Who Was the Original One-Man Wrecking Crew?

By J.T.O.

“One-man wrecking crew” is one of those slang terms that echo endlessly in the imitative caverns of sportswriting. The Pro Football Hall of Fame website uses it to describe no fewer than four different players.¹

But who was the original one-man wrecking crew, the athlete or hero or demolition expert who inspired it all? The answer remains lost—for now—in the debris of history. But clues abound in the easier-to-trace ancestry of the general multi-person term “wrecking crew.”

“One-man wrecking crew” is a term for someone who single-handedly destroys obstacles or opponents, real or imagined. Ironically, the term is based on people who cleaned up wrecks rather than creating them.

“Wrecking crew” was invented in American slang by the late 1800s to refer to salvage teams that cleaned up shipwrecks or train crashes. (The British chose to call train salvagers “breakdown gangs.”²) The first known use, according to the “Oxford English Dictionary,” is from 1878 in a Bret Harte story, where it is used metaphorically to refer to a group of seabirds.³ The metaphorical use means that the term already was well-known earlier than Harte’s story. The general use of “wrecking” to mean salvaging a wreck is dated by the “OED” to 1804.

Railroad wrecking crews in particular must have been the big slang influence, because they were a popular topic of public curiosity for the first half of the 20^th century, frequently written about in newspapers and magazines.⁴ Cleaning up the massive debris and mangled corpses of train wrecks was a major job. Wrecking crews had their own specialized trains that included a car loaded with tools and ropes as well as a train-mounted crane.⁵ They were on call all the time, like firefighters. A wrecking crew typically had eight to 12 men. So a one-man wrecking crew would be impressive indeed.

“Wrecking crew” quickly entered slang as a term for perceived troublemakers or tough guys. This metaphorical use first appeared in baseball sportswriting. Paul Dickson, author of “The Dickson Baseball Dictionary,” may have tracked it down to its moment of birth: an Aug. 17, 1912 report by famed sportswriter Irving Vaughan in the Chicago Record Herald.⁶ In the article, Vaughan wrote that the Chicago Cubs “‘wrecking crew’ was called forth repeatedly in an effort to turn the tide…” He used “wrecking crew” to refer to the team’s stable of top hitters. His placing of the term in quotes suggests it was an early usage of a novel term, and it bears more of the salvaging flavor—saving a game, in this case—than later usages. In any case, it is the earliest known use of “wrecking crew” in its group-of-tough-guys sense.

Sportswriters continued referring to various groups of star players on a team as a “wrecking crew.” The term spread into common parlance, often used negatively. By the 1950s, former President Harry Truman was using it prominently to criticize Republicans.⁷ The term has persisted in sports and broadened into other games, such as the term “Big Blue Wrecking Crew” applied to the Los Angeles Dodgers of the 1980s and the New York Giants football team of today.⁸

We can assume that the solo variation “one-man wrecking crew” arose sometime after August 1912. But exactly when or where is a mystery. Dickson was unable to give me any immediate insights.⁹ The pro baseball and football halls of fame researchers did not respond to questions.

The earliest definite use of the term that I could find does not appear to be original or influential. In a 1928 Catholic organization magazine, a writer reminisced about a school team basketball player as “our one-man wrecking crew.”¹⁰ The term is not in quotes, as is usual for a new word, and it is doubtful that many people ever read the article.

The earliest mainstream usage I could find was in a 1933 Associated Press news story about the opening of baseball season.¹¹ It referred to Hall of Famer Al Simmons as a “one-man wrecking crew” for the Chicago White Sox. It may be worth noting that Simmons previously played for the Philadelphia Athletics under manager Connie Mack. I found Mack’s Athletics teams frequently referred to as “wrecking crews” in newspaper coverage from the early 1900s.¹²

There is a tantalizing possibility that legendary football coach Pop Warner used the term “one-man wrecking crew” to refer to equally legendary athlete Jim Thorpe in 1911—even earlier than the currently first known use of the general “wrecking crew” term.

The reference comes from the book “Pop Warner: Football’s Greatest Teacher: The Epic Autobiography of Major College Football’s Winningest Coach.” The book quotes Warner as saying, following a 1911 football game, “Against Harvard on that memorable day, Jim was a one-man wrecking crew.”¹³

However, it is unclear whether that is a direct quote, a paraphrase or a pure invention, and it unclear when and where Warner is alleged to have said it. While it is styled as an “autobiography,” the book was actually collected and crafted 40 years after Warner’s death from various bits of his writings and other sources by author Mike Bynum. Bynum told me that he would check his files for the exact origin of the “one-man wrecking crew” quote, but has not yet responded.¹⁴

What is known with certainty is that, at the same time that “wrecking crew” became popular in sportswriting, so did slang terms using the form “one-man.”

“One-man show” first appeared in print in 1869, the “OED” tells us. “One-man band” appeared around 1931. It is like that “one-man wrecking crew” is a linguistic marriage between the existing sports term and the “one-man” trend.

For the sake of complete evidence and a shot in the dark, I must mention my discovery of a 1903 use of the variant term “wrecking crew of one.” This use appears to be idiosyncratic and not influential, but one never knows. It appears in the short story “When Peggy Took the Key” by Marjorie Stevens, published in the May 26, 1903 issue of the Boston Daily Globe newspaper. The story is about a railroad telegraph operator who is preoccupied by his recently broken engagement. Full of labored train metaphors, the story describes the hero as having “appointed himself a wrecking crew of one” in metaphorical terms of being determined to clean up the wreck of his engagement.

I suspect that somewhere in the reams of newspaper sportswriting between 1912 and 1928 is the first use of the term “one-man wrecking crew,” just waiting to be salvaged.

¹ www.profootballhof.com.

² “The American Language: Supplement One” and “The American Language” (4^th ed.) by H.L. Mencken, p. 487.

³ The “OED” citations generally refer to shipwreck salvaging. The earliest use of the railroad-specific “wrecking crew” term I could find was in the court case Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific R. Co. v. Hawk (1887), as published in “The American and English Railroad Cases,” Vol. XXXI, John Houston Merrill, ed., 1888. The court case was based on an 1882 incident.

⁴ “Minute Men of the Rails,” Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 89, No. 2, Aug. 1916.

⁵ “The Crane That Saves $2,000 a Minute” by Henry B. Comstock, Popular Science, Vol. 161, No. 4, Oct. 1952.

⁶ Information provided by Jacob Pomrenke, web content editor/producer at the Society for American Baseball Research, Phoenix, Arizona, personal communication, Nov. 28, 2012.

⁷ One example can be found in “Demo oratorical guns blast away at Republicans as session opens” by Douglas B. Cornell, Associated Press, in Spartanburg (South Carolina) Herald, Sept. 15, 1953 (report dated Sept. 14).

⁸ Los Angeles Dodgers: “Big Blue Wrecking Crew” team fan forum at dodgers.yuku.com;  New York Giants: “The Big Blue Wrecking Crew Rolls On” by Josh Alper, NBC 4 New York TV news, Jan. 16, 2012, at nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/giants-defeat-packers-137391728.html.

⁹ Paul Dickson, personal communication, Nov. 28, 2012.

¹⁰ “The Catholic Charities Review,” Vol. 12, 1928, p. 58.

¹¹ “Big leagues baseball season opens today in many new surroundings” by Associated Press, Lewiston (Maine) Daily Sun, April 12, 1933.

¹² For examples, see: “Joe Jackson pulling away,” Boston Daily Globe, July 21, 1913; “Giants in batting rampage against Philadelphia pitchers,” New York Times, Oct. 5, 1913 (via nytimes.com); and “Matty could bear it, if the West won a pennant” by Christy Mathewson (syndicated column), Boston Daily Globe, Sept. 21, 1916, p. 6.

¹³ The quote appears on p. 128.

