Andrew Cunanan was a serial killer from California who would murder five men before ending his own life including fashion designer Gianni Versace. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at serial killer Andrew Cunanan
Andrew Cunanan Background
Andrew Cunanan was born in National City California on August 31, 1969 to parents Modesto “Pete” Cunanan and Mary Anne Schillaci. Andrew’s father was in the United Stats Navy at the time of his birth.
Andrew Cunanan would be remembered as a very smart and talkative young man during his school days. Andrew who would identify as gay during high school preferred to date older men who could financially take care of him. Cunanan was also remembered as a prolific liar who constantly changed his appearance.
When Andrew Cunanan was nineteen years old his father would desert the family and head back to the Philippines to evade arrest for embezzlement. After high school Andrew would enroll in College at UC San Diego however he would soon drop out and move to San Francisco
Cunanan would continue to date older wealthy men and began to create violent pornography. Andrew would also begin to abuse painkillers and alcohol. After a relationship ended Cunanan would sell drugs to support himself and his drug abuse continued to worsen
In April 1997 Andrew Cunanan would fly to Minnesota and soon after the murders would begin
Andrew Cunanan Murders
Jeffrey Trail would be murdered on August 27, 1997. Andrew Cunanan and Trail were close friends that had a falling out in the weeks prior. Cunanan would go over to the home of Trail, and the two would have an argument and Cunanan would steal his gun. Cunanan would call Jeffrey Trail from David Madison apartment and told Trail to come and get his gun. When Trail arrived he would be beaten to death with a hammer while David Madison watched. The body of Jeffrey Trail would be found days later
David Madison would be murdered a few days after Trail. David would spend the next few days with Andrew Cunanan as the two were witnessed together in the building elevator. David Madison body would be found with several gunshot wounds including to the back and head
On May 4, 1997 Andrew Cunanan would travel to Chicago and murder 72 year old Lee Miglin. Cunanan would murder the elderly man by stabbing him multiple times and slitting his throat with a hacksaw blade. Lee Miglin had been bound with duct tape. Cunanan would steal a Lexus belonging to Miglin and left another vehicle belonging to Madison on the street.
On May 9, 1997 Andrew Cunanan would arrive in New Jersey where he would murder William Reese at the Finn’s Point National Cemetery. William Reese would be shot in the head by the same gun that killed David Madison. Andrew would steal Reese’s truck and begin to drive to Florida
On July 15, 1997 Andrew Cunanan would murder Gianni Versace on the steps of Versace mansion in Miami Beach Florida. Versace would be shot several times with the same gun to murder Reese and Madison. When police would arrive on the scene they would find Reese’s truck that contained newspaper articles and clothes belonging to Cunanan
Andrew Cunanan Aftermath
Andrew Cunanan who had made the FBI Most Wanted list following the murder of William Reese would be tracked to a houseboat on July 23, 1997 after a custodian heard gunshots. When authorities arrived they would find the body of Andrew Cunanan who had fatally shot himself in the head. Cunanan did not leave behind a suicide note
The motives behind Andrew Cunanan killings have never been made clear. Many believed that Cunanan tested HIV Positive and that was the reason behind the murders however Andrew tested negative.
Andrew Cunanan More News
Around 8:45 on the morning of July 15, 1997, international fashion designer Gianni Versace returned home to his Miami Beach mansion on Ocean Drive following a walk to a local café.
Suddenly, a man approached Versace, pulled out a pistol, and killed him with two shots to the back of his head. The man fled—followed at a distance by at least one witness—and disappeared into a nearby parking garage.
Miami Beach homicide detectives soon asked for assistance from the FBI’s local field office in the city. The officers were concerned that the killing might be a murder-for-hire, but evidence quickly suggested that it wasn’t. Inside the parking garage identified by the witness was a red pickup truck linked to a murder in New Jersey and a man named Andrew Phillip Cunanan, the target of an ongoing manhunt.
Andrew Cunanan was a 27-year-old college dropout from California. He was highly intelligent, spoke two languages, and since his teenage years had sought to live a life of riches and comfort. He had supplemented his earnings from an odd job here and there by serving as a male prostitute and engaging in longer-term liaisons with older homosexuals who would shower him with gifts and cash.
For reasons that remain unclear, Andrew Cunanan had begun a murderous spree in late April 1997. First, he bludgeoned a former naval officer to death with a hammer in Minneapolis. A few days later, he shot and killed an architect and dumped his body near East Rush Lake in Minnesota. Both men were his long-time associates. In May, Cunanan targeted a stranger—a 72-year-old real estate developer—in Chicago. Cunanan stole the man’s car, and, less than a week later, murdered a cemetery worker in New Jersey. He then took that victim’s red truck and drove to Miami.
Throughout this time, authorities were putting together the pieces. The investigation and forensic work linked the Chicago murder and the others to Andrew Cunanan. On May 7, the FBI joined the search for Cunanan and quickly marshaled its resources to identify and interview his friends, family, and other contacts. The New Jersey murder made it clear Cunanan was moving across the country, and gay groups were especially concerned that he might insinuate himself into their circles and continue to commit murders. The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project posted a large reward and sought to warn those who might know Cunanan.
