On September 5, 1946, William George Heirens was sentenced to 3 consecutive life sentences for the murders of 43 year old Josephine Ross, 32 year old Frances Brown, and 6 year old Suzanne Degnan. He will forever be known as the Lipstick Killer. But did he really do it?
On a hot summer day, June 5, 1945 in Chicago Illinois, the body of 43 year old Josephine Ross was found in her apartment at 4108 North Kenmore Avenue. Her body lay in bed, ass though it were posed. Investigators found that she had been repeatedly stabbed, including a stab in the throat, but her body had been washed, and all her wounds covered with tape. Her head was then wrapped with a skirt.
Although her body had been washed, investigators still found dark hairs, clutched in her hand, presumably from her killer. Police assumed she surprised an intruder and was killed as a result, but nothing had been taken from her apartment. Because of the hairs, they killer was presumed to be a dark complected man.
About six months later, on December 10, the body of 32 year old Frances Brown was found slumped over her bathtub in her home at 3941 N. Pine Grove, apartment 611. Her apartment door was open, and a cleaning woman noted a radio playing rather loudly.
Frances had been shot in the head, and a butchers knife had been driven sideways through her neck. The knife went so far, it entered one side and protruded from the other. Her body had been stripped naked, and just like Josephine Ross, she had been washed clean of blood. Her head was wrapped in towels.
Again, just as was the case with Josephine Ross, police assumed she had surprised an intruder, but nothing had been taken from her apartment. Instead, this time a note was left behind, written on the living room wall in lipstick.
For heavens
Sake catch me
Before I kill more
I cannot control myself
This note earned the killer the name “Lipstick Killer.”
Fortunately, the killer left behind a bloody fingerprint smudge on the door jamb to the apartment as well as a witness to his escape. George Weinberg reported hearing gunshots at about 4 am, and John Derick, the apartment building’s night clerk, reported seeing a nervous man, age 35-40 and approximately 140 pounds, get off the elevator, and fumble for the door to the street before leaving on foot.
Yet four days after the murder, Chicago Police announced they had reason to believe the killer was actually a woman.
Almost a month later, 6 year old Suzanne Degnan was reported missing from her family’s home at 5943 North Kenmore Avenue, Edgewater, Chicago. Her first floor bedroom window was open, and a ladder was placed underneath it, outside the apartment. Police also located a ransom note on the property. The note read:
GeI $20,000 Reddy & wAITe foR WoRd. do NoT NoTify FBI oR Police. Bills IN 5’s & 10’s [sic]
On the reverse of the note was written:
BuRN This FoR heR SAfTY [sic]
Following her disappearance, the Degnan residence received many calls from a man demanding the ransom, but he always hung up before any details could be worked out or arranged. Shortly thereafter the mayor of Chicago, Edward Kelly, also received a note:
This is to tell you how sorry I am not to not get ole [sic] Degnan instead of his girl. Roosevelt and the OPA made their own laws. Why shouldn’t I and a lot more?
This note changed the course of the investigation, as there was a nationwide meatpackers strike in progress. One executive of the OPA (Office of Price Administration) had just been assigned armed guards after receiving threats against his children. Mr. Degnan had recently moved his family to Chicago, and was a senior OPA executive. These people meant business, even decapitating and killing a man involved in black market meat.
Police were now looking for a meat packer.
Neighbors of the Degnan family were all questioned, but most had nothing useful to report. That is until police received an anonymous phone call, suggesting the police look in the sewers near the Degnan home. When police did, they discovered the severed head of Suzanne Degnan in a storm drain sewer that was in an alley only a block away from their home. Further search led police to the girls right leg in a catch basin, her torso in another storm drain, and her left leg in a drain in another alley. Each piece found was further and further from the family home.
It took investigators an additional month to find her arms, which were in a sewer drain on the other side of the Howard elevated train line – more than three blocks from the Degnan residence. All the drains had been capped with circular cast iron manhole covers, weighing at least 110 pounds, yet no one heard them being lifted or even slid back into place.
The search of an apartment building near the location where Suzanne’s head was found uncovered a basement laundry room, with four tubs containing evidence that she had been dismembered there. The floor had been mopped, but blood was found in the drains of all four tubs. The press began referring to this room as the “Murder Room,” even though the autopsy showed that Suzanne had clearly been alive when taken from her home, murdered at a secondary location, and then taken to the laundry room.
The coroner placed her time of death between 12:30 and 1:00 am, and said that a very sharp instrument or knife had been used to dismember her body. Dr. Kearns, the coroners expert, said “either a man who worked in a profession that required the study of anatomy or one with a background in dissection…not even the average doctor could be as skillful, it had to be a meat cutter.”
