Nude Torso Found In River Sparks Serial Killer Fears

April 19, 1991

KANSAS CITY, MO. — The discovery of the nude torso of a woman's body in the Missouri River this week has revived fears a serial killer is preying on Kansas City prostitutes, streetwalkers and police said Thursday. The Jack the Ripper-style killings stretch back nine years, during which the bodies of six other women who were stabbed or beaten to death have turned up in the river. The last three victims had their legs removed at their hips with surgical precision, police said. Before Monday's discovery of the legless torso, the latest discovery was that of Ronda Dennis, 16, in May 1988.

Woman's Torso, Legs Found, May Be Serial Killer Victim

September 15, 1994

KANSAS CITY, MO. — Divers combed the muddy banks of the Missouri River on Wednesday for clues in the slaying of a woman whose torso and legs were recovered from the river this week, authorities said. She may be the fourth victim of a serial killer, authorities said. The first woman was slain in 1986. The main link in all the cases is that the legs were surgically amputated at the hip, authorities said. Two of the four victims were prostitutes and a third was last seen in an area of Kansas City frequented by prostitutes, police said. The identity of the latest victim was not known.

Once linked to 7 killings, man back in prison

Posted: Sunday, December 16, 2001

By The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After being released to a halfway house late last month, a Kansas City man once suspected in the killings of seven women but convicted only of passing bad checks has been sent back to prison on alleged parole violations.

Gregory Breeden, 55, was taken to the Western Reception and Diagnostic Correctional Center in St. Joseph after his arrest Thursday.

He is accused of not properly seeking employment and violating house rules at the Kansas City Community Center halfway house, said Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Tim Kniest. Kniest didn't give details of the rules violations.

Breeden served about two-thirds of a 10-year sentence for passing more than $1,500 in bad checks, before being released to the halfway house on Nov. 26. Finding permanent housing and work are conditions of Breeden's parole.

Breeden was investigated in the deaths of seven women, most of them known prostitutes, whose bodies were found in the Missouri River between 1982 and 1994. He has consistently professed his innocence to the grisly crimes where four of the victims had legs amputated at the hip.

Breeden was charged with only one murder, of Viola McCoy in 1994. But those charges were dropped in 1999 at the request of a special prosecutor who said a key witness would no longer cooperate.

The state parole board is expected to complete an investigation into Breeden's alleged violations by next week. The board will decide whether to release him again or make him serve the rest of his sentence, a decision Breeden could appeal.

Breeden couldn't be reached for comment Friday. He has filed suit in Jackson County challenging his supervision. The suit claims the state must grant unconditional release to anyone who has served two-thirds of his sentence.

Breeden has said media reports about the killings have ruined his life, and made finding work nearly impossible.

"I can't do anything anymore," Breeden said.

Ex-suspect in river deaths back in KC

July 30, 2001

KANSAS CITY, MO — Gregory Breeden, once considered a suspect in the deaths of women whose bodies were found in the Missouri River, is back in the Kansas City area after his release from a state prison.

His arrival Saturday at the Kansas City Community Release Center went unnoticed until after he was already there, giving local television interviews. Relatives of three of the dead women stood Saturday outside the building carrying signs protesting his release.

Breeden, 54, was sentenced in 1995 to 10 years in prison on bad check charges unrelated to the murders.

Most recently he had been at the Tipton Correctional Center. He was paroled with the stipulation that he try to find a job and spend nights at the Kansas City center for 120 days before he's free to be on his own. He'll remain under parole supervision until November 2004.

Breeden was investigated in the deaths of seven women, most of them known prostitutes, whose bodies were found in the river between 1982 and 1994. He has consistently professed his innocence.

He also expressed concern about his own fate, saying he didn't know how he could lead any kind of life or find a job amid the accusations and the protests over his release from prison.

Among those upset about Breeden's release was Kelly Lane, the niece of Melody Milliner, who was 24 when her mutilated body was found on the river bank near Lexington in 1986.

"I'm just a year older now than Melody was when she was murdered," Lane said.

Although police said they had linked Breeden to at least seven women's deaths, he was charged with only one murder, that of Viola McCoy in 1994. But those charges were dropped in 1999 at the request of a special prosecutor who said a key witness wouldn't cooperate.

