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    Deadly Duos
    Deadly Duos
    Deadly Duos
    Ebook360 pages5 hours

    Deadly Duos

    By Paul Roland

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    About this ebook

    A California couple abduct, sexually abuse and torture teenage girls in the back of their customized minivan while their own daughter watches. An odd couple play 'make-up' with the severed head of their latest victim. Two wealthy University graduates team up to slaughter strangers and then escape justice because their crimes seem too unbelievable to be true.

    Serial killers and sadistic sex murderers are, by nature, solitary predators who keep their sordid secret to themselves. So what makes such seemingly ordinary individuals hunt together, feeding off each other's addiction to cruelty? Is it a power trip? Do they need the approval of an admiring partner? Or is it just tainted love spiraling out of control?

    An increasing number of brutal crimes are being perpetrated by two or more individuals acting in tandem. Together they are twice as dangerous, twice as deadly. By working together one can cover the other's tracks, subdue their struggling victims and make the disposal of bodies even easier..

    Author Paul Roland focuses on some of the most horrible crimes ever committed by couples and presents a carefully chosen selection of their stories. These illustrated case-studies are viewed with an unflinching gaze, making for a chilling yet engrossing read.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcturus Publishing
    Release dateJun 15, 2010
    ISBN9781848379121
    Deadly Duos

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    • 1/5
      Get the facts straight, please! I can ignore the poor writing and seemingly breathless recounting of these crimes, but there are factual errors and I find that unacceptable. I am researching one of these cases, and even a quick fact check and some solid editing would make a world of difference.
    • 5/5

      Fantastic Martial arts classic right here! People are so anal on these reviews bitching an complaining about every single thing smh. If you like the Shaw Brothers an Love old school Kung fu flicks then buy this now while you can because Kung Fu blu ray movies are very hard to find.

    Book preview

    Deadly Duos - Paul Roland

    CHAPTER 1

    DARK TALES FROM THE BLACK MUSEUM

    We have been conditioned to view the past as being full of larger-than-life criminals such as Sweeney Todd and Jack The Ripper. But such ‘colourful’ characters were comparatively rare and psychotic partnerships were practically unheard of. Perhaps that is why Burke and Hare, Bonnie and Clyde, The Honeymoon Killers and Gordon and Sarah Northcott linger in our collective consciousness like a bad dream.

    FRESH CORPSES FOR SALE –

    BURKE AND HARE

    ‘UP THE CLOSE AND DOWN THE STAIR, IN THE HOUSE WITH BURKE AND HARE, BURKE’S THE BUTCHER, HARE’S THE THIEF, KNOX THE BOY THAT BUYS THE BEEF.’

    SCOTTISH CHILDREN’S RHYME (ANON)

    In early 19th century Edinburgh even the dead did not rest easy. No sooner were corpses interred in the city’s cemeteries than they were likely to be dug up in the dead of night by ‘resurrectionists’ – grave robbers who profited from selling cadavers to the local medical schools.

    The golden age of scientific discovery was dawning and the Scottish capital’s surgeons were keen to supply their eager students with suitable specimens. However, they were forbidden to do so by an antiquated law which supported the Church’s assertion that the act of dissection condemned the soul of the deceased to eternal damnation. It was said that only those whose bodies were intact would enter the kingdom of heaven on the Day of Judgment. As a consequence anatomists were forced to limit their examinations to the corpses of executed criminals and vagrants.

    Contrary to popular belief, comparatively few criminals were executed at the turn of the century. Instead, transportation to the colonies had become the preferred punishment for all crimes apart from treason and murder, so fresh specimens from the scaffold were in short supply. Consequently, the only question asked of those selling cadavers was, ‘Can you obtain another?’ And if so, the fresher the better.

    Burke (left) had a chip on his shoulder about finding work, while Hare was always looking for get-rich-quick schemes

    As the grisly trade increased, grieving relatives were forced to consider paying for the installation of ‘mort safes’ – iron, cage-like contraptions built over and around the graves of the newly deceased, for fear they might be disinterred at dead of night. But few could afford such measures.

