Sexual Murder - Justicia Forense

knew if I did not, I would get her blood on them. When all wasready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in a closetuntil she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she beganto cry and tried to run downstairs. I grabbed her and she said shewould tell her mama. First I stripped her naked. How did she kick— bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in smallpieces so I could take my meat to my rooms cook and eat it. Howsweet and tender her little ass was, roasted in the oven. It took menine days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could ofhad I wished. She died a virgin. (quoted in Schechter and Everitt,1996, pp. 165–166)A New York City detective who never stopped trying to solve the casemanaged to trace the letter to Fish. Once arrested, he was examined psychiatricallyby Fredric Wertham, who considered him psychotic and legallyinsane. Although the jury acknowledged that the offender was mentally ill,they believed he deserved to be executed. Fish was reported to have said,“What a thrill it would be to die in the electric chair! It would be the supremethrill — the only one I haven’t tried” (Schechter and Everitt, 1996, p. 92). At65 years of age, Fish was electrocuted in 1936.Another interesting case is that of Earl Nelson, executed in 1928 forstrangling 20 women in a period of about a year (Nash, 1973; Wilson andPitman, 1962). All the victims (ranging in age from 14 to 60) were killed intheir homes. Reportedly, Nelson would choke the women to death, engagein necrophilia, and place the corpses in various hiding places. One body wasstuffed in an attic trunk, one under the victim’s bed, while others were placedin basement furnaces.At about age 10, Nelson had been hit by a trolley car, and he remainedunconscious for several days; perhaps this trauma caused some type oforganic pathology. He was raised by an aunt who stressed religion and Biblereading; in fact, Nelson carried a Bible with him at several of his murders.As a young man, he was involved in voyeurism, once attacked his femalecousin, and was also arrested for rape. In his early 20s he married a 60-yearoldwoman and was pathologically jealous. He once raped his wife while shewas hospitalized and then accused the doctor of having sex with her. OnceNelson began to kill, he could not contain the compulsion and murderedalmost twice a week. He traveled throughout several parts of the U.S. andwas finally arrested in Winnipeg, Canada.During World War II there were many sexual-murder cases; however,they were not extensively publicized, perhaps because of preoccupationwith the war. Jenkins (1988, 1989) researched newspaper clippings fromthis time and found many cases that seem, at least from a distance, to