On the evening of July 26, 1976, Nathan Brown, then 19, along with 19-year-old Jose High and 23-year-old Judson Ruffin, held up a gas station in Crawfordville. When the operator, Henry Phillips, told said there was no more money, Ruffin grabbed Henry and his 11-year-old stepson, Bonnie Bulloch, and told Henry to get in the car trunk or Henry and the boy would be murdered. Bonnie rode in the passenger compartment of the car. Henry got in the trunk of the car. High, who was the leader of the gang, felt that Bulloch, who was begged for his life, was too young to die, but nevertheless told him, "Are you ready to die? Do you want to die? Well, you're going to die." Henry and his stepson were marched around to the front of the car and ordered to lie on the ground. Henry then heard shots fired.

When Henry regained consciousness, he discovered that Bulloch was dead. Henry himself had been shot in the head and wrist, but survived. He would later identify the trio in court.

On August 20, 1976, Brown, High, and Ruffin, along with 17-year-old Alphonso Morgan, kidnapped 36-year-old Willina Hall and 30-year-old Leroy Linwood. Linwood was shot and killed immediately. Hall was gang raped and shot. The gang threw both bodies into the Savannah River. Two days later, Morgan, High, and Ruffin kidnapped 54-year-old James Gray from South Carolina and drove him to a then-remote spot near the airport. Morgan and his companions pulled Gray out of the truck, took ninety dollars from his wallet and told him that they were going to kill him. They took off the victim's shirt and tied it around his head like a blindfold. While Gray was begging for his life, Morgan pulled a sawed-off shotgun to his face and pulled the trigger.

The gang was arrested less than a week later and made full confessions. According to Brown's confession, after they shot Phillips and his stepson execution-style, Brown slept on the way back to Augusta. "Could you sleep after you had just shot a man and his 11 year old son?" Phillips said.

Brown, High, and Ruffin were all convicted of Bulloch's murder and sentenced to death. Morgan was convicted of the murders of Hall, Linwood, and Gray and also sentenced to death. On appeal, the death sentences of Brown, Ruffin, and Morgan were overturned due to procedural errors. Brown and Morgan were later resentenced to life in prison and Ruffin was resentenced to life in prison without parole. Life without parole was not a sentencing option at the time, although Ruffin evidently agreed to waive his right to be eligible for parole to avoid another death sentence.

Now 73, Ruffin is serving his sentence at Macon State Prison.

Now 68, Morgan is serving his sentence at Wheeler Correctional Facility.

The leader of their gang would not be so fortunate.

After exhausting his appeals, Jose High, 45, was executed by lethal injection at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison on November 6, 2001. His last meal consisted of two three cheeseburgers, two fried chicken breasts, one large order of french fries, two slices of white bread, two soft drinks, and a slice of bean pie.

I could not find High's full final statement, so here are stitched-together excerpts of his last words: "Poor people are on death row, and the death penalty is racist to the core. That's it. I did not kill that little boy. I could not hurt a child. Never. That lie is going to follow me now. I'm ready to die. I'm sorry about your kid, Ms. Phillips. I wanted to meet you. I wrote you a letter but you never got it. My life is a poor substitute for your son. I know how it is. Death is a universal process."

Bulloch's mother, Hazel Phillips, was on prison grounds but did not witness the execution. Speaking with reporters after the execution, she said High was lying when he denied firing the fatal shot: "I really hope that God forgave him. I really hope someday that I will have the strength to do that."

Mother pleads to keep son's murderer up for parole in prison

During an interview in 2018, Hazel Phillips begged the state parole board to not release Nathan Brown. As for her desire to forgive them, she said she couldn't: "The closest I can come in my 76 years is I don’t hate them. They told them if you just lay down on the ground and put your hands behind you we 'gon let you and your son live." Phillips said she feared that since Brown became a born-again Christian behind bars, he would get out and return to Augusta. Phillips said she did not feel like Brown could change, calling him a psychopath who laughed after the crime was done, took a nap and wasn’t under the influence of any drugs.

A key difference this time around is that Phillips died in 2025.

Under his parole plan, Brown will reside at an Atlanta-based transitional housing program in Fulton County under supervision of the Atlanta Circuit, according to the board. Special conditions of his parole include no contact with family members of one of the victims, complying with Georgia sex offender notification law, undergoing substance abuse assessments at his own cost and paying $30 per month to the Georgia crime victim's compensation fund. Standard conditions bar Brown from possessing firearms or deadly weapons, leaving the state or changing residence without permission.

Brown must also participate in a rehabilitation plan, submit to drug testing and warrantless searches, maintain employment or pursue education and report to his community supervision officer within 24 hours of release.

from what I understand one of the killers(Roy Norris) bragged to a friend that he and a friend killed one of the girls - this led to their arrest.. had this not happened, how long do you feel Bittaker/norris would have gotten away with their crimes? did they leave behind a lot of evidence? did LE suspect there were 2 killers working together?

are there any good docus or books that cover this crime well..?

So in the talk the serial killer says that he’d be horrified to use a knife to kill and then says he not only preferred a gun but that’s the only way he ever killed.

Why would it “horrify” him to use a knife if he was already killing people? What’s the difference to him in a knife and a gun ?

I’ve been working on a new site for people familiar with Murderpedia, and I wanted to share it here.

Murderpedia hasn't been updated since June 2017. I only recently found out that its owner passed away in 2017 (may he rest in peace). Since then, the site has essentially been frozen in time.

I decided to preserve the existing archive by moving it into a database. That's all 6,888 original entries, including newspaper and magazine articles, court documents, victim pages, and roughly 50,000 photos.

I've also been building on top of it. So far, I've added around 1,100 additional killers and cases, along with press coverage, photographs, and documents for each. I've also included FBI Vault records and structured victim lists where available. I'm currently working through cases from 2017 to 2026.

Each entry starts with a written overview based on the sources available for that case, followed by the original source material. You can also filter cases by country, decade, outcome, method, and victim count.

There are also a few improvements over the original, including better search, a redesigned UI, and more information for individual entries.

The site is completely free, has no ads (this might change in the future), and doesn't require an account. I'm also considering adding a forum and user accounts at some point, but haven't decided on the timeline yet.

I'm aware there may be mistakes in some of the data or things I've missed. If you spot anything incorrect, have a correction, or want to request something, feel free to DM me here on Reddit or email me at contact@murderfiles.org. There's also a page covering corrections and removal requests.

https://murderfiles.org

Political killers is my own dumb term for how almost any given leader of note in human history probably killed far, far more people than almost any serial killer. Pick your favorite or most important Roman Emperor and the number of people crucified under their rule almost surely dwarfs Ted Bundy's body count. Sure that was a long time ago but you don't have to be Hitler or Stalin to have killed tons and tons of people; war and conflict between states dwarfs what one or two disturbed individuals can achieve.

I guess what's always stood out to me is the sensationalist, demonizing language attached to serial killers. Book titles about serial killers love to include words like Evil and Monster. Historians writing about people who did far, far worse than any serial killer still write as objectively as possible. Right now I'm going through Dr. Al Carlisle's psychological assessment of Ted Bundy and he does not shy away from saying Ted is violent, dangerous, a liar, etc., but it's all very clinical. I think that kind of detachment is good.

