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Welcome to the Serial Killer Podcast. The podcast dedicated to serial killers. Who they were, what they did, and... Episode 231. I am your humble host, Thomas Rosland Weyberg Thule. Tonight, I bring to you, dear listener, a standalone TSK classic episode featuring an obscure, but nonetheless heinous and depraved serial killer.
It's been difficult finding source material for this expose, as is often the case with the non-superstar killers. But I do believe tonight's tale will captivate you. You may not have heard his name before, but you might have heard his nom de guerre, his alias, his nickname. The Kansas City Strangler.
He murdered at least 13 women. A formidable body count, far exceeding the number of victims of serial killer superstars such as Jack the Ripper. His name is of course none other than Lorenzo Gileard. And this is his saga. Enjoy. This episode, like all other sagas told by me, would not be possible without my loyal Patreones.
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Allow me, dear listener, to provide you a backdrop for tonight's tale. The vista we are viewing, later on very much up close and personal, is Kansas City. The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri.
Its 14 counties straddle the border between the US states of Missouri and Kansas . With 8,472 square miles and a population of more than 2.2 million people, it is the second largest metropolitan area centered in Missouri.
after Greater St. Louis, and is the largest metropolitan area in Kansas, though Wichita is the largest metropolitan area centered in Kansas. People in Kansas City are accustomed to big city crime, and the worst of it started as far back as in the 1880s,
only a few decades after kansas city both in missouri and kansas were incorporated when the power broker pendergrast family began its artful merger of politics and vice
Thomas Joseph Pendergast, known as T.J., was born on the 22nd of July, 1872, in St. Joseph, Missouri, into a large Irish family. He moved to Kansas City in the 1890s and worked in his brother Jim's saloon in the West Bottoms, an immigrant section of town.
It was there that Tom learned the intricacies of politics and the strategic importance of controlling voters. After Jim's death in 1911, Tom assumed control of the local Democratic Party and began building his political machine. Under Pendergast's astute leadership, the Jackson County Democratic Club became a formidable force in Kansas City politics.
Pendergast found it more effective to wield his influence as an unelected official, using his vast network of Irish family members and friends to manipulate elections, often through questionable means such as voter fraud.
His control extended beyond the ballot box as he distributed government contracts and patronage jobs, ensuring loyalty and consolidating his power within the city. Pendergast's diverse portfolio included stakes in utility companies, real estate, and even local newspapers.
His political clout helped him secure numerous city project bids for construction and development contracts. Notable projects included the municipal auditorium, City Hall, and the paving of Brush Creek. By owning multiple concrete companies, Pendergast ensured that city projects would almost guarantee business for his firms.
further enriching his coffers and reinforcing his control. Sendergast's reign was marked by a mix of corruption, organized crime ties, and ambitious public projects. He turned a blind eye to vices like gambling and alcohol, which flourished in Kansas City during the Prohibition era.
Pendergast's machine had close ties to the Italian and Irish mobs, facilitating the operation of speakeasies, illegal gambling dens, and brothels throughout the city. Pendergast's influence over the police force meant that law enforcement officers were often complicit in these illegal activities, accepting regular bribes to ignore the bustling vice industry.
Kansas City became known as a wide-open town where almost anything was permissible. It was for this reason that the editor of the Omaha World Herald remarked, and I quote, If you want to see some sin, forget about Paris. Go to Kansas City. End quote.
The city's reputation for vice only grew during this era, fueling the prosperity and power of the Pendergast machine. Residents and visitors alike enjoyed a lifestyle of relative freedom from the restrictions imposed by prohibition, thanks to Pendergast's control of the local police and political landscape.
While historians believe that Pendergast had direct associations with mafia figures, concrete evidence remains scarce. However, there is no doubt that his machine as a whole benefited from the activities of organized crime.
The machine's control over the city's police force and city council allowed it to operate with relative impunity, and its public works projects provided jobs and economic relief to many Kansas City residents during the tough economic times. One of the most well-known associations in Pendergast's life was his relationship with a young Harry S. Truman.
Pendergast supported Truman's political career, helping him ascend to the US Senate and eventually the presidency. Their relationship was complicated. In public, they often positioned themselves as adversaries, but behind closed doors, they deeply respected and admired each other's power and influence. Truman's political career took off thanks to Pendergast's backing.
In 1922, Pendergast suggested that Truman run for a judgeship in Jackson County. Truman won the position, largely due to the support of the Pendergast machine.
In 1934, Pendergast backed Truman for the U.S. Senate, a move that proved pivotal in Truman's career. Despite being labeled "the senator from Pendergast" by critics, Truman's integrity and hard work in Washington, D.C. gradually earned him respect and helped him distance himself from the tainted reputation of his benefactor.
