Posted on 03/06/2012 6:36:50 AM PST by Borges
William Heirens, the notorious "Lipstick Killer" who confessed to three murders on the North Side in the 1940s, has died.
Heirens, 83, was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m. Monday at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was the longest-serving inmate in Illinois history.
Officials at Dixon Correctional Center in Dixon found Heirens unresponsive in his cell and he was brought to the UIC Medical Center, a medical examiner’s spokeswoman said. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Heirens was a 17-year-old college student when he confessed to killing two women in their homes and strangling 6-year-old Suzanne Degnan, whose body was dismembered and disposed of in the city's sewers.
The slayings caused a media sensation in 1940s Chicago. "For heaven's sake, catch me before I kill more," read a message scrawled in lipstick on the wall of one victim's apartment. "I cannot control myself."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Good riddance to bad rubbish. The man lived 60+ years longer than he should have.
Then out of nowhere a monster like this dies and reminds us that evil is not invincible, and indeed, ultimately destined for a comeuppance of quite literally, Biblical proportions.
He was the longest-serving inmate in Illinois history......
I have a great way to reduce costs, open our prison space and save billions if not more......just stop feeding the bastards or off them as soon as they are found guilty. Then shout out loudly, “NEXT!”
The son, a detective, of Dr. George Hodel whom the son believes to be the Black Dahlia killer, thinks his dad may in fact be responsible.
Here is the Most Evil show I saw via You Tube where it highlights the crime and features an interview with Bill Heirens (interview at 10:20 or so into the video):
Here is the son of Dr. Hodel talking about his dad and the lipstick killings:
Lastly, if Bill Heirens wasn't the killer what an awful injustice to be locked up for 60+ years for a crime you didn't commit. If he in fact was not the Lipstick killer, rest in peace Bill Heirens.
In this video, son of Dr. George Hodel presents his theory that his dad may have been the Lipstick Killer.
They gave him sodium pentothal and a spinal tap. Yikes.
You left out beatings and deprivation of food and water. It took him a month to finally confess. But hey, it’s probably not true since it happened in Chicago. We all know nothing corrupt has ever happened in Chicago ;)
He also didn’t have a lawyer during that month of torture. It’s horrible to think that he may have been innocent.
It truly is horrible if he didn't do it. I know that a lot of prisoners say they are innocent, but a few of them really are innocent. He was only 17 when arrested and spent his whole life in prison. My oldest is 15. I can't imagine him having his whole life taken away from him in a couple of years. The police were under pressure to find the person responsible and he might have just happened to have been a convenient scapegoat. He was a petty thief, but maybe not a murderer? Only God knows.
Funny enough, I was watching Discovery ID yesterday and they did a story that I had previously seen on another show. It was about a teenage boy and his two friends. The boy’s younger sister was murdered in the family home. For some reason the police honed in on the boy. After much interrogation, sleep deprivation, and abuse the boy and one of the friends confessed they did it just so the interrogation would stop. Turns out it was a transient/schizo that had been in the area and knocking on doors that day looking for a girl he liked to share drugs with. The boy was only 14. The videos of him being interrogated were so sad. He kept insisting he didn’t do it, but finally gave in.
It’s also possible that the three murders were not connected, so it’s possible that two murderers got away with it.
I’ve heard of that happening a number of times. The best advice is: don’t talk to the authorities without a lawyer. Period. Unfortunately, teens and children aren’t usually capable of managing that kind of advice. They’re just too vulnerable.
Yes. I can't remember what were the similarities with those Chicago killings. Maybe just lipstick was involved in all of them. I'll have to look that up later.
Very true. We’ve had some incidents here in the Denver area where kids have gotten into fairly serious trouble over relatively minor stuff. Good advice for adults too. I always try to be helpful and tell all I know, but that can get your butt into a jam with the cops sometimes.
Imho, it’s human nature to try to help out by giving information to the police, but that can backfire. I’ve seen some cases on those shows where people have been convicted of murder with what appears to be little if any evidence. It’s one of the reasons that I have altered my position regarding the death penalty.
If he was innocent, I don't know which would have been worse. Being executed wrongly at a young age or spending most of your life in prison for a crime you didn't do.
I’m still for the death penalty, but I want to see some physical evidence, as well as motive and a lot of circumstantial evidence. The last thing that our justice system should ever do is convict an innocent person.
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