The Story Of Serial Killer Edmund Kemper

“What do you think his sentence should be?” A reporter asked the judge. The judge replied that, if he had it his way, Kemper would be tortured to death.

Instead of fulfilling his wish, during the penalty phase of the trial, the judge sentenced Edmund Kemper to eight concurrent life sentences. Kemper’s sentencing took place in November of 1973. The judge was not able to sentence Kemper to the death penalty because California had already eliminated capital punishment.

At the time of his sentencing, Edmund Kemper was twenty-five years old. He was found guilty on eight counts of first-degree murder and would become known as the “Co-ed Killer,” though his victims were not restricted to college co-eds.

For Edmund Kemper, the descent into madness occurred early on.

Born December 18, 1948, in Burbank, California, Edmund Kemper was large from the start, weighing in at thirteen pounds. By the time he was four, Edmund was a head taller than his peers. Edmund was the middle child of Edmund Emil Kemper II and Clarnell Kemper; he had two sisters. His father, E.E. Kemper II, was a veteran of World War II. After the war, the Kempers settled in Burbank, which at the time was a small town located in Los Angeles County. E.E. worked at the Pacific Proving Grounds, where he tested nuclear weapons. He later became an electrician. The town of Burbank had grown during the war; Lockheed Aircraft had chosen it as a site for the production of planes. By 1943, Burbank had a population of 53,899.

Both of Edmund’s parents were strict disciplinarians, and their marriage was strained. Clarnell Kemper was known to be a difficult woman. It has been suggested that Clarnell may have suffered from borderline personality disorder. Edmund’s father would later state that testing bombs were nothing compared to being married to Clarnell. He even said that being married to Clarnell had more of an impact on him “than three hundred and ninety-six days and nights of fighting on the front did.”

Edmund felt close to his father, as his mother was distant towards him, rarely showing him any affection. Consequently, Kemper’s feelings for his mother fueled a rage that would escalate with the passing of time—a rage foretelling the destiny of both him and his mother.

If Edmund’s rage was a ticking time bomb, then the lighting of the fuse was the divorce of his parents in 1957. Edmund was only nine when his father moved out; his mother was left with full custody. Clarnell moved Edmund and his two sisters to Montana. It was during this time that Edmund started to express his anger and violent tendencies.

At age ten, Edmund buried the family’s pet cat alive; he later dug up the dead cat and played with it. When he was thirteen, he killed another family cat because it favored the company of his sister, Allyn. Edmund butchered the cat with a machete knife and placed its remains in a closet.

When his mother made the grisly discovery, Edmund denied any responsibility for the cat’s death. Years later, as an adult, Edmund would reveal in an interview that he took pride in the fact that he could successfully lie about the cat’s death, and that he could appear to be an average person despite the rage and fear he felt inside.

As a child, Edmund considered himself a chronic daydreamer, often fantasizing about committing acts of violence against others, in particular, his mother. He would set fires and engage in play that was violent, like dismembering his sisters’ dolls, or pretending he was in a gas chamber and mimicking the convulsive movements of a dying prisoner.

At ten, Edmund’s mother made him sleep in the basement of their home out of fear he might harm his sisters. To prepare the basement for him, Edmund’s mother placed a mattress in the dark, barren room. Edmund would later recall the single, bare bulb that provided light in the rat-infested quarters was his bedroom.

A few years later, when Edmund was fourteen, he could no longer tolerate living with his mother. He decided to run away so he could be with his father, thinking this would make his life easier. His hopes for a better life were short-lived—dashed when he arrived at his father’s home in California to discover Edmund II had remarried and had a stepson through his new wife.

Edmund’s father was less than enthusiastic to see his son but allowed Edmund to stay with him for a while before eventually sending him back to his mother in Montana.

Upon returning to his mother’s home, Edmund discovered that his mother was also planning to remarry. Like her ex-husband, Edmund II, Clarnell was not interested in having Edmund back. To remedy the situation, Clarnell decided to wash her hands of Edmund and sent him to live with his paternal grandparents in North Fork, California.

Barely a teenager, Edmund was unwelcomed by his parents. His father, the only person whom he felt close to, was starting a new life without him. His mother, who he held such deep anger for, was about to marry her third husband. Edmund was unwanted, friendless, and doing poorly in school. He wanted a connection with other people, especially girls or women, but felt completely inadequate. His mother’s cruel and domineering ways had burned a hole in Kemper’s soul.

