Jerome “Jerry” Brudos Hayat Hachem & Molly Costantino Jerry’s Childhood ● Jerry was a white male, born on January 31, 1939 in Webster, South Dakota. Religion unknown. ● He was the youngest of two boys and lived with his mother and father on a farm. ● He lived in South Dakota, Oregon, and California when growing up. ● His mother was verbally abusive toward Jerry since she really wanted a daughter. ● At age 5, he found a pair of high-heeled shoes in a junk yard and took them home. ● His mother found him wearing the heels and promptly destroyed them. Crimes Prior to Becoming a Serial Killer ● He constantly stole women’s underwear in his neighborhood. ● At the age of 17, Brudos threatened a teenage girl to take her clothes off, taking pictures of her naked body. It was believed that Brudos beat her for not listening to his commands. ● For these crimes, he had to spend time in Oregon State Hospital’s psychiatric ward, still being allowed to attend school. ● At age 28, he stalked a woman in Portland, Oregon. He broke into her house, strangled her until she was unconscious, raped her and then left with several pairs of her shoes. Adult Life Prior to Killing ● At age 18, Jerry began college but eventually dropped out at the age of 20. ● He then joined the U.S. Army. His strange fantasies continued and he was discharged at the age of 21 for his “bizarre obsessions”, which were high heeled shoes and undergarments. ● He married Darcie Metzler at age 22 and had two children with her. ● Jerry could not hold a job for very long, and was fired from many before he eventually became an electronics technician. Linda Slawson ● Linda Slawson was a door to door salesperson, selling encyclopedias. ● On January 26th, 1968, she tried to sell an encyclopedia to Brudos at is home. ● Brudos pretended to be interested in the product, but had different intentions. ● He hit her in the head and strangled her to death. ● He kept the body to dress it up in undergarments. ● Brudos removed one of her feet and put high heeled shoes from his collection to the detached foot, sort of like a trophy. ● He then got rid of the body, which was never found. Jan Whitney ● In November, Whitney was driving home when her car broke down. ● Brudos noticed this and asked if she needed help, but instead strangled her in his car. ● Had sexual relations with Whitney’s dead body. ● He took her into his workshop & dressed her up for photographs. ● He removed one of her breasts before getting rid of her body. It is unknown where he put the body. Karen Sprinker ● On March of 1969, Jerry kidnaped 19-year-old Karen Sprinker, an Oregon State University student. ● He took Karen from a parking garage in Salem, Oregon, and took her to his home to sexually assault and murder her. ● He took both of her breasts before weighing her body down with a car part in the Long Tom River. The part had been tied with a nylon rope and he used an unusual knot, the same kind of knot that he used in a later murder. Linda Salee ● 22 year old Linda Salee was kidnapped from a shopping center and Brudos brought her back to his house. ● He disposed her into the river & the body was found a few weeks later in the same river as Sprinker. ● It has been analyzed that her body was weighed down by a car part. ● Police realized an unusual knot used with nylon rope tied with Salee’s body and the car part, the same as Karen Sprinker. His Capture ● Jerry began calling women attending Oregon State, hoping to set up a date. ● One of the students actually did go on a date with him, but later reported to police his description. ● He called the student back later, and she agreed to have him meet her in her dorm, but when he got there, he met police,being interviewed and becoming a possible suspect. ● A young woman that Brudos tried to abduct but failed, was able to identify him. ● Because of the failed abduction, police obtained a warrant to search his home and they believed they had enough evidence to arrest Jerry. Evidence ● Police found nylon rope in his home. This nylon rope was a match to the rope used to tie the women that were killed and dumped into the river. ● The photographs that Brudos took of the victims were also found in his home, pinpointing him to the murders. ● The fibers from the rope was a lead to forensic evidence, because it could be analyzed closely with a microscope. ● The body parts of his victims were also found and matched to the missing women, using DNA from the parts themselves and the bodies of the women. In Custody ● Once in police custody, Jerry tried to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, however the psychiatrists who examined him deemed otherwise. ● Jerry then proceeded to plead guilty to the murders of Jan Whitney, Karen Sprinkler, and Linda Salee and was charged with three life sentences. There is no death penalty in Oregon. ● He was not charged with the murder of Linda Slawson, as her body was never found. ● Brudos later admitted to killing the 4 women. Modus Operandi ● Jerry Brudos always preyed upon young caucasian females that seemed very attractive to him. ● Brudos made sure that the women were isolated with no one around. ● He subdued each woman differently, by either forcing gunpoint into his car, or tricking them into situations. ● The murder would be in his garage or workshop in his Oregon home. Modus Operandi cont. ● He would always strangle, rape, and dumped bodies into water with the same type of nylon rope tied with an unusual knot to a car part. ● The raping occurred after killing the body. ● The bodies were dumped into a nearby river or lake. ● After each killing, he would always cut a part of the women’s bodies as trophies. ● A foot that was cut off was used as a model for his heels. ● Breasts were used as paper weights. Status Today ● Jerry was denied parole several times, staying in the Oregon State Penitentiary Infirmary until his death. ● He died on March 28, 2006, of natural causes. ● Jerry was the longest staying resident of Oregon Department of Corrections. Other Facts ● Jerry Brudos’ killing spree has given him the nicknames of “The Lust Killer” and “The Shoe Fetish Slayer”. ● 12 other women were reported missing during the time of his murders, but there was not enough evidence to charge him for their disappearances. Sources http://www.biography.com/people/jerome-brudos-403432#violent- fetishes http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Brudos,% 20Jerome.htm http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/jerry_brudos.htm.