ACTUAL TOTAL OF MURDERS?
I just watched this the other night on TCM and was very impressed. I am not familiar with the actual case and realize some license was taken with the facts. Does anybody know how people John Christie actually murdered?
shareChristie's known victims are:
Ruth Fuerst - murdered 1943 (discovered 1953)
Muriel Eady - murdered 1944 (discovered 1953)
*Beryl Evans - murdered 1949
*Geraldine Evans - murdered 1949
Ethel Christie - murdered 1952 (discovered 1953)
Kathleen Maloney - murdered 1953
Rita Nelson - murdered 1953
Hectorina MacLennan - murdered 1953
*These are the murders Timothy Evans was executed for. In light of Evans' posthumous pardon in 1966, Christie is now presumed to have committed these crimes.
In the years before his first known murder, Christie was also known to have committed at least one other violent attack on a woman, for which he was jailed. He also spent time in jail intermittently for a series of petty thefts in the 1920s and 1930s.
"There he is. Half Iago, half Fu Manchu, all bastard."
It seems a bit of a puzzle to me why compulsive murderers like Christie don't kill more often.
Not that I'm making light of what they do, obviously, but why wait numerous years between murders, if that's what you need to do to soothe your urges? Or was Christie not someone who pursued victims, and only took advantage of the opportunity when they happened along?
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
I think Christie's wife might have been the issue here. If you look at the list, once Ethel was out of the way, Christie went on something of a spree.
Even compulsive murderers aren't going to risk detection for the sake of getting their jollies. It's safe to assume, as all of Christie's victims were murdered in his home, this was his preferred setting. It would have been difficult for him to do this with Ethel around - as I understand it, his earlier victims were killed while Ethel was out of town visiting relatives.
It seems that Christie only killed when he had a clear opportunity to do so.
Make tea, not war.
Yeah, most serial killers do tend to be very careful and disciplined and unlikely to make many stupid mistakes or attract unwanted attention. They´re just gonna jump their victims like madmen.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Christie's known victims are:
Ruth Fuerst - murdered 1943 (discovered 1953)
Muriel Eady - murdered 1944 (discovered 1953)
*Beryl Evans - murdered 1949
*Geraldine Evans - murdered 1949
Ethel Christie - murdered 1952 (discovered 1953)
Kathleen Maloney - murdered 1953
Rita Nelson - murdered 1953
Hectorina MacLennan - murdered 1953
Yes, these are the known murders, as you say. I read recently that when police searched his house they found pubic hair - which Christie was in the habit of removing from his victims - that did not belong to any of those we actually know about. This leads some to believe that there may have been others but so far, none has been identified. At this range of time, it's hard to imagine that we will ever know the whole truth. share