When Pendergast was convicted of income tax evasion in 1939, Truman publicly distanced himself but privately maintained his loyalty. After Pendergast's release from prison, Truman was reportedly the only elected official who attended his funeral, stating simply, "...he was always my friend, and I have always been his." End quote.
Pendergast's empire began to crumble due to a falling out with Missouri Governor Lloyd C. Stark and increased scrutiny from federal authorities. In 1939, he was convicted of income tax evasion and served 15 months at the federal prison in Leavenworth. The Pendergast machine disintegrated and its once formidable grip on Kansas City faded away. However,
The impact of Pendergast's rule cannot be overlooked. His machine had launched the political career of future President Harry S. Truman. Pendergast's downfall also paved the way for a wave of reform in Kansas City's governance, as citizens sought to break free from the clutches of corruption.
The city gradually became less known for vice and corruption and more for mid-western virtue as the post-war years progressed. However, even the shiniest city on the hill have a dark underbelly. Few Americans outside of Kansas City, Missouri, have ever heard of Lorenzo Gilead.
Yet, Gilead was a prolific killer, conducting a reign of terror in his hometown that lasted for sixteen years. Between the spring of 1977 and January 1993, Gilead strangled to death at least thirteen women, all but one of them prostitutes. What is even more remarkable is that Gilead stopped killing of his own accord.
something that serial killers never do, according to the experts. He may even have gotten away with murder, had he not been nailed by DNA evidence long after his killing spree had ended. The first victim of Gilead's murderous spree was Stacy Swafford, a wayward 17-year-old, just starting out in the dangerous world of street prostitution.
Stacey was strangled to death in April 1977, her body dumped in a garbage-thrown lot. Nearly three years later, in January 1980, Gwen Kizine, a 15-year-old, was found dead in an alley. Like Stacey Swafford, Kizine was a novice prostitute, a one-time churchgoer who had fallen in with a bad crowd and turned to drugs.
her downward spiral delivering her into the hands of a murderer. Another teenage prostitute, 17-year-old Margaret Miller, met her fate at the hands of the same killer in May 1982. Whether or not the police identified the three murders as the work of the same perpetrator is unknown. Certainly, there were similarities.
All three were strangled with their clothing. All had clothing or paper towels stuffed down their throats, probably to silence their screams. All were missing their shoes. A week after the killing of Margaret Miller, Lorenzo Gilead went to prison for felony assault, and a series of murders abruptly stopped.
Nearly four years later, they resumed with a violent spree of eight murders that began a few months after he was paroled. On the 14th of March, 1986, two months after Gilead was released from prison, the body of Catherine Barry was found concealed under a sheet of plywood in a derelict building. Barry, 34, was not a prostitute.
but a mother of three who had ended up on the streets after suffering a nervous breakdown. Then, in August 1986, the body of 23-year-old Naomi Kelly was found discarded in a downtown park frequented by drug addicts. She had been strangled to death. Fourteen weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, the 27th of November,
The straggled corpse of 32-year-old Debbie Blevins turned up outside a church in the fashionable Westport neighborhood. Blevins was naked, except for her socks. There were five more murders in 1987. 36-year-old stripper Anne Barnes was found murdered on the 17th of April, the 10th anniversary of the death of Gilead's first victim, Stacey Swafford.
Seven weeks later, Kellyanne Ford, a 20-year-old streetwalker and drug addict, was found strangled to death in a city park. On the 12th of September, the corpse of 19-year-old Angela Mayhew turned up in North Kansas City. The next to die was 36-year-old Sheila Ingold.
She was found strangled to death in a van on Troost Avenue, a known pick-up spot for prostitutes. Thirty-year-old Carmeline Hibbs was found murdered on the 19th of December. Her body was left in a parking lot on Broadway, about 16 blocks from where Sheila Ingold had been found.
Like several of the other victims, Higgs' shoes were missing from the scene, and she had telltale scratches, cuts, and broken fingernails, indicating that she had fought hard for her life. By this time, police knew they had a serial killer on their hands. But the response from both the authorities and the media was lackluster.
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I see, dear listener, both on internet fora, in chat groups, and on social media, many people asking why there are fewer serial killers today than during the so-called golden age of serial murder, the 1970s and 80s. The fact of the matter is that there are not fewer serial killers active today than back then.
If anything, there are more. But the media is not as interested anymore. And a few killers who do make it to the headlines are only the ones that stand out. For example, by writing to the media or by having extreme amounts of kills on their conscience. Also, crime in the Midwest is unfortunately often overlooked.
in favor of news from either the West or East Coast of the United States. A serial killer who murders five people today is competing with all the serial killers paraded across the media over the past generation.