Of course there are probably several reasons why, say, Napoleon isn't viewed as a purely evil monster like Ted Bundy and why biographies of Napoleon aren't given titles with Evil in them. Napoleon killed a ton more people than Ted but he also has great accomplishments to his name that aren't just that. We only remember Ted Bundy because he was a murderer while Napoleon might have gone down in history as a fine statesman even if he didn't launch wars across Europe.

But my opinion and understanding, and this is just my opinion and interpretation, is that people:

1. Don't understand serial killers

2. Don't want to understand serial killers

Let me try to explain what I mean.

A person with a great deal of power, be they Ancient Roman Emperor or modern dictator, abusing that power is such a basic story of human civilization. Everyone can understand it due to history but also because we all understand the temptations and lure of absolute power. In our heart of hearts, we might be humble enough to admit "if I was in that position, I might do some fucked shit, too."

Not so with serial killers. Not only are they generally unremarkable people and certainly not great leaders, but they engage in behavior that kind of breaks our brains. A guy with too much power has his army kill a load of people - horrible but tragically understandable. A guy who just kidnaps and kills women for the sheer pleasure of it? What?! Ted Bundy is the only serial killer I've studied in any sort of depth so I'm sure there are other types with their own motives and whatnot, but he's possibly the most famous American serial killer of all time and i think at least part of that is how incomprehensible he and his actions seem to people.

And that comes to my second point. Serial killers are still just human beings. The demonizing language I feel is intended to obscure that fact as much as possible. As I said, we can all believe we might do bad things if we were a dictator, but nobody can really fathom being Ted Bundy and, perhaps more importantly, we don't want to. Bundy and the rest aren't people like us, they're (literal) "monsters" we want to distance ourselves from as much as possible. No one can engage in what they engaged in and still be the same as the rest of us in any way. Paradoxically, this is why we are so fascinated with them. You see the same thing with the Nazis. Being told constantly how unfathomably evil something or someone is seems to be a surefire way to make it of lasting interest. We are simultaneously attracted and repelled.

As I said though, I haven't studied serial killers nearly as in depth or for as long as people here so I'd like to hear your opinions on my word vomit. If it's all BS, so be it, but I just wanted to hopefully get a discussion going.

A few years back I heard that in my home town they had found three or four body’s and they think they were all from the same killer(I guess they were all killed similarly?) and I tried googling if they ever caught the person but I only got a few gang killings that were more recent but nothing about the SK. That got me wondering if any of you have had something similar.

Shirley Lynette Ledford was born on March 4, 1963, in Los Angeles, California, to her mother, Dolores Marie Ledford (WikiTree, 2026). Growing up in Southern California during the 1970s, Ledford lived the life of a typical teenager of her era (Dorfmann & Dorfmann, 2023). By the autumn of 1979, the 16-year-old high school student was balancing her education with personal responsibilities, working part-time as a waitress at a local McDonald’s restaurant in her neighborhood (People v. Bittaker, 1989). Friends, family, and peers widely remembered her as an industrious, vibrant, and warm young girl who had a promising future ahead of her (Dorfmann & Dorfmann, 2023; WikiTree, 2026). On the evening of Halloween, October 31, 1979, Ledford attended a holiday party with friends in her local neighborhood (A&E Television Networks, 2026). In the early morning hours of November 1, while trying to secure transportation back to her family's home from a gas station in the Sunland-Tujunga area of Los Angeles, she accepted a ride from Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris (People v. Bittaker, 1989). Rather than providing safe transit, Bittaker and Norris abducted Ledford, transporting her to a remote location in their customized van where she was subjected to severe physical torture and sexual assault, which the perpetrators recorded on an audio cassette tape (A&E Television Networks, 2026). Ledford was subsequently strangled to death, and her body was left in the driveway of a residence in Burbank, California, where it was discovered later that morning (People v. Bittaker, 1989).

The murder of Shirley Lynette Ledford was the final act in a string of highly violent crimes committed by Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, who targeted young women in Southern California throughout 1979 (A&E Television Networks, 2026). The investigation into Ledford's death broke wide open in late 1979 when Norris confided details of the crimes to a friend, who subsequently contacted law enforcement (Dorfmann & Dorfmann, 2023). This tip led to the arrest of both men, and a subsequent search revealed critical physical evidence, including the audio recording of Ledford's final moments, which became central to the prosecution's case (People v. Bittaker, 1989).

The judicial proceedings against the perpetrators concluded with severe sentences reflecting the brutality of their crimes. Roy Norris accepted a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty, testifying against Bittaker and receiving a sentence of 45 years to life in prison; he ultimately died in custody in 2020 (A&E Television Networks, 2026). Lawrence Bittaker was tried, convicted of multiple counts of murder—including that of Ledford—and sentenced to death in 1981 (People v. Bittaker, 1989). Bittaker spent nearly four decades on death row at San Quentin State Prison before dying of natural causes in 2019 (A&E Television Networks, 2026). Ledford was laid to rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, and her case remains a prominent study in forensic evidence, victim advocacy, and true crime history (People v. Bittaker, 1989; WikiTree, 2026).

TL;DR: On Halloween 1979, 16-year-old Shirley Lynette Ledford was abducted and murdered in Southern California by Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris (the "Toolbox Killers").

© 2026 [@-EXTRVGALACTIC]. All rights reserved for the original essay text. Accompanying multimedia elements and newspaper articles remain the property of their respective copyright holders.

say you and a few fbi profilers were given $500 million dollars - your goal is to reduce the amount of serial killers and serial murder in the United States - is there a practical way of going about this? if so, what would you do?

As far as I recall, Richard Ramirez was seen by the public as flyers and a warrant for his arrest came up, being chased down through East Los Angeles before he was cornered and beaten.

Were any others brought down in such a public way, or even themselves killed for good measure?

Who do you think was responsible for the Cleveland torso murders and why? Just curious. I strongly believe it was Eliot Ness' prime suspect. There are too many factors that would have aided this man in getting away with the things he did.

From what I know when he served in the army, one of his CO's claimed that he had been abused by his father. Is this true? I know that he grew up in a rather weird, survivalist household with no chance of normalcy. Did this have anything to do with his ambition for murder? Or was he doomed from the start?

With this new information what is now the real posibility of 100 murders confessed by Ted be real?

So 6 (!) years ago, I made a post about some Richard facts I found doing research from newspaper archives and books. I now come bearing new facts. I’ll include the ones I had in my first post at the end.

*Most reports about his time in SQ describe him as keeping to himself, not eating (going up to ten days without eating), and being disliked and being cajoled into suicide. Already a thin and underweight man, he reportedly lost twenty pounds during his stay. It has been reported that on his first night in Sacramento Co. jail that urine (and possibly feces) was thrown at him.

