Charles Ray Hatcher
Encyclopedia
Charles Ray Hatcher was an American
serial killer
who confessed to murdering 16 people between 1969 and 1982.
, a small town 34 miles north of St. Joseph
. He was the youngest of Jesse and Lula Hatcher's four children. His father was an ex-convict and an abusive
alcoholic
. Hatcher was bullied in school, and he would often inflict pain on his classmates.
In the spring of 1935, he and his older brothers were flying a kite with copper wire they had found in an old Model T Ford
. His oldest brother, Arthur Allen, was about to hand the kite to him when it hit a high-voltage power line and electrocuted him. Arthur was pronounced dead at the scene. Soon afterward, his father left home and divorce
d his mother. His mother remarried several times, and in 1945, Hatcher moved with his mother and her third husband to St. Joseph.
in St. Joseph after stealing a logging truck from Iowa-Missouri Walnut Company, his employer of two weeks. He received a two-year suspended sentence. In 1948, he was convicted of auto theft a second time for stealing a 1937 Buick
in St. Joseph. Hatcher was sentenced to two years in Missouri State Penitentiary. On June 8, 1949, Hatcher was released from prison after serving a little more than half of his time; however, he was back in prison in just a few months, after being convicted of forging
a $10 check at a gas station in Maryville
. On March 18, 1951, Hatcher escaped from prison and attempted a burglary
, but was caught and received an extra two years in prison.
After serving his additional time, Hatcher was released from prison on July 14, 1954. He stole a 1951 Ford
in Orrick
and was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison. Before he was sentenced, Hatcher attempted to escape from the Ray County Jail in Richmond
and received an additional two years. On March 18, 1959, Hatcher was released from prison after the sixth prison sentence of his career.
On June 26, 1959, Hatcher attempted to abduct a 16-year-old St. Joseph newspaper boy named Steven Pellham while threatening him with a butcher knife. Pellham reported the crime, and Hatcher was arrested when the police stopped him in a stolen vehicle.
Hatcher was sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary
for the attempted abduction and auto theft under the Habitual Criminal Act. While Hatcher was waiting to be transported to prison, he unsuccessfully attempted to break out of the Buchanan County
Jail. When Hatcher arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary, he claimed to be the most notorious criminal in northwest Missouri since Jesse James
.
On July 2, 1961, inmate Jerry Tharrington was found rape
d and stabbed to death on the prison’s kitchen loading dock. Hatcher was the only one missing from the kitchen crew at the time of the murder. He was sent to solitary confinement
for Tharrington’s murder, but there was not enough evidence
to convict him in court. While in solitary confinement for the murder, Hatcher wrote a note claiming that he needed psychiatric
treatment; however, the prison psychologist
felt that it was simply a scheme to get out of solitary and possibly out of prison early. Treatment was refused, and Hatcher was returned to the general population. His sentence was reduced to three quarters the original time, and he was released on August 24, 1963.
. He claimed he had told the boy to come with him, taken him to a creek, and strangled him.
On August 29, 1969, six-year-old Gilbert Martinez was reported missing in San Francisco. According to the six-year-old girl with whom he was playing, Martinez walked away with a man who offered him ice cream. He was found by a man walking his dog as the boy was being beaten and sexually assaulted
. Police arrived and arrested the assailant, who identified himself as Albert Ralph Price, although he carried identification with the name Hobert Prater. Martinez survived the assault, and Federal Bureau of Investigation
records later identified the man as Charles R. Hatcher.
Still going by the name Albert Price, Hatcher was charged with assault with attempt to commit sodomy
and kidnapping
. He was ordered to undergo competency evaluation
s to determine his competence to stand trial. A complete psychological evaluation
was ordered when Hatcher was unresponsive during the preliminary evaluations. During this time, he claimed to hear voices, and faked delusion
s and suicide
attempts.
In December 1970, Hatcher was sent back and forth between the courts and hospital multiple times. One psychiatrist diagnosed him as having a passive-aggressive personality with paraphilia
and pedophilia
. It was reported that the hospital staff felt Hatcher was fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of his mental disorders. He was examined by two psychiatrists in January 1971. He was declared insane
by the first one, who recommended vigorous treatment in a secure hospital. The second psychiatrist declared him to be incompetent to stand trial and sent him back to the hospital.