¹⁴ Mike Bynum, personal communication, Dec. 9, 2012.

Other significant sources not cited in the text or footnotes include: “Jail ‘wrecking crew’ strikes,” Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), July 22, 1932, p. 3; and “Truman hits hard at Dewey for Taft-Hartley support” by Kermit McFarland, Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 24, 1948, p. 1. All books, newspapers and magazines accessed via Google Books and Google News Archives except for Bynum and Mencken or otherwise noted.

Murderers Who Have Served in the U.S. Military: A Database

By J.T.O.

America has a long history of blaming homicide and other violent crime on subcultural and/or cutting-edge art and stigmatized fans of it. Plays, novels, movies, rock music, comic books, TV, psychedelia, punk rock, heavy metal, role-playing games, rap, goth, video games–each in turn has been claimed, often by some of the highest officials in the land, to be turning children into criminals with depictions of sex, violence or the occult. As none of these artforms literally causes anyone to do anything, the claim typically involves some form of alleged brainwashing. In many cases, individual artworks have been blamed for specific crimes, by authorities and survivors, by perpetrators, or by both. Various forms of censorship and prohibition of art has resulted, particularly in the form of rating systems.

At the same time, American society is highly resistant to placing similar blame on cultural institutions that directly and openly promote physical violence. Football, for example, is well-known to produce significant amounts of violence from performers (both on- and off-field) and fans alike. Indeed, physical violence is one of the main goals and pleasures of the sport and is taught to young people by skilled coaches. Yet a rating system for football games, let alone an outright ban due to violence, would be considered virtually an act of treason in America.

Violence is clearly an ingrained humanity propensity that manifests in all cultures and eras. Mainstream American culture is conflicted about its expression of this fact of life, clearly enjoying violence in officially sanctioned arenas, while displacing guilt about the horrible consequences onto stigmatized minorities and their expressions.

In pondering this conflict, this author had two realizations. One is that authorities frequently regain a sense of power and control over fearsome, authority-threatening, outsider art by creating lists. The Legion of Decency had its list of “condemned” movies. The Parents Music Resource Center got a Congressional hearing about its “Filthy Fifteen” wish-list of pop and metal songs to ban.  Various fundamentalist Christian organizations maintain online lists of rock musicians who have committed suicide or fatally overdosed, purporting this as evidence of music’s corruption.

The second realization was that three prominent U.S. serial killers arrested around the same time in 2001, including the “Green River Killer,” one of the most lethal in history, all had served in the military, a biographical detail that was reported but not highlighted by major media. The military is one of mainstream America’s most admired and respected institutions. It is also one of the very few mainstream American institutions that literally trains people, physically and psychologically, to kill other people. It is the only mainstream American institution that legally forces its members to kill others on command.

It thus occurred to this author that it would be useful to compile a list of significant murderers who had served in the U.S. military. The premise was that such a list might well dwarf any authorities’ list of supposed art-linked crimes and tragedies, highlighting the cognitive dissonance that causes Americans to shift the blame from actually violent institutions onto non-violent ones. Further, it was assumed that such a list would be an addition to criminology because of mainstream America’s urge to suppress and overlook military connections to violent crime.

Since the author began compiling the list in 2005, these premises have proven accurate. The list of military-influenced killers is over 275 names long and growing. It is far longer than any extant list of allegedly art-inspired crimes. It features far more tragically lost victims and many nightmarish household names, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Lee Harvey Oswald, the “Son of Sam” and Timothy McVeigh. And, despite America’s obsession (unofficial and official alike) with serial killers and lurid crime, and despite the obviously lethal function of military training, it appears to be the first and only comprehensive attempt to catalog murderers with military backgrounds.

The list is maintained under some restrictions. It lists only people who have committed either a minimum of two murders or the assassination of a major political figure, as proven in court or  by reliable confession or other patently true evidence. This restriction is to ensure that the list includes only indisputably awful people with genuinely heinous murderous intent. The list also includes only members of the U.S. military. That is because a) the U.S. is the nation whose culture the author lives in and wishes to examine and b) it is one of the few nations where military service is voluntary, thus making the military-homicide link more meaningful, as killers in many other nations automatically would have been in the military. In virtually all of these cases, the killer served in the military prior to or during his crimes.

Many of these murderers have cited the psychological impact of their military training or wartime service as factors in their crimes. Some have committed their crimes while still in the services, or while clad in combat gear or while using military weapons. Some have talked about being attracted to the military by the opportunity to live out their fantasies of killing people.

The list continues to grow, both as the author uncovers overlooked references to the military backgrounds of known killers and as new murderers are captured. Indeed, on the very day of this essay’s publication, a newly discovered serial killer, Isaac Keyes, was announced to the world by authorities; through a quick review of dozens of news articles, the author found the unsurprising passing reference to his Army service.

The list is ad hoc, empirical and selective. It does not purport to be scientific. As with all selective lists, its omissions are also important; obviously, the vast majority of military veterans, despite being trained to kill and in many cases actually killing dozens of people in war, do not become multiple murderers.

However, the author feels comfortable in presenting the list as significant and using it as the basis for making two testable hypotheses.

First, the list will grow over the next five to 10 years to include several murder sprees committed by veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in the United States, and the murderers will blame the post-traumatic stress and how-to-kill training of their military service for their crimes. This has already happened with criminal veterans of Vietnam and the Gulf War, and some murderers have already struck in Afghanistan and Iraq, killing civilians or their comrades. It is only a matter of time before similar criminals come home and set to work. In this respect, a notable footnote to the Afghanistan/Iraq war era was former President George W. Bush’s move to ban military-veteran murderers from burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Another is the 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision Porter v. McCollum, which overturned the death sentence of a veteran who murdered two people on the basis that the trauma of his military service had not been properly considered.

Second, over the same period, there will be another moral panic blaming an artistic subculture for inspiring crime to deflect the sense of guilt and anxiety that such crimes will create.

There is one other possibility. The military and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are already taking post-traumatic stress and other service-related psychological disorders seriously in terms of suicide factors in a way that they did not following Vietnam. If American society can overcome its willful blindness to the military-murderer nexus, it is possible that the military will similarly embrace its responsibility as a factor in homicide and provide programming changes that may reduce its incidence as well as the need to blame music or movies instead.

The following is the list of murderers who have served in the U.S. military, by service branch, with relevant annotation, as updated Nov. 30, 2013. Hundreds of sources have been and will be used to compile the list, largely including contemporary news articles, “Murderpedia: The Encyclopedia of Murderers” (murderpedia.org) and Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org).

AIR FORCE

Robert James Acremant

Killed 3 people (1995)

William Andrews and Dale Selby Pierre

Killed 3 people (1974)

Committed their crimes while in the service. Pierre was suspected in another killing where the victim was a fellow airman.

Donald Jay Beardslee

Killed 3 people (1969-81)

Also went to a military school, where he was regularly humiliated, beaten and tortured by upperclassman as part of standard abuse and hazing.

Rudy Bladel (aka “The Railway Sniper”)

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 7 (1963-78)

William Bonin (aka “The Freeway Killer”)

Killed at least 21 people, possibly up to 43 (1979-80; some with accomplices)

Vietnam veteran gunner. Was awarded a good conduct medal.

Thomas Richard Bunday

Killed 5 people (1979-81)

Was in the service at the time of his crimes and was seeing a military psychologist. The psychologist committed a murder of his own, the hired killing of his own wife, which was done in a manner to look like part of Bunday’s then-unsolved string of killings, with the psychologist unaware that the killer was one of his own patients. Bunday hid at least one body on the base where he was stationed.

Peter C. Contos

Killed 3 people (1997)

Air National Guard. Committed his crime while in the service. Hid the bodies of two of his victims in a locker at the Air Force base where he served. According to a court appeal, he blamed his crimes on stress causing him to mentally go into “‘the zone,’ in which he reverted to his military training and eliminated anyone he perceived as a threat.”

