Post by ophion1031 on Aug 6, 2018 22:39:27 GMT -8
www.zodiacciphers.com/lake-herman-murders.html
*by Richard Grinnell
David Arthur Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16). Murdered at Lake Herman Road, Benicia, Northern California on December 20th 1968.
The Lake Herman Road murders were the first confirmed attacks by the infamous Zodiac Killer, and although unknown at the time it was just the beginning of a campaign of terror that would last at least five years and herald a new dawn of serial killer.
David Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16) were two young high school students out on a date. The couple had attended a pre-Christmas concert at Vallejo's Hogan High School on December 20th 1968, from where they intended to visit a local restaurant called Mr Ed's. Whether they traveled to and dined at the restaurant we are unsure, but during the late evening hours they decided to pull off the unlit, two lane Lake Herman Road, somewhere near the jurisdictional line between Benicia and Vallejo, known to be frequented by many courting couples seeking a bit of privacy, and it was here on a gravel turnout that the killer struck. The turnout back in 1968 had a double-gated entrance, locked at its center point and was the entrance to the Benicia Water Pumping Station.
The turnout is located approximately 3.2 miles east of Columbus Parkway, and 4 miles from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, the location of the Zodiac Killer's second attack.
Earlier on that night on two occasions at 9.00 pm and 10.00 pm, a white Chevrolet Impala was observed, parked idle, without occupants in the gravel turnout. This may have been owned by an innocent motorist, however the parked car may possibly have indicated some form of preparation by the killer in advance. Two local hunters Frank Gasser (69) and Robert Connelly (27) had passed the Lake Herman Road turnout at 9.00 pm as they approached the Marshall Ranch, where they noticed a white 4-door hardtop, 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala parked up. At exactly the same time they saw local sheepherder Bingo Wesner exit the turnout gate.
The police recalled the details they gave "a light colored 1960 Rambler station wagon was parked at the gate. It was parked southwest of where we finally found the car. This discrepancy wasn't noticed at first. They said that when they arrived there at 9.00 pm a white 4-door hardtop, a '59 or '60 Impala, was parked there, and also, a truck coming out of the gate. This coincides with information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by." After Connelly and Gasser left the Marshall Ranch they headed back to the Gasser Ranch towards Benicia. Robert Connelly added "that the Rambler was parked on the bank. That would be on the south side. He did not see any person in the car. He estimates he left the area between 11.00 pm and 11.15 pm. He remained at the Gasser's house about an hour and then left out through Highway 21, through the Jameson Canyon and headed home, arriving about 12.30 am."
Bingo Wesner also stated in the police report "he was checking his sheep at approximately 10.00 pm and he observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan parked by the south fence of the entrance to the pumping station. He also observed a red Ford pick-up truck with wood side boards in the area." This was the truck of Frank Gasser and Robert Connelly.
At approximately 11.00 pm Peggy and Homer Your were returning from Sacramento, heading west on Lake Herman Road. Homer Your wanted to check some pipes, as he worked for a construction company laying pipes in the area. As they passed the turnout Peggy Your would recollect in the police report: "As they were driving west on Lake Herman Road at the turn off to the Benicia Water Pumping Station, she observed a Rambler station wagon parked with front end heading east, there were two Caucasians in the front seat, male and female, when the lights from the car came upon the station wagon, the male sat up in the seat. Mrs Your said it was a cold night and she noticed no frost on the station wagon". They proceeded toward the Marshall Ranch, approximately 30 seconds driving time beyond the turnout, where they encountered the two raccoon hunters Frank Gasser and Robert Connelly as they turned into the gated entrance. They noticed one of the men had a long barreled gun, the other had a flashlight, so decided to reverse and head east back to Benicia. When they passed the turnout for a second time, the Rambler of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen was still there. The time now was a few minutes after 11.00 pm.