On May 24, 1971, Hatcher was sent to trial and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was sent to a different hospital for more evaluations, where it was determined that he was unfit to stand trial. On June 2, Hatcher escaped from the hospital. He was caught a week later in Colusa
and arrested for suspected auto theft under the name Richard Lee Grady. Hatcher was returned to the California State Hospital for a mental evaluation. In April 1972, hospital staff determined that his treatment was unsuccessful and that he was a danger to other patients, after which he was sent to the prison state hospital in Vacaville
.
In August 1972, Hatcher was transferred to San Quentin State Prison
to stand trial, three years after the crime. He was ordered to undergo two final examinations: one declared him competent to stand trial and the other determined him to be sane at the time of the crime.
In December 1972, Hatcher was tried for and convicted of the abduction and molestation
of Martinez. In January 1972, he was committed to the California State Hospital as a "mentally disordered sexual offender
".
On March 28, 1973, security guards found Hatcher hiding in a cooler near the hospital's main courtyard with two sheets stuffed into his pants, after which he admitted to an escape attempt. He was sent back to court for sentencing after doctors determined he was still a threat to society. In April, Hatcher was sentenced to one year to life
and sent to a medium security prison in Vacaville.
In May 1973, a psychologist found Hatcher to be a "manipulative institutionalized sociopath
". In June 1973, he attempted suicide by slashing his wrists after it was recommended that he be transferred to a maximum security prison. A psychiatrist diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, and he remained at Vacaville.
In August 1975, guards reported good behavior at Hatcher's parole
review. In June 1976, the California Parole Board found that Hatcher had improved dramatically through his time in prison and set a parole date of December 25, 1978. As a result of the passage of a bill giving inmates credit for time spent in jails and mental hospitals, Hatcher received a modified parole date in January 1977. He was released to a halfway house
in San Francisco on May 20, 1977.
for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy. He was sent to the Douglas County Mental Hospital and released in January 1979.
On May 3, 1979, Hatcher was arrested for assault and attempt to kill
after he tried to stab seven-year-old Thomas Morton. He was sent to Norfolk Regional Center, a mental health facility, after the charges were dropped.
In May 1980, Hatcher was released from the facility but was sent back two months later for another assault. He escaped in September.
On October 9, 1980, Hatcher was arrested as Richard Clark in Lincoln, Nebraska
for the attempted assault and sodomy of a 17-year-old boy. He was sent to another mental health facility and released after 21 days.
On January 13, 1981, Hatcher was arrested as Richard Clark in Des Moines, Iowa
after a knife fight. He spent time in several mental health facilities and was released to a Davenport
Salvation Army shelter in April.
. His body later turned up along the Missouri River
; he had been sexually abused and died of suffocation. The police questioned more than 100 possible suspects, including "every known pervert in town," to no avail. One of them was Melvin Reynolds, a 25-year-old man of limited intelligence who had been sexually abused himself as a child and who had some homosexual
episodes as an adolescent. Reynolds, although extremely agitated by the investigation, cooperated through several interrogations over a period of months, including two polygraph
examinations and one interrogation under hypnosis
. In December 1978, he was questioned under sodium amytal
("truth serum") and made an ambiguous remark that intensified police suspicion. Two months later, in February 1979, the police brought the still cooperative Reynolds in for another round of interrogation—14 hours of questions, promises, and threats. Finally, Reynolds gave in and said, "I'll say so if you want me to." In the weeks that followed, Reynolds embellished this confession with details that were fed to him, deliberately or otherwise. That was enough to convince the prosecutor to charge Reynolds, and to convince a jury to convict him of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Four years later, Reynolds was released when Charles Hatcher confessed to three murders, including that of Eric Christgen.
, in August of that year, one day before Hatcher was charged with child molestation in nearby San Francisco. In another case, Hatcher penned a crude map that led searchers to the remains of James Churchill, buried on the grounds of the Rock Island Army Arsenal
, near Davenport, Iowa
. It was then that he also confessed to the murder of Eric Christgen. He was convicted of the Christgen homicide in October 1983, and drew a term of life imprisonment with no parole for at least 50 years. Facing his second Missouri conviction a year later for the murder of Michelle Steele, Hatcher requested a death sentence but the jury refused, recommending life on December 3, 1984. Four days later, Hatcher hanged
himself in his cell, at the Missouri State Penitentiary
in Jefferson City
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who confessed to murdering 16 people between 1969 and 1982.
