Cleveland Torso Murderer

The Cleveland Torso Murderer was an unidentified serial killer active in the Cleveland, Ohio, area in the early 20th century. The official toll of the murderer, who was also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run was 12, killed between 1935 to 1938, but some believe that there may have been as many as 40 victims in the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown, Ohio, area between the 1920s and the 1950s. Two strong candidates for addition to the list of those killed are the unknown victim nicknamed the Lady of the Lake, found on September 5, 1934, and Robert Robertson, found on July 22, 1950.

Suspects

Three suspects are most commonly associated with the Torso murders, although there are numerous others occasionally mentioned.

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On August 24, 1939, Frank Dolezal, a suspect in the Torso murders, died under suspicious circumstances in the Cuyahoga County Jail. He was discovered to have six broken ribs, injuries his friends say he did not have when arrested by the County Sheriff several months before. Most researchers believe that there exists no evidence that Dolezal was involved in the murders, although at one time he admitted killing Flo Polillo in self-defense. Before his death, he recanted that confession, saying he had been beaten until he confessed. He is often called the 13th victim of the Torso Murderer.

Related Topics:
August 24 - 1939 - Cuyahoga County - Self-defense - Confession

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Most investigators consider the last official murder to have been in 1938. One very strongly suspected individual was Dr. Francis E. Sweeney, who permanently entered institutionalized care shortly after the last official murders, in 1938. Dr. Sweeney had been personally interviewed by famed lawman Eliot Ness, who oversaw the official investigation into the killings. During this discreet interrogation, Sweeney is said to have "failed to pass" a very early polygraph machine test. Nevertheless, Ness apparently felt that there was very little chance of obtaining a successful prosecution of the doctor, especially as he was the first cousin of one of Ness's political opponents, the U.S. Congressman Martin L. Sweeney. In any case, with Sweeney voluntarily committing himself to a hospital days after the interview, there were no more leads or connections that police could make to him as a possible suspect. Sweeney died in a Dayton veteran's hospital in 1965.

Related Topics:
Institutionalized - Interrogation - Polygraph machine - U.S. Congressman - Martin L. Sweeney - Dayton - Veteran's hospital

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It is possible that since Sweeney's confinement was voluntary, he may have been allowed to "sign himself out" of the hospital at will. This would have allowed him to use the hospital as a base of operations, while appearing to be securely confined.

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The 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, often called the Black Dahlia, by an unknown perpetrator in Los Angeles bears distinct similarities, as well as some significant differences, when compared to the Torso Murder's work. Most researchers familiar with both crimes do not feel that the same person was at work, but Elizabeth Short's murderer might have copied aspects of the Cleveland crimes. Those who see a link between the Black Dahlia and Torso Murders have pointed out that a petty criminal named Jack Wilson, who was not a suspect in the Black Dahlia murder at the time but was put forth as suspect in John Gilmore's 1994 book Severed, is known to have lived in Cleveland during the murders and reportedly talked of viewing the death mask of victim number 4, the unknown "tattooed man". At least one reference also discusses a mysterious Torso suspect named Jack Wilson who was never found for questioning, but this may not have been the same person. Sources give the date of birth of the Jack Wilson in Severed as 1920 or 1924, either of which would make him improbably young to have committed many of the Torso Murders.

Related Topics:
Elizabeth Short - Black Dahlia - Los Angeles

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One other opinion is that there were many murderers involved—that there was no true Torso Murderer. Murders were common in the Cleveland-Youngstown-Pittsburgh area during this time, and some, especially those associated with organized crime, were savage. In other cases, long exposure to the elements and animal scavenging might have made some of these murders seem more violent than they actually were.

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