Working with the television show America’s Most Wanted, the FBI made Andrew Cunanan the 449th addition to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on June 12, 1997. Our offices in Minnesota, California, Illinois, New Jersey, and elsewhere continued to seek information about him. The Bureau also publicized a telephone tip line and disseminated details on the FBI’s public website. But Cunanan slipped under the radar.
With the murder of Gianni Versace, though, the net began to close. Eight days later, on July 23, 1997, the caretaker of a houseboat about two miles north of Versace’s house in Miami Beach reported hearing a gunshot. Responders found Cunanan dead from a self-inflicted wound. His killing spree was over.
Paul Bernardo is a serial killer and sexual predator from Canada who along with his wife Karla Homolka are responsible for at least three murders. The Ken and Barbie Killers stunned the nation and the world with their brutal murders. During this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
Paul Bernardo – The Scarborough Rapist
All signs pointed to normal when people though of Paul Bernardo however he was keeping a dark secret as he was also The Scarborough Rapist. Over a three year period Bernardo was suspected of numerous sexual assaults and attempted sexual assaults in the Toronto area. Eventually he would be convicted of thirteen sexual assaults and six attempted sexual assaults however it is believed that is responsible for many more.
Paul Bernardo And Karla Homolka
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka would meet in October of 1987 and the two monsters would find out they enjoyed BDSM. Even though Bernardo was in a relationship he continued to sexually assault women in the Toronto area. The couple would marry in 1991
It is important to note that at this time Karla Homolka worked at Martindale Animal Clinic where she would steal drugs they would use in the murders.
Paul Bernardo Murders
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka first murder was in June 1991 and the first victim was Karla’s sister Tammy Homolka. Paul became obsessed with the fourteen year old girl and would spy on the teen while she slept. Karla helped her boyfriend by breaking the windows to the teen’s room giving him easier access.
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka would feed the fourteen year old spaghetti which was laced with Valium. After Tammy passed out she would be sexually assaulted by Bernardo while her sister watched.
Over the next six months Bernardo would attempt to drug Tammy Homolka and her friends. A few weeks before Paul and Karla were too be married, Karla would give her now fifteen year old sister a rum and coke drink that was laced with sleeping pills. After Tammy passed out Paul and Karla filmed themselves sexually assaulting the fifteen year old. Bernardo and Homolka had put a rag soaked with Halothane and Tammy would wake up vomiting.
Paul and Karla would get Tammy dressed and called 911. Tammy Homolka would die at a nearby hospital. For some reason the coroner found nothing suspicious about the death.
On June 15, 1991 Paul Bernardo was driving through Burlington, an area outside of Toronto, when he came across Leslie Mahaffy. Bernardo would approach the fourteen year old girl who locked out her home. The two would talk before Bernardo forced her into his car and blindfolded her.
Bernardo would call Karla Homolka and told her they had another victim. The two monsters would sexually assault and torture the fourteen year old girl while videotaping the whole thing. The next day Paul Bernardo would claim that Karla Homolka gave her a fatal dose of Halcion, Homolka would claim that Paul strangled her to death.
Leslie Mahaffy would be dismembered using a circular saw and then her body parts would be encased in cement and dropped into Lake Gibson.
Leslie Mahaffy body would be discovered on June 29, 1991 and identified by her orthodontic appliance. It would be the same day that Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were married
The third victim was Kristen French. Kristen who was fifteen years old would be abducted on her way home from school by both Paul and Karla on April 16, 1992, who were reportedly searching for their next victim.
Kristen French would be reported missing and the Niagara police would form a search team to look for the missing teenager. The search team would find a number of witnesses that saw her abducted.
While the police were searching for Kristen French she was being repeatedly sexually assaulted and tortured by the Ken and Barbie Killers who once again taped the brutal events. Paul and Karla would murder Kristen French and would head to Homolka’s parents home for Easter dinner.
Kristen French body would be found on April 30, 1992 as she was found nude in a ditch less than five hundred meters from where Leslie Mahaffy’s body was found.
Paul Bernardo And Karla Homolka Arrest
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka would be questioned a number of times by police over the next twenty six months. However when Bernardo brutally beat Karla around Christmas time in 1992 it opened the door.
Karla would be interviewed by the Toronto Sexual Assault Squad, February 9 1993, and later that night she would tell her Aunt and Uncle that Bernardo was the Scarborough Rapist and that Paul and her were involved in the French and Mahaffy murders and that they were videotaped.
Karla Homolka would meet with a lawyer, George Walker, who would seek immunity for Karla if she agreed to testify against Bernardo. Due to the severity of the crimes immunity was not possible.
Paul Bernardo would be arrested on February 17, 1993. The police would spend the next three months searching his home.
On May 5, 1993 Karla Homolka was offered a term of 12 years in prison however if she did not accept the plea deal within one week then she would be charged with two counts of first degree murder, one count of second degree murder and an assortment of other charges. Karla agreed.
Paul Bernardo Trial
In 1995 Paul Bernardo went on trial for the murders of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. During his trial Bernardo tried to say that the deaths were accidental however the jury would convict him on both murders. Karla Homolka who would testify against her soon to be ex husband regarding the murders and sexual assaults. Paul Bernardo would be sentenced to two twenty five years to life sentences. Paul Bernardo was also deemed a dangerous offender meaning the chances of him ever leaving prison is very slim
Karla Homolka plea deal was criticized as her attorney kept the videotapes of the murders hidden from prosecutors for seventeen months and prosecutors would say if they had seen the video tapes she would have never been given the plea deal. Karla Homolka was released from prison in 2005 and is now the mother of two children
Paul Bernardo More News
A National Parole Board panel has decided Paul Bernardo will remain behind bars. The Ontario rapist and killer was denied Wednesday in his first attempt at getting parole.