Childhood and youth
Charles Ray Hatcher was born in Mound City, MissouriMound City, Missouri
Mound City is a city in Holt County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,193 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Mound City is located at , at the southern end of the Loess Hills. It is named for the hills in the area...
, a small town 34 miles north of St. Joseph
Saint Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph is the second largest city in northwest Missouri, only second to Kansas City in size, serving as the county seat for Buchanan County. As of the 2010 census, Saint Joseph had a total population of 76,780, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The St...
. He was the youngest of Jesse and Lula Hatcher's four children. His father was an ex-convict and an abusive
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. Hatcher was bullied in school, and he would often inflict pain on his classmates.
In the spring of 1935, he and his older brothers were flying a kite with copper wire they had found in an old Model T Ford
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...
. His oldest brother, Arthur Allen, was about to hand the kite to him when it hit a high-voltage power line and electrocuted him. Arthur was pronounced dead at the scene. Soon afterward, his father left home and divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d his mother. His mother remarried several times, and in 1945, Hatcher moved with his mother and her third husband to St. Joseph.
1947–1963
In 1947, Hatcher was convicted of auto theftMotor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle...
in St. Joseph after stealing a logging truck from Iowa-Missouri Walnut Company, his employer of two weeks. He received a two-year suspended sentence. In 1948, he was convicted of auto theft a second time for stealing a 1937 Buick
Buick
Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
in St. Joseph. Hatcher was sentenced to two years in Missouri State Penitentiary. On June 8, 1949, Hatcher was released from prison after serving a little more than half of his time; however, he was back in prison in just a few months, after being convicted of forging
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
a $10 check at a gas station in Maryville
Maryville, Missouri
Maryville is a city in Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. The population was 10,581 at the 2000 census. The town, organized on February 14, 1845, was named for Mrs. Mary Graham, wife of Amos Graham, then the county clerk. Mary was the first Caucasian woman to have lived within the boundaries...
. On March 18, 1951, Hatcher escaped from prison and attempted a burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
, but was caught and received an extra two years in prison.
After serving his additional time, Hatcher was released from prison on July 14, 1954. He stole a 1951 Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
in Orrick
Orrick, Missouri
Orrick is a town in Ray County, Missouri, United States. The population was 799 at the 2010 census.Orrick now includes what was once the village of Albany Orrick is a town in Ray County, Missouri, United States. The population was 799 at the 2010 census.Orrick now includes what was once the village...
and was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison. Before he was sentenced, Hatcher attempted to escape from the Ray County Jail in Richmond
Richmond, Missouri
Richmond is a city in Ray County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,797 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ray County.-Geography:Richmond is located at...
and received an additional two years. On March 18, 1959, Hatcher was released from prison after the sixth prison sentence of his career.
On June 26, 1959, Hatcher attempted to abduct a 16-year-old St. Joseph newspaper boy named Steven Pellham while threatening him with a butcher knife. Pellham reported the crime, and Hatcher was arrested when the police stopped him in a stolen vehicle.
Hatcher was sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary
Missouri State Penitentiary
The Missouri State Penitentiary, also known as "The Walls", was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri that operated from 1836-2004. It was a prison of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Before its closure it was named the Jefferson City Correctional Center . Before its closure it was the oldest...
for the attempted abduction and auto theft under the Habitual Criminal Act. While Hatcher was waiting to be transported to prison, he unsuccessfully attempted to break out of the Buchanan County
Buchanan County, Missouri
Buchanan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of 2010, the population was 89,201. Its county seat is Saint Joseph. When originally formed in 1838, the county was named Roberts County, after settler Hiram Roberts; it was renamed in 1839 for James Buchanan, then a U.S....
Jail. When Hatcher arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary, he claimed to be the most notorious criminal in northwest Missouri since Jesse James
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
.
On July 2, 1961, inmate Jerry Tharrington was found rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d and stabbed to death on the prison’s kitchen loading dock. Hatcher was the only one missing from the kitchen crew at the time of the murder. He was sent to solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
for Tharrington’s murder, but there was not enough evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
to convict him in court. While in solitary confinement for the murder, Hatcher wrote a note claiming that he needed psychiatric
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
treatment; however, the prison psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
felt that it was simply a scheme to get out of solitary and possibly out of prison early. Treatment was refused, and Hatcher was returned to the general population. His sentence was reduced to three quarters the original time, and he was released on August 24, 1963.