    While the more enlightened medical men lobbied unsuccessfully for a change in the law, two of their fellow citizens forced the issue by murdering at least 17 people, often their neighbours, in order to procure fresh cadavers. Ironically, neither of Britain’s most notorious bodysnatchers personally robbed a grave during their brief criminal careers. They were either too frightened or too workshy to dirty their hands in the kirkyard.

    At the time of the murders, which took place between November 1827 and October of the following year, itinerant Irish immigrant William Burke was 36 years old. He considered himself ill-used by society, with no prospect of finding gainful employment and no will to look for it. After abandoning his wife and two children in County Mayo, he emigrated to Scotland where he drifted aimlessly through a succession of labouring jobs. He ended up in Edinburgh where he settled down with Helen (Nell) McDougal, whom he had met while lodging at her home in Maddiston. Helen left her two children and her common law husband to travel with Burke, who was said to be crudely handsome but sullen and quick-tempered. The couple found cheap lodgings in Tanner’s Close in the West Port, a rat run of squalid tenements, gaslit streets and ale houses, where the inhabitants could drink themselves senseless for a shilling.

    BURKE HALF HOPED ONE OF HARE’S MAD SCHEMES MIGHT MAKE THEM BOTH RICH. IN THE WINTER OF 1827, THEY HIT ON A SCHEME THAT PROMISED JUST THAT

    A FRIGHTFUL SCHEME

    With no work, and no hope of finding any, Burke reluctantly endured the company of his landlord, fellow Irish immigrant William Hare, who was generous with his rental income. Hare would buy drinks for anyone who would listen to his idle boasts and his plans to get rich without doing a day’s honest work. Little is known of Hare’s background, but according to contemporary accounts he was a repulsive, vindictive man who was given to fits of idiotic laughter, when his reptilian features would distort into a hideous mask, giving the impression of a fairground freak. Burke tolerated him so long as he bought the drinks, but he also half hoped that one of Hare’s mad schemes might one day make them both rich. In the winter of 1827 they hit on a scheme that promised to do just that.

    One of Hare’s lodgers, an elderly soldier named Donald, had died suddenly after a long illness. While waiting for the body to be collected, Hare complained long and bitterly to Burke. The old man’s rent remained unpaid and there were no known relatives that could be badgered into settling the account. Then it occurred to him that the medical colleges would pay for the corpse, perhaps even more than he was owed. They would split the money equally and be rich men by nightfall. No one would miss the old man or enquire into the cause of his death and there was no risk of being caught – but they would have to act quickly. So they swiftly removed the body from its coffin, hid it elsewhere in the house and replaced it with firewood. After the coffin had been collected they went in search of Professor Munro, the principal anatomist at Edinburgh University Medical School, but by chance they were misdirected to the classrooms of Professor Robert Knox, his colleague. Knox’s assistants assured them that they would receive a good price and they were asked to return after dark. When they did so, carrying the still-warm corpse in a sack, Knox’s assistants gave them just over £7, more than two weeks’ wages for the average skilled labourer.

    In the days before refrigeration, murder was more lucrative than ‘bodysnatching’ since a fresh corpse earned top dollar

    MERCY KILLINGS

    Any fears the two Irishmen might have had were soon dissolved by the keg of whisky they consumed that night. Emboldened by their success and excited by the prospect of more easy money, they were soon looking for their next subject. They did not have long to wait.

    A few days later another of Hare’s lodgers, Joseph the Miller, fell ill. Although his condition was clearly not life-threatening, Burke and Hare saw no necessity in prolonging the man’s agony. They plied him with whisky until he lost consciousness, then one of them pinned his arms and legs down while the other covered his nose and mouth until all signs of life were extinct. Unwittingly, the pair had invented a new method of murder, one which would be named after its creator – ‘burking’. It was crude, cruel but foolproof because it left no marks on the body. At first glance it appeared that the victim had died of drink or natural causes.

    If Burke and Hare had been careful they could have continued enriching themselves in this way for years. But they drank the wages of sin as soon as they collected them and they also became impatient. They no longer wanted to wait for another ailing lodger to come their way. Instead, they went in search of their victims – those who no one would miss, such as tinkers wandering the cobbled streets and drunks sleeping in doorways.