The decision was announced soon after the mothers of two of Bernardo’s victims and a woman who survived an attack read impact statements to the panel, and Bernardo spoke.
Debbie Mahaffy told the hearing that today has been an “emotional hell” for her, because she had to be in the same room as her daughter’s killer.
“I don’t want to be here,” Mahaffy said at the hearing in Millhaven Correctional Centre, east of Bath, Ont. “I do not want to be in the same room [with Bernardo]. I do not want to participate. Yet, here I am.”
Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, rapes and first-degree murders of two teenaged girls in the early 1990s, including Mahaffy’s daughter, and two counts of aggravated sexual assault.
The designated dangerous offender had been eligible for full parole since February, having served 25 years behind bars.
Leslie Mahaffy was 14 years old when she was kidnapped, tortured and killed in June 1991 at the Port Dalhousie, Ont., home of Bernardo and his then-girlfriend, Karla Homolka. They then dismembered her body, encasing her remains in cement and dumping them in a nearby lake.
“We have to relive Leslie’s pain and horror,” Mahaffy said. “Our pain and horror … as if it happened yesterday.”
Donna French’s daughter, Kristen, was 15 when she was kidnapped by Bernardo and Homolka and tortured for three days, before she was killed.
French told the hearing that Bernardo should never see freedom again.
“How does one describe such immeasurable pain so as to give even the slightest understanding of the overwhelming sadness, the emptiness, and pain we feel even after 26 years of dealing with our loss?” French said.
She also noted that the law was changed after Bernardo’s incarceration to allow for consecutive periods of parole ineligibility.
The CBC’s Ron Charles watched the parole hearing via video feed with other members of the media in a room at the Bath medium security prison. Bernardo is incarcerated at nearby Millhaven, a maximum security prison, which is where the hearing took place.
He reported the two mothers read their statements from behind Bernardo, and that Bernardo, sitting between his lawyer and his parole officer, looked down at the table with his hands in his lap as they spoke.
A third woman also spoke to the board. She is one of 14 women Bernardo admitted to raping.
She described how she was walking home on an evening in May 1988 when Bernardo attacked her from behind, dragged her into some bushes and raped her. The result has been emotional devastation from which she has never recovered, she said.
“After the assault, I really became a shell of a person,” she said. “He should never be considered for any freedom for the rest of his life.”
Bernardo, 54, spoke after the three women.
He portrayed himself as someone whose self-esteem was damaged by a childhood speech impediment. He felt increasingly inadequate, Bernardo said, adding he was afraid to interact with people. Social anxiety, he said, became sexual — he fretted constantly about being unable to perform.
“The more insecure I felt, the more I tried to control,” he said. “My self-esteem would get better that way.”
Bernardo was also convicted of manslaughter in the December 1990 death of Homolka’s younger sister, Tammy. The 15-year-old girl died after the pair drugged and sexually assaulted her. Homolka later said she wanted Bernardo to have Tammy’s virginity as a Christmas present.
Bernardo said he was completely shattered by Tammy’s death, which only exacerbated his low self-esteem and led to his increasingly savage attacks on women and girls.
“I hurt a lot of people,” he said. “I absolutely did and this is why I cry.”
One of the two Parole Board of Canada members hearing the case, Suzanne Poirier, asked him at one point: “Would you say you used women as objects?”
“Back then, absolutely,” he responded.
“How has this changed?” Poirier inquired.
“I over-used sex and that led to those cognitive distortions,” Bernardo said.” I overly based my self-esteem on sex.”
Bernardo denied being a sadistic psychopath, although he admitted he felt nothing for his victims at the time he committed his crimes. It was all a matter of asserting power and control in an effort to give his fragile ego a boost, he said.
Poirier said that, to the parole board, Bernardo’s empathy seemed to be recent.
Bernardo’s parole officer said he had made minimal gains during his time behind bars.
The longtime lawyer for the French and Mahaffy families, Tim Danson, said his clients were pleased with the parole board’s decision. But he noted Bernardo showed no remorse.
“There’s never been an apology by Paul Bernardo. There’s been never any indication whatsoever of remorse,” Danson told reporters, as member of the French family stood nearby.
“What he talked about was, he knows that what he did was wrong and it was terrible, but that’s something different than reaching out to the families and apologizing to them directly.”
Convicted serial killer Paul Bernardo has made little headway against the demons that have plagued him during his 25 years in the joint.
Bernardo, 56, jailed for life and with dangerous offender status tagged on, was caged in 1996 for murdering schoolgirls Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.
Last week, he made another bid for parole that was promptly torpedoed.
But a stroll through his Parole Board of Canada report obtained by The Toronto Sun is the most concrete evidence that at least one half of the Barbie and Ken Killers should die in prison.
For starters, jailhouse headshrinkers diagnosed the Scarborough Rapist as carrying a tractor-trailer load of woes: “Sexual sadism, voyeurism, other paraphilias, narcissistic personality disorder, and psychopathy.”
The psychiatrist examining Bernardo was blunt: These conditions are NOT treatable.