James Michael DeBardelben

Killed at least 3 people, possibly 8 or more (1971-83)

Richard Eugene Dickens

Killed 2 people (1990)

Dennis Thurl Dowthitt

Killed 2 people (1990; with accomplice)

Robert Garrow

Killed 4 people (1973)

During service, was ridiculed for bed-wetting.

Donald Harvey

Killed at least 37 people, possibly 57 or more (1970-87)

Committed some of his crimes at a Veterans Affairs hospital while working there.

John Joseph Joubert IV (aka “The Woodford Slasher”)

Killed 3 people (1982-85)

Committed some of his crimes while living on a base. Also attended military college.

Patrick Wayne Kearney (aka “The Trash-Bag Killer,” “The Freeway Killer”)

Killed at least 21 people, possibly 28 or more (1975-77; possibly with accomplice)

His possible accomplice was an Army veteran.

Barton Kay Kirkham

Killed 2 people (1956)

Was discharged after committing a robbery while AWOL.

Randy Kraft (aka “The Freeway Killer,” “The Scorecard Killer”)

Killed at least 16 people, possibly up to 67 (1970-83)

Was entrusted with a “secret” security clearance. A former ROTC member who demonstrated in favor of the Vietnam War.

Gary Lewingdon

Killed at least 10 people, possibly up to 11 (1977-78; with an accomplice)

Vietnam veteran.

Dean A. Mellberg

Killed 4 people and unborn child (1994)

Committed his crimes at the base where he previously served.

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Joseph Naso (aka “The Alphabet Murderer”)

Killed at least 4 people, possibly 6 or more (1970s-1990s)

Simon Peter Nelson

Killed 6 people (1978)

John Leonard Orr (aka “The Pillow Pyro”)

Killed 4 people (1984)

Kelsey Patterson

Killed 2 people (1992)

Dennis Rader (aka “BTK”)

Killed 10 people (1974-91)

Larry Keith Robison

Killed 5 people (1982)

Had paranoid delusions of being hunted by various government authorities, including the Air Force.

Daniel Harold “Danny” Rolling (aka “The Gainesville Ripper”)

Killed at least 5 people, possibly up to 8 (1990-91)

Worked in the former Strategic Air Command and as base security police. Honorably discharged. Used a Marine Corps Ka-Bar combat knife in his crimes. Also attempted and failed to enlist in the Navy.

Pat Sherrill

(see Marines listing)

Michael Alan Silka

Killed at least 9 people (1984)

Ronald Gene Simmons

Killed 16 people (1987)

Decorated Vietnam veteran who earned a marksmanship medal and retired as a master sergeant after 22 years. Also served in the Navy.

John Floyd Thomas Jr. (aka “Westside Rapist”)

Killed at least 7 people, possibly up to 30 (1972-1986)

Richard Lee Tingler Jr.

Killed at least 6 people, possibly up to 7 (1968-69)

Began committing lesser crimes while in the service with a fellow airman as an accomplice.

Thomas Warren Whisenhant

Killed 3 people (1975-76)

While in the service, attempted to murder a member of the Air Force WAF.

Andrew Paul Witt

Killed 2 people (2004)

Committed his crimes on a base while in the service and while wearing full battle dress uniform worn for the purpose of the attack. Victims included a fellow airman. Later apologized for the impact of his crimes on the Air Force.

Yahweh ben Yahweh (aka Hulon Mitchell Jr.)

Killed at least 14 people (c. 1980s)

Edward J. Zakrzewski II

Killed 3 people (1994)

Was in the service at the time of his crimes.

ARMY

Hasan Akbar

Killed 2 people (2003)

Victims were a U.S. Army captain and a U.S. Air Force major in Kuwait during invasion of Iraq. Claimed he preferred killing fellow soldiers to killing fellow Muslims. Prior to the attack, he wrote, “I may not have killed any Muslims, but being in the army is the same thing. I may have to make a choice very soon on who to kill.” And after being arrested, he said, “You guys are coming into our countries, and you’re going to rape our women and kill our children.”

Rodney Alcala (aka “The Dating Game Killer”)

Killed at least 5 people (1977-79)

Albert Anastasia (aka “The Mad Hatter,” “The Lord High Executioner”)

Killed at least 2 people, probably 9 or more (1921-57)

Was a known member of the Mafia’s “Murder, Inc.” when he was admitted into the service.

Joseph Ernest Atkins

Killed 3 people (1969-85)

Vietnam veteran who reportedly saw heavy combat in covert missions and on “Hamburg Hill” and the Tet Offensive; witnessed severely mutilated civilian corpses; and heard a fellow soldier who had been captured being tortured to death. Committed his last killings on the anniversary of the day of his arrival in Vietnam, and wore combat fatigues during them. Defense attorneys said post-traumatic stress flashbacks might have contributed to his crimes, during which he was “in his own mind…back in Vietnam.”

Robert Bales

Killed 16 people (2012)

Was a soldier serving in Afghanistan at the time of his crimes, which were committed on civilians. His attorneys said his crimes were affected by post-traumatic stress from combat, a brain injury suffered while serving in Iraq, and drugs and alcohol provided to him by Special Operations troops at his military outpost.

Joe Ball

Killed at least 2 people (1930s)

George Emil Banks

Killed 13 people (1982)

During his crimes, changed into military fatigues and a military T-shirt that read, “Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out.”

Cesar Francesco Barone

Killed at least 4 people, possibly up to 5 (1979-1993)

Army Ranger and veteran of the 1989 invasion of Panama.

Earl Russell Behringer

Killed 2 people (1986; with accomplice)

Came out of the Army “infatuated with weaponry,” according to a friend. When entering his plea at trial, clicked his heels together military-style.

David Berkowitz (aka “Son of Sam”)

Killed 6 people (1976-77)

During service, became an expert rifle shot.

William Bradford Bishop Jr.

Killed 5 people (1976)

Served in a counterintelligence unit.

Christopher Black Sr.

Killed 3 people (1998)

Had retired with the rank of sergeant.

Clifford H. Boggess

Killed 2 people (1986)

John Wilkes Booth

Killed President Abraham Lincoln (1865)

Temporarily joined the militia to witness the execution of John Brown.

Joseph Bozicevich

Killed 2 people (2008)

Victims were fellow soldiers on an Army base in Iraq during the war who criticized his battlefield performance.

Kenneth Lee Boyd

Killed 2 people (1988)

Vietnam veteran who claimed to suffer blackouts and memory loss after service and during his crimes. In his confession, he said of his killings, “It was just like I was in Vietnam.”

Lamar Brooks

Killed 2 people (1996)

Gulf War veteran.

Charles Noel Brown

Killed 4 people (1961; with accomplice)

Robert Charles Browne

Killed at least 2 people, possibly up to 49 (1987-95)

Claims his first victim was a fellow soldier.

Jerome “Jerry” Brudos (aka “The Shoe Fetish Slayer,” “The Lust Killer”)

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 12 (1968-69)

Attempted to impress potential victims by fraudulently calling himself a Vietnam veteran.

James N. Burmeister and Malcolm Wright

Killed 2 people (1995; with accomplice)

At the time of their crimes, they were serving on a military base where joined fellow soldiers in white supremacy and neo-Nazism that fueled their killings.

Michael Burnett

Killed 2 people (2011; with accomplices)

Committed his crimes while in the service as part of a secret crime/terrorism gang called Forever Enduring Always Ready (FEAR). One victim was another soldier who had been a FEAR member.

Samuel Byck

Killed 2 people (1974)

Committed his crimes while attempting to assassinate President Richard Nixon. His assassination plot was inspired by the stunt landing of a stolen military helicopter on the White House lawn by another soldier.

