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Dr. H. H. Holmes began his public criminal career in the ‘80’s in Chicago. He amassed a large amount of money through swindles and other dubious transactions. It is believed that he began murdering people at the same time.
While the ‘95 murder conviction came about as the result of one specific death, there remains a long line of people who mysteriously disappeared after coming in contact with Dr. Holmes.
Holmes’ undoing appears to have begun as a simple insurance fraud; a murder for dollars. He and an old acquaintance, Ben Pitezel, Jr., obtained a life insurance policy for Pitezel and made plans to stage the death in Philadelphia. Holmes’ duties included procuring a suitable corpse from a New York doctor and then doing what was necessary to pass the corpse off as Pitezel. Rather than go to all that trouble, however, Holmes decided to actually kill Pitezel (a drunk who was rapidly becoming a nuisance).
Unfortunately, Pitezel had a wife and five children. Holmes felt it wise to eliminate them as well. While the bodies were never located, Holmes’ story that he had sent them to England with a nanny could not be substantiated. This and other careless mistakes caused the insurance company investigator and the police to grow suspicious and an extensive investigation resulted.
The only murder that could be prosecuted was that of Pitezel – and Dr. Holmes was convicted and sentenced to death.
What makes this story so unique is that the ‘95 we are speaking about was 1895 … one hundred hears ago. Even then, murdering someone for the proceeds of a life insurance policy was not unheard of. The full story of Herman Webster Mudgett, alias Dr. H. H. Holmes, is told in “Depraved – The Shocking True Story of America’s First Serial Killer” by Harold Schechter. Pocket Books, New York, 373 pp.
© Copyright 1995 Alikim Media