1969–1977
On August 27, 1969, Hatcher confessed to abducting a 12-year-old boy named William Freeman in Antioch, CaliforniaAntioch, California
Antioch is a city in Contra Costa County, California. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, it is a suburb of San Francisco and Oakland. The city's population was 102,372 at the U.S...
. He claimed he had told the boy to come with him, taken him to a creek, and strangled him.
On August 29, 1969, six-year-old Gilbert Martinez was reported missing in San Francisco. According to the six-year-old girl with whom he was playing, Martinez walked away with a man who offered him ice cream. He was found by a man walking his dog as the boy was being beaten and sexually assaulted
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
. Police arrived and arrested the assailant, who identified himself as Albert Ralph Price, although he carried identification with the name Hobert Prater. Martinez survived the assault, and Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
records later identified the man as Charles R. Hatcher.
Still going by the name Albert Price, Hatcher was charged with assault with attempt to commit sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
and kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
. He was ordered to undergo competency evaluation
Competency evaluation (law)
In the United States criminal justice system, a competency evaluation is an assessment of the ability of a defendant to understand and rationally participate in a court process....
s to determine his competence to stand trial. A complete psychological evaluation
Psychological evaluation
A psychological evaluation or mental examination is an examination into a person's mental health by a mental health professional such as a psychologist. A psychological evaluation may result in a diagnosis of a mental illness...
was ordered when Hatcher was unresponsive during the preliminary evaluations. During this time, he claimed to hear voices, and faked delusion
Delusion
A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...
s and suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
attempts.
In December 1970, Hatcher was sent back and forth between the courts and hospital multiple times. One psychiatrist diagnosed him as having a passive-aggressive personality with paraphilia
Paraphilia
Paraphilia is a biomedical term used to describe sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are not part of normative stimulation and that may cause distress or serious problems for the paraphiliac or persons associated with him or her...
and pedophilia
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
. It was reported that the hospital staff felt Hatcher was fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of his mental disorders. He was examined by two psychiatrists in January 1971. He was declared insane
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
by the first one, who recommended vigorous treatment in a secure hospital. The second psychiatrist declared him to be incompetent to stand trial and sent him back to the hospital.
On May 24, 1971, Hatcher was sent to trial and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was sent to a different hospital for more evaluations, where it was determined that he was unfit to stand trial. On June 2, Hatcher escaped from the hospital. He was caught a week later in Colusa
Colusa, California
Colusa is the county seat of Colusa County, California. The population was 5,971 at the 2010 census, up from 5,402 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
and arrested for suspected auto theft under the name Richard Lee Grady. Hatcher was returned to the California State Hospital for a mental evaluation. In April 1972, hospital staff determined that his treatment was unsuccessful and that he was a danger to other patients, after which he was sent to the prison state hospital in Vacaville
Vacaville, California
Vacaville, California is a city located in the northeastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area in Solano County. The city is nearly half way between Sacramento and San Francisco on I-80. It sits approximately from Sacramento, and from San Francisco...
.
In August 1972, Hatcher was transferred to San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
to stand trial, three years after the crime. He was ordered to undergo two final examinations: one declared him competent to stand trial and the other determined him to be sane at the time of the crime.
In December 1972, Hatcher was tried for and convicted of the abduction and molestation
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
of Martinez. In January 1972, he was committed to the California State Hospital as a "mentally disordered sexual offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
".
On March 28, 1973, security guards found Hatcher hiding in a cooler near the hospital's main courtyard with two sheets stuffed into his pants, after which he admitted to an escape attempt. He was sent back to court for sentencing after doctors determined he was still a threat to society. In April, Hatcher was sentenced to one year to life
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
and sent to a medium security prison in Vacaville.
In May 1973, a psychologist found Hatcher to be a "manipulative institutionalized sociopath
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
". In June 1973, he attempted suicide by slashing his wrists after it was recommended that he be transferred to a maximum security prison. A psychiatrist diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, and he remained at Vacaville.