Harvy Louis Carignan (aka “The Want-Ad Killer,” “Harv the Hammer”)

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 18 (1949-1975)

Committed one of his killings while in the service and living on an Army base.

Joseph Christopher (aka “.22-Caliber Killer,” “Midtown Slasher”)

Killed at least 5 people, possibly up to 13 (1980)

Committed his crimes while in the service. Also attacked a fellow soldier.

Christopher Bernard Coleman

Killed 3 people (1995)

Gary Bradford Cone

Killed 2 people (1980)

Vietnam veteran. Blamed his crimes on the influence of drugs, a habit he acquired in the service.

Craig Conkey

Killed 2 people (1992-94)

Richard Wade Cooey II

Killed 2 people (1986; with accomplices)

Michael Corbett

Killed at least 3 people (1975; with accomplices)

Committed his crimes while in the service. Inspired by his bayonet training, killed one victim—a fellow soldier—with a bayonet as an experiment. Accomplices included a fellow soldier and a civilian worker at their Army base.

Dean Corll

Killed at least 27 people (1970-73; with accomplices)

Frederick William Cowan

Killed 6 people (1977)

During his crimes, wore an Army field jacket and combat boots.

Donald Lavell Craig

Killed 2 people (1995-96)

Jeffrey Dahmer

Killed 17 people (1978-91)

James Floyd Davis

Killed 3 people (1995)

Vietnam veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. A military rifle used in Vietnam was among the weapons he used in his crime. Received a good conduct medal and a Purple Heart belatedly while in prison, in a ceremony where they were pinned to his chest.

Albert DeSalvo (aka “The Boston Strangler”)

Killed 11 people (1962-64)

Carl C. Drega

Killed 4 people (1997)

Wayne Eugene DuMond

Killed at least 2 people, possibly up to 3 (1972-2001; with accomplices)

Vietnam veteran. Claimed to have participated in the killing of civilians in the war.

Kevin Wayne Dunlap

Killed 3 people (2008)

Also served in Kentucky National Guard. Committed his crime on a street named Military Road.

Paul Durousseau (aka “The Killer Cabbie”)

Killed at least 5 people, probably 7 or more (1997-2003)

Committed one of his crimes while in the service.

William Henry Theodore Durrant (aka “The Demon of the Belfry”)

Killed 2 people (1895)

National Guard. Committed his crimes while in the service.

Leonard John Egland

Killed 4 people (2011)

Iraq and Afghanistan wars veteran. Had just returned from a tour of duty and was living on an Army base at the time of his crimes.

William Duane Elledge

Killed 3 people (1974)

Larry “Bill” Elliott

Killed 2 people (2001)

Former counterintelligence officer. Was working for the Army as a civilian at the time of his crimes.

Dwayne Elton

Killed 2 people (1984)

A sergeant in the service at the time. Dumped victims’ bodies near a military hospital.

Glennon E. Engleman

Killed at least 7 people (1958-80)

Stephen Flemmi (aka “The Rifleman”)

Killed at least 15 people (1960s-1995)

Professional hitman. Veteran of Korean War, where he earned Bronze and Silver Star medals, and honed sharpshooting skills he later used in at least one sniper killing. Donated money to a war memorial that still bears his name and was active with a military veteran parachuting group. Entered the military underage with the fraudulent connivance of his parents.

Robert Flores Jr.

Killed 3 people (2002)

Gulf War veteran. His 11-year military career included sniper training with an expert marksmanship rating and training in airborne and special forces units. Received three good-conduct medals, among other commendations. Was working for the Veteran Affairs health care system at the time of his crimes.

Cleve Foster and Sheldon Ward

Killed at least 1 person, probably 2 (2001-2002)

Foster was an Army recruiter. Ward was one of his recruits and joined the Army Reserve. Likely committed a murder while in the service. Foster’s defense included a claim that he suffered post-traumatic stress from his military service.

Kendall Francois

Killed 8 people (1997-98)

Kenneth Junior French

Killed 4 people (1993)

Was a sergeant in the service at the time of his crime. Described his crimes as a protest against women, gays and blacks gaining rights in general and in the military in particular, later saying, “If you’re introducing a minority group that’s frowned upon and looked upon as being weak, and your commander’s saying it’s fine for him to be here, guys are saying, ‘Guess the military isn’t really as tough and bad as we thought it was.’ Everybody’s wanting acceptance. It’s a one-world system—global unity. Well, at what cost? Our military going down the drain?” During his crimes, said, “I’ll show you, [President] Clinton, about letting gays into the army.”

Calvin Gibbs and Jeremy N. Morlock

Killed at least 3 people (with accomplices; 2010)

Part of a self-described “Kill Team” of five rogue soldiers who killed civilians for sport in the Afghanistan War. Members posed for photos with victims and clipped off victims’ fingers as trophies.

Sean Patrick Goble

Killed at least 3 people (1995)

Salvatore Gravano (aka “Sammy the Bull”)

Killed up to 19 people

Notorious New York City Mafia underboss. Honorably discharged.

Ronald Adrian Gray

Killed 4 people (1986-87)

Committed his crimes while in the service. One victim was a fellow soldier.

Harvey Lee Green

Killed 2 people (1983)

Committed an attempted rape while in the service. Attributed his crimes to a drug addiction while noting that the military, rather than getting him away from drugs, turned out to be an excellent place to get drugs.

Samuel Green

Killed at least 3 people (1817-21; with accomplice)

Steven D. Green

Killed 4 people (2006; with accomplices)

Committed his crimes in Iraq during the war. In his court sentencing statement, blamed Iraq-induced insanity for causing him to think that only Americans were truly human: “Before I was in the Army, I never thought I’d kill anyone….I see now that war is intrinsically evil, because killing is intrinsically evil. And, I am sorry I ever had anything to do with either.”

Lloyd Donald Greeson

Killed probably 2 people (1964)

Served in both the Army and the Marines, despite previous criminal behavior while serving in the Canadian Army.

Richard A. Hagelberger and John F. Vigneault

Killed 2 people (1952)

Committed their crimes while in the service.

William Henry Hance (aka “The Forces of Evil” case)

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 4 (1978)

Killed while serving at a military base, where he left one victim lying on a rifle range. One victim was a fellow soldier. Previously served in the Marines.

Robert Hansen

Killed at least 11 people (1980-83)

Army Reserves.

Nidal Malik Hasan

Killed 13 people (2009)

Victims were fellow soldiers on the base where he served. Attributed his crimes to his unwillingness to deploy to the Afghanistan War and potentially kill fellow Muslims, and described his crimes as “switching sides.” Previously had been harassed by a fellow soldier for his religion. Served as a military psychiatrist and, prior to his crimes, reported on his own disturbed feelings about hearing the post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms of his patients.

Gary Heidnik

Killed at least 2 people (1986)

During service, received high marks. Also attended military school.

Timothy Hennis

Killed 3 people (1985)

Clarence Hill (aka “The Duck Island Killer”)

Killed 6 people (1938-40)

Appears that being drafted into the Army actually halted his serial killings.

Daryl Keith Holton

Killed 4 people (1997)

Gulf War veteran. Promoted to sergeant and honorably discharged. His lawyers partly blamed his crimes on trauma from the war.

Joshua Hunter

Killed 2 people (2009)

Iraq War veteran. Victims were fellow soldiers.

Ernest Ingenito

Killed 5 people (1950)

WWII veteran.

Phillip Carl Jablonski

Killed 5 people (1978-91)

Vietnam veteran. While still in the service, attempted to drown his wife and raped another woman. Blamed his crimes in part on traumas from his service in Vietnam.

Robert S. James (aka Major Raymond Lisenba, “Rattlesnake James,” “The Rattlesnake Murderer”)

Killed at least 2 people, possibly up to 3 (1932-35)

WWI veteran.

