Episode 20: The Orchard Apartment Murders

 

 

Two similar crime scenes are found within days of each other in the same apartment complex. Is it a coincidence, or the beginning of a serial killer’s reign of terror in Houston, TX?

 

Sources:

 

Dogan, Kamil Hakan & M.D, Serafettin & M.D, Idris & Erkol, Zerrin. (2010). Decapitation and Dismemberment of the Corpse: A Matricide Case*. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 55. 542 - 545. 10.1111/

 

"Houston Decapitator - Police try to link killings - 14 AUG 1979" Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 14, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram-houston-decapit/55075340/

 

Alys Elaine McDonald Rankin  (1946-1979) - Find A... 7 July 1946, www.findagrave.com/memorial/140901551/alys-elaine-rankin.

 

“Slashing Deaths Thought Related “Newspapers.com, Longview News-Journal, August 14, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/longview-news-journal/19537489/

 

“Houston Tenants Frightened By 2nd Murder at Apartments” "08131979" Newspapers.com, Austin American-Statesman, August 13, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman-08131979/33026184/

 

“Second Murder Checked” Newspapers.com, Corpus Christi Times, August 13, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/corpus-christi-times/149658900/

 

“Police Unsure About Slasher” Newspapers.com, Tyler Morning Telegraph, August 14, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/tyler-morning-telegraph-houston-decapita/55075141/

 

“Woman Assaulted, Decapitated” Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 29, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram/149659242/

 

Ehrlich, Brenna. “Why Were There so Many Serial Killers Between 1970 and 2000 — and Where Did They Go?” Rolling Stone, 25 Mar. 2021, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/serial-killers-1970s-2000s-murders-1121705.

 

Pinkerton, James. “Horrific 1979 killings left bodies headless” Chron. April 9, 2012. https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/horrific-killings-in-1979-left-bodies-headless-3467505.php

 

Winskog, C., Byard, R.W. Decapitation: a rare form of postmortem mutilation. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 12, 98–100 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-015-9714-4