How to wing it!

Fred Tokars. Have you ever heard of him? If you live in the Atlanta area, there’s a big chance that you have. Tokars used to be a lawyer who was involved in criminal activities such as money laundering and racketeering but what makes him interesting to me is the fact that when his wife discovered his criminal life, he paid for a hitman to kill her in front of his own two sons. That kind of mind is very interesting to me because the act is so cold-blooded that it just defies my understanding.

The crime.

Sara Tokars was arriving home from Florida with her two sons in the backseat of the car. When she got there, she found a stranger waiting. He forced her into the back of the car and drove off with all three. Then he stopped the vehicle, shot Sara in the head and ran away leaving the two little boys covered in blood. They were able to walk to a nearby house and get help.

Right away Fred Tokars was a suspect in his wife’s murder. The police learned of marital problems – Sara had told family members that Fred was often angry and temperamental and she suspected that he was involved with a very bad crowd of people . Her sister stated that Sara had called her and said that she had found proof of Fred’s activities but she would not tell her more over the phone . She also said she had found a way to divorce Fred and keep custody of the boys .

Tokars himself made police and Sara’s family even more suspicious .  After her death he was uncooperative and he bemoaned the loss of his lifestyle , not the loss of his partner or the tragedy that his kids had suffered . He attempted suicide because he said he was depressed . Then police discovered that there was a life insurance for Sara in the amount of $1.7 million . Fred was the sole beneficiary .

Police began looking at Fred’s business associates and soon discovered a shady character by the name of Eddie Lawrence who was arrested on bad check charges .  At first he denied any involvement in the murder but later – several months later – confessed that he had offered his secretary’s brother Curtis Rower $5000 to get rid of  “a white lady”.

He had dropped Curtis off at Tokar’s house where Curtis waited for her until she got home with the boys .

Tokars had insisted that the boys remain unharmed but that Sara be shot in the head to make sure she was dead .

He was arrested and convicted of money laundering , racketeering , kidnapping and murder for hire . He received four life sentences without the possibility of parole .

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Image via Wikipedia

Hi everyone, we’ve had a comment which unfortunately doesn’t show because we had to change our comment system but here it is:

thanks im doing an esa for school on him you gave me so new info if you post anything about ted bundy or charels manson that whould be great!!!

I certainly will ! Actually I have written a lot about Ted Bundy and I wanna direct you to a couple of the articles I wrote:

What is a psychopath?  Read here.

Where to find serial killer info online. Read here.

Burn, Bundy, Burn – On the twentieth anniversary of Ted Bundy’s execution. Read here.

I have never written about Charles Manson because he wasn’t really a serial killer and I never found him that interesting – but I hope you can use these links to study more for your essay.

Thanks for your nice comment!

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My mind is full of murderous women these days. Betty Broderick who shot and killed her ex husband Dan Broderick and his new wife. Doctor Debora Green who set fire to her house, killing two of her children. Diane Downs who shot her kids, killing one and injuring two. Susan Smith who strapped her two young sons in her car and then pushed it into a lake. Amy Fisher who shot her ex lover’s wife.

I usually read about male psychopaths but right now my eyes are very much opened to the fact that dangerous people are not always men. Know of any female psychopaths? Women who murdered their husbands, ex’s, children? Please leave a comment.

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Christopher Wilder, Most Wanted picture, Image via Wikipedia

Hello peeps! Today I’m going to write about a killer named Christopher Wilder. He is rather typical of the kind of person I usually write about in that he was a sexual sadist but he is also atypical in that he was a serial killer who turned spree killer in the end of his rampage.

Let’s start going through his background. He was born in Australia and almost died at birth. His father was American and his mother was Australian. At age 2 he almost drowned in a swimming pool. In the 60s he was found guilty of taking part in a gang rape and he was put on probation and received electroshock therapy; it is believed that this therapy only increased his sexual aggressive appetite.

In 68 he married but his wife left – having been with him in married “bliss” for a week! He moved to Florida in 69 and actually made …

quite a lot of money in real estate and developed an interest in photography. However, his sexual problems were quite clear during the seventies where he went in and out of jail for different sexual offences. Already at this early stage, he had sort of an MO in place: He’d pretend to be a professional photographer and lure young women into his truck where he’d assault them. Oddly enough, he would never be jailed for these crimes.

Then in 1982, he was charged with forcing two teenage girls to pose nude. His parents posted bail and Wilder would never get sentenced for this offense. The hearing would be in 1984; Wilder was dead by then. Actually his murder spree was quite short – from February to April 84 – but the hunt for him was very intense because he’d kill at a high rate during this short time span.

Rosario Gonzalez was the first known victim. Wilder was racing a Porsche 911 in the IMSA GTU class and Gonzalez was a model. She has never been found – neither has Wilder’s former girlfriend Elizabeth Kenyon who disappeared shortly after Gonzalez. Because Wilder knew both victims, he thought it better to run.

