Shadows of Death (True Crime Box Set) Read online

  From Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author

  Katherine Ramsland

  PRAISE FOR KATHERINE RAMSLAND

  "Katherine Ramsland has made many valuable contributions to the fields of forensic psychology, crime analysis and criminal justice as exemplified in her books The Human Predator and The Mind of a Murderer among others. It is rare to find someone with the breadth and depth of knowledge that Dr. Ramsland commands, even more so for such an individual to also be a gifted teacher and a wise and compassionate human being."

  —Former FBI profiler, Gregg McCrary

  “Ramsland’s books are incisive and thorough, and demonstrate a depth of knowledge not only about criminal behavior, but about human behavior as well. She has the rare ability to explain complex phenomena in simple terms.”

  —Dr. Louis Schlesinger, professor of forensic psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

  “Dr. Ramsland has the ability to comprehend complex issues, analyze them meticulously, and express her opinions and conclusions in a completely objective manner.”

  —Cyril Wecht, Past President, American Academy of Forensic Sciences

  The Unknown Darkness

  “This is a must-read for true crime fans. A beautifully written expert analysis of high profile killers.”

  —Ann Rule, New York Times bestselling true crime author

  “One of the most immensely readable and gripping accounts of serial murder I have ever read.”

  —Colin Wilson, bestselling author of Serial Killers

  The Forensic Science of CSI

  “With the mind of a true investigator, Ramsland demystifies the world of forensics with authentic and vivid detail.”

  —John Douglas, Former FBI profiler and BSU chief

  “Fascinating...a must for anyone who wonders how the real crime solvers do it.”

  —Michael Palmer, New York Times bestselling medical novelist

  Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with Vampires in America Today

  “A riveting read, a model of engaged journalism.”

  —Publisher’s Weekly

  Inside the Minds of Serial Killers

  “In the area of psychological research on serial killers, Dr. Katherine Ramsland has distinguished herself as a unique thinker with a fascinating approach to case analysis. Anyone who takes this subject seriously should read this book.”

  —Robert K. Ressler, Former FBI profiler

  Inside the Minds of Healthcare Serial Killers

  “Timely and riveting…”

  —Beatrice Yorker, Dean, College of Healthcare and Human Services, Cal State, LA

  Beating the Devil's Game

  "Once again Katherine Ramsland has brilliantly captured the insights and drama of some fascinating cases."

  —Dr. Henry C. Lee

  The Real Life of a Forensic Scientist

  “…strongly recommended for every practitioner, student, and devotee of this exciting profession.”

  —Dr. Cyril Wecht, past president of American Academy of Forensic Sciences

  “A must read for the CSI crowd.”

  —Dr. Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner, NYC

  Ghost: Investigating the Other Side

  “The best book of its kind I’ve ever read.”

  —Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author

  “Ramsland is a master of foreboding.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  Snap! Seizing our Aha! Moments

  "Both motivational and informative, Snap is a treat to read! Katherine Ramsland will singlehandedly increase the number of bright ideas to be born in the coming decade!"

  —Shelley Carson, author, Your Creative Brain

  I've always said intuition is the highest form of knowledge. SNAP shows me why I might be right. This is a fascinating exploration of the mind when it's in hyperdrive, as illuminating as it is fun to read. Ms. Ramsland reveals the science and psychology of the aha! moment in vivid detail, with intriguing examples, while being wise enough to leave room for the consideration of a mystical element to human consciousness. Highly recommended."

  —Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author

  “Of course, someone who had so much insight into the human mind – who had worked as a therapist, who had a graduate degree in clinical psychology – would be able not only to explain the troubled mind, but would also be able to explore what’s best and smartest about the way we think.

  —Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum, Author of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

  The Heat Seekers

  “Katherine Ramsland is a marvelous novelist, who approaches her subject with chilling, fascinating inner knowledge. The Heat Seekers is a gem.”

  —Whitley Strieber, New York Times bestselling novelist

  SHADOWS OF DEATH

  Katherine Ramsland

  Copyright 2015 by Katherine Ramsland and Gregg Olsen

  All Rights Reserved

  Book Cover Design by BEAUTeBOOK

  Map by Brad Arnesen

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the authors.

  Published by Notorious USA

  About the Author

  KATHERINE RAMSLAND began her career as a writer with Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice. She had a bestseller with The Vampire Companion. Since then, she has published 40 books and over 1,000 articles, reviews and short stories. From ghosts to vampires to serial killers, she has taken on a variety of dark subjects. She holds graduate degrees in forensic psychology, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and philosophy. Currently, she teaches forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University. She speaks internationally about forensic psychology, forensic science, and serial murder, and has appeared on numerous documentaries, as well as such programs as The Today Show, 20/20, 48 Hours, NPR, Coast to Coast, Montel Williams, Larry King Live and E! True Hollywood.

