Case 305: Marshall Street
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Ritual products are science-backed, vegan, GMO-free, and sourced through their trademark traceable supply chain. Get 40% off at ritual.com slash podcast and shop responsibly. Some stories are so profound, so unimaginable, that they stay with us forever. The Unthinkable is the latest podcast from Casefile Presents, hosted by two of Australia's leading voices in true crime, Vicky Petratus and Emily Webb.

The series delves into tales of ordinary people who have faced extraordinary, often devastating events and emerged forever changed. From survivors of traumatic events to victims of relentless stalking, and even those who've confronted some of Australia's most notorious criminals, The Unthinkable explores the depths of human resilience.

The first two episodes feature the incredible story of Louisa Hope, a woman who survived Sydney's Lindt Cafe siege in 2014. Both episodes will be available for free on Sunday November 10 wherever you get your podcasts, with episodes dropping weekly after that. Be sure to follow The Unthinkable so you don't miss an episode. Stay tuned until the end of today's episode to hear the trailer.

For more information, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website.

It was cold and dreary as Josefina Rivera made her way down 6th Street in North Philadelphia on the night of Wednesday November 26, 1986. It had been a difficult year for the 25-year-old who had lost custody of her three young children due to her ongoing struggles with drug addiction. With the new year just around the corner, Josefina was determined to make some positive changes.

Her social worker had promised that if she could find a job and a stable home, she'd have a chance at getting her kids back. Needing money to secure an apartment, Josefina had turned to sex work. She was in the process of getting off drugs and making her new home just right so her social worker could see just how serious she was about regaining custody of her children. The following day was Thanksgiving.

Josefina intended to make a nice dinner, so she headed out with the hopes of doing a quick job or two so that she'd have some extra cash. She typically found it easy to find willing customers, but being a holiday, the streets were quiet. Josefina couldn't help but notice that one particular vehicle had driven by her a couple of times. It was a brand new Cadillac Coupe De Ville, the expensive car standing out in the rough and under-resourced neighbourhood.

Eventually, the Cadillac pulled over. The driver, a white middle-aged male, rolled down his window and asked Josefina if she was working. She responded that she was. The two negotiated a price and Josefina got into the passenger seat. The man introduced himself as Gary and said he just had to make a quick stop first. The two drove along the quiet street, giving Josefina the chance to clock a proper look at Gary.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about him. He was of slim build, about 6 foot tall, relatively clean cut, but with scruffy dark hair and a full beard. He wore jeans and a shabby cowhide jacket with fringing down the arms, both of which had visible stains on them.

In direct contrast to his somewhat unkempt appearance, Josefina noticed a genuine gold chain around his neck and an expensive Rolex watch on his wrist. Gary stopped in at a McDonald's restaurant and grabbed a cup of coffee. Back in the car, he told Josefina he wanted them to go to his house. This was something Josefina didn't typically do.

She serviced most of her clients in their own cars or the nearby motels, getting in and out as quickly as she could. But it was a slow night and Gary had offered a decent price. There was also nothing about him that raised any red flags. Just this once, Josefina decided to make an exception.

Gary drove a few blocks further north into the 25th District, a predominantly black and Hispanic neighbourhood notorious for drug-related gang violence. He eventually turned down North Marshall Street, a residential block characterised by deteriorating row houses, most of them two or three storeys high and sharing at least one wall with its neighbouring building. Gary pulled up at 3520 North Marshall Street.

It was just like all the others, save for a couple of distinct differences. Only one side of Gary's house shared a wall with his neighbour. On the other side was an empty block littered with rubbish. Unlike the surrounding homes, whose front doors opened directly onto the cracked sidewalks, Gary's house was set several feet back, separated from the street by a short chain-link fence.

Gary and Josefina got out of the Cadillac and made their way inside. As Gary unlocked the door, Josefina noticed that the key he used was unlike any she'd ever seen before. She asked about it, and Gary explained that he'd made it himself by sawing the regular key in half so the front part stayed permanently inside the lock. This way, no other key would work except his.

Although Josefina thought this was odd, she didn't give it much more thought. The inside of Gary's house was otherwise ordinary, albeit sparsely furnished and relatively untidy. The only unusual detail was that Gary had meticulously glued coins into the walls of his kitchen. In the living room, the window was protected by metal bars, which was typical of the area.

The room housed a grubby orange couch, a couple of arcade games, a television with a videocassette recorder, and a large stack of videocassette tapes. Josefina caught a quick glance of the handwritten titles and could see that many of them were pornographic films. She followed Gary upstairs, noticing that the walls in the hallway were plastered with $1 bills. Every now and then, there was a $20 bill among them.

They went into the bedroom and had consensual sex as agreed. Afterwards, as Josefina got up to get dressed, Gary made some strange small talk. On the drive over, Josefina had told Gary that she had three children who were home with a babysitter and she couldn't be out long. She'd made up the lie about the babysitter so that Gary wouldn't try to make her stay, but instead, it seemed to have sparked his interest.

Gary seemed particularly curious about Josefina's fertility, asking if she was still able to have children and probing about whether or not she'd had a hysterectomy. Then, out of nowhere, Gary came up behind Josefina and secured his hands firmly around her neck. Having been lucky enough not to have experienced violence on the job before, Josefina was completely caught off guard. It took her a moment to realise what was happening.

Images of her life flashed before her in a way that she described as being like a broken film projector, before the reality dawned on her that she was being choked. Gary loosened his grip just as Josefina began to fade into unconsciousness. Coming to, she started struggling against him, only to realise that he'd managed to slip a handcuff over her right wrist. Josefina begged Gary not to hurt her, promising to comply with whatever he wanted.

Gary remained completely calm and collected. He said he wouldn't hurt her as long as she stood still. He then proceeded to cuff Josefina's hands behind her back and led her back down the stairs. Once they got to the kitchen, Gary opened another door. He led Josefina down a narrow set of steps into a dank, damp basement. It was cold and the smell of mould filled the air.

There was only one small window, more like an air vent, which was covered by a metal flap that blocked any view of the outside world. A single overhead light bulb illuminated the bleak surroundings, which included a white freezer chest, a washing machine, and a bucket. Various bits of debris littered the concrete floor, while sandbags and insulation had been stacked against the walls as soundproofing.

Scanning the room, Josefina noticed something in the middle of the floor. A section of concrete had been demolished and a hole roughly the size of a small bathtub had been dug out underneath. Wondering what purpose this hole could possibly serve, Josefina was struck with the terrifying thought, was she looking at her own grave?

As Josefina stood there naked, Gary proceeded to secure a metal chain around her ankle using a homemade shackle device he'd fashioned from a muffler clamp, a small metal bar, and a super glue. Methodically, he used a hairdryer to dry the glue before attaching the other end of the chain to a sewer pipe that ran along the ceiling, affixing it with a padlock.

This enabled Josefina to move around, but only by shuffling her feet and as far as the 12 foot long chain would allow. Gary then shoved Josefina into the hole in the basement floor and covered it up with a piece of plywood. It wasn't until she was in there that she realised just how restrictive it was.

Josefina was only 5 foot 6 with a petite frame, but she had to fold her legs against her chest just to fit her whole body inside, and even then she stuck out too much for the plywood to sit completely flat. To hold it down, Gary secured it by placing a couple of bags of dirt on top. Josefina could barely breathe. Panic gripped her body as she tried to comprehend what was happening. How long did Gary intend to keep her in the hole?

Would he even let her out at all? Certain she'd run out of air, Josefina sobbed and begged for mercy as her arms started going numb. She screamed for what felt like hours, even though she knew there was no point. Gary had set his radio to a local rock station and was blasting it as loud as it would go. Josefina knew right away this wasn't to keep her entertained. It was to drown out the sound of her screams.

Hour after hour ticked by as Josefina endured the extreme pain and discomfort of being stuck in the hole while also battling hunger, exhaustion, and emotional distress. Her voice cracked and ached from her constant screaming. It was pitch black, but she was able to keep track of time thanks to the radio announcements. Twenty hours passed by before Josefina heard footsteps.

Suddenly, her vision was flooded with light as the plywood lid was ripped off the hole. Gary was back in the basement. In his hand was a large stick. He leant into the hole and began beating Josefina with it, grabbing her by the hair and administering blow after painful blow while repeatedly telling her to shut up. Josefina did as she was told, shocked by the brutality of Gary's actions.

Gary then shoved her back into the hole and replaced the plywood lid before disappearing back upstairs. He returned about 30 minutes later with a glass of water, ordering Josefina to get out of the hole and onto an air mattress which had been pushed into the corner of the room. He removed her handcuffs and gave her the water, which she drank thirstily, before Gary proceeded to rape her. Josefina was too exhausted and terrified to fight back.

Then, to her dismay, Gary laid down beside her and fell asleep. While he slept, she looked around for possible ways to escape, but she knew it was no use. Gary hadn't brought the keys to the padlock with him, so there was no way she was getting out of her chains. Then, Gary woke up with a start. He immediately hopped up, grabbed a shovel, and got to work widening the hole on the basement floor.

As he worked, he chatted candidly to Josefina, telling her that his one dream in life was to raise a big family. He explained that he'd fathered four different children to four different women, but each time, the authorities had taken the children away and he never got to see them again.

He spoke with the disdain about protective services and the government in general, explaining that he used to work as a medic for the army until they began dosing him with hallucinogenic drugs without his consent. Gary told Josefina, quote,

He said he was discharged from the military and had been in and out of mental health facilities ever since. Most recently, Gary had signed up for a matchmaking service which paired American men with women from the Philippines. He'd been matched with a woman named Betty who flew over to the United States to marry him. But Betty wasn't the subservient wife that Gary had dreamed of. She got pregnant and ran out on Gary before their baby was born.

She now refused to let Gary see his son while suing him for child support. This time, Gary had a plan to make sure that didn't happen again. He told Josefina he intended to hold up to 10 women in his basement and impregnate each one. He said he preferred black women, and ideally ones he didn't consider smart.

Once the babies were born, Gary said they would all raise them together under the one roof where no one could interfere. Like one big happy family. Josefina listened intently. It occurred to her that not only was Gary deeply unwell, he was also incredibly lonely. She figured her best chance of survival was to play along by lending a sympathetic ear and agreeing with what Gary had to say.