He went deeper into his fantasies of violence and killing. What he could not anticipate was that his fantasies would materialize into reality upon arriving at his grandparents’ ranch.

The Carnage Begins

 

 

 

 

The town of North Fork is located in central California at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The town had three restaurants, two gas stations, and one grocery store. The home that Edmund’s grandparents, Edmund Kemper Sr. and his wife Maude, offered the fourteen-year-old Edmund was not dramatically different from that of his mother’s. Maude was also an authoritarian in her discipline and emasculated him just like his mother had.

Edmund spent as much time as possible outside to avoid dealing with his grandparents, particularly Maude. His grandfather had bought him a .22-gauge rifle so he could go hunting; however, his grandfather had taken the gun away from Edmund when he discovered he had been shooting birds and animals that were not game animals. Edmund’s shooting had been just for the sake of killing, especially birds. Later, Edmund’s grandfather allowed him to have his rifle back, thinking that Edmund had learned his lesson.

On the morning of August 27, 1964, Maude was in the kitchen, working on a children’s book she was writing while her husband had gone grocery shopping. Edmund entered the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, looking for something to eat. Maude made a comment about his sleeping in late and being useless when it came to helping out around the house. Edmund felt his mind drifting to the dark space, filled with the hate for his mother. He felt a surge of rage and stormed back to his room, leaving his grandmother thinking she could get under his skin.

Minutes later, Edmund returned to the kitchen with his .22-caliber rifle. Maude thought nothing of it, figuring he was going hunting. “Don’t shoot any birds!” she said to him firmly. Edmund pointed his rifle at Maude and pulled the trigger. The first bullet went through her head. Still pumped with emotion, he fired two more shots into her back. Edmund felt like he was in a daze when he realized what he had just done. He dragged her body to her bedroom and placed her in the closet. Something about killing his grandmother left him with a sense of satisfaction.

Then his thoughts turned to his grandfather, who would be returning at any time. Out of a distorted sense of compassion, Edmund felt he must also kill his grandfather. He did not want him to go through the experience of finding his wife murdered. Edmund looked out the living room window and saw his grandfather’s car pulling in. Edmund stepped out the front door, pointed the rifle at his grandfather as he got out of the car. After the shot rang out, his grandfather collapsed to the pavement.

At the age of fifteen, Edmund Kemper had taken the lives of two people.

With both grandparents dead now, the reality of what he had done hit Edmund; he did not know what to do. He called his mother and told her what he had just done. His mother told him to call the police, which he did. Edmund sat in the kitchen as he waited for them to arrive.

He was arrested and taken to the police station, where he was interrogated. When asked why he had killed his grandmother, Edmund replied, “I just wanted to see what it felt like to kill her.”

When Institutions Fail

 

 

 

 

Edmund was placed in Juvenile Hall pending the California Youth Authority’s determination of where to place him long-term. Psychiatrists at the California Youth Authority diagnosed Edmund as being paranoid schizophrenic, with an IQ of 136—near genius level.

They decided to place him at Atascadero State Hospital. Fifteen-year-old Edmund entered Atascadero State Hospital on December 6, 1964.

Atascadero State Hospital is a maximum-security facility located on the central coast of California that houses mentally ill convicts. In the late 1990s, there was an exodus of clinical staff from the hospital because they felt that housing sexually violent predators went against the hospital’s mission of providing the highest quality care to those who had serious mental illness, and it diverted time and resources.

Experts who are familiar with Edmund’s case believe that his referral to Atascadero State Hospital was an irresponsible decision. At the time Edmund was admitted to Atascadero, there were sixteen hundred patients. Of those patients, twenty-four were murderers, and eight hundred were sex offenders. The hospital only had ten psychiatric staff members to serve this population.

Not only did Edmund lack the quality of treatment needed for an offender of his age, but his short stay at Atascadero only strengthened his ability to carry out his future crimes. Edmund spent four years at Atascadero. During that time, he gained the trust of his counselor, even befriending him. His ability to act as a model patient earned him the position as assistant to the staff, which meant he had access to psychological test papers and diagnosis criteria.

Since Edmund was very bright, he was able to educate himself on how to fool the clinicians into believing he was fully rehabilitated. He passed all their psychological testing with flying colors, leading the hospital’s medical team to believe that there was no longer a need to contain him.