Between 1982 and 1988, the bodies of 17 women and teen-age girls were found in the Missouri River. All but one had been linked to the notorious Independence Avenue area or prostitution.

Lane fought back tears, and when a reporter asked, "Is this the end of the Gregory Breeden story?" she and David Milliner, Melody's brother, answered together.

"This is only the beginning," Milliner said. "Only the beginning."

History of serial killers in the Kansas City area

Apr 19, 2004

1. John E. Robinson Sr., killed at least eight women over fifteen years in Cass County, Missouri and Linn County, Kansas.
2. Robert Berdella, died in prison after confessing to the torture and killing of six men in Kansas City between 1984 and 1987.
3. Ray Shawn Jackson, convicted of raping and strangling six women between 1989 and 1990 in Kansas City. He was known as the Gillham Park Strangler.
4. Gary Beach, shot five men in his Westport home in 1999.
5. Ray and Faye Copeland, elderly couple who killed five drifters on their farm near Chillicothe, Missouri.
6. Bodies of close to 20 prostitutes have been found in the Missouri River over the last 20 years, although police still do no know if the murders are the work a single serial killer or multiple murderers.

The Highway of Tears

A young girl stands beside Highway 16 with her arm and thumb raised high. A car or truck pulls over, she hops in for a ride, never to be seen alive again. For more than a decade, young women have disappeared or have been found slain along Highway 16 in northern BC.

Posters bearing their pictures can still be found on hydro poles and laundromat post-it boards. "Missing," they shout in large letters under a photo of a smiling, unpretentious-looking young woman or teenager.

It's tragic. It's horrific. And it's happening along the quiet 720 kilometers between Prince George and Prince Rupert, a stretch now gruesomely dubbed the Highway of Tears.

A disturbing pattern of disappearances was first noticed between 1988 and 1995. Young girls mostly aboriginal in origin and aged 15 to their early twenties vanished after being seen hitchhiking along the highway.
Some consider the murder of Monica Ignas, 15, to be the first. She disappeared just east of Terrace on December 13, 1974 and was later found lying dead and discarded in a gravel pit. In 1988, Alberta Williams, age 24, was also found murdered a month after disappearing. But it wasn't until 1994 that things really began speeding up at an alarming pace.

The first of the latest series of incidents was Ramona Wilson, 15, who was hitchhiking to a friend's place on June 11, 1994. Her remains were found near the Smithers airport a year later.

Five months after that, Roxanne Thiara, also 15, went missing from Prince George only to be found dead - her body "dumped" near Burns Lake. The slaughter rose to three in a row when the remains of Alishia Germaine, again 15, were discovered December 9, 1994

The next six months are event-free until Delphine Nikal, 16, from Telkwa disappears somewhere between Smithers and her home. She has yet to be found.
Lana Derrick, 19, was a forestry student in Terrace who went missing while walking down a street in Terrace in October, 1995. She has never been heard from since. Thankfully nothing happened for almost seven years that police know about, or that has been reported. (Was the murderer in jail for a spell?)
Our next casualty was the first Caucasian woman, Nicole Hoar, who disappeared on June 21, 2002. Nicole was a young tree planter hitching her way from Prince George to her sister's home in Smithers. She was hoping to attend the Midsummer Music Festival, but she never arrived.


Her family and friends were instrumental in quickly getting the story out to every major news source. A massive poster campaign ensued, rewards were offered, and a fund established to help find the missing dark-haired 26 year-old from Red Deer. The RCMP used aircraft and helicopters, and there were 200 volunteers plus 60+ professional search and rescue members, all to no avail. Nicole Hoar remains on a list of women missing along the Highway of Tears.
On September 17, 2005, a number of ceremonies named "Take Back the Highway" were held in communities between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Activities included marches, minutes of silence, local speakers and prayers to promote awareness and in protest to the violence against these women.


But, four days later Tamara Chipman, 22, went missing somewhere between Prince Rupert and Terrace. Tamara had taken judo for years and was considered able to take care of herself. What happened?
An account of how her father feels as he walks lonely stretches of the highway looking into culverts for his only child can be read on the Internet. Needless to say it is a heart-wrenching story.


The police have not ruled out the possibility of a serial-killer prowling our highway, although serial-killer profilers and special detectives sent to study the individual cases say there is no evidence of this.

