Edmund Kemper
Encyclopedia
Edmund Emil "Big Ed" Kemper III (born December 18, 1948), also known as "The Co-ed Killer", is an American serial killer
who was active in California in the early 1970s. He started his criminal life by shooting both his grandparents when he was 15 years old. Kemper later killed and dismembered six female hitchhikers in the Santa Cruz
area. He then murdered his mother and one of her friends before turning himself in to the authorities days later. Due to his imposing stature (he stood 6'9" and weighed over 300 pounds), his victims stood little chance of defending themselves.
Kemper was the middle child and only son born to Edmund Emil Kemper, Jr. (1919–1985) and Clarnell E. Strandberg (1921–1973). As a child he was extremely bright, but displayed sociopathic
behavior from a young age, including cruelty to animals
; he purportedly fatally stabbed a cat as a child. He acted out bizarre sexual rituals with his sisters' dolls, was a pyromania
c, and showed signs of necrophilia
.
Kemper had a close relationship with his father, and was devastated when his parents divorced in 1957, and had to be raised by his mother in Helena, Montana
. He had a horrible relationship with his mother Clarnell, a violent woman who would constantly belittle and humiliate him. Clarnell often made her son sleep in a locked basement, because she feared that he would rape his younger sister. It is alleged that she had borderline personality disorder
.
In the summer of 1963, Kemper ran away from home and hoped to seek his father in California. Once there, he learned that his father had remarried, and did not want anything to do with his son; the senior Kemper placed his son in the care of his paternal grandparents – Edmund and Maude Kemper. His grandparents lived on a 17 acres (68,796.6 m²) ranch in the mountains of North Fork, California
. Kemper found it unpleasant living in North Fork, especially because he disliked his grandmother.
On August 27, 1964, Kemper shot his grandmother while she sat at the kitchen table writing the finishing pages of her latest children's book. When his grandfather came home from grocery shopping, Kemper shot him as well. Then he called his mother, who urged him to call the police. When questioned, he said that he "just wanted to see what it felt like to kill Grandma," and that he killed his grandfather because he knew he would be angry at him for what he had done to his grandmother.
At age 15, Kemper was committed to the Atascadero State Hospital
, where he befriended his psychologist
and even became his assistant. As a result of testing conducted on him, he was revealed to possess an I.Q. of 136. Kemper was released from prison in 1969, after serving less than five years. Against the wishes of several doctors at the hospital, he was released into his mother's care. Kemper later demonstrated further to the psychologists that he was well — and to have his juvenile records expunged.
He worked a series of menial jobs before securing work with the State of California's Department of Public Works/Division of Highways in District 4 (now known as Department of Transportation
or Caltrans). By that time, his height had reached 6'9" (6 inch) and he weighed about 300 pounds (136.1 kg).
heads and bodies and then dissect them. He killed five college girls (four students from UC Santa Cruz
and one from Cabrillo College
). He would often go hunting for victims after arguing with his mother.
Kemper had managed to stay one step ahead of investigators by virtue of his being friends with many Santa Cruz County police officers. Edmund was a regular at a bar called The Jury Room, which was a popular hangout with local law enforcement officers. None of his friends had any suspicions and freely discussed the case with him. However, his mother's death changed all of that.
.
After a one hour journey he went to a secluded, wooded area near Alameda, where he stopped the car and choked and mortally stabbed his victims.
Kemper brought the corpses to his mother's house and then in his own room, there he took some pornographic photographs of the dead naked bodies. After this, he tore the corpses apart with a knife and put pieces of flesh in a bag, which he later abandoned near the mountains. Kemper had oral sex with Luchessa's severed head and then threw the pieces of her body in a gorge.
and dissect her body, as well as conduct several experiments on her corpse. He later dismembered her body and buried her severed head in his mother's garden as a joke, later remarking that his mother "always wanted people to look up to her." He buried the rest of her remains in the backyard of his mother's house.
their bodies. The next morning, he dismembered the bodies of Thorpe and Liu, and discarded the remains off a seaside cliff.
of 1973, Kemper battered his sleeping mother to death with a claw hammer
. He then decapitated her, then used her decapitated head for oral sex
, before finally using it as a dart board. He also cut out her vocal cords, then put them in the garbage disposal
. The garbage disposal could not break down the tough vocal cord tissue, then regurgitated it back up into the sink. "That seemed appropriate," he said after his arrest, "as much as she'd bitched and screamed and yelled at me over so many years." His murderous urges not yet satiated, he invited his mother's best friend, 59-year-old Sally Hallett over to the house. When she entered the house, he strangled her to death, then left the house.
Kemper was driving eastward trying to leave California, but when word of his crimes hit the radio airwaves he became discouraged. He stopped the car, then called the police and confessed to murdering his mother. At this time, he did not speak of his crimes as the "Co-ed killer", and waited inside his car until he was arrested.
with the possibility of parole.
