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William Stanley "Billy" Milligan, a.k.a. The Campus Rapist, was an American serial rapist of women in Ohio and suspected serial killer who was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Milligan is one of the widest recognized DID patients in history, having been chronicled as having a total of 24 personalities, including some driving his crimes.
Background[]
Milligan was born William Stanley Morrison on February 14, 1955, in Miami Beach, after his mother Dorothy divorced her first husband in Lancaster, Ohio. She remarried to Johnny Morrison, a comedian, Milligan also having an older brother named Jim and a younger sister named Kathy. Milligan is suspected to have developed DID as early as when he was five. Johnny avoided fatherhood, suffering gambling and alcohol addictions, as well as depression that drove him to multiple suicide attempts, at least one which Milligan witnessed. On January 17, 1959, Johnny killed himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. The family moved to Lancaster, where Dorothy was married again to her ex-husband for a year. After their second divorce, Dorothy married Chalmer Milligan, with a previous wife divorcing him over negligence and two daughter from the marriage. Chalmer adopted Dorothy's kids and changed their surname to his. It's reported that Chalmer beat Milligan and his family, as well as tie him to various equipment and construction at the family farm and repeatedly raped Milligan starting when he was eight or nine; the rapes occurred when he and Chalmer were alone on the farm, at which Chalmer threatened to murder Milligan if he reported Chalmer, bury Milligan at the barn, and lie to his family he ran away. The severe trauma caused or at least exacerbated DID in Milligan. Dorothy recounted once when Milligan was fourteen, he had a kitchen knife under his pillow, with which Arthur, an Englishman and Milligan's primary decision making personality, told her Milligan's alters planned to kill Chalmer with. He and his siblings pushed Dorothy to divorce Chalmer. According to Milligan's alters, Milligan stayed in long-term dissociation for a decade and a half, starting shortly after he turned sixteen, when he attempted to kill himself by jumping off the roof of his school when he was finished with hospitalizations.
Crimes and Institutionalization[]
Billy Milligan's arrest
Milligan lived in Circleville, Ohio, where his first conviction for rape occurred. Milligan was imprisoned at Lebanon Correctional, which would have a traumatic impact on him and his alters by means unspecified. He also remains the prime suspect in the disappearance of Dwaun Cox, one of his acquaintances, but only his car has ever been recovered. Milligan eventually moved to Columbus, where his alters eventually began conducting their own private activities, including Tommy, the engineer conducting experiments with electronics, and Ragan, the protector, who violated Milligan's parole by keeping firearms. As revealed by Milligan's later evaluations, and through the confessions of his alters, Ragan prepared robberies to support Milligan and all his alters when pressure mounted for them. Adalana, a lesbian starved of intimacy and wanting it, saw an opportunity in Ragan's plans. To that end, Ragan carjacked three women at gunpoint and forced them to cash checks for him, threatening them into silence, which never worked. Additionally, Adalana presented herself to repeatedly rape each woman while they were captive. Time passed before one woman conclusively identified Milligan as the rapist and robber from mugshot arrays. Not all three women unanimously identified Milligan, but his prints were a match, so he was arrested at his apartment, as Danny. He was confused and dazed, was in denial of his crimes and afraid of what guilt he had and the repercussions. Milligan's alters were overall provoked by the risk of his criminal penalties, and Milligan became more episodic, his switches more frequent an erratic. When a male officer came to print him, he retreated behind a female officer. His defense team noticed this, so Judy Stevenson had the most communication with him for his defense, Dr. Dorothy Turner for his psych evaluation.
After an inaccurate diagnosis of schizophrenia by a previous specialist, Milligan was conclusively diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder during that time, as well as had his IQ estimated at 68. He annoyed and shocked correctional security for, as Tommy, slipping his restraints multiple times, including when he broke out of his straightjacket, then laid his head on it to sleep. He would later show the sheriff the means to do this, as well as how to tie straightjackets to be inescapable. Milligan also needed to be supervised from multiple suicide attempts while in custody, particularly when he reassociated with himself. When one guard splashed water on drawings by Christine, one of Milligan's underage personalities, Ragan grabbed the toilet cover and threw it at the bars to his cell door, shattering it. Ragan eventually confessed to be personality that robbed the women. It was extremely difficult to encourage his defense, especially since all his alters had to unanimously agree on which mental health specialists, lawyers, and court officials were informed on his condition. Eventually, Milligan was found not competent to stand trial and was ordered to institutionalization at Harding Hospital, run by Dr. George Harding, the grandson of U.S. President Warren G. Harding. Milligan snuck a razor blade into the hospital on his person, as his alters wanted to avoid him being raped and give him another option for suicide once they all agreed.
