RICHARD SPECK: Birth of a Monster (True Crime Documentary)
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By July 1966, Richard Speck was a 24-year-old drifter with a violent criminal past, fleeing Texas with a warrant on his head and desperately seeking work on the Great Lakes shipping routes. His life had become a pattern of failed jobs, escalating violence and mounting rage, a dangerous combination that had already led to at least two murders earlier that year.

When his own family issues forced him into the streets of Chicago, Speck found himself spending his days at the National Maritime Union Hiring Hall in South Deering, just one block from a quiet residential townhouse that he began to observe with growing interest. That townhouse was home to nine young nursing students, dedicated women who had chosen careers devoted to healing and helping others.

As Speck's life slowly spiraled darker and deeper, his attention increasingly focused on the comings and goings of these innocent women who represented everything stable and good that had been denied to him.

On the sweltering evening of July 13th, Speck began a slow walk toward that townhouse, carrying with him a pistol, a blade, and a lifetime of rage that was about to explode in one of the most shocking and brutal mass murders in American history. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness.

Welcome, Weirdos! Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.

Coming up in this episode, Richard Speck began life in a seemingly stable religious family in rural Illinois. But when his father died, Richard's world collapsed. His mother's remarriage to a violent alcoholic ex-con plunged Speck into a childhood of abuse, chaos, and frequent moves through Texas' poorest neighborhoods. Isolated and angry, he spiraled into drinking, academic failure, and petty crime.

By July 1966, Speck was a drifter with a violent past and nothing to lose. Near Chicago's South Deering neighborhood, he found himself just steps from a townhouse shared by nine nursing students. What they didn't know was that Richard Speck, fueled by trauma, addiction, and rage, was about to become the face of one of the most shocking mass murders the world had ever seen. I do need to give you a content warning.

This deep dive episode will contain detailed descriptions of extreme violence, sexual assault, murder, child abuse, domestic violence, and other disturbing content. I'll be sharing graphic descriptions of a mass murder case involving the torture and killing of eight young women, as well as discussions of rape, physical abuse, substance abuse, and other traumatic events, including violence on children.

This episode very well may be disturbing or triggering for some listeners, particularly those who've experienced violence, trauma, or loss. Listener discretion is strongly advised. And if this describes your past, and it's causing you to have thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or violence, please contact a mental health professional or crisis hotline. I have numerous resources you can reach out to on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com.

That's WeirdDarkness.com/Hope. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness! Richard Benjamin Speck entered the world on December 6, 1941, in the small, rural community of Kirkwood, Illinois.

He was the seventh child born to Benjamin Franklin Speck and Mary Margaret Carbaugh Speck, joining a large family that would eventually include eight children. His parents were deeply religious people who practiced strict temperance. They neither drank alcohol nor smoked tobacco. Believing such vices went against their moral convictions. The early years of Richard's life appeared unremarkable by most standards.

The Speck family lived modestly but respectably in their small Illinois town. Benjamin Speck worked as a manual laborer, doing whatever jobs he could find to support his large family. Despite the financial struggles that came with feeding and clothing eight children, the household maintained a sense of stability and order under Benjamin's guidance. Richard formed a particularly close bond with his father during these early years.

The two would often go fishing together, just the two of them, creating memories that would later become precious to the young boy. Benjamin Speck represented everything that was good and stable in Richard's world. He was hardworking, dependable, and devoted to his family despite their modest circumstances. The family relocated to Monmouth, Illinois when Richard was still very young.

This move seemed to offer new opportunities for the growing family, and for a brief time life continued in much the same pattern it had established in Kirkwood. Benjamin continued working to support his wife and children, while Mary tended to the household and ensured the children received proper moral guidance. But tragedy was lurking just around the corner, waiting to shatter the relative peace of the Speck household.

The event that would forever alter the trajectory of Richard's life came without warning and would leave wounds that never properly healed. In 1947, when Richard was just six years old, his world collapsed. Benjamin Speck, the man who had been the anchor of their family, suffered a massive heart attack and died at the age of 53. The sudden loss devastated everyone in the household, but it hit Richard particularly hard.

The boy had lost not just his father but his closest companion and the most stable influence in his young life. Mary Speck found herself alone with eight children to raise and very little money to support them. The death of her husband left her in a precarious financial situation, struggling to keep the family together while dealing with her own grief. The older children tried to help as much as they could, but the burden of maintaining the household fell heavily on Mary's shoulders.

Three years later, in 1950, Mary's life took another dramatic turn when she met Carl August Rudolph Lindbergh during a train journey to Chicago. Lindbergh was a traveling insurance salesman who seemed to offer the financial security and companionship that Mary desperately needed. On the surface, he appeared to be a solution to many of her problems: a man who could support her large family and provide the children with a father figure they'd been missing.

On May 10, 1950, Mary married Carl Lindbergh, hoping that this union would bring stability back to her family's life. However, what seemed like a blessing would quickly reveal itself to be a curse that would have devastating consequences for Richard and his siblings. The man Mary had wed was everything that Benjamin Speck had not been.

where Richard's biological father had been sober and hardworking. Carl Lindbergh was a heavy drinker with a lengthy criminal record that stretched back over 25 years. His rap sheet included multiple arrests for drunk driving, forgery, and various other offenses. He was the polar opposite of the moral, upstanding man who had raised Richard during his early years. The contrast between the two fathers could not have been more stark.

Benjamin Speck had been a teetotaler who believed in hard work and moral living. Carl Lindbergh was an alcoholic criminal who brought chaos and violence into what had once been a stable, if modest, household. Shortly after the marriage, Carl Lindbergh decided to move the family to his home state of Texas. This relocation would prove to be another devastating blow to Richard's sense of stability and belonging.

The family first settled in Santo, Texas, but this would be only the beginning of a pattern of constant movement that would characterize Richard's remaining childhood years. Over the next several years, the family would move a total of 12 times, bouncing from house to house throughout the poorer neighborhoods of East Dallas. Each move meant new schools for Richard, new faces to try to befriend, and new environments to navigate.

The constant upheaval made it nearly impossible for him to form lasting relationships or feel any sense of belonging in his community. The frequent relocations were often necessitated by Carl Lindbergh's drinking and his inability to maintain steady employment. When he did work, he would often lose jobs due to his alcohol consumption or criminal behavior. When he wasn't working, he would disappear for days at a time, leaving Mary to cope with the children and the bills on her own.

The atmosphere in the household became increasingly toxic as Carl's true nature revealed itself. When he was drunk, which was often, he became verbally and physically abusive toward the children. He seemed to take particular pleasure in tormenting Richard. Perhaps sensing the boy's vulnerability and his continued grief over his biological father's death, Carl would frequently tell Richard that he hated him and that he was worthless

He refused to adopt the boy, making it clear that Richard would never truly be his son. The psychological abuse was relentless and systematic, designed to break down Richard's self-esteem and sense of worth. The physical abuse was equally devastating. Carl would beat the children for minor infractions or sometimes for no reason at all.

Richard learned to fear the sound of his stepfather's footsteps and to recognize the signs that indicated another beating was coming. Richard also suffered the loss of his older brother Robert in 1952, when Robert died in an automobile accident at the age of 23. This was another devastating blow to a boy who had already experienced far too much loss in his young life. Robert had been one of the older siblings who had tried to provide some stability and protection for Richard after their father's death.