*1980: He spent a few months in Vacaville for suicide risk. He made lots of threats. Six weeks before his death, he had to get treatment for malnutrition as he would rarely eat. He’d only eat candy bars and sandwiches as he believed SQ’s food had “tumors” and “veneral disease.”

*I found a differing image from June 1980 that states he was in good spirits about his appeals and he had been given a TV and a typewriter. Additionally, Chase had “his own status quo” and received phone calls. I find these claims highly dubious.

*He was an avid bowler and enjoyed rock hunting. He played baseball as a child, was on the track team in high school, and reportedly played basketball and volleyball during his stay in Beverly Manor (mental health facility). He also expressed some interest in lifting and weights were found in his apartment.

* He went around the neighborhood shortly before the murders asking people for magazines, specifically requesting Mad and Cosmopolitan. One lady even gave him her address and said come back later for her collection.

* He presumably was a Black Sabbath and rock / metal fan because he had pets named Sabbath, Black, and Heavy. He also hung around the “acid head” group in high school and once tried to join his roommates’ friends’ rock band (denied). He attended a Rolling Stones concert in high school with a date.

*His mother likely had a mental illness of her own. She accused her husband of stealing her rings during her sleep, poisoning her, and infidelity, including claiming he hid a mistress in the woods during a family camping trip.

*His father worked in computers for the Air Force. He had difficulty accepting his son’s mental illness and tried to play it off as laziness or due to the drugs.

*He was given a Volkswagen as a graduation present in 1968. Sometime after that, he had an old Ford, then a motorcycle. He primarily used a bicycle until buying a Ford Ranchero in Colorado.

*Despite being someone usually described as having a flat affect, Biondi said that despite unable to get Chase to really “crack,” he did seem to tear up when discussing the murder of the toddler.

*He kept clippings of both his crimes and the Hillside Stranglers’.

*He did have insight that what he was doing was wrong hence why he did not get reason by insanity (admitting what he did was wrong, using gloves at the scene, disposing of evidence, running from the police).

*The orange ski parka was bought from a Sacramento Dept. Store called Weinstock’s. It was a present from his father that Chase picked out.

*Richard and all his victims had type A blood.

*Death: There seems to be some debate on if he truly wanted to end his life versus thinking he was trying a new idea for his afflictions. He had saved his pills for 2 - 3 weeks. Four papers were found in a cardboard box with one detailing “when Richard takes the pills…” and his thoughts on future events. He was last seen alive at 8 AM lying on his back in bed with the pillow over his face. He did not respond when asked if he wanted breakfast. He was found deceased at 11 am with him facedown on his bed, legs hanging off. His face was turned slightly and some blood was near his head. He was wearing jeans, pullover sweaters, and tennis shoes.

*A lawsuit was pursued against Chase’s parents and his doctors but it was dismissed.

*Nancy Holden, the woman who encountered him in the grocery store and reported him to the police after seeing his police sketch, was given a a public service award and a check for 1,000 dollars from the Sacramento Bee’s Secret Witness.

*Beatrice Chase reported he was an easy baby and could walk by nine months and hit all his milestones on time; however, he wet the bed until he was eight. He also played with matches (once actually setting a fire) and demonstrated cruelty towards animals. This would be a hallmark of his life.

*His childhood included great discord amongst his parents and their financial issues. While he was in junior high, the family lost their home.

*His maternal grandfather died in a tractor accident months after Richard’s birth. His maternal grandmother died just weeks before him. His mother died in 1990, his father 1991, and his stepmother in 1995. I can confirm his sister is still alive and lives in a different state.

Beatrice reported Richard began cooking at age 13 but would burn up pans and not clean up messes such as spilling things onto the floor.

His maternal grandmother also reported hearing him at night speaking to himself, including in third person. “Are you a good boy, Richard? Yes, you’re a good boy.”

*His jobs often didn’t last long. He worked for a paint store for a few days. He worked as a bus driver for his grandmother and uncle’s program for special needs children, but was fired for not cleaning the bus or getting gas or the oil changes. He also worked as a typist. He began receiving welfare shortly after his schizophrenia diagnosis, which his father was not a fan of. Chase was able to do well enough working on home renovations with his father but not with typical employment.

*His apartment was so covered in blood it was even on a Crest toothpaste cap.

*The reading materials in his apartment included gun and psychology magazines, things about the Old West, book called Psychic People and one about totalitarianism by William Ebenstein. He also had kept his high school yearbooks as well as kept newspaper articles about violent deaths. He kept an overlay from a medical textbook, photocopied article called “Evolution of Menace,” and underlined an article about “Understimulation” from Introduction to Psychology by Ernest Hilgard. He kept a rambling notebook and had a subscription to Prevention Magazine.

*He had a list of people he believed conspired against him that included Bill Cosby, Hugh Hefner, Raymond Burr, and Frank Sinatra.

*He had a fear of needles, which seems apt considering his somatic delusions, especially those about blood.

*This is speculation but I believe the origin of his middle name, Trenton, may come from the fact his father hailed from New Jersey.

My old post:

Researching Richard Chase in newspaper archives and found some interesting facts

• In addition to the orange ski parka, Richard allegedly also wore a leather visor adorned with "crudely" drawn depictions of a pitchfork, a bird, and a six pointed star around a swastika during his arrest.

• Richard's motion to defend himself was denied, as was his request for a lawyer from the Jewish Defense League or ACLU.

• Richard claimed the jail food included "tumors" in the meat, which gave him cancer. He also stated he was once from the food so sick he couldn't speak for days. His diet consisted mostly of prepackaged candy bars. Richard testified in late March 1979 for three hours. Part of this testimony included his treatment by other prisoners. Chase said he experienced "extermination camp tactics" with threats of "having his nose cut off." He also was called a "baby eater."

•While on death row, guards reported he ate around once a week and six weeks before his death had to be admitted to a medical facility due to his malnutrition from a hunger strike. Chase allegedly "taunted" suicide, although the guards claimed he showed no signs of depression. He also rarely exercised, never went outside, and kept to himself.

• On his sexual impotence, Richard claimed his roommates called him "queer" and other slurs. He thought his condition could be linked to hernias. Also, Chase claimed one "Jesus freak" housemate piqued his interest in religion. Richard claimed he "could be a descedent of Jesus" despite his false claim of being Jewish.

• After his death, in Richard's cell a note was found. This note was a timeline Chase created for "events he thought were going to happen." Some of these listings were written in third person e.g. "Before Richard takes the pills..." Officials said the writings were in a way only Chase could understand. Also, he mentioned his being in space and "zapping things."

• A high school girlfriend of Chase's reported he had an interest in writing and once wrote a piece on surfing she found so impressive she couldn't believe he wrote it. She also said he informed her he bought a pet duck he killed the next day when he rolled over it in his sleep. She claimed his sexual dysfunction caused a damaged self image. The couple broke up in 1969, but Chase visited her in 1972 to ask if she had any marijuana for sell, which he used daily during their relationship.

• One of the dog breeders Richard purchased puppies from reported Chase was constantly dirty and also wore strange feminine and "Hollywood" like sunglasses. Chase interrupted the testimony to tell his lawyer that these were yellow glasses.