Unless there's an additional newsworthy factor, a celebrity connection, a particular gruesomeness, an unusual occupation of the killer, an ideal victim, they are not going to generate the coverage that they might have a generation ago, when there was less serial killer competition.
There used to be a clear correlation between the number of victims and the amount of coverage, but it takes more than just a headcount these days to get into the news. It's no longer as simple as weighing five victims versus fifteen victims. The killer would have to do something more dramatic and violent than some other guy did last year to get the equivalent amount of coverage.
This is not something that has happened in the last 10 years, mind you. This trend has been going on since the 90s, when our subject tonight killed his last victim. The murders did get some coverage in the media, particularly during the killer's accelerated spree of 1987, and the police did dedicate resources to catch the perpetrator.
But the $1,000 reward for information, equating to just $77 per victim, gives some indication as to the priority these murders received. Over a year passed before the next murder. Helga Kruger was a 26-year-old Austrian national who worked as a prostitute on Troost Avenue. Her body was found there on the 12th of February, 1989.
Another four years would elapse before the final victim, Connie Luther, was found dead in January 1993. The cooling-off period between Gilead's murders had lengthened considerably since his killing frenzy of 1986-87. After the murder of Connie Luther, he stopped entirely.
No one knows why. And Gilead himself isn't saying. But from January 1993 until his arrest over a decade later, Gilead did not commit any more murders. Or, at least, none that the police are aware of. And this, considering what we've just discussed regarding the low priority given to prostitute murders, is very much cause for concern.
The worst people in the world, namely sexually motivated sadistic serial killer psychopaths such as Gilead, do not simply stop. They go to prison, they die, or they find temporary alternative outlets. And I have to emphasize the word temporary here.
A more famous example of a serial killer who also had a very long cooling-off period is BTK, Dennis Rader. His last murder was in 1991, and he was apprehended in 2005, over a decade later. Rader could not contain himself. He had to get attention. He had to feel powerful and important. So he started to send letters to the local news media in 2004.
and also started communication with police. This very stupid activity caused his arrest. By 2004, Lorenzo Gilead must have thought that he had gotten away with murder. The investigation into the serial killings had long been consigned to a cold case file, with forensic evidence gathering dust in some locker.
But significant advances in criminal detection had occurred in the decades since the last murder. DNA technology was, of course, in wide use by then and had been employed to solve several high-profile cases. But the cost was prohibitive. The Kansas City Police Department simply lacked the budget to revisit its hundreds of unsolved cases. Then,
In 2003, the department was allocated a $111,000 federal grant to run DNA tests on evidence from violent cold cases. From the 600 or so cases that qualified, 85 were chosen for re-evaluation. One of those was the murder of Naomi Kelly, the prostitute slain in 1986.
Lab technicians looking into this evidence got an unexpected bonus. They managed to link the same perpetrator to eight murders from 1986 and 87, as well as five from 1977, 1980, 1982, 1989 and 1993.
And so it was that on the 12th of April, 2004, the lab eventually had a name to go with the DNA samples: Lorenzo Gilead. Investigators were stunned. Gilead had been a suspect in the investigation back in 1987 at the height of the prostitute murders.
Back then, local streetwalkers had pointed him out as someone who occasionally was violent towards them. Someone they were afraid of. He had been questioned and had voluntarily provided a blood sample. He had even been put under surveillance for a time. But it had turned up nothing. Eventually, the police let it drop. But while Gilead had not been charged with the murders,
He was well known to the Kansas City Police Department. In fact, a violent streak seemed to run right through the Gileard family. His father was convicted of rape in 1970. His sister, Patricia Dixon, was a prostitute who stabbed one of her customers to death in 1983 and was later implicated in the killing of another streetwalker.
His younger brother, Darrell, was serving life without parole for a drug-related murder. Lorenzo Gilead certainly fit the mold. A strongly built man of some 5'9", he began his career of violence as a teenager, yet he somehow always managed to avoid doing hard prison time.
His assaults were usually perpetrated against women, including his four wives, the first of whom he married at age 17 when she became pregnant. She would later describe the five years of brutality she had been subjected to before she would manage to escape Gilead's clutches. Gilead also managed to accumulate at least 12 rape complaints without doing serious jail time.
He was acquitted on five charges of sexual assault between 1969 and 1974. Finally, in 1975, one of the charges, brought by the 13-year-old daughter of a friend, did stick. But even here, he pled down to molestation and served only nine months.
