Cleveland Torso Murders
On July 8, 2024 of this year, it has been decided that the unidentified victims of the Cleveland Torso killer will be exhumed from their graves in an effort to identify them. Dr. Thomas Gilson, the Cuyahoga Chief Medical Examiner, is teaming up with the ”DNA Doe Project” to use DNA testing on the their remains.
The Torso Murders took place in Cleveland, Ohio, back in the 1930’s. The murders have remained unsolved, therefore the killer has never been brought to justice. Due to the mutilated bodies, many of the victims were never identified. The murderer decapitated and dismembered over a dozen people on the east and west side of the city. The city coroner, Dr. Gerber, discovered that some of the victims were even alive when beheaded. Only three of the murder victims could be positively identified. Back then, the main source of identification was through finger prints and dental records. Many of the bodies were discovered in and around the Kingsbury Run area. These bodies have been buried in unmarked graves in a the city’s potter’s field. Potter's field is located on the city’s west side in a wooded area near Highland Park Golf Course.
It might have been helpful, at that time, in catching the killer if the victims were identified and their whereabouts could be studied. The famous “Untouchable,” Elliot Ness, who helped put Al Capone away in Chicago, was Cleveland's Safety Director during the time of the murders. Ness was eventually put in charge of finding the murderer who those in the media labeled the “Mad Butcher.”
At the time these murders were taking place in the city, there was the “Great Lakes Exposition” going on in downtown Cleveland. It was theorized by some that maybe some of these unidentified victims may have come from out of state to attend the huge event. Some speculated that because these murders began not long after the murders stopped in London, maybe “Jack the Ripper” came to the United States to continue his rampage. Another theory was that the “Cleveland Butcher” was responsible for the “Black Dahlia” murder out in California.This hypothesis circulated after J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, received a letter claiming to be from the “Torso Murderer”, that he had moved on to California.
To learn more about the “Cleveland Torso Murders,”, tune into Channel 45 on COX Cable, Wednesdays at 8:PM, or Channel 1025 on Cleveland Spectrum, Mondays at 9:PM. For more information, you can contact Kevin@ShockerEnterprises.com or call: 216 534-7968.
Kevin Kelly
I am a Parma resident who has lived in the city for over 24 Years. I'm also a non-profit video producer who produces national, and international documentaries for public access, private and goverment networks .