The chaos and abuse at home inevitably began to affect Richard's performance in school. He had always been a quiet, withdrawn child, but now he became even more isolated and struggled academically. Part of his problem stemmed from his need for eyeglasses. He couldn't see the blackboard clearly, but he refused to wear the glasses that were prescribed for him because he was afraid of being stared at or teased by other children.

Richard's fear of drawing attention to himself became a defining characteristic. He was terrified of having people look at him or notice him in any way. This fear made him reluctant to participate in class discussions or activities, which further hindered his academic progress. His teachers described him as "seeming lost and in a fog," unable to connect with the material or with his classmates. The constant moving didn't help his educational situation.

Just as he would begin to adjust to one school, the family would move again, forcing him to start over in a new environment with new teachers and classmates. The lack of continuity made it impossible for him to build any kind of academic foundation or develop relationships with teachers who might have been able to help him. By the time Richard reached eighth grade, his academic performance had deteriorated to the point where he was forced to repeat the grade.

Even this second attempt at eighth grade was unsuccessful, and he continued to struggle with basic concepts and skills that his peers had mastered years earlier. The failure and frustration at school only added to the abuse and chaos he was experiencing at home. Richard began to see himself as fundamentally flawed and incapable of success in any area of his life.

This negative self-image would become deeply ingrained and would contribute to his increasingly destructive behavior patterns. At the age of 12, Richard discovered alcohol when he broke into his stepfather's liquor cabinet and had his first taste of whiskey. The alcohol provided a temporary escape from his pain and fear, and he quickly began drinking regularly. By the time he was 13, he was consuming alcohol almost daily, often getting completely drunk.

The drinking only made his academic and behavioral problems worse. He would show up to school hungover or sometimes still intoxicated from the night before. His ability to concentrate and learn was further compromised by his substance abuse. Richard's first arrest came at age 13 for trespassing. This minor offense marked the beginning of what would become a lifetime of criminal activity.

The arrest should have been a wake-up call for his family, but Carl Lindbergh was hardly in a position to provide moral guidance, given his own criminal background. Instead of receiving help or intervention, Richard found that his mother would consistently bail him out of trouble, no matter what he had done. This pattern of enabling behavior would continue throughout his adolescence into his adult years, teaching him that there were no real consequences for his actions.

As Richard entered his teenage years, his behavior became increasingly problematic. The combination of abuse at home, academic failure, and heavy drinking created a perfect storm of dysfunction. He began associating with other troubled youth, learning criminal techniques, and developing an increasingly antisocial attitude toward authority and society in general. The constant drinking was taking a serious toll on Richard's developing brain.

Research has shown that alcohol abuse during adolescence can cause permanent damage to the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for impulse control, planning, and decision-making. For someone like Richard, who was already dealing with trauma and instability, this brain damage would have devastating long-term consequences. Richard's appearance also began to reflect his troubled lifestyle. He developed severe acne that left his face heavily scarred and pockmarked.

This only increased his self-consciousness and his fear of being stared at by others. He became even more withdrawn and antisocial, avoiding situations where he might be the center of attention. His relationship with his stepfather continued to deteriorate. Carl Lindbergh's abuse became more frequent and more severe as Richard grew older. The man seemed to take pleasure in humiliating and degrading the boy, often in front of the other family members.

This public humiliation only added to Richard's sense of worthlessness and his growing anger toward authority figures. The family's financial situation remained precarious throughout this period. Carl's drinking and criminal behavior made it difficult for him to maintain steady employment, and the family frequently struggled to pay rent and buy food. The stress of poverty only added to the dysfunction in the household.

Richard began skipping school regularly, preferring to spend his days drinking and hanging out with other delinquents. When he did attend school, he was often disruptive or simply sat in silence, refusing to participate in any activities. His teachers began to see him as a lost cause, and several recommended that he be placed in special education classes or alternative programs. By the time Richard reached high school, it was clear that his academic career was essentially over.

He had failed to master even basic reading and math skills, and his behavior made him unwelcome in most classrooms. Teachers and administrators viewed him as a troublemaker who was disrupting the learning environment for other students. In January 1958, just after his 16th birthday, Richard made the decision to drop out of high school altogether.

Illinois law at the time only required students to attend school until age 16, so his departure was legal, if not advisable. For Richard, leaving school felt like an escape from yet another environment where he felt like a failure. Up next: As Richard Speck's marriage crumbles under the weight of his escalating violence and criminal behavior, a prison clerical error releases him ten months early from what should have been a 16-month sentence.

Free to continue his pattern of violence, his rage finally explodes into murder for the first time, and he moves into a building very near where his infamous mass murder will eventually take place.

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After leaving school, Richard found work at various manual labor jobs around Dallas.

His longest period of employment was at a 7-Up bottling company where he worked from 1960 to 1963. However, even this job was marked by problems. He was frequently absent, often showed up drunk or hungover, and was generally considered unreliable by his supervisors. Richard spent most of his wages on alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes. He developed a serious addiction to alcohol by this point, and he also began experimenting with various illegal drugs.

His criminal activities continued to escalate during this period, with arrests for various misdemeanors including theft, disturbing the peace, and assault. In October 1961, when Richard was nearly 20 years old, he met 15-year-old Shirley Annette Malone at the Texas State Fair. Despite the significant age difference and Shirley's youth, the two began a relationship that quickly became sexual. Within just three weeks of meeting, Shirley discovered she was pregnant.

The pregnancy forced the issue of marriage, as was common in that era when unmarried pregnancy carried significant social stigma. On January 19th, 1962, Richard and Shirley were married in a small ceremony. Richard chose to change his surname back to that of his biological father, perhaps in an attempt to distance himself from his despised stepfather.

The young couple moved in with Richard's older sister, Carolyn, and her husband, where Richard's mother, Mary, was also living after separating from Carl Lindbergh. This living arrangement was far from ideal as it placed multiple troubled adults and a pregnant teenager in close quarters with limited resources. Richard's behavior as a husband was abusive and controlling from the very beginning.

Shirley later reported that he would often rape her at knife point, demanding sex four to five times a day regardless of her physical condition or desires. He was jealous and possessive, constantly accusing her of infidelity and threatening violence if he believed she was looking at other men. The psychological abuse was as damaging as the physical violence.

Richard would deliberately humiliate Shirley in public, often parking in their driveway and making out with other women in his car while forcing her to watch from the porch. He seemed to take pleasure in her pain and tears, laughing at her distress and mocking her emotional responses. When their daughter Robbie Lynn was born on July 5th, 1962, Richard was not present for the birth.

Instead, he was serving a 22-day jail sentence for disturbing the peace after being arrested in a drunken brawl in McKinney, Texas. His absence at such a crucial moment was indicative of the pattern that would characterize his role as a father. He was physically and emotionally unavailable when his family needed him most. Richard's criminal behavior continued to escalate through the early years of his marriage. In July 1963, he committed his most serious crimes to date: forgery and burglary.

He had forged and cashed a co-worker's $44 paycheck, equivalent to about $450 in today's money, and robbed a grocery store of beer, cigarettes, and $3 in cash, about $30 today. These crimes resulted in a three-year prison sentence, of which Richard served 16 months before being released on parole in January 1965. However, his freedom was short-lived.

