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Cleveland's “Mad Butcher” makes Anthony Sowell look like a Boy Scout
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As horrific as the crimes committed by Anthony Sowell are, they pale in comparison to those of another serial killer who began stalking the streets of Cleveland 75 years ago. The Sowell case has reawakened interst in another Cleveland serial killer alternately as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run and the Cleveland Torso Murderer. For four years, Clevelanders lived in state of perpetual fear created by the unknown madman. In the years since the murders mysteriously ceased in 1938, the case of the Butcher has become the American equivalent of Jack the Ripper.
Although not recognized at the time, the half torso of what is now considered the first victim of the Butcher washed ashore on September 5, 1934. Although horrific, the “Lady of the Lake” was soon forgotten, as in the 1930s, Cleveland was America's most violent city with a population of under 1,000,000 people. Sometimes referred to as “victim 0,” I'm including this first murder as victim 1 as this is now widely considered to be the start of the Torso Killer's reign of terror.
It was not until September 23, 1935 that police realized that they had something more on their hands. Two boys were playing in an area of the Kingsbury Run known as Jackass Hill. One of the boys ran down a ravine to retrieve a ball. Instead, he found himself looking at the nude, headless body of a man. Having been alerted by a passer-by, Cleveland police descended to the area and found not one, but two naked, headless bodies. One was fresh while the other had apparently been there for a few weeks. The heads were soon found. They had been buried with only their scalps and hair remaining above ground, as though the killer was playing some kind of sick joke. Both men had also been emasculated. Detailed examination of the bodies revealed a most horrific truth: the decapitation was not done postmortem, it was the cause of death.
The victim who had been dead only a few days was quickly identified as Edward Andrassy, who had a reputation as a petty criminal. The other, decomposed body, was never identified.
On January 26, 1936, the pieces of the butcher's fourth victim were discovered at two different locations, packed in boxes with the body parts wrapped in newspaper. Because of the winter, decomposition did not take much of a toll on the woman's remains. The victim was quickly identified as Flo Polillo, who, like Andrassy, had a police record. It was here, at the fourth of thirteen victims, that the police would make their last certain identification of a Butcher victim.
Victim five, found June 5, 1936, was a most intriguing case. In the state of the body, victim four had been treated the same way as Andrassy and the other man found with him, namely decapitation and esmasulation. The man's head was found under a pile of clothes, probably belonging to the victm. What made this man unique was has tattoos, which has led this victim ro becime known as “The Tattooed Man.” Despite the distinctive body markings, which were widely publicized at the time, the man was never identified.
After that, the victims continued to appear. Victim six was found on July 22, 1936. The man had been decapitated. He was estimated to have been dead two months when found. The head was found a short distance away under a pile of clothing. The two halves of victim seven's torso were found floating in a virtually stagnant creek on September 10, 1936. The water was then dragged, snagging the lower half of both legs. Again, the man had been emasculated. The water was drained in an unsuccessful effort to locate the man's head. Victim eight, a woman, was found February 23, 1937. The discovery was eerily reminiscent of the “Lady of the Lake.” The victim washed ashore in the form of an upper torso.
It was only with victim nine that a possible I.D. was finally made. On June 6, 1937, a bag containing bones was found beneath the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge. Analysis of the bones led investigators to conclude that the victim had been a black woman. The victim's race, plus advanced state of decomposition, led one man to conclude that the victim was his mother, Rose Wallace, who had disappeared 10 months previously. However, despite th theory, a positive identification was never made.
Police would not have long to wait for victim ten to show up. The lower half of a man's torso was spotted floating in the Cuyahoga River on July 6, 1937. Later, a burlap bag containing the upper torso was also retrieved. The victim had been disemboweled. The grisly finds would continue as body parts would continue to be found washed up on the river bank for the next week. Frustratingly, the head was never located. The police had to wait almost a year for victim eleven to show up on April 8, 1938. The lower half of a leg was found a few feet from a sewer outlet flowing into the Cuyahoga near Superior Ave. Again, like with the last victim, grisly finds would continue to be made in the coming weeks. A lung, tangle of intestines, and thigh would be found floating in the river, as would two burlap bags. One was later retrieved and was found to contain both halves of a torso, the other thigh, and the left foot. The second bag was thought to contain the head, but, again, it frustratingly was never sighted again.
Victims twelve and thirteen were found in a lake side garbage dump on East 9th St on August 16, 1938. Victim twelve's torso was located by workers, who then called police. The authorities then found the thighs, arms, lower legs, and, finally, a head. Unfortunately, the remains were heavily decomposed. Later that day, victim thirteen was found. This body was even more decayed than the first and had been reduced to a skeleton with only a few clumps of flesh clinging to the bones. With this event, the Cleveland Torso Murders mysteriously ceased.
All of this information, and more, can be found in the book In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders, written by James Badal. Among the facts in the book are first hand accounts from investigators, a suspects section, and pictures, sometimes extremely graphic, the visually chronicle the series of killings. For anyone interested in unsolved mysteries and/or crime, this book will make a fascinating read.
Buy In the Wake of the Butcher
Amazon
The murders themselves
Torsomurders.com
Cleveland Police Historical Society and Museum
True TV
The Black Dahlia Connection?
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