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Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris Tool Box Killers

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris were a pair of serial killers who were known as the Tool Box Killers and to be honest the best part of their story is that they are both dead. The Tool Box Killers who were responsible for five murders of teenage girls in 1979. Even though the number of murders that they are responsible for are much lower than other notorious serial killers it is the brutality of their crimes that have made them infamous. In this article we are going to take a closer look at Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris the Tool Box Killers.

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris Early Years

Lawrence Bittaker was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on September 27, 1940 to a couple who immediately put him up for adoption. Lawrence Bittaker criminal history would start at twelve for a series of thefts. Lawrence Bittaker had a high IQ (138) but did poorly in school and soon would find himself incarcerated at the California Youth Authority. When he was finally released from the CYA Lawrence Bittaker would find out his adopted parents disowned and completely cut him out of their lives.

Roy Norris was born in Greeley Colorado on February 5 1948 out of wedlock. His parents would marry but it was a disaster from the beginning. Roy Norris was in and out of the foster care system for most of his young life. Eventually Roy Norris would join the Navy where he would serve one tour before being honorably discharged

Lawrence Bittaker Criminal History

Soon after Lawrence Bittaker was discharged from the California Youth Authority he would steal a vehicle and drive across State lines which would result in an eighteen month sentence in the Oklahoma State Reformatory. When he was finally released he would return to California where he would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

However he would only serve 2 years before he was released. Bittaker would soon break his parole and would be sent back to prison. In 1967 he would be released from prison again on parole even though the prison psychiatrist diagnosed him as a psychopath. Again Lawrence Bittaker would be arrested for leaving the scene of an accident and received an additional 5 years in prison. Lawrence would spend the next three years in prison before being released yet again.

When Lawrence Bittaker was released from prison in 1974 and soon after he would be arrested for stabbing a grocery store employee after he was confronted for stealing food. Once again Lawrence Bittaker would be sent back to prison

Roy Nelson Criminal History

Roy Nelson after being discharged from the Navy would soon be arrested after he forced his way into a car and attempted to sexually assault a woman. Roy Nelson would attempt to force his way into a woman’s home who thankfully was able to call police.

While out on bail Roy Nelson would attack a College student who was struck repeatedly with a rock. Roy Nelson would be sentenced to five years in prison at the Atascadero State Hospital where he was classified as a mentally disorganized sex offender. Some reason the team of doctors would declare him no longer a threat to society and released him in 1975.

Soon after his release Roy Nelson would sexually assault a woman and would be sent back to prison where he would meet Lawrence Bittaker

Lawrence Bittaker And Roy Nelson: Tool Box Killer Murders

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Nelson would meet at the California Men’s Colony where they struck up a friendship after finding out that they shared the same interests when it came to women. Soon after they were released the two would meet up again and California was not ready for what was about to begin.

Over a time period Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Nelson would pick up a series of female hitchhikers in what they would later call training runs in which they perfected their ruses and secluded locations which would be used in the Tool Box Killer murders.

The first murder was sixteen year old Lucinda Lynn Schaefer who was abducted on June 24 1979 when she was leaving a church meeting. Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Nelson would grab her off the street and force her into the van. Once inside of the van Lucinda Lynn Schaefer was bound with duct tape and driven to a remote location. Lucinda Lynn Schaefer would ultimately be strangled, wrapped in a plastic shower curtain and thrown off a cliff.

The second murder took place took place two weeks later when Andrea Joy Hall, 18 years old, who was picked up while hitchhiking. Andrea Joy Hill would be bound and brought to a remote location where she was repeatedly raped before Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Nelson drove to yet another location where she was killed when an ice pick was slammed into her brain, she was then strangled and thrown off a cliff.

The third and fourth murder were a pair of girls who were sitting on a bus bench. Jackie Doris Gilliam and Jacqueline Leah Lamp who were aged fifteen and thirteen years respectively. The two girls would be lured into the van and soon after the young teens would realise they had made a huge mistake. The two girls were tortured and sexually assaulted for two days before they were murdered.