James Rodney Johnson

Killed 4 people (1991)

Vietnam veteran. Also served in the National Guard. Saw combat in the war and blamed his crimes on post-traumatic stress disorder. Wore military camouflage fatigues during his crimes. One group opposed to his execution wrote, “When Jim Johnson killed during the Vietnam War, the government supported him. But when his post-traumatic stress disorder led him to kill again 20 years later, he was sentenced to death.”

Willie Leroy Johnson

Killed 2 people (1983)

Honorably discharged.

Gordon Wendell Kahl

Killed 3 people (1983)

U.S. Army Air Corps veteran. Highly decorated, including the Presidential Unit Citation, two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star.

Steven Kazmierczak

Killed 5 people (2008)

Israel Keyes

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 8 (c. 2001-12)

Honorably discharged.

Hamaas Abdul Khaalis (aka Ernest McGhee)

Killed 2 people (1977; with accomplices)

James Allen Kinney (aka Jerome Romano Porrovecchio)

Killed at least 1 person, probably 3 or more (1997-98)

Vietnam War veteran. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Showed signs of mental illness after returning home from the service.

James Douglas Latham and George Ronald York

Killed at least 1 person, probably 7, possibly up to 9 (1961)

Were in the service and AWOL at the time of their crimes.

Leonard Marvin Laws

Killed 2 people (1980; with accomplices)

Vietnam veteran. Honorably discharged. Defense attorneys argued he was psychologically damaged by his “Vietnam experience.”

Michael Leahy Jr.

Killed 4 people (2007)

Victims were military detainees in Iraq.

Edward Joseph Leonski (aka the “Brownout Strangler”)

Killed 3 people (1942)

Committed his crimes while serving in Australia during World War II.

John List

Killed 5 people (1971)

WWII veteran. Received an ROTC commission. During service, was introduced to firearms and acquired the handgun used in his crimes. Later likened his crimes to WWII combat, saying, “It’s just like D-Day. You go in. There’s no stopping after you start.”

Will Lockett (aka Petrie Kimbrough)

Killed up to 4 people (1912-19)

Confessed to committing one murder while in the service.

Bobby Joe Long (aka “The Classified Ad Rapist”)

Killed at least 8 people, probably 10 (1984)

Dwight J. Loving

Killed 2 people (1988)

Committed his crimes while in the service. One victim was a fellow servicemember, the other a veteran.

Jeffrey MacDonald

Killed 3 people (1970)

Green Beret. Committed his crimes in his home on an Army base while in the service.

Farley Charles Matchett

Killed 2 people (1991)

Courtney Matthews

Killed 4 people (1994)

Was in the service at the time of his crimes.

David Edward Maust (aka “Crazy Dave”)

Killed 5 people (1974-2003)

Committed his first crime while serving in Germany.

Jerry Lynn McCracken

Killed 4 people (1990; with accomplice)

Timothy McVeigh

Killed 168 people (1995)

Gulf War veteran gunner, awarded the Bronze Star (for heroism or meritorious conduct), excellent marksman, invited to try out for the Special Forces. Met his future accomplice Terry Nichols on the Army rifle range. After his arrest, he initially confessed to only two killings—of Iraqis during the war.

“I think because I was sent off to war, I think that helped me prepare for facing that prospect with or possibility with an objective view. OK, let’s step back and not overreact. What do we do about it? And that helped.”—McVeigh, before his trial, when asked about facing the death penalty if convicted.

“Additionally, borrowing a page from U.S. foreign policy, I decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile, by bombing a government building and the government employees within that building who represent that government. Bombing the Murrah Federal Building was morally and strategically equivalent to the U.S. hitting a government building in Serbia, Iraq, or other nations. Based on observations of the policies of my own government, I viewed this action as an acceptable option. From this perspective, what occurred in Oklahoma City was no different than what Americans rain on the heads of others all the time, and subsequently, my mindset was and is one of clinical detachment. (The bombing of the Murrah building was not personal, no more than when Air Force, Army, Navy, or Marine personnel bomb or launch cruise missiles against government installations and their personnel.)”—McVeigh in a post-conviction letter to FOX News.

Darrell Mease

Killed 3 people (1988)

Vietnam veteran. Blamed his crimes partly on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ervin Mercer

Killed 3 people (1967)

In service at the time of his crimes.

William Gerald Mitchell

Killed 2 people (1974-95)

Leon Jerome Moser

Killed 3 people (1985)

Reached the rank of lieutenant.

John Allen Muhammad (aka 1/2 of the “D.C. Snipers”)

Killed at least 10 people, possibly up to 13 (2002)

Gulf War veteran, where he became an expert marksman with the military rifle used in the crimes. Also served in the National Guard. Prior to Muhammad’s execution, his attorney claimed Muhammad suffered from Gulf War Syndrome and noted the execution was scheduled for the day before Veterans Day.

Jay Wesley Neill

Killed 4 people (1984; with accomplice)

Earle Leonard Nelson (aka “The Gorilla Killer,” “The Gorilla Murderer,” “The Gorilla Man,” “The Dark Strangler”)

Killed 22 people, possibly 25 or more (1926-27)

Also served in the Navy.

Louis Kenneth Neu

Killed 2 people (1933)

Michael Andrew Nicholaou

Killed at least 2 people, probably 3, possibly 8 or more (1978-2005)

Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot. Heavily decorated, including two Silver Stars, two Bronze stars and two Purple Hearts. During service, was known for once taking only a knife and exiting camp alone to “hunt” the enemy. He and other soldiers were tried and acquitted of murder charges for allegedly strafing civilians with helicopter gunship fire. After service, was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Darren Dee O’Neall

Killed at least 1 person, possibly up to 5 (1987-89)

Told lies about being in the Army’s Rangers and Green Berets programs.

Alfred Packer (aka Alferd Packer)

Killed 5 people (1874)

Wade Michael Page

Killed 6 people (2012)

Psychological warfare specialist. Honorably discharged. Introduced to the white supremacy and neo-Nazism that fueled his attack in the military at a time when his base was full of active hate groups and the “Military Law Review” wrote, “White supremacists have a natural attraction to the Army.” His stepmother said his family at first believed the military was good for him for providing direction in his life, but “Now I greatly question that direction. I don’t know if the military was good for him.”

Carl Panzram

Killed at least 22 people (1899-1929)

Recruited in a bar.

David Elliot Penton

Killed at least 5 people, possibly 9 or more (1984-88)

Committed one of his crimes while in the service. Was introduced to child prostitutes in the military and committed crimes against child victims. Was praised in military records, became an expert marksman and was honorably discharged.

James Edward Perry (aka the “Hit Man” book case)

Killed 3 people (1993; with accomplice)

Accomplice was Navy veteran Lawrence Horn (see Navy listing).

Drew Walter Peterson

Killed at least 1 person, possibly 2 (2004-2007).

Trained as a military police officer.

Andrew Pixley (aka Andrew Armandoz Benavidez)

Killed 2 people (1964)

Michael Lee Platt and William Russell Matix

Killed at least 3 people (1985-85)

Met in the Army. Matix was a former Marine and served in the military police.

George Porter Jr.

Killed 2 people (1986)

Korean war veteran who was heavily decorated, including two Purple Hearts. Saw combat and reportedly later attempted to climb his walls with knives as a result of post-traumatic stress. Won an influential U.S Supreme Court decision that overturned his death sentence due largely to improper considered of the impact of his military service on his crime. The court noted that his service left him a “traumatized, changed man” and added, “Our Nation has a long history of according leniency to veterans in recognition of their service, especially for those who fought on the front lines as Porter did.”

Anton Probst

Killed 8 people (1866)

In a letter to his family confessing his crimes, he wrote, “Immediately upon my arrival in this country I became a soldier, in which position I heard nothing but cursing and swearing, and soon became a sharer in every wickedness.”