At the time of Kemper's murder spree in Santa Cruz, another serial killer named Herbert Mullin
was also active, earning the small California town the title of "Murder Capital Of The World." Also adding to the college town's infamy was the fact that Kemper's and Mullin's crimes were preceded three years earlier by multiple murders committed by John Linley Frazier, who murdered Santa Cruz eye surgeon Victor Ohta and his family. Kemper and Mullin were briefly held in adjoining cells, with the former angrily accusing the latter of stealing his body-dumping sites.
Edmund Kemper remains among the general prison population at California Medical Facility
in Vacaville, California
. Kemper's next scheduled parole hearing will occur in 2012.
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 was active in California in the early 1970s. He started his criminal life by shooting both his grandparents when he was 15 years old. Kemper later killed and dismembered six female hitchhikers in the Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
area. He then murdered his mother and one of her friends before turning himself in to the authorities days later. Due to his imposing stature (he stood 6'9" and weighed over 300 pounds), his victims stood little chance of defending themselves.
Early life
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...
behavior from a young age, including cruelty to animals
Zoosadism
Zoosadism is a term coined by Ernest Borneman referring to pleasure derived from cruelty to animals. Zoosadism is part of the Macdonald triad, a set of three behaviors that are a precursor to sociopathic behavior.-Research:...
; he purportedly fatally stabbed a cat as a child. He acted out bizarre sexual rituals with his sisters' dolls, was a pyromania
Pyromania
Pyromania in more extreme circumstances can be an impulse control disorder to deliberately start fires to relieve tension or for gratification or relief. The term pyromania comes from the Greek word πῦρ . Pyromania and pyromaniacs are distinct from arson, the pursuit of personal, monetary or...
c, and showed signs of necrophilia
Necrophilia
Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses,It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from the ancient Greek words: νεκρός and φιλία...
.
Kemper had a close relationship with his father, and was devastated when his parents divorced in 1957, and had to be raised by his mother in Helena, Montana
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
. He had a horrible relationship with his mother Clarnell, a violent woman who would constantly belittle and humiliate him. Clarnell often made her son sleep in a locked basement, because she feared that he would rape his younger sister. It is alleged that she had borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder is a personality disorder described as a prolonged disturbance of personality function in a person , characterized by depth and variability of moods.The disorder typically involves unusual levels of instability in mood; black and white thinking, or splitting; the...
.
In the summer of 1963, Kemper ran away from home and hoped to seek his father in California. Once there, he learned that his father had remarried, and did not want anything to do with his son; the senior Kemper placed his son in the care of his paternal grandparents – Edmund and Maude Kemper. His grandparents lived on a 17 acres (68,796.6 m²) ranch in the mountains of North Fork, California
North Fork, California
North Fork is an unincorporated community in Madera County, California. It is located east of Raymond, at an elevation of 2638 feet .It is miles south east of Bass Lake and from Oakhurst. North Fork is also home of the Mono Indian Museum and the starting point of the Sierra scenic byway...
. Kemper found it unpleasant living in North Fork, especially because he disliked his grandmother.
On August 27, 1964, Kemper shot his grandmother while she sat at the kitchen table writing the finishing pages of her latest children's book. When his grandfather came home from grocery shopping, Kemper shot him as well. Then he called his mother, who urged him to call the police. When questioned, he said that he "just wanted to see what it felt like to kill Grandma," and that he killed his grandfather because he knew he would be angry at him for what he had done to his grandmother.
At age 15, Kemper was committed to the Atascadero State Hospital
Atascadero State Hospital
Atascadero State Hospital is located on the central coast of California, in San Luis Obispo County, half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is an all-male, maximum-security facility, that has patients from all over the state...
, where he befriended his 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...
and even became his assistant. As a result of testing conducted on him, he was revealed to possess an I.Q. of 136. Kemper was released from prison in 1969, after serving less than five years. Against the wishes of several doctors at the hospital, he was released into his mother's care. Kemper later demonstrated further to the psychologists that he was well — and to have his juvenile records expunged.
He worked a series of menial jobs before securing work with the State of California's Department of Public Works/Division of Highways in District 4 (now known as Department of Transportation
California Department of Transportation
The California Department of Transportation is a government department in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems throughout the state...
or Caltrans). By that time, his height had reached 6'9" (6 inch) and he weighed about 300 pounds (136.1 kg).
Murders
Between May 1972 and February 1973, Kemper embarked on a spree of murders, picking up eight female students hitchhiking, taking them to isolated rural areas and killing them. He would stab, shoot or smother the victims and afterwards take them back to his apartment where he would have sex with their decapitatedDecapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
heads and bodies and then dissect them. He killed five college girls (four students from UC Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
and one from Cabrillo College
Cabrillo College
Cabrillo College is a public community college offering associate degrees and certificates in more than 70 fields of study such as: engineering, computer science, allied health , public safety, marine biology and the visual and performing arts. The college itself is named after the explorer Juan...
). He would often go hunting for victims after arguing with his mother.
Kemper had managed to stay one step ahead of investigators by virtue of his being friends with many Santa Cruz County police officers. Edmund was a regular at a bar called The Jury Room, which was a popular hangout with local law enforcement officers. None of his friends had any suspicions and freely discussed the case with him. However, his mother's death changed all of that.
Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa
On May 7, 1972, Kemper was driving in his car near the UC Santa Cruz when he picked up two 18-year-old hitchhiking students, Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa, who wanted to go to Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
After a one hour journey he went to a secluded, wooded area near Alameda, where he stopped the car and choked and mortally stabbed his victims.
Kemper brought the corpses to his mother's house and then in his own room, there he took some pornographic photographs of the dead naked bodies. After this, he tore the corpses apart with a knife and put pieces of flesh in a bag, which he later abandoned near the mountains. Kemper had oral sex with Luchessa's severed head and then threw the pieces of her body in a gorge.
Aiko Koo
On the night of September 14, 1972, Kemper picked up 15-year-old Aiko Koo, who had decided to hitchhike home instead of waiting for a bus. While keeping her at gunpoint, he stopped his car at the side of a road and strangled her to death. He placed her body in the trunk of his car and drove back to his mother's house. In his room, he proceeded to rapeRape
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...
and dissect her body, as well as conduct several experiments on her corpse. He later dismembered her body and buried her severed head in his mother's garden as a joke, later remarking that his mother "always wanted people to look up to her." He buried the rest of her remains in the backyard of his mother's house.
Cindy Schall
On January 7, 1973, Kemper was driving around the Cabrillo College campus, where he picked up 19-year-old student Cindy Schall. He stopped his car in a secluded, wooded area, where he fatally shot her with a .22 caliber pistol, a S&W Model 41. He placed her body in the trunk of his car and drove back to his mother's house, where he dissected her in a bathtub. He kept the body in his room overnight until he removed the bullet from her head and decapitated her, burying the severed head in his mother's garden. He later proceeded to dismember the rest of her body and discarded the rest of her remains in a ravine.Rosalind Thorpe and Allison Liu
On February 5, after an argument with his mother, Kemper left the house in search of possible victims. He later encountered 24-year-old Rosalind Thorpe and 23-year-old Allison Liu, who were on the UC Santa Cruz campus. According to Kemper, Thorpe entered his car first, which apparently reassured Liu to enter after her. Right after leaving the university grounds, Kemper fatally shot Thorpe and Liu with a .22 caliber pistol. He then wrapped their bodies in blankets, and placed them both in the backseat of his car. He drove back to his mother's house where he beheaded them, while his mother was in the backyard. He then sexually abusedSexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
their bodies. The next morning, he dismembered the bodies of Thorpe and Liu, and discarded the remains off a seaside cliff.
Clarnell Strandberg Kemper and Sally Hallett
On Good FridayGood Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
of 1973, Kemper battered his sleeping mother to death with a claw hammer
Claw hammer
A claw hammer is a tool primarily used for pounding nails into, or extracting nails from, some other object. Generally, a claw hammer is associated with woodworking but is not limited to use with wood products...
. He then decapitated her, then used her decapitated head for oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
, before finally using it as a dart board. He also cut out her vocal cords, then put them in the garbage disposal
Garbage disposal
A garbage disposal unit or waste disposal unit is a device, usually electrically powered, installed under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain and the trap which shreds food waste into pieces small enough—generally less than —to pass through plumbing.Garbage disposal units are widely used in...
. The garbage disposal could not break down the tough vocal cord tissue, then regurgitated it back up into the sink. "That seemed appropriate," he said after his arrest, "as much as she'd bitched and screamed and yelled at me over so many years." His murderous urges not yet satiated, he invited his mother's best friend, 59-year-old Sally Hallett over to the house. When she entered the house, he strangled her to death, then left the house.
Kemper was driving eastward trying to leave California, but when word of his crimes hit the radio airwaves he became discouraged. He stopped the car, then called the police and confessed to murdering his mother. At this time, he did not speak of his crimes as the "Co-ed killer", and waited inside his car until he was arrested.
Imprisonment
At his trial he pleaded insanity. He was found guilty in November 1973 of eight counts of murder. He asked for the death penalty, but with capital punishment suspended at that time, he instead received life imprisonmentLife 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...
with the possibility of parole.
At the time of Kemper's murder spree in Santa Cruz, another serial killer named Herbert Mullin
Herbert Mullin
Herbert Williams Mullin is a serial killer who committed 13 murders in California in the early 1970s.- Childhood and youth :...
was also active, earning the small California town the title of "Murder Capital Of The World." Also adding to the college town's infamy was the fact that Kemper's and Mullin's crimes were preceded three years earlier by multiple murders committed by John Linley Frazier, who murdered Santa Cruz eye surgeon Victor Ohta and his family. Kemper and Mullin were briefly held in adjoining cells, with the former angrily accusing the latter of stealing his body-dumping sites.
Edmund Kemper remains among the general prison population at California Medical Facility
California Medical Facility
California Medical Facility is a male-only state prison located in the city of Vacaville, Solano County, California. It is older than California State Prison, Solano, the other state prison in Vacaville.-Facilities:...
in Vacaville, California
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...
. Kemper's next scheduled parole hearing will occur in 2012.