David Carpenter

David Carpenter (1976)

David Carpenter (born May 6, 1930 ) is an American serial killer . Carpenter is also known as the Trailside Killer because of the locations of his deeds .

biography

At school, David Carpenter was teased about his clothing and language disorder . His mother mistreated him several times. As a teenager, he was noticed by sexual assault.

He married in 1955 and had three children in the following years. In 1961 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for attacking a woman with a hammer and knife, but was released after seven years. He was diagnosed with a personality disorder and an IQ of 125 while in prison . His wife divorced him during this time.

In 1969, he remarried just four months after his release. He stabbed a woman in January 1970 and assaulted and raped another woman that same day. Just days later, he ambushed and raped another woman whose child was also present during the attack. He was imprisoned again, but in 1979 was given the chance to serve the remainder of his sentence in a rehabilitation center. During his six-month stay at the rehabilitation center, he murdered a woman in Mount Tamalpais Park. Between 1980 and 1981, Carpenter shot dead eight people in and around San Francisco .

In November 1980, four victims of the Trailside Killer were found in one day. The case attracted much public attention; the people of California were very concerned, as a return of the Zodiac killer was suspected and it was unclear what motive the perpetrator had. Some victims were raped before they were murdered, others “only” stabbed or shot.

David Carpenter was finally caught after shooting a work colleague and sentenced to death in 1984 . Carpenter is currently on death row .

literature

• Murakami, Peter / Murakami, Julia: Lexicon of serial killers . Munich: Ullstein, 9th edition 2003. ISBN 3-548-35935-3 .
• Douglas, John / Olshaker, Mark: The Murderer's Soul. 25 years in the FBI's special unit for serial criminals . Munich: Orbis 2002. ISBN 3-572-01316-X .