Bizarre Murderers II edited by Rose G. Mandelsberg (October 1993)

25 Stories That’ll Keep You Up Nights
Review by Kim Cantrell

Right out of the True Detective Magazine comes 25 true crime short stories that delve into the depravity of mankind.

From authors such as the late Bill G. Cox, Don Lasseter, Gary C. King, and Alva Busch, readers are introduced to some of the most bizarre crimes committed in the U.S. and U.K.

Stories in this collection titled Bizarre Murderers II, along with a short synopsis, include:

• He Had Sex with Rosemary’s Rosary-Beaded Corpse by Krist Boardman:  A mentally challenged woman is found murdered in her apartment, draped with her rosary beads.




• Little Angel Was Ravaged By Demented Devil by Dan Buttaro:  4-year-old Angel Halstead fell victim to a vicious sex crime committed by Brooks Bellay.  Was she his only victim?




• Masked Corpse in the Black Bra by Tom Basinski:  A body wrapped in Strawberry Shortcake bedding is dumped in Tijuana, Mexico.  But where did the crime really occur?




• He Bit Off The Blonde Beauty’s Breasts by Don Lasseter:  A man comes home to find his wife brutally raped and slain.  They were new to the neighborhood and knew no one.  Would could be her killer?




• Hello Dolly, Goodbye David by Bill G. Cox:   Several people witnessed a body being drug behind a speeding pick-up truck on the streets of Amarillo.  Who is it?  And why did the killer so obviously display the body?




• Bizarre Carvings on the Victim’s Face by Robert Carlsen:  He might have considered old by some, but everyone could agree he was tough.  Until his killer decided to play unfairly.  What was the motive?  And who is the killer?




• Freaky Fish Cutter Fileted Females by Barry Bowe:  Women are being murdered up and down Frankford Avenue in the City of Brotherly Love.  Witnesses who saw the women just hours before their death described them as being in the company of an older, white male.  But it is a black man that is arrested from the last murder.  Why?




• Skeleton in the Garter Belt and Nylons by Donald L. Dupay:  When a man suffers a fatal medical condition in his apartment, Police and EMTs think there is job is done.  But when a neighbor mentions the man’s live-in companion, Police begin searching.  Where and how they find her leaves many questions that will forever remain unanswered.




• 120 Fatal Thrusts With A Tiny, Weird Weapon by Don Lasseter:  When a young woman is found murdered in Huntingdon Beach, the first things detectives notice is the multitude of tiny stabs.  What kind of weapon was used in this murderous frenzy?




• Finicky Feline Feasted on the Foxy Lady’s Flesh by Philip Westwood:  When a North Wales woman is reported missing by a relative, investigators go to speak with her husband.  While doing so, one investigator follows his nose while another pets the man’s very large cat.




• Bizarre Love Bite Murder Case by Lenore Nir:  Who would want to kill a Russian-born, fun-loving, well-liked single woman living in Israel?  Will her ties to the Communist party lead to her killer?




• Corpse Lover’s Unholy Ritual by Alva Busch:  When a relative of Sandra Shelton’s entered her home to find her dead body, lit candles, and the gas on, they frantically called police.  Was her the death part of a cult ritual?




• Trysting Drag Queen and the Cat Man Killer by Marc Gerald:  A transvestite  prostitute is just trying to make a living on the streets when he meets a man dressed as a character from the Broadway play Cats. 




• Rejected Romeo Fed the Barmaid to the Pigs by Philip Westwood:  When John David realizes that he is losing the woman he loves, he decides that if he can’t have her no one can.  How he tries to cover up his crime is most gruesome.




• Killer Stole Her False Teeth for a Souvenir by Gary C. King:  A woman’s body is found frozen in the snow, thumb-cuffed to a tree. 




• Strangled Man in the Black Negligee by Tom Basinski:  In San Diego, Gerald Anderson is found dead in his apartment.  Not known to be homosexual or a cross-dresser, police can’t explain the black negligee he is dressed in.  Can his killer explain?




