Childhood

David Spanbauer was born in Oshkosh Wisconsin to Frank and Evelyn Spanbauer in January of 1941. He had a rough relationship with his father and people believe that this is the source for all his crimes. He was a relatively normal kid up until his teenage years when he started to get in trouble with the law. After his seventeenth birthday he dropped out of school and went into the Navy. He was in the Navy for only a short period of time before he was dishonorably discharged in 1959. He then returned to highschool but dropped out shortly after his return. After dropping out of high school for the second time he committed his first crime.

Spanbauers crime streak

His first crime took place on January 3 of 1960 when he broke into a home in Appleton and stole a gun and other expensive items. The next crime he committed was the night after when he robbed another house in Neenah with the gun he had stolen the night before. He was eventually caught for these crimes, and when he was asked to come in for questioning he admitted to raping two girls, and killing his first victim. He was then sentenced to seventy years in prison

Spanbauers time out

Spanbauer got released from prison thirteen years after being admitted on parole, and it originally looked like he had turned his life around. However this grace period didn’t last too long and he almost got himself sent back to prison when he let an escaped prisoner borrow his car, and Spanbauer barely got off. He then went on to kill at least three more people before he was caught on Nov. 14 1994 trying to burglarize a house.

1. Laura Depies (20)- She went missing in August of 1992 on her way to a friends house, and her body has still not been found
2. Ronelle Eichstedt (10)- This ten year old went missing in August of 1992 when she was riding her bicycle near her rural home. Her bike wa found near her house, and her body was found six weeks later miles away from her home in the ditch of a cornfield
3. Cora Jones (12)- She went missing on Labor day, when she was lured into his car. He then molested her and drove 75 miles up to Langlade County. He ended up strangling and stabbing her and threw her body into a steep ditch five days after her murder.

The Milwaukee North Side Strangler was the name given to Walter E. Ellis. Ellis is responsible for the death of at least seven women between 1986 and 2007. His victims consisted of African American women between the ages of 19 and 41. How the investigation first started up was Sheila Farrior and Florence McCormicks bodies were found. The investigation began and Springola, trained criminal background analysis, gave a very detailed description of the suspect. Later in the investigation after reexamining the old evidence they found a DNA sample that linked a suspect to the homicides. Ellis was arrested on September 7th of 2009. He was originally arrested on two accounts of first degree intentional homicide, but later into his sentence was charged with five more accounts and was convicted without admitting his guilt. On February 24, 2011 Ellis was charged with seven life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Timeline of Ellis’s murders

1986

Oct. 10 – Deborah L. Harris was found strangled in a local river. (31)

Oct. 11 – Tanya L. Miller was found strangled between a house and garage. (19)

1995

April 24 – Florence McCormick was found strangled in the basement of a vacant home by workers doing repairs. The home was boarded up but had a broken window. (28)

June 27- Sheila Forrior was found strangled by the owner of a vacant residence. (37)

Aug. 30- Jessica Payne, a runaway from South Milwaukee, was found with her throat slashed behind a vacant house. (16) (This homicide does not fit Ellis’s pattern, but his DNA was found on her and it was believed he had had sex with her before she was murdered, but they had charged another person with this murder)

1997

June 20. – Joyce Mims was found strangled by building renovators in a vacant home. (41)

2007

April 27 – Ouithreaun C. Stokes is found strangled by two citizens and city inspectors after going to inspect a vacant residence. (28)

Childhood

Edward Theodore Gein was born in Plainfield Wisconsin to George Philip Gein and Augusta Wilhelmine Gein on August 27, 1906. He grew up in the town of Plainfield and had a unorthodox childhood. When he was younger he was secluded to the family farm and was only allowed to leave for school.  She preached to her boys about the innate immortality of the world, the evil of drinking, and her belief that all women (except herself) were naturally prostitutes and instruments of the devil. She reserved time every afternoon to read to them from the Bible, usually selecting graphic verses from the Old Testament concerning death, murder, and Devine Retribution.

                        

             Gein’s hometown of Plainfield

Gein’s crime

Gein was linked to over ten missing persons cases, but only ended up serving time for two. These two women were Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan Bernice was a fifty eight year old hardware store owner and Mary was a fifty four year old tavern owner. Bernice was Gein’s last kill, and the one who linked Gein to his crimes. Gein had visited Words the day before the murders and said that he would be back tomorrow to buy another item. Worden had been missing for a couple hours when her son went to the hardware store and found an open register and a small pool of blood. After looking at the receipts he went and searched ed geins house finding Wordens decapitated body hung from her ankles in a shed. After searching the house authorities found skulls on his bed posts, Whole human bones and fragments, bowls made from human skulls, and many many more horrid sights. It was later found out that Gein had not only murdered two people, but he had also robbed nine graves. Collecting their remains and using them to help make woman suit to help reconnect him with his dead mother. Most people say that Gein was born to be a serial killer, but I think that the way his mother raised him had a lot to do with how messed up he became as an adult.

Ed Gein

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born in Milwaukee wisconsin on May 21, 1960 to Joyce Annette and Lionel Herbert Dahmer. He had a relatively normal life up until he turned 18, which is when he took his first life. He then went on a 13 year killing spree up until his arrest on July 22 1991. Over these 13 years Dahmer was able to kill 17 young men. During the early stages of his crime spree he only killed one victim, killing the other 12 over the course of only 4 years. His first murder was a spur of the moment choice that lead him to become the serial killer we all know him as today. It wasn’t until 1987 that he made his first planned kill, and after completing his first kill he then felt the urge to kill more and more.. Dahmer was able to kill at least three more people before being charged for the molestation of a 13 year old boy. Because of this charge he then was forced to serve eight months at a work camp, and the urge to kill drove him mad. When he was released from his sentence he got right back to luring young men back to his place and murdering them. This spree continued until one of Dahmer’s victims, 32 year old Tracy Edwards, was able to escape from his apartment and flag down a police car. Once he flagged down the police he lead them up to dahmer’s apartment. The police officers were appalled by what they had found, polaroids of his victims in various states, body parts in his freezer, and barrels of acid sitting on the floor. The police immediately arrested Dahmer and he was given 15 life sentences shortly after. Dahmer was then killed two years later in prison by Christopher Scarver. After hearing of these horrible crimes people tried to come up with ways to explain why Dahmer was the way he was. The most common reason people could come up with was that it was the lack of attention from his parents that drove him to do these terrible things, but I think that lack of attention is not an excuse to do the terrible things he’s done, and that plenty of other children have grown up in the same conditions he did and turned out just fine. I guess only Jeffrey Dahmer will know the real reasons behind his sickening actions.

I will be giving you some insight into the gruesome lives of some of wisconsin’s most famous serial killers.   

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