Also during the evening, approximated at 9.30 pm and 10.00 pm, William Crow and his girlfriend were out that night testing his girlfriend's sports car and were parked in the turnout facing towards the road, when they noticed a car coming from the direction of Benicia, however when it passed by the turnout it braked sharply and started reversing back towards them. William Crow felt that the common sense approach was to leave immediately, so he drove off heading towards Benicia, only to be followed by the vehicle close on his rear bumper. The police report stated "he was driving his girlfriend's sports car and he was testing it out and adjusting the motor. He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant coming down the road from Benicia towards Vallejo. They passed his location, stopped in the middle of the road and he saw the white lights of the reverse come on and the car started backing up towards them. Mr Crow put the car in gear and took off at a high rate of speed and the car followed him at a high rate of speed. They did not attempt to gain on him, but when they got to the turn off towards Benicia, William Crow turned towards Benicia and the other car went straight ahead. The subjects were both Caucasians and there is no further identification on the car or the subjects." In a later account his details would change;
"I sped up. The car behind me also sped up, and at one point as I was looking over my shoulder, the car behind me came up on my side with its right front fender near the driver’s rear quarter panel and appeared to be moving toward making contact. I shifted to a lower gear and hit the gas. There is a fork in the road where one continues toward Benicia and the other more towards the freeway toward Vallejo. The other car was clearly chasing me and I waited until the last moment and then turned off. The larger car behind me could not make the turn. I went down approximately two hundred yards and stopped in the middle of the road. The other car had stopped shortly after the turn-off. Each of us sat there in the road. Again, youthfully stupid, I yelled about kicking his ---. After some moments, the other car turned around in the roadway and went back down the road from which we had come. I kept making macho statements, but not totally without some sense about me, I drove home. I did not see the car again. I could not see the passenger seat, but the driver was a man with short hair and glasses. I did not see his specific facial features". William Crow was originally referenced in the police report describing the vehicle that followed him as possibly a blue Valiant, with two male Caucasians, but this description would also change.
"I never told the sheriff who interviewed me that the car I encountered was a Valiant. As I recall, as I was attempting to describe the car, the sheriff came up with a “Valiant”. In the years that have passed, when I have shared the events of that night, I have described the car as a four-door light-colored Chevy".
Another eyewitness, James Owen was driving towards Humble Oil in Benicia for his graveyard shift as a supervisor that night, estimated at 11.14 pm, only moments before the double murder. He recollected in his second statement on 24th December 1968, that when he passed the turnout he saw nobody in or around the two vehicles, they were parked alongside each other approximately 3-4 feet apart and that he thought he heard a single gunshot, one quarter of a mile or 30 seconds past the turnout. However this gunshot was never mentioned to police in his first statement on the 21st December 1968, just nine hours after the double murder. He also estimated the two vehicles to be 10 feet apart, which by all the evidence appears to be more realistic.Here are his two statements to police;
[1] 12.21.68 "He states he saw two cars parked near the entrance to the pumping station. He stated the car parked nearest was a 1955 or 1956 station wagon, boxy type, neutral in color. The other was parked to the right and abreast of the station wagon. The cars were about ten feet apart. He stated he could not give a description of the make or color of the other car."
[2] 12.24.68 "He definitely saw two cars, a station wagon and another vehicle, parked approximately three or four feet to the right of the station wagon. He did not see anyone in the cars or around them. He stated as he traveled approximately one quarter of a mile beyond, he thought he heard a shot."
He also stated that "just before he approached the scene, a vehicle passed him going in the opposite direction toward Vallejo. He could give no description of the vehicle. This occurred near the Borges Ranch". The Borges Ranch was situated 1.5 miles past the turnout, not 2.7 miles as described in the police report. See here. The occupant(s) of this vehicle have never come forward despite extensive news coverage.
Approximated between 11.05 pm and 11.10 pm, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were parked up in the Lake Herman Road turnout, when it is believed the Zodiac killer pulled up beside their Rambler and ordered them both out of the car with a .22 handgun, firing off at least two warning shots that struck the Rambler. One bullet shattered the right rear window and lodged in the left rear wheel well, while the second bullet struck the headliner of the vehicle.
Betty Lou is thought to have exited the passenger side of the Rambler, followed by David Faraday. What followed is subjective, but what we do know is that David Faraday was shot through the lower portion of his left ear causing a fatal brain injury and fell to the rear of the vehicle. Betty Lou Jensen apparently fearing the worst either made a desperate attempt to flee or was ordered to run by her killer, but whatever the case, she was gunned down by five bullets to the right side of her back, succumbing at around 33 feet from the right rear of the Rambler and falling backwards [crime scene photograph- caution]. Her head was facing the rear bumper of the Rambler 28 feet away, her feet facing in a westerly direction.