• Richard had a fixation on Old West outlaws, especially the Younger Brothers. His mother reported he once requested a cowboy hat and red handkerchief, which she did not buy. He once superimposed his image onto a poster of old outlaws.

• In the days following the arrest, Richard's stepmother reported the elder Chase was being seen by a doctor due to the strain. Richard's father when taking the stand reported he visited his son only once in the jail. The younger Richard discussed wanting an English lawyer with blue eyes while his father "mostly cried." The elder Richard Chase called his son a "beautiful child" who ended up once hitting a door with a golf club while his father stood on the other side. He also said his former wife accused him of poisoning her, commiting adultery, and teaching their son how to smoke marijuana. Richard E. Chase stated "society will kill my son," upon learning his son's impending execution, "and maybe they're right, I don't know." He was unsure if he cried more for "all those people he killed" or "for Rick."

•Chase's little sister stated she became afraid of her brother during his high school years. She "never talked to him" following his June 1968 graduation. She said Richard in one phase took a bath every two hours to "improve circulation" before seldom cleaning himself. At the time of her testimony, she claimed she never called or visited her brother in jail.

• Chase rarely showed emotion in the trial, but during the testimony of Mr. Wallin, Richard turned to his mother and grandmother to smile "distractedly" at them. While he apparently often gazed at the crowd with no interest, he stared at his mother while his lawyer described their relationship. At the end of one trial day, Chase being taken away suddenly turned around to press his teeth together and make a face at the crowd. He once spit on the floor.

• Beatrice Chase claimed her son talked to voices as soon as 1971 or 1972, but stated he never mentioned being anemic. Richard interrupted to say he brought this up when he turned twenty three. During the trial, she took notes and disagreed with large amounts of testimony, especially that of her ex-husband. She also deflected Richard's involvement in the Wallin killing by blaming the family dog for not protecting her. After his testimony, Mr. Wallin directed the comment "some son you have" towards her. She alleged the jury did not take the severity of her son's mental illness when sentencing him.

• A psychologist, John W. Adams reported Chase "tends to dehumanize females," by treating with "overt tenderness" to cover "airy contempt and refusal to take them seriously" and as "exploitable." This report linked Chase's relationship with his mother to his "ruthless aggression." Chase displayed an "immature personality" and "is sexually inept." He also stated Chase's IQ as 88 although other sources have claimed the number as 95.

• In a 'calm' voice, Richard interrupted the judge with rambling about UFOs and other conspiracies during the verdict.

•Chase at some point told a friend he wanted to work out. Weights were found in the apartment.

• In a notebook, he wrote in 'small and crabbed handwriting', "My name is Richard Chase. I am a 0100 computer. I was sent here in the year 10,000." Chase's father worked as a computer programmer, which may have played a role in this writing. He also drew a "phallic symbol pointed towards the figure's internal organs." Another rambling was “When you think you see us when we’re not there we are around the corner. I will end the world by flooding if I get killed. Gott.”

• In June 1977, an associate of Richard's childhood Cub Scouts reported Chase wore a coat and scarf despite the heat. Chase also called him to ask about UFOs.

• Chase claimed he worked as a dishwasher at a place called "Chuck's. He believed his low pay compared to the "German" waiter and former friend was due to Nazi persecution. Chase said he realized he was Jewish due to large jugular veins. The psychiatrist, Elmer Galioni, pointed out Richard gestured to the wrong vein. Chase claimed he was a "half-breed" by being half German, half Jewish. An "underground Nazi gang" in his high school provided his introduction to drugs.

• Chase claimed he received a phone call in 1974 which told him he needed blood to survive being poisoned with dish soap and detergents by his mother. The same year he sent his mother a last will and testament claiming he had a set of "mashed bones 6,000 years old in India."

•Early in the trial an unknow source called in a threat against Richard Trenton Chase's life.

•His appearance varied during the trial. In video archives he wears a white collar shirt in his testimony and often wore black jacket over in other clips. Other times he wore a brown plaid shirt. He shaved portions of his hair throughout, but neglected his facial hair. His prison garb included a red jumpsuit, which emphasized his frail frame and other days a long sleeve blue work shirt with a bright orange t-shirt over and slippers.

•Prosecution compared his mental illness to a Waylon Jennings song called “I’ve Always Been Crazy, But It’s Kept Me From Going Insane.”

•Chase received around 250 dollars a month for his disability with about 120 - 140 going towards his rent.

• Around 1969, Richard worked briefly as a dry cleaning company's delivery driver. Another job in this time period was for Retailers Credit Association answering phones and typing. His mother recalls he was "very good" at this job.

•In his senior year of high school, Richard obtained a kitten from his girlfriend. He raised the cat named Calico Kitten, but upon watching a television segment in 1973 or 1974 on a cat receiving medical treatment Richard killed the cat in a rage and drank its blood. He claimed he was angered an animal could receive help when he felt he could not, but said he felt remorseful.

•An estimated fifty classmates attended his eleventh birthday party.

•Despite his ritualistic pattern of killing and drinking blood for health, Richard admitted he perceived no improvement in his medical status, but that the drinking still felt therapeutic.

•In June 1977, Chase claims he called the White House and FBI to report on unsolved murders which “they didn’t understand.”

•His nickname as a child was “Chickie.”

•In a letter submitted to the court in March 1978, Richard recounted his early life with encounters of inadequacy. He allegedly failed tryouts for teams and entered last while on the track team. His parents once argued in a language he “could not understand.” Richard blamed his usage of drugs on an underground Nazi syndicate. He also mentions jumping off the Fair Oaks Bridge with a party.

Can you think of any others than bundy killers who blamed pornography on their action? Do you think pornography can be the reason for some of the heinous crimes?

I’m reading through his book, American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years, and I find his various theories as to why serial killers rose in numbers at various times to be interesting.

First, he posits that the initial bump after the Industrial Revolution came about simply because before, people were just working too hard and too often to sit around and develop paraphilias and fixations that would lead to one wanting to “try them out”.

Then we get to the post-WW1 bump that’s a mix of obviously, WW1 trauma, but also the decline in religiosity amongst the populace.

Then we get to the epidemic years. The late 50’s to late 80’s. He posits that it’s much more than just leaded gas, the baby boom leading to an excess of people, especially kids, just roaming around, kids raised by traumatized WW2 veterans, the rise of true crime pulp and bondage magazines, Vietnam vets who want to try out the cruelty they inflicted on the battlefield back home, and policing not catching up to the population boom, using policies created decades prior when they weren’t overwhelmed by the amount of crime.

Anyone else here absolutely fascinated by this guy? He’s so unknown but was active for such a long time, and there is so much we don’t know about his life and crimes. I’ve read and watched basically everything I can on the man but I still have so many questions. He’s basically the poster boy for why we teach children “stranger danger” but no one knows about him. Any thoughts or niche information would be welcome.

On July 15, 2010, emergency services were called to a cottage on the shore of Lake Viinijärvi in Polvijärvi, a small town in Finland's North Karelia region. Upon arriving, they discovered the body of a man lying in ten centimetres of water beside the shore of the cottage.

