The Frankford Slasher

the Frankford Slasher.

The Frankford Slasher was an alleged serial killer that was stalking the streets of  Pennsylvania from it is said 1985 which was when the first victim was found up until 1990 when the last known victim was found. These murders sound very much to me like the jack the ripper murders that happened in Whitechapel back in 1888. The sexual brutality and injuries inflicted on the women was barbaric and sadistic to say the least. So fair warning this case will be gruesome.

I’m going to go through a list of The canonical victims so just a warning as I said before this is gruesome so if you get disturbed by these sorts of cases then I suggest you skip ahead.

The first victim was Helen Patent (52) who lived in Parkland, Bucks County, Pennsylvania , she was found dead a week after her murder on August 19, 1985. She was found by transit workers in a Philadelphia train yard and was naked from the waist down with her top pulled over her breasts with her legs spread apart, she'd been stabbed 47 times. Exposing her organs.

Stabbing someone so many times shows great hatred on the part of the killer to me.

The second victim: On January 3rd, 1985, only a few miles from the first victim 68 year old Anna Carroll was found stabbed to death in her home on the floor of her bedroom. which was 1400 block of Ritner Street, the murder weapon (a kitchen knife) was still embedded in her. She too, was naked from the waist down and sexually assaulted. She had been gutted and also was laid out in a pose intentionally with her organs exposed, but this time stabbed 6 times.

The third victim: Susan Olszef, (64) was found stabbed to death on December 25th, 1986 in her home on Richmond Street.

it was after this murder that police made connections between the victims. they ascertained that all three victims had been regulars at Goldie’s bar that was located on Frankford avenue. This particular area in question was what you would call a seedy area it was well known for its drug users and a big nightlife. Goldie’s bar is now longer around it was demolished.

The fourth victim: 2 weeks later, on January 12, 1987, Jeanne Durkin a 28-year-old former go-go dancer and homeless woman who slept on the street near Goldie’s, just a few doors down. She was murdered and left under a lorry. She had been sexually assaulted, stabbed 74 times wrapped in an overcoat and she was left in a pool of her own blood.

It was after this murder that police not only now realised that they had connections between these women, but that it all led back some way shape of form to goldie’s bar. It also meant they now had a major problem because it now meant that they had a serial killer on their hands.

The police for some reason that remains unclear at this point openly lied to the media, saying that the murders were not related and not crediting a serial killer, and then the killings stopped for a year. This was between murders 4 and 5 with number 4 happening in January 12 1987 and the next one not occurring until November 11th 1988. If these two events are related it is likely that the killer wanted to get attention for their crimes and when they were denied credit it made them angry enough to stop for some time and start again later.

Many serial killers have been known to seek publicity for their crimes. you had the zodiac kill who wrote taunting letters to the news papers in the late 60’s early 70’s who threatened more violence if his letters weren’t pointed on the front page. you had the infamous BTK killer Dennis radar who sought out publicity for his crimes which is how he ended up being caught through him being careless.

The fifth victim: After a long break, on November 11th, 1988, the killer struck again, killing 66 year old Margaret Vaughan in her apartment on Penn Street which she had just been evicted from. Leonard Christopher later claimed to police that he knew Margaret.

The sixth disputed victim: There was one case that is said to be attributed to the Frankfort slasher although this is disputed that was the murder of a women around the same time or shortly thereafter by the name of Catherine M. Jones, 29, she was a waitress who was beaten and strangled which was a different M.O than that of the slasher. Some do not connect her to the slasher killings because she had no stab wounds and was not sexually assaulted. The only reason I link it somewhat tenuously to the slasher is because of the timing of her death being so close to Margaret Vaughan.

I’m on the fence as to whether to include this one simply because serial killers do what’s known as a dry run where they go out find a victim and kill her to figure out what is the best way etc. there is however a problem with that in that by this point the slasher had an established M.O. there is the point that she could also have nothing to do with this spate of killings or it could also be a copycat killing.

The the seventh victim: On January 19th, 1989, Theresa Sciortino (30) was found in her home on Arrott street, she had been stabbed 25 times and was found on the kitchen flor in a pool of her own blood. her wounds had been caused by a kitchen knife, which was left at the scene. it is unclear if fingerprints were taken. Next to her body was a three-foot section of wood that had been used to sexually violate her with. She was also wearing a pair of white socks. Police also discovered she was also a regular at Goldie’s.

the eighth victim: In the early hours of April 29th, 1990, 46 year old Carol Dowd a women with a history of mental illness was found stabbed 36 times behind Newman's Seafood on Frankford Avenue. The other disturbing aspect about this case was her left nipple was removed. Due to the brutality of the attack her intestines spilled out of her body.

Then a connection was made between Dowd and two of the previous victims; Sciortino and Durkin. They had all been in and out of psychiatric wards in the years prior to their murders. Yet another link in the chain between the victims.

the The thing that gets me about these crimes is the fact that some of the murders took place in the victims homes which meant that the killer had to have some kind of way to access the home. One of the suspects that I’m about to talk about said that he was a self-proclaimed minister who police found was allegedly supposed be be working around the crime scene area helping out these women in need, which meant that he would be able to get in the homes of these victims under the guise of helping them out.

