Earle Leonard Nelson American serial killer. Date of Birth: 12.05.1897 Country: USA

Biography of Earl Leonard Nelson

Earl Leonard Nelson, also known as "The Gorilla" and "The Dark Strangler," was an American serial killer. He was born on May 12, 1897. Nelson had a difficult childhood, as his parents died of syphilis when he was less than two years old. After their death, he was sent to live with his devoutly religious grandmother.

At the age of 10, Nelson was involved in a tram accident while riding his bicycle, which left him unconscious for six days. Although he recovered, his behavior became unpredictable, and he suffered from frequent headaches and memory loss. When he turned 14, his grandmother passed away, and he moved in with his aunt Lillian and her husband.

Nelson's criminal activities began at a young age, and in 1915, he was sentenced to two years in San Quentin State Prison. After joining the United States Navy, Nelson's erratic behavior led to his admission to Napa State Mental Hospital. He escaped from the psychiatric hospital three times.

Nelson's sexual crimes started when he turned 21. In 1921, he attempted to assault a 12-year-old girl named Mary Summers, but she screamed and attracted attention. Nelson was once again placed in a psychiatric institution, from which he escaped or attempted to escape multiple times until his release in 1925.

In early 1926, Nelson became increasingly violent. He murdered his first victim, Clara Newman, on February 20, and two weeks later claimed to have killed Laura Beal. Nelson primarily targeted landladies whom he would meet while looking for rental accommodations. He gained their trust by carrying a worn Bible with him but would then kill them, often using strangulation. Nelson also engaged in sexually deviant acts with the corpses.

He hid the body of 14-year-old Lola Cowan under a bed in a rented room after luring her with a promise to buy her a bouquet of flowers. Nelson frequently concealed the bodies under beds. By using aliases and quickly moving from one crime scene to another, he evaded capture for 18 months. He claimed to have killed multiple victims on the West Coast, including San Francisco, San Jose, and Portland, Oregon, as well as in the Midwest, until he finally made his way to Canada.

The efforts of the police to catch the real culprit were hindered by several mistaken arrests. Four days after Laura Beal's murder, on March 2, 1926, Joe Kesesek, an Austrian national, was arrested because of his "suspicious behavior" and clothing similar to that worn by the killer. Stephen Nisbet was arrested two days after his wife Mary was killed. Two days after the murder of Isabel Gallegos on August 19, 1926, Russian immigrant John Slivkoff was arrested but later released. Nelson was arrested twice in Canada, where his reign of terror eventually came to an end. The first arrest occurred on June 15, 1927, in Wakopa, Manitoba, shortly after the murders of Lola Cowan and Emily Patterson. Nelson, using the alias Virgil Wilson, was imprisoned locally but managed to escape. However, he made a fatal mistake by attempting to board the same train carrying police officers from Winnipeg and was rearrested the next morning by an officer from Crystal City, Manitoba.

Nelson's trial began on November 1, 1927. His defense attorney, James Herbert Stitt, attempted to argue his client's insanity, seeking to have him declared mentally unfit and not responsible for his crimes. However, the jury found Nelson guilty of Emily Patterson's murder, making her his fifth victim during a ten-day killing spree. Earl Nelson was hanged at Vaughan Street Jail in Winnipeg at 7:30 am on January 13, 1928.