Not all of Milligan's alters were responsive to testing, but the ones who were gave starkly different results. They refused to acknowledge Milligan's core personality and sublimated him and themselves the further they were pushed. When Milligan's family visited him, he became more unstable and volatile. He also constantly fought with his medical team and fired and rehired them at least once from arguments over his case and paranoia about ulterior motives with his treatment. It became clear each of Milligan's alters were to come to terms with Milligan reassociating and learning about his condition, but the alters were putting up resistance, and Milligan was retreating from his recall and the ultimate therapeutic goals. However, there was the successful accomplishment of encouraging Adalana to show herself, and she was revealed to be the rapist of the women. After a lengthy argument Milligan had alone, between his various alters, which was tape recorded, there was a decision to sublimate Adalana further and classify her as an "undesirable", one of Milligan's more buried personalities, for her crimes. Milligan got little sympathy for his crimes and wasn't believed over having his psychiatric condition, but especially as Ragan, his defense of women showed when Ragan made Allen shut a patient up when he was insulting and swearing out Rosalie Drake during group therapy. His alters also fought over Milligan himself, such as whether his artwork should be preserved or altered. The staff outside of Milligan's evaluations always hated how much attention he got for his reintegration.
Milligan became much more present, which is when his doctors explained his alters, even introduced him to some of them. Milligan and his alters understood especially how "fusing" them altogether worked during art therapy, one of Milligan's favorite activities, as it was compared to mixing paints. The only alters refusing to associate with Milligan's core state were Arthur and Ragen, and Milligan became more suicidal as a consequence of the tumult. Arthur refused to accept Milligan's condition and wanted guilty pleas to the robberies, being the personality to condescend the women Milligan raped when believing it was in Milligan's and in turn his alters' best interests. The medical team agreed Milligan wouldn't survive prison, and in spite of the court simply ordering his reintegration, they misfiled paper work to get Milligan's hearing delayed. Dr. Harding filed his report for the hearing, arguing Milligan would take an insanity defense, despite being competent for trial after therapy. The news ran reports on Milligan's case, including from leaked documents, so his defense team so to papers and provided photos of his paintings. The judge ordered specific papers to have access to details on the case to keep the trial's integrity. Convinced by his therapists, when Millgan was to return to prison and await trial, he gave his razor blade back once encouraged to live and fight for his case. Goodbyes were emotional between him and the staff, with Milligan needing time alone to steel himself for returning to penal custody.
Milligan's defense team filed for burden of proof his DID be put on him, not the prosecution, as well as a motion for a bench trial, which was granted. Ragen showed more often in prison to protect Milligan, albeit drawing violent imagery and spending time using Milligan's body to take his rage out on sandbags at the gym, beyond normal human capacity and without injury. Arthur showed himself to communicate with the legal team and experts, as well as provide Milligan's needed testimony. When newspapers ran articles on Chalmer brutalizing Milligan, he denied everything and put all blame squarely on Milligan. The defense had a stronger case, in addition to state law in Ohio being upgraded to accommodate Milligan's psychiatric needs for treatment: a choice of the hospital Milligan needed in the state that would respond to his condition actively. Dr. David Caul, director of the Athens Mental Health Center, agreed to both testify in Milligan's defense and take him as a patient. With transcripted stipulations in place of witnesses to argue the cases of the trial Milligan was found not guilty by reason of insanity, being ordered under commitment at Athens, coincidentally where the very rapes Milligan was tried for took place. Milligan's alters began to return and augment by the time he reached Athens, but Dr. Caul had the experience to carefully engage with Milligan, who acclimated safely to his new surroundings. He had better visits with his family, in which Dorothy revealed she divorced Chalmer. Gary Schweickert, one of the lawyers on Milligan's defense team, had a collapsed family from the case, as his ex-wife divorced him and one of his children was attacked for Schweickert's work on the case.