Despite the recommendation provided by his doctor at Atascadero, the California Youth Authority released Edmund to the custody of his mother in 1969. His doctor had urged them not to release Edmund to his mother, given her past abusive behavior and psychological issues.

There had been no psychiatrist on the panel for Edmund’s parole hearing, and no aftercare plan offered. Edmund was twenty-one, had killed two people, spent four years in a maximum-security hospital, and was being returned to the person he hated the most, his mother.

Clarnell had moved from Montana to Santa Cruz, California. Her marriage to her third husband had not worked out and ended in divorce. Clarnell found a job as an administrator at the University of California. Edmund was once again subjected to emotional abuse from Clarnell. She frequently attacked his sense of self-worth, just like she had with her three ex-husbands.

Edmund attended a community college and worked a series of odd jobs as part of his parole requirements. With his juvenile criminal record expunged, Edmund eventually landed a job with the California Department of Transportation in 1971.

Edmund wanted to be a state trooper. He had applied but was disqualified due to his weight. At six feet nine inches tall, and three hundred pounds, his weight was way above the standard; recruits needed to be between two hundred eleven and two hundred thirty-four pounds.

By now, Edmund wanted to get his own place. Through his job at the California Department of Transportation, he was able to save enough money to move into an apartment in the city of Alameda, located near San Francisco. He shared the apartment with a roommate. However, he was unable to pay his rent consistently, and Edmund had to move back in with his mother.

Edmund found himself facing a life he felt was as confining as being in Atascadero. He had failed in his ability to support himself. He wanted to socialize and meet girls, but he lacked any confidence with women. He had never kissed a girl or even been on a date.

As a twenty-one-year-old, having spent the last four years in a mental hospital, and living with his mother, how could he ever hope to start a relationship, especially with his background? At least in Atascadero, his basic needs were met, without the criticism from a belittling mother.

Days Of Training

 

 

 

 

Edmund’s anger toward his mother only grew more intense. She had made him feel like a failure throughout his life. The anger he held for her carried over to women in general, although he did want to socialize and have a relationship with them. As an outlet for his frustration, he engaged in voyeurism, and Santa Cruz was the perfect place for this.

As a magnet for young people, Santa Cruz is located on the northern edge of Monterey Bay and south of San Jose. Santa Cruz offered a great environment for those who enjoy an outdoor lifestyle and are open to free-thinking. The climate is moderate, and there are majestic coastlines, towering redwood forests, and plenty of wide, open spaces.

Hippies, flower children, and college students were attracted to Santa Cruz for its alternative community lifestyles and socially liberal attitudes, as well as its university. In 1970, the population of Santa Cruz was just over thirty-two thousand, a small university town nestled amid California’s natural beauty, where young people felt safe there and hitchhiking was common.

While working for the California Department of Transportation, Edmund bought a motorcycle. One day while out riding, Edmund was involved in an accident when a car hit him. Edmund received a fifteen-thousand-dollar settlement from a civil suit he filed against the driver. He used the money to purchase a Ford Galaxy.

Edmund’s violent fantasies became stronger and more frequent. In the beginning, he cruised the highways and roads for young females who were hitchhiking, with no other intention than looking at them, engaging in voyeurism. At some point, conflicting forces took over, and the rage and anger he felt for this mother trumped his desires to merely look at the young women.

Edmund purchased a gun and a knife and was able to obtain a pair of handcuffs. He became obsessed with putting his dark fantasies into action.

Edmund did not start out killing the girls he picked up. He would later tell authorities he had picked up around one hundred and fifty hitchhikers, letting each one of them go without incident.

He picked up female hitchhikers he found attractive; he gravitated to small, petite girls. As he drove them to their destination, he observed their behavior and how they reacted to him. He learned ways to make them trust him and to gain their confidence. While he was trying to make his passengers feel comfortable, his violent fantasies of what he really wanted to do to them became more intense.

With each hitchhiker Edmund picked up, he was rehearsing how he would kill them. He gained insight by reading police novels, finding tips such as keeping his car door locked once he had a passenger inside, or how to give others the impression he was safe. He rehearsed killings hundreds of times before actually doing it.

For over a year, Edmund practiced the art of picking up girls. During each of these times, the girl reached her destination safely. That is, until May 7, 1972, the day the killings started.