And besides, after decades rotting in prison, he still refuses to take responsibility. Doesn’t see it.
To quote the paperwork: “(In 2000) you claimed that while you had committed the kidnappings and sexual assaults, your wife (now ex-wife Karla Homolka) was responsible for the killings.”
Well, okay, most people think that is a definite possibility.
Yet again, when he was smuggling smokes and booze across the Niagara frontier, Bernardo said the feds were the only victims.
And no matter what was going on in the serial killer’s life, he admitted to jailhouse psychiatrists the one thing that always made him feel better was sex.
On most counts, Bernardo, according to the parole board, might seem an ideal candidate for release. But when you burrow down to page seven, the report states the obvious: Paul Bernardo is a psychopath.
Another problem is the convicted killer’s roaring sex drive, which remains an issue despite years in the slammer. Even Bernardo admits he has “problematic sexual interests.”
But, again, he offers up twisted justifications and blames “male privilege sexism.”
“The facilitator noted that you have difficulty accepting feedback, particularly if you disagreed, and that you viewed the majority of your problems as being caused by others,” the board wrote in its decision.
By and large, Bernardo’s behaviour behind bars has been good.
Then again, there’s those damned women. A number of Jailhouse Annie’s remain entranced by Bernardo, only to flee when he ramps up the sexual content in their communications.
Ultimately, the parole board said psychologists who have treated Bernardo determined the sex fiend remains “heavily invested in finding an alternative explanation for your criminal behaviour, such as your belief that your offences were caused by an anxiety disorder (developed as a child).”
In his 2015 assessment, a prison therapist reported that Bernardo retains all the markers of a monster.
More recently, a psychological risk assessment dated April 28, 2020, rated him at low risk for general recidivism.
As for sexual recidivism, the verdict was high.
“It is beyond debate that you are a high-risk offender,” the report stated.
So, no matter Bernardo’s denials, obfuscation, blame-shifting and other items in the tool kit of a psychopath, the parole board isn’t buying it.
In a system frequently hammered for being hard on victims and soft on criminals, no one at the parole board or the Correctional Service of Canada appears to be embracing any nutty notions for Bernardo.
For once, they have a killer’s number: Paul Bernardo is a stone-cold psychopath who will likely gasp his last breath behind drab prison walls.
Clifford Olson was a serial killer from Canada who was responsible for the murders of eleven children and teenagers. Clifford Olson who spent the majority of his life in prison continued to cause controversy from behind bars. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Clifford Olson.
Clifford Olson Early Criminal History
Clifford Olson would spend the majority of his life going in and out of jails and prisons on a variety of charges from thefts, breaking and entering and robbery. During the twenty years before the murders started Olson spend more time incarcerated than not. Some have said that Clifford Olson became the Beast From British Columbia due to him spending so much time locked up.
On September 8, 1980 Olson was released yet again from prison however this time was different as he would soon embark on a mission of terror that would frighten all of those living in British Columbia.
Clifford Olson Victims
Clifford Olson killing spree started just two months after being released from prison. Many of the victims bodies were not found until months later. Lets take a look at the timeline.
Twelve year old Christine Weller was declared missing on November 17, 1980. Her body was found with evidence that she was stabbed and strangled on Christmas Day
On April 16, 1981 Colleen Daignault was abducted and murdered her body would not be found until five months later
On April 22, 1981 Daryn Johnsrude would be beaten to death just days after arriving in Vancouver. His body would be found two weeks later
May 19, 1981 Sandra Wolfsteiner was picked up by Olson as she was hitchhiking to her boyfriends home. Her body would be found in the nearby woods. Clifford Olson just married Joan Hale four days earlier
June 21, 1981 Thirteen year old Ada Court goes missing. Her body was found two months later
July 2, 1981 Nine year old Simon Partington goes missing
July 9, 1981 Fourteen year old Judy Kozma was abducted and murdered. Her body was found two weeks later
July 23, 1981 Fifteen year old Raymond King is lured away from an employment center and is beaten to death and his body is found at a remote campground.
July 25, 1981 Sigrun Arnd a fourteen year old girl visiting from Germany is murdered
July 27, 1981 Terri Lyn Carson a fifteen year old is beaten and strangled to death. Her body would be found by the Fraser River
July 30, 1981 Louise Chartrand is picked up by Olsen, driven to a ski report where she was murdered and buried in a shallow grave
Clifford Olson Arrest And Trial
Clifford Olson would be arrested on August 12, 1981 after picking up two young girls and would be charged with suspicion of attempting to abduct. On August 25, 1981 Olson would be charged with the murder of Judy Kozma.
On January 11, 1981 Clifford Olson trial began for eleven murders to which he had plead not guilty however three days into the trial Olson would make a controversial deal with the RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where he would be paid $10,000 for each victim and would reveal where he left the bodies. Clifford Olson wife Joan Hale would be paid $100,000 as Olson said the last one was a freebie.
Clifford Olson would be sentenced to eleven life sentences to be served concurrently. Clifford would attempt to get parole in 1997 and would be denied. Olson would continue to be denied parole up until his death in 2011.
Clifford Olson Death
Clifford Olson would die on September 30, 2011 from cancer
Clifford Olson Videos
Clifford Olson More News
Serial child killer Clifford Olson, who pleaded guilty to murdering 11 children in 1982, is dead.
