1. December 6, 1941(1941-12-06)December 5,
1991(1991-12-05)(aged 49)
2. He had a drinking problems along with drugs. On July 13th
1966, he has tortured,Raped, and killed 8 out of 9 studentNurses
with no remorse, or motive.All of his victims were student nurses.
He later attempted suicide, butFailed. He was also sent toLife in
prison. In 1991, he died in prison of a heart attack.
3. Monmouth, 19411950 Richard Benjamin Speck was born in the
village of Kirkwood. Speck was very close to his father, who died
in 1947 from a heart attack at the age of 53. A few years later,
Specks religious, mother met and fell in love with a traveling
insurance salesman from Texas, Carl August Rudolph Lindberg. Specks
mother married Lindberg on May 10, 1950 in Palo Pinto, Texas.
4. Dallas, 19511966 Speck has worked as a laborer for the 7-Up
bottling company in Dallas for almost three years, and got fired on
July 19, 1963. Speck changed his name Richard Franklin Lindberg
when he got married and began using the name Richard Franklin
Speck. After his release from prison, Speck worked for three months
as a driver for the Patterson Meat Company and had six accidents
with his truck before he was fired for failing to show up for work.
On January 1966, Specks wife filed for divorce.
5. Crimes in Dallas 1951 - 1966 After his wife filed a divorce,
Speck stabbed a man in a knife fight at Ginnys Lounge and was
charged with aggravated assault. On March 5, 1966, the following
evening, he burglarized a grocery store, stole 70 cartons of
cigarettes, sold them out of the trunk of his car in the grocery
stores parking lot, and then abandoned the car. The police traced
the car, issued a warrant for his arrest for burglary on March 8.
His 42nd arrest in Dallas, would mean another prison term, so on
March 9, 1966, Specks sister Carolyn drove him to the Dallas Bus
Depot, where he caught a bus to Chicago, Illinois.
6. Chicago, AprilJune 1966 On April 19, 1966, Speck returned to
stay at his sister Marthas second-floor apartment at 3966 N.
Avondale Ave. Speck found work immediately after obtaining the
letter of authority, joining the 33- member crew of Inland Steels
Clarence B. Randall, on April 30. On June 30, his brother-in-law
Gene drove Speck to the National Maritime Union [NMU]hiring hall at
2335 E. 100th St. to file his paperwork for a seamans card.
7. Chicago, July 1966 Speck had outstayed his welcome with his
sister Martha and her family. On Tuesday, July 12, Speck returned
to the NMU to received an assignment on Sinclair Oils tanker SS
Sinclair Great Lakes, but when he arrived there he found his spot
had already been taken. Speck then encountered Ella Mae Hooper,
took her to his room at the Shipyard Inn, raped her, and stole her
black .22 caliber Rhm revolver. He then dresses up in all black
equipped with a switchblade and hunting knife.
8. Due to his psychological problems,and his recent events, he
thendecided to torture, rape and kill8 random student nurses at
11:00 PM onJuly 13, 1966. Speck then broke into a townhouse located
at 2319 East 100th Street in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood of
Chicago. Speck held the women in the house for hours, methodically
leading them out of the room one by one, stabbing or strangling
them to death.
9. Armed with only a knife he then killed most of the young
women, including Gloria Davy, Patricia Matusek, Nina Jo Schmale,
Pamela Wilkening, Suzanne Farris, Mary Ann Jordan, Merlita
Gargullo, and Valentina Pasion. Speck, who later claimed he was
high on both alcohol and drugs, may have originally planned to
commit a routine burglary.
10. "Theyre all dead! All my friends are dead! - Cora (Corazon)
Amurao Only one woman, Cora Amurao, escaped because she managed to
hide under a bed while Speck was out of the room with one of his
victims. Speck may have lost count, or he may have known there were
eight women living in the townhouse but had been unaware a ninth
student nurse was spending the night there. Amurao stayed hidden
until almost 6 a.m.
11. Felony Court Judge Herbert J. Paschen appointed an
impartial panel to report on Specks competence to stand trial and
his sanity at the time of the crime. The panels confidential report
deemed Speck competent to stand trial and concluded he had not been
insane at the time of the murders.
12. Speck later claimed he had no memory of the murders, but he
had confessed the at the Cook County Hospital. Smith did not
testify, because the confession was made when Speck was sedated.
Illinois Supreme Court Justice John J. Stamos, Cook Countys state
attorney when Speck was tried, stated, "...we didnt need it. We had
an eyewitness."
13. On June 28, 1971, the U.S. Supreme In court, Speck was
identified by Court citing their June 3, 1968 the sole surviving
student nurse, decision in held Specks conviction but Cora Amurao.
On April 15, after reversed his death sentence, because 49 minutes
of deliberation, the more than 250 potential jurors were jury found
Speck guilty and excluded from his jury because of recommended the
death their conscientious against capital penalty. punishment.
"This is the man." - Cora Amurao Judge Richard Fitzgerald
resentenced Speck to 400 to 1,200 years in prison.
14. o Speck was given the nickname "birdman" because he kept a
pair of sparrows that had flown into his cell.o Speck customarily
refused all media requests, but granted one prison interview to Bob
Greene in 1978; Speck told Greene he read Greenes column in the
Chicago Tribune.
15. Speck died of a heart attack at 6:05 a.m. on December 5,
1991, one day before his 50th birthday, at Silver Cross Hospital in
Joliet under the name of Elbeezer Masa. He had been taken to the
Silver Cross after complaining of chest pains and nausea at the
Statesville Correctional Center. Speck was then cremated later, and
had his ahses scattered to an unknown location.
16. There were 12 hiddenNyan cats in thisPresentation. Did you
findThem all?