Edmund was working through a mental tug-of-war. He would later say in an interview with detectives, “I was scared to death of having a relationship with a woman. I am picking up young women, and going a little farther each time. It’s a daring kind of thing. First, there wasn’t a gun. We go to a vulnerable place, where there aren’t people watching, where I could act out and then say, ‘No, I can’t do this.’ Then a gun is in the car, hidden, and this craving; this awful raging, eating feeling is in me, and this fantastic passion takes over. It was overwhelming. It was like a drug. Addicting.”

From Fantasy To Reality

 

 

 

 

When Mary Ann Pesce and her friend Anita Luchese failed to arrive in Berkley, California, their parents filed missing person reports.

Both girls were students at Fresno State College and hitchhiking to Stanford University. They had planned to spend a few days in Berkley. Police did not give the missing girls report a high priority because of the high number of runaways and the transience nature of the Bay Area. Additionally, the police thought it was not uncommon for teenage girls to spend time with either friends or boyfriends, without telling anyone. While the lack of a rapid response by the police must have been deeply frustrating for the girls’ parents, an immediate response would not have made a difference this time.

Edmund had picked up Mary Ann and Anita from the highway on May 7, 1972, and driven them to a secluded area. He tied up Anita and left her in the car. He took Mary Ann, at gunpoint, into the woods. He stabbed her multiple times and left her for dead. He then went back to the car for Anita. He could not believe he had killed Mary Ann. Furthermore, he was fearful that Anita would report him. He was concerned with Anita seeing the blood on his hands. He told Anita he had ended up fighting with Mary Ann and had punched her in the nose. He asked her to go with him to take care of her. However, before Anita could even react, he started stabbing her repeatedly with his knife.

He would tell investigators the knife he used was inadequate for the job. He’d had to stab Anita numerous times to kill her because the knife would not penetrate the overalls she was wearing.

Edmund put the bodies of both girls in the trunk of his car and slammed it shut. He was about to drive away from the scene, but was unable to find his car keys. He panicked, thinking he had left them in the trunk of the car. After several futile attempts to open the trunk, Edmund panicked and ran away. While running, he tripped and fell. In his excitement, he had forgotten about the gun he was carrying and it dropped to the ground. Edmund realized he needed to calm down and gather his wits.

As he settled down, he realized his car keys had been in his back pocket the whole time. He returned to the vehicle. As he drove around with the girls’ bodies in the trunk, he tried to figure out what to do next.

Eventually, Edmund decided it was time to bring the bodies to his apartment. Among the items he’d kept in the car, in preparation for committing murder, were blankets. Edmund wrapped the bodies in blankets and carried them one by one into his apartment. Once in his apartment, Edmund removed the girls’ clothes, dissected, and decapitated them. He then dumped the bodies in a remote ravine, but kept the heads in his apartment for a few days, before disposing of them. A feeling of power washed over him. He had appeased his inner demons. For now.

Four months had passed since Edmund had killed Mary Ann and Anita. Mary Ann’s body and head were discovered; Anita’s remains were not found. No one suspected that Edmund was the killer. During Edmund’s reign of terror, other serial killers were also committing murders in the areas around Santa Cruz, which may have added to the confusion.

On the evening of September 14, 1972, fifteen-year-old Aiko Koo was hitchhiking along a highway. Aiko was trying to get to her dance class after giving up waiting for the bus. Edmund spotted her on the side of the road. Aiko hesitated before accepting a ride from him.

Edmund’s confidence was increasing and he was bolder this time, going directly for his gun. Aiko started to panic, which posed a problem for Edmund. Unable to control his vehicle and Aiko at the same time, Edmund persuaded her he had the gun because he was going to commit suicide. He told her she would not be harmed if she did not attempt to signal for help from nearby cars.

Edmund turned off on to a mountain road and drove until he found a secluded spot. He grabbed and restrained Aiko, wrapping tape around her mouth so she could not speak. Then, he jammed his fingers up her nostrils so she could not breathe; Aiko’s struggling ceased when she lost consciousness. But to Edmund’s surprise, Aiko regained consciousness just a few minutes later. So, he grabbed her scarf and strangled her, not letting up until he was sure she was dead.

