Serial killers and true crime

Anthony Sowell’s penalty phase is still on going. I am not going to do a play by play but I am hoping for capital punishment. He has claimed child abuse now even though he said before that he had not been abused. Full Coverage Here if you want more than just the verdict and my opinions.
The  Lonnie David Franklin Jr. aka Grim Sleeper trial has begun in California. He is accused of shooting to death or strangling seven of his victims between August 1985 and September 1988 and three others between March 2002 and January 2007.  Full Coverage here.
Levi Bellfield, who was jailed for life in June for the murder of Milly Dowler in 2002, suffered cuts after he was attacked outside a bathroom in prison, according to the Daily Mirror. He is planning on suing for the attack.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We have paid no compensation to this man. The vast majority of prisoners’ compensation claims are dismissed at an early stage. All claims are robustly defended, and would only be settled on the basis of strong legal advice, and in order to seek the best value for the taxpayer.”      Full Story Here.
Suspected serial killer and former over-the-road trucker,  Bruce D. Mendenhall  made a brief appearance Monday in Wilson County, Tenn,. Criminal Court for the appointment of a new attorney and the scheduling of his trial on charges that he murdered Symantha Winters then stuffed her into a garbage bag in 2007.

Mendenhall’s court appointed attorney withdrew his representation in June. At Monday’s hearing, which lasted barely five minutes, the judge appointed the Wilson County Public Defender to represent Mendenhall and scheduled the trial for April 10, 2012.

Mendenhall is already serving a life sentence in the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution near Nashville for the June 2007 shooting death of 25-year-old Sarah Nicole Hulbert of Nashville. After being tried next year in the Symantha Winters case, he is expected to stand trial in Indianapolis for the alleged murder of Carma Purpura, 31, there. After the Indianapolis trial, Mendenhall is expected to be tried in Alabama for the death of Lucille “Gretna” Carter, 44 of Birmingham, Ala.     Full Story Here
Lee Boyd Malvo (Remember the Beltway Snipers?)  filed a motion to change his name due to concern for “his safety, [to] reduce the risk of assault by other inmates due to the notoriety of his crimes.” Wise County Circuit Court Judge Tammy McElyea rejected the request, saying that whatever he called himself, people would still know he was the infamous Malvo, who claims more murders every time he speaks publicly.

Malvo is now 26. When he was 17, he went on a cross-country killing spree with John Allen Muhammad, murdering random people from Washington state to Washington D.C.. Ten people in this region were slain in a three-week period in October 2002, including victims in the Falls Church and Manassas areas. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the Falls Church murder. Muhammad was executed for the Manassas murder. Full Story Here

Also, Mr Abad, a handwriting expert says he has solved the Jack the Ripper Case once and for all.

Suspects have ranged from a member of Royal Family to a local butcher – but it is now claimed that Jack the Ripper was the very detective who led the hunt for the killer.

Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard was the man who murdered and mutilated at least five women in Victorian East London – at least according to Spanish writer Jose Luis Abad, 84.

He makes the claim in his book Jack the Ripper: The Most Intelligent Murderer in History, published in Spain this week.

Mr Abad is a handwriting expert and has compared Abberline’s writing with that in the Ripper’s diary – which surfaced in Liverpool in 1992.

Mr Abad, says: ‘I have no doubt Abberline was the Ripper. Handwriting does not lie.’

The diary was attributed to a Liverpool cotton dealer called James Maybrick – whom others have identified as the Ripper.

But many experts say the diary is a hoax. Mr Abad believes it is real, but that the author was Abberline, not Maybrick.
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I am going out on a limb here and saying that I believe Mr. Abad is mistaken. Just my opinion of course. In all honesty I almost laughed out loud.

I’d love to hear your opinions on it though. Maybe even stick your 2 cents into who you think Jack the Ripper was.