were already there, waiting for her. Joe and Mike Callenger.

Joe tackled Helen to the ground, put a butcher's knife to her cheek, and told her that if she screamed, he would kill her. Then he and Mike led her up the stairs to a bedroom. There, Mike wrapped her head in tape, leaving only her mouth uncovered. Joe had a very special plan in mind for Helen. Images of gorged and burned eyeballs had flashed through his mind the whole morning. Now, he wanted to bring those visions to reality. After leaving Helen with Mike, he went to another area to prepare an improvised operating room.

He removed the mattress from a twin bed and flipped the metal floor. frame so that the legs were up in the air. He brought Helen into the room and laid her down on the makeshift operating table. He stood over her with a can of lighter fluid, readying himself to scorch her eyes. But as he brought his hand down just above her face, he lost his nerve and couldn't go through with it. In Joe's own words, his cup ran dry, and this wasn't the first time it had happened. His resolve had also disappeared several times when he first tried to kill his son.

Tommy. Even though he wasn't going to burn Helen's eyes like he planned, Joe wasn't done with her. Instead, he decided he would slice off her breast and take it home with him as a trophy. Stealing himself, he pulled up her shirt and braw and placed the knife at the center of her breast. But he had barely broken the skin when he stopped. He rearranged Helen's clothes and told her, I don't want your friends to see you in that condition. Once again, and Joe couldn't finish what he'd started. But he was about to have more opportunities because Helen's guests were starting to arrive.

As the women got to the house, Joe and Mike whisked them each up the stairs, bound them and led them into separate rooms. Once that was done, Joe paced around the house, trying to regain his sense of purpose. Eventually, he settled on another objective. If he couldn't take a life,

he could at least take something. The women were all upper middle class and wearing expensive jewelry. After swiping thousands of dollars worth of valuables in cash from Helen's home, they also stole the women's wedding and engagement rings too. When they'd stolen all of their things, Joe and Mike left the women bound in the house and fled. He believed he was meant to kill every single person on earth, but all he'd managed to do was steal jewels from a few women.

Joe was frustrated, but he wasn't about to get. give up on his mission. He was determined to see it through. Over the next month, Joe broke into two more homes. Both times he failed to kill the women inside, but his actions got more and more violent each time. Instead of just stealing, Joe also sexually assaulted the women he came across. It seemed he was finding his confidence at last. Unfortunately, that confidence meant Joe was more dangerous than ever, and after ringing in the new year, he would go farther than he ever had before. Coming up, Joe's hallucinations have a bloody consequence.

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dollars worth of stolen property. They'd also murdered a 10-year-old boy and Joe's 13-year-old son. After killing Tommy, Joe had tried futilely to commit murder again. He believed that God was commanding him to kill everyone on earth. After he did, he'd become a god himself. However, every time he tried to kill, he'd lost his nerve, but that all changed on January 8, 1975. Joe woke before sunrise that morning, feeling determined.

He got Mike out of bed, and the pair headed to the bus station. A little later, they arrived in the town of Leonia, New Jersey, a two-hour drive from Philadelphia. When they got there, they walked around looking for a home to target. In the afternoon, they saw 28-year-old Didi Romaine Wiseman through a window, and something about her caught their eye. That day, Didi was at her parents' house with her young son. looking after her bed-ridden grandmother. Didi's father had recently had a heart attack, and her mother, Edwina, was at the hospital visiting him.

But she was due home soon. Didi had seen Joe and Mike walking aimlessly around the neighborhood earlier that morning. So when they showed up at the door, she was hesitant to answer. She did, though. Spooked, Didi asked him to leave, but instead he pushed his way inside. Mike followed behind and locked the door.

Didi tried to fight off the intruders, and Joe was taken aback by her resistance. But when her four-year-old son walked in on the scene and started screaming, Joe saw an opportunity. He pointed a gun at the boy and told Didi that if she didn't comply, he would shoot. Didi had no choice but to obey, which made Joe happy. He'd faltered on his mission before, but not this time. Now he was ready, and he wouldn't leave anyone alive. Joe ordered Didi to close her eyes, then led her up the stairs and into a bedroom. He forcefully undressed her and bound her arms and feet.