Just one week after his release, he was arrested again for aggravated assault after attacking a woman in her apartment complex parking lot with a 17-inch carving knife. The victim had returned to her car when Richard approached her with the knife, demanding money and threatening to harm her. When she screamed in terror, he fled but was caught by police just blocks away. This violent attack marked a significant escalation in Richard's criminal behavior.

He was now using weapons to threaten and intimidate innocent victims. For this attack, Richard was sentenced to 16 months for aggravated assault, to be served concurrently with a six-month sentence for violating his parole. However, due to a clerical error in the prison system, he was released after serving only the six-month parole violation sentence, despite the fact that he should have remained incarcerated for the full 16 months.

This early release was a catastrophic mistake that would have deadly consequences. Had Richard served his full sentence, he would have remained in prison during the time when he committed his most heinous crimes. The bureaucratic error that freed him early essentially signed the death warrants of multiple innocent victims. After his premature release in July 1965, Richard attempted to find legitimate employment.

he was hired as a driver for the Patterson Meat Company. But this job lasted only a short time. He had six accidents while driving the company truck and frequently failed to show up for work, leading to his termination. Richard's relationship with Shirley continued to deteriorate throughout this period. The combination of his criminal behavior, his drinking, his violence, and his frequent incarcerations made him an impossible husband and father.

Shirley lived in constant fear, never knowing when Richard might explode into violence or when he might be arrested again. In December 1965, on his mother's recommendation, Richard moved in with Nancy Sims, a 29-year-old divorcee who worked as a barmaid at his favorite establishment, Ginny's Lounge. Nancy was a former wrestler who was not easily intimidated, and she needed someone to watch her three children while she worked.

This arrangement was presented as a practical solution for both parties, though it was clear that Richard's mother was trying to find someone else to take responsibility for her troubled son. The relationship between Richard and Nancy was supposedly platonic, but it was marked by the same pattern of violence and intimidation that characterized all of Richard's relationships. He was particularly threatened by Nancy's ex-husband, and would often start fights when the man came to visit his children.

Nancy later described Richard as having two distinct personalities. When he was sober for several days, he could be kind and helpful, particularly with her children. However, once he started drinking, he became aggressive and belligerent, unable to control his violent impulses. She noted that while Richard might feel sorry for his actions afterward, he always knew exactly what he was doing while he was doing it.

In January 1966, Shirley finally reached her breaking point. She filed for divorce and sought full custody of their daughter, citing Richard's violence and his multiple rapes of her at knifepoint. The divorce proceedings moved quickly, and the marriage was officially dissolved on March 16th, 1966. Richard's reaction to the divorce was one of rage and resentment. He became even more violent and unpredictable, taking out his anger on anyone who crossed his path.

When he learned that Shirley had remarried just two days after their divorce was finalized, his fury reached new heights. That same month, Richard was arrested for aggravated assault after stabbing a man with his knife at Ginny's lounge. However, his mother hired a defense attorney who managed to get the charge reduced to a lesser offense of disturbing the peace.

Richard was fined $10 and jailed for three days, a punishment that was completely inadequate given the severity of the crime. In March 1966, facing a warrant for his arrest on charges of robbing a grocery store of 70 cartons of cigarettes, Richard fled Texas. If he had been caught, it would have been his 42nd arrest by Dallas police.

On March 9, his older sister Carolyn drove him to the Dallas Bus Depot, where he caught a bus to Chicago to stay with another sister, Martha, and her family. After a few days in Chicago, Richard decided to return to his hometown of Monmouth, Illinois, perhaps hoping to recapture some connection to his happier childhood memories. He stayed with family friends, and his older brother Howard managed to get him a job sanding plasterboard with a local carpenter.

However, Richard's violent tendencies had now developed to a point where he could no longer control them. The news of Shirley's remarriage had triggered something dark within him, and he began acting on increasingly violent impulses toward innocent victims. The first known escalation of his crimes to murder occurred in the early hours of April 3rd, 1966. 65-year-old Virgil Harris returned to her home at 1 a.m. to find a burglar brandishing a knife.

The intruder was described as a six-foot-white male who spoke very politely and very softly with a southern drawl, a description that perfectly matched Richard Speck. The attacker, later identified as Richard, blindfolded and tied up Mrs. Harris before raping her and ransacking her home. He stole various possessions, along with the $2.50 she had earned babysitting that evening.

The crime represented a significant escalation from Richard's previous offenses. He had now committed rape during the course of a burglary, demonstrating a willingness to inflict serious harm on innocent victims. Just six days later, on April 9th, another tragedy struck Monmouth. Mary Kay Pierce, a 32-year-old barmaid who worked at her brother-in-law's tavern called Frank's Place, was last seen leaving work at 12.20 in the morning.

Her body was discovered on April 13th in an empty hog house behind the tavern. Mary had been murdered by a violent blow to her abdomen that ruptured her liver, causing massive internal bleeding and death. The location of her body was particularly significant. Richard Speck had frequented Frank's place regularly and had helped construct the very hog house where Mary's body was found.

When police arrived to investigate Mary's murder, they found Richard at the tavern collecting his final paycheck for his work on the hog house construction. The timing was incredibly suspicious, but Richard managed to maintain his composure during initial questioning. Police asked him to remain in town for further questioning, but Richard had no intention of cooperating with their investigation. Just four days later, on April 19th, Richard fled Monmouth and returned to Chicago.

He spun an elaborate story for his sister Martha about having to leave town because he had refused to sell narcotics for a criminal syndicate that was now threatening his life. The fictional explanation allowed him to avoid suspicion while positioning himself as a victim rather than a perpetrator. When police went to search Richard's room at the Christie Hotel on the day he fled, they discovered incriminating evidence that clearly linked him to multiple crimes.

They found a radio and costume jewelry that had been stolen from Virgil Harris' home, as well as items reported missing from two other local burglaries that had occurred in the previous month. The evidence was overwhelming. But Richard was already long gone. No one has ever been charged with Mary Kay Pierce's murder, and the case remains officially unsolved to this day, though all evidence points to Richard Speck as the killer.

Back in Chicago, Richard moved in with his sister Martha, her husband Gene, and their two teenage daughters in their second-floor apartment in the old Irving Park neighborhood. Gene was a former U.S. Navy serviceman who believed that the structure and discipline of maritime work might be exactly what Richard needed to straighten out his life. Gene's plan was to get Richard involved with the U.S. Merchant Marine, thinking that the steady work and time away from shore might help him overcome his drinking and criminal tendencies.

On April 25, Jean drove Richard to the U.S. Coast Guard office to apply for the documentation he would need to work as an apprentice seaman. The application process required Richard to be fingerprinted, photographed, and examined by a doctor. These requirements were standard for all Merchant Mariners, but they would later prove crucial in identifying Richard as the perpetrator of multiple crimes. The fingerprints taken during this routine application would eventually be matched to those found at crime scenes.

Five days after his application, Richard found work joining the 33-member crew of Inland Steel's Clarence B. Randall, a lake freighter that transported iron ore across the Great Lakes. For a brief moment, it seemed like Richard might have found a legitimate path forward. Steady work, decent pay, and time away from temptations and triggers that had led to his criminal behavior.

However, Richard's first voyage was cut short on May 3rd when he became seriously ill and needed to be evacuated by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital in Hancock, Michigan, where doctors performed an emergency appendectomy. The surgery was successful, but it meant another disruption to Richard's attempts at maintaining steady employment.