The coroner agreed, stating that it was a “very clean job with absolutely no signs of hacking.”
More witnesses came forward, and police gave over 170 polygraph tests.
The tenant who lived in the apartment above the Degnan family, Ethel Hargrove, reported hearing loud male voices downstairs and dogs barking when she arrived home at 12:50am. Another tenant was able to corroborate her story.
Freida Meyer lived above the laundry room, reported seeing a man enter it at 3:40 am, stay for about 10-15 minutes, then leave through the alley. She said he returned to the laundry room again, 15 minutes later and stayed for several minutes before heading back out to the alley. When he returned a third time, only 15 minutes later, he only stayed a moment. Marion Klein and Jake DeRosa reported looking out their apartment window at 3 am and seeing a man wearing a gray hat and tan coat. They said he appeared to be trying to get into the laundry room, but ran away after being disturbed.
Another neighbor, George Subgrunski went to police shortly after the murder and reported seeing a man walking to the Degnan home around 1 am. He said the man was carrying a bag, and described him as being about 5 ft 9 in tall, approximately 170 lbs, and 35 years old. He was wearing a light colored fedora and a dark coat. Could that have been the same man Marion Klein and Jake DeRosa saw later that morning?
Then there was Robert Reisner, a cab driver, who saw a woman behind the Degnan home at 1:30 am. She had a bundle under each arm, and got into a car driven by a gray haired man. Missy Crawford, who lived across the street, said she saw a car with a man and a woman driving up and down the street at 2:30 am. Was that the same man and woman that Robert Reisner saw?
The police now have a profile for the killer. The killer is likely male, roughly 30-40 years of age, weighing anywhere between 140 and 170 pounds. He was under 6 ft tall, and strong – strong enough to lift heavy manhole covers weighing in excess of 110 pounds. He would have a background in anatomy or dissection, as the dismemberment of Suzanne was done with skill and precision – no hacking. He was most likely a disgruntled meat packer, with reason to be upset with the OPA. He may even have a female accomplice.
Police arrested 65 year old Hector Verburgh, a janitor in the building where the Degnan family lived. Police told the press, “This is the Man,” although he did not fit the profile – he had no surgical knowledge nor skill as a butcher. Police used evidence of him frequenting the so-called “murder room,” and said the state of the ransom note had to have been written by a dirty hand, such as that of a janitor.
With no direct evidence, police pressured Verburgh’s wife to implicate her husband in the murder, but she refused. Police held him for 48 hours of questioning during which time he was beaten severely. Verburgh later said, “Oh, they hanged me up, they blindfolded me… I can’t put up my arms, they are sore. They had handcuffs on me for hours and hours. They threw me in the cell and blindfolded me. They handcuffed my hands behind my back and pulled me up on bars until my toes touched the floor. I no eat, I go to the hospital. Oh, I am so sick. Any more and I would have confessed to anything.”
Throughout the entire ordeal, Verburgh denied any involvement in the murder. He ended up spending 10 days in the hospital, and it was later determined that, as a Belgian immigrant, Verburgh couldn’t write English well enough to have written the ransom note.
Verburgh sued the Chicago Police Department for $15,000, and was awarded $20,000.
Following up on another potential lead, Police looked at Sidney Sherman, a recently discharged Marine who had served in World War II. Police reported finding blonde hairs in the back of the Degnan apartment building, near a wire that they suspected could have been used as a garrote to strangle young Suzanne. Near all of that was a handkerchief with a laundry mark name, S. Sherman.
Police searched military records and found that a Sidney Sherman lived at the Hyde Park YMCA. When they went to question him, they found that he had vacated his residence without checking out and had even quit his job without collecting his final paycheck. They thought for sure they had him.
Sidney was found four days later, in Toledo, Ohio. He explained that he had eloped with his girlfriend and denied that the handkerchief was his. He was administered a polygraph test, and passed. Police had to clear him of the crime, and eventually tracked down the real owner of the handkerchief. It belonged to Airman Seymour Sherman, of New York City. He, however, had an airtight alibi. He was out of the country when Suzanne was murdered, and had no idea how his handkerchief had ended up in Chicago.
Police followed up on the ransom calls that had been made to the Degnan residence. Police picked up a local boy named Theodore Campbell. During questioning, he admitted that another local teenager, Vincent Costello, had killed Suzanne, and told him to make the ransom calls. The Chicago Tribune declared the case solved.
