Richard Speck

Richard Benjamin Speck (December 6, 1941–December 5, 1991) was a mass murderer who systematically killed eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital on July 14, 1966.

Related Topics:
December 6 - 1941 - December 5 - 1991 - Mass murder - Nurse - July 14 - 1966

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Speck was born December 6, 1941, in Kirkwood, Illinois. He was the seventh of eight children and raised in a religious family. His father died when he was six, and he was frequently beaten by his drunken stepfather.

Related Topics:
December 6 - 1941 - Kirkwood - Illinois - Beaten

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Speck was a poor student and an incorrigible juvenile delinquent, beginning his life of crime at a young age.

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He was briefly married, a union marked by abuse and spousal rape. Speck spent much of the marriage in and out of prison, although he allegedly fathered a child. In January 1966, six months before the nurse murders, his wife Shirley filed for divorce.

Related Topics:
Abuse - Spousal rape - Prison - Divorce

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Prior to the nurse murders, Speck is known to have been arrested for burglary and stabbing, although he got away with raping Virgil Harris (65), and beating Mary Kay Pierce to death; in both cases, he avoided in-depth interrogation.

Related Topics:
Burglary - Stabbing - Raping - Interrogation

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On July 14 1966, Speck broke into a South Chicago townhouse and took as hostages nurses Gloria Davy, Patricia Matusek, Nina Schmale, Pamela Wilkening, Suzanne Farris, Mary Ann Jordan, Merlita Gargullo and Valentina Pasion. He held them hostage for hours, beating and raping them, before finally stabbing them to death.

Related Topics:
July 14 - 1966

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He attempted suicide on July 19 and was hospitalized, where he was identified by Cora (Corazon) Amurau, another student nurse who had luckily escaped by hiding silently under a bed while her housemates were being killed. Speck, who was quite fond of various types of pills, did not notice Amurau and left the house in a drug-induced haze.

Related Topics:
Suicide - July 19

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Saying he had no recollection of the murders, he was declared sane but a sociopath after being examined. Jury trial began April 3, 1967, in Peoria County, three hours south of Chicago, with a gag order on the press. Amurau also testified at the trial.

Related Topics:
Recollection - Sane - Sociopath - Jury trial - April 3 - 1967 - Peoria County - Gag - Testified

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The trial was concluded on April 15 1967, and the jury found Speck guilty of the murders. He was sentenced to death, although he avoided that when the Supreme Court outlawed capital punishment the following year. Speck was resentenced to 50 to 100 years in prison.

Related Topics:
April 15 - 1967 - Supreme Court - Capital punishment - Prison

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He died on December 5, 1991, from a heart attack. On autopsy, he was found to have an enlarged heart and occluded arteries. His body was not claimed and he was cremated.

Related Topics:
December 5 - 1991 - Heart attack - Autopsy - Enlarged heart and occluded arteries - Cremated

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Speck once again became notorious after pictures and videos of him in prison were made public. In the videos, Speck was shown using drugs and having sex with a fellow male inmate. He also appears to have altered his body to grow female-like breasts with hormone treatment. In the video, the inmate he later had sex with asked him how he felt about the nurses he killed. Shrugging, he said, "It just wasn't their night." This video was used to argue for the death penalty.

Related Topics:
Drugs - Breast - Hormone - Death penalty

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The Simon and Garfunkel song "7 O'Clock News" was comprised of several radio broadcasts being read against the soothing Silent Night, and contained the verse In Chicago, Richard Speck, accused murderer of nine student nurses, was brought before a Grand Jury today for indictment. The nurses were found stabbed and strangled in their Chicago apartment.

Related Topics:
Simon and Garfunkel - Silent Night

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