After he was done digging, he left Josefina alone in the basement, chained up but free of the handcuffs. She fell to her knees as the gravity of what he'd told her sank in. Josefina, who was half Puerto Rican and half Mexican, had grown up in a loving foster home after she and her siblings were abandoned by their parents. She adored her foster mother and had enjoyed a comfortable upbringing, going to a good school and on to college.

It was only when she'd discovered drugs that things in her life spiralled out of control. Before her chance encounter with Gary, she'd been determined to start the upcoming year with a clean slate. Now realising that Gary had no intention of releasing her any time soon, Josefina began to panic. Thinking of her foster mother and children, she prayed to God that she'd find the strength to get herself out of this situation.

Josefina knew that no one would realize she was missing or be out looking for her. At that moment, she made up her mind that she wasn't done living and she was going to get out of that basement, no matter what. When Josefina awoke the next day, she was alone in the basement, freezing and with no concept of time. She hadn't eaten in two days and her body and mind were weakening.

Then she felt vibrations overhead as the engine of Gary's car began revving in the garage and drove away. Realising this meant she was alone in the house, Josefina wasted no time. Frantically using all of her remaining strength, she began picking at the superglue on the screw of the right muffler clamp. After about 30 minutes, the screw came loose.

Josephina freed her right ankle from the shackles and ran as far as the chain would allow. It was just long enough for her to reach the one small window in the basement. It was only about one and a half feet wide, but Josephina was sure she'd be able to crawl through. She pushed the metal flap on the window and was relieved to feel it open easily, revealing the trash-covered backyard.

The welcome sight of daylight flooded into the basement as Josefina tried to hoist herself up, but try as she might, she couldn't fit her body more than a few inches into the window. Still chained to the pipe by one ankle, this left her with very little wiggle room. Josefina could hear voices nearby and started screaming for help at the top of her lungs.

The neighbourhood had a large Hispanic population so she screamed in a blend of English and Spanish, explaining that a man had her chained up and was raping her. She begged someone to call the police, saying this man was going to kill her. Josefina could hear every word of what the people nearby were saying, so she couldn't understand why they weren't responding to her desperate pleas for help.

She managed to grab hold of a stick and started whacking the neighbouring fence. She did this for almost 20 minutes until finally, somebody heard her. But it wasn't the saviour she was hoping for. It was Gary. Gary was back inside the basement. He grabbed the chain, dragging Josefina away from the window in a way that made her feel like a fish on a line.

She used all her strength to maintain her position halfway out of the window, still screaming at the top of her lungs. She managed to jam her free foot against the window frame, which effectively secured her in place. Gary let go of the chain and a minute later, he appeared in the backyard. He stood over Josefina and tried to push her back into the basement from the outside.

She continued fighting against him, all the while yelling at him to get off and begging for someone to call the police. After a few minutes, Gary gave up and went back into the basement. This time he yanked on Josefina's chain so violently that she was sure her leg would break. The pain was so intense that she relented, letting her body flop as Gary pulled her all the way back inside.

Seemingly exhilarated by this victory, he said he'd have to do a better job of securing her shackles this time. As he got to work re-gluing the clamps, he assured Josefina that nobody was going to come to her aid. The neighbourhood was filled with the drug dealers, whom he paid to leave him alone.

For her attempt to escape, Gary beat Josefina and handcuffed her arms behind her back, leaving her on the hard, cold basement floor. He then bolted the metal flap on the window to the wall and packed the outside with sandbags, sealing off her last possible connection with the outside world. The next day, Gary returned to the basement to give Josefina some bread and water and continue digging out the hole in the ground.

He raped her again before ordering her back inside the hole. This time, it was big enough to fit the air mattress inside and Josefina was able to sit up relatively comfortably compared to the squashed fetal position she'd been in previously. She heard Gary leave the house, but instead of being relieved that he was gone, she was filled with fear. Gary was the only one who knew she was down there.

It occurred to her that if anything happened to him while he was out, she'd be left there to rot. A few hours later, Gary returned, but this time, he wasn't alone. Josefina could hear two sets of footsteps along with a woman crying. Gary was trying to comfort the woman, saying, "Come on Sandy, you know I'm not going to hurt you, right? Why are you crying? You know me. Stop crying."

Suddenly, light flooded into the hole as Gary removed the plywood board and yanked Josefina up by the arm. A young black woman who looked to be about the same age as herself stood there, naked, with her hand cuffed behind her back and in an obvious state of distress. Gary introduced the two women as though there was nothing unusual about the circumstances in which they were meeting.

He then got to work supergluing another muffler clamp shackle to the ankles of his new victim, before padlocking her chains to the sewer pipe. Once he was finished, he ordered both women into the hole and sealed them inside. Alone with Gary's new captive, Josefina did her best to calm the woman down. She explained that her name was Sandra Lindsay and she was 25 years old.

She had known Gary, whose last name was Heidnik, for about four years. The two had met through the Elwyn Institute, a facility in West Philadelphia that provides support and services to individuals with a range of intellectual and physical disabilities. Sandra was intellectually disabled herself, and although she lived relatively independently, her mental capabilities were more aligned with a 15-year-old.

Gary Heidnik was a qualified nurse who had previously worked at the Elwyn Institute, and the two became friends. Sandra explained to Josefina that Gary had always been good to her, sometimes taking her out to amusement parks, fast food restaurants, or to his place. He was also the self-ordained minister of his own church, which catered specifically to people with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Known as the United Church of the Ministers of God, Gary held weekly sermons at his home on Marshall Street where he taught hymns and read Bible passages to the small congregation. Sandra was one of the ten or so followers who attended often. One of the things she liked most about it was that Gary never asked his congregants for money.

Earlier that day of Saturday November 29, Sandra had been experiencing menstrual cramps and had gone out to buy some painkillers when Gary drove by and offered her a lift. They went out to eat, like usual, and then back to Gary's house to have sex. Afterwards, he started strangling her and dragged her downstairs. "I don't understand it," Sandra cried. "Gary's my friend. Why is he doing this?"

It was clear to Josefina that Sandra didn't fully grasp what was going on. She asked Sandra if she'd ever had sex with Gary before. Sandra responded that she'd had sex with both Gary and a friend of his named Tony Brown. She'd once gotten pregnant by Gary and had an abortion, which made Gary angry. Sandra explained, "'Now,' he says, "'I'm going to have his baby, whether I want to or not.'"

A few hours later, Gary returned to the basement. He laid Josefina and Sandra side by side and raped them both. It struck Josefina that he didn't seem to get any particular pleasure from this act. His moves seemed mechanical, reinforcing to her that he was serious about his twisted reproductive mission.

Afterwards, he gave the women a shirt each to wear and a portable toilet to use in place of the bucket they'd been using so far. Gary then got back to work digging the hole deeper and wider. When they were left alone, Josefina and Sandra speculated between themselves about what his intentions could be. Was he making space for more captives, or did he intend on burying their bodies in there?

Josefina focused on trying to figure out who exactly Gary Heidnik was and what made him tick. Through Sandra, she learned that for the most part, Gary was a kind man, but he didn't like to be told no. He was highly intelligent with a nursing degree, yet received a full disability pension from the government.

He'd taught himself how to work the stock market, turning $1500 into a portfolio of over $500,000 within a decade. He also had schizophrenia and had tried to take his own life on more than one occasion. He was supposed to take a daily dose of a medication called Thorazine, but he didn't always do so and instead sometimes hoarded it up for an overdose. The thought of this terrified Josefina.

Already feeling like they were living in a permanent grave, she was just as scared of something happening to Gary as she was of something happening to herself. A few days after Sandra's abduction, the women heard someone knocking at the front door. It was Sandra's sister, wanting to know if Sandra was there. Shortly after, Gary came downstairs wearing a pair of rubber gloves and holding a pen and paper.

He handed these to Sandra and ordered that she write the following message: "Dear Mum, Do not worry. Will call. Love, Sandy." In her childlike handwriting, Sandra did as she was told. She then wrote her mother's address on an envelope and sealed the letter inside.

After this, Gary locked Sandra and Josefina in the hole and left the house, saying he was going to New York to send the letter so that Sandra's family wouldn't come looking for her at his place again. As each hour ticked by, Josefina was gripped by panic at the thought that Gary wasn't coming back. Over 24 hours passed before Josefina felt the vibrations of Gary's car pulling into the garage.

She was relieved by the sound and told him as much. Little did she know, this was a huge mistake. Gary froze. "How did you hear my car?" he asked. Only then did it occur to Josefina that the blaring radio had been to prevent her and Sandra from hearing his movements as much as it had been to prevent outsiders from hearing their screams. Silently, Gary went back upstairs.

He returned to the basement shortly after with a screwdriver. He pushed Sandra and then Josefina onto the ground. "Don't scream," he warned as he inserted the screwdriver into their ears. "I know how far I can go without making you deaf." With this, a routine was established.

Every morning, Gary came down with some bread and water. He'd then rape Josefina and Sandra before continuing work on the hole. If either woman ever put up a fight or screamed, Gary beat them, often with the handle of his shovel, so they quickly learned to comply. Josefina decided that her best chance of survival was to keep quiet and submit to Gary's demands, no matter what.

Whenever Gary left the house, he sealed Josefina and Sandra into the hole. He soon brought down a battery-powered television, which he let the women take into the hole with them. The pair discovered that leaving the TV on too long deprived them of precious oxygen, so they had to ration their viewing time to no more than two hours per day.

All the while, the radio blared in the background for hours on end, playing a rotation of the same ten or so songs, which drove the women mad. Boredom and hunger became a constant. Over time, Gary started bringing down tea bags and sugar, along with an old coffee pot the women could use to boil water. They tried to ration the tea bags, but loaded each drink with as much sugar as they could handle, desperate for the calories.

Gary gave the women sanitary products, but at no point were they allowed to bathe. Their only method of cleaning themselves was the occasional baby wipe Gary gave them. By Monday December 22 1986, almost a month had passed since Josefina Rivera and Sandra Lindsay had been held captive at Gary Heidnik's home on North Marshall Street.

