For the people who loved the women who died, their deaths remain vivid. Their mother, of English and Czech stock, stayed at home to take care of her children. Pat and Arlene Kubasek could hardly stop laughing on the night, during their high school sophomore year, that they went to the drive-in with four other girls, then sat in the car eating popcorn and rolling their hair on giant curlers. ''Because any kid can end up to be like me. News item: Richard Speck sentenced. The image suggests who she was, serious and slightly removed from the fun. Merlita grew up on the island of Mindoro where bananas, rice and coconut grow. In the spring of 1966, she stepped into an airplane bound for Chicago. It's a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible painted in Colonial Cream. Phil taught public school, had a sailboat and was nice to him, the kid brother. If that one girl wouldn`t have spit in my face, they`d all be alive today.''. Nursing school, as one former student describes it, was like a cross between a convent and boot camp. His mother filed them away neatly, along with the pictures and newspaper clippings. Only one of her siblings, a brother, is still alive. She loved Elvis, cats and the color pink. In the early 1900s, Grace Jordan was a high-ranking surgical nurse at the University of Michigan, and the stories of her accomplishments made Mary Ann think she could be a nurse too. It was a close-knit community where almost no one locked their doors. In one of the slides that her brother recovered from the basement, a young man crouches next to the Bel Air, washing the whitewalls, smiling for the camera. Sat down to write letters. It's where Suzie taught him, as a 10-year-old, to play solitaire. So did the fact that her brother, John, who was four years older, was studying to be a doctor. She rang the bell. I watched `Magnum Force` the other night. And did he have any particular feelings about the American people? Kubasek recalled one day not long ago, sitting with her old friend Arlene Baskys. Nursing students were under strict rules during the 1960s, but still they found time for fun. He told me that he drank moonshine and took barbiturates in his prison cell. After his killing spree in 1966, a manhunt ensued and he was captured two days later. He had never met the women he was about to kill. On Aug. 7, 1966, when Lori Davy, 11, walked across the stage to accept her sister's diploma, her father's orders were fresh in her mind. They were the last women to arrive at the townhouse that night. 'Mindhunter': The True Stories Behind The Show's Killers And Profilers Chicago Tribune's Mary Schmich contributed. Mary Ann is 8. (Schmale family ). "Time is moving on," he said one afternoon, sitting in his peaceful yard under the old, low-hanging trees. Many fans can agree that the interview with Richard Speck was high in terms of tension. Billy died at 42, with Susan as his caretaker. She teaches her students about them and what they meant in both countries. On July 15, 1966, the Chicago Tribune's front page reported the news with the headline "Search for Mass Slayer." On a June day in 1966, when she was 20, she went to one of his races, and afterward waved goodbye. On what occasion? They shoved their beds edge to edge in a single room and lay there at night listening to the newly hired security guard's shoes click along the hallway tiles. In Lori's words, Gloria was driven, independent, intelligent, headstrong, poised, creative and snippy when she didn't like what you were doing. Tina, 23, shared a bedroom with three of the American nurses, while Cora and Merlita shared another. Together they helped prepare Pat's body for burial, at the funeral home run by Arlene Baskys' dad, next door to Joe Matusek's bar. ''You`re talking about two different categories of people,'' Speck said. Some bunk beds, some singles. Nina was 19 when she announced to her family, "I'm going to nursing school.". Like Schmale, she talks about opening the box of her sister's life, and now that it's open she thinks, "Wow, wow, this was my sister. "She gets out of the car, slams the door and found out from the guy where we are and how to get home from there.". He pulled it out recently as he talked for the first time publicly about the sister he lost when he was 15. News item: Richard Speck dies in prison, of a heart attack, the day before his 50th birthday. Dr. John Schmale found a box of old slides in his waterlogged basement and opened a flood of memories. Atienza was the states key witness when Martin prosecuted Speck in the 1967 trial. Before long, the Davy home was packed with people, and every room, it seemed, was packed with roses, so many roses the