The fifth murder was sixteen year old Shirley Lynette Ledford on October 31 1979. Shirley Lynette Ledford would be picked up hitchhiking. Soon after Shirley Lynette Ledford would be tortured, which the sounds of it were recorded by a small tape recorder, for two hours before she was strangled with a clothes hanger. In this last murder Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Nelson would dispose of the body in public as they wanted a reaction from the public.

Lawrence Bittaker And Roy Nelson Aftermath

Roy Nelson would meet a man he knew from prison and would tell him about what he and Lawrence Bittaker were up to over the last few months and would provide details about the Shirley Lynette Ledford murder, the only murder made public at the time. Needless to say the police would find out and soon Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Nelson were in custody on a variety of charges.

Roy Nelson would make a full confession to police about the five murders in exchange for prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table. Roy Nelson would ultimately be sentenced to life in prison and would die behind bars in February 2020

Lawrence Bittaker would go on trial for the five murders and attempted to blame everything on Roy Nelson. Needless to say it did not work as he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death. Lawrence Bittaker would die from natural causes on California death row in December 2019.

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Nelson Videos

Lawrence Bittaker Death

Lawrence Sigmond Bittaker, one of the “Tool Box Killers” who preyed on teenage girls in Southern California 40 years ago, has died of natural causes, state corrections officials said Monday.

Bittaker and accomplice Roy Lewis North kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered five girls in 1979. Their nickname came from the tools like a screwdriver, pliers and an ice pick that they used to torture and kill their victims.

Bittaker, 79, died Friday in San Quentin State Prison, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement. The cause of death will be determined by the Marin County coroner.

The killings began that June, with the death of Lucinda Lynn Schaefer, 16. She was followed by Andrea Joy Hall, 18; Jacqueline Doris Gilliam, 15; Jacqueline Leah Lamp, 13, and Shirley Lynette Ledford, 16.

Norris testified against Bittaker after pleading guilty to all charges in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty against him.

A Los Angeles County jury convicted Bittaker of five counts of murder, five counts of kidnapping as well as other charges including criminal conspiracy, rape, oral copulation, sodomy and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to death on March 22, 1981.

Norris was sentenced to a term of 45 years to life and remains in prison.

Due to various legal challenges and court decisions, California has not executed anyone in years, and earlier this year Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on executions for as long as he is in office.

According to corrections statistics, 82 condemned California inmates have died from natural causes since 1978, when capital punishment was reinstated after a period in which the state Supreme Court ruled it to be cruel and unusual punishment.

In that span, another 27 inmates have died by suicide, 13 have been executed in California, two have been executed in other states, and 14 have died from other causes. Determinations of the causes of death for four others are pending.

There are now 729 inmates on the state’s death row.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-killer-lawrence-bittaker-one-tool-box-killers-dies-79-n1102791

Roy Norris Death

Roy Lewis Norris passed away from natural causes Monday at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was 72.

His death came a little more than two months after his partner in the crimes, Lawrence Sigmond Bittaker, died on death row at San Quentin State Prison at the age of 79.

The men were known as the Tool Box Killers because the items they used to torture and murder the girls – such as pliers and ice picks – could be found in a toolbox, according to CBS San Francisco.

Between June and November of 1979, Norris and Whittaker kidnapped, raped and murdered five teen girls: 16-year-old Lucinda Lynn Schaefer, 18-year-old Andrea Joy Hall, 15-year-old Jacqueline Doris Gilliam, 13-year-old Jacqueline Leah Lamp and 16-year-old Shirley Lynette Ledford.

The bodies of Schaefer and Hall were never found, CDCR reports.

As part of a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid the death penalty, Norris plead guilty to five counts of murder, two counts of forcible rape and robbery, the CDCR reports.

Norris testified against Bittaker, who in 1981 was found guilty by a Los Angeles County jury of 26 counts of murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, rape, oral copulation, sodomy and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to death.

