Cleveland, Ohio, one of the largest cities in the U.S., was plastered on the front page of a gazillion newspapers for the best and worst reasons during the 1930s. Despite the Great Depression, the city was teeming with excitement and bustling with activity after hosting both the Republican National Convention and the Great Lakes Exposition. In addition, the city was promoting Higbee’s Department Store, Standard Oil, and General Electric, which were booming industries back in the day. Amidst all the glory and success, the city was in a panic too. Why? A gruesome serial killer was on the loose.

Starting in 1934, dismembered bodies were found scattered throughout the city of Cleveland, especially in Kingsbury Run. At the time, Kingsbury Run was extremely dilapidated, impoverished, and overrun by shantytowns for the poverty-stricken. Unsurprisingly, the place was also notorious for drugs, alcohol, and sex work. Kingsbury Run was the perfect spot for a serial killer because crime plagued the sector of the city and the police department had become a “corrupt, lazy unit of political patronage.” The killer dismembered the bodies of vagrants and sex workers by decapitating heads and severing torsos. Due to the nature of the serial killer’s crimes, the criminal was referred to as the “Cleveland Torso Murderer” or the “Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.” By 1938, the serial killer had dismembered 13 people, including 6 women and 7 men. Here is a timeline of all the murders:

• September 5, 1934 – An unidentified woman was found on the shore of Lake Erie. The 30-year-old woman was extremely dismembered and the police only found part of her torso, thighs, and other remnants. Oddly, the body parts were “red and leathery” due to a chemical preservative that was lathered on the skin by the serial killer.
• September 23, 1935 – Edward Andrassy, a 28-year-old man, was found at the bottom of a hill. His body was naked and completely drained of blood. His head was missing and his genitalia was mutilated as well.
• September 23, 1935 – After the body of Edward Andrassy was uncovered, an unidentified 40-year-old man was also found. The body was decapitated, the genitalia was mutilated, and the skin was covered in the same chemical preservative found on the first victim.
• January 26, 1936 – The body parts of a woman, Florence Polillo, were found amidst piles of newspaper inside half bushel baskets, which were placed in front of the Hart Manufacturing Building.
• June 5, 1936 – The head of an unidentified man was found in a pair of trousers. The rest of the body was found in front of the Nickel Plate Railroad Police Building.
• July 22, 1936 – The body of an unidentified 40-year-old man was uncovered in the woods near Clinton Road.
• September 10, 1936 – An unidentified man was found near a set of train tracks in Kingsbury Run. The body was cleanly decapitated.
• February 23, 1937 – The body parts of a woman in her 20s were found on the shore east of Brahtenahl.
• June 5, 1937 – The skull and bones of a woman, Rose Wallace, were found underneath the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge.
• July 6, 1937 – An unidentified man in his mid-to-late 30s was found in the Cuyahoga River. The man’s heart was completely missing and all the abdominal organs had been removed from the body.
• April/May 1938 – The body parts of an unidentified woman were found in the Cuyahoga River.
• August 16, 1938 – Two unidentified bodies were found in front of the house owned by Eliot Ness.

Due to the grizzly murders, the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run was “one of the most gruesome serial killers of all time.” To put insult to injury, the serial killer sent a letter to the Cleveland police after all the murders, which told the police to “rest easy now” and revealed the serial killer’s new location: California. As of today, the Cleveland Torso Murders are unsolved, but suspects have been identified and clues have been uncovered. Most importantly, why were two bodies placed in front of the house that belonged to Eliot Ness? Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run!