scent made Lori sick. Outrage Over Explicit Prison Video of Richard Speck | AP News John Farris liked his sister's boyfriend. Would Kubasek help? And it turned out that it reopened her life. Richard Speck | The Chicago Nurse Killer 10,333 views Apr 17, 2020 61 Dislike Share Real Ghost Stories Online 67.8K subscribers In 1966 residents of south Chicago were traumatized by a deviant. Atienza did not respond to Tribune requests for an interview. Gloria Davy was the second of six siblings, born in the same hospital where she eventually studied nursing, raised not far from the townhouse where she died. '', Even when he attempted to express remorse for the murders, he still came off as a conscienceless criminal: ''I`m sorry as hell. One went into nursing. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,.css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}contact us! The police arrived to scenes of carnage, and took Amurao into custody, interviewing her and proceeding with the construction of an Identikit image. Childhood friends of Patricia Matusek share memories with Matuseks niece, who never met her. Patricia Matusek was murdered along with five fellow nursing students and two visiting nurses in 1966 on Chicago'sSouth Side. One of eight young nurses killed in a Chicago townhouse on July 14, 1966, by a man who became notorious: Richard Speck. Over his 25-year career with the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, Douglas interviewed hundreds of America's most notoriously brutal killers, from Charles Manson and Ted Bundy to " Son of Sam " David Berkowitz and the " BTK Killer ," Dennis Rader. "It was terrible," Kubasek said, remembering what she saw. Another time, according to a different news account, Tina wrote her sister saying she wished she could live in Chicago forever. The following stories, accompanied by Schmale's photos and a few others, are a glimpse of who they were and how their deaths have marked the people who remain to remember them. As you all know, in 1988 Richard Speck and Ronzelle Larimore made a video in prison that is half talkshow, half pornography. The Details of Mass Murderer Richard Speck | Oxygen - YouTube Richard Speck murdered eight student nurses in one night in 1966. . "When Merlita (Gargullo) cooked adobo filipino and pancit and they came home from the hospital and smelled the food and they say 'it's good' so we invited them to join us to eat, and they really like it. ''Look at this.'' The next morning, Pat's mother called Kubasek, worried. Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. In the video, Speck also casually admits to the killing of the nurses, describing the strangulations in some detail, and bragging about the strength required to kill someone in this manner. Around 10:30 p.m., she went upstairs to bed, in the high bunk in the room she shared with Merlita. ''I stay up at night as long as it takes me to fall asleep or pass out from the hooch or from whatever we have at the time.''. It was Gloria, 22, calling from the townhouse to say that her fiance had just dropped her off. On April 15, after 49 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Speck guilty and recommended the death penalty. And it hasn't stopped since. The next time he saw her, her body was on a gurney behind a window in the coroners office. In their tightknit neighborhood, Pat and her friends stood on corners during the fall to help her dad sell peanuts for the Kiwanis Club. ''Because any kid can end up to be like me. He couldnt identify everyone he saw, but at the photo of the familiar woman in the familiar yellow two-piece bathing suit, he felt his heart clench. There she joined two other Filipina exchange nurses, Merlita Gargullo and Corazon Amurao, who had arrived a few days earlier. "Awful, awful. By the time he left, around 3:30 a.m., eight women were dead, some stabbed, some strangled, some both. She knew before she was officially told: Pat was dead. By the time he was 24, in 1966, Speck was in Chicago looking for work. She roller-skated in the basement of the family's three-bedroom bungalow. The police didn't rush them, but they left as fast as they could. What the camera couldn't catch were the girl's thoughts, the confusion she felt at the spectacle of all these other graduates. The kitchen door opened onto a narrow alley where Nina parked her Bel Air and where a hospital shuttle picked up and delivered students. They are young and together and happy. