Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Unsolved. This week, we will be looking into a case from my home state, Illinois, that is one of the most recent cases we will cover in this entire blog. The Chicago Stranger also has one of the highest numbers of victims of any of the killers I have discussed.

Since 2001, at least 55 female victims have been linked to what appears to be a single killer. All of them are from Southwestern Chicago, the area well-known for its high crime rates, and nearly all were strangled to death. Their ages span from just 18 years old all the way to 58 years old, and most were African American women in either sex work or who have had previous issues with the law. Their bodies were found spread out around the Chicago area, which is a partial explanation for why police did not connect them all until 2018. They were not even hidden in many cases, as most were found in alleys, parks, or dumpsters.

The women who were victimized all belonged to groups who were not a high priority for police, so little official evidence is known about their cases. They were not predicted to be connected until years after they were discovered, so police did not think much of their cases due to their high-risk lifestyles. They still have not been proven to be connected, but with that many unsolved strangulations, it is highly suspect to the point that it earned its own task force. This task force is overseen by the FBI and has investigated a number of suspects, but none have been connected successfully to the killings. There was DNA evidence collected at the scenes of several of the crimes, but it had no matches in the FBI database, so that means they have not not likely been convicted or suspected of a past crime. This information does little to help narrow down the suspect pool in such a heavily populated area, however. Despite a highly trained task force, the public has done arguably more work on this case than law enforcement. Both experts and everyday citizens have used their own knowledge and technology to connect the dots of the murders and even found a pattern in the disposal sites of the victims. They have noticed that in each of three main areas, there is a linear pattern, as if the killer is driving along the same road after every kill and hiding the bodies along this route at different points.

This case is particularly difficult because in serial killings, especially of this magnitude, it is more likely that the killer has never met the victim than that they have a clear connection to each other. A lack of physical evidence collected makes it near impossible to find a suspect, but with how many victims there have been and how many are likely to come until the criminal is caught, this may not be a problem if these cases are being investigated thoroughly. Unfortunately, the police are putting very little effort into their investigation, though, so these murders may go unresolved for years.

3 thoughts on “Illinois: The Chicago Strangler

  1. Could this ever be related to the Freeway Phantom killer. He did strangled all his victims

  2. hat it earned its own task force. This task force is overseen by the FBI and has investigated a number of suspects, but none have been connected

    agario unblocked

  3. I’ve been following this case as close as I can without all the larger details like crime scene photos etc. I’ve learned that many victims were actually set on fire after being dumped in dumpsters or trash cans. This was an interesting fact to me. The locations of where the victims were found is interesting as well. It’s obvious that the areas where all the victims were found is his “Hunting Grounds”. He is someone who is probably local and knows these areas very well. High may even trace these routes before committing a murder to essentially practice. BTK for example did this a lot before his first murder and each there afterwards.
    The locations of where the victims were found is interesting because as was said, they were placed in spots where they weren’t even hidden. I see a couple possible reasons for this. 1. These are areas the killer can return to in order to re-live the gratification and experience of that specific murder. 2. He wants to display his work. Many serial killers praise themselves like super divas or superheroes for their “work” and often toy with law enforcement as the most dangerous game. Later, they may follow the entire case through the media or even involve themselves directly into the investigation. For a psychopath, passing a polygraph is an easy task like buttering bread and if he passes, he will feel unstoppable.
    Many potential suspects have been suggested and I have reviewed them all. I believe there are only 2 actually. One killed a girlfriend with a sledgehammer. He also was connected to 2 other women who were killed by stabbings in the same areas as the Chicago Strangler. He is of a logical age to be the strangler as well. The only problem is that none of his victims were strangled. When a killer like the Chicago Strangler has strangled every victim for more than 2 decades, 51 women strangled, it is abundantly clear that his sexual compulsion is strangulation. Stabbing someone or killing them with a sledgehammer will not fill his sexual appetite the way strangulation would therefore I don’t believe that’s our guy for this. The other potential was a younger guy who was probably too young in 99 to kill anyone and was arrested in 2014 for some murders he committed when the Chicago Strangler was still dropping bodies all the way up to 2019. This potential suspect’s victims were in fact strangled but given the time frames, I think he’s not the guy either.
    In my opinion, I believe The Chicago Strangler would be an African American male, at this time frame he could be ages ranging anywhere from 40 to 60 years of age. This individual is most likely a talker. A personable person able to seem friendly and presentable. I don’t believe he is homeless but I do believe he is extremely familiar with the surrounding communities which could mean he is involved in his community in some way which would also aid him in scouting for new potential victims (hunting). I don’t think he would be married with children. I think he has employment and in regular life can blend in to appear like a normal everyday hard working American. He probably has money to spend to get prostitutes to accompany him.
    The victims found were placed in dumpsters, set on fire, bags placed over some of their heads, all of them strangled, most stripped of clothes and at least some of them raped if not all of them. The burned victims I would imagine it would be hard to determine rape post-mortem. One thing is for sure. This guy looked at these women as garbage. So he was obviously “cleaning up his garbage” by throwing them away in trash cans or dumpsters. The bags over the heads and lighting them on fire could have a couple interesting significant meanings. Most men, after they masturbate to content “they aren’t proud of”, they don’t want people to know what they fantasize about. So they have some level of shame after climax and immediately try to cover their tracks so their wives or girlfriends or even kids don’t discover what they have done. The chemical reaction of climax has been spent and no he has no interest in viewing his sexual content again. He feels shame and feels like he wants to stop his “guilty pleasure”. I believe this is the case with these victims that were burned or had bags over their heads. BTK for example also used clear plastic bags over the heads of many of his victims. Including some children. This guy never wants to be caught for this because then his “playtime” would come to an end and he would not be able to do this again, nor revisit his crime scenes. So he burns the bodies to try to destroy any fluids or DNA material but also burn his lusty pleasures out of shame for his need of sexual gratification. Psychopaths are interesting in the fact that they definitely do have emotions, but they don’t fully understand that other people have them, so they have no consideration for them, and they usually look at being arrested for murders like this as a massive badge of honor so to speak.
    This is one of the more fascinating cases to me. I have studied Serial Killers across the nation throughout history. Including Ed Kemper or Charles Manson. I enjoy studying Criminology and would hope that I could help in any way I can in cases like this so this was a good read. Thanks for posting it!

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