That night, the two women were lying on the air mattress when the basement door opened suddenly. In came Gary with a young black woman, naked in handcuffs. He introduced the woman as Lisa. Chatting jovially as Lisa sobbed, he got to work fitting her with his trademark muffler clamp shackles and chain. Like with the others, Gary was meticulous about the way he fitted Lisa's restraints.

He counted the number of chain links between her ankles to ensure he could still rape her with ease. He also made sure to chain each woman several feet apart so there was enough space for him to rape them one at a time. With Lisa secured to the chain, he then forced her into the hole, sealing her inside before going back upstairs.

Josefina and Sandra immediately raced over and started talking into the hole, reassuring Lisa that everything would be okay. They told her to do as Gary said and there wouldn't be any problems. He came back down shortly after, bringing bread and water for the women with him. He let Lisa out of the hole and they all ate their meals before Gary laid them down and raped them individually.

He then handed Lisa a shirt before disappearing back upstairs. Josefina and Sandra learned that Gary's latest victim was 19-year-old Lisa Thomas, a single mother who lived with her own mother and young son approximately two miles away. Lisa had been walking to retrieve a pair of gloves she'd left at a friend's place when Gary pulled over in his Cadillac, mistaking her for a sex worker.

Although Lisa was insulted by this, she couldn't help but be impressed by his expensive car. Gary apologised for the misunderstanding and offered Lisa a ride to make up for it. Lisa thought that Gary seemed nice and she was allured by the prospect of showing up at her friend's house in a flashy car, so she accepted. After collecting the gloves from her friend, Lisa accepted Gary's offer to join him for dinner.

The pair went to a casual dining restaurant for cheeseburgers and fries. As they ate, Gary invited Lisa to accompany him on a trip to Atlantic City the following day. She found herself somewhat intrigued by him. On the outside, he appeared somewhat scruffy and unkempt, but his expensive car and the way he splashed money around led her to wonder if he was secretly wealthy.

Lisa told Gary she had nothing to wear, but that wasn't a problem for Gary. He offered to take her to a nearby department store after dinner where she could have $50 to spend on whatever she wanted. Pleased with how the evening was panning out, Lisa agreed to join Gary at his home on Marshall Street to show off her new outfits and watch a movie. She didn't really want to, but felt she owed it to him after how generous he'd been.

It was only when Lisa saw his dirty home in the downtrodden neighbourhood that she realised she'd been wrong about his millionaire status. Keeping her disappointment to herself, they sat down to watch a movie together. Lisa started drinking a wine cooler, but she'd also taken an allergy pill over dinner and the combination of the two made her increasingly drowsy. Before she knew it, she'd nodded off completely.

When she woke up, the realization dawned on her. She was in Gary's bed, completely naked. Lisa consented to having sex with Gary and when she asked for a ride home afterwards, he launched an attack. Lisa Thomas' story was becoming all too familiar to Josefina Rivera. Gary had established a clear M.O. and he showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

But with three women now in the basement, there wasn't enough room for all of them in the hole. Josefina used this to her advantage. She'd been carefully observing Gary's behaviour for weeks and had learned that above all else, what he wanted was praise and adoration. He wanted to feel like the women wanted to be there with him, not that they had to.

With this in mind, Josefina worked on strengthening her relationship with Gary by assuring him that she wasn't going anywhere. This tactic worked and Gary started leaving Josefina in the basement while Sandra and Lisa were still confined to the hole. Eventually, he started bringing the women upstairs one by one so they could bathe, though their chains were always kept on.

During these few minutes alone, Josefina engaged Gary in conversation to learn as much about him as she could. He repeated his plan about bringing several more women to the basement so he could impregnate each one and raise a large group of babies. Gary's parents had divorced when he was three years old, after which his mother went on to remarry several more times.

Both her second and third husbands were black, and she began telling Gary that he was of mixed race, having had multiple affairs while married to his father. Gary said he wanted to create the perfect race with no influence from the outside world. His dream for the future was that white and black people would procreate for hundreds of years until there was only one race. Only then did he believe the world would be at peace.

While Josefina could sense that Gary was softening towards her, this did little to change the reality of the situation. In their darkest moments, the three captives discussed the possibility of launching an attack against Gary. But without the keys to their padlocks, they knew it was no use. If they managed to kill him or knock him unconscious, they'd still be chained to the pipes and left there to starve.

Christmas Day was a particularly bleak time for all three women. As the radio announcers wished everyone a happy holiday, it was a quiet day for Josefina, Sandra and Lisa as they thought about their loved ones celebrating without them. Sandra's letter had seemingly thrown her family off Gary's scent, and while Lisa was sure her mother would be looking for her, they had no way of knowing for sure.

Besides, they knew how prevalent crime was in the area. With over 300 homicides a year, the police already had their work cut out for them. Gary tried to lighten the mood with an unexpected surprise. He came into the basement with a menu for a Chinese restaurant, telling the women they could order one dish each. When their meals came, they savoured every mouth-watering bite, relishing the rare feeling of being properly full.

Afterwards, Gary ordered the women to lay down and he took turns raping them. But even this couldn't break their spirits. The next few days went by as per usual. As the new year approached, Josefina was consumed with longing for her children and mother on the outside. She knew she couldn't tolerate her living conditions much longer. Regardless, she was grateful for the company of Sandra and Lisa.

Having one another to talk to and share the experience with was the only thing keeping them from falling apart completely. When Gary wasn't around, they passed the hours chatting among themselves about their lives, families, and relationships on the outside. Then came New Year's Eve 1986, and with it, a new arrival.

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Ritual products are science-backed, vegan, GMO-free, and sourced through their trademark traceable supply chain. Get 40% off at ritual.com slash podcast and shop responsibly. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Gary Heidenich's three captives heard Deborah Dudley before they laid eyes on her.

The 23-year-old sex worker had found herself at Marshall Street the same way as the others, having accepted a ride from Gary. But unlike the rest of them who had entered the basement shaking and crying in fear, Debra was immediately combative. Naked and handcuffed, Debra fought against Gary with all her might as he began fitting her ankles with muffler clamps. She screamed in his face, swearing and yelling for him to let her go.

The other women looked on in terror. When Deborah saw them there, she began screaming at them too. Once Gary managed to restrain Deborah, he ordered her to get into the hole. She refused, saying there was no way she was going down there. Incensed, Gary picked up his shovel and began beating Deborah with the handle.

He shoved her into the hole, covered it with the plywood lid and placed several bags of dirt on top before disappearing back upstairs in a huff. The other three women began reassuring Debra that it would all be okay if she just stopped fighting. They told her about Gary's deranged plan to impregnate them all and advised her to just do what he said. But Debra wasn't hearing it.

She constantly screamed at the others to let her out, and every time Gary came into the basement from then on in, she howled and fought against him. For Josefina, Deborah's determination was somewhat admirable. It turned out that Deborah had lived a hard life surrounded by crime, drugs, and abuse, and she'd had to fight every day to survive.

But her refusal to submit to Gary's demands also brought a new level of discord to the situation at Marshall Street. The other women watched on as Gary beat Deborah constantly. He began looking for new objects to discipline her with, remarking that nothing he did seemed to make any difference. Eventually, Gary became so frustrated that he started ordering the others to beat Deborah on his behalf.

As traumatising as she found it, Josefina didn't dare to refuse. She apologised to Deborah afterwards, pleading with her to stop screaming and to just comply. She explained that Gary was mentally ill and their best chance of survival was to do whatever he said. Deborah refused.

She called Josefina weak for going along with things for as long as she had and said it was time for them to come up with a proper plan to overcome Gary. After all, there were four of them and only one of him. Josefina repeatedly explained that without the keys to their padlocks, it was no use. But Deborah wasn't having a bar of it. She was convinced that someone would hear them if they screamed loud and long enough.

Gary started bringing the other women more substantial foods oatmeal, rice, shrivelled hot dog sausages and pop tarts while continuing to feed Debra nothing but bread and water. Life continued on like this for two more weeks until Sunday January 18 1987 when there was an unexpected change in routine. By this point, Josefina Rivera had been held at Marshall Street for seven and a half weeks

Sandra Lindsay for 7, Lisa Thomas for almost 4, and Deborah Dudley for 18 days. That afternoon, the basement door burst open and in came Gary. With him was 18-year-old Jackie Askins. Jackie was a sex worker who had been waiting on a corner roughly three and a half miles from Gary's house when Gary pulled up.

Jackie had been working alongside another woman and they started arguing over which one of them should get his business. Jackie lied to Gary, warning him that the other woman had a sexually transmitted disease and he should pick her instead. To Jackie's delight, Gary did just that. While she didn't typically go home with her clients, Gary had a cake on his back seat which he said was for his daughter's birthday and he needed to get it into the fridge.

Gary seemed harmless, so Jackie agreed. She was playing one of the arcade games in his living room when he suddenly grabbed her in a headlock from behind. Jackie put up a fight, but it was no use. Gary managed to handcuff her and to drag her down the steps into the basement. Jackie was visibly terrified. She screamed for Gary to let her go, but this only resulted in a beating.

Gary warned Jackie there would be plenty more of that if she didn't obey his commands. As soon as Gary left, Josefina went over to Jackie and told her to be quiet. "I'm going to get you out of here," she said. "But you gotta be patient." By the next evening, Gary's mood was markedly different. It was Josefina's 26th birthday and he surprised the group with a special treat.

Like he'd done at Christmas, he handed the women a menu for a Chinese restaurant and told them to order one dish each. He returned shortly after with the food, a cake, and a present for Josefina, a pair of red fluffy slippers. He cracked open a bottle of sparkling cider and danced with Josefina to the song "Purple Rain" by Prince.

But it wasn't just the birthday or the introduction of his latest victim that gave Gary Heidnik cause to celebrate. He had reason to believe that both Josefina and Sandra were pregnant. For Josefina, the realisation that her period was two months late sparked mixed feelings. On one hand, the possibility that she could be pregnant with Gary Heidnik's baby sickened her to the core.

On the other hand, she wondered whether Gary would treat her better if she was carrying his child. The slippers he gave her seemed like a good sign that her plan to befriend him was working. Josefina reasoned that he wouldn't give a present to somebody he didn't like and he certainly hadn't given this type of treatment to any of the others. On the downside, it was clear that the other women weren't happy about the positive attention she was receiving.