James Earl Ray

Killed Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)

James Earl Reed

Killed 2 people (1994)

Victims were parents of a girlfriend he met in the Army.

Jack Wayne Reeves

Killed at least 3 people, possibly 4 (1967-94)

Committed his first crime in the service and was released early due to intercession from the president of the United States; also committed his second crime while in the service. Had a successful military career, being promoted to master sergeant. Bragged to police about his sexual exploits with Korean women while he was in the service; his suspected fourth victim was a Korean woman he met while in the service.

Earl J. Richmond Jr.

Killed 4 people (1991)

Former drill sergeant. One of his victims was a soldier.

Leonard Uresti Rojas

Killed 2 people (1994)

Gary Lee Roll

Killed 3 people (1992; with accomplices)

Vietnam War veteran who volunteered to serve in the war. Honorably discharged. Blamed his crimes on drug addiction, which in turn he partly blamed on faulty dental surgery he received in the Army and for which he later sued a Veterans Administration hospital.

Eric Rudolph (aka “Olympic Park Bomber”)

Killed 3 people (1996-98)

Michael Rupe

Killed 2 people (1981)

Was a military “security officer.”

John Russell

Killed 5 people (2009)

Committed his crimes at a mental health clinic for combat-related psychological problems on his Army base in Iraq after being denied a discharge for mental disability. Blamed his crimes on combat-related post-traumatic stress. Victims were fellow soldiers.

Michael Wayne Ryan

Killed 2 people (1984)

Led a heavily armed, paramilitary religious cult in which all male members had a military-style rank.

Joseph Carl Shaw (aka J.C. Shaw)

Killed 3 people (1977; with accomplices)

Was a military police officer and committed his crimes while in the service.

Arthur Shawcross

Killed 12 people (1972-90)

Vietnam veteran known for recounting violent murder and cannibalism fantasies set during the war.

Jimmy Ray Slaughter

Killed 2 people (1991)

Army Reserve. At the time of his crimes, was on active duty for the Gulf War and was working as a psychiatric nurse in a VA hospital.

Perry Edward Smith (aka ½ of the “In Cold Blood” case duo)

Killed 4 people (1959; with accomplice)

Korean War veteran. Was jailed in the service for fighting with civilians, but was honorably discharged. Also served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.

Morris Solomon Jr.

Killed at least 6 people, possibly up to 7 (1986-87)

Vietnam veteran introduced to his favored class of victims, prostitutes, during his service with the active encouragement of his commanders. His attorneys titled a section of his appeal, “Vietnam: trauma, killing, prostitution, heroism.” It described the widespread use of child prostitutes on the base where he served and how they were both dehumanized and seen as a potential threat related to the Vietcong. It further described how his Army training taught him to dehumanize people as preparation for killing them, and that he participated in the dragging death of prisoners and the crushing death of enemy troops by an armored vehicle. The appeal included testimony that he returned from Vietnam with a negatively changed personality and symptoms of post-traumatic stress. “Vietnam…was thus a place in which trauma occurred every day, aggression was sanctioned, and women offering sex were debased,” said one expert in testimony. The report also quoted a veteran who had served at the base with him as saying, “If Harris had to go back to Vietnam, he’d want to go with someone like Morris.”

Steven Michael “Mike” Stagner

Killed 4 people (2001)

Aaron Stanley

Killed 2 people (2004)

Iraq War vet. Victims were fellow soldiers killed while visiting his drug-lab farmhouse near the base where they served.

James Edward Testerman

Killed an FBI agent (1942; with accomplice)

Was AWOL from Army base during his crime.

Abraham Thomas

Killed 4 people (1954)

Was in the service at the time of his crimes. Two of his victims were fellow soldiers.

Arturo Reyes Torres

Killed 4 people (1997)

Maury Troy Travis

Killed at least 12 people, possibly up to 17 (2001-02)

Army Reserve.

Howard Unruh

Killed 13 people (1949)

World War II veteran gunner, awarded several medals. Before enlisting, collected and memorized news clippings about the war. Kept a detailed record of every man he killed during the war, including details of the corpse, if possible. Later decorated his bedroom with military memorabilia and war souvenirs. After his crimes, his brother said that “since he came home from the service, he didn’t seem to be the same.”

Chai Soua Vang

Killed 6 people (2004)

National Guard. Earned a sharpshooter badge.

Russell Wayne Wagner

Killed 2 people (1994)

Vietnam veteran. His remains were removed from Arlington National Cemetery under a law banning murderers from being buried there.

Carl Otto Wanderer

Killed 2 people (1920)

Highly decorated WWI hero. Committed his crime with his service handgun.

Faryion Edward Wardrip

Killed at least 5 people (1984-86)

Army National Guard veteran.

Lesley Eugene Warren (aka “The Babyface Killer”)

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 10 (1987-1990)

Likely committed one killing while in the service.

Ward Weaver Jr.

Killed at least 2 people, possibly up to 24 (1981)

Vietnam veteran. Used prisoner-control techniques he learned in the military to control one of his victims. Declined to talk about his crimes in a prison interview, instead saying with a laugh, “I was in Vietnam. Battalion engineers. I blew things up, mostly towns and villages. I loved it. Always volunteered.” Father of murderer and military veteran Ward Weaver III (see Navy listing).

Marcus Wesson

Killed 9 people (2004)

Dan White

Killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk (1978)

Vietnam veteran. Buried with a military-provided headstone.

Robert Lee Yates Jr.

Killed at least 13 people (1975-98)

Gulf War and Somalia veteran helicopter pilot who had experienced enemy fire. Awarded at least 11 medals. Also served in the National Guard, rising high in the ranks. Bragged to a survivor of his crimes about his military service. Was introduced to prostitutes, his later favored group of victims, in the military.

Julius Ricardo Young

Killed 2 people (1993)

Honorably discharged.

COAST GUARD

Terry Michael Ratzmann

Killed 7 people (2005)

Committed suicide after committing his crimes, after which it was discovered he requested burial in a state veterans cemetery. He became one of the first denied such burial under a federal law banning murderers from burial in such cemeteries.

MARINES

Edward Charles Allaway

Killed 7 people (1976)

Larry Gene Bell

Killed at least 2 people, possibly up to 3 (1984-85)

William J. Benirschke

Killed 2 people (1988)

David Bieber

Killed up to 2 people (1995-2004)

Marvin Bieghler

Killed 2 people (1981)

Vietnam veteran who saw combat. During a clemency hearing, said, “If I can’t get out and go fishing and hunting, the courts can kiss my Marine Corps ass.” Before his execution, issued a written statement to his “brother warriors” that read in part, “I believe in God, country, corps. Death before dishonor…Semper fi, Marv.”

Vincent Brothers

Killed 5 people (2003)

Billy Lee Chadd

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 4 (1974-78)

Committed one of his killings as well as other brutal crimes while in the service. One victim was a patient at a military hospital where he worked.

Oba Chandler

Killed at least 3 people (1989)

Honorably discharged.

Herbert James Coddington

Killed 3 people (1981-87)

Honorably discharged. As a child, made fun of anti-war protestors.

James Colman III

Killed 2 people (2002)

Was promoted to sergeant at US Central Command.

Paul David Crews

Killed at least 2 people, possibly up to 3 (1986-90)

While in the service, tried to kill himself.

Ronnie A. Curtis

Killed 2 people (1987)

Committed his crimes while in the service with a military knife.

Skylar Deleon

Killed 3 people (2003-04)

Bennie Eddie Demps (aka the “Smiling Killer”)

Killed 3 people (1971-76)

Robert Rubane Diaz

Killed 12 people (1981)

Edward Wayne Edwards

Killed at least 5 people (1977-96)

After being dishonorably discharged, was arrested for impersonating a Marine.