Edmund threw her body in his trunk and drove away. His confidence, not only in his ability to kill, but to get away with it, was growing—so much so that he stopped off for a beer at the Jury Room, a local bar.

The Jury Room bar was a frequent hangout for police offers. Edmund had always been interested in the police and enjoyed talking to them. Murdering Mary Ann and Anita had given him an added incentive to go to the Jury Room; to see if he could catch any conversations about their murders.

The police at the bar referred to him as “Big Ed,” and thought of him as a polite, articulate, and gentle individual. After a few drinks, Edmund drove to his mother’s home to visit. Neither the police at the Jury Room nor his mother had any idea the car parked outside contained Aiko’s body. Edmund even took time to excuse himself from these social visits to take another look at the body.

Like many serial killers, Edmund would often keep trophies of his victims. Besides body parts, he would keep articles of clothing, photographs, and other personal items.

After leaving his mother’s home, Edmund drove back to his apartment. He transferred Aiko’s body from the trunk of his car to his bed, where he laid her out. As with Mary Ann and Anita, he dissected her body and removed her hands and head, which he disposed of in various locations. Later on, he disposed of the rest of her body. Authorities did not connect Aiko’s disappearance to Mary Ann and Anita, and her remains were never found.

The day after killing Aiko, Edmund attended a meeting with psychiatrists—a requirement of his parole. The purpose of the meeting was to appraise Edmund’s progress and evaluate if he was adhering to the conditions of his parole. Edmund told the two psychiatrists exactly what they wanted to hear. Not only were they satisfied with his attending college and doing well, but they also liked that he was actively searching for a job and obeying the conditions of his parole.

Both psychiatrists reported that Edmund was not a danger to others and seemed normal. Given that Edmund had killed three women, one as recently as the day before this assessment, the conclusion is all the more staggering.

The following day, the San Madera Police Department received a dealer’s “record of sale” for a .44-caliber revolver that was purchased by Edmund Kemper. Sergeant Aluffi was chosen to follow up on Kemper to determine if he was authorized to possess it. Sergeant Aluffi went to Edmund’s home, which was difficult to locate, given the layout of the houses in the area. Eventually, he found it. No one was home. Then, he remembered hearing other officers mention that Edmund frequented the Jury Room, so that was his next stop.

Upon his arrival, he saw a vehicle pull into the parking lot. A huge man exited the vehicle; Sergeant Aluffi knew instantly, by the man’s size, it was Edmund Kemper. He approached Edmund, who was moving toward the trunk of his car.

Sergeant Aluffi advised Edmund that he needed to take his gun, in order to determine if he was authorized to own it. Edmund replied that the gun was in the trunk of the car. When Edmund moved closer to the trunk, Aluffi advised him to stop moving—that he would open the trunk. He did so, and found the gun wrapped up in a blanket.

When the gun, along with Edmund’s background, were checked, no red flags appeared. Since Edmund had been a juvenile when he had killed his grandparents, the record of his crimes had been expunged.

Edmund’s next murder would take him back to his mother’s home. Growing cocky in his ability to kill undetected, on January 8, 1973, Edmund picked up Cindy Schall, another hitchhiker. Edmund shot her and took her body to his mother’s home; she was out. Edmund carried Cindy’s body to his room. Just as with his previous victims, Edmund dissected, dismembered, then decapitated her. The following day, Edmund dumped her bloody body parts in the pristine oceans around Santa Cruz. As for Cindy’s head, he buried it in his mother’s backyard—directly in front of his bedroom window.

The police would later get a call from beachgoers who came across Cindy’s body parts; they’d washed ashore. The police had yet to connect Edmund to any murders, let alone link the victims to each other.

Edmund felt so sure of himself that he continued to visit the Jury Room on a regular basis. In the meantime, the University of Santa Cruz, in partnership with the Santa Cruz police, started an awareness campaign to warn students of the dangers of hitchhiking.

They released this message:

“When possible, girls especially, stay in dorms after midnight with doors locked. If you must be out at night, walk in pairs. If you see a campus police patrol car and wave, they will give you a ride. Use the bus, even if somewhat inconvenient. Your safety is of upmost importance. If you are leaving campus, advise someone where you are going, where you can be reached, and the approximate time of your return. DON’T HITCH A RIDE, PLEASE!!!”

On February 5 ^th , Edmund got into a heated argument with his mother. Storming out of her house, he hopped in his car. Edmund’s urge to kill kicked in; killing provided a release from the intense anger he had for his mother.