Relatives of his victims greeted the news with quiet relief and emotion, finally delivered from having to face the weight of Olson’s psychopathy every time the man made news even from prison.
“I don’t have to think about it anymore. About him, anyway,” said a subdued Raymond King, whose 15-year-old son was killed by Olson.
“He’s never going to pop up in our lives again. He’s never going to open those wounds again. It’s done. It’s over. Now it’s time for me.”
Serge Abergel, the Quebec region spokesman for the Correctional Service of Canada, said Olson died at the Archambault hospital centre, which is part of the prison complex where he had been an inmate.
“He was at the regional reception centre which is a multi-level federal penitentiary in Saint-Annes-de-Plaines, Quebec and at the time of his death he was at the institution’s health care centre which is attached to the jail itself,” Abergel told The Canadian Press.
He said any burial service will be kept low key.
“In a case that is notorious like this, there will come a point where the funeral will happen and it’s likely that it will be at an undisclosed location and so the public will not be made aware of the whereabouts,” Abergel said.
Olson, the 71-year-old whose name has been repeatedly invoked over the decades by those who supported bringing back the death penalty in Canada, died of cancer.
“These are tears of happiness, because justice is done for the children,” said an emotional Trudy Court, the sister of one of Olson’s victims.
“Our justice system couldn’t do it for them. But life has. He’s gone now.”
Olson’s victims were all between nine and 18 years old.
Declared a dangerous offender, Olson had often described himself as the “beast of British Columbia.” He spent 30 years behind bars, but his incarceration did not keep him out of the headlines.
In fact, his notoriety was such that it often led to changes in Canadian law. Among the changes: restrictions on early parole for murderers and the eventual elimination of the “faint hope clause,” the denial of federal pensions to certain prisoners and increased time between parole hearings for multiple murderers.
His case also spurred on the victims’ rights movement and the creation of a police tracking system for violent crimes.
It was Christmas Day 1980 when the body of 12-year-old Christine Weller was found, strangled and stabbed. The young girl from Surrey, B.C., was the first of his 11 known victims.
He reportedly lured them with the promise of a job, and then plied them with alcohol and drugs. He tortured them, sexually assaulted them, killed them and then dumped their bodies.
Olson became a suspect early in the police investigation. He had been a juvenile delinquent and had spent all but five years of his adult life in prison. His fellow inmates had tried to kill him.
However, police later claimed they didn’t have enough resources to keep tabs on him as he drove thousands of kilometres around B.C. in rental cars.
Olson’s arrest on Aug. 12, 1981 ended the killing spree. Before he pleaded guilty in 1982, Olson struck a notorious cash-for-bodies deal with police.
His wife received $100,000 after Clifford Olson led investigators to the bodies. The deal angered many of the victims’ families, who felt Olson had profited from their tragic losses.
Olson was sentenced to life in prison, but being behind bars didn’t stop his ability to terrorize. That’s how Gary Rosenfeldt, who died in 2009, once described what happened to his family.
His 16-year-old stepson, Daryn Johnsrude, was Olson’s third victim. In the spring of 1981, Johnsrude ran an errand for his mother, Sharon Rosenfeldt, to the corner store near his home in Coquitlam, B.C. His body was found a month later; the teen had been sexually assaulted.
After his stepson’s death, the Rosenfeldts launched a group called Victims of Violence. A few years later, in 1986, Olson wrote a letter to Rosenfeldt describing Johnsrude’s ordeal.
“He described in detail exactly what he did to our son,” Rosenfeldt said. Clifford Olson also wrote book manuscripts, and was allowed to make a series of videotapes in prison. In them, he described what he did to his victims, including driving nails into their heads and asking them how it felt.
For the Rosenfeldts there were also problems with the justice system.
“We feel strongly that had justice worked in the manner it was supposed to work, 30 years ago, Clifford Olson would have been in jail serving time for other sex crimes that went unattended, that were stayed by the courts, and I feel that the justice system helped create the monster that he became and my son paid for this with his life,” Sharon told the CBC’s Mark Kelley in 2011.
In 1989, while testifying at an inquest into an inmate suicide at Kingston Penitentiary, Olson said God had forgiven him for his murders.
“I’ve asked for forgiveness, I’ve been forgiven and that’s the end of it.”
In August 1997, after serving 15 years of his sentence, Olson appeared in a Surrey courtroom asking for an early parole hearing.
For four days, the court heard victim impact statements. The likelihood of Olson’s release was slim — it took the jury 15 minutes to reject Olson’s request for parole.
However, in those days, Olson had a right to apply for an early parole hearing under Sec. 745 of the Criminal Code, the so-called faint-hope clause.
The clause dates back to 1976, when Parliament scrapped the death penalty and added a parole hearing for inmates that had served 15 years of a sentence.
The clause was seen as an incentive for good behaviour, affording prisoners a parole hearing before they served 25 years, when a parole hearing is mandatory. The controversy surrounding Olson’s request, and the anguish it caused for his victims families, sparked a campaign to have the clause erased.
Days after his 1997 parole hearing, the families and others opposed to the clause staged a demonstration in B.C. The law was eventually amended to exclude serial killers like Olson.
And for other killers, such hearings were no longer automatic. A judge would screen the applications, and juries would have to be unanimous before a murderer’s parole ineligibility period could be shortened.