Donald Leroy Evans

Killed at least 3 people, possibly 12 or more (c. 1977-91)

Joseph J. Fischer

Killed at least 2 people, possibly 18 or more (1953 and 1978-79)

WWII combat veteran who claimed to have killed civilians during the war and said that “killing felt too good to stop” once he left the service. Also served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during the war after lying about his age to get in.

Zane Michael Floyd

Killed 4 people (1999)

Was honorably discharged. During his crimes, wore his Marines military camouflage and combat boots and noted he had been trained to kill. He later said, “I’ve always just wanted to go to war and kill people, and you know that’s why I joined the Marine Corps. That’s the only reason I joined the Marine Corps.” A former FBI profiler said that he was enacting his longtime fantasy of military killing, describing his mentality during the crimes as, “He is going to war.”

Wayne Adam Ford

Killed 4 people (1997-98)

Was wearing combat boots when he turned himself in.

David Livingstone Funchess

Killed 2 people (1974)

Vietnam veteran, the first to be executed for civilian crimes. Was decorated, including with Purple Heart. Defense attorneys blamed his crimes on post-traumatic stress disorder from his combat experience.

Nathan Gale

Killed 4 people (2004)

The handgun he used in his crimes was a gift from his mother marking his military service.

David Robert Garvin

Killed 3 people (2007)

Lloyd Donald Greeson

(see Army listing)

William Henry Hance

(see Army listing)

Tommie Collins Hughes

Killed 2 people (1997; with accomplices)

Martin James Kipp (aka “Dr. Crazy”)

Killed at least 1 person, probably 2, possibly up to 3 (1983-85)

Joined the Marines to emulate his “war hero” father. Was convicted of rape while serving. Got into drugs, use of which were widespread in the Marine Corps, during service, and showed personality changes after coming out.

John Charles Lesko

Killed 4 people (1979-80; with accomplice)

Eusebio Lopez

Killed 2 people (2013)

Iraq and Afghanistan veteran. Taught machine-gunning. Committed his crimes on a military base and victims were fellow Marines.

Rex Warren Mays (aka “Uh-Oh the Clown”)

Killed 2 people (1992)

Later said he committed his crimes using killing techniques he learned in the Marines.

Clifton McCree

Killed 5 people (1996)

Did well in the Marines, getting promoted to lance corporal, leading a team and becoming an expert marksman.

Thomas McIlvane

Killed 4 people (1991)

Michael McLendon

Killed 10 people (2009)

Fred Eugene McManus

Killed 5 people (1953)

Committed his crimes while in the service. Used his service weapon in at least one of his crimes and wore his uniform while committing at least one of the crimes.

William Mentzer

Killed 2 people (1983-84)

Vietnam veteran. Claimed to have killed 10 enemy troops in the war. Was trained in demolitions in the service; later used explosives in one of his crimes.

Hugh Bion Morse

Killed up to 4 people (1959-61)

Herbert William Mullin

Killed 13 people (1972-73)

A war-loving conservative who was ashamed and disturbed of registering as a conscientious objector during Vietnam. His WWII veteran father had regaled him with war stories and taught him how to use a gun. Joined the Marines in the midst of his killing spree and was rejected only after his criminal record was discovered. A recruiter wrote, “Herbert William Mullin is an intelligent and highly motivated young man, with an ultrazealous eagerness to enlist in the USMC…Because of Herb’s earnest desire to improve his lot and climb above his peers, as it were, I submit that Herbert William Mullin can, and most likely will, be a benefit to whatever unit he is assigned and a credit to his corps.” The rejection caused him to kill a “peace advocate” and to later remark, “If I was allowed to go into the Coast Guard or the Marine Corps, I would not have taken all those peoples’ lives.”  He later claimed his father telepathically controlled him, explaining, “Father was a Marine Corps sergeant and was used to ordering people to kill.”

Eric Ernest Napoletano Jr.

Killed at least 2 people, probably 3 (1984-90)

Charles Ng and Leonard Lake

Killed at least 12 people, probably 21 or more (1983-85)

Lake was a Vietnam veteran who earned two good conduct medals. Ng developed an early love of the military, and bragged of violence and of having committed an “assassination” to comrades and others while in the service; he was promoted to lance corporal. Ng previously had been arrested for stealing weapons from a military base. The pair was known for wearing T-shirts with the slogan, “Mercenaries do it for money.” The room in which they committed many of their crimes was stocked with military uniforms and weapons and used a specialized military scope to observe victims in the dark.

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Itzcoatl Ocampo

Killed 6 people (2011)

Iraq veteran. Rose to rank of corporal. Committed his crimes with a knife made by the company that made the original Marines combat knife.

Lee Harvey Oswald

Killed President John F. Kennedy (1963)

During service, qualified as a sharpshooter.

Manuel Pardo

Killed 9 people (1986)

Committed his crimes while serving in the Marine Reserve. Also served in the Navy. Told jurors at his trial, “I am a soldier, I accomplished my mission and I humbly ask you to give me the glory of ending my life and not send me to spend the rest of my days in state prison.” In prison, scammed pen-pals with fake love letters accompanied by a photo of him in his Marine Corps uniform. His last words at his execution included, “Airborne forever.”

Gerald Parker (aka “The Bedroom Basher”)

Killed at least 6 people (1978-79)

Was in the service at the time of his crimes.

John Patler

Killed American Nazi Party leader George Rockwell (1967)

Rockwell was also a veteran.

Edward Perreira

Killed 2 people (1981-95)

Christopher Dwayne Peterson (aka Obadayah Ben-Yisrayl, “The Shotgun Killer”)

Killed 7 people (1990)

Richard Poplawski

Killed 3 people (2009)

Sebastian Alexander Shaw (aka Chau Quong Ho)

Killed at least 3 people (1991-92)

Was honorably discharged for being overweight, which reportedly caused him psychological devastation.

Pat Sherrill

Killed 14 people (1986)

During service, was rated “expert” with rifles and handguns. Also served in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, acting as a firearms instructor in the latter. Used borrowed military handguns in his crime. Known for wearing military camouflage and talking of fictitious Vietnam service.

Daniel Lee Siebert

Killed 3 people, possibly up to 12 (1979-86)

Anthony Edward Sowell (aka “The Cleveland Strangler”)

Killed at least 11 people (c. 2005-09)

Received a good conduct medal and various commendations.

Michael Swango

Killed at least 4 people, possibly up to 60 (1983-97)

Joined the service after developing a combined fascination with the military and death.

Andrew Urdiales

Killed 8 people (c. 1987-96)

Was promoted to the rank of corporal. According to court psychiatrist, he joined the Marines out of interests in self-defense and destruction.

Larry Wayne White

Killed 2 people (1977)

Vietnam veteran. Blamed his crimes on a killing instinct and drug habit, both acquired during his combat service.

Charles Whitman (aka “The Texas Tower Sniper”)

Killed 16 people (1966)

During service, earned a good conduct medal, mastered the rifle and was awarded a competitive Navy scholarship. A captain in his division said, “I was impressed with him. I was certain he’d make a good citizen.” Was killed by police during his crimes and was buried in a coffin draped with a flag to signify his military service. Mentioned the Marine Corps in what he intended as his suicide note.

David Wayne Woodruff

Killed 2 people (1985-86; with accomplice)

NAVY

Aaron Alexis

Killed at least 12 people (2013; possibly with accomplice)

Committed his crimes at the Washington Navy Yard. Reportedly wore military-style clothing during his crimes. Reportedly also worked as a military contractor. Described by an acquaintance as acting “like a soldier who has been at war.”

Gennaro “Jerry” Angiulo

Killed about 13 people (1960s-1983; with accomplices)

Headed the Boston Mafia and was said to have ordered more than a dozen killings, including one halted by the FBI after he was caught on tape saying, “Just hit him in the head and stab him, OK?” Received a military funeral with a flag-draped coffin. Local veterans told a Boston newspaper at the time of his death that he deserved a military funeral, with one saying, “He was a veteran before he was a gangster. The military used the Mafia in World War II.”