    During the following 11 months Burke and Hare committed 15 more murders without arousing suspicion. Their victims included prostitutes, beggars and the homeless. Many of them had come down to the capital from the Highlands, and from isolated villages, in search of work and so would have no family in Edinburgh to enquire after their whereabouts. One morning, Burke even had the gall to approach a pair of policemen, who were taking an inebriated woman to the police station so that she could sleep off her over-indulgence. He lied that he knew her and offered to take her home. That evening he had another £10 to spend on drink.

    ONE OF THEM PINNED HIS ARMS AND LEGS DOWN WHILE THE OTHER COVERED HIS MOUTH AND NOSE UNTIL ALL SIGNS OF LIFE WERE EXTINCT

    By this time several of Dr Knox’s students were beginning to talk openly about how their eminent professor was able to offer his class a regular supply of fresh specimens when his colleagues had to make do with a badly decomposed cadaver or, more often, none at all. Their disquiet grew when the body of a local prostitute was delivered to the school. Those who had seen her on the previous day reported that she had looked lively and had been none the worse for drink. But no one dared raise the matter directly with Dr Knox. However, soon afterwards several students voiced their concerns when the body of a well-known local character known as ‘Daft Jamie’, a mentally retarded youth with a club foot, was placed on the dissecting slab. It was a matter of seconds before they started questioning how this young man had died so suddenly and conveniently within the reach of Burke and Hare, who by now were known to be the sole suppliers of specimens to Dr Knox. The professor confirmed their suspicions by first taking a scalpel to the club foot and then to Jamie’s face, in order to eradicate his identifiable features. It was as good as a confession.

    Among Edinburgh’s floating population, there was no shortage of candidates for Burke and Hare’s final ministrations

    And still the students kept silent, fearing scandal and, quite possibly, the closure of the school. Knox, or someone else in authority, may even have raised the possibility that they might all be named as accomplices if the matter became public.

    In the early 19th century the Scottish capital was flowering, but it had its own dark underbelly of crime and deprivation

    THE LAST VICTIM

    On the morning of 29 October 1828, Burke sat drinking his morning draught in the local tavern when he overheard an old woman, Mary Docherty, talking to the barman in a thick Irish accent. He engaged her in conversation and then claimed that he came from the same part of the old country as herself. They might even be related, he told her. With these words he lured Mary back to his house in Tanner’s Close, where she met his wife Helen and a couple who were lodging with them, James and Ann Gray. A party was held in order to celebrate the happy chance meeting and the drinking and dancing continued long after the Grays left. They had gone to stay the night with William Hare and his common law wife Margaret, giving up their room to Mary Docherty just as Burke had hoped. At around midnight another occupant of the house was passing the Burkes’ door when he thought he heard two men arguing and a woman’s stifled cries of ‘Murder!’ and ‘Get the police!’, but when he hurried into the street he could not see a policeman. On returning to the house all was quiet, so he assumed it was a domestic quarrel and he went to bed.

    The next morning the Grays returned to Burke’s rooms and were surprised to learn that Mary had gone. They were told that she had been turned out of the house in the early hours by Helen, who had claimed that the old woman and her husband were becoming too friendly for comfort. If the Grays found the explanation absurd they did not say so, but their suspicions were aroused when Burke warned Ann not to go near the bed. He later yelled at her when she started towards it to fetch some potatoes stored underneath. As soon as they were alone in the room the Grays looked under the bed and were horrified to see the body of the old woman. As they raced from the house they ran into Helen, who asked them where they were going in such a hurry. James accused her of murder and told her that they were going to fetch the police, which sent her into a panic. She begged them not to do so. Then she offered to share the profits with them if they kept silent, which only infuriated them further. However, by the time the police were summoned the body had vanished. Without it, there were no grounds for arresting William and Helen Burke.

    BURKE WARNED ANN NOT TO GO NEAR THE BED. HE LATER YELLED AT HER WHEN SHE STARTED TOWARDS IT TO FETCH SOME POTATOES STORED UNDERNEATH

    But then a neighbour informed the police that two men had been seen carrying a large tea chest from the house only an hour or so before. When questioned, William claimed that Mrs Docherty had left at 7 o’clock that morning, whereas Helen asserted that the old woman had departed at 7 o’clock that evening. The discrepancy in their stories was sufficient to have them brought in for further questioning. Word soon went around the West Port that murder most foul had been perpetrated at Tanner’s Close and someone suggested that the authorities should pay a visit to the dissecting rooms of Dr Knox. There they found a body which was identified by James Gray as being that of Mary Docherty.