The general vibe between the group was beginning to sour. With the number of captives growing, Gary started implementing a kind of hierarchy system. Given that Josefina, Sandra, and Lisa had been there the longest and were the most compliant, they were allowed out of the hole and to sleep on a regular mattress. Debra's rebellious behaviour earned her a near constant spot in the hole, while Jackie, as the newest captive, was mostly kept with her.

Gary began pitting the women against one another by leaving one of them in charge whenever he left them alone. He'd encourage the one in charge to tell on the others if they misbehaved. Those who fell out of line received beatings, extra time in the hole, or worse still, they were subjected to a stretch torture device that Gary introduced in late January.

He installed a hook into a ceiling rafter and forced the disobedient woman to stand suspended by a single handcuff, her arms held overhead for hours with her feet barely able to touch the floor. The sexual assaults also remained a daily occurrence. Sometimes Gary raped just one woman, other times he'd go from one to the next or force the women to perform sex acts on each other,

If they submitted without a fight, he'd reward them with treats such as cookies. The women were so deprived of food that they found themselves scrambling over one another in the hopes that they'd be the chosen victim for the day. When they were brought upstairs to bathe, each used this time alone with Gary to their perceived advantage. Gary still suspected that Josefina and Sandra were pregnant, but they weren't given pregnancy tests to confirm this.

If the two women really were pregnant, Gary wasn't giving them any special treatment such as extra food needed to nourish a baby. While Josefina was gaining a bit of weight despite the restricted diet, the symptoms she'd experienced with her other three pregnancies were notably absent. She suspected that the slight weight gain could be a result of withdrawing from drugs. As for Sandra, she hadn't been feeling well for weeks.

As the days passed, she began eating less and less, which angered Gary as she needed the nutrients for the baby. Thinking Sandra was rebelling by refusing to eat, in early February he put her in the hole, but then caught her trying to push aside the plywood lid. As punishment, Gary handcuffed one of Sandra's arms to the ceiling hook and left her suspended there for days. The other women watched on in horror as Sandra's health deteriorated.

She began vomiting and came down with a fever, unable to eat the meagre amounts that were given to her. Gary tried to force-feed her a piece of bread. When Sandra wouldn't swallow it, Gary beat her across the legs with a stick and ordered that she do as she was told. Sandra began choking and spat the bread out, seemingly too tired to even hold her own body weight.

While Gary was convinced that Sandra was faking being sick just to be defiant, the others knew this was no joke. When Gary went back upstairs, they noticed that Sandra's body had completely slumped forward. She appeared to have lost consciousness completely. The women encouraged Sandra to wake up, but Gary heard the commotion and came rushing back into the basement.

Finding Sandra's lifeless body hanging there, Gary unlocked the handcuffs. Her body slammed to the floor. "She's dead," he announced. Fury in his voice, he added, "Now I've lost another baby." Gary hoisted Sandra's lifeless body over his shoulder and carried her upstairs, leaving the other four women in a state of shock. Josefina was particularly shaken.

Not only had she and Sandra been in this ordeal together from the start, she'd felt quite protective of Sandra. Josefina couldn't help but feel that she'd failed by not delivering on her promise to get them out of there. The sheer lack of concern from Gary was also cause for alarm. He'd known Sandra for years and she'd considered him a friend, yet he showed nothing but casual indifference to her death.

If he could treat Sandra that way, Josefina knew none of them were safe. The remaining four women spent the night mostly in stunned silence, shaken by what they'd witnessed. The next morning, a foul stench filled the basement. None of the women had ever smelt anything like it and they struggled to breathe in the putrid air. When Gary came downstairs, the smell only got worse.

It seemed to have soaked into his hair and skin, and the women were forced to breathe it in every time he raped them. While Sandra's death had temporarily shaken Deborah Dudley into silence, it didn't take long for her to snap out of it. Within three days, Deborah resumed screaming and fighting. Sick of being in the hole, she began bashing against the lid and trying to fight Gary off when he came down to discipline her.

Fed up, he stormed downstairs with a key in one hand. He unlocked Deborah's padlock and dragged her upstairs while the other women looked on in fear. A few minutes later, Gary returned a visibly shaken Deborah to the basement, locked her up, and then disappeared again. The others could see that Deborah was clearly traumatized by whatever had happened upstairs. They asked her what was wrong, but she was too disturbed to speak.

She huddled in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest. The others pressed on before Deborah eventually spoke. "He showed me Sandra's head," she said. "It's sitting in a pot and he's boiling it on the stove. Her ribs are in a roasting pan in the oven and he's got her arms and legs in the freezer. He told me if I don't change my attitude, I'll end up the same way."

Shortly after Sandra Lindsay's death, the other women were watching the television when a dog food commercial came on. As the camera panned over chunks of meat and vegetables, Debra and Jackie made some offhand comments about how good the dog food looked. Gary was downstairs at the time and their remarks immediately piqued his interest.

The next day, he returned with an open can of dog food and a fork and passed it to Deborah and Jackie in the hole. "Eat it," he demanded. The women did as they were told, while Josefina and Lisa looked on in disgust. From that point on, canned dog food became part of their usual diet. Meanwhile, the beatings and rapes continued daily. Deborah and Jackie couldn't take any more.

Having witnessed what Gary did to Sandra, they knew he had absolutely no regard for whether they lived or died. If they wanted to get out of there alive, it was time to act. One day, when they thought Gary was out of earshot, they told Josefina and Lisa they had a plan. The next time Gary came down, the four of them would launch an attack against him.

With four against one and armed with the stick he'd been using to beat them with, the pair were confident they could overpower him. Alternatively, knowing that Josefina often received preferential treatment, they urged her to try and steal a knife next time she was allowed upstairs. They could wait until Gary was raping one of them and then stab him in the back. Josefina thought it was a terrible idea and told them as much.

Without the keys to their padlocks, they'd be doomed. But Deborah and Jackie thought it was worth a shot. They argued it was entirely possible that Gary had been keeping the keys in his pockets all along. When Josefina still refused to help, the others accused her of siding with Gary, saying she'd been down there so long that she was starting to like it. As for Deborah and Jackie, they were going to do it with or without her help.

The next day, Gary brought Josefina upstairs for a bath and outright asked her about their scheming. Realising he must have overheard the entire conversation, Josefina replied as casually as she could that there had been some talks between the others, but she'd dismissed their plan. When they went back downstairs, Gary told the others he knew what they were up to. He assured them he didn't carry the keys around with him.

One wrong move and they'd all die down there. Deborah and Jackie were furious with the Josephina, believing she'd ratted them out. But that didn't stop them from trying to get out. One day, Gary pretended to leave in his car just to see what they'd do while he was gone. As soon as they thought he'd driven away, Deborah and Jackie began screaming and banging on the lid of the hole.

Gary burst in and dragged them out. Along with Lisa, he handcuffed each woman to the hook in the ceiling one at a time and covered their mouths with duct tape. Just like he'd done with Josefina and Sandra earlier, he took a screwdriver and jammed it into their ears until pus came out. Jackie felt her spirits beginning to break completely. She later told Debra there was no point screaming.

By mid-March 1987, Deborah Dudley had been held captive at Marshall Street for two and a half months, but still she refused to comply with Gary Heidnik's demands. It was a constant source of contention between the other women who urged her to stay quiet for her own sake as well as theirs.

Jackie did her best to fall into line, but because she was usually kept in the hole with Debra, she was often deemed guilty by association. One day, Gary came up with a new idea to try to get all of the women to behave. He took the lid off the hole, ran a hose into it and filled it with a few inches of water. He then handcuffed Debra and Jackie together and ordered them back into the hole, placing the lid on top.

Gary took an extension cord which had been stripped on one end to expose the wires within. He plugged it in and touched the bare wire to the women's chains, sending an electric shock jolting into their bodies. Panicked screams emanated from within the hole. A few seconds later, Gary removed the wire and ordered Josefina to have a turn administering a shock.

The very thought sickened her, but she knew that she'd pay the price if she didn't comply. Reluctantly, she did as she was told. With Debra and Jackie thrashing and crying inside the hole, Gary seemed satisfied. He unplugged the cord, telling them "Now you think about that for a while" before disappearing upstairs. Gary's latest torture device filled the four women with a whole new sense of dread.

If his plan really was to impregnate them all, then electrocuting them didn't sound like a smart way to go about it. They worried about what this meant for his state of mind. The other women were also furious at Josefina for obeying his commands and this only added fuel to their belief that she was siding with him. Two days later, Gary was back in the basement,

This time, he ordered Deborah, Jackie and Lisa into the water-filled hole. He plugged in the cord and administered a shock before ordering Josefina to do the same. As she hesitantly touched the exposed wires to Deborah's chains, the three women inside began screaming. "He's killing me!" Deborah shrieked. Then, the basement fell silent.

Thinking the cord must have stopped working, Gary raced upstairs to grab another one. But inside the hole, Lisa and Jackie watched on in horror as Deborah's body went limp and collapsed face first into the water. Outside, Josefina heard them announce: "Debbie's dead." When Gary returned to the basement ten minutes later, it took him a moment to realise that the women weren't messing around.

He removed the lid from the hole, uncuffed Lisa and Jackie, and dragged Deborah's lifeless body out by the hair. He laid her out on the floor and looked at the others. "Aren't you glad it wasn't one of you?" he remarked, before adding, "Thank God. Now my troubles are over and my basement can go back to normal." As the three surviving women stood around, frozen in shock and fear, he made them each a sandwich.

He went upstairs and fetched them each a cigarette and a can of beer. Then he handed Josefina a piece of paper and a pen and told her to write the following message: "March 18th, 1987. I, Josefina Rivera, and Gary Heidnik killed Deborah Dudley by applying electricity to her chain while sitting in a pool of water in a hole in a basement of 3520 Marshall Street. Josefina did as she was told.

She put her signature on the bottom and handed it to Jackie and Lisa so they could both sign it as witnesses. Gary held the letter up and said, "If you ever go to the cops, I can use this as evidence that you killed Debbie." For the first time in almost four months, he then leaned over and unlocked Josefina's chains. "Go upstairs and go to bed," he said.

