Kurtis Killers

Coming soon.

Plot: Bill Kurtis investigates the most deadly criminals around the world. Watch as he even exposes few known secrets of several!

Airdate: April 23rd, 2011

Airdate: May 7th, 2011

Episode Guide

Season 1

1. The Freeway Phantom
2. The Doodler
3. The Beer Man
4. Jack the Stripper

(Re-posting)

*Note: Originally aired May 7th on the cz.cc site*


Kurtis Killers

Kurtis Killers Season 1

1. The Freeway Phantom (Pilot)

"Hello folks! My name is Bill Kurtis! I managed to get the rights to a new criminal documentary of mine. In it, I will expose the most secrets of known killers and some you may not know about. Today I will be reviewing The Freeway Phantom, an infamous killer whose identity still has not yet been solved. Will his identity finally be solved? We'll see. Now, let's get on with the show!"

Murders

Case 1: In the first ever case regarding The Phantom, on the evening of April 25, 1971, 13-year old Carol Spinks was sent by an older sister to buy groceries at a 7-Eleven located a half-mile away, just across the border in Maryland. On her way home from the store, Carol was abducted; her body was found six days later on a grassy embankment next to the northbound lanes of I-295, about 1,500 feet south of Suitland Parkway.

Case 2: About over a month later or so, on July 8, 1971, Darlenia Johnson, 16, was abducted while en route to her summer job at a recreation center. Eleven days later, her body was discovered a mere 15 feet from where Spinks was found. Something was going on.

Case 3: On July 27, 1971, 10-year old Brenda Crockett failed to return home after having been sent to the store by her mother. Three hours after Brenda was last seen, the phone rang and was answered by her 7-year old sister, who had waited at home while her family searched the neighborhood. Brenda was on the other line, crying. Our skilled cops managed to pick up a quote from the witness:

"A white man picked me up, and I'm heading home in a cab," Brenda told her sister, adding that she believed she was in Virginia before abruptly saying "Bye" and hanging up.

A short time later, the phone rang again and was this time answered by the boyfriend of Brenda's mother. It was Brenda again, and she merely repeated what she'd said in the last telephone call, indicating she was alone in a house with a white male. The boyfriend asked Brenda to have the man come to the phone. Heavy footsteps were heard in the background. Brenda said "I'll see you" and hung up. A few hours later, a hitchhiker discovered Brenda's body in a conspicuous location on Route 50, near I-295 in Prince George's County, Maryland. She had been raped and strangled, and a scarf was knotted around her neck.

Authorities quickly concluded that Brenda likely called her home at the behest of the killer, who fed her inaccurate information in order to buy the necessary time to perpetrate the crime, and to hamper investigation. Furthermore, one witness reported having seen one of the victims, Ms. Johnson, in an old black car, driven by an African-American male, shortly after her abduction.

"Well folks, this is sure a brutal scene. There is a few more case files to go of this horrifying killer," said Kurtis. "But all of these cases have a mystery hidden in them."

Case 4: 12-year old Nenomoshia Yates was walking home from a Safeway store in Northeast Washington, D.C. on October 1, 1971, when she was kidnapped, raped, and strangled. Her body was found within a few hours of her abduction, just off the shoulder of Pennsylvania Avenue in Prince George's County, Maryland. It is after this murder that the "Freeway Phantom" moniker was first used in city tabloid article describing the murders.

Case 5: In the most interesting one, after having dinner with a high school classmate on November 15, 1971, Brenda Woodward, 18, boarded a city bus to return to her Maryland Avenue home. Approximately six hours later, a police officer discovered her body, stabbed and strangled, in a grassy area near an access ramp to Route 202 from the Baltimore–Washington Parkway. A coat had been placed over her chest, and one of its pockets contained a note from the killer:

Freeway Phantom wrote:
This is tantamount to my insensititivity [sic] to people especially women.
I will admit the others when you catch me if you can!

-Free-way Phantom

It is interesting to note how the paper was from the victim's notebook and the Phantom had forced her to write it.