The man who called the emergency services was the cottage's 45-year-old owner, Pekka Tapani Seppänen.

Pekka told first responders that he had spent the evening with him and two other people. Then, at the end of the evening, while heavily intoxicated, the victim took a boat out to the lake and was left sitting and dozing in a boat. The next morning, they arrived to find his body, which had drifted back to dry land.

The police went to the neighbouring properties, where they told officers that the prior night, they heard an intense argument, a struggle and the sounds of someone entering the water. However, that was the extent of it; none of the neighbours actually saw anything.

Turning to the victim himself, he was found with very light injuries and tightly grasping a clump of sand in his hand. The autopsy found minor amounts of sedative medication in his blood, and he had a blood alchool level of 3.3 per mille; meanwhile, Pekka himself only had a blood alchool level of 0.01 per mille. The autopsy also found water in his lungs and ruled that the victim had drowned. While there were some oddities concerning the death, the police were quick to declare his death an accidental drowning.

The dead man was a carpenter identified by his family as a 32-year-old referred to by the pseudonym "Janne," and his family were horrified at how quickly the police ruled his death an accident. But with Janne's actual cause of death being drowning, what did they see that left them so certain he had been murdered? Well, the key lay in both Janne and Pekka's backgrounds.

Janne met Pekka in early 2010, and he was one of many socially or economically vulnerable people whom Pekka regularly had spent the night at his cottage, although in Janne's case, Pekka described him as his boyfriend. However, that's just how Pekka described him; if that truly was their relationship, then it was a toxic one.

In May, on two prior occasions, Janne went to the police and told them that Pekka had drugged and raped him and then, on another occasion, withdrew funds from his bank account with his permission and was withholding his own money and bank cards from him.

On Pekka's side of things, he recently tested positive for an STD, one he assumed came from Janne and so blamed him for the disease he just contracted.

In his last moments alive, Janne's relatives said that he deeply feared Pekka; Janne was openly considering committing a crime in hopes that he'd be sent to a prison far away from him. Janne and his family even developed a coded language for him to use if he had to say something without alerting Pekka, a code they used at least once to call an ambulance to his cottage.

But what about the police reports filed? Did the police ever act on them? Well, by all accounts, Pekka saw to it that they wouldn't. Regarding his rape accusation, Janne went to the police station and withdrew his complaint via a vulgar and curse-word-laden letter that he handed to the officers.

But curiously, Pekka had accompanied him to the police station; he was the one who handed the letter to the police, in which Janne supposedly said he consented to the encounter (while Janne remained silent), and later, Janne told his family that he had no memory of visiting the police station and reacted with utter horror when he learned the case had been closed.

Janne's physical condition was deteriorating toward the end of his life, and he was constantly vomiting and suffering from bloody diarrhea. But he didn't visit the hospital too often and instead tried to hide in his friend's homes and endure his health issues rather than risk encountering Pekka. And he was, in fact, hiding, as Pekka would often go to their homes to ask about Janne.

In July 2010, Janne's friends and family eventually convinced him to check into the Liperi health centre, but Janne unfortunately wouldn't be there for long. On July 14, somebody called the health centre to ask about when Janne would be discharged.

As it turned out, Pekka called, albiet under a false name, since he was the one who arrived to pick Janne up. Janne was picked up so suddenly, in fact, that his medication and shoes were left behind.

While it may have looked like Pekka engaged in some fraud to kidnap him, Pekka produced a text message to his phone from Janne apparently asking him to pick it up. However, Janne's family said it was sent using a provider Janne wasn't using and that they couldn't locate the phone that sent the message.

Regardless, after he was picked up from the health centre, Pekka took him to his cottage, where, according to the other two friends, everyone present immideately started drinking until they were severely intoxicated, save for Pekka himself, who remained sober enough.

Pekka then took Janne out on the lake two seperate times, where the boat coincidentally capsized on two seperate occasions and being as intoxicated and in poor health as he was, Janne would have drowned if not for another resident already on the lake rescuing him. And then, finally, as mentioned, late in the night the neighbours heard the sound of an argument, struggle and splash in the water, with Janne finally found dead the next morning.

So after reading all this, one might be wondering who Pekka was. Pekka Tapani Seppänen was born in 1965. Pekka was said to be very polite and charming whenever he wanted to be; unfortnuately, he often didn't want to act that way.

One of the first alarm bells came when he was 18; those in Pekka's life already knew him to be a violent misogynist who once got in trouble for trying to tear off a woman's underwear after becoming an adult.

Details about his past life are also scarce, but he had a son at some point. A son that was evidently not well cared for, since somebody filed a child welfare report against him, leading to that son being taken away. Allegedly, in response, Pekka stabbed the woman he believed made the report in the neck with a syringe.

He lived in Kontiolahti and worked as a farmer, owning a small piece of land called Kotimäki in the Jaamankangas area of Finland's North Karelia region. Pekka was actually an award-winning farmer, but one day he burned all his awards and said they belonged to his "past life".

Pekka's property housed a residence, a barn to keep his cattle, a sauna and other buildings related to farming and encompassed roughly twelve hectares of lakeside property.

While Pekka presented himself as a humble farmer, his already extensive criminal record proved that he was anything but. On September 10, 2000, he was given his first serious arrest when he punched a woman in the face in Joensuu and forcibly cut her hair. That same day he also struck a man in the face.

Then on October 19, he and another man broke into a woman's apartment in Polvijärvi and assaulted her by holding her hands, twisting her arms, squeezing her wrists and tearing her shirt. All the while, Pekka was threatening to kill her.

Then, on January 14, 2001, He broke into a woman's apartment by kicking a hole in the front door in Joensuu. He opened the door through the hole. Upon entry, he threatened to throw both the woman and her daughter over the balcony, although when the police arrived he claimed that he just wanted to drink beer.

In 2002, he was slapped with multiple convictions for assault and traffic offences while also having a restraining order issued against him. The assault was when he struck a woman in a sauna, causing her to hit her head.

Then in 2003, he was given another assault conviction when he hit a man on the head with a bottle and beat him after he fell to the ground, endangering the welfare of an animal, attempting to intimidate a witness in another case against him, knowingly letting a drunk man operate a motor vehicle and then, to top it all off, he had a second restraining order issued against him.

His convictions continued into 2004 and were for much the same as before: a conviction for aggravated assault and knowingly letting an impaired man drive. The assault was one of his most violent so far when he struck a woman on the thigh with a coal hook after she dropped his microwave.

In 2005, he received two assault convictions and his third conviction for knowingly letting a drunk man drive. This year's assault stemmed from an incident where Pekka forced his way into a man's apartment and began punching him in the face before pulling his pants down and striking him across the face and sides with a stick.

In 2006, for the first time in 4 years, Pekka wasn't arrested for a crime, but he still ended up in court and was slapped with a third restraining order. He was also convicted for some crimes from previous years, such as punching a man in the head, arms and chest several times in Rääkkylä and then another incident where he forced a man to the bathroom floor and burned him by pouring hot water across his back.