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later overturned due to issues with jury selection at his trial. Bill Kurtis obtained the tape through an anonymous lawyer, his production company paid 5K for it back in the 90's. She accepted an assignment at South Chicago Community Hospital and landed at O'Hare airport on May 1, 1966. She has looked at the Facebook page Schmale started as part of the commemoration for the nurses, a place for trading stories and photos, though she doesn't linger. Girl Scout. The doctor had just had a. You climbed down to the ledge on 100th Street? Richard Speck full prison video : r/masskillers - Reddit Police, cameras, gawkers were everywhere, and someone said something about "the bodies.". Richard Benjamin Speck (December 6, 1941 - December 5, 1991) was an American mass murderer who systematically tortured, raped, and murdered eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital on July 13, 1966. To be reminded of his sister's kindness, to be able to speak with someone about her in that way, gave him rare comfort. He plays a lot of solitaire. According to news accounts published at the time, Merlita, 23, was quiet, shy, hardworking, efficient, pretty and blessed with a rich singing voice. "But I come from the place where they make balisong. Billy was the youngest, born with Down syndrome. But she still can't stand the smell of roses. Abigail Atienza followed in her mother's footsteps and became a nurse practitioner, and Christian is a certified public accountant. On July 13, 1966, Speck unleashed his terror on Chicago by breaking into a building in the neighborhood of South Deering. He had pried open the screen of a first-floor window, reached inside for the back-door handle and slipped into the house. 1. Here are five things to know about Richard Speck. For those girls, and for their families, and for me. She helped raise eight younger siblings, swam in the river and was good enough in school to be admitted to the nursing program at Arellano University in the big city of Manila. When Farris thinks about growing up with Suzie, he thinks about the kitchen. Richard Speck had a troubled past and a rap sheet a mile long. Seeing them together, it's hard not to wonder what Pat would be like at their age. Lori Davy, center, accepts a nursing school diploma on behalf of her slain sister, Gloria Davy, at a ceremony at McCormick Place in 1966. The close quarters helped turn most of the women into close friends, and for all their dedication and discipline, they loved pranks. In the Davy family, according to Lori, grieving openly for Gloria was considered weakness, especially by her father, the military man. The camera also catches the misery on those women's faces. Corazon Amurao, center, the nurse who survived the massacre of eight of her fellow student nurses, walks between another nurse and William Ruddel, Bridewell jail superintendent, from Bridewell's Cermak Memorial Hospital after a second visit to the building where Richard Speck was being held on July 19, 1966. Grief will always be tangled in that youthful happiness. Media coverage splashed Speck's image all over the front pages and, in a desperate bid to escape, Speck tried to commit suicide on July 19, 1966, by slashing his wrists in the seedy hotel he was staying in. Speck was captured two days later when an emergency room doctor at Cook County Hospital thought a patient he was treating for self-inflicted gashes looked familiar. After the murders, the nursing students in the nearby townhouses moved back into the dorms connected to the hospital. Heroin and whiskey. Her roommates and friends were killed by Speck on July 14, 1966, after he broke in armed with a gun and a knife. And so, shortly after 12:15, Mary Ann and Suzanne climbed the stairs to Suzanne's bedroom. Speck laughed. She loved swimming, ice skating and softball. He was matter-of-fact about. I asked him if he wasn`t afraid of getting in trouble for talking about the contraband he kept in his cell. ''Dillinger and them guys, that was the Depression, they were robbing banks because that was their only way to survive. He managed to deflect police questioning and escape once again, but police discovered some of Harris' personal effects in his vacant hotel room that conclusively tied him to her attack. She went home, not knowing that a little more than an hour earlier, a drifter with a knife, a gun and a history of violence had broken in and was holding her friends hostage upstairs. Lori tries to live by her mother's words. The video's release caused a major scandal within the Illinois Department of Corrections, and was widely cited as justification for the reintroduction of death penalty. John and Nina walked together to the one-room Queen Bee schoolhouse, carrying tin lunch pails. He unearthed his ancient 35 mm slide projector, marveled that the bulb still worked and began projecting images on a