Bizarre Murderers edited by Rose G. Mandelsberg (March 1991)

20 Stories That’ll Make You Cringe
Review by Kim Cantrell

From the files of True Detective magazine comes 20 true crime short stories about some of the world’s strangest killers in Bizarre Murderers.

Contributions from authors such as Gary C. King, Andrew Lowen, Bob Carlsen, Bruce Stockdale and others, this collection of little known murders are a true crime quick fix.

Included in this predecessor to the previously reviewed Bizzarre Murderers II is:

The Cannibal & The Floating Body Parts by Gary Ebbels: When body parts start appearing in the Las Vegas Waste Water Treatment Plant, police want to know who they belong to…and who put them there.

Who Laced The Ice Cream With Arsenic by Gary Miller: An usually healthy man suddenly becomes stricken with an unexplainable illness, then dies. Several years later, a relative-by-marriage starts exhibiting the same symptoms.

Who Beheaded The Bisexual Nympho? by Andrew Lowen: When a man finds a beheaded body along the roadside, Scotland Yard will trace her identity back to California…and royalty.

Chef Choked On A Bottle of Tobasco Sauce! by Bob Carlsen: When a man fails to come to work, neighbors find his body bound and mouth gagged…with a Tobasco Sauce bottle.

The Little Boy Was Boiled In Lye! by Joseph Koenig: Not known to the residents of Peace Dale, Rhode Island, a child killer lurks among them. He would claim 5-year-old Jason Foreman as a victim, but it would take years to know the killer’s identity…until he tried again.

A Pile of Human Bones Filled The Chamber of Horrors by Andrew Lowen: When residents of an apartment building complain about a common bathroom, a plumber would discover pieces of bodies in a manhole. Police would learn the killer was formerly one of their own.

The Piece of Meat Was Pamela’s Thigh! by Gary C. King: Wife swapping turns deadly when the wife from the other couple becomes enraged by seeing her husband have sex with another woman.

A Vampire Drank His Victim’s Blood by John Benson: When a teenage boy decides he’s had enough of his grandmother nagging him, he kills her…then tries to drink her blood.

The Reluctant Hooker Was Cooked Alive by Andrew Lowen: When a woman is found smoldering in a London garbage can, inspectors take a hard look at the man who rescued her.

Freaky Bathing Fetish Triggered A Sex Slaying by Joseph Koenig: When a 15-year-old girl is found murdered in her home, police began looking for a man who stalks her school bus daily.

Linda’s Killer Fed Her To The Pigs by Andrew Lowen: She was known to have numerous affairs, but she’d never disappeared. Would her husband get away with murder?

Weirdo Cut Up A Corpse With A Chainsaw by Terrell Ecker: A man who tried to assissinate President Jimmy Carter in 1979 would become the prime suspect in the murder of his friend.

Killer Kept Robin’s Brain Tissue As Souvenir by Bob Carlsen: She was beautiful and smart, and a high priced call girl. One of her clients was a Professor, but he wanted to be more than a client.

Shrouded the Naked Body In Cat Food by Gary Ebbels: Jack was well known to invite hookers over for the weekend after receiving his military pension, but one of those liasions would wind up deadly.

Drag Queen Smeared Makeup On His Nude Victim by Eric Wakin: When a homosexual encounter goes wrong, an innocent woman pays the price.

Paranoid Psycho Says Dog Blood Made Her Kill by Gary Miller: When a woman decides that her friend is casting voo doo curses on her, she decides that, one way or another, it’s going to stop.

Rolf’s Remains Were Used for Fertilizer by Jack Heise: Known for their notorious fights, no one was much surprised when Rolf Neslund turned up missing and his wife was the prime suspect.

Grandma Was Chopped Up, Then Cooked by Jack Heise: An act of kindness by a beloved grandmother would turn deadly at the hands of her grandsons and daughter-in-law. And police would discover another unconsciousable murder from the past.

The Lesbian Lovers Spun A Lethal Web by Pat Turner: All Bob Downey wanted was his family together. All his wife wanted was to be with her lesbian lover. Only one of them would get their way.

Monster Who Squeezed His Victims To Death by Bruce Stockdale: It’s the age-old motive: greed. But the greedy killer here would pay a very hefty price.

I’m a fan of short stories, so I enjoyed reading Bizarre Murderers; however, if you one who wants the whole story, then this one isn’t for you as most of them leave out a great deal of detail.

Want to read it? Here’s where you can get it:
            

Updates from this book:

Michael Yarbrough, also known as James William Yarbrough, was released on parole in 2009.

Michael Telling was released from prison on January 24, 1994, and subsequently moved to Rossmoyne, Western Australia, where no one knew of his murderous past until his death in December 2009.

Michael Woodmansee was eventually convicted of 2nd degree murder and Assault with a Deadly Weapon and sentenced to a total of 50 years. However, with credit for good behavior, he is scheduled to be released in December 2011. He will be 53 years old.

Dennis Nilsen is, fortunately, still incarcerated at the HMP Full Sutton maximum security prison in Yorkshire.

Although the story doesn’t mention it, Lionetti Haynes and Charles Haynes had a child that was removed from them following their arrests and placed into foster care, eventually adopted. Charles died March 21, 1993.

James P. Riva II was denied parole a second time in August 2009. He remains incarcerated at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

Joel Ferkins continues to serve his sentence at Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York. He will not be eligible for release until April 2023, when he is 74 years old.

Timothy Robert Burgess remains behind bars at the South Florida Reception Center in Miami, Florida. Serving life, he’s always looking for a few good penpals.

Robin Benedict‘s body was never found. Dr. William Douglas served only 8 1/2 years. Before being released in 1990, he remarried Bonnie Jean Smith. His last known whereabouts was somewhere in New England. A book about this case was written by Teresa Carpenter titled Missing Beauty.

Lawrence Foye, now 48 years old, is currently imprisoned at Mid-Orange Correctional Center in Warwick, New York. He will be eligible for parole in April 2012. Lenore Gilbey‘s daughter, Emma, who was 12 at the time of her murder, is following in her mother’s footsteps as an author and journalist.

Ruth Neslund died on February 17, 1993, at the age of 73, while serving her sentence at Women’s Correction Center in Purdy, Washington. Rolf Neslund’s body has never been found. Ann Rule highlighted this case in her 2006 true crime book No Regrets.

John David “Butch” Witte received a 20 year sentence for his role in his grandmother’s death. Eric Witte was sentenced to 20 years for the murder of his father. Both of them were released in 1996; however, Butch later died as a result of complications from diabetes. Hilma Marie Witte was still in prison as of March 2010; although her location of incarceration cannot be located. A book by Clifford L. Linedecker was written about this case and published in 1993 under the title Blood Money.

After serving 16 years, 8 months of her life sentence, Diane April Downey was paroled on September 16, 1999. She is now 61 years old. Her partner-in-crime, Linda Marie Prudden was paroled April 29, 1993, after serving only 5 years, 10 months of her life sentence. She is now 63 years old.

Charles Jess Palmer died at the age of 68 in August 2006 while still awaiting execution on Nebraska’s death row.