Earle Nelson was born on the 12th May 1897 in Philadelphia. His mother Frances died 9 months later from Syphilis she contracted from Earle’s father. Earle’s father went on to die 6 months later, Earle was sent to live with his grandmother.

A religious woman, she impressed her beliefs on Earle from a very young age. He showed signs of mental illness and sexual abuse and in turn was expelled from school for violent behaviour.

At the age of 11 Earle suffered a terrible head injury after he was hit by a street car whilst riding his bike. Knocked unconscious he spent the next 2 weeks in hospital in a delirious state. The doctors discharged him with no problems noted.

The 14 year olds life was about to change with the death of his grandmother. His Aunt Lillian and her husband took him in and embraced him into their family. Having now dropped out of school Earle took on menial jobs.

In 1915 Earle broke in to what he thought was an empty cabin. The owner surprised him on the way out and after fleeing into the woods, Earle was found and arrested. He was to spend the next 2 years in San Quentin prison.

Released from prison in 1917, America was now involved in the 1st world war. Nelson enlisted in the army but got fed up and went AWOL after only 6 weeks duty. Returning several times he exhibited mental illness and violent behaviour, finally he was admitted in 1918 to the Napa State Mental Hospital.

Nelson escaped twice from the hospital and the third time no one even bothered to find him. He returned home to Aunt Lillian, found a job as a janitor, and here he met Mary Martin aged 58, the motherly type they soon married, but Earle’s behaviour soon turned into violence and jealousy. Fearing her husband Mary left him.

On May 19th 1921 Mary Summers aged 12 was playing at her family home in San Francisco when Earle Nelson posing as a plumber entered the house. He found the young girl in the basement and tried to strangle her. Alerted to his sisters screams her brother met Nelson on the stairs and fought with him. Earle got away but was arrested later in the day.

The judge heard from Psychiatrists that Nelson was violent, dangerous and depressed. He was sentenced to return to the Napa State Mental Hospital. He was to stay here for the next 4 years until his discharge which stated him as being “improved”

On the 20th February 1926 Clara Newman aged 60 a landlady, was displaying a “Rooms to let” sign. This attracted the attention of Earle Nelson and he approached the boarding house. Mrs Newman invited Nelson into the house. Later that day a resident Merton Newton met Nelson leaving the house. The frying pan was still on the stove but Mrs Newman was nowhere to be found. Later her body was to be discovered in the attic, she had been strangled with bare hands and sexually assaulted.

Two weeks later in San Jose another landlady Laura Beal also aged 60 was found by her husband in one of the empty rooms, she too had been strangled and then raped after death. The media soon realised that the two murders were connected.

Earle Nelson was finding victims in the ad pages of the newspapers. A month later he found Lillian St Mary aged 63 a widow who had started renting out rooms in her home to support her income. She showed Earle to his room and it was here that he attacked her. One of the other boarders spotted her through an open doorway, she had been strangled and raped.

Police began to warn boarding house owners of a Dark Stranger who seemed to slip in and out of the victim’s homes unnoticed. But Earle moved away to the Santa Barbara area and managed to control himself for two months.

The killings soon resumed and Ollie Russell aged 53 was to be his fourth victim. A boarder at the house was woken in the night by banging from next door. He looked into the next room to see a large man on the bed with a female beneath him. When the man left he found Mr Russell and they went back to the room. Ollie was laying dead on top of the bed.

Over the next year Nelson was to kill a further 18 women throughout the United States. Mary Nesbitt 50, Beatrice Withers 35, Virginia Grant 59, Mabel Fluke, Blance Myers 48, Wilhelmina Edmunds 56, Florence monks, Elizabeth Beard 49, Bonnie Pace 23, Germania Harpin 28, Mary McConnell 60, Jenny Randolf 35, Minnie May 53, Mrs Antwerp, Mary Sietsema 27, Lola Cowan 14, Emily Patterson, baby Harper 8 months old.

His last two victims were in the town of Winnipeg. Earle’s face by now was known to the police and locals. Five miles from the US border Earle was recognised by a local store keeper who called the police. He was arrested by a local constable, and taken to the Killarney Jail.

On November 1st 1927 Nelson went to court in Winnipeg. He pleaded insanity but was found to be responsible for his actions. His Aunt Lillian testified for her nephew in an attempt to keep him alive. He was found guilty and on January 13th 1928 he was hung.