Vincent Costello lived a few blocks away from the Degnan residence and had attended a nearby high school before he was convicted of armed robbery at age 16, when he had been sent to reform school. Costello was arrested and interrogated overnight. Costello and Campbell were both administered polygraph tests, which showed that neither boy had any knowledge of the murder. Further questioning proved that the boys heard police discussing details of the case and they came up with the idea of calling the Degnans about the ransom.
Suzanne Degnan’s arms were found by sewer workers in February, after her body had already been buried. By April, 370 suspects had been questioned and cleared.
The press was growing increasingly impatient, criticizing the police’s ability to catch Suzanne’s killer.
Late June, 1946 Police questioned Richard Russell Thomas, a nurse living in Phoenix Arizona. He had been in Chicago during the time of Suzanne’s murder, and a handwriting expert for the Phoenix Police Department informed Chicago authorities of “great similarities” between Thomas’ handwriting and that on the Degnan ransom note. Many phrases Thomas had used in an extortion note were similar, to the ransom note, and his medical training as a nurse matched the profile suggested by police.
Thomas had lived on the south side, but frequented a car yard across the street from where Suzanne’s arms had been found. He openly admitted to killing Suzanne during police questioning. However, police changed their focus when they caught wind of a college student caught fleeing the scene of a burglary.
Thomas recanted his confession, and police let him go, following this new lead.
The afternoon of June 26, 1946, 17 year old William Heirens set out for the post office to cash his $1,000 savings bonds, purchased with money from previous burglaries. He had a date with his girlfriend later, and needed cash.
Heirens put a revolver in his pocket, nervous because he would be carrying such a large amount of cash. When he arrived at the post office, it was closed, but he still needed money. He resorted to burglary. He went to a building he had stolen from before, just a few blocks from the Degnan house. He spotted an open apartment and lifted a dollar bill when he was spotted by a tenant.
He fled, out and then up the backstairs of a nearby building where he tried to lay low, but a resident spotted him and called the police. He tried to escape down a staircase, and was cornered by two police men. He pulled out his gun.
According to Heirens, he turned and attempted to run, which resulted in a scuffle and an off-duty police officer dropping three clay flower pots on Heirens’ head from the top of the stairs, rendering him unconscious.
According to police, Heirens charged him with his gun, firing twice, the gun misfiring both times, prior to the off-duty officer dropping three clay flower pots on his head.
William Heirens was taken to the police hospital at Cook County Jail, where he was stitched and bandaged, and strapped to a bed. He drifted in and out of consciousness, but heard someone say he was a suspect in the Degnan case and felt his fingerprints being taken.
Police raided his parents house, his room at the University, and a locker at an El station where his haul from all his previous burglaries was discovered.
Heirens was interrogated around the clock for six days, being beaten by police and being refused food or water. He was not allowed to see his parents for four of those days and was refused his lawyer for six.
Heirens was subjected to interrogation for three hours under the influence of sodium pentothal, popularly known as “truth serum.” This drug was administered without his parents consent, and without a warrant by two psychiatrists, Haines and Roy Grinker. During this interrogation, Heirens spoke of an alternate personality named George who had actually committed the murders.
After the truth serum wore off, Heirens spoke with Captain Michael Ahern, with the State’s attorney, William Tuohy and a stenographer in the room. He told them that his alter ego, “George” might have been responsible for the crimes. that “George” (which happens to be his father’s first name, and his middle name) had given him the loot to hide in his dorm room. Police pressed for “George’s” last name. He told them he couldn’t remember, but that it was “a murmuring name.” Police translated this to “Murman” and the media took it and twisted it to be “Murder Man.”
Police questioned Heirens’ friends and family about this “George” but came away disappointed. None of them had ever heard of his alter ego. What Heirens actually said during this interrogation time is in dispute, and cannot be confirmed as the original transcript has disappeared.
The problem with this interrogation is that most scientists believe subjects under the influence of sodium pentothal are highly influential, causing statements that are not entirely truth to come out. By the 1950’s, most scientists had declared truth serums to be invalid, and most courts would rule any testimony gained through their use inadmissible. In the case of William Heirens, the scientific opinion of truth serum had not yet filtered down to the court and police departments.
In 1952, in a post-conviction petition, the State’s attorney, William Tuohy admitted under oath that he not only knew about the sodium pentothal procedure, he had authorized it – even paying Grinker $1,000. That same year, Grinker admitted that Heirens never implicated himself in any of the killings.