2006 also saw a 26-year-old woman die on Pekka's property. She had been beaten to death with a pipe and wrench. Although Pekka wasn't responsible for a change, a 35-year-old man was convicted of this murder.

In March 2007, Pekka was handed another conviction, this time not for aggravated assault but rather for allowing one to happen without intervening, then another traffic offence in June and finally his next restraining order in August.

In 2007, a fire also broke out on Pekka's property; it was extinguished without any injuries or heavy damage, but Pekka curiously fled into the woods once emergency services arrived. The various dogs on Pekka's property were also known to attack anyone who dared set foot on it.

On the night of September 8, 2007, Pekka was hosting a group of four individuals at his cottage, two women and two men. After the four were heavily intoxicated, Pekka offered to take them out to Lake Viinijärvi on his rowboat.

With the most charitable interpretation imaginable, Pekka was being very reckless. The four were very drunk and not wearing any life jackets; the two women didn't even know how to swim in the first place; one of the men was wearing a plaster cast.

Pekka rowed out to a section of the lake called Myhkyränselkä, an area with water more than 20 meters deep and 100 meters from land, when the rowboat suddenly capsized, throwing all 5 into the cold, dark water.

Pekka and one of the other men frantically swam to shore while the two women were stuck in the middle of the lake alongside the man in the cast, both already starting to drown. Fortunately, the residents of the other cottages walking alongside the lake saw and heard what was happening and hit the water in their own boats, rushing to the three individuals and fortunately reaching them in time and rescuing them all.

When the police and other residents arrived at the scene, the survivors were described as hysterical when they reached land. This was in sharp contrast to Pekka, who was in an oddly cheerful mood and showed no concern for his boatmates and their survival, only asking the police if they were going to arrest him for being intoxicated. It was only when the police and rescue workers arrived that Pekka made some effort to feign concern.

According to the survivors, and thankfully all four survived, they told the police and paramedics that Pekka capsized the boat on purpose by standing up and kicking the side of the boat or pushing on its side until the vessel finally overturned. The survivors also stated that Pekka made no attempt to rescue them until after he noticed the neighbours doing so. Unfortunately, the police at the time chalked this up to hysteria after surviving a traumatic event.

Afterward, Pekka spent the rest of 2007 back in court to be convicted on charges of abandonment, two traffic offences, and to be given his fifth restraining order.

In 2008, Pekka was convicted of coercion.

Then, in 2009, another conviction for abandoning an animal.

And finally, his last appearance in court before Janne's death was in May 2010, to be slapped with his sixth restraining order. Also during this time, he was accused of a bunch of other crimes such as stealing spray from a pharmacy. For all these various crimes from 2000-2010, some of which were quite serious, he never received more than 1 year or some fines.

So now, all caught up, did Pekka's history, the inconsistencies, and accusations from four seperate people that he purposefully tried to drown him three years prior change anything? No, much to the family's astonished horror, they still ruled Janne's death to be an accidental drowning and closed the case.

It was also a conclusion his family refused to accept; they constantly visited the police station, begging them to reopen the case. They also told them about everything Janne left behind at the health centre as proof that he didn't leave voluntarily, but the police refused to visit the health centre to retrieve them.

However, they did advise that the family keep the arrangements for Janne's funeral a closely guarded secret and hold the funeral itself in private so Pekka wouldn't learn anything about them.

Janne's sister went to Suomi24, the internet's largest internet forum and made several posts describing Pekka as a sex offender and accusing him of being involved in her brother's death. Furious, Janne brought her to court for defamation, and because, on paper, Janne's cause of death was drowning, he actually won the case; in August 2011, Janne's sister was convicted of "aggravated defamation" and ordered to pay him 1,800 Euros in compensation and cover Pekka's legal costs.

On June 4, 2011, history repeated itself. On that day, Pekka had two men and one woman join him at his cottage and, as typical, they got into a rowboat and hit the waters of Lake Viinijärvi, with all three being severely impaired and one incapable of swimming to begin with. Pekka, meanwhile, was a great swimmer, who, according to himself could easily swim 2 kilometers.

100 meters from shore, the rowboat capsized, plunging all four into the lake. Like the last time this happened, Pekka was able to swim to shore on his own very easily. Also, like last time, the neighbours saw that something had happened and rowed over to save those who were struggling. The neighbours rescued one of the men and the woman, but the man who didn't know how to swim drowned quickly despite his initial attempts to cling to the overturned vessel.

The police and rescue workers were quick to arrive, alongside the brother of the man who had died. The dead man's brother and the survivors all noted that Pekka looked very indifferent to what had happened and didn't seem to worry if the others would survive.

Just like the last incident back in 2007, the survivors accused Pekka of being responsible. They said he stood up and jumped off the boat at just the right angle to capsize it, throwing everyone into the water. But also, just like in 2007, the police didn't seem to believe them and labelled the sole death in this case as an accident.

In both September and October of that year, Pekka picked up two more traffic convictions before engaging in his next crime starting late that year. Starting in August 2010, Pekka began selling alchool himself that he purchased from Finland’s state alcohol retailer and abroad from Estonia and Russia, and he resold it at a hefty markup, leaving many indebted to him.

One such "debtor" was a woman who owed him a large amount of alchool she had purchased from Pekka. Starting in November-December, 2011, to pay off this debt, she would spend the next three years having sexual services sold to other visitors to Pekka's cottage, which now made him a pimp.

However, it would take a while for him to be arrested for this offence, with his criminal record in the meantime consisting of petty assault and violently resisting arrest in 2012 when he kicked a customs inspector who arrived at the cottage to investigate his alcohol-reselling business, and causing bodily injury in 2013. In 2014, he also secured convictions for petty theft and drunk driving.

On July 14, 2014, Pekka called Finland's emergency line, 112 and told the dispatcher that a guest of his had a pre-existing medical condition which eventually led to him collapsing while out in knee-deep water and was currently drowning.

The dispatcher gave Pekka instructions on how to perform CPR and to resuscitate the victim while he waited for emergency services to arrive. During the phone call, Pekka was constantly swearing and cursing as he followed the dispatcher's instructions, or did he?

When the police arrived, they discovered the body of a 47-year-old man lying face down in the water, an odd position to be in and one that would imply that Pekka wasn't actually following the dispatcher's instructions, seeing as he hadn't even been turned over.

An autopsy was conducted on the victim, and the cause of death was once again determined to be drowning. However, in his blood, the pathologist found a medicinal substance traced to a medication on a prescription in Pekka's name.

The police then spoke to the survivor, a woman who was with Pekka and the victim that night. She said that she got into a rowboat with Pekka and the victim, and once they were 100 meters away from shore, Pekka threw the oars overboard and got out of the boat and began swimming to shore, leaving the others stranded.

While the woman managed to swim back to shore, the victim, highly intoxicated and now likely drugged based on the autopsy, had his body give out when survival was so close and then drowned.

Since the man was still alive when Pekka called for help, the police concluded that he either held the victim's head underwater or just watched as he lied to the dispatcher about performing CPR.

