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Kallinger, Joseph & Michael
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Kasso, Ricky
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Kemper, Edmund
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Kelly, John
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Kelly, George
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Kelly, Thomas
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Kennedy, William Henry & Browne, Frederick
Guy
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Kennedy, Michael
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Kenny, Wilfred
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Kesteven, Edmund
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Kewish, John
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Kite, Charles
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Kimberley, Henry
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King, Joseph
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King, Philip
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Kirwan, William
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Kitching, Robert
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Koezula, Paul
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Kopsch, Alfred Arthur
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Kraft, Randy
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Kray, Twins
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Kurten, Peter
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Kallinger, Joseph & Michael
Joseph Kallinger, a cobbler by trade, led a life steeped in madness and
crime. As an adopted child he grew up under the constant abuse from his
parents. It is no surprise that when he became a father he was abusive
too. On January 23, 1972 he branded his oldest daughter for running away.
He was arrested for child abuse and found incompetent to stand trial. By
mid-1974 he was constantly hearing voices from a floating head that followed
him around. God also spoke to him and told him to kill young boys and sever
their penises. Eager to comply, Joe enlisted his 12-year-old son, Michael,
and proceeded to torture and murder a nine-year-old Puerto Rican youth.
Their next victim was one of his own children, Joe Jr. who had previously
accused him of abuse. He was found drowned in an abandoned building. By
the third murder they were caught.
On Jan. 8, 1975, Kallinger and his son gained entrance to a house in
Leonia, N.J., by posing as salesmen. For the next several hours, they beat,
robbed and terrorized the eight people inside. One of the eight, a 21-year-old
nurse named Maria Fasching, who had stopped at the house to aid an elderly
neighbor and friend, was taken to the basement, tied up, sexually assaulted,
and killed. A bloodstained shirt left by one of the intruders was traced
by a laundry mark to Kallinger, who lived with his family in a cramped
apartment above his shoe repair shop in Philadelphia.
Michael, who was still a minor, was placed on probation until his twenty-fifth
birthday. He is now free and is believed to have changed his name. After
his capture Joseph was pronounced paranoid and schizophrenic by psychiatrists.
During his New Jersey trial, he sometimes moaned and babbled incoherently
and would foam at the mouth. Nevertheless, the jury concluded that he had
known right from wrong and convicted him of murder. Joe was given 40 years
in jail in Pennsylvania for a series of robberies followed by a life sentence
in New Jersey for the murder of Maria Fasching. In jail Joe has expressed
repeatedly his desire to kill every person on earth including himself.
He set fire to his own cell in an attempt to kill himself and also tried
to suffocate himself. After that he was moved to the Farview State Hospital
for the criminally insane where he would talk to God whom he said he'll
become after death.
In recent years, Kallinger expressed remorse, refused to eat and attempted
suicide yet again. On March 26, 1996 the cobbler-turned-killer who terrorized
New Jersey suburbs two decades ago died of a seizure. He was 59 years old.
Kasso, Ricky
Ricky Kasso was from Northport Long Island. In 1984 the police of
Northport recieved a phone call about a body in a
shallow grave in a small woods called Aztakea Woods. There in the woods
the police found the body of Gary Lauwers, over
two weeks decomposed. The man had been stabbed thirty two times, twenty-two
in the face. The total may have been higher,
but the decompisation made it impossible to tell. The police focused
their investigation on Ricky Kasso and James Troiano.
Both were high school dropouts, and known drug abusers who lived on
the streets. Troiano had a record of burglary arrests,
but Kasso had more unusual charges. His most recent arrest was a charge
of grave robbing, where he dug up a 19th century
grave from which he stole a skull and hand that he intended to use
for a satanic rite. Soon after they were taken into custody,
they both confessed to the murder. They were linked to a local satanic
group known as the Knights of the Black Circle, which
had around twenty members and was known for animal sacrifices. As part
of a satanic rite, Kasso goughed out Lauwers eyes.