In April 2006, the newly elected Harper government promised to get rid of the faint-hope clause and it was finally repealed in 2011, when the Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Act received royal assent. Olson was the last multiple murderer in Canada to be allowed to ask for early parole.
Convicted killers have the right to apply for a hearing after serving 25 years, so on July 18, 2006, Olson was again in front of a jury asking for parole. Three of the families came to the hearing in Montreal to present victim impact statements.
However, the session was suspended before the jury made its decision. Before the break, Olson said he wasn’t applying for parole and the board had no jurisdiction over him.
“I will be staying in my cell,” he said. “I won’t be coming back to hear your retarded decision.”
During the hearing, Olson made bizarre statements. He told the three-member panel he intended to leave the country because he had reached a deal with the U.S. attorney general in exchange for information related to 9/11.
Journalist Peter Worthington, who had periodic contact with Olson since about 1989, said the convicted killer could be lucid and introspective about his crimes, then would switch to unrelated topics.
But, he said, Olson was usually in control of the conversation.
“He knows right from wrong; he just doesn’t care,” Worthington told CBC News in 2006. “Everything is a kind of learned behaviour. He’s a good con man and he manipulates.”
According to National Parole Board member Jacques Letendre, “Olson presents a high risk and a psychopathic risk. He is a sexual sadist and a narcissist. If released, he will kill again.”
As expected, Olson was denied parole.
In 2010 Olson boasted to Worthington that he had been receiving Old Age Security payments since he turned 65, five years earlier. He was also entitled to the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
The news angered the government, which introduced legislation to end pension payments to some federal prisoners. The act became law at the beginning of 2011.
In November 2010, Olson had another parole hearing and was turned down. Family members of Olson’s victims had been complaining that killers like Olson could have a hearing every two years, each time requiring them to relive the original ordeal.
They had been calling for changes to the law, “so that the families don’t have to go through this grief and aggravation every two years,” Michael Massing, whose daughter was murdered by Olson, said at the time. The federal government agreed and once again had legislation before parliament to change the law. In March, legislation that increases the time between parole hearings for multiple murderers like Olson received royal assent.
For Sharon Rosenfeldt the changes to the law have “been the emotional healing that we have been able to derive from this nightmare.”
However, she then told the CBC’s Mark Kelley, “There is no closure. There is a different way of living but there is no closure, it’s an open wound that goes on and on.”
Aileen Wuornos was a serial killer who operated in Florida. Her story was made into the movie Monster which starred Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. After she was arrested for a series of murders she would be convicted and sentenced to death. Aileen Wuornos was executed in Florida in 2002. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Aileen Wuornos.
Aileen Wuornos Childhood
Aileen Wuornos was born in Rochester Michigan to Diane Wornos and Leo Dale Pittman on February 29, 1956. At the time of the marriage Diane was fourteen years old and Leo was sixteen years old. Two months before Aileen was born her parents would divorce. The marriage lasted two years and produced two children.
editors note – just realized that Aileen Wuornos shares the same birthday as Richard Ramirez
Aileen Wuornos would never meet her father who would be arrested and incarcerated at the time of her birth. Leo Pittman would later be arrested and convicted for sex crimes against children. Pittman would commit suicide in prison in 1969
When Aileen Wuornos was four years old her mother would abandon her children and leave them with Lauri and Britta Wuornos her maternal grandparents. Unfortunately her grandfather was a severe alcoholic and Wuornos claimed she was sexually abused by him.
Aileen Wuornos would trade sexual favors at school for cigarettes, food and money when she was eleven years old and reportedly had a sexual relationship with her brother. By the time Aileen was fourteen years old she was pregnant after she was raped by an accomplice of her grandfather.
Aileen Wuornos would give birth after she moved to a home for unwed mothers. The child was immediately given up for adoption. Aileen would drop out of school soon after and her grandmother would die from liver failure. Around this time Wuornos began working as a prostitute.
Aileen Wuornos Young Adulthood
Aileen Wuornos would move to Colorado where she was soon arrested for driving under the influence, disorderly conduct and firing a weapon from a moving vehicle. Aileen would be allowed to bail out but she did not return for her court date and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
When Aileen was twenty years old she would hitchhike back to Florida and soon after would marry a sixty nine year old man who was the president of a yacht club. The marriage would be printed in the society pages in the local newspaper.
The marriage was doomed from the start as Aileen was still frequently bars and causing trouble. She would be arrested for assault and soon after would assault her husband with his own cane. The husband would file a restraint order against his wife of a month.
Aileen Wuornos would travel to Michigan where once again she would be arrested for assault after throwing a cue ball at a bartenders head. At this time Aileen brother would die from cancer.
Aileen would inherit $10,000 from her brothers life insurance policy but her trouble with the law continued as she was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. Aileen would be fined and let go. At this time Aileen and her husband would annul their marriage after nine weeks.
Wuornos would travel back to Florida where she was soon arrested yet again but this time for armed robbery. Aileen would be sentenced to two years in prison and she served just over a year
A year after getting out of prison Aileen would be arrested and charged for passing forged checks. A year later she was named as a suspect in the theft of a handgun however she was not charged
A year later Aileen would find herself in hot water as she was arrested and charged for car theft, obstruction of justice and resisting arrest.