In the most extreme of circumstances, it slowly dawned on Josefina that her plan had worked. All those months of complying with Gary's twisted demands and lending him a sympathetic ear had finally paid off. He no longer viewed her as a slave, but as a partner. She was allowed to bathe, put on clean clothes, and walk around his house unsupervised and unrestrained.

Having succeeded in his plan to get her pregnant, Gary no longer raped her either. But for all these improvements, Josefina was far from free. All of the windows in Gary's home had bars on them, he didn't appear to own a phone, and his front door could only be opened with the sawn-off key that he kept safe in his pocket.

Josefina also knew that if she made any attempt to escape, Lisa and Jackie's lives would be at immediate risk. If Josefina got out, she had no doubt that Gary would kill the others and destroy evidence of his crimes. For the next couple of days, she tried to go about life as normally as possible, following Gary around and doing whatever he asked.

Despite the trauma of the past few months being exacerbated by Deborah's death, Josefina made a conscious effort not to display any emotion or act shocked by anything Gary did or said. The only time her tough exterior almost cracked was when Gary brought her into the kitchen and showed her Sandra Lindsay's charred and rotting remains, which he'd attempted to dispose of just as Deborah had described.

But there was something the others didn't know. Gary revealed to Josefina that he'd tried to feed Sandra's remains to the neighborhood dogs, but they'd left the obviously human bones scattered around his backyard. He said that Sandra's family suspected he had something to do with her disappearance, so he had to be incredibly careful not to attract any attention to himself.

It was only when Debra commented about how good the dog food commercial looked that Gary got an idea. He said he started mincing up Sandra's remains and mixing them in with the canned dog food, which he then fed to the women downstairs. Josefina did her best to remain expressionless, while inside she was reeling from the extreme horror of it all. Gary went on to explain that they wouldn't have to be so careful with Debra,

No one knew he was linked to her in any way, so all they had to do was find a good spot to dispose of her body. If the cops ever found her, there would be nothing to tie her back to Marshall Street. Gary took Josefina for a drive to the neighboring state of New Jersey on the lookout for the perfect spot to dump Deborah's body. Along the way, they stopped in at a McDonald's restaurant so Gary could get something to eat.

Josefina didn't look anyone in the eye in case Gary misinterpreted her intentions. They drove along Route 676 in the densely forested Pine Barrens of Wharton State Forest, about 40 miles east of North Philadelphia. Eventually, Gary pulled down a discreet dirt track that led about 100 yards into the woods and determined, this'll do.

Later that night, under the cover of darkness, Gary retrieved Deborah's body from a freezer in the basement. He'd been keeping her there, folded over into a clear garbage bag. Ordering Josefina to follow him, he carried the bag to his garage and dumped the body into the trunk of his Cadillac. The pair then made their way back to the Pine Barrens and to the location that Gary had scouted earlier.

Josefina didn't dare move as Gary removed the keys from the engine and carried Deborah's frozen body into the dark woods. As she sat there in the car alone, she thought about running off. Her heart pounded as she wondered what would happen if Gary caught her. It then occurred to her that he might have brought her along just so he could kill her and dump her body there too.

By the time Gary returned to the car, Josefina was almost relieved. She spent the rest of the drive tense and traumatised by what they'd just done. Meanwhile, Gary seemed completely unfazed. Again, he stopped at McDonald's for a burger and fries, checking his stocks in a newspaper and remarking on their poor performance, as though burying a body in the woods was a common occurrence.

For the first time, it occurred to Josefina that this might actually be a common occurrence for Gary Heidnik. It only just struck her that there could have been other victims before Sandra and Debra. The next day, Gary took Josefina to buy some clothes from a thrift store and then had her drive behind him in his Cadillac while he took his other car, a Rolls Royce, to the mechanic.

During each trip, Josefina kept her focus on the task at hand and avoided making eye contact or conversation with anyone else. She realised Gary was enjoying having her company and decided the smartest thing she could do was continue earning his trust. The more trust he put in her, the greater her chance would be to escape when the right opportunity arose.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the basement, the conditions had improved slightly for Lisa and Jackie. Gary brought them blankets and pillows and stopped putting them in the hole. He mostly left them alone, although the daily rapes continued. With two of his five victims now dead and only one of them pregnant, Josefina could tell that Gary was getting rattled at the realisation that his twisted plot wasn't going according to plan.

By Monday March 23, six days had passed since Deborah's death and Josefina's release from the basement. That night, Gary turned to her and said, "I want to get another girl." Josefina saw this as her opening. It was clear to her that Gary now viewed her as an accomplice and was beginning to let his guard down. She told Gary that she'd help him, but on one condition:

After they were done, she wanted to go see her family. Josefina told Gary they'd be worrying about where she'd been these past four months and she just wanted to introduce them to him so they knew she was okay. Without asking any further questions, Gary agreed. That night, he took Josefina out cruising the streets until they came across a 24-year-old woman named Agnes Adams.

Josefina was somewhat familiar with Agnes, having worked with her at the same strip club in the past. Agnes was a sex worker and she was standing on the street corner looking for clients. When she saw Gary, she waved him over. It turned out that Gary had hired Agnes for sex work in the past. He pulled up alongside Agnes and invited her to come to his house for paid sex work.

Seeing Josefina in the passenger seat, Agnes didn't hesitate to hop in. Back at Marshall Street, Josefina waited in the living room while Gary and Agnes went upstairs together. Fifteen minutes later they returned, this time with Agnes naked in handcuffs. Gary beckoned for Josefina to follow him into the basement.

When Lisa and Jackie saw that Josefina had helped Gary abduct a new victim, they looked at her with outright dismay, convinced she was now a willing accomplice. Josefina avoided their gaze as Gary chained Agnes up with the muffler clamps and ordered her down into the hole. Josefina then followed Gary back upstairs. He turned to her and said, "That was easy. We can do that again tomorrow."

Josephina's heart pounded in her chest as Gary steered his Cadillac down 6th Street toward the corner of Girard Street where he'd first picked her up on Thanksgiving Eve almost four months earlier. Josephina indicated a place for Gary to pull over.

She told him her family was going to have all kinds of questions and it would be best if she could have some time alone with them to smooth things over first. She'd explained to them that Gary was her boyfriend and the two had been away for a while before coming to get him so he could meet everyone too. There was a gas station around the corner where Josefina said he could grab a cup of coffee in the meantime. To her surprise, Gary agreed.

Josefina got out of the car and started making her way as calmly as she could down Gerard Street. There was a payphone about a block away, and if she could just make it there without arousing his suspicion, this was her one chance. Adrenaline soared as Josefina made it around the corner, the payphone in sight.

She quickened her pace, terrified that Gary would peer down the street and see what she was up to.

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"You've got to help me," she told the operator. "Four months ago I was picked up and held hostage in this guy's basement. He's got three other girls down there. I know where he's at and I managed to get away. If he finds out that I'm not coming back, he's gonna kill the others. I need someone to come pick him up so he can't get back to the other girls." The operator asked Josefina to repeat herself.

It was clear they were having a hard time believing a word she was saying. Regardless, they told Josefina to stay put and that a police car was on its way. The next few minutes felt like hours as Josefina nervously tapped her foot, anxiously waiting for the police to appear while simultaneously keeping an eye out for Gary's Cadillac. Finally, a police car pulled up with two officers inside.

Josefina was visibly shaking as she repeated her story, telling the officers she'd been chained up and repeatedly raped, beaten and tortured for four months by a man named Gary Heidnik, who was at the gas station around the corner. He'd also killed two women and dismembered one of their bodies. The officers urged Josefina to calm down.

They asked if she was a sex worker and whether this had something to do with her not getting paid. Exasperated, Josefina pulled up the leg of her jeans to reveal the red raw skin and bruises caused by the shackles. One look at the injuries quelled any of their doubts. Josefina provided a description of Gary and told them where he was parked. The officers sped around the corner, finding him just like she'd described.

They ordered Gary to turn off the ignition and get out of the car with his arms on top of his head. He did as he was told, asking, "What's this all about, officer? Didn't I pay my child support?" Gary Heidnik was placed under arrest for rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and suspicion of murder. Another officer drove Josefina to the gas station so she could confirm Gary was the right man. "That's him," Josefina said.

As she later described in the Oxygen Channel documentary "Monster Preacher", the look on Gary's face told her exactly what he was thinking: "I really should have gotten rid of this bitch when I had the chance." Josefina was taken back to the sex crimes unit where she told her story in full detail, describing all the depraved acts committed by Gary Heidnik over the past four months. All the while, she continued to ask whether anyone was going back for the other women.

Almost five hours passed before a search warrant was issued and orders were finally given to enter Gary's home on Marshall Street. Police still weren't sure exactly what to make of Josefina's story. It was so rich in detail, yet Gary's home appeared so ordinary, it was hard to comprehend that what she was saying was true. Officers were on edge as they broke Gary's door down with a crowbar and entered the premises.

Inside, the heat was cranked to high and a distinct foul odor filled the air. The television and radio blasted at full volume, but the house was otherwise quiet. Using a flashlight, officers made their way to the basement, where they found Lisa Thomas and Jackie Askins asleep on a mattress on the floor. The two women jumped up in a fright, their blanket dropping to reveal they were naked from the waist down and chained at the ankles.

Their bodies were bruised, wounded and emaciated. They didn't dare say a word, terrified this could be another of Gary's tests. An officer asked if there were any other women in the house. Lisa and Jackie pointed to the plywood on the floor. The officer pulled it back and out jumped Agnes Adams, naked and handcuffed. It took a moment for the women to realize what was really happening.

Lisa and Jackie began jumping up and down, hugging one another and yelling, "We're saved!" Officers removed the shackles and the three women were led from the house for urgent medical treatment. Neighbours had gathered in the street to see what all the fuss was about and upon seeing the survivors, they began cheering. Josefina, Lisa, Jackie and Agnes were all taken to the hospital to be evaluated.

Other than Agnes, who had been held captive less than 24 hours, the others were all severely dehydrated and undernourished. After having their bloods taken, the doctor sat Josefina down and delivered some unexpected yet very welcome news. "You're not pregnant," he said. When Lisa Thomas' mother, Paulette Thomas, received the call to say that her daughter was alive and well, she couldn't believe it.

