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Charles Ray HatcherAmerican serial killer
Date of Birth: 16.07.1929
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Biography of Charles Ray Hatcher
- Tragic Childhood
- Criminal Activities
- Continued Criminal Behavior
- Serial Killings
- Psychiatric Evaluation and Escapes
- Release and Continued Crimes
- Confessions and Death
Biography of Charles Ray Hatcher
Early LifeCharles Ray Hatcher was born on July 16, 1929, in the small town of Mound City, Missouri. He was the youngest of four children born to Jesse and Lula Hatcher. Hatcher's father was an alcoholic and former inmate, which led to domestic difficulties in the family. He also faced bullying from his classmates, which eventually led him to retaliate with violence.
Tragic Childhood
In the spring of 1935, Hatcher and his older brothers made a kite using a copper wire they found in an old Ford car. Unfortunately, the kite struck high-voltage power lines, killing Hatcher's older brother, Arthur Allen. Soon after Allen's death, Hatcher's father left the family, leading to his parents' divorce. Hatcher's mother remarried multiple times, and in 1945, Hatcher moved with her and her third husband to St. Joseph, Missouri.
Criminal Activities
In 1947, Hatcher was convicted of truck theft and received a two-year suspended sentence. In 1948, he was found guilty of another car theft, a Buick he stole in St. Joseph in 1947. On June 8, 1949, Hatcher was released from prison but was soon arrested again for forging a $10 check, which he used to purchase fuel at a gas station. He served a few months in prison for this crime. On March 18, 1951, Hatcher escaped from prison but was caught attempting a burglary. He received an additional two-year sentence.
Continued Criminal Behavior
After his release on July 14, 1954, Hatcher stole a 1951 Ford and was apprehended, resulting in a four-year prison sentence. When his escape attempt failed, he received an additional two-year sentence. Hatcher was finally released on March 18, 1959. On June 26 of the same year, he attempted to abduct a 16-year-old mail carrier, Steven Pellham, by threatening him with a butcher knife. Pellham reported the crime, and Hatcher was quickly apprehended while trying to escape in a stolen vehicle.
Serial Killings
Hatcher was sentenced to five years in a Missouri state penitentiary for attempted kidnapping and auto theft. On July 2, 1961, prisoner Jerry Tharrington was found raped and murdered in the prison kitchen. Hatcher, the only missing worker from the kitchen, was charged with the crime but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. During his time in solitary confinement, Hatcher requested psychiatric treatment, but the prison psychologist believed he was simply trying to escape solitary confinement. His request was denied, and he was released on August 24, 1963.
On August 27, 1969, Hatcher confessed to the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old William Freeman in Antioch, California. He claimed to have lured the boy to a creek and strangled him. On August 29, 1969, 6-year-old Gilbert Martinez was reported missing in San Francisco. A girl who had been playing with him said that Martinez had left with a man who offered him ice cream. Martinez was found beaten with signs of violence, and Hatcher, who identified himself as Albert Ralph Price, was quickly arrested. It was later revealed that Albert Price was, in fact, Charles Hatcher.
Psychiatric Evaluation and Escapes
During psychiatric evaluations, Hatcher claimed to hear voices and experience hallucinations. He also stated that he had attempted suicide multiple times. In 1970, one psychiatrist diagnosed him as a passive-aggressive personality with paraphilia and pedophilia tendencies. However, the hospital staff felt that Hatcher was exaggerating his symptoms, leading to two more evaluations in January 1971. The first psychiatrist found him mentally incompetent and recommended intensive treatment, while the second declared him unfit to stand trial, sending him back to the hospital.
On June 2, 1971, Hatcher escaped from the hospital but was quickly recaptured. In April 1972, it was determined that his treatment had been ineffective, and he posed a threat to other patients, leading to his transfer to a prison hospital in Vacaville. In May 1973, a psychologist labeled Hatcher as a manipulative psychopath. In June of the same year, Hatcher attempted suicide by cutting his wrists upon learning that he would be transferred to a maximum-security prison. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and remained in Vacaville.
Release and Continued Crimes
In June 1976, the California Board of Parole determined that Hatcher's condition had significantly improved, and he was released on May 20, 1977. On September 4, 1978, Hatcher, using the alias Richard Clark, was arrested in Omaha, Nebraska, for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy. He was placed in a psychiatric hospital and discharged in January 1979.
On May 3, 1979, Hatcher was apprehended when he attacked and attempted to stab 7-year-old Thomas Morton. In September 1980, Hatcher escaped from a psychiatric institution in Norfolk and was arrested on October 9, 1980, under the name Richard Clark, during an attempted attack and rape of a 17-year-old teenager. He spent only 21 days in the institution before being released.
Confessions and Death
While awaiting a new trial, Hatcher confessed to killing 15 children starting in 1969. He also confessed to the murder of Eric Christgen in October 1983 and requested the death penalty for the murder of Michelle Steele. However, on December 3, 1984, the jury rejected the death penalty in his case.
Four days later, on December 7, Hatcher hanged himself in his cell at the penitentiary in Jefferson City.