    By nightfall William Hare and Margaret were also in custody. Their conflicting and inconsistent statements convinced the authorities that they were guilty, but there was no physical evidence and there were no eyewitnesses. All of the evidence was circumstantial. The Lord Advocate believed that most of the guilt lay with Burke, so in order to force the issue and secure a conviction, he offered Hare immunity if he testified against Burke and Helen. Hare seized the chance to save his own skin and he confessed to the crimes, which now included the killing of Daft Jamie and the prostitute Mary Paterson, bringing the total number of victims to 15.

    BURKE’S TRIAL AND EXECUTION

    The trial of William Burke began on Christmas Eve 1828, with Helen named as his accomplice in the killing of Mary Docherty. The prosecution case relied almost entirely on the eyewitness testimony of William and Margaret Hare, the statements made by the Grays –which affirmed that the body of an old woman had been hidden in the house but was then spirited away – and the testimony of the lodger who had heard a woman crying ‘Murder!’ earlier that evening. Helen Burke’s solicitor argued that she had been the woman who had cried out in horror when she had witnessed the old woman’s death. He went on to say that the fact that she had been seen in the company of several of the victims did not prove that she was implicated in their deaths. It was a poor defence, but it sowed the seed of reasonable doubt.

    On Christmas morning the jury returned with its verdicts. Burke was guilty, but the case against Helen was ‘not proven’, a uniquely Scottish verdict which implied that the accused had escaped imprisonment only because there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction. On hearing the sentence Burke embraced Helen and wept.

    ‘You are out of the scrape,’ he said.

    HARE SEIZED THE CHANCE TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN AND CONFESSED TO THE CRIMES, WHICH NOW INCLUDED THE KILLING OF DAFT JAMIE AND MARY PATERSON

    In the following weeks Burke made two formal confessions, which were published in broadsheets and sold by hawkers on the street corners of the city. Damned by his own words and abandoned by his accomplice, William Burke resigned himself to his fate. On 28 January 1829 he was led through the jeering crowds who surged around the scaffold on the Lawnmarket. They called for Hare and Dr Knox to share his fate.

    Public hanging: Edinburgh’s citizens crammed the High Street to witness the final minutes of William Burke

    THE AFTERMATH

    Remarkably, the eminent anatomist escaped prosecution, but was hounded by stone-throwing crowds at his home and at the medical college. The popularity of his classes dwindled significantly in the weeks and months after the trial. He applied for vacant posts at Edinburgh University Medical School, but he was rejected twice.

    Eventually he left for London, where he obtained a position at a cancer hospital. He died in 1862. Although Burke swore that Knox had known nothing of the method by which the corpses were obtained, it seems implausible that a renowned anatomist would not have recognized the signs of a violent – or at least unnatural – death when dissecting the bodies.

    The body of William Burke was taken down from the scaffold and delivered to the medical college, where it was dismembered in full view of the students who had attended the dissection of his victims. His skeleton was then put on public display in the college museum, together with his death mask and several items made from his tanned skin. It proved an effective deterrent. The incidence of grave robbing rapidly declined and the practice was all but eradicated by the Anatomy Act of 1832, which permitted the regular supply of dead bodies for dissection.

    Hare did not escape justice, however. Angry mobs pursued him and the two women, driving them out of Scotland and harassing them whenever they attempted to settle down. Margaret is thought to have eventually returned to Ireland, it was rumoured that Helen had gone to Australia and William Hare was last heard of in Carlisle. It is not known if there is any truth in the story that he was thrown into a lime pit by an angry mob, forcing him to end his days as a blind beggar on the streets of London.

    THE BOY WHO NEVER CAME HOME –

    GORDON AND SARAH NORTHCOTT

    In the late 1920s the citizens of Los Angeles went to the movies several times a week. For the price of a ticket they bought into a fairy-tale world where good always triumphed over evil and

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