  Table of Contents

  About the Author

  Notorious New Jersey Foreword

  Rest in Pieces

  Suspicious Suicide

  The Price of Adultery

  The Highs and Lows of a Super Sleuth

  Camden Rage Killer

  The Sculptor and the Murderer

  The Demented Cobbler

  Thrill Killers

  Yuppie Ambition

  The De-Humanizer

  “Last Call” Killer

  Separation Anxiety

  Photo Archive

  Notorious New York Foreword

  Newsmakers

  The Learned Murderer of Binghamton

  Crimes of the Century

  Double Deception

  A Fish Story

  The Vanishing Judge

  The Mystery of Frank Olson

  Threats and Explosions

  “Charlie Chopoff”

  Cons and Cons

  Fiction and Murder

  Un-Happy Land

  The Genesee River Strangler

  LISK

  Photo Archive

  Notorious Delaware Foreword

  A Mean Woman, a Woman of Means

  Cordelia’s Revenge

  The Corridor Killer

  Mad Dog

  A Tough Way to Die

  A Terrible Secret

  If I can’t Have You, No One Will

  Loose Ends

  GARDEN STATE THRILL KILLERS

  Katherine Ramsland

  Copyright 2015 by Katherine Ramsland and Gregg
Olsen

  All Rights Reserved

  Book Cover Design by BEAUTeBOOK

  Map by Brad Arnesen

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the authors.

  Published by Notorious USA

  From the Notorious USA Team

  WELCOME TO THE LATEST INSTALLMENT in the New York Times bestselling series of stories about America’s most notorious criminals.

  That’s right. No matter where you live, you’re in the middle of Notorious USA.

  Here, you’ll find them all…this time we’re talking New Jersey

  Home of the Jersey Devil, New Jersey has its share of other devils, from predatory nurses to thrill killers and sadists. Here you’ll find a family that preyed on one of their own, a mass murderer with a List of Grudges, an adulterous minister killed with his mistress, and a wife who cut up her husband. This state is rich in crime, with a significant number of high profile cases, like the Lindbergh and Reso kidnappings, Unruh’s rampage, and the celebrated success of America’s Most Wanted in tracking down a man who’d slaughtered his entire family. We’ve written about some of these cases before. As time passes we learn more about criminals and about what makes them tick, about their crimes, and about their victims.

  Don’t miss Bodies of Evidence, Darkest Waters, Overkill and other box sets available as an eBook on most formats, as well as in paperback and as an audio book.

  Your crime scribes,

  Gregg Olsen

  Katherine Ramsland

  Notorious

  New Jersey

  Foreword

  I’VE LIVED IN SEVERAL AREAS OF New Jersey, from Princeton to Ocean Grove. I attended graduate school at Rutgers and drove around the state to teach at five different colleges and universities. I never saw the Jersey Devil, but I’ve walked grounds in the Garden State where organized crime figures supposedly dumped bodies, and have looked into the double homicide that some people attribute to Ted Bundy.

  This state is rich in crime, with a significant number of high profile cases that I’ve researched before. I worked on the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. with former FBI profiler John Douglas, going with him to the fascinating State Police Museum and Lindbergh’s former Hopewell home. For a while, I lived close to where the baby’s body was dumped.

  Another FBI profiler with whom I wrote a book, Gregg McCrary, worked on the Sidney Reso case, and I myself was interviewed just after two detectives had interrogated the quiet but ruthless healthcare serial killer Charles Cullen. For a while, I wrote features for the Newark Star-Ledger, and I followed the trial of Richard Rogers for Court TV. Camden’s notorious Howard Unruh was the first story in my book, Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers. I’ve written about the convoluted Hall-Mills case (I even set it up as a crime scene for students to ponder), and I interviewed a detective who sought John List, as well as hearing from the forensic artist and psychologist who assisted America’s Most Wanted to ensure his capture. I’ve talked with psychics who looked for missing people, and launched my underground investigation into the vampire subculture (Piercing the Darkness) from my Princeton home.

  True crime in New Jersey has a long and diverse history.

  Rest in Pieces

  AT 217 SOUTH STREET IN MORRISTOWN is a building that has changed hands many times. It’s been a private home, two or three different restaurants, and a bank. I’ve visited several times, due to its reputation for being haunted. One restaurant held séances on Friday nights, and featured a write-up of the tale on the menu. Another downplayed it, but the cooks and waitresses still had tales to tell. The former mansion is now a TD Bank, according to Google Maps, and I don’t know if the weird tales continue.

  John Sayre built the place in 1749, and it was a peaceful family residence until 1833, when another owner, Judge Samuel Sayre, hired immigrant sailor Antoine Le Blanc, 31, as a handyman. He’d been disowned by his family and was seeking his fortune in America. He was given a room in the basement of the house in exchange for feeding the hogs and chopping wood for the fireplaces. He received no wages. Having grown up in fine surroundings, he grew to resent the Sayres.