Kasso may have been able to help more with the investigation, but on
July 7th, he hung himself in his jail cell. When Troiano
went on trial for second degree murder at the beginning of the next
year the case had been revised. The Knights of the Black
Circle had nothing to do with this murder. There had been only one
witness to the murder besides Troiano, Albert Quinones.
Satanism wasn't muchly involved in the murder, even though they knew
Kasso was into a heavy metal style of satanism, but
drugs were the main factor in the murder. The act that triggered the
murder was Lauwers stealing ten bags of Angel Dust from
Kasso. Kasso spent two months complaining about the rip-off, then on
June 16th he decided to teach Lauwers a lesson.
Lauwers was in the woods with Kasso, Quinones, and Troiano tripping
on Mescaline. Kasso started harrassing him about it,
then started beating him, soon he was out of control and got out his
pocked knife. Kasso stabbed him over and over again
screaming "Say you love Satan!!!". Lauwers responce was "No, I love
my mother!". He accidently cut out the eyes while he
stabbed him over and over again. He eventually left the body in the
woods covered with leaves. In Kasso's confession, he said
he heard the screech of a crow, which, in his mind, was Satan saying
that the murder was a good thing. At the trial of Troiano,
he maintained that he was only a witness, and didn't participate in
the murder. The jury found him not guilty.
Kemper, Edmund
Edmund Kemper was a strange child who seemed obsessed with death. When
he was fifteen he was staying with his grandparents on their ranch. His
grandfather had given him a rifle to shoot rabbits. On one afternoon he
was bored and so picking up his gun he went to go outside. His grandmother
who was sat at the table called after him not to shoot at the birds. He
turned around and from a distance of only a few feet he shot her in the
back of the head. He fired into her body twice more. He began to drag her
body into the bedroom when he heard his grandfathers car draw up outside.
As the old man got out of the car Edmund Kemper lined up the gun and shot
and killed him with a single bullet.
It was only now that he started to worry about what he had done. Picking
up the phone he told his mother what he had done. She told him to ring
the police which he did. When questioned he was asked why he had done it,
his answer was quite simply he wanted to see how it felt to kill grandma.
Edmund Kemper was never brought to trial but was sent to Atascadero State
Hospital for the criminally insane.
Edmund Kemper grew into a strapping six-foot-nine-inch hate machine.
He spent five yeaars in hospital before being released 'cured'. In order
to be really cured you have to have something wrong with you in the first
place and as far as Kemper was concerned there had been nothing wrong with
him in the beginning. He was paroled into the care of his mother but this
did not work very well as he constantly argued with her. Over the ensuing
years, with the help to his campus pass obtained through his mother, Edmund
began a murdering spree that earnt him the nickname of the Coed Killer.
He gained enjoyment from decapitating his victims and having sex with
their headless corpses. He also buried heads outside his house with the
eyes looking in the same direction as his mother's bedroom window.
He would often take Polaroid photos of his accomplishments and occasionally
wouls actually eat parts of his victims. When questioned later about this
he confessed that his acts of cannibalism were because, I wanted them to
be a part of me, and now they are. During this time he was still recieving
treatment and on one occasion he even visited his court-appointed psychiatrist
with a head in the trunk of his car. The psychiatrist thought he was doing
really well and was well adjusted. Kemper liked killing women who reminded
him of his mother. On Easter Sunday 1973 he went after the root of his
problem. Edmund Kemper smashed her skull and then decapitated her. Not
satisfied, he called his mums best friend and invited her over. When she
arrived he killed her too. After, he drove to Colorado, called the police
and confessed. At first they thought he was kidding. What they found at
his mums house made them change their minds. Ed was sent to Vacaville Prison
where he is their model serial killer prisoner with a heart of gold.