During his recovery at the hospital, Richard befriended a nurse aide named Judy Luckiniemi. Judy was sympathetic to Richard's situation and even gave him $80 to help him get back on his feet. This act of kindness from a healthcare worker was particularly ironic given what Richard would later do to a group of nursing students. After recovering from his surgery, Richard returned to his sister's home in Chicago to recuperate fully.

By May 20th, he felt well enough to rejoin the crew of the Clarence B. Randall and resume his maritime career. For a few weeks, it seemed like he might actually be turning his life around. However, Richard's violent and unpredictable nature soon reasserted itself. On June 14th, he was kicked off the ship following a drunken quarrel with one of the boat's officers. The exact details of the incident are unclear, but it was serious enough that the ship's captain refused to allow Richard to remain on board.

Finding himself unemployed and with nowhere to go, Richard spent a week in St. Elmo, a cheap boarding house known as a "flophouse" on the east side of Chicago. These establishments catered to transient workers, alcoholics, and others on the margins of society. The conditions were squalid, and the clientele was often desperate and dangerous. From St. Elmo, Richard traveled by train to Houghton, Michigan, possibly hoping to find more maritime work in the ports there.

However, he was unsuccessful in these efforts and eventually returned to Chicago to stay with Martha and her family once again. On June 30th, three days after Richards returned to Chicago, his brother-in-law Gene drove him to the National Maritime Union hiring hall in South Deering, Chicago to file paperwork for a seaman's card. This location would prove to be fatally significant. The NMU hiring hall was located just one block east of the townhouse where the nursing students lived.

The proximity of the hiring hall to the nurses' residence meant that Richard would have had multiple opportunities to observe the comings and goings of the young women who lived there. He would have noticed their schedules, their routines, and the fact that they were often alone or in small groups. His surveillance would have given him crucial information that he would later use when planning his attack. On Friday, July 8th, Gene drove Richard back to the NMU hiring hall to collect his seaman's card and register for a berth on a ship.

However, when a position became available, Richard lost out to his seaman with more seniority. This rejection was a significant blow to his ego and his financial situation. He desperately needed work but was being passed over for more experienced mariners. Richard returned to stay at Martha's house for the weekend, but the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense. His sister and brother-in-law were growing tired of supporting him and their teenage daughters were uncomfortable having him in their home.

Richard's drinking had increased, and his behavior was becoming more erratic and threatening. On Monday, July 11th, the situation came to a head when Richard outstayed his welcome with his sister's family. Jean took him back to the NMU hiring hall with all his belongings, making it clear that he was no longer welcome in their home. Richard was essentially homeless, with no money and nowhere to stay.

That night, Richard found accommodation at Pauline's Rooming House about a mile away in the Vets Park neighborhood. These rooming houses were a step above the Flophouses but still catered to transient workers and others with limited resources. The accommodations were basic, and the other residents were often struggling with their own problems related to alcohol, unemployment, or criminal activity. Tuesday, July 12th proved to be a pivotal day in the sequence of events leading up to the massacre.

Richard returned to the NMU hiring hall in the hope of finding work, and mid-afternoon he received what seemed like good news: an assignment on Sinclair Oil's tanker SS Sinclair Great Lakes. The job was located in East Chicago, Indiana, about a 30-minute drive from the hiring hall. Richard must have been relieved and excited about finally securing steady employment. He made the journey to Indiana, probably feeling optimistic about his prospects for the first time in weeks.

However, when Richard arrived at the ship, he discovered that his position had already been filled by another seaman. The assignment that he thought was his had been given to someone else, leaving him stranded in Indiana with no job and no way to support himself. He was forced to make the trip back to NMU Hiring Hall, which had already closed for the day by the time he returned. This rejection was the final straw for Richard.

He had been struggling to find legitimate work, had been kicked out of his sister's home, and was now facing the prospect of sleeping on the streets with no money and no prospects. The combination of frustration, anger, and desperation created a psychological powder keg that was about to explode. With no money for a room, Richard dropped his bags off at a nearby shell filling station and spent the night sleeping in an unfinished house.

This experience of homelessness and vulnerability would have been deeply humiliating for someone who was already struggling with feelings of inadequacy and rage. Wednesday, July 13th began with Richard collecting his bags from the gas station and returning once again to the NMU hiring hall. He was still angry about being sent on a non-existent assignment the day before, and his frustration was evident to anyone who interacted with him.

At 9 a.m., his sister Martha and brother-in-law Gene drove down to visit him, parking their car on East 100th Street next to Llewell Elementary School. Ironically, they were parked directly across the street from the townhouses that would become the scene of unimaginable horror just 14 hours later. During their 30-minute visit, Martha gave Richard $25 for a room, probably hoping that a decent night's sleep might improve his mood and prospects.

However, this act of kindness would inadvertently fund the final preparations for one of the most brutal mass murders in American history. By 10:30 a.m., Richard was tired of hanging around the NMU hiring hall with no prospects for work. He used the money his sister had given him to rent a room at the Shipyard Inn, a modest establishment about 1.5 miles east of the hiring hall.

The remaining money would be spent on alcohol, as Richard began what would become a day-long drinking binge. When Weird Darkness returns, Richard Speck walked through Chicago carrying a stolen pistol and a knife. Meanwhile, eight nursing students were preparing for bed in their shared townhouse. None of them knew that Speck had been watching their routine for days.

By morning, eight women would be dead, and one would emerge as the sole witness to a massacre that would shock the nation.

Thank you.

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Richard spent the rest of July 13th moving from bar to bar in the area around the shipyard inn, consuming large quantities of alcohol and apparently also using illegal drugs. Witnesses later reported seeing him at several establishments, where he was described as increasingly intoxicated and agitated as the day progressed.

During his drinking binge, Richard encountered 53-year-old Ella Mae Hooper, who had also spent the day drinking at the same taverns. Ella Mae was a vulnerable woman who'd been drinking heavily and was in no condition to defend herself when Richard approached her. Richard accosted Ella Mae at knifepoint and forced her to accompany him back to his room at the shipyard inn. Once there, he raped her and stole her black mail-order .22-caliber Rome pistol, which she'd been carrying for protection.

The theft of this weapon was a crucial element in the crimes that would follow. Richard was now armed with both a knife and a gun. After the assault on Ella May, Richard left his room dressed entirely in black and carrying both a stolen pistol and his switchblade knife. He stopped for dinner at the nearby Kay's Pilothouse restaurant before returning to the shipyard and tavern where he continued drinking until 10:20 p.m.

At that point, Richard began the one-and-a-half-mile walk toward East 100th Street and the townhouse that he had observed during his visits to the NMU hiring hall. He had probably been planning this attack for days or weeks, using his time near the hiring hall to study the routines of the nursing students who lived there. The townhouse at 2319 East 100th Street served as a dormitory for student nurses from the nearby South Chicago Community Hospital.

On the night of July 13th, it housed nine young women, five American nursing students and four Filipina exchange students who had come to the United States to study nursing. The nursing students who lived at 2319 East 100th Street were all young women in their early 20s who had dedicated their lives to learning how to heal and care for others.