Case 6 (Final Case): The Phantom's final victim was claimed almost a year later, on September 5, 1972. 17-year old Ballou High School senior Diane Williams cooked dinner for her family and then visited her boyfriend's house. She was last seen alive boarding a bus. A short time later, her strangled body was discovered dumped alongside I-295, just south of the District line.

"Truly the most sickening bastard I have ever seen. 6 Case files on this guy and still no answer as to who he is," said Kurtis. "But now let's show some evidence."

Clues & Evidence

1. The Freeway Phantom case has seen numerous investigators and resurgences in interest over the years. At the time, more than 100 potential suspects were developed. Background checks were performed on teachers, convicted sex offenders, and persons of interest as disparate as an Air Force colonel and a real estate developer. All leads were ultimately fruitless.

2. The Watergate scandal sidetracked manpower and it wasn't until 1974 that investigators were able to resume focus. At this time, they scrutinized a gang known as the Green Vega Rapists, whose members were collectively responsible for a multitude of D.C.-area rapes and abductions. While both legal filings and media attention brought the Green Vega Rapists to the forefront of the investigation at the time, interest quickly faded and it is no longer believed that anyone associated with the gang was responsible.

3. A key piece of evidence consisted of green synthetic carpet fibers, which were found on the bodies of all but one of the victims. Additionally, DNA was extracted in 2006 from a semen sample recovered from the autopsy of one of the victims. However, a comparable profile could not be obtained.

"And here for our final section of the episode is who the killer may have possibly been."

Suspects

Robert Elwood Askins: In March, 1977, a 58-year old computer technician, Robert Elwood Askins, was charged with abducting and raping a 24-year old woman inside his Washington, D.C. home. Homicide detective Lloyd Davis proceeded to question Askins and learned that he had been charged with murder on several previous occasions. He was known for raping and strangling women, and there was a rumored connection between him and the Phantom. However, this was confirmed false when he died at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland at the age of 91, remained in prison for two D.C.-area abductions and rapes in the mid-70s, and had been contacted by both Davis and press regarding the Freeway Phantom slayings. He denied any role in them, adding that he did not have "the depravity of mind required to commit any of the crimes."

"That is the only ever known suspect," said Kurtis. "We still have no identity to this mad man, but whoever it was is probably dead, if anything. There are still many secrets of this man still not exposed and I will solve them one day. Bill Kurtis, signing off."

Notes/Trivia/Goofs

Criminal: Freeway Phantom
Case Resolution: Unsolved

The episodes will be divided like this:

1. Murders
2. Clues & Evidence
3. Suspect

Note that is all done by the point of view from Bill Kurtis himself.

Also note that this Lit will not update weekly unlike SBCPU.

Ooh, very interesting.

Kurtis Killers Season 1

1. The Freeway Phantom

2. The Doodler

"Hello folks! Welcome back to Kurtis Killers! Our first episode did great in ratings....so here is Episode 2! Today we will discuss...The Doodler. Note little is known about this criminal, so this will be a short episode." Kurtis said.


______________________

Murders
Case 1: Between January 1974 and September 1975, the faceless stalker who later to become known as "The Doodler" was responsible for seventeen attacks, with fourteen deaths, that baffled homicide investigators in the city by the bay. Initially, considering discrepancies in choice of victims, the police believed they had three manic killers on the prowl.

Case 2: The first five of the victims were Tenderloin drag queens, mutilated by The Doodler, who apparently despised transvestites.

Case 3: The next case of attacks involved six others who were selected from the sadomasochistic world of "leather bars" -- the dives with names like Ramrod, Fe-Be's, Folsom Poison -- and dispatched with hacking knife wounds. (One, attorney George Gilbert, was slaughtered at his home in San Francisco's poshest high-rise.) The authorities began to later realize they were dealing with one killer.

Case 4: The last six victims were middle-class businessmen, stabbed by The Doodler who picked them up in Castro Village bars, wooing his victims with cartoon portraits and pausing for sex before wielding his knife. Three of the latter victims survived their ordeal, providing police with descriptions of the killer, although they would ultimately refuse to testify in court. The slasher's taste for comic art provided newsmen with a handle on the case, and so the nickname "Black Doodler" was born.

