Carroll Cole

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Carroll Edward Cole (born May 9, 1938 in Sioux City , Iowa , † December 6, 1985 in Nevada State Prison in Carson City , Nevada ) was an American serial killer who murdered a total of 16 people from 1948 to 1980. He was executed by lethal injection in Nevada in 1985 .

biography

Young years

Carroll Cole was born in Sioux City in 1938, the second son of LaVerne and Vesta Cole. His younger sister was born in 1939 and shortly thereafter the family moved to California , where LaVerne Cole found work in a shipyard. While his father was fighting in World War II , his mother had several affairs, sometimes taking her son away and then intimidating and beating him to keep him quiet. She was cruel to him, forcing him to dress like a girl and making fun of him. At school, he was bullied by his classmates because of his "maiden name". One day Cole resisted one of his tormentors, a boy named Duane. He drowned him in a lake, his death was viewed as an accident, until Cole confessed to this act in prison.

Cole came into conflict with the law several times as a teenager, he was arrested for drunkenness and minor theft. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Army , but was fired there after stealing guns. In 1960 he attacked two lovers in their car and shortly afterwards he called the police in Richmond - where he lived - and told them that he was tormented by violent fantasies in which he strangled women.

For the next three years, Cole was a patient in numerous psychiatric hospitals . In the last one, the Stockton State Hospital , a Doctor Weiss wrote: “He seems to be afraid of the female figure and cannot have intercourse with her first but must kill her before he can do it.” (German: “He seems afraid of To have women and he cannot sleep with them, first he has to kill them before he can. ”Weiss released him anyway in April 1963.

After his release, Cole moved to Dallas , Texas , where his brother Richard lived. There he met and married the alcoholic stripper Billie Whitworth. But even this relationship did not cure him of his hatred and fantasies of violence against women. The marriage broke up after two years after Cole burned down a motel after convincing himself that his wife was sleeping there with other men. He was convicted of arson and after his release he attempted to strangle an 11-year-old girl. He was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. After his release, Cole went to Nevada, where he tried again to strangle two women. He was again admitted to a mental hospital, where the doctors noticed his murder fantasies, but still saw no reason to detain him. He received a return ticket to San Diego .

Series of murders

In San Diego, Cole committed his first adult murder. He picked up Essie Buck in a pub on May 7, 1971 and strangled her in his car. He drove around in his trunk with her body until he disposed of it. Just two weeks later, he killed an unknown woman and buried her body in a wooded area. He later stated that they were both unfaithful to their husbands and that this reminded him of his mother.

In June 1973, Cole married barmaid Diana Pashal, who was also an alcoholic. They argued a lot, and Cole would usually leave her house for a few days to have some time to himself. Whenever he was gone, he would commit his murders, including a woman he is alleged to have partially eaten . In September 1979, Cole strangled his wife to death. A neighbor noticed and called the police eight days later. Although they found Pashal's body wrapped in a towel in a closet, they attributed their death to severe alcoholism. Cole was released without charge after interrogation.

Cole left San Diego and traveled around the western United States. He murdered a woman in Las Vegas and then returned to Dallas, where he strangled three other women in 1980. He was suspect in the second of these murders and was seen at the scene of the third. He was arrested and interrogated, but the police finally came to the conclusion that the women were different for natural reasons and they wanted to release Cole, who, however, started to talk. He said he had murdered 14 women in the past nine years, but there could be more, he couldn't remember exactly because he was usually drunk doing what he did.

Judgment and death

On April 9, Cole was sentenced to life imprisonment for three murders in Texas . In 1984 his mother passed away and Cole's attitude changed. He agreed to investigate and resolve additional murder charges in Nevada. In October 1984, Cole was sentenced to death . When opponents of the death penalty tried to commute his sentence, Cole protested. When the conviction was confirmed, Cole turned to the judge with the words "Thanks, Judge". Cole was executed on December 6, 1985 in Nevada State Prison.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Charlotte Greig: Evil Serial Killers: In the Minds of Monsters , Barnes & Noble, New York City 2005, ISBN 0760775664 , p. 189
  2. ↑ a b c d Charlotte Greig: Evil Serial Killers: In the Minds of Monsters , Barnes & Noble, New York City 2005, ISBN 0760775664 , p. 190
personal data
SURNAME Cole, Carroll
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cole, Carroll Edward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Sioux City , Iowa
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1985
Place of death Nevada State Prison , Carson City , Nevada