Inside Look at Serial Killers, Assassins, Bank Robbers, and More Crime Overviews, Evidence Gathered, and Theories for Solutions California’s picturesque shores have always been a magnet for outcasts and criminals. Read about 64 of the most horrifying crimes ever committed in The Golden State, from the early 1950s into the 1980s. These accounts tell of […]

Herbert William Mullin is a serial-killer who murdered thirteen people in California between 1972 and 1973. After he was voted most likely to succeed when he graduated from a Santa Cruz high school in 1965, Mullin begins to exhibit bizarre behavior that would have him in and out of mental hospitals several times over the […]

On the left, Hungarian born Dr. Geza de Kaplany during his trial in January 1963 One of the most painful and horrific murders in American history was committed by Hungarian born Dr. Geza de Kaplany, whose jealousy and insecurities led him to torture his young wife to death by pouring acid on her as she […]

  Today’s mug shot is taken from “Famous Crimes the World Forgot.” This is Arthur Eggers. In 1946, he was a cuckold who got tired of his younger, dominant wife running around on him. He was coming home late one night when he caught sight of his wife’s lover leaving the house. When he went […]

George Edward Cole George Edward Cole shot and killed a San Francisco Police Sergeant during a hold-up of a tavern on Dec. 30, 1956. He was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List on Feb. 25, 1957. He was captured two years later in Des Moines, Iowa after a citizen identified his girlfriend, Yvonne Conley, […]

. “Police Officers Capture Opium Smugglers and All their Plunder,” The San Francisco Call, April 9, 1902. Police Officers A. 0. Juel and E. C. Gould captured two opium smugglers yesterday and secured their plunder. The officers will very likely receive a substantial reward from the Government. The men arrested were John Gavin, alias Murphy, […]

. Originally published: “The Mad Butcher of O’Farrell Street,” by Mitchell Chaindown, Front Page Detective, April, 1956. San Francisco, December 25-28, 1955 The sound was a shriek that started high and piercing and ended in a gurgle that was scarcely audible. The man leaped from his bed and ran out into the hallway of the […]

. Kenneth Malcom Christianson – 1964, FBI Most Wanted, Escaped convict Kenneth Malcolm Christiansen, was a tall, tattooed California prison escapee who engaged in a “white collar” holdups,  was  added to the FBI’s list of “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” on July 27, 1964. On Christmas Eve, 1963, Kevin Malcolm Christiansen escaped from the California Institution […]

—###—

  I am really proud [because of its rarity] of today’s mugshot of Lloyd Sampsell, a career bank robber whose amazing escapades spanned three decades. This is the only known mugshot of him to exist on the internet, outside of a FBI wanted circular. From the early 1920s to 1952 Lloyd Sampsell was one of […]

  There is a great link to an 1896 article from The San Francisco Call about the case at the end of the article. San Francisco, 1896 Joseph Blanther was born in Rankerburg Steirmart, Austria, in 1859. When nineteen years of age he was made a Lieutenant in the Austrian army, and a few months […]

  Roy G. Gardner (January 5, 1884 – January 10, 1940) was once America’s most celebrated outlaw and escaped convict during the Roaring Twenties. During his criminal career, he stole over $350,000 in cash and securities. He also had a $5,000 reward placed on his head three times in less than a year during his […]

Jan. 8, 1909, San Francisco, CA Anton J. F. Nolting was born in San Francisco on February 9, 1860. He was of a studious disposition and acquired a high education. As a young man he was in comfortable circumstances financially but meeting with reverses, he joined the San Francisco Police Force on December 2, 1895. […]

Theodore Durrant was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1871, and while a child came to San Francisco with his parents, who gave him a good education. In 1895 he was a medical student at Cooper Medical College. He pretended to be a devout Christian and was one of the most active members of Emanuel Baptist […]

. During the evening of July 7, a 1954 Nash Rambler station wagon driven by 28 year-old Lynn Baggett bore into the rear of a station wagon near Waring and Orlando Avenues in Los Angeles. The car she hit was filled with young boys returning from a day trip to a camp site. The force […]

. Story #1: Child Brutally Slain in LA, Suspect is Hunted LOS ANGELES, CA, Nov. 15, 1949: The gashed and mutilated body of six year-old Linda Glucoft was found today in a rubbish heap, wrapped in a brightly colored Indian blanket. Police Sgt. Bill Brennan said he definitely had established that the blanket came from […]

Although the beliefs and practices of what is now known as the Blackburn Cult are bizarre and border on humorous, they were probably responsible for the deaths of several people for which they were never prosecuted. This included non-prosecution for manslaughter after “baking” one of their disciples in order to cure her from a blood […]

Okay, this may not be a crime story per se, but there was no way I was NOT going to post this from our: “We couldn’t make this up department.” The only crime committed here is stupidity. [LOS ANGELES. May 1, 1941]- In blasé, nonchalant tones, Samuel Brummel, 56-year-old insurance salesman, testified Thursday that his […]