Kennedy, Michael
Early in October, fifty eight year old Michael Kennedy purchased a pistol
and ammunition. On October 8, having spent the afternoon in a pub, he returned
home to find his meal not ready. Later he asked his wife of 36 years, Ann,
for a kiss, but she told him she didn't kiss drunken men. In a rage he
shot her dead. He pleaded insanity at the trial but evidence was shown
that he had bought the gun earlier in the week and the prosecution claimed
that this was enough proof that the crime was premeditated. Kennedy's defence
claimed that he had become upset at the death of one of his children and
when he later lost his job he began to drink heavily. The combination of
alcohol and an old head injury had the effect that, after a drinking session,
he became madly dangerous. He was found guilty of murder and hanged by
William Calcraft in Manchester on the 30th December 1872.
Kenny, Wilfred
Wilfred Kenny was a twenty seven year old German immigrant also known
as Kruetze. After leaving his native country, he settled in England and
enlisted in the 3rd Hussars under the name of Williams. In 1894, he was
sentenced to three years imprisonment for stealing valuable bonds from
a Liverpool hotel. On his release, he joined the Hampshire Regiment but
soon deserted and enlisted in the Dublin Fusiliers. Later that year, he
transferred to the 8th Hussars and it was while serving in this regiment
that he committed the crime that took him to the gallows. One evening at
the company's Cahir barracks, Kenny shot dead a Private Goodwin in an underground
kitchen. He then dragged the body outside to an exercise ground where it
was discovered the next day. Kenny showed no emotion while he was led the
two hundred yards across a courtyard and up a flight of stairs to the scaffold.
He was hanged by Scott on the 5th April 1898.
Kesteven, Edmund
Edmund Kesteven was a well known former county cricket player who had lived
with Sarah Ann Oldham at Sutton-in-Ashfield for several years. Both were
addicted to drink and frequently quarrelled. On New Year's Day 1895, she
staggered to her sister's house with her throat cut. She managed to say
what had happened just before dying. Kesteven admitted the crime and claimed
he had killed her because she had deceived him. He pleaded insanity at
his trial. He was hanged by James Billington in Nottingham on 26th March
1895.
Kelly John
John Kelly was a labourer from Kildare Town who was convicted of
the murder of his wife in January. Two days before her death, he had put
a rope around her neck and tried to hang her. On 2 January he reported
her death to the police, and it was discovered that Kelly had kicked his
wife to death and jumped up and down on the body. He was hanged by William
Billington on 15th April 1904 in Kilkenny.
Kelly, George
No details listed on this case at this time
Kelly, Thomas
Thomas Kelly was convicted of the murder of his father. Bernard Kelly.
an innkeeper at Ballconnell, Co Cavan, in October 1898. Relations between
them had become strained, and on the day of the murder he was seen cleaning
a gun in the kitchen. Later his father was found shot dead and Kelly was
charged. He claimed it was an accident. Hanged by Scott and Bartholomew
Binns on the 10th January 1899 in Armagh.
Kennedy, William Henry & Browne, Frederick Guy
On 27 September 1927 at about 4 am William Henry Kennedy and Frederick
Guy Browne were on the Romford to Ongar road in Essex when they were stopped
by PC Gutteridge. They were driving a Morris Cowley car which they had
stolen earlier from Billericay. PC Gutteridge had got off his bicycle and
was standing to the side of the road. As the car approached he indicated
with his lamp for them to stop but they ignored this and drove past. The
policeman immediately blew on his police whistle and the car stopped.
He approached the drivers window and started to ask questions. He took
out his notebook and began to write in it when Browne fired two shots at
the policeman. Both shots hit him in the face and PC George William Gutteridge
staggered back and fell down. Both men got out of the car and walked over
to where the wounded policeman was lying injured. Browne stooped down and
fired a bullet into each of the policemans eyes killing him.
His body was later found in the lane two hours later. It was thought
that he had stopped a motorist to question him about the car and was shot.
The car had been reported earlier as stolen. It was later found abandoned
in London with bloodstains on the bodywork and an empty cartridge case
on the floor. Four months later whilst interviewing Kennedy's accomplice
Browne about another stolen car police found a Webley revolver in his garage.
This gun was proved to be the same one which had killed PC Gutteridge.