Billy Chemirmir Charged With Killing 18 Women

Billy Chemirmir is an alleged serial killer who is on trial for the murder of 18 women in the Dallas Texas area. According to police reports Billy Chemirmir was arrested after a 91 year old woman told officers that a man forced his way into her home and stole a number of items. When police arrested Billy Chemirmir he had a number of valuables and cash on him. Dallas police would later say that Billy Chemirmir was using a his job as an elderly aide to scope out women he would later rob and murder. Billy Chemirmir was later charged with eighteen murders.

However when he went on trial for the murder of Lu Thi Harris the jury would end up deadlocked when it came to the verdict. Now Billy Chemirmir is back on trial for the Lu Thi Harris and still faces seventeen more charges of capital murder

Billy Chemirmir More News

The retrial of a man charged with killing 18 older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span is set to begin Monday, after the first jury to hear a case against him deadlocked. Billy Chemirmir, 49, faces life in prison without parole if he’s convicted of capital murder in the smothering of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. Prosecutors have said he followed the widow home from Walmart, killed her, and stole her jewelry and cash. Chemirmir faces capital murder charges in all 18 of the women’s deaths — 13 in Dallas County and five in nearby Collin County. However, he’s currently only scheduled to stand trial in the death of Harris. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, who isn’t seeking the death penalty for Harris’ killing, has said he plans to try Chemirmir for at least one more death, though he hasn’t said whose. Chemirmir has maintained that he’s innocent. Loren Adair Smith, whose 91-year-old mother, Phyllis Payne, is among those Chemirmir is charged with killing, said she was shocked by the mistrial in November and plans to attend the retrial.

“We want justice and we want closure, and we want him to not be able to hurt anyone again,” Smith said. Billy Chemirmir was arrested in March 2018 after 91-year-old Mary Annis Bartel said a man forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community for older people and held a pillow over her face. Bartel, who survived the attack, later discovered she was missing jewelry. According to police, when officers tracked Chemirmir to his nearby apartment following that attack, he was holding jewelry and cash. Documents in a large red jewelry box that police say he had just thrown away led them to a home, where Harris was dead in her bedroom, lipstick smeared on her pillow. The number of people Chemirmir was accused of killing grew after his arrest, with most of the families of his alleged victims only learning months or years after their loved one’s death that authorities believed they had been killed. Most of the people Chemirmir is accused of killing were found dead in their apartments at independent living communities for older people, where he allegedly forced his way in or posed as a handyman. He’s also accused of killing women in private homes, including the widow of a man he had cared for in his job as an at-home caregiver.

Though Billy Chemirmir was only tried in November for Harris’ death, jurors were also told about the attack on Bartel and the killing of 87-year-old Mary Brooks, who was found dead in her home about six weeks before Chemirmir’s arrest. Chemirmir told police in a video-recorded interview that was played at his trial that he made money by buying and selling jewelry and had also worked as an at-home caregiver and as a security guard. Chemirmir’s attorneys rested their case without calling any witnesses or presenting evidence. They dismissed the evidence against their client as “quantity over quality” and asserted that prosecutors hadn’t proved Chemirmir’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin disputed that assertion. He said he proved that Chemirmir and Harris were at a Walmart at the same time, that two-and-a-half hours later he was in possession of her property and that she had been smothered. Creuzot told The Dallas Morning News: “Circumstantial evidence can sometimes be stronger than eye-witness testimony. So, in a case like this, it’s very important that the jury and every individual juror understands that.”

Toby Shook, a former Dallas County prosecutor who now works as a defense attorney, said he expects that during the retrial, prosecutors might “change up their preparation or presentation of some of their witnesses in order to make their case clearer to the jury.” “It was surprising that a hung jury resulted in that the state had the advantage of putting on several offenses for the jury to consider and that’s a powerful weapon the state has in a case like this,” said Shook, who isn’t involved in the case. Smith said her family assumed that her mother’s death six years ago in her apartment in an independent living center was from natural causes, though it came as a shock because she was still so active. She said that while packing up her mother’s things, they discovered missing jewelry and filed a police report but assumed the items had been taken by someone after her death. Smith said a police detective called two years later to say investigators believed her mother had been killed. She said that after so many years, a conviction would bring closure and “a great feeling that justice has prevailed.”