Aileen Wuornos And Tyria Moore
Tyria Moore
Aileen Wuornos would meet Tyria Moore in a lesbian bar in Daytona Beach Florida. The two were soon detained by police for an assault that took place at a bar. The relationship between Tyria Moor and Aileen was complicated and Wuornos claimed that she loved Moore all of the way to her execution.
Around the time Aileen Wuornos and Tyria Moore met Aileen claimed she was assaulted by a bus driver however no charges were filed. Aileen claimed the bus driver had pushed her off a bridge and that Tyria Moore witnessed it take place.
Aileen Wuornos Murders
When it comes to the murders that Aileen Wuornos committed there has been a rather large debate regarding claims that Aileen was acting in self defense and was not a cold blooded murderer. Now when it comes to the first victim Richard Charles Mallory who was a convicted sex offender who spent time in prison for rape a case could be made however the next six men she murdered it is a bit more difficult.
Aileen Wuornos Victims
Richard Charles Mallory – Richard Charles Mallory owned an electronic store in Clearwater Florida. As mentioned he was a convicted rapist who spent time in prison. Aileen claimed that she was severely beaten and sodomized. Police would find his vehicle abandoned on December 1, 1989 and would find his body two days later, he had been shot several times. Mallory was fifty one years old
David Andrew Spears – David Andrew Spears was a construction worker from Winter Garden Florida who was declared missing on May 19 1990. Spears body would be found on June 1, 1990 he had been shot several times.
Charles Edmund Carskaddon – Charles Edmund Carskaddon was a rodeo worker whose body was found on June 6, 1990. He was wrapped up in a blanket and shot multiple times. Carskaddon was forty years old
Peter Abraham Siems – Peter Abraham Siers left Jupiter Florida for Arkansas in June 1990 and his car was found on July 4 1990. Aileen Wuornos and Tyria Moore were seen abandoning the car as well as Aileen hand print was found in the vehicle. Peter Abraham Siems body was never found. Siems was sixty five years old
Troy Eugene Burress – Troy Eugene Burress was a sausage salesman whose body was found on August 4, 1990 five days after he was reported missing. Burress was fifty years old and had been shot twice
Charles Richard “Dick” Humphreys – Charles Richard Humphreys was fifty six years old and a former US Air Force Major and a former Chief Of Police. On September 11, 1990 his body was found fully clothed and shot twice. He was fifty six years old
Walter Jeno Antonio – Walter Jen Antonio was sixty two year old and a truck driver and security guard. Antonio was found on November 19, 1990, he had been shot four times
Aileen Wuornos Arrest And Capture
When Aileen Wuornos and Tyria Moore had abandoned the car belonging to Peter Siems they were seen by a number of witnesses who would describe the two women to police. Police would also link Aileen to several of the victims after their belongings were found at pawnshops with Wuornos fingerprints still on them.
On January 9, 1990 Aileen Wuornos was arrested for an outstanding warrant stemming from an assault. Unknown to Aileen police had picked up Tyria Moore, who was in Pennsylvania and transferred back to Florida. Tyria had made a deal with the police where in exchange in getting a confession from Wuornos she would be immune from prosecution
Aileen Wuornos during several phone conversations Wuornos would not confess however after Tyria Moore pleaded with her that she was going to prison for something that Aileen did Wuornos would confess to the murders however she stated she was attacked by the men first.
Aileen Wuornos Trial
Aileen Wuornos first trial began in January 1991 and she faced the charges of murder regarding the case of Richard Charles Mallory. Aileen defense team would call a number of psychologists to the stand who testified that Wuornos suffered from an assortment of mental health illnesses such as borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. The defense team would also try to bring up Mallory criminal history where he was convicted of sexual assault however the judge would not allow it.
The prosecutors made sure that jury was aware of all of the trouble Aileen Wuornos had with the police over the years. Aileen Wuornos was convicted and sentenced to death.
A year later Aileen Wuornos would plead no contest to the murders of Humphreys, Burress, and Spears. Again Aileen Wuornos was sentenced to death for the three murders.
A few months later Aileen would plead guilty to the murder of Carskaddon and would receive her fifth death sentence.
Aileen Wuornos Execution
Aileen Wuornons would spend over ten years on death row and towards the end she was asking to be executed as she was tired of being in prison. Aileen would tell the Supreme Court that “she killed those men” and “robbed them as cold as ice. And I’d do it again, too. There’s no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I’d kill again. I have hate crawling through my system…I am so sick of hearing this ‘she’s crazy’ stuff. I’ve been evaluated so many times. I’m competent, sane, and I’m trying to tell the truth. I’m one who seriously hates human life and would kill again”
Aileen Wuornos would start making complaints about the way she was treated in prison accusing officials of tainting her food and that she overheard staff talking about pushing her over the edge so that she would commit suicide.
When Aileen Wuornos was speaking with director Nick Broomfield, who would make two documentaries about Wuornos, she spoke about meeting God and blamed society for the way her life turned out. She also continued to complain about the staff treatment towards her.
On October 9, 2002 Aileen Wuornos was executed by the State of Florida by lethal injection. Her last words are the following
“Yes, I would just like to say I’m sailing with the rock, and I’ll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I’ll be back, I’ll be back.”