  Supposedly, Le Blanc had a thing for Sayre’s maid, Phoebe, who resisted him. Other stories indicate that he went into a rage against Sayre because he wanted to be paid more money. Still others say that he carefully planned the massacre, tricked Sayre to come to the barn to see a distressed horse, and killed him there in cold blood.

  In any event, one night, Le Blanc used a shovel to murder both of the Sayres and an ax (or a club) to kill Phoebe. He hid the bodies in a manure pile, ransacked the place, took whatever money and valuables he could find, stole a horse, and fled. However, he dropped some items from the household along the way. People who found them quickly discovered the bodies.

  It wasn’t long before the sheriff and his posse found the culprit. Le Blanc tried to flee, but he didn’t get very far. They dragged him back to Morristown and put him on trial in the Morris County Courthouse on August 13, 1833. The jury spent twenty minutes deliberating before they found him guilty. All the evidence they needed had been found on his person. He was scheduled to be hanged in three weeks, and then dissected. (Judges could make such decisions back then.)

  A gallows was erected on the village green, and word spread far and wide. On September 6, a crowd of over 10,000 people gathered to watch Le Blanc hang. I haven’t heard if he had any last words, but he must have been amazed when he saw the crowd.

  When he was dead, his body was sent over to Dr. Canfield’s office. Two physicians hooked it up to a battery and subjected it to electrical experiments. They managed to get some eye movements, a weird grin, and some muscle tensing, but nothing earth shattering. They made a cast of his face before dissecting him. Finally, they peeled off his skin and sent it to the tannery to be turned into souvenirs. From it, wallets, lampshades, and book covers were made. The sheriff signed strips of skin that were sold on the street. Le Blanc’s bones were placed into a box. Even today, you can still see some of these items. They turn up in various collections. Supposedly, this treatment was an object lesson to anyone else with ideas about killing prominent citizens.

  Suspicious Suicide

  BY THE TIME SHE WAS FOUND, facedown in a bathtub in her East Orange home on November 29, 1901, Ocey Snead had nearly starved to death. Just 24 years old, she was reportedly depressed. Her aunt, Virginia Wardlaw, presented a suicide note that stated in no uncertain terms that Ocey had taken her own life and wanted others to just accept it. For Wardlow, it was a relief. She believed it was a relief for Ocey as well.

  The suicide made sense. Ocey’s husband was missing. Her baby had died. Another child was ill and on the verge of death. She had no money and her home had no heat during a freezing New Jersey winter. Ocey’s circumstances were overwhelming. She appeared to have given up. In fact, she’d lost so much weight it was a wonder she hadn’t already died from malnutrition.

  Often, investigators accept such incidents at face value. Depressed people unable to cope with their circumstances kill themselves all the time.

  But it seemed odd to Dr. Simmons, who examined the body, that Ocey had been in the tub for nearly a day before her aunt reported the incident. Virginia Wardlow had seemed rather cold when she’d stated, “She had asked not to be disturbed.”

  Simmons urged detectives to make further inquiries. All was not right in this strange place. But Virginia did not wish to be questioned. Wearing her intimidating black cape, she defied the investigators. This behavior only increased their suspicions and they detained her as a material witness.

  The investigation turned up insurance policies on Ocey, against which various relatives had borrowed. This odd behavior made investigators question the so-called suicide note. They looked for exemplars of Ocey’s handwriting for comparison. It was soon evident to even inexp
erienced eyes that she had not written it.

  This led to an Agatha Christie-like cast of characters who emerged as suspects. Someone, it seemed, had killed Ocey to collect money. But who? Virginia Wardlow was just one of several oddballs. There was also her mother, Caroline Martin. Another aunt, Mary Snead, was Ocey’s mother-in-law, because Ocey had married her own cousin. These three sisters were all in their 60s. They all dressed in black. They’d moved to New Jersey from Virginia, and they’d also rented a home in Brooklyn, New York.

  The Wardlaw family had once been quite distinguished down South. Virginia had been headmistress at several schools. But they’d fallen on hard times. Apparently, they’d been feeding like vampires on young Ocey until she’d finally had no more to give. Police caught up with all three of the sisters and charged them with murder.

  In 1910, Virginia died in the penitentiary in Trenton before she came to trial. Caroline said that Ocey had become a suicidal morphine addict. She’d assisted the girl with the needle and had accidentally caused an overdose. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a seven-year sentence. But she was psychotic. She ended up in a psychiatric institution, where she starved herself to death. The third sister was acquitted.

  The Price of Adultery

  IT WAS COLD FOR MID-SEPTEMBER on that sixteenth day of the month in 1922. Around mid-morning, two kids entered De Russey’s Lane in New Brunswick. They were startled to see the still forms of a man and woman lying on the ground near a crabapple tree. In fact, they looked posed. They’d been shot.