Minutes after the murders at approximately 11.20 pm, both victims were discovered lying on the gravel turnout by passing motorist Stella Borges (Medeiros). She had left her ranch, situated 1.5 miles west of the Lake Herman Road turnout only minutes earlier, then raced off towards Benicia at high speed to alert the police. She eventually ran into Captain Daniel Pitta, who would recall arriving at the Lake Herman Road crime scene circa 11.28 pm.
Stella Medeiros detailed her recollections on page 19/20 of the police report "She states that no cars were going in either direction while she was on the road. When she arrived at the scene, headlights picked up the car and she observed a boy and he had looked like he had fallen out of the open door. The girl was lying on her side facing the road. She had a purple dress on and looked well dressed. She saw only one car at the scene. It looked like a Rambler, grayish in color, it had a chrome rack on the top. She states she drove sixty or seventy miles an hour enroute to Benicia to report the incident. When she saw the police car she honked her horn and blinked her lights to attract the attention of the police officers."
David Faraday was found lying virtually ninety degrees, facing south-westerly, to the rear right passenger side wheel, with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head. He was still breathing at the time, unfortunately however Betty Lou Jensen had suffered catastrophic injuries and detectives were unable to find any signs of life. [autopsy findings]. David Faraday was rushed from the scene but unfortunately was pronounced dead on arrival at the nearby Vallejo Hospital at 12.05 am by Dr Siebert.
"During that night we had served a search warrant at what we call The Cottage at Lake Herman which was owned by the city of Benicia, a narcotics search warrant my partner and I, we confiscated about a pound and a half of marijuana, which in the 1960's was a big drugs bust, today it wouldn't get very high on the Richter scale. We had left and were heading back to the police department to put the marijuana into evidence and as we drove by we didn't see or observe anybody in that area, there's a turn there (the crime scene turnout) and your headlights shine right in there as you go by. As I was pulling into the lot at the police department we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatcher put out a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road and described the location. My partner and I turned around at that time and responded to the call."
Pierre Bidou, Benicia Police Department.
Ten expended bullet casings were found strewn at the scene, one of which was found on the front passenger side floorboard of the Rambler, and by the nature of bullet tracts found in the vehicle it was considered the killer may have fired warning shots to force the couple from the car, however no tire tracks or footprints were found in the turnout on account of the extremely cold temperature in Benicia on December 20th 1968, falling to a low of 22 degrees Fahrenheit or -5 degrees Celsius. Despite the aftermath of a rigorous investigation spearheaded by Sergeant Les Lundblad, stationed in Solano County, the horrific murders went unsolved and remain so to this day.
Various lines of motive were considered including jealousy, with Lunblad checking reports that included David Faraday clashing with another youth over Betty Lou Jensen on the Wednesday before the murders.
"Possibly they were ordered out of the car by the responsible, the boy was shot right at the side of the car and the girl apparently tried to run and she was shot 28 feet further on." Les Lunblad.
David Faraday was a popular high school student, Eagle Scout and a member of the Vallejo High school wrestling team, with some suggesting that David Faraday may have fought back against his attacker as he 'had been shot in the upper portion of the left ear by a small caliber bullet which penetrated the ear and head. There appeared to be powder burns on the left ear where the bullet had entered. There was a large lump on his right cheek and the hair on his left side was matted with blood.' He also 'held a class ring by the tips of his ring and middle fingers of his left hand'. Investigators in the months to come were hitting dead ends and blind alleys, although at this point in the investigation nobody could ever have believed what was about to come, Just shy of seven months later at 12.40 am, on the morning of July 5th 1969, police dispatcher Nancy Slover was to receive the phone call that would change everything.
This marked the start of a bloody campaign by the Zodiac killer, who would eventually commit further attacks on five people after the Lake Herman murders, although it is widely believed he committed far more, claiming himself to have been responsible for the deaths of at least 37 people. But whether this is nearer to the truth or just the inflated ego of an insane or calculated killer remains in question to this very day.