In August 1975, guards reported good behavior at Hatcher's parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
review. In June 1976, the California Parole Board found that Hatcher had improved dramatically through his time in prison and set a parole date of December 25, 1978. As a result of the passage of a bill giving inmates credit for time spent in jails and mental hospitals, Hatcher received a modified parole date in January 1977. He was released to a halfway house
Halfway house
The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a...
in San Francisco on May 20, 1977.
1978–1982
On September 4, 1978, Hatcher was arrested under the name Richard Clark in Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy. He was sent to the Douglas County Mental Hospital and released in January 1979.
On May 3, 1979, Hatcher was arrested for assault and attempt to kill
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
after he tried to stab seven-year-old Thomas Morton. He was sent to Norfolk Regional Center, a mental health facility, after the charges were dropped.
In May 1980, Hatcher was released from the facility but was sent back two months later for another assault. He escaped in September.
On October 9, 1980, Hatcher was arrested as Richard Clark in Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
for the attempted assault and sodomy of a 17-year-old boy. He was sent to another mental health facility and released after 21 days.
On January 13, 1981, Hatcher was arrested as Richard Clark in Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
after a knife fight. He spent time in several mental health facilities and was released to a Davenport
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
Salvation Army shelter in April.
Melvin Reynolds
On May 26, 1978, four-year-old Eric Christgen disappeared in downtown Saint Joseph, MissouriSaint Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph is the second largest city in northwest Missouri, only second to Kansas City in size, serving as the county seat for Buchanan County. As of the 2010 census, Saint Joseph had a total population of 76,780, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The St...
. His body later turned up along the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
; he had been sexually abused and died of suffocation. The police questioned more than 100 possible suspects, including "every known pervert in town," to no avail. One of them was Melvin Reynolds, a 25-year-old man of limited intelligence who had been sexually abused himself as a child and who had some homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
episodes as an adolescent. Reynolds, although extremely agitated by the investigation, cooperated through several interrogations over a period of months, including two polygraph
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
examinations and one interrogation under hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
. In December 1978, he was questioned under sodium amytal
Amobarbital
Amobarbital is a drug that is a barbiturate derivative. It has sedative-hypnotic and analgesic properties. It is a white crystalline powder with no odor and a slightly bitter taste. It was first synthesized in Germany in 1923...
("truth serum") and made an ambiguous remark that intensified police suspicion. Two months later, in February 1979, the police brought the still cooperative Reynolds in for another round of interrogation—14 hours of questions, promises, and threats. Finally, Reynolds gave in and said, "I'll say so if you want me to." In the weeks that followed, Reynolds embellished this confession with details that were fed to him, deliberately or otherwise. That was enough to convince the prosecutor to charge Reynolds, and to convince a jury to convict him of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Four years later, Reynolds was released when Charles Hatcher confessed to three murders, including that of Eric Christgen.
Death
On July 29, hikers found the nude, ravaged body of 11-year-old Michelle Steele, beaten and strangled to death on a bank of the Missouri River near St. Joseph. Hatcher was arrested next day, as he tried to check in at the St. Joseph State Hospital. While awaiting trial, he confessed to fifteen other child-murders dating from 1969. The first victim, 12-year-old William Freeman, had disappeared from Antioch, CaliforniaAntioch, California
Antioch is a city in Contra Costa County, California. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, it is a suburb of San Francisco and Oakland. The city's population was 102,372 at the U.S...
, in August of that year, one day before Hatcher was charged with child molestation in nearby San Francisco. In another case, Hatcher penned a crude map that led searchers to the remains of James Churchill, buried on the grounds of the Rock Island Army Arsenal
Rock Island Arsenal
The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. The island was originally established as a government site in 1816, with...
, near Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
. It was then that he also confessed to the murder of Eric Christgen. He was convicted of the Christgen homicide in October 1983, and drew a term of life imprisonment with no parole for at least 50 years. Facing his second Missouri conviction a year later for the murder of Michelle Steele, Hatcher requested a death sentence but the jury refused, recommending life on December 3, 1984. Four days later, Hatcher hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
himself in his cell, at the Missouri State Penitentiary
Missouri State Penitentiary
The Missouri State Penitentiary, also known as "The Walls", was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri that operated from 1836-2004. It was a prison of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Before its closure it was named the Jefferson City Correctional Center . Before its closure it was the oldest...
in Jefferson City
Jefferson City, Missouri
Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. Located in Callaway and Cole counties, it is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses the entirety of both counties. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,079...
.