Midnight Murders || The Lipstick Killer

"For heavens

sake catch me

before I kill more

I cannot control myself"

The quote above didn't come from a book, nor from a song lyrics. It was taken at a murder scene of Frances Brown, a 33 year old woman who was stabbed and shot to the head. The message was written on one of the apartment's mirrors using the victim's very own lipstick. Since then, the serial killer who took the lives of three people was named the "Lipstick Killer"

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The first victim of the so called Lipstick Killer was Josephine Ross, who was stabbed, throat slit. The murder, that will soon be followed by two more, happened on June 4, 1945. Everyone thought its was an ordinary murder but the death of Brown happened afterwards. The autopsy revealed that both victim were killed the same way, the police knew then that this is no ordinary murders. What caught everyone's attention though is not how the victims were killed, but the message that was found. Police thought it was more of a plea as well as a sign that there are victims coming up.

But what brought the Lipstick Killer to the limelight was the murder of a 6 year old, Suzanne Degnan. The victim was abducted from their home and was taken to a nearby basement laundry room where she was strangled to death and dismembered.  Before the death of Suzanne Degnan, her parents received a ransom note asking for $20,000. The poor girl's body was then thrown into the sewer and took weeks because it was all found.

The "Killer"

The murder of three people made the public frantic, the police even more. Pressured, the police was trying so hard to find the said killer, when they caught William Heirens. 

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Heirens was caught trying to burglarized an apartment. After his arrest, he was allegedly tortured and starved. He was also denied of being represented, and was even administered with 'truth drug'. His apartment was also searched even without a warrant, but there were no evidences found incriminating him. The police then announced that Heirens has an alternate personality named George Murman, who confessed of killing Ross, Brown and Degnan. 

With a little to no evidence, Heirens was put on a trial, but the public has already labeled him as a murderer. On August 7, Heirens confessed to all the Lipstick Killer murders.

Some say the Heirens was innocent. Some say the Heirens read the information about the Lipstick Killer on the newpaper, before he confessed. While in prison, he was a model inmate and was the first prisoner to acquire a BA degree in the state of Illinois.

William Heirens was found dead on his cell last March 5, 2012.