*by Richard Grinnell
David Arthur Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16). Murdered at Lake Herman Road, Benicia, Northern California on December 20th 1968.
The Lake Herman Road murders were the first confirmed attacks by the infamous Zodiac Killer, and although unknown at the time it was just the beginning of a campaign of terror that would last at least five years and herald a new dawn of serial killer.
David Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16) were two young high school students out on a date. The couple had attended a pre-Christmas concert at Vallejo's Hogan High School on December 20th 1968, from where they intended to visit a local restaurant called Mr Ed's. Whether they traveled to and dined at the restaurant we are unsure, but during the late evening hours they decided to pull off the unlit, two lane Lake Herman Road, somewhere near the jurisdictional line between Benicia and Vallejo, known to be frequented by many courting couples seeking a bit of privacy, and it was here on a gravel turnout that the killer struck. The turnout back in 1968 had a double-gated entrance, locked at its center point and was the entrance to the Benicia Water Pumping Station.
The turnout is located approximately 3.2 miles east of Columbus Parkway, and 4 miles from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, the location of the Zodiac Killer's second attack.
Earlier on that night on two occasions at 9.00 pm and 10.00 pm, a white Chevrolet Impala was observed, parked idle, without occupants in the gravel turnout. This may have been owned by an innocent motorist, however the parked car may possibly have indicated some form of preparation by the killer in advance. Two local hunters Frank Gasser (69) and Robert Connelly (27) had passed the Lake Herman Road turnout at 9.00 pm as they approached the Marshall Ranch, where they noticed a white 4-door hardtop, 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala parked up. At exactly the same time they saw local sheepherder Bingo Wesner exit the turnout gate.
The police recalled the details they gave "a light colored 1960 Rambler station wagon was parked at the gate. It was parked southwest of where we finally found the car. This discrepancy wasn't noticed at first. They said that when they arrived there at 9.00 pm a white 4-door hardtop, a '59 or '60 Impala, was parked there, and also, a truck coming out of the gate. This coincides with information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by." After Connelly and Gasser left the Marshall Ranch they headed back to the Gasser Ranch towards Benicia. Robert Connelly added "that the Rambler was parked on the bank. That would be on the south side. He did not see any person in the car. He estimates he left the area between 11.00 pm and 11.15 pm. He remained at the Gasser's house about an hour and then left out through Highway 21, through the Jameson Canyon and headed home, arriving about 12.30 am."
Bingo Wesner also stated in the police report "he was checking his sheep at approximately 10.00 pm and he observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan parked by the south fence of the entrance to the pumping station. He also observed a red Ford pick-up truck with wood side boards in the area." This was the truck of Frank Gasser and Robert Connelly.
At approximately 11.00 pm Peggy and Homer Your were returning from Sacramento, heading west on Lake Herman Road. Homer Your wanted to check some pipes, as he worked for a construction company laying pipes in the area. As they passed the turnout Peggy Your would recollect in the police report: "As they were driving west on Lake Herman Road at the turn off to the Benicia Water Pumping Station, she observed a Rambler station wagon parked with front end heading east, there were two Caucasians in the front seat, male and female, when the lights from the car came upon the station wagon, the male sat up in the seat. Mrs Your said it was a cold night and she noticed no frost on the station wagon". They proceeded toward the Marshall Ranch, approximately 30 seconds driving time beyond the turnout, where they encountered the two raccoon hunters Frank Gasser and Robert Connelly as they turned into the gated entrance. They noticed one of the men had a long barreled gun, the other had a flashlight, so decided to reverse and head east back to Benicia. When they passed the turnout for a second time, the Rambler of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen was still there. The time now was a few minutes after 11.00 pm.