wall. In the townhouse, she was known to sing while doing the dishes or the laundry. Life in the new country must have brought surprises, but it was hardly dramatic. "I don't believe this," Schmale said to his wife on that day half a. "For Filipinos and Filipino Americans who came of age during the 1960s," she said in a recent email, "I think Gargullo and Pasion are remembered as nurses who encountered American violence and tragedy, and Amurao is remembered as the nurse who used her wits to survive.". Their lives are what John Schmale wants the world to see, and he can't help but believe that's what his mother wanted too. The kitchen is where he and Suzie shared lunch, usually made by their dad, who worked afternoons while their mother worked days. At Thornton Fractional South High School, she attended almost every basketball and football game with her closest girlfriends, but she didn't play sports. Growing up, Nina pronounced "Nigh-nah" was a good student, well-liked, quiet but with a sense of humor. Politicians delivering food to the wake. "Always very playful and very compassionate. After graduating from Glenbard Township High School in Glen Ellyn in 1959, she worked as a secretary but didnt like it. Schmale was a student nurse at South Chicago Community Hospital. Dorothy Schmale died five years after her daughter did, her death hastened by heartbreak. I`m not a violent man.''. A. To this day, Siouchoff is convinced that Amurao recognized the difference between the front doorbell and the back one, and deliberately led Speck to the wrong door. That was a good time that we had," she told Martin in a recent email. Martin and Atienza kept in contact as Martin collaborated with author Dennis Breo, updating the book "Crime of the Century," about the Speck murder case. Being in the world of the older girls felt cool. I had that put on me when I was 14 or 15. The judge sentenced Speck to death. Holden's methods during a disturbing interview with mass murderer Richard Speck create dissension among the team and kick off an internal FBI probe. Schmale was a student nurse at South Chicago Community Hospital. During this period he had the words "Born to Raise Hell" tattooed on his arm, a sentiment that wife Shirley had experienced firsthand: She filed for divorce in January 1966. The Untold Truth Of Murderer Richard Speck - Grunge ''A lot of them women are pretty,'' Speck said. There's another kind of sealed box many of them have carried around as well. "Well," she wrote, "it was a fine, dizzying, exciting and wonderful weekend, but I still believe there is no place like home.". Cook County Assistant States Attorney William Martin, left, watches as witness Corazon Amurao uses a scale model of the townhouse crime scene to detail the murder of eight nurses by Richard Speck, center background, during Specks 1966 trial in Peoria, Ill. (R.K. Davidson). Martin and Dennis Breo are co-authors of a 1993 book called "The Crime of the Century." She has rarely spoken in detail about what happened, not even to her husband. "What she did that night, very few human beings would have the courage to do. In winter they went sledding. Pam had been quiet, studious and decisive since she was a girl in south suburban Lansing. Pat was born in 1945, the year World War II ended, to Joe and Bessie Matusek, both of Czech descent. As they snuggled, the phone rang in the nearby den. I watch her comedy show. 'Mindhunter': How the Real Serial Killers Compare to Show's - Insider Until he was six-years-old, he lived a fairly normal life in a small town in Illinois. A few years ago, he ran into an old family friend and she told him a story he'd never heard, about how when she was in high school and couldn't afford a prom dress, Suzie made her one. I stabbed them and I choked them. Bottom row from left are Patricia Matusek, Valentina Pasion, Nina Jo Schmale and Pamela Wilkening. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune). "I don't believe this," Schmale said to his wife on that day half a century later, gazing inside the box. "Let people know who they were," she said. Ate an early supper with Merlita and Tina. Theyre smiling and wearing regular clothes. Richard Speck has been described as a drifter, a loner, a high school dropout, a sociopath, a heavy drinker, a violent man who could be charming. Here are the details of the Richard Speck case, explained. The first floor consisted of a living room, a powder room and a kitchen. The last time John Farris saw Suzie, 21, he had just come home from a track meet, carrying his victory medals, and she was visiting with her boyfriend, Phil. "Pat looks at us and says, 'Oh, for crying out loud!'" Washed clothes in the