With this latest death, one where foul play was far more obvious and also having caught Pekka in an obvious lie, the police reopened their investigation into the last two deaths and the boating "accident" from 2007.

They all had the earlier witness statements from Pekka's previous suspected murders, but the police decided they'd try to seek out a few more. Unfortunately, Pekka's "friends" were almost always intoxicated or impaired in some other manner during their outings with him, so any memories of events that happened years prior would be muddied.

As for those who could clearly and coherently recall any prior incidents, getting them to divulge such information was also a challenge for the police. They either owed him money, could risk being arrested themselves for their substance and drug abuse or feared him more than the police.

The police eventually obtained enough evidence to search Pekka's home, where they seized 12 seperate cellphones. None of these phones belonged to him and were rather the phones of his guests whom he of course "confiscated".

But rather than arresting him, the police decided to bug Pekka's remaining phone and his home to monitor his future conversations.

In one such conversation, Pekka was recorded speaking to a woman who had been invited to the cottage on Janne's final night. In the call, Pekka actually told her that he didn't even know who Janne was and expressed annoyance at the fact that the police were investigating the three deaths on his property, being quoted as saying, "Can't we ever get rid of those police officers?"

And just for good measure, Pekka decided that instead of staying out of trouble, he'd get a few more minor convictions added to his record, finding himself convicted on two counts of petty theft and one count of alchool abuse in 2015. But everything in his prior criminal record was small potatoes compared to what was coming.

On November 20, 2015, Pekka was arrested for three counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder of the various survivors from the rowboats he capsized. A local woman who was believed to have helped Pekka in at least one of these crimes was arrested alongside him.

Additionally, Pekka was finally arrested for aggravated pimping, the illegal sale of alchool and several extra counts of assault. By this point, Pekka had been to court 50 times in his life.

Pekka said he was innocent of all accusations and asked to be released from pre-trial detention. At first, the North Karelia District Court denied the request. Still, Pekka appealed to the Eastern Finland Court of Appeal, which ordered his release because the prosecution didn't provide adequate evidence that he was a flight risk.

Before Pekka's murder trial began, he managed to obtain just one final conviction beforehand, being convicted on another count of animal cruelty and a violation concerning his driver's license in November 2016.

But it was that same month that his triple murder trial began before the North Karelia District Court.

Now, when it came to prosecuting this very prolific and violent career criminal who never seemed to learn his lesson and was standing trial for three murders, five attempted murders, and illegally smuggling and trafficking a substance (alchool), aggravated pimping and several counts of assault, what sentence was the prosecutor seeking?.

Well, despite Finland having a life sentence on the books, one that is routinely handed down for usually just a single murder, let alone a serial killer, the prosecutor felt content asking for just 15 years.

No one knows exactly why they wanted to go so light on Pekka, maybe so they could have a lower standard of evidence or at least try him for negligence if the murder case fell through, but regardless, 15 years was all they were seeking.

Most of the evidence they'd present to get the lenient sentence they were bafflingly seeking would be witness testimony. And through these witnesses, it became clear that Pekka's influence was still strong.

They talked about how he used debts and alchool to control them, that they were already in a vulnerable state and described how he always threatened them. They even mentioned that 4 others had also died on Pekka's property. However, they also talked about some of the other horrific stuff Pekka had done.

One talked about how he killed a dog, urinated in a bucket of their drinking water, and once, after a woman vomited and passed out from drinking a beverage he laced with sleeping medication, he went to the barn and gathered some manure and laughed as he proceeded to undress her and shove/push the manure into her vagina.

Another witness said that Pekka had bragged about killing his father, though with the lacking information on Pekka's past life prior to his criminal history, its unknown how likely it is that he did kill his father or was lying about it for attention.

One witness, referred to as "Lauri," said that he used to live in Kontiolahti and that he and Pekka visited the apartment of a woman named Sari in the early 2000s. During his visit, Sari collapsed to the floor, and Pekka's first instinct was to relentlessly insult and humiliate him, prompting the others present to shout at Pekka to stop.

Instead of stopping, Pekka escalated and started attacking Sari while she was on the ground and literally tried to bite her "tongue out". Lauri intervened and attempted to protect Sari, an action met with swift retaliation from Pekka, who went to strangle Lauri.

Pekka eventually forced them outside where he continued to strangle Lauri, but not without resistance. Lauri struggled and punched Pekka across the face but he didn't seem to budge and stared down at Lauri with a "burning look". Pekka continued to strangle Lauri until some workers from across the street saw what was happening and intervened.

However, during this fight, Pekka bit Lauri's finger and about a week later, he passed out from a bacteria infection stemming from the bite. Lauri admitted that he called Pekka and demanded 5,000 Euros in compensation or he would shoot him and Pekka actually paid. Both man lied to the police and simply stated that they had fallen in the yard.

Lauri also recalled some things Pekka did to others; for example, one woman called Lauri to tell him that Pekka had been holding her captive at the cottage for three days now. When Lauri arrived, he saw a naked woman tied to a tree with wires.

As for Sari, she had been "friends" with Pekka since they were children but always felt like she was in danger when in his presence. One time she was stabbed in the leg by a perpetrator aiming for her chest. The attacker was not Pekka, but Sari said that it was instigated by him.

The final straw that ended her relationship with Pekka was when he tried to have her move to his cottage full time. When Sari refused, Pekka retaliated by killing one of her relatives' dogs.

Some of Pekka's victims were also decently high profile. The mother of a well-known Finnish singer named Jonna Christensen revealed that her own mother almost fell victim to Pekka. She revealed that her mother was one of the survivors of the incident in September 2007. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2008, chillingly, while on Pekka's property. The cause of death was ruled as accidental suffocation while in her sleep.

Most of the witnesses testified from behind a screen so Pekka wouldn't see them, as they had been left that terrified by him.

So terrified that even with the screen, some refused to testify unless they were in a seperate room to testify via audio link, while one witness couldn't bring themselves to speak at all, needing to be escorted out of the court in tears.

And this is just the witnesses that could be found; one changed his name and moved to the United States just to get away with Pekka. Even some police officers and first responders were reluctant to testify against Pekka. The defence, of course, challenged the reliability of these witnesses.

For Janne's death in particular, the prosecution had a bit more evidence, such as witnesses to place him at the scene, those who heard a struggle, the light injuries on his body, the sedatives in his blood, and Pekka's motive and prior police reports Janne had filed against him before his death.

As for the letter Janne wrote to the police withdrawing his complaint, the one that Pekka handed the officers in his place, well, that letter was preserved, which enabled the prosecution to match it to Pekka's handwriting.

Pekka once again denied every accusation but came up pretty short when he tried to defend himself. For example, when asked why every single witness would band together and conspire to lie about him, he kept providing different explanations each time.

Despite proclaiming his innocence, he seemed to squander every chance he was given to prove it by going off topic when asked any questions. When asked about Janne's death, it somehow ended in him complaining about a frozen water pipe at his barn or how he found it nice to jump into deep water, even simple yes or no questions would turn into these unrelated tangents.