Here we see how crimes of a sexual nature were treated very differently back in the golden age of serial murder. Today, if a man raped a 13-year-old child, he would be locked up and the key thrown away. In addition, he would, in America anyway, be gang-raped, stabbed, and tortured by fellow inmates while incarcerated.
But again, these were different times. When those nine months locked up taught Gilead nothing. In 1979, he was charged with raping a woman while threatening her boyfriend with a gun. Despite strong evidence, a jury acquitted him.
In 1980, he was convicted of assaulting his third wife. Then, after the woman divorced him, and while the assault case was still under appeal, he began stalking her and twice beat her up. That eventually earned him more than a slap on the wrist. But of course, by the time Gilead went to prison for those assaults, he was already a serial killer. Having murdered Stacey Swofford,
Gwen Kizine and Margaret Miller. He was released on parole in January 1986. Two months later, he would resume his killing spree. Yet another sexual assault charge was filed against Gilead in October 1989. This time, he raped a neighbor at knife point, but walked away with a suspended sentence and probation under a plea bargain.
After Gilead's latest brush with the law, he seemed to make a genuine effort to go straight. He found work as a garbage collector with Daffanboe Disposal Service and even earned a promotion to a supervisory position. He married his fourth wife in 1991 and seemed to have given up his penchant for domestic violence. Two neighbors. He was curt and standoffish, but never aggressive.
Unfortunately for Lorenzo Gilead, his past was about to catch up with him. Armed with the DNA evidence, police again placed him under surveillance, finally arresting him five days later as he ate lunch at a Denny's restaurant. Shortly after, Gilead was arraigned for the murders in Kansas City courtroom. Knowing that he had likely faced a death penalty if found guilty,
Gilead's attorneys approached Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Cannadzar looking for a deal. Cannadzar agreed not to seek the death penalty, but only on condition that Gilead consented to a bench trial and waived most of his rights to an appeal should he be found guilty. But the prosecutor still had to win a conviction.
And that was made more difficult in the fall of 2006, when Judge John O'Malley threw out most of the evidence against Gilead, citing sloppy police work, both in 1987 and after Gilead's arrest in 2004. Cannazer still had his trump card, though, the DNA evidence tying Gilead to seven murder victims.
When the matter came to trial in the spring of 2007, Gilead was charged with seven counts of murder. Anne Barnes, Catherine Barry, Kelly Ford, Carmeline Hibbs, Sheila Ingold, Naomi Kelly, and Angela Mayhew. He was found guilty on six counts, receiving a sentence of life without parole for each murder.
He initially served his sentence in Western Missouri Correctional Center before being transferred to the Crossroads Correctional Center in July 2019, and he was more or less forgotten about. But then, over a decade after his conviction, famous British television superstar, Piers Morgan, took an interest in him.
In 2018, Pears sat down with Gilead to confront him about his crimes. But shockingly, the killer still claimed that he was innocent of the crimes. And he got angry when Morgan scoffed at the claim. Gilead is the second serial killer Morgan has interviewed for his documentary series simply called Serial Killer. I wonder, Delizna, where he got that idea?
In the first episode, aired in the fall of 2017, Morgan, known for his blunt, in-your-face style of interviewing, sat down with Mark Ribe, one of Florida's most notorious murderers. Morgan asked the Gilead the following, and I quote...
What do you feel, Lorenzo, about what happened to all those women? Because they were all taken off the streets. They were all strangled. And each strangulation apparently took several minutes. So a gruesome way to die. End quote. Gilead simply answered that he knew their fate. When Morgan pressed Gilead on it, and how he felt about what happened to all those women and girls, Gilead answered, and again I quote,
I feel bad, but there ain't nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry what happened to them. That's all I can say. I didn't do it, but I'm sorry. End quote. Morgan pressed him, asking why his semen was found on the victims if he is innocent. Gileard said the police had never taken samples from him.
though there is a record of one taken in 2004 after he was arrested at a Denny's restaurant in Kansas City. Police officers had been tailing him after the DNA linked him to the murders. When Gilead still only unpassionately stated that he did not do it, Morgan asked if Gilead thought he was an idiot.
At this point, Gilead, in a rare moment of genuine human emotion, left the interview.
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I'm sending my brother money directly to his bank account in India because he's apparently too busy practicing his karaoke to go pick up cash. Thankfully, I can still send money his way. Yes, I know I'm sending to your bank account. Western Union, send it their way. Send money in store directly to their bank account in India.
And with that, we come to the end of this standalone episode covering the Kansas City Strangler, Lorenzo Gilead. Next episode, I will bring to you a brand new serial killer expose. So as they say in the land of radio, stay tuned.