Aileen Wuornos Videos
Frequently Asked Questions
Aileen Wuornos FAQ
Why Was Aileen Wuornos Executed
Aileen Wuornos was executed for the murders of seven men
When it comes to notorious serial killers Richard Ramirez name tends to be found at the top of the list. Richard Ramirez who the media dubbed The Night Stalker operated in California for only a few years but he left behind at least thirteen bodies in his wake. In this article on My Crime Library we are going to take a closer look at The Night Stalker
Richard Ramirez Childhood
Richard Ramirez was born in El Paso Texas on February 29, 1960 to Julian and Mercedes Ramirez, he was the youngest of five children. Richard father was former police officer in Mexico and would later work as a laborer on the Sante Fe Railway. His father was know to be physically abusive towards his family.
Richard Ramirez would idolize his uncle Miguel (“Mike”) Ramirez a former Green Beret who would share with the ten year old child his exploits during the Vietnam war. He would also share photographs of women he had raped and murdered during the war. The uncle would also allow Richard to smoke marijuana with him while he was just ten years old.
When Richard Ramirez was thirteen years old he watched his Uncle Miguel shoot his wife in the face causing her death. Miguez Ramirez was arrested and charged with the murder however would get off on an insanity plea and would only serve four years in a Texas mental hospital.
When his uncle was sent to the mental hospital Richard Ramirez would move in with his aunt and uncle. Turns out the uncle was a sexual predator who would creep around the neighborhood peeping in windows and would often take the thirteen year old Richard with him.
When his Uncle Miguel was released from the Texas mental hospital his control over Richard continued.
Richard Ramirez would get a job while still a young teen as a cleaner at a Holiday Inn, Ramirez would use his passkey to steal from hotel guests. It was at this time he began fantasizing about rape and his interest in Satanism began.
Richard would be fired from the Holiday Inn after he attempted to rape a hotel guest. The woman’s husband would find the young teen attempting to sexually assault his wife and would beat the holy heck out of him however they lived out of State so declined to press charges
Richard Ramirez would drop out of school while in the ninth grade and would drift around until he moved to California when he was twenty two years old.
Richard Ramirez Murders
Richard Ramirez started off breaking into homes in the San Francisco area however that would soon change. The Night Stalker first victim was a nine year old girl who he would rape and murder before hanging her body from a pole. This crime would go unsolved until 2009 when DNA from the crime scene would match Ramirez.
Over the next thirteen months Ramirez would break into homes where he would brutally attack the homeowners leaving many dead. Richard would use an assortment of weapons to perform his kills from household objects to knives to tools.
Eventually the police would obtain a sketch of what The Night Stalker looked like and soon a image of him would be posted across California. Richard Ramirez would eventually see his image and attempted to flee however a group of people caught him, beat him and held onto him until police arrived.
Richard Ramirez Known Victims
When it comes to Richard Ramirez victims it can be a bit difficult for as recent as 2016 more deaths have been linked to The Night Stalker
Jennie Vincow – Jennie Vincow was 79 years old when she was murdered in June 28, 1984
Dale Okazasi- Dale Okazasi was 34 years old when she was murdered on March 17, 1985. Ramirez would also attack her roommate but thankfully she survived
Tsai-Lian “Veronica” Yu – Tsai-Lian “Veronica” Yu was murdered on the same day as Dale Okazasi, Yu was dragged from her vehicle and killed
Vincent Zazzara – Vincent Zazzara was 64 years old when Ramirez broke into his home and murdered him while he slept
Maxine Zazzara – Maxine Zazzara was murdered at the same time as her husband on March 27, 1985
William Doi- William Doi was fatally shot in his home on the 14 of May 1985. He was sixty five years old
Mable Bell – Mable Bell was 84 years old and murdered in her home on June 29, 1985
Mary Louise Cannon – Mary Louise Cannon was 77 years old when she was murdered on July 2, 1985
Joyce Lucille Nelson – Joyce Lucille Nelson was 61 years old when she was beaten to death in her home in July 7, 1985
Max Kneiding – Max Kneiding was shot and stabbed with a machete inside of his home on July 20, 1985. He was 68 years old
Lela Kneiding – Lela Kneiding was murdered at the same time as her husband
Chainarong Khovananth – Chainarong Khovananth was shot and killed while he slept on July 20, 1985
Elyas Abowath – Elyas Abowath was killed on August 8, 1985 while Richard Ramirez broke into the home
Richard Ramirez Trial
Richard Ramirez would go on trial on July 22, 1988. Richard who would show up for the trial with pentagrams drawn onto his hands and yelling “Hail Satan”. A rather odd event happened a few weeks into the trial when one of the jurors was found dead in her home. Of course people speculated that Richard Ramirez was somehow responsible for the murder however it would turn out the woman was killed by her boyfriend who would later kill himself
Ramirez was convicted of thirteen counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, eleven sexual assaults and fourteen burglaries. At the time the Richard Ramirez trial was the most expensive in California history until the OJ Simpson charade.
Richard Ramirez would be sentenced to death and sent to California Death Row
Richard Ramirez Death
Richard Ramirez would spend twenty three years on California Death Row until his death on June 7, 2013. According to autopsy results Richards cause of death was complications with B-cell lymphomas, a form of blood cancer. It was also found that Ramirez was dealing with Chronic substance abuse and chronic hepatitis C
Richard Ramirez Videos
Richard Ramirez Interview
Richard Ramirez Following His Capture
Frequently Asked Questions
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