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The Cleveland Torso Murderer was an unknown serial killer active in the Cleveland, Ohio area in the early 20th century. The official toll of the murderer, also known as the "Mad Butcher of Kingsbury (or Kinsbury) Run" was 12, killed between 1935 to 1938, but some believe that there may have been as many as forty victims in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh area between the 1920s and the 1950s.
The victims were usually drifters whose identities were never learned, although there are several exceptions to this (victims #2, #3 and #8 were identified as Edward Andrassy, Flo Polillo and Rose Wallace, respectively). Invariably, all the victims, male and female, appeared to be from the lower classes of society - easy prey in Depression-era Cleveland.
The Torso Murderer always beheaded and often dismembered his victims, sometimes also cutting the torso in half. Males were usually castrated, and some victims showed evidence of chemical treatment of their bodies.
On August 24, 1939, Frank Dolezal, a suspect in the Torso murders, died under suspicious circumstances in the Cuyahoga County Jail. He was discovered to have six broken ribs, injuries his friends say he did not have when arrested by the County Sheriff several months before. Most researchers believe that there exists no evidence that Dolezal was involved in the murders. He is often called the 13th victim of the Torso Murderer.
Eliot Ness was the Public Safety Director of Cleveland during the period of "official" murders. Failure to apprehend the murderer was perhaps the major failure of his tenure and is thought by many to be a contributor to his declining status in later years. Some have called Ness the 14th victim of the Torso Murderer.
The 1947 murder of the The Black Dahlia by an unknown perpetrator in Los Angeles bears distinct similarities to the Torso Murder's work. Most researchers familiar with both crimes do not feel that the same person was at work, but Elizabeth Short's murderer might have copied aspects of the Cleveland crimes.
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