Milligan's mugshot
Milligan's Alters[]
Milligan has been documented conclusively as having 23 different alternate personalities. His original count was nine alters, but an additional fourteen were identified during his hospitalization, all but one of them referred to by Milligan as "The Undesirables". Milligan's alters are as follows:
Arthur[]
Age 22, an Englishman and the voice of reason and primary decision maker among the alters. He privately studies physics, chemistry, and medicine; conservative, capitalist, and atheist in his politics. The primary decision maker for the alters and the most aware of the condition; especially decides which alters are present and showing themselves to other people besides Milligan. He makes his own choices on when he shows himself and to whom, usually from the most logical position within the circumstances and what best keeps Milligan and the alters in enough harmony. Tests described him as an intellectual needing to maintain a sense of superiority, but lacks the confidence to do so completely; he can't handle high emotions and is uneasy with more personal engagement. Most noticeably in denial over Milligan's condition being classified as legally insane, which Arthur refused to consider for court.
Ragen Vadascovinich[]
Age 23, a Yugoslavian national with specialties in weapons and karate, with an impressive discipline in his physical strength and adrenaline. Known as "the keeper of hate", his name an amalgamation of "rage" and "again". Primary languages are Serbian and Croatian; can only sketch in monochrome because of colorblindness. Communist and atheist in his politics; suffers addictions to alcohol, marijuana, and methamphetamines. The protector of Milligan and the alters, especially the women and children; most present when Milligan is in dangerous and hostile environments, such as prison. Will also become aggressive toward other people antagonizing hurting women and children, even making the other alters be responsible for that as well. Tests confirmed his inclination to hostility. He was behind the robberies of the women at Ohio State.
Allen[]
Age 18, the personality most often engaged with strangers. Agnostic, manipulative, gets bored and despondent easily; tries to find means to cope and keep to his own business. Has a combative relationship with Ragen, who expects more of a man out of him and respect for people Ragen defends. The only right-handed personality and the only one to smoke. Plays the drums and paints portraits. Described as living by the creed "make the best of life on earth"; however, testing showed his significant emotional detachment. He was solicited for determining first impressions of Daniel Keyes before consultation for Milligan's biography was underway. Often confused for Tommy.
Tommy[]
Age 16, the personality with a specialty for slipping restraints. Combative, antisocial, dabbles in tinkering and electrical engineering. Warns the younger alters to not touch his things by lying they're explosives. Plays the saxaphone and paints landscapes. Often confused for Allen. Tests show his maturity, albeit with a presence of schizoid personality traits.
Danny[]
Age 14, the personality most terrified and confused by the world. Embodies Milligan's trauma and fear of men, as Danny was buried alive in his own grave he was forced to dig. Paints still life. Tests show he's hostile and in need of emotional support from others.
David[]
Age 8, a empathetic boy with impressive insight, which left him with the moniker "the keeper of pain". Constantly confused and has a short attention span.
Christene[]
Age 3, the sister of Christopher. An English girl whose dyslexia doesn't stop her from reading, printing, and making colorful drawings flowers and butterflies. Was made to stand in the corner constantly at school.
Christopher[]
Age 13, the brother of Christine. A boy with a Cockney accent who enjoys playing the harmonica. Follows direction well, but is privately disgruntled and internalizes his problems.
Adalana[]
Age 19, a lesbian and a lonely introvert, and the primary caregiver for the alters. Suffers nystagmus. Writes poetry and feels starved of love everyday. She was behind the rapes of women Milligan was tried for, of which she was in denial as being rape. Was briefly reclassified as an "undesirable" as a consequence of her crimes. Very much looked down upon by the older male alters, and otherwise unknown by yet more alters to keep her responsibilities.
Philip[]
Age 20, a petty criminal from Brooklyn. Speaks in an accent and with strong language.
Kevin[]
Age 20, a petty criminal and writer who usually masterminds property crime operations.
Walter[]
Age 22, a quirky Australian man and expert tracker, an ability he puts to big game hunting. Buries his emotions constantly.
April[]
Age 19, a Boston native assisting Adalana with housekeeping, as April specializes in sewing. The other alters are terrified of her and nickname her "the bitch", as she constantly comes up with ideas to violently get retribution against Chalmer.
Samuel[]
Age 18, an Orthodox Jew and the only religious alter. Skilled at wood carving and sculpting, as well as has a nomadic personality.
Mark[]
Age 16, a lethargic teenager who refuses labor unless he's told, so he usually handles habitual duties. Often referred to as "the zombie" because he stares off at walls when he does nothing.
Steve[]
Age 21, conceited, enjoys mimicking others cruelly, and is the later in the most denial about Milligan's DID.