Also during the evening, approximated at 9.30 pm and 10.00 pm, William Crow and his girlfriend were out that night testing his girlfriend's sports car and were parked in the turnout facing towards the road, when they noticed a car coming from the direction of Benicia, however when it passed by the turnout it braked sharply and started reversing back towards them. William Crow felt that the common sense approach was to leave immediately, so he drove off heading towards Benicia, only to be followed by the vehicle close on his rear bumper. The police report stated "he was driving his girlfriend's sports car and he was testing it out and adjusting the motor. He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant coming down the road from Benicia towards Vallejo. They passed his location, stopped in the middle of the road and he saw the white lights of the reverse come on and the car started backing up towards them. Mr Crow put the car in gear and took off at a high rate of speed and the car followed him at a high rate of speed. They did not attempt to gain on him, but when they got to the turn off towards Benicia, William Crow turned towards Benicia and the other car went straight ahead. The subjects were both Caucasians and there is no further identification on the car or the subjects." In a later account his details would change;
"I sped up. The car behind me also sped up, and at one point as I was looking over my shoulder, the car behind me came up on my side with its right front fender near the driver’s rear quarter panel and appeared to be moving toward making contact. I shifted to a lower gear and hit the gas. There is a fork in the road where one continues toward Benicia and the other more towards the freeway toward Vallejo. The other car was clearly chasing me and I waited until the last moment and then turned off. The larger car behind me could not make the turn. I went down approximately two hundred yards and stopped in the middle of the road. The other car had stopped shortly after the turn-off. Each of us sat there in the road. Again, youthfully stupid, I yelled about kicking his ---. After some moments, the other car turned around in the roadway and went back down the road from which we had come. I kept making macho statements, but not totally without some sense about me, I drove home. I did not see the car again. I could not see the passenger seat, but the driver was a man with short hair and glasses. I did not see his specific facial features". William Crow was originally referenced in the police report describing the vehicle that followed him as possibly a blue Valiant, with two male Caucasians, but this description would also change.
"I never told the sheriff who interviewed me that the car I encountered was a Valiant. As I recall, as I was attempting to describe the car, the sheriff came up with a “Valiant”. In the years that have passed, when I have shared the events of that night, I have described the car as a four-door light-colored Chevy".
Another eyewitness, James Owen was driving towards Humble Oil in Benicia for his graveyard shift as a supervisor that night, estimated at 11.14 pm, only moments before the double murder. He recollected in his second statement on 24th December 1968, that when he passed the turnout he saw nobody in or around the two vehicles, they were parked alongside each other approximately 3-4 feet apart and that he thought he heard a single gunshot, one quarter of a mile or 30 seconds past the turnout. However this gunshot was never mentioned to police in his first statement on the 21st December 1968, just nine hours after the double murder. He also estimated the two vehicles to be 10 feet apart, which by all the evidence appears to be more realistic.Here are his two statements to police;
[1] 12.21.68 "He states he saw two cars parked near the entrance to the pumping station. He stated the car parked nearest was a 1955 or 1956 station wagon, boxy type, neutral in color. The other was parked to the right and abreast of the station wagon. The cars were about ten feet apart. He stated he could not give a description of the make or color of the other car."
[2] 12.24.68 "He definitely saw two cars, a station wagon and another vehicle, parked approximately three or four feet to the right of the station wagon. He did not see anyone in the cars or around them. He stated as he traveled approximately one quarter of a mile beyond, he thought he heard a shot."
He also stated that "just before he approached the scene, a vehicle passed him going in the opposite direction toward Vallejo. He could give no description of the vehicle. This occurred near the Borges Ranch". The Borges Ranch was situated 1.5 miles past the turnout, not 2.7 miles as described in the police report. See here. The occupant(s) of this vehicle have never come forward despite extensive news coverage.
Approximated between 11.05 pm and 11.10 pm, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were parked up in the Lake Herman Road turnout, when it is believed the Zodiac killer pulled up beside their Rambler and ordered them both out of the car with a .22 handgun, firing off at least two warning shots that struck the Rambler. One bullet shattered the right rear window and lodged in the left rear wheel well, while the second bullet struck the headliner of the vehicle.
Betty Lou is thought to have exited the passenger side of the Rambler, followed by David Faraday. What followed is subjective, but what we do know is that David Faraday was shot through the lower portion of his left ear causing a fatal brain injury and fell to the rear of the vehicle. Betty Lou Jensen apparently fearing the worst either made a desperate attempt to flee or was ordered to run by her killer, but whatever the case, she was gunned down by five bullets to the right side of her back, succumbing at around 33 feet from the right rear of the Rambler and falling backwards [crime scene photograph- caution]. Her head was facing the rear bumper of the Rambler 28 feet away, her feet facing in a westerly direction.
