East Lake, Ohio. Police who had responded to an emergency call discovered a woman named Susan murdered in her home. Police officers forced entry into the locked house. The female victim was in fact dead. She had numerous stab wounds to the frontal portion of her body. Officers discovered her husband, Frank, in an upstairs bedroom. He was suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was nude from the waist down and had blood on his legs and genitals as well as his arms and hands. He was rushed to a hospital where he died 3 days later from the head wound.
Susan had been shot four times in the chest with a .38-caliber handgun found at the scene and had been stabbed 57 times with a large hunting knife, which protruded from her chest. She was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the police report, Susan’s co-workers had become concerned when she failed to show for work. They went to her house and after receiving no response looked into the front window and saw her nude body on the floor with a large hunting knife in her chest.
Fig.1 This is what the reporting witnesses saw when they looked into the window of the victim’s home. The woman had been shot and killed by her husband, who then mutilated her body.
Fig.2 The husband had jammed his wedding ring onto his wife’s nose after the assault and murder.
DETECTIVE INVESTIGATION
This case was presented as a murder/suicide. Frank had shot his wife with the .38 revolver and then used a .25-caliber semiautomatic to shoot himself. Police recovered the weapons. In addition to these weapons, Frank had a .22-caliber semiautomatic, a .380- and a .45-caliber semiautomatic.
The police also recovered hundreds of drawings and paintings of nude women. Frank had set up an art studio in one of the bedrooms where he apparently would spend his time drawing and painting his fantasies. According to friends and family members, the couple seemed happy and there was no history of domestic violence. However, clearly depicted in the crime scene photographs was Frank’s wedding ring jammed onto Susan’s nose.
Fig.3 There were hundreds of drawings & paintings of women, who had been stabbed or shot. Many of the drawings had the woman’s right arm extended up in the air like the victim’s arm.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CRIME SCENE
Susan’s body was in a supine position with her right arm extended above her head. North of her body was the chrome .380-caliber semiautomatic. Her legs were crossed and she was wearing high heel shoes. The rest of the body was totally nude.
She suffered a number of stab wounds in her chest and breasts. The stab wounds continued down her chest into her pubis and pelvic area and her throat was cut. A telephone cord had been wrapped tightly around her neck. The extensive blood around the victim’s body had been smeared. There were palm prints in the blood on the floor around the victim’s body.
There were also footprints through the blood from the husband’s feet and it was apparent that Frank had positioned his wife’s body in a pose similar to some of the drawings police recovered. Approximately 18 of the stab wounds perforated her chest. The knife had literally been drilled into the linoleum floor after passing through her chest.
The hundreds of drawings and paintings that police recovered depicted women with gunshot wounds and/or knife wounds to the breast and chest. He also had a number of centerfold photos into which he had stabbed or cut through and then added blood marks with a red ink pen. The injuries and mutilation of his wife’s body, as well as the large knife protruding from her chest, bore an eerie resemblance to the drawings and paintings that the police recovered from the scene.
Frank was in an upstairs bedroom. The phone in the bedroom was off the hook, lying in a puddle of blood. There was a .38-caliber revolver found approximately three feet from the foot of the bed. It was lying in a piece of glass and had four empty .38-caliber shell casings with it. On the wall above the gun was a large poster picture of a seminude woman dressed in a short, black slip with one arm extended up and the other arm on her hip in a provocative pose. This poster picture had been shot 15 times with both a .38-caliber and a .380-caliber through the chest area. The bullets traveled through the wall of a bedroom closet.
Fig.4 The offender had drawn a number of pictures depicting women being impaled by various objects. Many of the drawings depicted blonde women being shot or stabbed in the chest.
VICTIMOLOGY
Susan was 34 years old and married for the second time. Frank was 43 years old. He had been married twice previously. Susan had a full-time job and worked every day to help support her husband. Frank drifted from job to job working as a male model and dance instructor. Susan had been married to Frank for approximately three years. Family and friends were unaware of any problems or incidents of domestic violence. Susan had lived in the house prior to her marriage to Frank. Following their marriage, Frank and Susan took over the mortgage on the house.
Friends described Susan as totally opposite from Frank. She was very down-to-earth and quiet, perhaps somewhat passive. Frank was very hyperactive. He wasn’t afraid to state his opinions and was considered flashy. Frank taught dancing lessons. Susan attempted to assist her husband by also working with him in an effort to assist him in his business. Detectives interviewed one person who stated that Frank was extremely intense about the dancing lessons and would chastise his wife severely if she made an error while dancing. This witness told police that Frank controlled Susan, who acted subserviently.
Police interviews of family and friends presented contradictory personalities. Some persons who were interviewed considered Frank a passionate and emotional man. Others described him as angry. Susan was very affectionate toward him. Based on further investigation, it was learned that neither his second wife nor his mother provided Frank with much love or nurturing. Ironically, Frank never got over his emotional attachment to his second wife. In fact, it was well known that Frank considered her as “the love of his life.” He had often expressed this to Susan.
The police investigation revealed the following information about the subject. As a child, his mother physically and sexually abused Frank. He also witnessed domestic violence in his household as a child. His father deserted him, leaving the family because he couldn’t deal with his wife, who was domineering and psychologically abusive. From age 11 Frank took over his father’s position as the target of abuse. His mother basically controlled his life.
Fig.5 The offender had ripped out the centerfolds of various men’s magazines and then altered the models by stabbing through the paper and adding blood marks or, in this case, simulating bullet wounds. Right: This was a 10-panel drawing depicting a voyeur peeking in on a woman taking a bath. Note the shadow figure in one of the panels.
CLINICAL ASSESSMENT OF DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
Frank had an art studio set up in the house containing hundreds of drawings and paintings. Many of the drawings depicted blonde women who were being stabbed sexually. The constant theme that Frank scripted was one of sexual sadism with the infliction of pain and suffering on his models accompanied with their scripted pleas. He spent hours with his hobby, which probably caused friction between him and his wife.
The police discovered 115 drawings and 105 photographs of nude women. There were also 83 men’s magazines. Many of the magazines had loose pages removed, including pictures of centerfolds with stab marks. Frank also maintained an extensive collection of VHS and Beta pornographic videotapes as well as 16-mm movies. The numerous photos of nude women from men’s magazines with knife holes and simulated bullet holes through the pictures displayed his obsession with the sexual mutilation of women. He then with a red magic marker added blood marks on the models. He had stabbed through these photographs with a large knife. This very well could have been the same knife that was found in his wife’s chest.
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