They came from various backgrounds. Some were local Chicago-area residents, while others had traveled thousands of miles from the Philippines to pursue their nursing education. The American students included Patricia Ann Matusik, 20, from the Chicago area,

Pamela Lee Wilkening, 20. Nina Jo Schmale, 24. Mary Ann Jordan, 20. And Suzanne Bridget Ferris, 21. The Filipina exchange students were Corazon Cora Amurajo, 23. Merlita Gargullo, 23. And Valentina Pasion, 23.

These women had traveled approximately 8,000 miles from their homeland to study nursing in the United States. A fourth Filipina student, Gloria Jean Davy, 22, also lived in the townhouse. July 13th had been a relatively normal day for most of the nursing students. Some had worked their shifts at the hospital, while others had taken the day off to rest and study.

The Filipina students had gathered together that evening to cook traditional dishes from their homeland, a ritual that helped them cope with homesickness and maintain their cultural connections. After dinner, the students had spent their evening in typical ways for young women of their age: watching television, writing letters to family and friends, doing laundry, preparing for the next day's activities. By 10:30 p.m., most of the household was settling down for the night, with bedroom lights being turned off and the students preparing for sleep.

Three of the students were not at home that evening. Two were out with friends and Gloria Jean Davy was on a date with her boyfriend. The six women who were in the townhouse had locked the doors and were beginning to fall asleep, completely unaware of the danger that was approaching their home. The townhouse itself was a typical middle-class residence that had been converted to accommodate the nursing students. It had two floors, with bedrooms upstairs and common areas downstairs.

The students felt safe in their home and in their neighborhood. This was not an area known for violent crime, and most residents rarely bothered to lock their doors. At approximately 11:00 p.m., Richard Speck approached the back entrance of the townhouse. He'd been walking for about 40 minutes, and the combination of alcohol, drugs, and his mounting rage had brought him to a state of dangerous instability. He was armed with a stolen pistol and his switchblade knife, and he was prepared to use both weapons.

Richard removed the screen from a first-floor kitchen window and climbed into the house. He moved quietly through the downstairs area and then made his way upstairs to where the bedrooms were located. The ease with which he entered the household demonstrated how safe the residents felt in their neighborhood. They had not expected anyone to attempt to break in. The first bedroom Richard approached belonged to 23-year-old Corazon Amarulo and her roommate.

He knocked on their door, and when the women opened it, they found themselves facing a man dressed entirely in black who was pointing a gun at them. The sight must have been terrifying, but Corazon and her roommate had no choice but to comply with his demands. Richard ordered the two women at gunpoint to move into the larger bedroom where four other nursing students were sleeping in bunk beds.

Patricia Matusik, Pamela Wilkening, Nina Schmael and Merlita Gargulio were awakened by the commotion and found themselves confronting the same nightmare that had already begun for their roommates. Threatening all six women with his knife and gun, Richard forced them to sit on the floor while he explained what he wanted. In a calm voice that was perhaps more terrifying than shouting would have been, he told them that he just needed money to travel to New Orleans.

The women gathered what cash they had on hand, approximately $35, and gave it to him, hoping that this would satisfy him and convince him to leave. However, Richard had no intention of simply taking the money and departing. Instead, he began tearing up bedsheets and using the strips to bind each woman's wrists behind her back. This action made it clear that he planned to remain in the house for an extended period and that his intentions went far beyond simple robbery.

The nursing students tried to remain calm and cooperative, hoping that their compliance would keep them safe. The American students advised their Filipina roommates that they should trust the intruder and remain quiet, believing that if they didn't provoke him, he might not harm them. This strategy of cooperation was reasonable given the circumstances, but unfortunately it would not be enough to save them.

Around 11:20 p.m., while the six nursing students were being held captive in the upstairs bedroom, 22-year-old Gloria Jean Davy returned home from her date. She used the telephone to call her house mother and check in, as was required by the rules of the nursing program. This routine call was the last normal act of her life. Richard confronted Gloria as soon as she finished her phone call and forced her at gunpoint to join the other women upstairs.

The arrival of a seventh victim may have excited Richard or may have made him more nervous about controlling the situation. Gloria was also somewhat intoxicated from her evening out, which may have made her less able to fully comprehend the danger she was in. During this same time period, two more nursing students, 21-year-old Suzanne Ferris and 20-year-old Mary Ann Jordan, returned to the townhouse after their own night out with friends.

When they encountered the armed intruder, they tried to run, but Richard was able to corral them at gunpoint before they could escape or call for help. Richard now had nine women under his control, though he may not have been keeping an accurate count of his victims. The stress of managing so many hostages while under the influence of alcohol and drugs would have made it difficult for him to think clearly or remember exactly how many women he had captured.

The three women who had returned during the evening were forced to join the others in the upstairs bedroom, where Richard bound their wrists with torn bedsheets just as he had done with the original six victims. The bedroom was now crowded with nine terrified young women, all tied up and completely at the mercy of an armed and increasingly unstable intruder. What happened next was a systematic and methodical campaign of torture and murder that lasted approximately five hours.

Richard began leading the nursing students out of the bedroom one by one, taking them to separate rooms where he would torture and kill them before returning for the next victim. The intervals between each murder were approximately 20 to 45 minutes, suggesting that Richard was taking his time with each victim and possibly enjoying the psychological torture of making the remaining women wait and wonder about their fate.

The sound of running water in the bathroom after each murder indicated that Richard was cleaning up between killings, possibly to avoid leaving evidence or to maintain the pretense that the previous victims were somehow still alive. Corazon Amarao, who would later become the sole survivor and key witness, reported that none of her friends screamed as they were led out of the room.

This silence may have been due to their continued hope that cooperation would save them, or it may have been because Richard threatened them with immediate death if they made any noise. However, after Richard took each woman away, Corazon could hear their muffled cries and sounds of struggle coming from the other parts of the house. These sounds must have been terrifying for the remaining victims who could only imagine what was happening to their friends and roommates.

At some point during the ordeal, while Richard was out of the room with one of his victims, Corazon made a decision that would save her life. She rolled under one of the bunk beds and positioned herself where she could not be easily seen. This act of quick thinking and courage would make her the only person who could later testify about what had happened in the townhouse that night. Richard's method of killing varied from victim to victim.

Some of the nursing students were stabbed with his knife, others were strangled with torn bedsheets or other ligatures, and some suffered both stabbing and strangulation. The brutality of the attacks suggested that Richard was taking pleasure in inflicting pain and terror on his victims. When Richard got to Gloria Jean Davy, who had been sleeping on the bunk bed above where Corazon was hiding, he was gone much longer than he had been with the other victims.

Gloria was the only victim who was sexually assaulted before being murdered. Richard raped her on the bed while Corazon lay hidden just beneath, listening to her friends suffering in helpless terror. After assaulting Gloria, Richard took her downstairs and killed her, leaving her body on the living room sofa. The fact that Gloria was the only victim who was raped may have been related to her intoxicated state, which may have made her seem more vulnerable or appealing to Richard's twisted psychology.

After killing Gloria Davey, Richard returned to the upstairs bedroom to search through the victims' handbags, looking for additional money or valuables. At this point he was not looking for Corazon Amarao because he had apparently lost count of how many women had been in the house. Police investigators later theorized that the arrival of the three women during the evening - Gloria, Suzanne and Mary Ann - had disrupted Richard's mental count of his victims

In his drug and alcohol impaired state, he was unable to keep track of exactly how many women he had captured and killed. This counting error was the only thing that saved Corazon's life. If Richard had been more methodical or less intoxicated, he would have realized that one victim was still missing and would have searched for her more thoroughly. Instead, he apparently believed that all of his victims were dead and that he could safely leave the scene.