Knowing that Browne and Kennedy were partners the police arrested Kennedy
who quickly admitted that he had been in the car on the day PC Gutteridge
was killed, he said that Browne had fired the shot.
They both appeared at the Old Bailey in April 1928 and were found guilty.
While waiting for sentence to be carried out Browne tried to commit
suicide three times, once by hanging himself and then by cutting his throat.
He even tried to go on a hunger strike and had to be force fed. He was
not sucessful and both were hanged at the same time on 31 May 1928, Browne
was hanged at Pentonville and Kennedy at Wandsworth
Kewish, John
John Kewish was a middle-aged, self confessed sheep rustler
who was convicted of the murder of his father at Sulby on the Isle of Man.
On 28th March, John Kewish senior was found dead in a field with four chest
wounds which the police thought had been caused with a pitchfork. Evidence
led the police to his son who was charged with, and later convicted of,
his murder. In the condemned cell, Kewish confessed that he had shot his
father four times and that he had died instantly. It was the first execution
on the island for thirty years and there was much trouble building a scaffold
for Calcraft to hang the man on. Firstly, there was a great deal of reluctance
by the island's carpenters to build the scaffold; and secondly, when a
Castletown contractor finally agreed to undertake the task, it was discovered
there were no plans or drawings to aid construction as no one had ever
witnessed an execution. Eventually the Governor of Kirkdale forwarded a
blueprint and the execution went ahead as scheduled in the grounds of Castle
Rushen at Castletown on the 1st August 1872.
Kite, Charles
On Wednesday 2 January, two young labourers, Charles Kite and Albert Miles,
started to quarrel in a Bath public house. As the row escalated they decided
to go outside to settle their differences. Once outside they had a further
exchange of words before returning inside. As they re-entered the bar,
Kite asked Miles to make friends and unusually offered his left hand. Momentarily
confused, Miles pulled away and as he did so, Kite stabbed him with a knife
he had been holding in his right. Miles fell to the ground dead and Kite
fled but was arrested within the hour hiding at his mother's house. He
was tried and convicted and sentenced to death on 6 February. He
did not have to wait long for the sentence to be carried out and was hanged
by Bartholomew Binns on the 25th February 1884 in Taunton.
Kimberley, Henry
Henry Kimberley and Harriet Stewart lived together for seventeen years
until Christmas 1884, when they agreed to separate. They consulted solicitors
and it was agreed that she would keep the house while he got twenty pounds
and a piano. They signed forms but almost at once Kimberley wanted it cancelled
and for her to come back to him. On 27th December he saw Harriet and a
friend, Mrs Emma Palmer, and followed her to a public house that was run
by Mrs Palmer's husband. Kimberley entered and asked Harriet to come back
to him, but she again refused. He turned to Emma Palmer and asked her to
persuade Harriet to come back with him, and when she refused he pulled
out a gun and shot them both. Harriet Stewart was only wounded but Emma
Palmer received a fatal wound and fell dead on the floor. A barman tried
to arrest the gunman and was fired at. but with the aid of other customers
he managed to detain Kimberley until the police arrived. He was hanged
on the scaffold at Winson Green Prison by James Berry on the 17th March
1885. It was the first execution in the city for over eighty years.
King, Joseph
Forty one year old Joseph King was a bricklayer, who shared a lodging house
with several people, including one Annie Sutton and her young son Henry.
Both King and Sutton were single and he asked her many times for a date
but she repeatedly refused him. On 20 January he discovered that she had
accepted a date from another lodger and during a jealous quarrel, he killed
her and her son by cutting their throats with such force that he almost
severed their heads. Tried before Mr Justice Hawkins at the Old Bailey,
his defence was insanity based on the fact that he had suffered a severe
head injury many years earlier. The jury found him guilty but recommended
him to mercy. None was granted and he was hanged by Berry at Newgate on
the 21st March 1887.