As soon as Lisa had failed to return home from her friend's house in December the year prior, Paulette knew something was horribly wrong. Lisa was a doting mother to her young son and she would never voluntarily leave him without a good explanation. Paulette had repeatedly called the police to report her daughter missing, but they had dismissed her concerns, saying Lisa was an adult who was free to do as she pleased.

Paulette had taken it upon herself to search for her daughter and make her own inquiries. Fearing the worst, she'd even visited the morgue a couple of times. To hear that Lisa was alive after all this time was unbelievable news. When the two were able to speak over the phone from the hospital, the first thing Lisa asked was how her son was doing and whether he was still using his pacifier.

Paulette was in awe of her daughter's courage, telling reporters: "The most amazing thing is how tough she is. She's got strong willpower. I wouldn't have held up like she did." For Sandra Lindsay's family, it was a different reaction entirely.

Sandra had been incredibly close to her mother and sister, and they'd known something was wrong as soon as she had failed to return home from her trip to buy painkillers the day after Thanksgiving, Saturday November 27, 1986. Although Sandra had a job and lived fairly independently for someone with her intellectual disability, she always checked in with her family with a phone call at least twice a day.

Sandra's family were aware that she sometimes spent time around Gary Heidnik and attended his church sermons on Sundays. She had raved to her sister about all the fun places Gary had taken her and it was clear that she looked up to him. Therefore, one of the first places Sandra's family thought to check after her disappearance was Gary's place. They just weren't sure where he lived.

Gary and Sandra had a mutual friend named Cyril Brown who went by the nickname Tony. Like Sandra, Tony had an intellectual disability and spent a lot of time with Gary, having even lived with him for a period of time. Sandra's family asked Tony Brown for Gary's address and phone number, which he readily supplied. When Sandra's family got to 3520 Marshall Street, they could hear the radio blasting inside.

They pounded on the door repeatedly, but Gary didn't answer. Convinced he knew where Sandra was, the family made inquiries with some of the neighbors, who confirmed they'd recently seen Sandra enter the home. When she still hadn't surfaced or made contact by Monday, her family filed a missing person report with the police. They handed over Gary's details. The only thing they weren't sure of was his last name.

A police officer went to 3520 Marshall Street to conduct his own check for Sandra. He heard the radio blaring at full volume inside, but his knocks to the front door went unanswered. The officer tracked down Tony Brown, who confirmed Gary's contact details, including his last name. The officer ran Gary's name through the computer, but nothing came up to indicate he had a prior criminal record.

When Sandra's family received a handwritten letter from Sandra a few days later postmarked from New York in which she claimed to be okay, the officer concluded Sandra was a grown woman who was free to make her own decisions. The police did nothing further to look for her and made no more attempts to enter Gary's home, even when Tony Brown gave Sandra's family some truly bizarre information.

Tony claimed that he'd kidnapped Sandra on Gary's behalf in exchange for a new car. Gary had then offered Tony $100 to get Sandra pregnant. As Christmas approached, Sandra's mother received a second card from Sandra urging her not to worry. Although her mother recognised the writing as Sandra's, the card contained a $10 bill, money which her mother knew Sandra didn't have access to.

Again, she reported these incidents to the officer in charge of Sandra's missing person case, who maintained there was nothing they could do. Even if Sandra was with Gary, they had no evidence that anything criminal had taken place, and they therefore couldn't enter the premises without a search warrant.

However, what the officer didn't know at the time was that Tony Brown had accidentally given him the incorrect spelling for Gary's last name. Had this error been identified, the officer would have discovered information that could have saved both Sandra and Deborah's lives.

The reality was Gary Heidnik had a criminal record dating back to 1976, beginning with charges for aggravated assault and carrying a firearm without a license. Most disturbingly was a crime committed in 1978 that should have raised alarm bells, especially given the allegations from Sandra Lindsay's family.

By March 1978, Gary Heidnik was in a de facto relationship with an intellectually disabled black woman named Anjanette Davidson and they were living in an apartment in North Philadelphia. The couple had recently welcomed a baby girl, but during Anjanette's pregnancy, Gary had insisted on providing her prenatal care himself. This resulted in complications and the baby was put into foster care as soon as she was born.

A few weeks later, on Sunday May 7 1978, the couple went to visit Anjanette's sister, Alberta, who lived in a mental health facility. Alberta was 34 years old but with the mentality of a 5 year old and she'd been living in the care facility since she was a teenager. Gary and Anjanette were given the green light to take Alberta out for the day as long as she was back the following morning.

The next day, Gary called the facility and requested some vacation time for Alberta, and staff there tentatively agreed. Nine days later, Alberta still hadn't returned. A worried staff member went to Gary's apartment looking for her, but Gary claimed he'd put Alberta on a bus back to the facility days earlier, and a search of his home turned up no sign of her.

The next day, the staff member returned with a police officer, who searched the entire building. They found a terrified Alberta cowering in an old storage room in the basement, showing signs of trauma and sexual assault. Gary was charged with kidnapping, rape, false imprisonment, and involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, among other crimes.

He pleaded not guilty, claiming Alberta had asked to stay with them because she was being mistreated at the care facility. Due to her intellectual disability, Alberta was deemed unable to testify in court. Gary was therefore convicted of several lesser crimes, including unlawful restraint and recklessly endangering another person.

The judge concluded that Gary was psychosexually immature, unable to tolerate criticism, in constant need of external validation and, quote, easily threatened by women whom he would consider to be equal to him either intellectually or emotionally. The judge gave the highest sentence possible of three to seven years, which Gary appealed,

A subsequent psychological report stated that Gary Heidnik had a proclivity to exploit and manipulate intellectually disabled black women, both financially and sexually, as it gave him a sense of authority to be in charge of more vulnerable individuals. The psychiatrist predicted that Gary would go on to commit further sexual assaults in the future, stating forebodingly,

In order to avoid such a tragedy in the future, it will be necessary for him to be very closely supervised and for him to receive continuing surveillance over a long period of time. For the next two and a half years, Gary served his prison sentence in silence, claiming he was unable to speak because the devil had shoved a cookie down his throat. He was released on parole five years later in March 1983.

Shortly after, he joined the Filipino matchmaking service and began corresponding with his future wife, Betty. The two got to know one another via letters and phone calls for almost two years before Betty finally flew to the United States to meet Gary in person. They were married days later, but the honeymoon period was short-lived. Within a week, Gary started bringing home other women, sometimes several at a time.

They were always black and typically sex workers or patients from the Elwyn Institute. Betty said she'd leave, but Gary constantly beat and raped her, threatening to kill her if she ran away. Three and a half months after arriving at Marshall Street in late January 1986, Betty said she was going out shopping and ran straight to the police instead.

Betty filed charges against Gary for spousal rape, indecent assault, and involuntary deviant sexual intercourse. The charges just happened to be laid two days after Gary's parole ended for his crimes against Alberta Davidson, which was unfortunate timing as it meant he wasn't in breach of his parole conditions. Unbeknown to Gary, Betty was also pregnant.

After the child was born, Betty sued Gary for child support and they both appeared in the family court in January 1987. Gary lied about his substantial assets, saying he'd spent the profits from his investments and the only money he had was from his disability pension. Convinced that Gary was being intentionally evasive, the judge promised Betty another hearing once he'd had the chance to do some further investigation.

Meanwhile, as he sat in court lying openly, Gary was holding four women captive in his basement. Sandra Lindsay's family had managed to track Betty down in their hunt for Sandra and learned about Gary's deviant sexual practices and history of holding women captive. Sandra's family told the police about this, but they found themselves at yet another roadblock.

After Betty's escape, she'd been so terrified of Gary that she'd failed to appear in court and the charges against him had been subsequently dropped. The police promised Sandra's family that they'd apply for a search warrant for Gary's house, but they never did, closing the missing person investigation instead. With the help of Josefina Rivera, Deborah Dudley's remains were recovered from New Jersey and returned to Philadelphia.

Forensic investigators also recovered what they could of Sandra Lindsay's dismembered remains from Marshall Street, including her skull from the stovetop, rib cage from the oven, and arms and legs from the freezer.

With the available evidence and testimony from the surviving women, Gary Heidnik was charged with more than 50 crimes, including two counts of murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, unlawful restraint, indecent exposure, and abuse of a corpse.

With Gary's crimes making headlines across the United States, members of the public were curious to know more about his background and upbringing. Following his arrest for the crimes against Alberta Davidson in 1978, Gary had told a court-appointed investigator that his childhood was marred by trauma. He said that his father was a racist who hated his mother because she had multiple affairs with black men.

Gary alleged that his father had beaten him frequently during his youth and offered no love or emotional support. Gary frequently wet the bed and when he did so, his father would force him to hang his soiled sheets out of his bedroom window so the whole neighbourhood would know.

These claims were supported by Gary's younger brother, Terry, who spoke to reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer in detail following Gary's arrest in 1987. Terry said that Gary chose black women because he felt a need to dominate them, and intellectually disabled women because he thought they were easier to control. Terry said their father had taught them that, quote,

Life has no value if it is a black life, and that although Gary didn't outwardly express it, he adopted their father's racist attitudes. Along with the beatings, Terry also claimed that their father would paint bullseyes on the back of their pants so that other kids at school would target them too. According to Terry, when Gary was a child, he fell from a tree, which caused his head to become permanently misshapen.

After that, Gary's behavior changed significantly. He became violent and was increasingly seeking his father's approval. Terry stated: "Gary spent his whole childhood trying to be the light of my father's eyes. He said that being accepted by their father was, quote, 'probably what my brother was looking for his whole life.'

Terry explained that he and Gary were eventually sent to live with their mother, but she had a string of failed relationships and marriages and also struggled with alcohol addiction, which further added to their instability. Gary and Terry eventually joined the army, but were both discharged after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Their mother eventually took her own life and they lost contact with their father.

Gary and Terry's father, Michael Heidnik, denied claims of childhood abuse. In 1978, he'd told the court-appointed investigator that Gary had shown signs of mental illness since he was a young boy, and that he'd disowned Gary completely in the 1960s after discovering that he was living with a black woman.