• Bizarre Scrawls Beside the Beheaded Bachelor by Bruce Gibney:  Straight out Stephen King’s book and movie, The Shining, investigators discover a body with REDRUM scrawled in blood on the wall next to it.  Is the killer a fan of Stephen King?  Or simply unoriginal?




• Animals Feasted on His Rotting Corpse by Patricia Harrell:   Four men on a late night hunting excursion find more then they bargained for:  a decomposed body. 




• Kinky Clues Surrounded the Slain Gays by Julie Malear:  When two men, known to be homosexuals, wind up dead, police focus on who could have benefited from their deaths.




• The ‘Caped’ Count and the Sexy Teen by Don Lasseter:  Everybody knows there is always a party on the Sunset Strip.  But Edmund Matthews has more in mind than just a party when he invites women up to his Coldwater Canyon Avenue “home.”




• Curious Case of the Kitty Litter Killer by Jerry Spangler:  Homer Earl Elder was known for his punctuality.  When he didn’t show up to work for 10 days, his employer reported him missing.  Who would want to kill this well-liked man?




• New Mexico’s Murder Most Foul by Gary C. King:  When a soldier’s eighth-month pregnant wife goes missing, Military Police waste no time in searching for her.   What they find is sickening, brutal, and heartbreaking.




• Killer Left a Feather On His Victim’s Breast by Robert Carlsen:  Native Americans believe that a feather placed on a body helps them cross into the next life.  When police found bodies with the ritualist feather, they knew they were searching for a Native America.  But who was he?




• Terrorized His Victims With a Dead Body by Olga Kogan:  Reports began pouring in about a man who was attempting to abduct women and threatened them with a corpse in the back seat of his car.  Although it sounds like the unimaginable, it’s true.  Very true.

While the titles may be harsh and stomach-churning, you have to admit they are attention getters.  And the story behind the title are just as interesting.

This is a difficult to book to find today, but if you can land a copy of Bizarre Murderers II it is defintely worth the read.

Want ro read it? Here’s where to buy it:
            

Updates:

• Daniel Kimball: In 1996, a Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned Kimball’s conviction on the grounds of ineffective counsel. The following year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated the Superior Court order. {PDF} Today, Kimball is 50 years old and remains incarcerated at SCI Greene in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.




• Brooks Bellay: After being denied parole a second time in 2007, Bellay, now 44 years old, continues to serve a life sentence at Calhoun Correctional Institution in Blountstown, Florida.




• Mark Allen Bradford: Although the California Supreme Court reversed the conviction and sentencing on the charge of robbery (all other convictions affirmed), Bradford remains on the list of California death row inmates {PDF} released in March 2010.




• Leonard Christopher: At 58 years old (presently), he is incarcerated at SCI Huntingdon in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.




• Robert Todd: In 2003, former Illinois Govenor George Ryan commutted all death penalty sentences to life without parole. Todd is currently his life sentence at Stateville Prison in Joliet, Illinois.




• Michael Boettlin, Jr.: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in December 1990. Today, at 38-years-old, he is incarcerated at SCI Smithfield.




• John Calvaresi remains behind bars at SCI Graterford in Perkiomen, Pennsylvania.




• Michael St. Clair incarcerated in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma; while his brother Richard St. Clair is still serving life sentence at Lawton Correctional Facility in Lawton, Oklahoma.




• George Kent Wallace was executed by lethal injection in the state of Oklahoma on August 10, 2000.




• DONNIE (DONNY) GENE CRAIG: In September 1991, the Supreme Court of Florida affirmed Craig’s conviction but reversed his death penalty sentence {PDF}; changed to life in prison. He was released in January 2001.




• DARCI PIERCE remains incarcerated at New Mexico’s Women’s Correctional Facility.




• SAM (SAMUEL) RAY (Husband of Pierce’s victim, Cindy Ray) is presently a principal at Provo High School in Utah. Amelia is now 22 years old.




• ROBERT CLOUTIER is another vicious criminal who had his sentence commuted from death penalty to life imprisonment by former Illinois Governor George Ryan. He is currently housed at Stateville Prison in Joliet, Illinois.