Lee[]
Age 20, a class clown personality who doesn't care about consequences. He pushes the other alters into fights and has sent Milligan to solitary confinement.
Jason[]
Age 13, the amnesia-inducing alter who releases tension and trauma from the other alters, usually in the forms of breakdowns and emotional fits.
Robert[]
Age 17, also known as Bobby. Dreams of traveling the world and spreading peace, but doesn't encourage himself or want to grow up.
Shawn[]
Age 4, the only deaf alter. He makes buzzing noises for echolocation, and he's often insulted as being told he's stupid.
Martin[]
Age 19, a big-taking new Yorker who tells wild tales; wants so many things without putting in the effort to earn them.
Timothy[]
Age 15, also known as "Timmy". One of the most indepedently dissociative alters. He was sexually accosted by a gay man when they both worked in a flower shop, so he retreats into his own imagination to evade his trauma.
The Teacher[]
Age 26, the amalgamation of Milligan and his other alters. Sees himself as the creator of Milligan's personality and his alters', who the Teacher refers to as "his androids". He has perfect memory and is credited for the best cooperation and engagement with medical center staff and Daniel Keyes. Described as brilliant, humorous, and sensitive.
Meeting Daniel Keyes and Later Life[]
The cover of The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes
At Caul's suggestion, Milligan planned to consult with a writer on a book, maybe a film, spreading awareness about his case, and for Milligan having money to support himself. When the alters consulted with each other, it was agreed that Allen, the smooth-talking alter, would vet Daniel Keyes, an Ohio-based professor and the author of Flowers for Algernon, to get a sense of him, after which Allen agreed he should write about Milligan and his alters. The alters communicated with reporters as a foundation for the upcoming publicity. Once Milligan was represented by Alan Goldsberry and the contracts were signed, Keyes spoke with Milligan in his room, where he opened up more than he had, as his own self, about his childhood trauma. As activities progressed, the remainder of Milligan's confirmed alters began to show themselves, to the point they, specifically "The Teacher", the ultimate amalgamation and overseer of the alters, wrote down all their names in a list on a yellow legal pad and provided it to Caul and the rest of the team. By the time Milligan was informed the Teacher was the ultimate personality to communicate Milligan's psyche, the Teacher came forward and provided the majority of correspondence with Caul and Keyes.
Milligan had publicly argued his treatment failed and sued the state of Ohio in regards to his inadequate placement and care. He disappeared in 1986 and briefly fled to California, where he roomed with Michael Madden under the alias Christopher Carr. Madden later disappeared and was never seen again, making him the second victim Milligan is presumed to have murdered. He was finally discharged from the Ohio mental health and court systems in 1988, no longer being a ward of the state starting in 1991. Milligan tried and failed to make a stable career in founding the Stormy Life Productions film company in California in 1996. His whereabouts afterwards are largely unknown, as many people Milligan knew couldn't find him. In 2012, Milligan resurfaced after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, returning to Ohio to live with Kathy. he was moved to a Columbus nursing home, where the cancer killed him at the age of 59 on December 12, 2014.
Profile[]
Milligan's testing revealed each of his personalities presented different IQs, as well as came up with varying results in Rorschach inkblot testing. The staple traits of Milligan's DID is none of his personalities were individually psychotic, but each showed different psychiatric problems and personality traits, albeit still enough for each of them to function in their own way. Milligan himself was overall regarded as fragile, especially afraid of men, and unable to reassociate too rapidly without coming too scared and confused when he's himself. Forcing his alters to integrate so he has one personality again instead makes them sublimate further into his head, as they're used to leading people on so no one discovers the truth about Milligan's condition. They're highly organized in fashions where when they wouldn't get alone, they don't know each other, but if they fill pragmatic roles for each other, they act them out even in Milligan's mind alone, even if covertly placating the basic needs of other personalities. More integrated and recurring traits over Milligan's psyche overall revealed a feminine identity, a potent superego, and a rage complex conflicting with the aforementioned traits and threatening to take his psyche over completely. Given the altercations Milligan's personalities have had with each other, Milligan struggles also with internally warring misogyny and empathy. There are possible explanations that if Milligan's alters represented the personalities of people he's been exposed to throughout his life, his dissociation is meant for retaining his memories of such experiences, without encouragement to become personalities his mind refuses to imprint on. His alters being highly stereotyped and derogatory caricatures (Ragan being an enraged Yugoslavian national, Adalana being a lesbian and a rapist, etc.) implies Milligan's awareness of society in all its skewed perspectives, his struggles with resilience and reason even aside from his below-average IQ, and his history of environmental exposure, all complied together, then compartmentalized, into his one mind. Dr. Harding's evaluative report on Milligan for his hearing described Milligan's DID as deriving from conflicting feelings from his birth father's suicide, trauma and dissociation from being beaten and raped by Chalmer, and empathy toward his mother to the point he identified with her and resonated with her pain. There has been no publicized conclusion as to which of his alters is more inclined to murder.