21-year old Terry Ferguson would be the next victim. He kidnapped her from a mall in Satellite Beach and dumped her body. The next unfortunate young woman had declined to be photographed by him and he’d wrapped her up in a blanket and held her in a motel room where he glued her eyes shut and assaulted her numerous times. He applied copper wires to her feet and passed electric currents through them. This young lady was a fighter, however, and she managed to lock herself in the bathroom where she started screaming. Wilder quickly fled . The girl had to search for help herself as her screams incredibly went unnoticed.

Already the next day Wilder approached 24 year old Terry Walden and told her he was a pro photographer. She declined to be photographed but two days later she disappeared. After dumping her body, he transferred his stolen license plates to her Mercury Cougar and then he murdered 21 year old Suzanne Logan.

Next two victims were 18-year old Sheryl Bonaventura and 17-year old Michelle Korfman who were both tortured before death. Like all of Wilder’s victims, they were young and beautiful.

The next victim 16-year old Tina Marie Risico was special in that she was kept alive to help Wilder lure other victims into his truck. Her mind has been so damaged by Wilder’s assaults that she not only helped him catch a new victim but she didn’t even try to escape although she had to chance.

The next victim – lured to Wilder by Tina Marie – was 16-year old Dawnette Wilt. At this point Wilder was on the FBI’S Most Wanted List. Dawnette was raped numerous times and then taken into the woods where she was stabbed and shot. She miraculously survived and by the time Wilder returned to the scene to make sure she was really dead, she had disappeared.
Healing in the hospital where she could give police more clues. She said Wilder was heading for Canada.

33-year old Beth Dodge  was the last victim and she was murdered only because Wilder needed her vehicle. He then drove Tina Marie to Logan Airport in Boston and bought her a ticket to LA. Wilder’s vehicle description was now broadcast out to law enforcement officials and on April 13th – after a failed attempt to kidnap another woman – his luck ran out. He stopped at a gas station and were approached by two police officers who had recognized him. Wilder reached into the car for his .357 Magnum and one of the troopers grabbed Wilder from behind. Wilder shot himself in the stomach, also injuring the trooper.

That’s where Wilder’s insane spree ended. He died instantly from his wounds. He left a personal estate of $2 million and is thought to have murdered many more women than the eight ones described.

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Quite frankly it’s gotta be the best serial killer movie ever made. It depicts the search for missing teenager Robert Piest who disappeared from outside the Nisson’s pharmacy in Des Plaines, Illinois in the late seventies. After a very intense investigation police would find a total of 28 bodies in local business man John Wayne Gacy‘s crawlspace and he claimed to have disposed of others in the nearby Des Plaines river, including the body of Robert Piest.

This movie is a must for true crime fans but also for regular film watchers. It’s exciting, thrilling, frightening and the actors (especially Brian Dennehy as John Wayne Gacy) do a fantastic job.

Thumbs up!

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There’s nothing like kicking back in the sun and reading about serial killers and stalkers. Well, for people like me, anyway. Former FBI profiler John Douglas is of course an expert in this field and he has written several excellent books. I can’t remember how many times I’ve read “Anatomy of Motive” but it’s more times than I can count on one hand. Douglas describes different kinds of dangerous offenders, analyzes their motives and tracks the escalation of the psychopathic behavior in the cases described.

If you’ve got a few hours to spare, check out this captivating book.

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Cleveland’s West Side was terrorized between 1983 to 1988 by a particularly cruel serial rapist who attacked women at night, creeping through an open window and masked in a stocking or scarf.

He’d order the woman to keep quiet, look away and hold a knife to her throat. As a final humiliation, he’d ejaculate either on the victims’ stomach or make her swallow.

Detective Bob Matuszny made it his personal goal to bring this brutal rapist to trial and he turned to the FBI for help.
They drew up a profile of a likely suspect: He picked victims who were easy to control (with children in a nearby room) or women he would be alone with. As the rapes occurred in the morning, it was thought that the rapist had no day job and if he had a job at all, it would be a menial job where he would have little contact with other people. He’d enjoy the fear he was instilling in people, having been named “The Westside Rapist” in the press, so he’d probably be collecting newspaper clippings about the case.

There’d be a woman in his life causing him stress but he’d be unable to stand up to her, taking his rage out on strangers instead. He’d most likely have a record of related crimes such as voyerism and he could be collecting pornography.

Over the next year Detective Mutaszny kept working at it and the rapist kept raping but in the end Mutaszny had to pack it in and he applied for a transfer which was approved.

The rapist on the other hand grew ever more cocky and he finally made the kind of mistake police had been waiting for.

After a rape he stole a victim’s credit card and demanded the password. He was then photographed by a surveillance camera using the card. Unfortunately only his lower face was showing but now the police had something to work with.
The press released the photo and security was upped.