John Eric Armstrong

Killed at least 5 people, possibly 16 or more (1992-2000)

May have killed at stops around the world while serving aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. His chief petty officer said, “He was my sailor of the month at one time. This guy had an unblemished record aboard the ship when he was working for me.”

Larry Gene Ashbrook

Killed 7 people (1999)

Before his crimes, claimed to be targeted by a conspiracy trying to frame him as a serial killer conducted by members of the military.

Mark Wesley Bailey

Killed 2 people (1998)

Gulf War veteran. Committed his crimes while in the service. The veterans organization the National Gulf War Resource Center unsuccessfully sought clemency to prevent his execution.

Carl Robert Brown

Killed 8 people (1982)

Honorably discharged. Was known for being “militaristic” in his lifestyle and for waking up neighbors by walking into their yards and shouting, “United States!”

Joseph Francis Bryan Jr.

Killed 3 people (1964)

John Dwight Canaday

Killed 3 people (1968-69)

Vietnam veteran who saw combat. Honorably discharged.

Hadden Clark

Killed at least 2 people, possibly more than 12 (1986-92)

During service, was repeatedly and severely beaten for enjoying crossdressing. He hid evidence of one of his crimes in a Navy duffel bag.

Carole Edward Cole

Killed 16 people (1971-80)

Daniel Owen Conahan Jr. (aka “The Hog Trails Killer”)

Killed at least 1 person, probably 7 or more people (1994-96)

Charles Cullen

Killed at least 22 people, possibly up to 45 (1988-2003)

In the service, was on a submarine crew team that operated the sub’s nuclear missiles.

Westley Allan Dodd

Killed 3 people (1989)

Christopher Jordan Dorner

Killed 4 people (2013)

Navy Reserve. Iraq War veteran.  Earned a rifle marksman ribbon and a pistol expert medal. Led a security unit. Had “top secret” security clearance. Honorably discharged as a lieutenant two days before he began his crimes. Attributed his crimes in part to the loss of his military career in a dispute with his employers. In a manifesto, he repeatedly compared his crimes to U.S. military strategy and guerilla warfare; decried Americans’ ability to purchase military weapons and carry out mass killings; and thanked his drill instructor for “ma[king] sure the vicious and intense personality I possess was discovered.”

“You are aware that I have always been the top shot, highest score, an expert in rifle qualifications in every unit I’ve been in. I will utilize every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance, and survival training I’ve been given.

Do you know why we are unsuccessful in asymmetrical and guerrilla warfare in CENTCOM theatre of operations? I’ll tell you. It’s not the inefficiency of our combatant commanders, planning, readiness or training of troops. Much like the Vietnam war, ACM, AAF, foreign fighters, Jihadist, and JAM have nothing to lose. They embrace death as it is a way of life. I simply don’t fear it. I am the walking exigent circumstance you created…

I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty.”

—Dorner, in his manifesto

Mark Essex

Killed 7 people (1973)

Attributed his race-motivated crimes as a counterattack to the racism directed against him encountered extensively in the Navy.

Richard Marc Evonitz

Killed at least 3 people (1996-97)

Began committing child sex crimes while in the service. Received a Good Conduct medal and an honorable discharge.

Richard Wade Farley

Killed 7 people (1988)

Ten-year veteran who had a high security clearance and earned medals for good conduct and marksmanship. Victims worked at his former employer, a defense contractor.

John Joseph Fautenberry

Killed at least 3 people, probably 6 (1990-91)

His defense attorney in one of his trials blamed his crime in part on an injury he suffered in the service.

John “Jack” Gilbert Graham

Killed 44 people (1955)

A murderous bomber, he learned demolitions in the Navy.

Gary G. Grant

Killed 4 people (c. 1971)

James Waybern Hall

Killed 4 people (1944-45)

Joseph M. Harris

Killed 4 people (1991)

Was known for wearing military fatigues and combat boots, including during some of his crimes.

George Jo Hennard

Killed 22 people (1991)

Son of an Army surgeon and grew up on the White Sands Missile Range. Committed his crimes in a town known for its Army base.

Lawrence T. “L.T.” Horn

Killed at least 3 people, possibly up to 4 (c. 1958-93; some with accomplice)

Once claimed to one of his future victims that he had killed a fellow sailor while in the service. Accomplice in some of his crimes was Army veteran James Edward Perry (see Army listing).

Michael Hughes

Killed at least 4 people, possibly 8 or more (1992-93)

Clarence Jackson

Killed 2 people (2007)

Victims were fellow sailors on a Navy base in Bahrain during the Iraq War. The Navy reportedly allowed him to remain armed despite one of the victims having a restraining order against him.

David Knotek

Killed 3 people (1994-2003; with accomplice)

Vietnam veteran.

Timothy Wayne Krajcir

Killed at least 7 people, possibly up to 9 (c. 1978-82)

Jeffrey Don Lundgren

Killed 5 people (1989; with accomplices)

Vietnam veteran. Honorably discharged. Cult leader who formed a paramilitary organization with which he committed his crimes.

Michael McDermott (aka “Mucko,” “The Dot-Com Killer”)

Killed 7 people (2000)

Anthony McKnight

Killed at least 5 people, possibly up to 7 (1985)

Was in the service at the time of his crimes.

Earle Leonard Nelson (aka “The Gorilla Killer,” “The Gorilla Murderer,” “The Gorilla Man,” “The Dark Strangler”)

(see Army listing)

Roy Lewis Norris

Killed 5 people (1979; with an accomplice)

Vietnam veteran.

Manuel Pardo

(see Marines listing)

Cleophus Prince Jr.

Killed 6 people (1990-91)

Gary Leon Ridgway (aka “The Green River Killer”)

Killed at least 49 people (1982-2001)

Vietnam War veteran who saw combat. Introduced to his favorite class of victims, prostitutes, in the military.

Reinaldo Rivera

Killed at least 4 people (1999-2000)

Formerly employed in the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Was rewarded with a Navy college scholarship.

David Keith Rogers

Killed at least 2 people, possibly 3 or more (c. 1983-87)

Gary Lee Schaefer

Killed 3 people (1979-83)

Marcus Shrader III

Killed at least 1 person, probably 4 (1974)

Was in the service at the time of his crimes.

Bruce Shreeves

Killed 4 people (1973)

Was in the service and AWOL at the time of his crimes.

Benjamin Adam Sifrit

Killed 2 people (2002; with accomplice)

Former Navy SEAL who finished first in his class in the elite military training course.

Ronald Gene Simmons

(see Air Force listing)

Newton Carlton Slawson

Killed 4 people and unborn baby (1989)

Claimed that a military psychologist encouraged him to continue his hobby of drawing slash wounds on magazine images of women.

David Frank Spanbauer

Killed 3 people (1992-94)

Richard Raymond Valenti

Killed 3 people (1973-74)

Committed his crimes while in the service.

Billy Ray Waldon (aka Nvwtohiyada Idehesdi Sequoyah)

Killed at least 4 people, possibly up to 5 (1985)

George Kent Wallace (aka the “Mad Paddler”)

Killed at least 4 people, possibly up to 6 (1976-90)

Henry Louis Wallace

Killed at least 10 people, possibly up to 20 (1992-94)

During service, was frequently promoted and reviewed very favorably. Arrested for U.S. crimes, but claims to have committed many more while in the service at various ports of call.

Ward Weaver III

Killed 2 people (2002)

Navy Reserves. Son of murderer and military veteran Ward Weaver Jr. (see Army listing).

Otto Stephen Wilson

Killed 2 people (1944)

While in the Navy, pulled a knife on his wife.

Charles William Yukl

Killed 2 people (1966-74)