1966 — July 14, Richard Speck murder of student nurses, Dorm Room, Chicago, IL — 8

— 8 AP. “Lone Man Brutally Murders Eight Nurses in Dormitory.” Alton Evening Telegraph, IL, 8-14-1966, p. 1.
— 8 Doorey, Marie. “Richard Speck. American murderer.” Britannica. Accessed 4-28-2022.
— 8 Chua-Eoan, Howard. “Crimes of the Century: Richard Speck, 1966.” Time, 3-1-2007.
— 8 Duwe, Grant. Mass Murder in the United States: A History. McFarland, 2007, p. 28.
— 8 Flexner and Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History. 2008, p. 305.
— 8 Wikipedia. “Richard Speck.” 2-26-2013 modification.

Narrative Information

July 14: “Chicago (AP) – Eight student nurses were strangled and knifed to death in their dormitory early today in what one official called ‘the crime of the century.’ One girl escaped to tell the horror.

“A man wearing a bloodstained white shirt was seized in mid-morning in downtown Chicago after he had attempted to purchase an air line ticket to New Orleans. Police said later he did not match the description, however.

“In what FBI officials termed the worst crime in their recollection, the victims, aged 21 to 23, were killed one at a time during a 2½-hour slaughter binge.

“One young woman was strangled in a downstairs living room of the two-story brick town house at 2319 E. 100th St., used by South Chicago Hospital as a dormitory. The scene is a middle class neighborhood in the city’s far Southeast Side.

“The survivor, Miss Carazo Amurao, 23, an exchange student from the Philippines, said she escaped death by hiding under a bed. Her story to police was semi-hysterical, but she described a lone killer with blond hair, 6 feet 1, and weighing about 170 pounds. Miss Amurao said she was one of several girls penned in an upstairs bedroom – one of three bedrooms on the second floor. She said she was upstairs in the house when Miss Gloria Davy, 23, of Dyer, Ind., first encountered the killer.

“It was first believed that she opened the door to him, but Edward Sheehy, South Chicago police commander, said that it appeared he had entered through a rear kitchen window of the first floor. Miss Amurao was quoted as saying she overheard him say that ‘he only wanted money to go to New Orleans and that he would not hurt us.’

“As far as police could reconstruct the crime immediately, the intruder strangled Miss Davy and then went upstairs where five of the girls were in bed or ready to retire. This was at about 12:30 a.m.

“The killer bound the wrists of the five with stockings and locked them in the bedroom. Within an hour, three other student nurses returned to the dormitory after having finished their night shift duties at the hospital a few blocks away.

“The next killing possibly came during a struggle by one of the girls and the marauder.

“Besides Miss Davy, those killed were Miss Merlita Gargullo, 21, an exchange nurse from the Philippines; Miss Valentina Pasion, 23, of the Philippines; Miss Pamela Wilkening, 22, of Lansing, Ill.’ Miss Susan Farris, 22, Chicago; Miss Patricia Matusek, 21, Roseland, Ill.’ Marianne Jordan, 22, Chicago; and Miss Nina Schmale, 21, Wheaton, Ill.

“One body was found in an upstairs hallway, and three in each of two upstairs bedrooms….” (AP. “Lone Man Brutally Murders Eight Nurses in Dormitory.” Alton Evening Telegraph, IL, 8-14-1966, p. 1.)

Doorey: “….After he committed the murders, Speck went into hiding and tried to commit suicide. Taken to a hospital, he was arrested there after an emergency room physician noticed a tattoo on Speck’s arm, ‘Born to Raise Hell,’ which had been mentioned in newspaper reports of the crime based on the surviving student’s description. He was arrested on July 17, 1966.

“Speck was originally sentenced to death in the electric chair. When the Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972, Speck’s sentence was changed to eight consecutive terms of 50 to 150 years. He was refused parole a number of times and died of a heart attack at age 49.” (Doorey, Marie. “Richard Speck. American murderer.” Britannica.)

Sources

AP (Associated Press). “Lone Man Brutally Murders Eight Nurses in Dormitory.” Alton Evening Telegraph, IL, 8-14-1966, p. 1. Accessed 4-28-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/alton-evening-telegraph-jul-14-1966-p-1/

Chua-Eoan, Howard. “Crimes of the Century: Richard Speck, 1966.” Time, 3-1-2007. Accessed 2-28-2013: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1937349_1937350_1937409,00.html

Doorey, Marie. “Richard Speck. American murderer.” Britannica. Accessed 4-28-2022 at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Speck

Duwe, Grant. Mass Murder in the United States: A History. McFarland, 2007.

Flexner, Doris and Stuart Berg Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History: An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem – From 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007. New York: Harper Collins, 2008. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=tpeK8WZby0gC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Wikipedia. “Richard Speck.” 2-26-2013 modification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Speck