In light of the recent 60+ murders of women by the accused Robert (Willy) Picton near Vancouver BC, one can only guess what other horrors await us yet to be discovered. Is it scarier to think there is a mass murderer on the loose, or multiple murderers?


Meanwhile, Crystal Lee Okimaw, 24, vanished from Prince George January 16 and Aielah Saric-Auger, 14, was discovered dead just east of Prince George on February 2, 2006. Guesses as to what sort of person the police might be looking at include a travelling salesman dressed in a suit who would seem like a trustworthy person to catch a ride with. Maybe a hunter who comes to our wildlife-rich area. Maybe a trucker who barrels in, then out of our towns. Or could it be someone who lives here? Someone who always seems to be at the right place to stop to pick up young women.

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

I’ve been hearing about this movie a lot lately and decided to give it a shot, even though everything about it was screaming to stay away. A group of 20-somethings get into an RV and decide to go stay in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Generic garbage, right? Yes and no.

The cast is comprised of a bunch of young’uns I don’t know, plus the guy that did Thor. Sigourney Weaver makes a random appearance at the end, but that’s about it. The kids have very stereotypical roles (the slut, the jock, the stoner, the kind of smart guy, and the reserved redhead). Early on, the inklings of a decent plot start to emerge, with some corporate scientist types pulling the strings and acting as “the powers that be” behind everything the kids experience. If the plot had centered and ended with that being what was going on, it would have been more interesting (and more how I thought it was going to be) and a far different movie than it ended up being.

Instead it devolves into a really overblown campy mess of these scientists doing all this to appease some ancient powers or else the world ends. There’s homages to a bunch of horror classics, from Evil Dead to Hellraiser to Hills Have Eyes. Throw in some SyFy looking monsters and some zombies and it just becomes an overindulged mess.

It’s definitely not all bad. There are quite a number of funny bits and dialogue in there, and the gore and killings are pretty well done. If you go into it, expecting a smart horror movie (which is sort of what I incorrectly assumed it was), then yeah you’ll be disappointed. But for what it is: a fun, kind of campy, fairly well-done flick, it’s definitely worth a watch.

Ohio Prostitute Killer

In Ohio, police are searching for a serial killer who is suspected of murdering at least eight prostitutes throughout the state. On April 19, 1990, the body of an unidentified white female was found off of Interstate 75 behind a truck stop. Four years earlier, the body of 23 year old prostitute Shirley Dean Taylor was found 100 miles away behind a traffic barier. Although the two cases at first seemed to be completely isolated crimes, investigative reporter Michael Berens was able to link the two cases together along with several other Ohio unsolved murders. Eight women were found murdered along a major interstate, each of the identified victims were suspected to be prostitutes, and each of those women were believed to work at truck stops. Berens later went undercover to better learn information about these murders. As the majority of the johns were teamsters who used CB radios to communicate alongside the highway, Berens learned that the prostitutes would use CB radios in order to contact their next customers. He believes that the killer would probably pretend to be a john to summon the prostitute, then murder the woman and later discard her body. On February 8, 1987, 27 year old Anne Marie Patterson became the sixth victim of the killer. She was last seen getting into a black or dark blue Peterbilt truck, and was never seen alive again. Her body was located twenty five days later. Surprisingly, it seemed that the killer may have kept Anne's body in his refridgerated truck for almost a month. Berens soon determined that the first victim of the killer was a woman who was found in 1981 and has never been identified. Then, during the next nine years, seven more womens' bodies would be found, all suspected to be victims of the same killer. Berens believes that due to the locations of the bodies, the killer may have been a former police officer or security guard. Two of the victims were last seen getting into a dark blue or black Peterbilt truck with a refrigerated trailer. His possible C.B. handles are "Dr. No", "Stargazer", and "Dragon". He has never been identified and the murders remain unsolved.