On his fifth day in custody, William Heirens was given a lumbar puncture without anesthesia, and then driven to police headquarters for a polygraph test. They tried to administer the test right away, but ultimately had to reschedule it for several days later, as he was in too much pain to cooperate. Reasons for the lumbar puncture are still unknown. Typically a lumbar puncture, or spinal tap, is conducted to diagnose diseases, and typically performed under local anesthesia.
When the polygraph test was finally administered, results were declared inconclusive. Oddly enough though, John E. Reid and Fred E. Inbau published the findings of the polygraph test in their 1953 textbook, Lie Detection and Criminal Interrogation which states, “Murderer William Heirens was questioned about the killing and dismemberment of six-year old Suzanne Degnan … On the basis of the conventional testing theory his response on the card test clearly establishes (him) as an innocent person.”
On July 2, 1946, Heirens was transferred to the Cook County Jail, where he was placed in the infirmary to recover.
Handwriting analysis could not link Heirens’ handwriting to the “Lipstick Message” or the ransom note. However, police claimed that his fingerprints matched the bloody smudge on the doorjamb of Frances Brown’s apartment. In addition, a fingerprint of his left little finger matched the ransom note – both with only 9 points of comparison. According to the FBI handbook, regarding fingerprint identification, there must be 12 points of comparison to indicate a positive identification. In the case of Heirens’ points of comparison – they were all loops, which could be easily matched to 65% of the population.
Heirens’ defense attorney felt he was guilty, and made it his goal to keep Heirens from dying in the electric chair. State’s attorney, Tuohy didn’t feel he could get a conviction, so he sought out cooperation from defense counsel. Tuohy offered Heirens a plea bargain. The bargain stated that in exchange for confessing to the murders of Josephine Ross, Frances Brown, and Suzanne Degnan, Heirens would serve a single life sentence.
With the help of his attorney’s, Heirens began to write his confession. He utilized the Chicago Tribune as a guide stating, “As it turned out, the Tribune article was very helpful, as it provided me with a lot of details I didn’t know. My attorneys rarely changed anything outright, but I could tell by their faces if I had made a mistake. Or they would say, ‘Now, Bill, is that really the way it happened?’ Then I would change my story because, obviously, it went against what was known (in the Tribune).”
Heirens and his parents signed the confession and a date was set for Heirens to make his official confession. On July 30, Heirens and his attorneys went to Tuohy’s office where several reporters were assembled to ask questions. Heirens tried, but he appeared bewildered and gave reporters noncommittal answers.
“It was Tuohy himself,” Heirens said. “After assembling all the officials, including attorneys and policemen, he began a preamble about how long everyone had waited to get a confession from me, but, at last, the truth was going to be told. He kept emphasizing the word ‘truth’ and I asked him if he really wanted the truth. He assured me that he did…Now Tuohy made a big deal about hearing the truth. Now, when I was being forced to lie to save myself. It made me angry…so I told them the truth, and everyone got very upset.”
Tuohy withdrew the previously agreed sentence of one life term and made a few minor changes. It stated it would then be three life terms to run consecutively. He then threatened Heirens with the death penalty if the case went to trial.
Heirens agreed with the new plea agreement. A public forum was once again held in Tuohy’s office and this time Heirens spoke and answered questions. He even went so far as to reenact parts of the murders that he had confessed to. Heirens later stated, “I confessed to save my life.”
On September 4, with Chief Justice Harold G. Ward presiding, Heirens admitted his guilt on the burglary and murder charges. That night, he tried to hang himself in his cell, but was discovered before he could die. “Everyone believed I was guilty…If I weren’t alive, I felt I could avoid being adjudged guilty by the law and thereby gain some victory. But I wasn’t successful even at that. …Before I walked into the courtroom my counsel told me to just enter a plea of guilty and keep my mouth shut afterward. I didn’t even have a trial…”
On September 5, Ward formally sentenced Heirens to three life terms. As he waited to be transferred to Stateville Prison, Sheriff Michael Mulcahy asked Heirens if Suzanne Degnan suffered when she was killed. Heirens answered, “I can’t tell you if she suffered, Sheriff Mulcahy. I didn’t kill her. Tell Mr. Degnan to please look after his other daughter, because whoever killed Suzanne is still out there.”
On March 5, 2012, William Heirens died at the age of 83 at the UIC Medical Center from complications arising from diabetes. He had been refused parole, and all appeals were refused. At the time of his death, Heirens was Chicago’s longest serving prisoner, having served 65 years.
Was William Heirens the Lipstick Killer? Here’s another question for you. Who killed the Black Dahlia?
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