https://www.thestate.com/news/nation-world/national/article260715337.html

Lucy Letby Charged With 8 Newborn Murders

Lucy Letby is a former nurse from the United Kingdom who has been charged with the murders of five boys and three girls in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016. Lucy Letby is also charged with attempting to murder five boys and five girls during the same time period. Needless to say the murders are beyond comprehension. Lucy Letby is sitting behind bars and waiting for her upcoming trial in October 2022 which is expected to last for six months.

Update – Lucy Letby was convicted of seven murders plus additional charges and was sentence to spend the rest of her life in prison – http://mycrimelibrary.com/lucy-letby-nurse-serial-killer/

Lucy Letby More News

A nurse accused of murdering eight babies has made another appearance in court ahead of her trial.

Lucy Letby denies murdering five boys and three girls on a neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

The 31-year-old also denies attempting to murder five boys and five girls.

Ms Letby spoke only to confirm her name and that she could hear proceedings via videolink from Manchester Crown Court.

The nurse, who is being held at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, sat impassively throughout the 45-minute hearing as legal issues, which cannot be reported, were discussed.

The parents of two of her alleged victims were sitting in the public gallery, with more watching via video from Chester Crown Court.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of surviving and deceased children allegedly attacked by Letby, and prohibits identifying the parents or witnesses connected with the children.

Letby, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, was once again remanded in custody by Mr Justice Goss as the hearing concluded.

The trial, which is scheduled to last six months, is due to start on 4 October with a pre-trial hearing to be held in early June.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-61079289

Richard Paul White Serial Killer Bodies In The Backyard

Richard Paul White is a serial killer from Colorado who was responsible for at least three murders. According to court documents Richard Paul White would sexually assault and murder two women Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27, and Victoria Lyn Turpin, 32, whose bodies would be buried in his backyard. Richard Paul White was also convicted of the murder of Jason Reichardt, 27, who was fatally shot although Richard Paul White would later say it was an accident. Richard would also be convicted of the sexual assaults and torture of three women who were able to survive. Richard Paul White is serving three life sentences plus 144 years in prison.

Richard Paul White 2022 Information

Name:WHITE, RICHARD P
Age:49
Ethnicity:WHITE
Gender:MALE
Hair Color:RED
Eye Color:BLUE
Height:6′ 01″Weight:309

DOC Number:124403
Est. Parole
Eligibility Date:
Next Parole
Hearing Date:This offender is scheduled on the Parole Board agenda for the month and year above. Please contact the facility case manager for the exact date.
Est. Mandatory
Release Date:Est. Sentence
Discharge Date:12/31/9998
Current Facility
Assignment:CENTENNIAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

Richard Paul White More News

It’s too soon for the little boy to talk about losing his mom, so he pounds a basketball instead.

His younger sister is the one with all the questions about why a serial killer named Richard Paul White took the life of her mother, 25-year-old Torrey Marie Foster.

“She says her mom wasn’t a bad person, so why did he do that to her?” recalled Della Cardoza, 61, Foster’s grandmother, who is caring for the children. “I don’t have an answer.”

Denver police confirmed Tuesday what Cardoza said the family has known since Saturday: A skeleton found last year near Mesita in southern Colorado was that of Foster, an outgoing woman who was studying cosmetology with hopes of a new life

Richard Paul White helped authorities find Foster’s body as part of an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to the murders of two women found buried in the backyard of his former Denver home.

Richard Paul White told investigators how he strangled a woman in 2002 after picking her up at a bus stop near Colfax Avenue in Denver. He helped them locate the remains near his father’s home in Mesita near the New Mexico border in September 2004.

But the victim’s identity was a mystery until the Denver District Attorney’s Office released a sketch that was recognized by Denver homicide Detective Jon Priest, who remembered Foster as a witness in one of his cases.

The District Attorney’s Office then used DNA from Foster’s 9-year-old daughter to confirm the woman’s identity, spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said.