Thing is people don’t just let anyone into their home so whoever the killer was he was able to get himself inside the victims home. Now being that John Doe was said to be a religious minister it would therefor be easy for him to enter the homes of these women under the guise of helping them out because who would ever suspect a religion man of being a serial killer by the time these women found out about his true intentions it would have been to late. It has been done by serials killer before dressing up under the guise of being telephone repair men or some other fictitious delivery person plumber etc to gain access to someone’s home.

these women were the living on the edges of society as they were and I quote “all Caucasian, lived in the area, had a history of mental illness or drug dependency,” attorney Marissa Bluestine from the Innocence Project of Pennsylvania said.

This is where the case takes a dark a sinister turn. Witnesses started to come forward; Vaughn and Sciortino had been seen hanging out with a middle-aged white man. Sketches were circulated. No arrests came of it.

Now the 9th and final victim: On September 6, 1990, Michelle Dehner was stabbed to death in her Arrott Street Apartment 23 times. the disturbing fact about this was the main suspect who everyone thought was responsible for these murders was in custody and awaiting trial while this murder took place it is also the last murder to take place and interestingly enough the John Doe suspect left the state and disappeared after this last murder.

Which brings me brings me to the only two suspects ever identified in this case.

Suspect number one: John Doe.

The reason I call him this is because he was never named by police. the Philadelphia police identified this man as a possible suspect — a middle-aged white man who called himself a minister. He was identified and thought too have been posing as a counselor offering guidance and consolation, even renting an office in a nearby church, would befriend the women in bars. But after they left with him, they were never seen again.

Detectives, who created a composite sketch of the killer, say they were about to close in on their prime suspect when He disappeared sometime after investigators questioned him but not before a DNA sample was taken. The murders abruptly stopped and then many years later through means that remain unclear, police say they got word the prime suspect died. He was never named so we have no way of knowing who he was and as this case is still open and actively being worked on that makes sense.

For reasons that remain unclear to me they identified this man as a suspect although I’m not sure how or why he came under the notice of police the way that he did. I suspect it was because he had a connection with the victims that he knew the women and worked in the area where they were killed. Problem is there’s no way to know for sure as the suspect is said to be dead so we may never really know for sure if what connection he had to these terrible murders if any.

The second innocent suspect: Leonard Christopher.

The next morning, after the murder of Michelle Dehner detectives questioned a Newman's employee named Leonard Christopher, who volunteered an odd piece of information: He knew one of the Frankford Slasher's previous victims Margaret Vaughan. it remains unclear just what type of connection he had to her.

He also said he was with his girlfriend in his apartment the night of Dowd's murder, and both had seen a stocky white man lurking around the seafood store.

Christopher's girlfriend denied being with him that night. Which is odd given that Christopher said he was with her and she flat out denied it which meant one of two things he either lied because he had no real alibi or for some reason she lied which doesn’t make any sense.

Two eyewitnesses, both prostitutes, placed Christopher at the scene of the crime, with a large utility knife tucked in his belt, right around the time of the murders.

The witness said he was carrying a knife which to me isn’t all the suspicious as he worked at a fish market so him having a knife on him doesn’t really mean all that much. As he wold have needed one to gut the fish.

To make matters worse, Jaesa Phang, Christopher's former boss at Newman's, testified that he had told her, "Maybe I killed her." Then, a moment later, recanted. He was arrested a day later.

Things went down hill form there Witness stories were all over the place, some placed him at the scene of the crime, while others said he was of good character and was nowhere near the murder scenes.

The most shocking part about this is there was no evidence to tie him to any of the other murders and very little if any to tie him to this murder that he was eventually convicted and jailed for life for allegedly having committed. What makes it even worse is while Christopher was in prison On September 6, 1990, Michelle Dehner was stabbed to death in her Arrott Street Apartment while Christopher was awaiting trial. Which if the police who were investigating this case would have noticed that this would have made it impossible for Christopher to have been the Frankford slasher because how could he have possibly murdered this girl while in prison?

The other glaring factor that makes this case so outrageous in my eyes is the fact that the person in the sketches and seen by other witnesses was a middle aged white man with glasses Christopher was black and was 36 years old. Which automatically rules him out. It was speculated heavily that the police wanted to close this case quickly also how do you convict someone without evidence or based on circumstantial evidence when there is so much other evidence that points In another direction? Also How do you convict a black man of committing a crime if the prime suspect is white?

The worst part about all this was Christopher was tried and convicted of Carol Dowd's murder based largely on eyewitness accounts. He was not tried for the other Frankford Slasher slayings. (Technically, those are still unsolved.)

The other question that remains unanswered is Whether the Martin murder was the work of a copycat killer or the real Frankford Slasher. To this day that remains unknown

Christopher said of those whole ordeal quote: “I was railroaded. I didn’t kill Carol Dowd. I did not even know Carol Dowd. I was implicated by prostitutes… that the police put up.”

The only good thing to come out of this is police are trying to match the DNA they were able to take from their John Doe suspect and match it with other DNA they have from the crime scene so hopefully we will one day in the future have a match but we will have to wait and see.

So to wrap up the police railroaded an innocent man who is now dead they had another line of enquiry that was never followed up that to me looked way more promising that Christopher Leonard ever was who is also now said to have died and 9 women who died that never got any justice and families who never got any closure. 

Sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/9oikhc/the_frankford_slasher/

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https://www.grunge.com/416358/the-untold-truth-of-the-frankford-slasher/

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