bathroom sink, hung them to dry in the basement. A. I screamed there for about five minutes and nothing. But before she was gone, she placed four carousels of slides neatly in a box. Richard Benjamin Speck was an American mass murderer who killed eight student nurses in their South Deering, Chicago residence on the night of July 13-14, 19. "She walked within two inches of his forehead and pointed . Speck found work on a ship, and it began to seem like bodies turned up wherever Speck had been. He had no doubt. It was around dawn when she made her way to an upstairs window. She was home on the night of July 13, when her brother Phil stopped by. He'll never forget the cards and letters that flooded in from strangers all over the world. It sure gets way out. (Schmale family). Once, remarking on her diligence and steady temperament, her brother told her she'd make a good military nurse. After she married and had three children, she told her kids that Aunt Gloria had died in a car crash. '', He said that if he were ever paroled, and someone annoyed him, ''I`ll be back in prison. Took a nap. "I just would have liked her to see the kids," he said, and he cried. "This is the man," she said as pandemonium erupted. Subsequent nationwide enquiries also raised the other incidents in which Speck was suspected, as well as his criminal record. He hates knowing that anyone who Googles the name "Nina Schmale" lands on the name "Richard Speck.". Speck was the seventh of eight children. In one of John Schmale's slides, Nina poses wearing nothing but a white towel and her nurse's cap, holding a hypodermic needle and pretending she's about to give one of her housemates a shot. John had his own. Everywhere she looked she saw starched white uniforms, starched white caps, the meticulously dressed 1966 graduating class of South Chicago Community Hospital School of Nursing. When he agreed to talk about his sister, he asked to meet at the Lansing Public Library, which used to be the Indiana Avenue School where he and Pam attended first through fifth grades. The murders continue to have a profound impact on American crime and American society, Martin said. She promptly planned a trip to the United States, but passport problems twice forced her to postpone. She climbed out on a window ledge and screamed for help, at which point concerned neighbors summoned the police. Videos by Chicago Tribune's Chris Walker. Kubasek hurried to her car and drove to the townhouse. Richard Speck Mindhunter: Ford goes too far in interviewing Speck, trying to use inflammatory, sexist language to get the murderer to open up. In 1972, Speck's death sentence was commuted to 50 to 100 years in prison, when the U.S. Supreme Court abolished capital punishment. Martin talked recently in his Oak Park law office about Cora's bravery. She was petrified of Speck but had the courage to step down from the witness stand, walk up to him and point her finger 2 inches from his forehead. An average student at Aquinas High School, she was turned down by Loyola University, so after graduation she took a job as a file clerk for Peoples Gas. (Schmale family ). For a short time he was a carpenter, but soon he was in trouble again: 65-year-old Virgil Harris was viciously raped and robbed in her own home on April 2, 1966, and on April 13 a barmaid in his local tavern, Mary Kay Pierce, was brutally beaten to death. Editor's note: This story was first published on April 28, 2016, and is being republished to mark the 50th anniversary of the murders. Whatever confluence of forces saved her, Cora Amurao made it through the night alive. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune). Richard Speck - Born to Raise Hell | Crime Scene Database (Schmale family ). But whatever the veracity of his account of that murderous night (''It was just one of them weird coincidences. Mary Ann Jordanin her nursing uniform in an undated photo. She did, however, like her volunteer job at an elder-care facility known as the poor farm, and she made friends with her patients, even brought them Christmas presents. Rode the hospital shuttle back to the townhouse. She appreciates every day of life and wants to be happy all the time, because life is not long, Martin said she told him recently. Pamela Wilkening, left, Mary Ann Jordan, right, and Suzanne Farris, second from right, are shown with other student nurses having fun with a South Chicago Community Hospital School of Nursing banner, circa 1966. Now, with the 50th anniversary of the massacre by Speck approaching, we are recuing our report on the compelling interview with the sole survivor of this grisly attack.
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