[fso301]

Melbourne, Australia: The 2nd victim of the “Brownout Strangler”, 31 year old Pauline Thompson was found this morning. She had told her husband, a policeman in Bendigo, that was going to a dance at the Music Lover’s club with a number of her girlfriends and a very young American, Private Justin Jones. She had planned to meet Private Jones at the American Hospitality Club before the dance at 7pm. Private Jones was 30 minutes late. Pauline gave up waiting for Jones and she was later seen with a soldier at the Astoria Hotel. They were seen leaving the hotel just before midnight. It was a dark, rainy miserable night. Pauline’s body was found at about 4am on the steps of Morningside House in Spring Street. She had been badly strangled and her clothing was torn. (Denis Peck)

[Snowyman]

Edward Joseph Leonski (December 12, 1917 – November 9, 1942) . Leonski is known as the “Brownout Strangler”, given Melbourne’s wartime status of keeping low lighting (not as stringent as a wartime blackout).

On May 3, 1942, Ivy Violet McLeod, 40, was found dead in Albert Park, Melbourne. She had been beaten and strangled, and because she was found to be in possession of her purse it was evident that robbery was not the motive.

Just six days later, 31-year-old Pauline Thompson was strangled after a night out. Gladys Hosking, 40, was the next victim, murdered on May 18 while walking home from work at the Chemistry Library at Melbourne University.

Leonski confessed to the crimes and was convicted and sentenced to death at a United States Army general court-martial on July 17, 1942. Leonski was hanged at Pentridge Prison on November 9, 1942, only the second American serviceman to be executed during World War II.