Richard Speck


Mug shot of Speck, 1961

Born: Richard Benjamin Speck; December 6, 1941; Kirkwood, Illinois, U.S.
Died: December 5, 1991 (aged 49); Joliet, Illinois, U.S.

Motive : Sadism, Eyewitness elimination, Rape (Gloria Davy)
Conviction(s): Murder (8 counts)
Criminal penalty: Death; commuted to 100 to 300 years imprisonment
Details
Victims: 8
Date apprehended: July 17, 1966

Richard Benjamin Speck (December 6, 1941 – December 5, 1991) was an American mass murderer who killed eight student nurses in their South Deering, Chicago, residence via stabbing, strangling, slashing their throats, or a combination of the three on the night of July 13–14, 1966. One victim was also raped prior to her murder. A ninth potential victim, student nurse Corazon Amurao, survived by hiding beneath a bed.

Convicted of all eight murders on April 15, 1967, Speck was sentenced to death. His sentence was reduced to 400–1,200 years in 1972. This was later reduced to 100–300 years. Speck died of a heart attack while incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center on the eve of his 50th birthday.

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Early life and crimes

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Murder of eight student nurses


Five of the nurses murdered by Speck are seen here
with nurse Judith Dykton (upper left) in 1965.
Depicted clockwise bottom left to bottom right are
Jordan, Farris, Schmale, Pasion, and Wilkening

At 11 p.m. on July 13, 1966, Speck broke into the 2319 E. 100th St townhouse in Chicago's Jeffery Manor neighborhood; the townhouse was functioning as a dormitory for student nurses. He entered and, using only a knife, killed Gloria Davy, Patricia Matusek, Nina Jo Schmale, Pamela Wilkening, Suzanne Farris, Mary Ann Jordan, Merlita Gargullo, and Valentina Pasion. Speck, who later claimed he was both drunk and high on drugs, may have originally planned to commit a routine burglary. Speck held the women in a room for hours, leading them out one by one, stabbing or strangling each to death, then finally raping and strangling his last victim, 22-year-old Gloria Davy. Intervals of between twenty and thirty minutes elapsed between each murder.

One woman, Corazon Amurao, escaped death because she crawled and hid under a bed while Speck was out of the room. Speck possibly lost count or might have known eight women lived in the townhouse but was unaware that a ninth woman was spending the night. Amurao stayed hidden until almost 6 a.m. Amurao and two of the murder victims, Gargullo and Pasion, were exchange nurses from the Philippines.

Fingerprints found at the scene were matched to Speck.

Two days after the murders, a drifter named Claude Lunsford identified Speck. Speck, Lunsford, and another man had been drinking the evening of July 15 on the fire escape of the Starr Hotel at 617 W. Madison. On July 16, Lunsford recognized a sketch of the murderer in the evening paper and phoned the police at 9:30 p.m. after finding Speck in his (Lunsford's) room at the Starr Hotel. The police, however, did not respond to the call although their records showed the call had been made. Speck then attempted suicide, and the Starr Hotel desk clerk phoned in the emergency around midnight. Speck was taken to Cook County Hospital at 12:30 a.m. on July 17. At the hospital, Speck was recognized by Dr. LeRoy Smith, a 25-year-old surgical resident physician, who had read about the "Born To Raise Hell" tattoo in a newspaper story. The police were called, and Speck was finally arrested.

Concerns over the recent Miranda decision that had vacated the convictions of a number of criminals meant Speck was not even questioned for three weeks after his arrest.

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