Serial Killer Conspiracies
Another brief followup to my article on the rationality of conspiracy theories. It is a common belief among intellectuals that “conspiracy theories” are inherently irrational or so unlikely as to be essentially inherently irrational.
The dictionary — as opposed to popular pejorative propaganda meaning — of “conspiracy theory” is simply a theory or hypothesis that some illegal or harmful event was caused by two or more malefactors working together. When surviving family, friends and neighbors, police investigators, news reporters or others suspect two or more perpetrators in a murder, they must consider a conspiracy theory.
The popular propaganda redefinition of “conspiracy theory,” the most straightforward dictionary phrase for a conspiracy theory, as “an irrational theory contradicted by evidence and reason” makes it difficult even to discuss and consider actual conspiracies in the modern world — not unlike the fictional newspeak in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.
A high fraction of events where the phrase “conspiracy theory” is used to stigmatize suspicions of a criminal conspiracy are murders such as the assassination of President Kennedy or possible murders such as the suspicious “suicide” of financier Jeffrey Epstein where the suspected criminal conspiracy involves powerful persons such as high government officials, politicians, business leaders, or others. According to official FBI statistics about 14.7 percent of murders in 2019 were committed by multiple offenders, a conspiracy in common usage.
Almost twenty-seven percent (27%) of murders in 2019 were unsolved. Unsolved murders tend to be gang violence/organized crime murders, that is conspiracies that could not be proven. The larger, the more powerful, and the more secret a gang or organized crime group is perceived to be, the less willing witnesses are to come forward with testimony and evidence.
As a partial check on the FBI’s official numbers on murders with multiple offenders, I took a look at the frequency of conspiracies in high profile “serial killer” murder cases. Using the list of “serial killer” cases in The Big Book of Serial Killers, Volume 1, by Jack Rosewood indicates at least 5-10 percent of “serial killer” cases involve conspiracies — based on actual convictions of accomplices, forensic evidence of accomplices, accomplices not charged in the actual murders due to a plea deal, and similar strong evidence of a conspiracy. Unsubstantiated claims by the convicted “serial killers” of accomplices or a conspiracy are not counted.
The Big Book of Serial Killers, Volume 1, by Jack Rosewood, Table of Contents (TOC), Kindle edition, lists one-hundred and fifty (150) so-called serial killer cases. The cases are listed by the main perpetrator or perpetrators. Of these, six (6) are pairs of perpetrators. However, several more cases involved additional accomplices not listed in the table of contents. These serial killer conspiracy cases are listed in detail below. At least ten (10) cases involved two or more perpetrators actually charged or convicted by name, with thirteen (13) highly probable cases with strong evidence of one or more accomplice, and two possible cases of an accomplice or accomplices (John Wayne Gacy and Patrick Kearney).
Note that I am relying on the actual court cases and police investigations where accomplices were identified or strong forensic evidence of accomplices presented and not theories or weak evidence such as those found in sources like the book Programmed to Kill by the late Dave McGowan (not a relative) or Maury Terry’s The Ultimate Evil. In a few cases such as the Dean Corll and the Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez cases below there is credible evidence of larger organized prostitution or pornography involved in the case.
NOTE: TOC is an abbreviation for the Table of Contents, oo is used for clear cases with identified accomplices usually convicted of involvement, o for cases with strong evidence of an accomplice or an uncharged accomplice (e.g. Tyria Moore in the Aileen Wuornos case). Where the accomplices are not listed in the Table of Contents, they are listed in parentheses immediately after the case name used in the Table of Contents.
oo Paul Bernardo (and Karla Homolka) page 1 TOC, page 21
oo Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono (Hillside Strangler case) page 1 TOC, page 26
oo Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker and Roy Lewis Norris page 1 TOC, page 39
oo William Bonin, page 1 TOC, page 50 (with 22-year-old Vernon Butts, as well as teenagers Gregory Miley, William Pugh, and James Munro. One of three “Freeway Killers” active in 1970’s California)
oo Doug Clark (Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy, “Sunset Strip Killers”) page 1 TOC, page 87
oo Dean Corll (with Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks, “Candy Man,” “Pied Piper,” or Houston Heights case) , page 1 TOC, page 97
oo Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez page 2, TOC, page 180 (four sisters, large scale prostitution ring in Mexico, allegedly 91 murders)
o Patrick Kearney (with David Douglas Hill?) page 2, TOC, page 195 (Kearney’s gay lover Hill was originally charged. Kearney gave a confession exonerating Hill. A grand jury declined to charge Hill, nonetheless there is evidence Hill was involved in the John La May murder, probably other murders as well)
o Randy Steven Kraft (strong DNA and other evidence of one or more accomplices, also a “Freeway Killer”), page 3, TOC, page 214
oo Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, page 3, TOC, 223
oo John Allan Mohammad and Lee Boyd Malvo (“Washington DC Sniper” case in 2002) page 3, TOC, page 256
o David Parker Ray (with Cindy Hendy, Glenda Jean “Jesse” Ray (Ray’s daughter) and Dennis Yancy, “Toy Box Killer” case) bodies not found, page 4 TOC, page 307
oo Fred West and Rosemary West, Page 5 TOC, page 391
o Aileen Carol Wuornos (and Tyria Moore, never charged) page 5 TOC, page 404
UNPROVEN EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY
John Wayne Gacy, (with possible unknown accomplice or accomplices, Jeff Rignall, who survived an abduction and attack by Gacy reported another unidentified person involved, other evidence) page 2 TOC, page 149
THE BOTTOM LINE
Totals:
10/150 (6.67 pct) cases (conservative, actual convicted accomplices)
13/150 (8.67 pct) cases (includes Wuornos, Kraft, David Ray Parker, highly probable)
15/150 (10 pct) cases (includes Kearney, Gacy, maybe)
I was unable to substantiate some Internet claims that Donald Henry Gaskins — another serial killer listed in the Rosewood book — had accomplices. Gaskins name turned up in some lists of “serial killers” with accomplices or suspected accomplices.