Minutes after the murders at approximately 11.20 pm, both victims were discovered lying on the gravel turnout by passing motorist Stella Borges (Medeiros). She had left her ranch, situated 1.5 miles west of the Lake Herman Road turnout only minutes earlier, then raced off towards Benicia at high speed to alert the police. She eventually ran into Captain Daniel Pitta, who would recall arriving at the Lake Herman Road crime scene circa 11.28 pm.
Stella Medeiros detailed her recollections on page 19/20 of the police report "She states that no cars were going in either direction while she was on the road. When she arrived at the scene, headlights picked up the car and she observed a boy and he had looked like he had fallen out of the open door. The girl was lying on her side facing the road. She had a purple dress on and looked well dressed. She saw only one car at the scene. It looked like a Rambler, grayish in color, it had a chrome rack on the top. She states she drove sixty or seventy miles an hour enroute to Benicia to report the incident. When she saw the police car she honked her horn and blinked her lights to attract the attention of the police officers."
David Faraday was found lying virtually ninety degrees, facing south-westerly, to the rear right passenger side wheel, with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head. He was still breathing at the time, unfortunately however Betty Lou Jensen had suffered catastrophic injuries and detectives were unable to find any signs of life. [autopsy findings]. David Faraday was rushed from the scene but unfortunately was pronounced dead on arrival at the nearby Vallejo Hospital at 12.05 am by Dr Siebert.
"During that night we had served a search warrant at what we call The Cottage at Lake Herman which was owned by the city of Benicia, a narcotics search warrant my partner and I, we confiscated about a pound and a half of marijuana, which in the 1960's was a big drugs bust, today it wouldn't get very high on the Richter scale. We had left and were heading back to the police department to put the marijuana into evidence and as we drove by we didn't see or observe anybody in that area, there's a turn there (the crime scene turnout) and your headlights shine right in there as you go by. As I was pulling into the lot at the police department we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatcher put out a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road and described the location. My partner and I turned around at that time and responded to the call."
Pierre Bidou, Benicia Police Department.
Ten expended bullet casings were found strewn at the scene, one of which was found on the front passenger side floorboard of the Rambler, and by the nature of bullet tracts found in the vehicle it was considered the killer may have fired warning shots to force the couple from the car, however no tire tracks or footprints were found in the turnout on account of the extremely cold temperature in Benicia on December 20th 1968, falling to a low of 22 degrees Fahrenheit or -5 degrees Celsius. Despite the aftermath of a rigorous investigation spearheaded by Sergeant Les Lundblad, stationed in Solano County, the horrific murders went unsolved and remain so to this day.
Various lines of motive were considered including jealousy, with Lunblad checking reports that included David Faraday clashing with another youth over Betty Lou Jensen on the Wednesday before the murders.
"Possibly they were ordered out of the car by the responsible, the boy was shot right at the side of the car and the girl apparently tried to run and she was shot 28 feet further on." Les Lunblad.
David Faraday was a popular high school student, Eagle Scout and a member of the Vallejo High school wrestling team, with some suggesting that David Faraday may have fought back against his attacker as he 'had been shot in the upper portion of the left ear by a small caliber bullet which penetrated the ear and head. There appeared to be powder burns on the left ear where the bullet had entered. There was a large lump on his right cheek and the hair on his left side was matted with blood.' He also 'held a class ring by the tips of his ring and middle fingers of his left hand'. Investigators in the months to come were hitting dead ends and blind alleys, although at this point in the investigation nobody could ever have believed what was about to come, Just shy of seven months later at 12.40 am, on the morning of July 5th 1969, police dispatcher Nancy Slover was to receive the phone call that would change everything.
This marked the start of a bloody campaign by the Zodiac killer, who would eventually commit further attacks on five people after the Lake Herman murders, although it is widely believed he committed far more, claiming himself to have been responsible for the deaths of at least 37 people. But whether this is nearer to the truth or just the inflated ego of an insane or calculated killer remains in question to this very day.