William Heirens Research Paper

Most people are not aware of the qualifications to be a serial killer. A serial killer is defined as murdering more than three over a period of than more than a thirty day period, with a quick period between each murder where they stop killing, and whose motivation for murdering is primarily based on psychological gratification. William “The Lipstick Killer” Heirens, also known as number C06103 to his fellow inmates, is a peculiar serial killer who had a tough time growing up in Illinois. William had a total of three known victims in the time span of June 5, 1945, through January 7, 1946. William Heirens, who did his killings in Chicago, is a strange character and his life before killing, his victims, his confessions, and facts about him can

William's first victim’s name was Josephine Ross. She got murdered on June 5, 1945, at the age of 43. Ross’ body found repeatedly stabbed with her head wrapped with a dress.The police had mentioned that she was most likely to have had an intruder beforehand and was soon to be known as the killer. In Josephine’s hand, there were dark hairs this shows that she had struggled before she was murdered. No valuables were taken from the apartment. All of Ross’ ex-boyfriends, ex-husbands, and her fiancé had solid alibis, leaving the police with no suspects. Police started looking for dark haired men loitering around her apartment, but once again came up with nothing. On December 11, 1945 a member of the cleaning staff cleaning lady heard a radio playing loudly and noticed that Francis Brown’s apartment door at 3941 North Pine Grove in Chicago was partially cracked open. Upon walking inside, she discovered Francis stabbed to death in her apartment. Once again this murder was thought as to be a burglary gone wrong, but investigators found no valuables taken. What made this murder case different from the previous one was a message written on the wall in lipstick: For heaven’s sake catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself. The police found bloody fingerprints on the doorknob to her apartment. An ear witness claimed to have heard gunshots around 4 a.m. The night clerk at her apartment complex

While imprisoned William became the first Illinois prisoner to earn a college degree to be more specific he earned his four year bachelor degree. Him receiving his degree happened on February 6, 1972. This is significant because most prisoners will not earn a college degree in their lifetime, but for him to earn his while in prison is cool. Serial killer almost always have something about them that sets them apart from the others like them, for William it was his message on the wall written in lipstick, later to be known as the “The Lipstick Killer”. Even though police did not suspect it was the same killer for each murder, they came up with this name when they found this out because of the one message. Almost all serial killers cannot say that they had a character or mentioned in a common television show. This show is called Criminal Minds where William made an appearance twice in this television show. On the pilot of Criminal Minds “Extreme Aggressor” an accomplice to a serial killer sent a timed-triggered message to a victim that was set to destruct and wipe the hard-drive afterwards, the email read “For heaven’s sake catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself.” This message was the same that was written in lipstick in the Francis Brown case. Gideon, a former profiler for the BAU now held by David Rossi, had a framed picture of the message hung up in his office.