The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run

The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, aka The Cleveland Torso Murderer, was a still-unidentified serial killer who was active in Cleveland, Ohio during the 1930s.

History
The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run remains unidentified to this day, as do the majority of his victims, but the first canonical murder was found on September 23, 1935 and it was estimated that he had been killed three to four weeks earlier. The last two canonical victims were found on August 16, 1938. All of the victims had been lying at their dump sites for various periods of time before being found. The first outstanding suspect was Dr. Francis E. Sweeney, the alcoholic first cousin of Congressman Martin L. Sweeney. Though the authorities felt that he was a viable suspect, Congressman Sweeney found out about it and, it has been suspected, made a deal with the investigating sheriff to find a better suspect. At this point, Frank Dolezal, a Cleveland resident, was arrested. He confessed to having killed Flo Polillo, victim nr 3, in self-defense, but later recanted on the grounds that he had been beaten into confessing by the sheriff’s jailer. As of today (August 2010), the case remains unsolved.

Modus Operandi
The age and sex of all the Butcher’s victims varied, but they were typically drifters or people from the lower class of society. He would usually kill them by decapitating them, sometimes after tying them up, and then mutilate the body severely post-mortem, sometimes dismembering the arms and/or legs, cutting off the genitals and removing organs, and then burn the bodies, either by using oil as an accelerant or using acid or some chemical. It was believed by the investigators that, since decapitations are very messy, the killer performed the murders and dismemberments someplace private and then carried the bodies to their dump sites and burned them there.

Profile
A profile made by the original investigators said that the offender was a psychopath, though probably not obviously insane. He would have had some knowledge of anatomy, maybe having worked as a physician, butcher or hunter, and the cuts showed that he would have been very skilled at cutting flesh. As decapitations are very messy, it was believed that he had access to some private space where the murders and dismemberments were performed. If this was correct, the fact that the bodies would then have been carried for a long distance indicated that the killer was probably very large and strong. It was also theorized that the choice of victims and gruesome mutilations were a way to ensure that the victims were never identified. If this was true, the killer would profile as an organized offender.

Known Victims

 * John Doe Nr 1
 * Edward W. Andrassy
 * Florence Genevieve Polillo
 * John Doe Nr 2, aka “The Tattooed Man”
 * John Doe Nr 3
 * John Doe Nr 4
 * Jane Doe Nr 1
 * Jane Doe Nr 2, possibly Rose Wallace
 * John Doe Nr 5
 * Jane Doe Nr 3
 * Jane Doe Nr 4
 * John Doe Nr 6

Possible Victims

 * ”The Lady of the Lake” (was found on September 5, 1934 on almost the same dump site as victim nr 7)
 * A number of decapitated and dismembered bodies in boxcars and swamps in various areas in Pennsylvania
 * Robert Robertson (was found decapitated on July 22, 1950)

Suspects

 * Dr. Francis “Frank” E. Sweeney
 * Alcoholic
 * Surgeon
 * First cousin of Congressman Martin L. Sweeney
 * Entered voluntary psychiatric care shortly after the killings stopped
 * Took a polygraph test and failed it


 * Frank Dolezal
 * Alcoholic Cleveland resident
 * Was arrested on suspicion of killing Flo Polillo
 * Confessed to killing her in self-defense
 * Recanted his confessions shortly before his death, saying he had been beaten into confessing by the police
 * After his death, it was found that he had six cracked ribs, which he, according to his friends, did not have when he was arrested

Criminal Minds Reference
So far, the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run has only been referenced once on Criminal Minds, in Zoe's Reprise in which copycat serial killer Eric Olson was revealed to have partially copied the Butcher as his first known kill. When he did so, he lured the victim out of a local gay bar and shot him in a park, not being able to go through with the full decapitation and dismemberment process, presumably since it was his first murder and he wanted to get it over with quickly. In the episode, it was asserted by the BAU that the original Butcher would pick up his male victims at gay bars, though there is no solid evidence that he did so. However, since his first identified victim, Edward W. Andrassy, was an alleged bisexual and had several homosexual friends, this could be a valid claim. Some of the original investigators would actually look for suspects in gay bars.

Also, Max Allen Collins, author of the three Criminal Minds novels, has written a series of novels about the activities of Elliot Ness, one of the Butcher investigators. The second of these books, Butcher’s Dozen, is about the investigation of the Cleveland Torso Murders.