I-70 Killer

Interstate 70 runs from Baltimore, Maryland to Cove Fort, Utah. Beginning in April 1992, the highway has lent its name to a serial killer known as the "Interstate 70 Killer," who has committed a string of murders within a few miles of it in several Midwestern states. The first victim was Robin Fuldauer, 26, who was killed April 8, 1992 at a Payless ShoeSource store in Indianapolis, Indiana. Three days later, Patricia Magers, 32, and Patricia Smith, 23, were slain in a Wichita, Kansas bridal shop. On May 3, 1992, Nancy Kitzmiller, 24, was going to start a government job when she was murdered at a Western boot shop in St. Charles, a suburb of St. Louis. Missouri. Sarah Blessing 37, was slain in a gift shop at a local mall in the Kansas City suburb of Raytown four days later on May 7. At 3:30pm, an auctioneer saw a mysterious unidentified man walk in and out of his store suspiciously. Minutes later, Tim Hickman, who owned a video store next to Sarah saw a man walk past his store and went into the gift shop. He then heard a loud pop and saw the man walk around the corner near the store. A grocery clerk collecting shopping carts saw the man climb a hill to Interstate 70 and vanish. Meanwhile, Tim went into the gift shop and found Sarah's body. Ballistics test confirmed that all women were killed by the same person, and the gun was linked to another victim. On April 27, 1992, ceramics store clerk Michael 'Mick' McCown was murdered in Terre Haute, Indiana, possibly because he was mistaken for a woman.

There are also possible links to four more deaths along Interstates 35 and 45 in Texas. On Sept. 25, 1993, antiques store clerk Mary Ann Glasscock, 51, was killed execution-style in an Fort Worth, Texas antique store and Amy Vess, 22, was murdered Nov. 1, 1993, while working at a dancewear shop in Arlington, Texas. Witnesses describe the killer as a thin white man, 5' 7" to 5' 9," mid-20s to early 30s, with sandy blond hair with a reddish tint and day-old beard stubble. The best lead in the case came from Witchita in the Smith/Majors murder. Shortly after the two were shot, a man came to pick up a commerbun for his tuxedo and was confronted by the killer. Surprisingly, he let the eyewitness leave without injury. The man went to police and helped create a composite of the killer.

There are also possible links to four more deaths along Interstates 35 and 45 in Texas. On Sept. 25, 1993, antiques store clerk Mary Ann Glasscock, 51, was killed execution-style in an Fort Worth, Texas antique store and Amy Vess, 22, was murdered Nov. 1, 1993, while working at a dancewear shop in Arlington, Texas. Witnesses describe the killer as a thin white man, 5' 7" to 5' 9," mid-20s to early 30s, with sandy blond hair with a reddish tint and day-old beard stubble. The best lead in the case came from Witchita in the Smith/Majors murder. Shortly after the two were shot, a man came to pick up a commerbun for his tuxedo and was confronted by the killer. Surprisingly, he let the eyewitness leave without injury. The man went to police and helped create a composite of the killer.

Herb Baumeister from Westfield, Indiana, was suspected of being the killer, but he committed suicide after numerous human bones were discovered on his estate. The bones turned out to be male; Baumeister was alleged to have killed male homosexuals and could not be linked to the murders of the women. Donald Michael Prince, later Donald Albin Blom, convicted in the murder of Kathlyn "Katie" Elizabeth Poirier and a second unknown victim since has also been named as a suspect in the I-70 killings. He was known to be suffering from throat cancer, which is now in remission, and to have owned a .22 semi automatic similar to that which killed Patricia Magers and Patricia Smith.

The so-called “I-70 killer” remains elusive 20 years after a multi-state crime spree, but police say they haven’t given up on the case.

Authorities believe the same man was responsible for killing six people in five Midwestern cities in April and May of 1992. Four of the killings occurred in strip malls along Interstate 70 — two in Missouri, two in Indiana. The other two victims were at a bridal shop near Interstate 35 in Wichita, Kan.

The killer’s victims included Sarah Hart Blessing, a 1973 graduate of Shawnee Heights High School at Tecumseh. Blessing, 37, was fatally shot May 7, 1992, at a retail store where she worked in Raytown, Mo.

Another victim was Nancy Kitzmiller, 24, who worked at Boot Village in St. Charles, Mo., near St. Louis. Customers found her body in a back room of the small store.

St. Charles police on Wednesday provided previously unreleased information in hopes of generating new leads. Lt. David Senter said that based on ballistic evidence and witness statements, the weapon was a .22-caliber gun, possibly an Intratec Scorpion or Erma Werke Model ET 22. Ammunition was CCI brand .22-caliber long rifle, copper-clad lead bullets.

Senter said the case remains open, even if finding the killer all these years later is something of a longshot.

“The investigator met with (Kitzmiller’s) family last week,” Senter said. “That brings it home because they are still around, still here. It’s a constant thing for them.”

