The only thing worse than getting away with murder is getting away with lots of murders. It’s happened throughout history, especially before we had security cameras and DNA evidence. And those cases were horrific, like the Kingsbury Run murders, which ran from 1934 to 1938 in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s where 13 bodies were found, in pieces.
Not all of the victims were ever identified; with 1930s forensic technology, it’s difficult to identify someone when all law enforcement has is a few parts. The first body – later dubbed Victim 0, as she originally wasn’t thought to be one of the serial killer’s victims – was nothing more than part of a torso and legs. That was in September of 1934, and the first official victim was found a year later. The 28-year old victim had been decapitated, but he was identified as Edward Andrassy; the same chemical that had been used to preserve the body of Victim 0 had been used for him. A second body was nearby, and the third…. the third was part of a female body, packed neatly in several baskets that were then left at the side of the road.
Over the next few years, 13 bodies were found, although the heads of victims were frequently missing. They were often drained of blood completely. The 11th and 12th victims were recovered from a dump site outside the window of Eliot Ness. The murders left police scrambling, and the National Guard was called in to try to keep order.
Eventually, a local brick-layer was arrested for the murders after it was found he had connections to three of the victims. Retrospective examination shows that his confession was bizarre and pretty obviously coached; before Frank Dolezal could be put on trial, he was found hanged in his cell, with a number of questionable injuries.
No one was ever tried for the murders, and to this day no one has definitively been identified as the perpetrator. This is just one example from a list of ten still-unidentified serial killers at Urban Ghosts.
(Image credit: gargantuen)