Corazon remained hidden under the bed, too terrified to move even after she heard Richard leave the house around 3:00 a.m. She had been forced to listen to the torture and murder of eight of her friends and roommates, and she had no way of knowing whether Richard might return or whether other attackers might be involved. The courage it took for Corazon to remain motionless for hours while listening to her friends being killed cannot be overstated.

She was a young woman, far from her home country, who had witnessed unspeakable horrors and had no way of knowing whether she would survive to see morning. At 5 a.m., Corazon heard an alarm clock go off in one of the bedrooms. This normal sound, in the midst of such horror, must have been particularly jarring. She continued to wait, listening for any sign that Richard might still be in the house, or that other people might be arriving.

Finally, at 6:00 a.m., Corazon felt safe enough to emerge from her hiding place. She had been under the bed for approximately seven hours, and her body was cramped and stiff from remaining motionless for so long. She managed to free her hands from the bedsheet restraints and began to explore the house to assess the situation. As Corazon left the bedroom where she had been hiding, she encountered a scene of unimaginable horror.

The bodies of seven of her fellow nursing students were spread throughout different rooms of the upstairs area. All of the victims were nude, and the evidence of their torture and murder was clearly visible. Patricia Matusik had been punched in the stomach and strangled. Nina Schmael had been stabbed in the neck and suffocated. Pamela Wilkening had been stabbed once in the heart. Merlita Gargullo had been stabbed and strangled. Valencia Pascin had her throat slashed. Mary Ann Jordan had been stabbed three times.

Suzanne Ferris had been strangled with a stocking and stabbed 18 times. Corazon did not go downstairs, where she would have discovered the nude body of Gloria Jean Davy on the living room sofa. Gloria had been both strangled and stabbed after being sexually assaulted. The positioning of the bodies and the evidence of sexual assault made it clear that the killer had taken his time with each victim.

Overwhelmed by the horror of what she had witnessed and discovered, Corazon ran back to the bedroom where she had been hiding. She was in shock and struggling to process the magnitude of what had happened. All of her friends and roommates were dead, and she was the only survivor of a massacre that had no apparent motive. Gathering her courage, Corazon pushed out the window screen and crawled onto the wide ledge that extended over the front door of the townhouse.

From this position, she began screaming for help at the top of her lungs, her voice carrying through the early morning air of the quiet neighborhood. "They're all dead! My friends are all dead! Oh God, I am the only one alive!" Corazon's screams continued for several minutes, and the raw terror and grief in her voice conveyed the enormity of what had happened inside the townhouse. One of the nursing students who lived in the neighboring townhouse heard Corazon's screams and rushed outside to help.

When she entered 2319 East 100th Street and saw the carnage inside, she quickly ran to get a housemother from next door. The housemother immediately called the hospital for help and tried to comfort the traumatized survivor. A patrol car that happened to be passing through the neighborhood was flagged down by the women who were trying to help Corazon. The officer who responded was completely unprepared for what he found inside the townhouse.

Upon seeing the crime scene, he immediately called for backup and requested that homicide detectives be dispatched to the scene. Corazon was in severe shock, but was able to provide police with a detailed description of her attacker. She described him as a 6'1" white male, approximately 160 pounds, with a pockmarked face and a southern accent. Most importantly, she remembered his distinctive tattoos,

particularly one on his forearm that read "Born to Raise Hell". The crime scene that greeted the responding officers was unlike anything most of them had ever encountered. Eight young women had been systematically tortured and murdered in what appeared to be a completely random attack. There was no evidence of robbery as a primary motive. The killer had taken only the small amount of cash that the victims had given him willingly.

The brutality of the murders and the apparent lack of motive made it clear that this was not an ordinary crime. The methodical nature of the killings suggested that the perpetrator was either psychotic or had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol to the point where he lost all capacity for human empathy.

News of the massacre spread quickly through Chicago and then across the nation. The idea that eight nursing students, young women who had dedicated their lives to helping others, could be murdered so brutally and apparently at random was deeply disturbing to the American public. Within hours of the discovery of the bodies, over 60 Chicago homicide and burglary detectives were working on the case. The magnitude of the crime and the public attention it was receiving made it a top priority for the police department.

Every available resource was dedicated to finding the killer before he could strike again. The investigators began by canvassing the neighborhood, looking for anyone who might have seen or heard something suspicious during the night. They interviewed residents, business owners, and anyone else who might have been in the area during the crucial time period. One important lead came from an attendant at a nearby gas station who remembered a young man who had asked to store his suitcase at the station while he looked for a place to stay.

The attendant described the man as a sailor who had returned the next morning to collect his belongings. This information suggested that the killer might have connections to the maritime industry. Following up on this lead, detectives visited the National Maritime Union Hiring Hall, which was located just one block from the townhouse where the murders had occurred. The proximity of the hiring hall to the crime scene was too significant to be coincidental, and investigators suspected that the killer might have been in the area looking for work.

At the hiring hall, detectives learned that a man matching Corazon's description of the murderer had applied for work on Monday, July 11th. The man had given his name as Richard Franklin Speck and had provided a fictitious address with a small photograph. The timing of his application, just two days before the murders, made him an immediate suspect. The investigators quickly realized that they were dealing with a dangerous individual who had the knowledge and skills to evade capture.

The fact that he had given a false address suggested that he was experienced in avoiding law enforcement and that he had probably committed crimes before. Up next: Chicago police distribute Richard Speck's photograph around the city, yet bump into him later without recognizing him. The FBI compares fingerprints. Speck becomes America's most wanted fugitive, but were they too late to capture him in Chicago? Had he already fled the city?

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Armed with a name and a photograph, the Chicago Police Department launched one of the largest manhunts in the city's history. Richard Speck's picture was distributed to every police officer in the city, along with Corazon's description and details about his distinctive "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo.

The FBI was brought into the case, and Richard's fingerprints from his maritime union application were compared to those found at the crime scene. The fingerprint analysis confirmed what investigators already suspected: Richard Speck was definitely the man who had murdered the eight nursing students. Richard was placed on the FBI's most wanted list, making him one of the most sought-after fugitives in the country.

His photograph was distributed to police departments across the nation, and alerts were sent to border crossings in case he tried to flee to Canada or Mexico. However, Richard had not fled the Chicago area. Instead, he was hiding in plain sight, staying at cheap hotels and continuing his pattern of drinking and visiting prostitutes.

His behavior after the murders was remarkably normal, suggesting either that he felt no remorse for what he had done or that he was in such a state of denial that he couldn't fully comprehend the magnitude of his crimes. On the morning of July 15th, two days after the murders, Richard's presence in a hotel room was reported to police by a sex worker who told the front desk that he had a loaded gun in his room.

When officers responded to the call, Richard gave them his real name. But the responding officers had not yet been informed that Richard Speck was the suspect in the nursing student murders. The officers confiscated the weapon and left, not realizing that they had just encountered the most wanted man in America. This near miss demonstrated the challenges facing the investigation. With hundreds of officers working on the case, communication was sometimes incomplete or delayed.