King, Philip
Philip King was sentenced to death at Ulster Assizes on 13 December for
the murder of his wife Mary, their two children, and his mother-in-law
Mary Reilly at Nolagh, Co Cavan on 30 January 1898. The two women were
found battered to death beside the children, a suffocated baby of two months,
and a two year old who had been starved to death. The motive was revenge
after Mrs Reilly had issued a summons against King for making threats against
her. As Lord Chief Justice O'Brien passed sentence, King interrupted him
and declared: 'Lord have mercy on you! You will have more to answer for
than me, I am not guilty.' He was hanged on the 13th January 1899 in Armagh.
Kitching, Robert
On 19 September, Robert Kitching. a gardener from Bedale, near York, was
reprimanded by a PC Weedey for leaving his conveyance parked outside the
Leeming Bar Hotel. Kitching told the officer to mind his own business and
threatened to blow his brains out. Next morning, the officer was found
shot dead and evidence led police to Kitching. In his defence, he claimed
that the gun had gone off accidentally but he was convicted of murder.
He was hanged by James Billington on the 30th December 1890 at the age
of thirty four in York.
Koezula, Paul
Paul Koezula, a twenty four year old German immigrant was convicted, along
with another German called Schmerfedlt, of strangling a lodging house keeper,
Mrs Rasch, in Shaftes- bury Avenue. Schmerfedlt was sentenced to death
but reprieved; Koezula pleaded his innocence as he was led to the gallows.
He was hanged by James Billington and Thompson on the 14th August 1894
at Newgate..
Kirwan, William
William Kirwan was a sailor who suspected that his sister-in-law, Mary
Pike, was helping his wife to use their home for immoral purposes while
he was away. He followed his wife to Mrs Pike's house and confronted them.
In the ensuing fierce quarrel, Kirwan fired a revolver at the pair, slightly
injuring Mrs Kirwan. A lodger at the house intervened and bundled Mrs Kirwan
into the lobby before she could be finished off. Kirwan marched into the
street and ordered his wife home. Someone shouted that he was reloading
his gun, and Mrs Kirwan, Mrs Pike, and their children were ushered into
the cellar. Kirwan remained in the street, shouting his threats until he
was eventually arrested by a passing policeman. The two women, feeling
that the threat of danger had passed, emerged from the cellar and went
out into the street. Mrs Pike, who had vehemently denied the allegation
of using Kirwan's house for prostitution, began shouting at him. Losing
his temper, he struggled free of the officer's grip, aimed his gun and
mortally wounded Mrs Pike. Kirwan was tried before Mr Justice Bucknill
at Liverpool Assizes. His defence pleaded guilty of manslaughter under
extreme provocation, but a statement to the arresting officer that he intended
to kill both women was enough to convict him. The jury did not even need
to retire before they delivered a guilty verdict. He was hanged on 31st
May 1904 in Liverpool, aged thirty nine.
Kopsch, Alfred Arthur
No details listed on this case at this time.
Kraft, Randy
Randy Kraft was a graduate of the prestigious Claremont Men's College.
He liked to pick up young men, especially marines. He would first drug
them and then strangle them. On May 14, 1983 while Kraft was driving along
a highway patrolman stopped Kraft for suspected drink driving. When he
approached the car he noticed a dead marine sitting in the passenger seat
next to him.
Randy was a methodical man when it came to murder and like a lot of
murderers he kept a tally of all his victims. This score card linked him
to over sixty deaths spanning three states. So far only sixteen have been
proven conclusively to be down to him. He was found guilty and sentenced
to die in the gas chamber at San Quenten on 29 November 1989.
Kurten, Peter
Peter Kurten was nicknamed the Monster of Dusseldorf. The reason for this
was due to the manner of attacks and murders he carried out. A psychiatrist
who studied him said that he found fulfilment in acts of mutilation, stimulation
at the sight of blood, humiliation of his victims and a sense of achievement
in killing. The underlying reason behind these murders seems to have been
purely sexual. On 2 July 1931, Peter Kurten was found guilty and guillotined
in Klingelputz prision for the murder of at least 9 people.
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For more information contact:
Gregg Manning