Clues & Evidence

1. The only evidence we have is that after he would kill someone, he would draw paintings of him having sex with the victim and leave the paintings behind.

Suspects

Unnamed Suspect 1: In 1976, suspicion focused on a particular suspect, described by police as a mental patient with a history of treatment for sex-related problems. Questioned repeatedly, the suspect spoke freely with police, but always stopped short of a confession.

Unnamed Suspect 2: On July 8, 1977, frustrated authorities announced that an unnamed suspect had been linked with fourteen deaths and three assaults in San Francisco during 1974 and 1975. Indictment was impossible, they said, without cooperation from survivors of the "Doodler's" attacks. At this point, the case remains a stalemate, officially unsolved, with the suspect subject to continuing police surveillance.
________________________

"Well, there you have it folks. 2 unnamed suspects, 1 killer and 1 unsolved case. The Doodler has little known about him, so it is tough for us to decide who this sick man is. If you have any info regarding The Doodler, please contact me at kurtiskillers@comcast.net. Until next time, Bill Kurtis, signing off."

Notes/Trivia/Goofs
Criminal: The Doodler (AKA Black Doodler)
Case Resolution: Unsolved

It's back.

Kurtis Killers Season 1

1. The Freeway Phantom
2. The Doodler

3. The Beer Man

"Welcome to another episode of Kurtis Killers! Today we'll be covering the Beer Man. This man murdered a few people in Mumbai, India, and attacked between October 2006 and January 2007. Note we have little info on this man, so this episode will be shorter than the others." Kurtis said in the opening.

Murders
There have been no cases found, but we do know that whenever he killed someone, he'd leave behind a beer bottle next to the dead corpse. We do know he had killed 7 people.

Clues & Evidence
1. As stated above, the only known evidence was the beer bottles left behind his killings at the dead corpses.

Interestingly, all sources relating back to the Beer Man have been removed - as if someone has deleted all ties relating to him, and on purpose.

Suspects

Ravindra Kantrole: In January 2008 Ravindra Kantrole was convicted of one of the murders, that of a homeless man. He was charged with two other Beer Man murders but cleared of any involvement, thus leaving the remaining six murders unsolved. In September 2009 The Bombay High Court acquitted Kantrole of any involvement in the murders due to lack of evidence. The forensic tests conducted on him were judged inadmissible, so was the eyewitness testimony of a person who said he/she had seen Kantrole for a few seconds and remembered his face 2 months later.

___________________________

"There is little info on this killer to give us a clear resolution to the case. If anybody can get any trails of his beer, please contact me at my official website. Thank you." Bill Kurtis said, as the screen faded black.

Notes/Trivia/Goofs

Criminal: Beer Man
Case Resolution: Unsolved

THIS SHOW STILL EXISTS.

Kurtis Killers Season 1

1. The Freeway Phantom
2. The Doodler
3. The Beer Man

4. Jack the Stripper

"Welcome back to Kurtis Killers, folks. No, that is not Jack the Ripper we are talking about. This time we're talking about...Jack the Stripper. Jack the Stripper was the nickname given to an unknown serial killer responsible for what came to be known as the London "nude murders" between 1964 and 1965 (also known as the "Hammersmith murders" or "Hammersmith nudes" case). By the way folks, I am intentionally doing unsolved murders, but we could have a solved one in this episode. Read to find out."

Murders

Hannah Tailford: 30. Originally from a northwest mining family, Hannah Tailford was found dead on 2 February 1964 near the Hammersmith Bridge. She had been strangled and several of her teeth were missing; her underwear had also been forced down her throat.

Irene Lockwood: 26. Irene Lockwood was found dead on 8 April 1964 on the shore of the Thames, not far from where Hannah Tailford had been discovered; their two deaths, along with that of Elizabeth Figg, were linked and police realized that a killer was on the loose. 57-year-old caretaker Kenneth Archibald confessed to this murder almost three weeks later; this confession was dismissed due to inconsistencies in his version of events, and with the discovery of a third victim.

