Gary Heidnik

1. Gary Heidnik A Serial Killer

2. Background • Born Monday 22 November 1943 • Oldest Son • Parents divorced when Heidnik was 2 • “…his father had cited Ellen Heidnik’s (mother) descent into alcoholism as one of the prime reasons for their marriage disintegrating…” • Abusive Father • Beat Gary and his brothers for arguing with their step-mother • Gary would we the bed and dad would hang the urine-soaked sheets out the third story window “explaining that it was so all the neighbours could see what a dirty little boy Gary was.” • Gary fell out of a tree • Smashed his skull, was unconscious for a long time. The fall caused cranial misshaping. Kids at school called him “football head”. That’s when Gary decided that he would “concentrate on achieving material grateness.” • Gary’s dad sent him to a prestigious school. Gary only went for two years because he was asked to drop out when the school found out about his mental disabilities. • Gary then joined the army and became an excellent soldier. He then traveled from Ohio to Texas to train to become a medic • His clients were his fellow soldiers • Gary was sent to Germany • 46th Army Surgical Hospital in Landstuhl. In 1962 Gary was sent home because of severe mental disablities. He didn’t have the ability to control his brain. • Returned to Cleveland to make amends with his father and stop mom, but they didn’t want to talk to him • Gary then went to Philadelphia to talk to his mother, but arrived to find that she had committed suicide. • Gary tried to take his own life • Hanging, munching crushed glass, overdosing on medication prescriptions, driving his motorcycle straight into the path of an oncoming truck

3. Obsession Leads To Crime • Women • Gary was obsessed with mentally retarded black females • He wanted to father as many children as he could • Wanted a big family • Crime • 1978 - Gary visited his mentally handicapped lover’s sister and signed her out from the home she was in. She never returned • 1987 - Anjeanette Davidson • 1985 - Gary ordered an oriental bride from the Filipines - Bety Disto

4. The Basement • Josefina Rivera • Taken on November 26, 1986 • Josefina quickly became Gary’s favorite • Sandra Lindsay • Mentally retarded, black female (like Josefina) • Lisa Thomas • 19 years old • Deborah Dudley • 23 years old • Fought Gary with everything she had/trouble maker • Jacquelyn Askins • 18 years old • Agnes Adams • 24 years old

5. Treatment • Food • Gary gave them barley any food, but most of their meals consisted of dog food • Living • The girls only wore shirts and socks • No beds or heating • Hygiene • Wet towels, and sometimes baths • Portable toilet and some tampons • Pleasure for Gary • Made the girls perform oral sex on him • Insisted that they copulate with one another while he watched

6. Sandra’s Punishment • Attempted to move the plywood from the hole • Gary suspended her from the ceiling beam by 1 arm for two days • He let her down, and she was barley conscious and was vomiting. Her condition worsened, and she was soon running a fever • Gary thought Sandra was pregnant (he didn’t want to hurt the baby) so her force fed her bread • Sandra Lindsay died two days after she was let down from the beam • Gary took her body upstairs and dismembered her with a hack saw • Head - crock-pot on stove • Rib cage - oven • Hands and feet - wrapped in saran wrap and put in fridge • Cut flesh from her torso and gave it to the dogs

7. The Snitch • Josefina overheard the girls plotting against Gary. She told him • Gary bound each of the girls (minus Josefina) and gagged them with plastic bags. • He took a screwdriver and plunged it into their ears and broke their eardrums. • He did this so they wouldn’t be able to hear when he was coming down the stairs

8. Shocking • New torture tactic • Electroshock attacks • Gary would take a “length of extension wire, strip the insulation from one end of it and plug the other into the wall. Then the bare wires would be placed against the girls’ chains and Gary’s own brand of entertainment would begin.” • Greater current • Gary took the plywood off of the pit, drilled two holes in it. Told Josefina to fill the pit with water • Dragged the girls (minus Josefina) into the pit and put the board with the air holes on top • The girls still had their chains on • Gary put the wire through the hole, and an agonizing scream came from the pit, the loudest from Deborah Dudley. The wire had made direct contact with her metal shackles. She convulsed, then died. • Signed confession • Made the girls sign that they were there, and had Josefina write down exactly what had happened. Gary signed the paper too.

9. The Plan • Josefina asked Gary if he would let her go home, and she told him that she would get another girl for him • Gary dropped her off, then went to the nearest gas station to wait for Josefina to come back • Josefina ran to her boyfriend’s apartment and called the cops • Gary was arrested

10. The Trial • Began Monday 20 June 1988 • Josefina was almost tried for the help in the death of Deborah, but Jacquelyn Askins told the judge that she only signed the confession because Gary forced her to • Was Gary Mental? • They looked at his past and decided that Gary wasn’t mentally challenged, just mad. He was crazy. • Charge • Gary was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder for Sandra Lindsay and Deborah Dudley • He had been found gulty on eighteen separate charges and faced the death penalty • Gary was on death row for the next 11 years • He attempted suicide on a number of occasions • Executed at 10:29pm on Tuesday, 6 July 1999 by lethal injection