Meanwhile, Corazon Amarillo was shown a lineup of 188 photographs of possible suspects. Without hesitation, she immediately picked out Richard Speck's picture, confirming that he was indeed the man who had murdered her friends and roommates. This positive identification gave investigators the confidence they needed to intensify their search efforts.

By Friday evening, July 15th, the pressure on Richard was becoming intense. His photograph had been released to the media, along with details about his tattoo and his criminal background. The publicity made it increasingly difficult for him to move around Chicago without being recognized. Knowing that the police were closing in on him, Richard made the decision to attempt suicide rather than face capture and trial.

He was staying at a run-down hotel on Skid Row, an area of the city known for its transient population and criminal activity. In his hotel room, Richard used a broken wine bottle to slash the vein in his left arm and cut his right wrist. However, either his survival instinct kicked in or he lacked the courage to complete the suicide attempt. Richard began making noise and banging around in his room, which alerted the man in the adjoining room.

The neighbor opened his door to investigate and found Richard bleeding heavily from his self-inflicted wounds. The neighbor immediately alerted the hotel's front desk, who called for emergency medical services. Richard was transported to Cook County Hospital, where he was taken into surgery to repair the damage to his severed artery. The medical staff worked to save his life, unaware that they were treating the perpetrator of one of the most heinous crimes in Chicago's history.

During the surgery, a surgical resident who was treating Richard began to think that his patient looked familiar. The doctor asked one of the nurses to bring him the morning newspaper, which she had read earlier. The front page story about the nursing student murders included a detailed description of the suspect, specifically mentioning his "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo. The doctor carefully wiped away the blood from Richard's arm and discovered the distinctive tattoo that had been described in the newspaper.

Realizing that he was treating the suspected mass murderer, the doctor immediately sedated Richard and called the police. After the surgery, cardiologists who examined Richard diagnosed him with pericarditis, a serious condition involving swelling and irritation of the tissue surrounding the heart. This medical issue required Richard to remain hospitalized for another week, giving police time to build their case and prepare for his formal arrest.

On Tuesday, July 19th, 1966, Corazon Amarao was disguised as a nurse and brought to the hospital to make a final identification of the suspect. She was able to confirm positively that the patient in the hospital bed was indeed the man who had murdered her eight friends and roommates. With this final confirmation, Richard Speck was formally charged with eight counts of murder.

The manhunt that had captivated the nation was finally over, but the legal proceedings were just beginning. Richard's arrest generated enormous media attention, and it quickly became clear that finding an impartial jury in Chicago would be extremely difficult. The case had received extensive coverage in local newspapers, radio, and television, and public opinion was strongly against the defendant.

Richard's public defender argued that he could not receive a fair trial in Chicago due to the negative publicity surrounding the case. After considerable legal maneuvering, the trial was moved to Peoria, Illinois, approximately 165 miles south of Chicago. This change of venue was intended to find jurors who had been less exposed to media coverage of the crime.

The prosecution's case was built around three main elements: Corazon Amarao's eyewitness testimony, fingerprint evidence found at the crime scene, and Richard's own statements and behavior following the murders. Each of these elements provided strong evidence of his guilt, and together they created an overwhelming case against him. The defense faced the difficult task of representing a client who was clearly guilty of horrific crimes.

Richard's attorney initially considered an insanity defense, arguing that his client had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol to the point where he was not responsible for his actions. A panel of six psychiatrists, three chosen by the prosecution and three by the defense, was assembled to examine Richard and determine his mental competency. The psychiatrists were tasked with determining whether Richard was mentally capable of standing trial or whether he had been legally insane at the time of the murders.

Dr. Marvin Zipurin, the chief psychiatrist at Cook County Jail, conducted extensive interviews with Richard and formed some controversial opinions about his mental state. Dr. Zipurin believed that Richard suffered from brain damage caused by multiple traumatic head injuries during his childhood and adolescence.

The psychiatrist also diagnosed Richard with what he called "Madonna Whore Complex," a psychological condition in which the subject divides women into two categories: those who are seen as pure and saintly, like mothers and sisters, and those who are seen as impure and deserving of mistreatment, like wives, girlfriends, and strangers.

Dr. Zipurin believed that Richard's brain damage, combined with his heavy use of alcohol and drugs, had rendered him incapable of controlling his violent impulses. In the doctor's opinion, Richard was not legally responsible for his actions on the night of the murders due to mental defect. However, none of Dr. Zipurin's observations or diagnoses were presented in court. Both the prosecution and defense refused to call him as a witness after discovering that he was writing a book about Richard.

The potential for commercial exploitation of the case made his testimony legally problematic, and he was fired from his position at the prison shortly after the trial ended. Richard Speck's trial began on April 3rd, 1967, in the Peoria County Courthouse. The case attracted national media attention, with reporters from across the country covering the proceedings. The courtroom was packed with spectators, family members of the victims, and members of the media.

The prosecution's case was methodical and comprehensive. They presented evidence of Richard's criminal background, his presence in the area at the time of the murders, and his possession of items stolen from the victims. The fingerprint evidence was particularly compelling, as Richard's prints were found throughout the townhouse.

However, the most dramatic moment of the trial came when Corazon Amarao took the witness stand. Despite concerns that she might be too traumatized to testify effectively, Corazon proved to be a remarkably composed and credible witness.

When asked to identify her attacker, Corazon stepped down from the witness stand and walked directly to the defense table. She approached within inches of Richard Speck, looked him directly in the eyes, and pointed her finger at his forehead. In a clear, strong voice that showed no hesitation or doubt, she declared, ''This is the man.''

This moment of direct confrontation between the sole survivor and the killer was one of the most powerful pieces of testimony in the entire trial. Corazon's courage in facing her attacker and her unwavering identification left no doubt in the minds of the jurors about Richard's guilt. The defense's strategy was limited by the overwhelming evidence against their client. Richard claimed to have no memory of the murders, stating that he'd been drinking heavily and using drugs to the point of blackout.

He suggested that other men he had been drinking with might have been involved in the crimes. The defense also attempted to use what was known as the XYY defense, based on a theory that men with an extra Y chromosome were more prone to violent behavior.

A geneticist contacted Richard's attorney with unsubstantiated claims about chromosomal abnormalities in violent criminals. However, when Richard was tested, he was found to have a normal XY chromosome configuration, and the geneticist later retracted his claims. The trial lasted just 12 days, which was remarkably quick for such a complex and high-profile case. The evidence against Richard was so overwhelming that there was little room for doubt about his guilt.

The defense was unable to present any credible alternative theory of the crimes or to raise reasonable doubt about their client's involvement. On April 15, 1967, after only 49 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned with guilty verdicts on all eight counts of murder. The speed of their deliberation reflected the strength of the evidence and the clarity of Corazon Amarao's testimony.

The jury also recommended that Richard be sentenced to death, believing that the brutality and magnitude of his crimes warranted the ultimate punishment. The judge agreed with this recommendation and sentenced Richard to die in the electric chair. Richard's conviction and death sentence were initially upheld on appeal, but his legal situation changed dramatically on June 28, 1971.

The United States Supreme Court upheld his conviction but reversed his death sentence on constitutional grounds. The Supreme Court ruled that more than 250 potential jurors had been unconstitutionally excluded from Richard's jury because of their opposition to capital punishment. This exclusion had created a jury that was biased in favor of the death penalty, violating Richard's constitutional rights.