Helen Barthelemy: 22. Helen Barthelemy, originally from Blackpool, was found dead on 24 April 1964 in an alleyway in Brentford. Barthelemy’s death gave investigators their first solid piece of evidence in the case: flecks of paint used in motorcar manufactories. Police felt that the paint had probably come from the killer’s workplace; they therefore focused on tracing it to a business nearby.

Mary Flemming: 30. Originally from Scotland, Flemming’s body was found on 14 July 1964 in an open street in the district of Chiswick, where police presence was heaviest. Once again, paint spots were found on the body; many neighbours had also heard a car reversing down the street just before the body was discovered.

Frances Brown: 21. Edinburgh-native Frances Brown was last seen alive on 23 October 1964 by her friend, fellow prostitute Kim Taylor, before her body was found in an alleyway in Kensington a month later on 25 November. Taylor, who had been with Brown when she was picked up by the man believed to be her killer, was able to provide police with an identikit picture and a description of the man’s car, thought either to be a Ford Zephyr or a Zodiac.

Bridget O'Hara: 28. Irish-born Bridget O’Hara, also known as “Bridie”, was found dead behind the Heron Trading Estate in a storage shed. Once again, O’Hara’s body turned up flecks of industrial paint which, incredibly, were traced to a covered transformer just yards from where she’d been discovered. She also showed signs of having been stored in a warm environment; the transformer was a good fit for both the paint and the heating.

"Now, here were two possible victims, but they were never confirmed."

Elizabeth Figg: 21. Elizabeth Figg was found dead on 17 June 1959, a full five years before the Jack the Stripper murders started, near the River Thames in Chiswick. Her death was considered by some to bear many similarities to other victims, such as the location of the body (near the Thames and in Chiswick, where Mary Flemming's body would be found in 1964), and death by strangulation.

Gwynneth Rees: 22. Welsh-born Gwynneth Rees was found dead in a rubbish tip on 8 November 1963. Once again, investigators felt Rees may have been a Stripper victim due to her being found near the River Thames, and because she had been strangled with ligature; several of her teeth were also missing.

Clues & Evidence

1. Chief Superintendent John Du Rose of Scotland Yard, the detective put in charge of the case, interviewed almost 7,000 suspects. He then held a news conference, falsely announcing that the police had narrowed the suspect pool down to 20 men. After a short time, he announced that the suspect pool contained only 10 members, and then three. The Stripper did not kill any more after the initial news conference.

2. According to the writer Anthony Summers, two of his victims — Hannah Tailford and Frances Brown, the Stripper's third and seventh victims — were peripherally connected to the 1963 Profumo Affair. Also, some victims were known to engage in an underground party and pornographic movie scene; several writers have postulated that the victims might have known each other, and that the killer may be connected to this scene as well.

Suspects

Mungo Ireland: Du Rose's favourite suspect who was a Scottish security guard. Du Rose first identified him in a BBC television interview in 1970 as a respectable married man in his forties whom he codenamed Big John. Ireland had apparently been identified as a suspect shortly after Bridget O’Hara’s murder, when flecks of industrial paint were traced to the company where he worked as a security guard, Heron Trading Estate. Shortly after the trace was made, Ireland committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, leaving a note for his wife that read:

Mungo Ireland wrote:I can’t stick it any longer. To save you and the police looking for me I’ll be in the garage.

"Whilst seen by many as a strong suspect in the killings, recent research suggests that Ireland was in Scotland when O’Hara was murdered, and therefore could not have been the Stripper," Kurtis replied.

2. Freddie Mills: A recent book also named British light heavyweight boxing champion Freddie Mills as the killer, although this has not been substantiated.

__________

"Well everyone, we may have a resolution. Freddie Mills may or may not have been the killer behind "Jack the Stripper", but we are not so sure. We will leave this case as "Unconfirmed" for now, until someone has found this book telling us this information. This is Bill Kurtis, for great American justice."

Notes/Trivia/Goofs

Criminal: Jack the Stripper/Freddie Mills?
Resolution: Unconfirmed