Perpetrator Information Hamilton Howard “Albert” Fish is a white male born on 5/19/1870. He is 5’5 and around 130 pounds with a thin body type that was strong for his old age. His hair was grey, thinning, and short with an unshaven face with a mustache. Light complexion and a well groomed appearance but otherwise just looks like a creepy defenseless old man. Fish had a calm and polite facade that he wore around others that he did not know that made him easily trustable to the public. At the time of his arrest he seemed polite but turned confrontational to avoid arrest. Albert Fish was 54 at the time of arrest and was living in a rooming house on 200 East 52nd Street Manhattan, New York. He was wearing nice clothes with a long coat over …show more content…
He seemed like a perfectly harmless man at the time. Albert Fish never did intend for Grace Budd to be the one that he killed. He had always intended it to be her brother Edward and his friend Willie. He would lure them off to his imaginary farm and then kill them both, but when he saw Grace his plan changed completely. He asked her parents if he could take her to his niece's birthday party that was being held at his sister’s house. Once given permission he took Grace and she was never seen alive by anyone ever again. In a letter to the Budd’s that he sent years after her murder he described the events that took place when he murdered her in detail. After he killed her he cooked and then ate her entire body over the course of nine …show more content…
He acted in such a way that wasn’t alarming and when he did take the children all anyone could describe him as was old and grey which lead to his name “The Grey Man.” When he did assault the children there was little to no evidence left behind and not even the bodies so the cases would grow cold very quick. In the case of Grace the identity that he used, the farm he described, and even the street that his imaginary sister lived on were fictional. He even went back to the Western Union office in Manhattan to retrieve the telegram that he had sent the Budds. The area that he had sent it from was to large to search which made the search for Grace even more hopeless. The man was always moving around from job to job since he was a painter. He was arrested at least six times after he had abducted Grace for things such as stealing and sending obscene letters but was never held for long since he wasn't considered a threat. Even when he was held at a mental health facility he was deemed sane and was released soon after he was taken