Modus Operandi[]
Milligan targeted Caucasian women in the Ohio town where he would reside at the time of the crimes. When in Columbus, Milligan specifically targeted college students at Ohio State University. He would carjack and abduct the women at gunpoint, make them drive to isolated locations, rape them and threaten to kill them if they talked, and made them cash checks before robbing them and fleeing. Milligan's threats were typically involving fictitious accomplices or ties to organized crime, but the threats never worked, and every woman always reported. When Milligan was suspected of and reportedly confessed to murder, the suspected victims were male acquaintances of his when they lived in the same town. How Milligan may have killed them is unknown, as the men were never found.
In Popular Culture[]
Milligan's case got extensive media coverage once his trial was under way. After Milligan's insanity verdict, the Child Abuse Association wanted to produce a documentary on him. A film inspired by Milligan, The Crowded Room, had a screenplay written for it by James Cameron in 1990, but it languished in developmental hell from multiple lawsuits between involved parties of the project and one of Cameron by Milligan himself. Warner Brothers tried to produce the film over the next couple decades, going between various actors to portray Milligan and settling on Leonardo DiCaprio in 2015. In the meantime, the film Split took from Milligan's life and created Kevin Crump, a character afflicted with DID portrayed by James McAvoy, who held three teenage girls captive throughout the duration of the film. McAvoy would return as the character in the sequel film Glass. The rights to The Crowded Room were finally acquired by Apple TV, the role of Milligan being portrayed by Tom Holland, and the production being a miniseries released in 2021. That same year, a documentary, Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan, was released on Netflix. It includes interviews of various people Milligan and the case came into contact with, as well as tapes of his sessions. In this documentary, he is named as the suspect in the murders of Dwaun Cox and Michael Madden.
Known Victims[]
Confirmed[]
- 1972, Circleville, Ohio: Unnamed woman
- October, 1977, Columbus, Ohio:
- Carrie Dryer
- Donna West
- Polly Newton
Milligan's suspected murder victims, Dwaun Cox and Michael Madden
Alleged[]
- November 21, 1979, Logan, Ohio: Dwaun Cox (disappeared)
- September 15, 1986, Bellingham, Washington: Michael Madden (disappeared)
On Criminal Minds[]
While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Milligan appears to have inspired the following unsubs:
- Season Two
- William Lee ("Aftermath") - Both are serial rapists of women on college campuses, held them at gunpoint while raping them, changed their M.O.s and victim profiles in different phases of their crime sprees, were tied to the deaths of at least one of their victims (Lee drove a woman he raped and impregnated to suicide, Milligan is suspected in the murders of two acquaintances), and were released when the system had no grounds to hold them any longer.
- Season Four
- Adam Jackson ("Conflicted") - Both are serial rapists and (suspected in Milligan's case) serial killers with DID who were physically and sexually abused by stepfathers, targeted men (suspected in Milligan's case, who was confirmed to have targeted women), raped their victims, changed their M.O. when they targeted people they knew, and committed their crimes when switching to a female alter.
- Season Six
- Ben Foster ("With Friends Like These...") - Both are mentally ill serial killers (suspected in Milligan's case), with their illnesses developing in their respective early childhoods, had problematic relationships with their families, targeted victims of both genders (suspected in Milligan's case), were institutionalized due to their mental illnesses, and exhibited episodes during their respective treatments and evaluations.
Sources[]
- The Minds of Billy Milligan (1981)
- Wikipedia:
- A&E TV article on Milligan
- Oxygen True Crime article on Milligan
- History vs. Hollywood article on Milligan
- Salon.com article on Milligan
- Columbus Dispatch article on Monsters Inside
- Blurred Reality article on Monsters Inside
- James Cameron Online article about Milligan
- Variety article on Milligan