So far so good. Things were going according to plan. Joe then left the bedroom to kill Didi's grandmother. At that moment, the doorbell rang, and for some reason, Joe rushed down the stairs to answer. He looked out the window and saw a young woman standing on the doorstep. It was perfect. He'd have the opportunity to fulfill his urges after all. The woman was Dee's 21-year-old sister, Randy.

Joe opened the door and pulled her inside before she knew what was happening. He ordered her to be quiet and close her eyes. Then he pushed her up the stairs to where Didi was already bound and waiting. Like Didi, he undressed Randy and bound her hands, feet, and face. It was then that he noticed both women were on their periods. Joe huffed in frustration. It was fine, he told himself. This was a complication.

but it wouldn't disrupt his plans to kill again. Not this time. As he stood over the two women, deciding what to do next, the doorbell rang again. Getting annoyed, Joe headed down to answer it. It was Dee Dee and Randy's mom Edwina. With her was Randy's twin sister, Reda, and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Welby.

Having a house full of people to kill would be difficult, Joe thought. But it was also the perfect way to redeem himself for all of his other failed attempts. He rushed everyone into the house at gunpoint and forced them to the ground in the living room. He bound their hands together using cords he'd cut from curtains in the home, taking off all of their jewelry in the process. Then he covered their heads with their coats. However, Jeffrey was another matter.

He was six foot three and looked to be almost 200 pounds. Worried that he'd give them trouble, Joe decided to kill him first. He bound Jeffrey's hands with cords and forced him to the ground. on the opposite side of the living room. But before he could figure out what to do next, the doorbell rang again. Joe looked out the window and saw another pretty young woman standing on the porch.

He opened the door, and Rhetta and Randy's friend Maria Fashing smiled at him. He smiled back kindly and invited her in. When she got inside, Joe pulled Maria's arms behind her and told her that if she did as she was told, he wouldn't hurt her. Maria looked around the living room

and saw the three bound people on the floor. Fearlessly, she yelled at Joe and Mike to leave and reproached them for what they had done to the Romaine family. She walked towards Edwina and Redda, presumably to untie them. That's when Mike pointed his gun at her head and told her to get down on the ground. Maria complied, but continued to berate them

as they bound her like the others. Joe was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the scene unfolding before him. He needed to get things going before anyone else. else showed up, so he stuffed a handkerchief in Jeffrey's mouth, wrapped his face with tape, and took him downstairs to the basement's boiler room. His hands and feet still bound with the cables, Joe pulled down Jeffrey's pants. Seeing his victim exposed and helpless, gave Joe a sadistic idea.

He was going to bring one of the women downstairs and get them to do his bidding. He wanted to watch. Meanwhile, the three women in the living room, Edwina, Reda and Maria, were trying to plan their escape. Edwina's fingers worked tirelessly to loosen the cables around her hands. She was nearly free when she heard footsteps coming back up the stairs. She lay completely still, holding her breath. Joe grabbed Maria and pulled her up. She had been the most vocal and resistant.

He led her down the stairs and stood her in front of the room where Jeffrey was waiting. With a knife in one hand, he held Maria by the shoulder and told her they were standing outside the boiler room. Jeffrey was inside, he explained, and he ordered her to go in and bite off his penis. Understandably, Maria refused. He told her that if she didn't do it, he would kill her. According to Joe, Maria told him, kill me. Without thinking, Joe raised the butcher knife over his head and plunged it into her neck. He stabbed her again and again

until Maria's lifeless body slumped at his feet. Jill was thrilled at what he'd just done and he was ready for more. He'd gotten a taste for blood and now he was insatiable. But any plans he was formulating were about to be cut short. At that moment, Mike yelled down the stairs

that someone had gotten loose. They had to go now. It turned out Edwina was free and outside of the house, screaming for help. Joe ran up the stairs and the pair bolted out the back door. As they fled, they dumped the jewelry they'd stuffed into their pockets. Then they dumped their gun and the knife Joe had used to kill Maria.

As they ran through Leonia, the pair passed a park and Joe stopped at a puddle to wash his face and bloodstained hands. He also took off his bloody shirt and threw it into some bushes. Eventually, they got to the bus station and headed home. When they got back to Philadelphia, Joe laid down. and dozed off as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, back in Leonia, an investigation was already beginning to take shape. Before Joe and Mike had even left town, police had swarmed the scene of the crime. Sergeant Robert McDougal was one of the first cops to get to the house.