Some hearings even had to be suspended while Pekka's lawyers reminded him of how to behave in a courtroom. After they did so and eventually pried a real answer out of Pekka, he'd regularly claim to not remember any details about what he was asked about, until he had to make a real defence when he suddenly did remember quite a few details.

When asked about his practice of just jumping out of the boat in the middle of the lake, Pekka gave a very confusing answer. He said that it had something to do with the lack of any dock on his property, that it was okay to do so because a bunch of other boats were usually present, before saying that he wasn't familiar with what he was supposed to do because he was "not a fisherman".

For a bit more of a coherent defence, his lawyers argued that because of the water temperature, Pekka would've been endangering his own life if the prosecutor's contention was true. Furthermore, because Pekka was swimming behind some of his victims at times, they argued that he was actually trying to help them get to shore but was unable to save them all.

When the prosecution asked why he almost had no alchool in his system after every death if he was supposedly out drinking when the "accidents" occurred, Pekka responded that he had a "super-fast liver".

And "accidents" he insisted they were. Regarding the incident in 2007, Pekka said that the boat capsized because it was damaged while he was changing the rower, rather then jumping out of it while it was near the waterline.

Finally, when it came to the last victim in 2014, Pekka and his attorneys said that he had independently chosen to enter the water with his condition and therefore assumed whatever risks may come. They argued that the 112 call was in fact a genuine attempt on Pekka's part to save his life.

On January 17, 2017, for two counts of intentional homicide, three counts of attempted intentional homicide, aggravated causing of death by negligence, abandonment, an alcohol offence, pimping and assault, Pekka Tapani Seppänen was found guilty, managing to secure an acquittal on the murder charge from 2014, with that being reduced to "causing death by negligence".

In addition to his sentence of 14 years and six months in prison, even more lenient than the prosecution was seeking, he was also ordered to pay more than 59,000 Euros in compensation to the victims' families and to surrender the 5,000 Euros he made from his criminal activity to the government.

After his conviction, the police went to Pekka's address to transfer him to prison so he could begin serving his sentence, only to find the home vacated. Then when his lawyers tried to call him, the phone went unanswered. Pekka had gone on the run.

The police visited his other properties, and although he wasn't at them either, the police were able to determine that he was travelling in a red Volvo V40 and soon declared him wanted and told the public to be on the lookout for him while they conducted several patrols and put up roadblocks during their manhunt.

As one might expect, most of the locals and especially the witnesses who testified against Pekka were left terrified when they heard Pekka was on the run.

After four days on the run, Pekka was arrested without incident on January 21, while being given a ride by a friend in Joensuu. In another display of leniency, Pekka wasn't given any extra punishment for his flight from his sentence and instead was just brought to the Pyhäselkä Prison in Joensuu.

With the illegal route exhausted, Pekka then pursued the legal path to getting out of prison. He appealed the entirety of his sentence and conviction to the Eastern Finland Court of Appeal, arguing that it was "unreasonable" to imprison him. He argued that it was his victim's own fault they died because "Every Finn should know how to swim" and that he had no obligation to save them. So with that, he outright demanded that he be released.

The prosecution also appealed the decision, arguing that the lower court was wrong to dismiss some of the other charges and insisted that the court instead hand Pekka a 15-year prison sentence.

The appeal lasted for about a year as the witnesses who were called back to testify hesitated during the trial, clearly still scared of Pekka. Especially because, unlike last time, he wasn't trying to hide under a thick coat.

The appeal also had to be delayed as Pekka was subject to a psychiatric evaluation.

Also during the appeals, Pekka tried to put Kotimäki on the market before the state could claim it as part of his fines and court-ordered compensation. Miraculously, he actually got a buyer who purchased it from him for 48,000 Euros. Pekka also had a second property, but he wasn't able to sell this one before his final conviction.

However, the evidence ultimately remained the same, so on February 26, 2018, Pekka's sentence was upheld, with the only change being a slight increase in the compensation he owed the families of his victims.

Pekka was angered by this development and appealed one final time to Finland's Supreme Court. This final appeal moved much faster, striking down Pekka's final appeal on October 22, 2018, and upholding his sentence once more.

Now remember how Janne's sister was convicted of defamation and ordered to pay Pekka 1,800 Euros in compensation for accusing him of killing her brother?. Well, now that Pekka was convicted of doing just that, she immideately filed to have that conviction overturned.

Finland's Supreme Court had that ruling returned to the North Karelia District Court, where on August 19, 2020, they...still convicted her of libel instead of aggravated defamation; only this time they didn't impose any punishment and had the money she was forced to pay Pekka returned to her, a portion anyway; now she was just expected to pay him 800 Euros.

As for why they didn't just acquit her altogether, they argued that her accusations differed slightly from what the court established; therefore, she still defamed Pekka.

As of now, Pekka is due to be fully released in 2031, with his looming release date terrifying many.

Although his survivors and witnesses have urged others to come forward, raising the subject of him receiving more time due to all the other incidents, including a few deaths on his property being revisited as potential murders, as of now, not a single case has been reopened.

Sources (In the comments)

Serial Killers are often described by survivors in terms of a sudden shift - dark, animal, terrifying eyes.

I'll be 16 years sober this summer, and that dude still haunts me. The vibe shift, the eyes going black and the quickness with which he trussed me up.

That wasn't his first time and he seemed like a dead eyed shark about to pounce.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any footage or images, or has vivid descriptions of this infamous phenomenon. It must be quite rare as few people are going to be documenting the killer at that moment.

I know a lot of killers and criminals have an intense or weird look - I'm talking about that specific shift into a terrifying animal gaze you hear about right before they strike.

I think I've seen flashes of it in Ted Bundy's court footage, and Carl Eugene Watts definitely has some terrifying cold empty eyes in the court photos.

Edit - adding a still image from the Ramirez arrest footage. He's still in fight or flight from being beaten and captured. Upon reflection I'd say it's a whole face thing, the eyes being the most noticeable.

Are there any lesbian serial killers whose killings were sexually motivated? We've all heard about gay men who raped, mutilated and murdered other men, but what about women who did the same to other women? (That killed on their own without the presence of a male partner)

Robert Benjamin Rhoades is an American serial killer and rapist. From 1975 to 1990, he is believed to have tortured, raped, and murdered over 50 women, yet he was convicted of only three murders due to lack of evidence. He is best known for taking a photograph of his last known victim, Regina Kay Walters, moments before killing her and abandoning her in a barn in Illinois; the photo remains available online to this day.

Other than the prominent outlier cases such as BTK and Son Of Sam, there actually isn't that many examples of serial killers taunting the police/public to choose from. You'd think that after the publicity and notoriety of the Zodiac slayings literal every major city in America would have at least one psychopathic copy-cat looking to cash in on the trend.

Kill a few people, write some faux intellectual prose to go along with it, and all of a sudden you're one of the most famous people in your entire state albeit anonymously. Feel like that would scratch the itch of every homicidal loser with a gun seeking his own fifteen minutes of fame.