After another rape, he once again used a stolen credit card and this time police got a shot of his vehicle, a dark Chevrolet Monte Carlo. After cruising around looking for the car for a long time, Detective Vic Kovacic got lucky: He spotted the car and wrote down the plate number.

The car was owned by a Ronnie Shelton, 27 and matching the description of the rapist. He had a record for voyerism and when police checked his fingerprints from a previous crime, it was a clean match.

At Shelton’s trial John Douglas, former FBI profiler, testified and after 4 days of jury deliberations, Shelton was found guilty of 49 rapes and 200 criminal counts in total.

He got 3,198 years in prison, maximum sentence for each offense.

Have you ever heard someone say “Why would he need to rape someone, he is so handsome he could get anyone he wants”? That’s because some people are under the misconception that rape is about sex. Rape is about control. A guy like Ronnie Shelton, for example, was in a steady relationship with his girlfriend at the same time that he raped so many women. You’ve got your Ted Bundy who could have had sex with many willing women, probably, but he still had to dominate the unwilling in the cruelest way possible.

So there was no lack of sex in Ronnie Shelton’s life. He was, however, highly insecure and angry, feeling like a nobody and wanting to feel powerful and in control . That’s what rape is all about: Domination and control of a helpless victim.

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Criminology is the part of social science that deals with the study of crime both in society and in the individual.

It’s a big hobby of mine and I know that the readers who frequence this blog a lot might think I am just a normal (or abnormal) serial killer freak who likes the gory stuff and the pics and the VW Bug replicas you can collect online. That’s not the case though.

I am really interested in what makes a criminal. Environment, genetics ? Or an evil beyond our control? It’s fascinating to study about sadism, murder, people who do indespicable things.

Much much more on criminology later..

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Arnie, part of my street gang, Image via Wikipedia

If I could have my own street gang, I would pick these members:

Phil McGraw
Well I figure if I gotta have a gang, it’s good to have Dr. Phil as my homie. He can be our stand-by gang member in case the fighting and shooting doesn’t work. Then we send in Dr. Phil to say “Get real, self matters..” He’ll rock!

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Did you get a look at him? I know he can’t speak English to save his life but dude can fight!

Sylvester Stallone

Blindfold me, cos I can’t look at him..I am sorry but he is just ..no. I am sure he’d do pretty well in a gang though. With a GPS..cos he probably can’t find his way anywhere.

Some Nobel Prize winner

It doesn’t matter which one. I am just thinking that the opposing street gang might not be very intellectually inclined so if MY Nobel Prize winning street gang member got on a soap box and made a speech, the others might run..??

Who would you pick?

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Dorothea Puente: Killing for profit.

Dorothea Puente is an American serial killer who is perhaps not very well known unless you are a real crime nerd like myself.

She was born in 1929 to poor, alcoholic parents living in California.

Her father died when she was only four years old and her mother died when she was six. For a while Dorothea in an orphanage but was later taken in by relatives.

Puente married when she was 16 and had two daughters. She sent one daughter to live with relatives and she put the other one up for adoption. For some reason her husband had enough and left her.

This is when Dorothea began forging checks but she was caught quite quickly and sentenced to a year in jail of which she served six months. When she got out she married once more and would stay married for the next 14 years.

She was not done with the criminal world, however. In 1960 she was once more arrested, this time for owning and running a brothel and having served 90 days in a Sacramento jail, she was once more arrested, this time for vagrancy and she got another 90 days in jail.

When Dorothea got out, she started working for the elderly and also begin to manage boarding houses. She got divorced from her husband of 14 years and married a Mexican man, thus getting the surname Puente which was later to become infamous.

The marriage lasted only a couple of years after which Dorothea Puente started spending a lot of time at local bars looking for men who received benefits. She would then forge their signatures in order to steal their money. When she was caught, she was charged with 34 counts of fraud.

In 1981 Puente rented an upstairs apartment at 1420 F Street in Sacramento and she turned it into a boarding house.

This is when people mysteriously started to vanish. They would arrive at the boarding house on F Street and then disappear. First of all a lady called Ruth Monroe died from an overdose of Tylenol and her death was labeled a suicide. Many of the people living at the boarding house were either homeless, alcoholic’s or drug addicts and Dorothea Puente appeared a nice, grandmotherly type of woman. Her appearance had many people fooled since she looked like a woman in her 70′s but she was actually quite a few years younger.

In November 1988 police received a tip and dug up a body buried in the lawn at 1426 F Street. A total of seven bodies would be found and Puente was charged with nine murderers ( two bodies were located elsewhere) of which she got convicted of three and she is serving two life sentences at Central California Women’s facility in California.

It is frightening to me that somebody would kill nine innocent people just to be able to get to their money. I suppose that’s the sign of a true psychopath.

I have not been able to find a lot of information about Dorothea Puente, except a small article in the New York Times published in December of 1993 and another article also from the New York Times with the headline “No cause determined in deaths of boarders“.

If you know where I can find more material about her, such as books or articles, a comment will be greatly appreciated.

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