It was not practical to check every name in the table of contents due to limited time. Conspiracy serial killer cases were identified from memory and verified or found with Internet searches for serial killer cases involving accomplices — comparing the search results to the list in the table of contents. Thus, a few additional “serial killer” conspiracy cases in the table of contents may have been missed in this analysis.
Conclusion
Thus, proven in a court of law or extremely likely conspiracy cases are a small but significant fraction, about 5-10 percent, of prominent serial killer cases — smaller than the 14.7 percent of murders with multiple offenders according to the FBI (in 2019). This is not surprising given the generally solitary nature of the crimes. Nonetheless, conspiracies are not exceptionally rare or unusual even in this type of murder.
References
The Big Book of Serial Killers, Vol 1, by Jack Rosewood
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Serial-Killers-Encyclopedia-ebook/dp/B071K51FQ4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
FBI Expanded Homicide Data Table 4: Murder by Victim/Offender Situations, 2019
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-4.xls
“Serial Killer” Conspiracy Cases
Note that the details of these crimes are quite unpleasant and are discussed in these references. The analysis in this article is only concerned with the proportion of cases that were conspiracies as defined in common usage — multiple offenders working together.
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/paul-bernardo-and-karla-homolka-case
Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono
https://allthatsinteresting.com/hillside-strangler-kenneth-bianchi-angelo-buono
Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker and Roy Lewis Norris
https://unhbcoe.org/en/Lawrence_Bittaker_and_Roy_Norris-0426802400
William Bonin (and 22-year-old Vernon Butts, as well as teenagers Gregory Miley, William Pugh, and James Munro)
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/01/07/Freeway-Killer-William-Bonin-convicted-of-luring-10-youths/3460977293230/
Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy
https://www.oxygen.com/mysteries-scandals/crime-time/carol-bundy-victim-mastermind-sunset-strip-killers
Dean Corll (with Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks)
https://murderpedia.org/male.C/c/corll-dean.htm
Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez
https://justcriminals.info/2016/12/19/delfina-maria-de-jesus-gonzalez/
Patrick Kearney (and David Hill?)
https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Patrick_Kearney
Randy Steven Kraft and unknown accomplice or accomplices
https://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kraft-randy.htm
Leonard Lake and Charles Ng
https://www.historicmysteries.com/charles-ng-and-leonard-lake/
John Allan Mohammad and Lee Boyd Malvo
https://stmuscholars.org/john-allen-muhammad-lee-boyd-malvo-the-dc-snipers/
David Ray Parker (and Cindy Hendy and others)
https://allthatsinteresting.com/david-parker-ray-toy-box-killer
https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/albuquerque/items-david-parker-ray
https://www.thescarechamber.com/david-parker-ray-toy-box-of-torture/
Fred West and Rosemary West
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/04/europe/fred-rosemary-west-murders-gbr-cmd-intl/index.html
Aileen Carol Wuornos (and Tyria Moore, never charged)
https://sites.psu.edu/harringpassion/2019/03/29/aileen-wuornos/
John Wayne Gacy and possible unknown accomplice or accomplices
https://theweek.com/articles/478154/did-serial-killer-john-wayne-gacy-have-accomplices
https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/13/serial-killer-john-wayne-gacy-may-have-had-accomplices/
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/10/attorneys-believe-gacy-had-accomplices/
https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/how-john-wayne-gacy-survivor-jeffrey-rignall-went-on-a-personal-mission
https://www.archiweekend.com/viral-news/how-john-wayne-gacy-survivor-jeffrey-rignall-continued-an-individual-pursuit-to-stop-him-from-hurting-others/
Questions about Jeffrey Epstein “Suicide”
Programmed to Kill: The Politics of Serial Murder, Dave McGowan, August 2004
https://www.amazon.com/Programmed-Kill-Politics-Serial-Murder/dp/0595326404/
The Ultimate Evil: The Search for the Sons of Sam, by Maury Terry, Introduction by Joshua Zeman
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Evil-Search-Sons-Sam-ebook/dp/B08NFVHPP5/
(C) 2021 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.
About Me
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).