After being told what happened to their mother, Foster’s daughter and her 11- year-old son did not want to start school in Denver this week, Cardoza said. She urged them to go in order to have some sense of normalcy.

“He’s pretty quiet,” she said of the boy. “He plays basketball. I figure he’s using it as a weapon, just playing and playing and playing.”

The little girl, she said, is inconsolable.

“She wants her mommy. She doesn’t want to stay with me forever,” she said.

Cardoza worries for both children, whom Foster entrusted to her care while in cosmetology school.

“She used to live with me, most of the time,” Cardoza said of her granddaughter. “She was married, and then he left. So she tried to get it together again.”

After his capture in September 2003, Richard Paul White told officers how in January 2002 he picked up a tall, “dark-skinned” woman who was blind in her right eye and drove her to his house at 2885 Albion St., where he strangled her. White said he knew he was fated to kill her because he had a tattoo of a similar woman.

Richard Paul White, now 32, described the woman in detail. He said the tall, thin woman had just gotten her dark, crimped hair done; had perfect teeth; had a bad scar on her forearm; and had children.

In November 2003, White was sentenced to life in prison for strangling Annaletia Maria Gon zales, 27, and Victoria Lyn Tur pin, 32, whose bodies were found in his former backyard.

Because of the deal with prosecutors, which included his help in locating Foster’s remains, Richard Paul White will not be charged with her death, Kimbrough said.

He received an additional 144 years for raping and torturing three of his surviving victims.

Richard Paul White Serial Killer

Robert Hayes Serial Killer Convicted Of 3 Murders

Robert Hayes is a serial killer from Florida who was just convicted of three murders and is accused of more. According to court documents Robert Hayes would murder sex workers from 2005 to 2006. At the time Robert Hayes was attending Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach and during his senior year he would murder Laquetta Gunther, 45, Julie Green, 34 and Iwana Patton, 35. Robert Hayes is also accused of the murder of Rachel Bey, 32, who was found in 2016. The police were able to use the DNA from all four murders to tie it to Robert Hayes who would be arrested and convicted of the earlier three murders. Robert Hayes is now going through the sentencing process where he does face the death penalty. Of course I am wondering if there is more victims that took place between 2006 to 2016

Robert Hayes More News

A former criminal justice major and college cheerleader was convicted in the killings of three Florida women who were working prostitutes more than 15 years ago.

Jurors deliberated more than eight hours before returning the guilty verdict against Robert Hayes, who was linked by DNA evidence to the three victims after another killing in Palm Beach County, where he had been working as a chef until his arrest in 2019.

Hayes, 39, showed no reaction as the clerk read the jury’s verdict Tuesday evening, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty during the sentencing phase beginning next week.

Hayes graduated in 2006 from Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach. The victims were found slain in the city his senior year.

The body of Laquetta Gunther, 45, was found in a gap between an auto parts store and a mostly empty utility building around Christmas 2005. Julie Green, 34, was found Jan. 14, 2006, on a dirt road at a construction site. The body of 35-year-old Iwana Patton was found that Feb. 24 along a dirt road. All were nude, lying face down, shot in the head.

The deaths caused widespread panic among sex workers in the Daytona Beach area, resulting in some of them working with investigators to memorize license plates and vehicle descriptions.

Hayes also is accused in the killing of Rachel Bey, 32, a prostitute whose body was found, strangled and with her jaw and teeth broken, on March 7, 2016, near Jupiter in Palm Beach County. It took three more years before investigators said DNA recovered from all four killings led them to arrest Hayes at his home in West Palm Beach.

Years earlier, authorities investigating the Daytona Beach killings questioned Hayes twice, but didn’t arrest him, as they looked into everyone in the area who had recently purchased a .40-caliber handgun similar to the one used against the first three victims, the newspaper reported. Police said he bought the gun in 2005, shortly before the first victim was killed.

https://weartv.com/news/local/jury-ex-cheerleader-guilty-in-killings-of-3-florida-women