Nancy Kitzmiller’s father, Don Kitzmiller, didn’t have a listed phone number. But he recently told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the pain remains.

“It’s not cold to us,” Kitzmiller said. “It happened yesterday to us. To lose a child is something you never get over.”

Police cite common factors in all six killings. All the victims worked at small shops near the interstates, mostly businesses with just an employee or two, Senter said. Five of the victims were women and police believe the killer mistook the lone male, who wore his hair long, for a woman. All six were shot in the head. In most cases, a small amount of money was taken, though police said robbery was incidental.

“Killing was the motivation, no doubt in my mind,” said Lt. Mike Hennessey, a Wichita detective assigned to the case.

The spree began April 8, 1992, in Indianapolis, where 26-year-old Robin Fuldauer was killed at a Payless shoe store. Three days later, Patricia Magers, 32, and Patricia Smith, 23, were shot to death at La Bridal shop in Wichita.

The lone male victim, 40-year-old Michael McCown, was killed at his shop, Sylvia’s Ceramics, in Terre Haute, Ind., on April 27, 1992.

Kitzmiller was killed May 3, 1992. Four days later on the other side of Missouri, Blessing was shot to death at the Store of Many Colors in Raytown, a gift shop near Kansas City.

“It started and ended very quickly,” Hennessey said. “It just happened in such a short period of time and he seemed to pick his victims very carefully. Something set him off.”

Perhaps the best description of the killer came in Raytown. A neighboring video store owner saw a man enter the gift shop, then heard a pop. A grocery clerk saw the man climb a hill to I-70, then vanish. The video store owner found Blessing’s body.

Authorities believe the killer was a white male in his mid-20s to mid-30s, probably closer to mid-30s, Senter said. That would make him in his mid-50s if still alive.

The same killer may have been responsible for three crimes in Texas in 1993 and 1994 in which women at small shops were targeted. Two of those victims died, and one survived a bullet to the neck.

Crime-fighting technology has improved vastly since the early 1990s, especially DNA technology. But police said the killer simply left little to go on.

“Since none of this was sexual crime-based and we have no prints to work with, DNA is out of the question,” Hennessey said. “What cracks most of these cases is the killer talks. But serial killers don’t tell anyone. That’s how they get away with it.”

Konkhra - Spit or Swallow (1995)

This is some pretty brutal shit right here. Not brutal in the "br00tal" sense, of course, but just downright skull shattering.

On this album, Konkhra successfully manages to fuse straightforward death metal with a small but generous dose of rock & roll. Ever since Entombed released their 'Hollowman' ep way back in '93, I've been a fan of so called "death & roll". Since I was but a wee lad I was enthralled by the sounds of Sabbath, The Who, Journey and Floyd, so I have never had a problem with the union of two of my favorite forms of music. Of course, some bands take a nosedive in their attempt at pulling it off, but when the going's good, it's fucking great!

The main element needed in order to determine if a band is going to be successful at creating this style of music is brutality. Now I don't mean that a band needs to sound like Disgorge or Suffocation, in fact, that much brutality would completely ruin everything and render the attempt as being laughable at best. No, I'm talkin' a nice low end and plenty of down picked, locomotive sized riffs coming straight at you. The next important ingredient is, at the very least, a rudimentary display of down home grooves that could easily have been written by Mark Farner or beef jerkey boy himself, The Nuge. Heavy on the rock with a carefully measured dose of brutality. That's the secret.

Konkhra even went so far as to incorporate one of the more punishing and sadistic drum sounds I've had the pleasure to endure, as well. Sure, the blasts mind not be the latest in gravity defying technology, but that probably would've ruined that particular aspect for me, anyhow. Personally, I've never been a blast beat fanatic, so I couldn't care less when a drummer doesn't sound like a crackhead suffering from Tourettes. Doesn't bother my ass one bit. The blasts that do appear on this album may not be the fastest out there, but they have power, and that to me is the golden ticket.

Unfortunately, Konkhra have become something of a shell of their former selves, with a persistent succession of lackluster releases throughout the last 15 or so years since the release of 'Spit or Swallow'. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing terribly out of the ordinary going on in regards to their particular method of songwriting, but much of the mojo the band possessed during their early years seems to have dissipated as the lightbulb above their collective head seems to have burned out.