As a result of this ruling, Richard was resentenced to 400 to 1,200 years in prison, which was later reduced to 100 to 300 years. While he had escaped execution, his new sentence ensured that he would never be released from prison. Up next, a shocking video emerges from inside the prison showing the mass murderer living a life of luxury behind bars with drugs, sex, and laughter.

and even after his death in prison, a post-mortem examination of his brain holds surprises.

Thank you.

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Richard Speck served his sentence at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois, where he would spend the remaining 25 years of his life. His time in prison was marked by continued rule violations, substance abuse, and generally antisocial behavior.

Richard was able to obtain alcohol and drugs while in prison, despite the supposedly secure environment. He was frequently caught with contraband and was known for his ability to manipulate other inmates and corrupt prison staff. His criminal skills, which had served him well on the outside, continued to be useful in the prison environment. He was given various jobs during his incarceration, including work as a wall painter and janitor.

Richard was allowed to paint his cell and the walls of his work areas, and he took up other hobbies including stamp collecting and listening to music. He also kept a pair of sparrows that had flown into his cell, earning him the nickname "Birdman." Despite his crimes, Richard received what he claimed was a significant amount of fan mail from people who were fascinated by his case. He said he would give letters from female admirers to other inmates, finding their attention amusing but not particularly meaningful.

Richard applied for parole seven times during his incarceration, and each application was denied. The nature of his crimes and his continued behavioral problems in prison made it clear that he would never be considered suitable for release. In 1978, Richard granted his only interview with the media, speaking to Bob Green, a journalist from the Chicago Tribune. This interview was significant because it marked the first time that Richard publicly confessed to the murders.

"Yeah, I killed them," Richard told Green. "I stabbed them and I choked them. That one girl wouldn't a spit in my face, they'd all be alive today." The statement was particularly disturbing because it suggested that Richard blamed one of his victims for the massacre, showing no real understanding of his own responsibility for the crimes. Richard also claimed in the interview that he had used heroin for the first time on the night of the murders, attempting to use his drug use as a partial explanation for his actions.

However, this claim was inconsistent with other evidence and may have been another attempt to avoid full responsibility for his crimes. On December 5th, 1991, one day before what would have been his 50th birthday, Richard Speck died of a heart attack while incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center. He'd been complaining of chest pains and was taken to the prison hospital where he suffered the fatal cardiac episode.

Richard's death brought an end to one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. But it didn't bring closure to the families of his victims or to the many people who'd been affected by his crimes. His 25 years in prison had been marked by continued misbehavior and a complete lack of genuine remorse for his actions. Richard's family refused to claim his body, fearing that any grave marker would be vandalized or desecrated by people who were still angry about his crimes.

Instead, his body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in an undisclosed location around Joliet, Illinois. The decision to scatter his ashes anonymously was probably wise, given the intense public feelings about his crimes. Even decades after the murders, many people continued to feel strong emotions about the case and might have targeted any memorial or gravesite. After Richard's death, his brain was preserved for scientific research while the rest of his body was cremated.

Scientists were interested in studying his brain to look for evidence of the traumatic injuries that some experts believed had contributed to his violent behavior. Initial examination of the brain revealed abnormalities in the hippocampal formations and the medial temporal lobe area, which are involved in memory formation and are located close to the amygdala, which controls mood and aggression.

Other scientists who were consulted agreed that there appeared to be structural abnormalities in both areas of Speck's brain. The researchers decided to send the brain to a doctor at Harvard University who was considered the world's foremost expert on the hippocampus. They carefully prepared the specimen for shipment, taking great care to preserve it properly for the journey to Massachusetts. However, in a bizarre twist that seemed appropriate for someone who had been associated with crime throughout his life,

Richard Speck's brain was stolen. The package containing the brain was placed in a room with other packages awaiting pickup by a courier service, but when the courier arrived, the brain had vanished, along with other packages. The theft of Richard's brain meant that the planned scientific research could never be completed. Whether the thief was specifically targeting the brain or simply stole packages at random hoping to find something valuable remains unknown.

The incident provides a grimly humorous end to the story of a man whose entire life had been connected to criminal activity. In 1996, five years after Richard's death, a shocking video surfaced that had been secretly recorded in Stateville Prison during the 1980s. The video was released to the public by an anonymous attorney and created a major scandal within the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The video showed Richard engaging in various illegal activities within the prison, including drug use and sexual acts with other inmates. Most disturbing was the fact that Richard appeared to have developed female characteristics, including breasts, apparently as a result of smuggled hormone treatments. In the video, Richard was wearing women's underwear and appeared to be living as a female within the prison environment.

The footage showed him performing oral sex on another inmate, while both men consumed large amounts of cocaine. The implications of this video were deeply troubling. It suggested that the prison system had completely failed to control Richard's behavior or prevent him from continuing his criminal activities. The video also included disturbing commentary about the nursing student murders,

When asked by another prisoner why he had killed the eight women, Richard casually replied, "It just wasn't their night," and laughed. This callous attitude towards his victims demonstrated that Richard had never developed any genuine remorse for his crimes. The release of this video caused a major public outcry and led to investigations into the security and management practices at Stateville Prison.

Many people saw the video as evidence that Richard had been living a comfortable and indulgent lifestyle in prison, rather than serving a punishment that was appropriate to his crimes. The video was widely cited by supporters of capital punishment as justification for the death penalty. They argued that Richard's apparent enjoyment of prison life proved that life imprisonment was not an adequate punishment for such heinous crimes.

While Richard Speck's name became synonymous with one of America's most horrific mass murders, it's important to remember the eight young women whose lives he destroyed. Each of these women had dreams, aspirations, and people who loved them. They had chosen nursing as their profession because they wanted to help others and make the world a better place. Gloria Jean Davy was born on July 13th, 1944, murdered on her 22nd birthday.

the cruel irony of being killed on what should have been a day of celebration. Patricia Ann Matusik was 20 years old when she was murdered. Her mass memorial service was attended by hundreds of mourners. Nina Jo Schmael was 24 years old. The oldest of the victims, she had nearly completed her nursing education. Pamela Lee Wilkening was 20. Family and friends remembered her as a dedicated student who was passionate about helping others. Suzanne Bridget Ferris was 21 years old.

She'd been looking forward to graduation and beginning her career as a professional nurse. Mary Ann Jordan was 20 years old when her life was cut short. By cruel chance, she was one of the students who returned home during the attack and walked directly into the unfolding horror. Burlita Gargulio was 23 years old and one of the Filipina exchange students who had traveled thousands of miles from home to study nursing in America.

After a mass memorial service in Chicago, her body was returned to the Philippines for burial. Valentina P. Pacien, 24, the other exchange student from the Philippines studying to become a nurse, her body was also returned to the Philippines for her final rest. The death of these eight young women were not only personal tragedies for their families and friends,

but also a significant loss to society or the contributions they would have made as healthcare professionals, not to mention wives and mothers. Each of them had the potential to save lives and help countless patients throughout their careers. While they were not able to help others in their chosen career path, their tragic deaths did lead to important changes in victim services, law enforcement procedures, and society's understanding of random violence.

helping to protect young women from future monsters like Richard Speck. Thanks for listening! If you like the show, please, share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. All stories used in Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the sources I used in the episode description.

Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Romans 12, verse 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And a final thought. To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. Thomas Campbell. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.