However, when speaking to the Philadelphia Inquirer during a phone interview following Gary's arrest in 1987, his story differed. While Michael upheld that he'd disowned and disinherited Gary, he said that had nothing to do with his involvement with a black woman. Michael denied being racist, stating he wouldn't care if Gary lived with a black woman, adding, quote, "I don't care if he lived with ten of them."

But there was one thing that both Terry and Michael Heidnik could agree on. When they first heard about the crimes Gary had been accused of, Terry said, "'I believed it, right off the bat. Gary was very capable of that.' Michael told USA Today that his son should be hanged, adding, "'I'll even pull the rope.'

Execution was a very real possibility for Gary Heidnik, with the state of Pennsylvania offering the death penalty for anyone found guilty of first-degree murder. Given the mountain of evidence against him, including testimony from the four women who survived the ordeal, Gary's defense team knew there was no way their client could escape the charges. Instead, they put forward a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

After all, Gary had a detailed medical record citing mental illness which dated back to 1963 when he was discharged from the army. While he'd initially been given a 10% disability pension, this had increased over the years to 100%. Such a payment was reserved only for individuals who were unable to function normally in the community and demonstrated quote "gross repudiation of reality".

If the defense could prove that Gary wasn't of sound mind at the time he committed the crimes and couldn't tell right from wrong, at the very least they hoped to secure a conviction of third-degree murder. Under Pennsylvania law, this would mean the deaths of Sandra Lindsay and Deborah Dudley weren't intentional.

Gary's state of mind at the time of the crimes formed the entire basis of the defense's argument when the case went to trial in June 1988. The defense led testimony from two psychiatrists, the first of whom, Dr Clancy McKenzie, introduced a controversial theory. He believed that all patients with schizophrenia had two minds, one of the adult and one of their troubled infant self.

Dr. McKenzie explained that in the key period of November 1986 to March 1987, Gary was operating under what he called an infant brain. Gary was just 17 months old at the time his mother gave birth to his brother, Terry. When Gary's estranged wife, Betty, revealed to him in October 1986 that she'd given birth to their son, Dr. McKenzie concluded, quote,

This took him back to the first time when the most important woman in the world to him, his mother, left him and had a baby. And at that point, he began to experience the world through the eyes of the 17-month-old. The reality is that mummy is never going to go away and leave me again. During that 4-5 month period, he could not have known right from wrong.

The second psychiatrist disagreed with Dr. McKenzie's theory, clarifying his belief that schizophrenia was primarily a genetic mental illness from which Gary had a long-standing battle. He testified that Gary's schizophrenia affected him in such a manner that he was unable to tell the difference between right and wrong. He concluded that Gary was delusional and that the crimes he committed were part of a, quote,

systematised delusion that God wanted him to produce a number of children, and this was essentially to him like a pact with God. While he was somewhat aware of the laws he was breaking, he saw God's law as superior and didn't have the mental capacity to differentiate between the two. The prosecution didn't argue that Gary had schizophrenia.

Their case centered around the belief that his cognitive ability was fully intact during the time he committed the crimes and he knew full well that what he was doing was wrong. After all, if he was so insane, how did he continue to successfully manage his stock portfolio or negotiate the purchase of a Cadillac?

The prosecution put forward that Gary had long been exaggerating the symptoms of his mental illness so that he could continue receiving disability benefits. Pre-trial testing had revealed Gary to have an IQ of over 130, which put him in the top 1% of the population for intellect. This, combined with his training as a psychiatric nurse, meant he knew exactly what to do to make others question his sanity.

During Josefina Rivera's time in captivity, Gary had allegedly told her that if he was ever arrested, he would simply act crazy in court until his case was eventually thrown out. The prosecution put forth that this was exactly what he was doing.

Gary had refused to say a word to their court-appointed forensic psychiatrist, instead pretending to be incapable of speech. And when he entered the courtroom, he'd made the odd move of saluting the judge. While witnesses testified that Gary had always been typically clean-cut, in court he appeared dishevelled with a long, unkempt beard and wore the same Hawaiian shirt and tan pants every day.

The judge had even issued a court order forcing him to bathe before his trial after it was revealed that he hadn't showered for well over a month. The prosecution presented various witnesses who had dealings with Gary Heidnik around the time he was holding the women captive, such as his car dealer, stockbroker, friends, and medical professionals.

All testified that Gary was his usual self during the key period between November 1986 and March 1987, and he wasn't suffering from any obvious delusions of grandeur or hallucinations. On the contrary, he'd appeared clean, courteous, rational, and intelligent.

During his January 1987 appearance in the family court, his behaviour was described as cunning and deceptive when it came to answering questions about his true monetary worth, so as to diminish his obligations to support his wife and infant son.

The forensic psychiatrist who reviewed Gary's extensive medical history, business records, police interviews, and witness testimony for the prosecution concluded that while Gary did indeed have schizophrenia, he was manipulative and exaggerated his mental illness. The psychiatrist concluded that Gary's cognitive ability was intact between November 1986 and March 1987, stating:

There is nothing to indicate that Gary Heidnik did not know what he was doing was wrong at the time he was doing it. The trial ran for two weeks before the defense presented their closing argument, urging the jury to consider the lesser conviction of third-degree murder. Gary's lawyer stated: "The question is not whether Gary Heidnik did these heinous acts, but whether or not he was insane.

Let's say he's a malingerer, a faker. That he went into the army with plans to develop a paranoid schizophrenic personality so one day he could make a living that way. Could he fool all those doctors all the time? Could he fake mental illness schizophrenia for 25 years? You have to believe that.

You have to believe he did this for 25 years so when he got caught building his family in his basement, he could say he was insane. That's the prosecution's case. Does that make sense? His purpose was to raise 10 kids, not to kill anybody. Third degree murder is reckless disregard for human life. This is a classic case of third degree.

As for the fact that Gary had chosen an intellectually disabled woman and sex workers to be his victims, the lawyer stated, quote, "...as sick as it is, these were his chosen people. These were the girls he wanted to reproduce with. Is that sane? Isn't it more likely he's insane than not?"

In rebuttal, the prosecution told the jury that while none of the experts could read Gary's mind to confirm whether or not he was lying, the bottom line was, quote: "This man repeated sadistic and malicious acts upon six victims. He planned it, he did it, and he concealed it. Make no mistake about it, this man committed murder in the first degree.

"It's clear that Sandra Lindsay and Deborah Dudley were killed as a result of being taken into that basement. It's clear that Gary Heidnik did it. It was premeditated. It was deliberate. It was intentional." Members of the jury deliberated for two and a half days before delivering their verdict. Guilty on all counts, including murder in the first degree for the deaths of Sandra Lindsay and Deborah Dudley.

Under Pennsylvania law, it was also up to the jury to decide the penalty: life imprisonment or execution. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before delivering this verdict. For the murders of Sandra and Deborah, Gary Heidnik would be sentenced to death. The conclusion of Gary's trial didn't mark the end of the case.

The day after Gary was initially arrested, his friend Tony Brown, who was also an associate of Sandra's, had walked into the police station to see what was going on. Tony introduced himself as Gary's best friend and former housemate, which immediately aroused police interest. Tony was interrogated for 18 hours, during which he made some startling assertions.

He revealed that this wasn't the first time Gary had held women captive. Tony claimed that in the summer of 1985, Gary had offered a sex worker hundreds of dollars to come back to his house. The next morning, Tony went into the basement to do some laundry and found the woman there, bound in chains. She asked Tony to let her out, but he was too scared of what Gary might do, so he left her there.

A week later, a hideous stench filled the house. Tony claimed he found Gary dismembering the woman's body parts, which he then buried in his front yard. This aligned with information from the surviving victims, who told the police that Gary had bragged to some of them about having killed up to six other women. A full excavation was done of the Marshall Street property, but no other human remains were found.

However, Tony Brown wasn't done talking. He also claims that on the day Sandra Lindsay died, Tony himself had been in the basement. Tony said he'd watched Gary force the bread into Sandra's mouth before she presumably choked to death. Afterwards, Tony claimed he helped Gary carry Sandra's body upstairs, where Gary later raped her corpse.

For this confession, Tony Brown was also charged with Sandra Lindsay's murder, as well as conspiracy, kidnapping, and rape. The problem with Tony's confession was none of the surviving women backed his story up. They claimed they'd never seen Tony Brown in the basement, and he certainly wasn't there the day Sandra Lindsay died.

Due to his intellectual disability, during his early court proceedings, Tony had difficulty understanding basic questions and couldn't even state his own name. His defense attorney told reporters, quote: "Mr. Brown was victimized to the same extent as the women involved, although he was not hurt. Brown fits the profile of each and every victim."

Given there was no evidence to support them, the charges against Tony Brown were ultimately dropped. However, Tony wasn't the only one who came under the spotlight as a potential accomplice. Another controversial opinion had arisen during Gary's trial when his defense lawyer raised the possibility of charging Josefina Rivera as an accomplice to Gary's crimes.

The judge had warned against this on the grounds that it could hurt their insanity defence, stating, "...if the defendant is clever enough to enlist the aid of an accomplice, he knows what he's doing." The defence stopped short of pressing for charges, but they did urge the jury to consider Josefina's impact on their client's behaviour, saying that she was, quote, "...feeding a sick mind."

They argued that Josefina led Gary to believe that what he was doing was okay, and this gave him the corroboration he needed to keep going. The other surviving women, Lisa Thomas, Jackie Askins, and Agnes Adams, agreed that Josefina was complicit to some extent. They struggled to understand how she could have aided in Deborah's death and helped kidnap Agnes knowing what she was about to endure.

Given that Josefina was the oldest of the group, they felt it was her responsibility to protect them, not cause them further harm. Jackie later told the documentary "Monster Preacher": "Even though Josefina was in a bad situation, she was still supposed to protect us. At the end of the day, Philadelphia made her a hero. For who? For us? No. She wasn't a hero for me.

Even members of the jury later said they believed Josefina was more culpable than was presented. But many others disagreed. Renowned criminal behaviour analyst Laura Richards told the show Killer Profile that Gary had learned through his childhood that people could be controlled using abuse, ridicule and beatings. When Gary started to trust Josefina, that's when he began to lose his power. Laura said:

He's the great manipulator, but ultimately, Josefina wins on the manipulation level of getting him to trust her. Josefina went on to write a book about her experience titled "Cellar Girl" in which she made it clear that her intentions were always to make sure the women got out of the basement alive.