Unsure who was still inside, he quietly made his way around the home. When he went down to the basement, he found Maria's body, but she was so bloody and disfigured that it was impossible to identify her. As he inspected the body, he heard Jeffrey's muffled groans coming from another room and went to investigate. Once McDougal had cut him free, Jeffrey identified the mangled body as Maria Fashing. McDougal was in shock. Maria's father had been his partner on the Leonia Police Force for years, and he'd known Maria from the day she was born. Leonia was a small town, and word spread fast about what had happened in the Russo House.

Before long, tips and clues started pouring in. One woman reported that she'd been walking in the park earlier that day when her dog ran into some bushes and came back dragging a blood-soaked shirt in his mouth. She wrestled the shirt away from the dog and threw it back into the bushes, thinking very little of it, until she heard about the murder. Police quickly recovered the shirt and after performing some tests, they traced it back to Joe. They knew they'd found their man. On January 17th, nine days after the attack, a group of officers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland descended on the Callenger House in Philadelphia.

They arrested Joe and 13-year-old Mike, and the pair were charged for several offenses across each state. In Pennsylvania, Joe was charged for the string of robberies and kidnappings. In New Jersey, he was facing a murder charge for Maria's death. However, his lawyers wanted to negotiate an insanity plea to save him from having to go to. a trial. But after several psychiatric examinations, doctors determined Joe was sane, at least sane enough to stand trial for his crimes. Regardless of his mental state, they believed that he understood right from wrong, and that made him culpable. His trial in Pennsylvania began in September of 1975 and lasted less than two weeks. Joe testified for himself, telling the jury about

his mission from God and how he'd been ordered to commit the crimes. He also declared that he was over 100 years old and claimed he had existed as a butterfly before inhabiting his current body. It's hard to know if Joe was trying to trick the jury into believing he was crazy, or if he really believed what he was saying. Regardless, they weren't convinced

and deliberated for only an hour before declaring him guilty on all counts. His punishment was 30 to 80 years in prison, which was an unusually harsh sentence for robbery, and definitely not what Joe was expecting. He was shocked. He thought he'd be back on the streets fairly quickly and that he'd return to his bloody mission.

Instead, he was taken to the State Correctional Institute at Huntingdon to await his murder trial in New Jersey. A year later, in September of 1976, his murder trial began. Throughout the case, 39-year-old Joe acted erratically, often jerking his legs and arms around and gyrating his body. Sometimes he'd chirp or burst out random chance in court. Many experts and jurors believed that Joe was acting out for attention or to drum up sympathy. They believed he was faking insanity to prevent a guilty verdict.

Nonetheless, after a month-long trial, the jury found Joe guilty of murdering Maria Fashing, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Joe was never charged for the deaths of his son Tommy or Jose Coyazo. He only admitted to murdering them years later, to writer Flora Ruffington. Meanwhile, Mike was taken to a youth rehabilitation center in Warringdale, Pennsylvania, shortly after his arrest. He was eventually released to live with foster parents and put on probation until he was 21 years old.

After that, he changed his name and left Pennsylvania. It's not known where he went or what happened to him after that. What happened to Joe, though, is less of a mystery. In 1978, he was transferred to a hospital for the criminally insane. in Weymard, Pennsylvania. Some doctors and experts who examined him at the facility agreed with his earlier diagnosis of schizophrenia. They believed a lot of his behavior could be attributed to his illness.

But others still thought Joe was faking it. They believed that his actions were too calculated to be the product of a disturbed mind, like he and his lawyers claimed. It's impossible to know the truth about Joseph Callenger. Was he a man suffering from serious delusions in a near constant state of psychosis? Or was he simply an evil person trying to fake his way out of the consequences of his actions?

We'll likely never know. And since he died in 1996, there's no way to get more answers from the man himself. What we do know is that Joe killed three people, including his own son. Along the way, he dragged another son into his schemes, manipulating him into being his accomplice. Mentally ill? Probably. Evil?

Undoubtedly. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new story. For more information on Joseph Callinger, amongst the many sources we used, we found The Shoemaker, The Anatomy of a Psychotic, by Flora Reda Schreiber,

extremely helpful in our research. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler,

sound design by Brendan Hawkins, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Joshua Kern. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Sarah Hussein, with writing assistance by Joel Callan, fact-checking by Kara McEleen, and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial Killers stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Riddell.

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