Josefina was so traumatized by the ordeal that she was unable to regain custody of her children and she spent years continuing to struggle with substance abuse disorder to escape the pain of it all. She later told the Daily Mirror: "You don't ever totally get over an experience like mine. You just have to learn to live with it."

Gary Heidnik sat on death row for 11 years, saying he had no intentions of appealing his sentence. Regardless, an appellate review was mandatory under Pennsylvania law and a forensic psychiatrist was appointed by the court to interview Gary. Gary stated he wanted the execution to go ahead because, quote, "...I am innocent and I can prove it."

"When you execute an innocent man, there will be no more capital punishment in this state and possibly anywhere else in this country. Go ahead and execute me." That's the end of capital punishment. Gary's lawyers said that his willingness to be executed was further proof that he wasn't of sound mind. But the psychiatrist concluded that Gary understood fully and was just trying to put a good spin on a bad ending.

The sentence was upheld and the execution was scheduled for Tuesday July 6 1999. As the time loomed near, news that the execution would be going ahead sparked hot debate among those who were against the death penalty. Protesters gathered outside the Governor's home until the final orders were given that evening.

55-year-old Gary Heidnik ate a final meal of two slices of cheese pita and two cups of black coffee before being led to the execution chamber just before 10pm. He had no last words as he was strapped to the gurney and administered with a lethal injection. With Gary declared dead, applause rang out among the witnesses gathered. "Thank you, Jesus!" one cried out.

Josefina Rivera, Lisa Thomas, Agnes Adams and Jackie Askins weren't among them. As survivors of Gary's crimes, they weren't eligible to attend. Jackie celebrated the news of the execution surrounded by loved ones at home, telling reporters over the phone: "I've been waiting 13 years for this." It was a sentiment shared by Deborah Dudley's sister, Carolyn, who witnessed the execution firsthand.

It struck her that Gary's death was easy, while Deborah had, quote, "died like a dog." Carolyn told reporters that with Gary gone, she felt like a burden had been lifted from her and her sister could finally be at peace. Sandra Lindsay's sister, Tracey, felt conflicted.

One part of her felt relieved, like the chapter of their lives involving Gary Hytenick could finally be closed and she could focus on celebrating Sandra's life instead. Another part of her wished Gary had been left to suffer in prison, where the women he'd killed would always be there to haunt him. Tracey hoped Gary's death would bring her family some sense of closure, but it wasn't that simple.

Years later, Sandra's loved ones continued to grapple with what had happened, tormented by the details about how Sandra had died. As one outsider who attended the execution commented in an editorial to the Patriot News: "Stra Lindsay struggled to find her place in her complicated, confusing world. This was not just a crime against her or even our society.

What Gary Heidnik did to her was, in my opinion, a crime against humanity." When the news first broke about Gary Heidnik's crimes and the extraordinary tale of the women's survival, one of the biggest questions was how could the neighbours have not heard or suspected anything? Deborah Dudley had spent the majority of her nearly three months in captivity screaming and fighting for her life.

Members of the public couldn't help but wonder how nobody had heard the women screaming for help all that time. Gary's house shared a wall with a woman named Doris Zbuka. It turned out that Doris had once heard constant banging from next door. She thought it might have been Gary trying to get her attention, so she banged back. The noise then abruptly stopped.

Doris later had the chance to ask the survivors why they didn't let her know they were trapped at that time. They explained they thought it was Gary banging back as some kind of test. Doris and other neighbors could offer no further explanation as to why they hadn't heard the women. Some had seen them enter the property and just assumed they'd left later in the night,

Other locals told reporters that given all the drug dealing in the area, they'd learned to mind their own business. Gary even had other women visit the house during the period in question and none of them had heard or seen anything untoward. Even the officer who'd run a background check on Gary hadn't bothered to double check the spelling of his name or dig further to see whether the claims that he was dangerous were valid.

The only thing that raised any questions was the stench emanating from Gary's home in the days following Sandra Lindsay's death. Neighbours who knew of Gary's past suicide attempts were concerned that he might have killed himself, thus explaining the odour. An officer visited the premises to conduct a welfare check on Gary and had noted the overwhelming stench as well.

Yet, even with Sandra Lindsay's family having reported their suspicion that Gary was involved in Sandra's disappearance, the officer accepted Gary's explanation that he'd just burnt a roast he planned on having for dinner. Had the police intervened then, they would have found Sandra's remains in the kitchen, and at the very least, Deborah Dudley's life would have been saved. For many, the reason this didn't happen is simple.

One retired police commissioner stated in the Monster Preacher documentary that Gary's behaviour was overlooked because he was a white male in an underprivileged neighbourhood who targeted women of colour. Gary's defence lawyer told the documentary's producers, "'I don't want to play the race card, but I have to say, the handwriting is on the wall in this case.'

"The fact that Sandra Lindsay was from a poor black family who doesn't have any connections, I think that's what ended the investigation. You have good cops and bad cops and stupid cops and smart cops. We had a lazy and stupid cop, which was a lethal combination for Sandra." A retired detective who worked on the case added: "If Gary Heidnik's victims had been middle-class white women, everything would have been different.

"I think there would have been more help for these women, more organizations would have come forward to help them, and absolutely it would have been different. Irrespective of how they got there, they were still victims of a crime, and society needs to see them as that." Some have said that Gary Heidnik's crimes are up there with the most sadistic killers in American history.

This was further solidified when it was revealed that he'd partly inspired the character of Buffalo Bill in the famous psychological thriller novel by Thomas Harris and the film by the same name, Silence of the Lambs. Buffalo Bill is the story's main antagonist, a serial killer who keeps his female victims in a well within his basement.

Some still question whether Gary Heidnik really was sane enough to have been eligible for the death penalty, while others question his true motive. Whether he really did unknowingly force cannibalism on the surviving women also remains up for debate. When police recovered Sandra Lindsay's remains from Marshall Street, they also seized Gary's food processor and some other appliances.

Despite the claims he'd made to Josefina Rivera about mixing parts of Sandra's body in with the dog food and feeding it to the others, testing of these appliances revealed no evidence to support this. While this didn't discount the possibility entirely, it meant there was no proof to support allegations of cannibalism. Whatever the truth, Gary was right about one thing.

Although the death penalty remains in Pennsylvania and many inmates continue to sit on death row, no other prisoner has been executed since Gary in 1999. His lawyer doesn't believe that Gary's refusal to appeal had anything to do with making a political statement. He told reporters that Gary had erred by targeting black victims as he was, quote, "...getting his ass kicked every single day in jail."

As far as his lawyer was concerned, Gary chose the death penalty to avoid a lifetime of beatings. The basement at Gary Hyatnik's former home on Marshall Street has been filled in, with the upper floors converted into apartments. But for the women who survived Gary's crimes, the psychological scars remain.

Jackie Askins was just 18 years old when she was freed from the Marshall Street basement, weighing in at just 48 pounds, or roughly 20 kilos. She had to regain muscle and weight and learn how to walk again. All these years later, she can't bring herself to walk into a basement and she relies on various medications to help manage her anxiety, fear, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jackie told Killer Profile that after they were freed, she wasn't given many tools to deal with the trauma. Instead, she said, "You find a way in your heart, in your brain, to forget something that tremendous. It's like, barricade it, hide it, so you can get on with your life. For the most part, you gotta be happy that you're free."

In November 2020, 33 years after their escape, Jackie Askins and Josefina Rivera agreed to be reunited for the first time since Gary Heidnik's trial as part of Oxygen's Monster Preacher documentary. For all those years, Jackie still harboured resentment towards Josefina. That all changed when the women sat down and got to hash out their differing opinions for the first time.

They both agreed that they should have had that conversations decades ago so they could have shared their healing journey together. Accepting Josefina's apology, Jackie said: "The person that should be apologising to us is not here." She hoped they could move forward with a friendship given they were the only ones who could really understand what the other went through. Jackie said: "Maybe that's what we're both missing out of our life.

Each other. Josefina Rivera tries not to dwell on what happened to her, but it isn't easy. She eventually went through extensive therapy, beat her drug addiction, and reconnected with her children. She told Killer Profile that she considers it a win when she can go a whole day without thinking about the ordeal. That one good day can give her a light at the end of the tunnel.

For Josefina, a depressive episode can be triggered by something as small as seeing workmen digging in the road or laying eyes on a screwdriver or chain. She also struggles with the unwanted legacy of surviving the crimes. "I'm never Josefina Rivera," she said. "I'm always Hydenic victim, the Hydenic girl, the Hydenic this, the Hydenic that. It's not Josefina Rivera. It's never over."

It's just never over.

I can hear the explosions. I didn't know what was happening. I'm Vicky Petratis. And I'm Emily Webb. We are true crime authors and podcasters with a long history of interviewing people who've experienced unthinkable events. The next guy had this Molotov cocktail in his hand and I just saw him lighting it. Are you listening? Pay attention. We're at Link Cafe. A gentleman has taken us hostage. He's got a gun and he's got a bomb.

but he'd turned towards me and he had this demonic look on his face.

and just came at me. These stories will have you on the edge of your seats. My shield man wasn't there anymore. It was me by myself. I had no protection. We are going to die now. Who could get out of that situation? I can hear explosions. I didn't know what was happening. It's just a matter of self-preservation, get myself out of there. We get to ask questions that most would never ask. And because of that, we get told things most would never hear about.

And I couldn't get my gun out. I'm sort of fighting with him. He's stabbing me. Maybe he just hit his head on the ground when he went down. Maybe he's okay. I saw that she wasn't in a very good way. Yeah, this will be difficult for me to talk about. What draws us to these stories is the strength of the people coming out the other side of what they've been through. But it was eight years before I processed what happened in the siege. There is a way.

It's not going to be easy. You might have pitfalls, but you've got to keep going. I'm not going to let it beat me or define me. So even though these are stories of the unthinkable, they are also stories of hope. You've got to be the best for you first before you can be the best for someone else. The Unthinkable is available now. Be sure to download and follow The Unthinkable wherever you get your podcasts.

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