During this particular drive, Edmund’s windshield was adorned with a parking permit from the University of Santa Cruz, which he had acquired from his mother. It allowed him to drive on campus, looking for potential victims. He cruised around the interior of the campus area and spotted Rosalind Thorpe.

Edmund offered Rosalind a ride. She got in his car, without any hesitation. He drove a little further and spotted Alice Liu—another co-ed hitchhiking. Seeing Rosalind in the passenger seat and the University’s parking permit on Edmund’s car, Alice got in the backseat without concern.

Edmund was so confident in his ability to kill that he did not even attempt to find a secluded area to park. As they drove along the empty highway, Edmund distracted Rosalind by pointing to a scenic view of the ocean. As Rosalind stared through the passenger window, Edmund shot her in the head, killing her instantly. Alice screamed and tried to escape. He stopped the car and shot her in the head. Alice was still alive, and he shot her three more times in the head. Then Edmund continued driving, as though nothing had happened.

Finding a quiet place on the side of the road, Edmund placed both bodies in the trunk of his car, taking time to wrap them in blankets. He brought the bodies to his mother’s home. She was not home, so he carried the bodies to his room where he beheaded them. He had sex with Alice’s headless body and then dismembered the two bodies. He also took the time to remove the bullets from both heads. He disposed of the body parts in the area of Santa Cruz, and the heads and hands in the city of Pacifica.

In March, hikers in San Mateo County came across a skull and jawbone near Highway 1; the bones belonged to different people. When detectives searched the area further, they recovered a second skull that belonged to the jawbone found by the hikers. These remains belonged to Rosalind and Alice.

After his arrest, Edmund would tell investigators each of the co-eds he’d killed was a “practice run.” He was using them to sharpen his skills. All of this “training” was strengthening him so he would be able to murder the one person who stood at the center of his rage, his mother.

Edmund told the investigators, “I lived as an ordinary person most of my life, even though I was living a parallel and increasingly violent other life.” That “increasingly violent other life” would boil over on April 21, 1973.

Mother, This One Is For You

 

 

 

 

It was nighttime, and Clarnell was about to retire for the day when Edmund came in. Clarnell made a comment to him, triggering his anger and igniting an argument. Clarnell was tired of Edmund using her home like a hotel and not taking responsibility for himself. Disgusted, she went to her bedroom, closed the door, and got in bed.

Tonight’s argument did not have the same impact on Edmund as it had in the past, as he no longer felt like a victim. His killing of six people without bringing any suspicion upon himself made him feel more powerful and more in control than any other time in his life.

Edmund went back to his car and got his tools: a hammer and a knife. He brought them to his room. He turned on the television and watched some shows until it was late and he was confident his mother was asleep. He silently entered her bedroom and stood over her as she lay sleeping. He raised the hammer and brought it down as hard as he could on her head. His mother screamed, writhing in pain and bleeding profusely from her head. Within seconds, she lay motionless. Edmund then took his knife and decapitated her. Holding up her decapitated head, he dug into the opening of her severed neck and pulled out her larynx.

Feeling as though he were in a hyper-aware state, Edmund felt like he was observing himself from afar as he headed for the kitchen. Standing over the kitchen sink, he shoved the larynx down the garbage disposal and turned it on. As small pieces of ground flesh flew out the opening of the garbage disposal, Edmund laughed sadistically. He would tell investigators, “That seemed appropriate as much as she’d bitched, screamed, and yelled at me over so many years.”

Edmund then took the head to his room and placed it on top of his dresser. He went to the dartboard that was hanging on the wall and gathered up all the darts. One by one, he threw the darts at his mother’s head. In a final explosion of rage, he went back to her bedroom and had sex with her headless corpse. When he had finished using her corpse, Edmund dismembered it and hid the parts in a closet.

Edmund happened to think of Sally Hallett, a close friend of his mother’s. Concerned that the fifty-nine-year-old woman would become suspicious when her attempts to reach his mother proved unsuccessful, Edmund called Sally and invited her over for dinner, which she eagerly accepted. When Sally arrived, Edmund strangled her and placed her body in another closet. He then returned to his room, collapsing on his bed; he felt emotionally drained. A lifetime of anger and rage had been released from him like the air from a balloon.

The next morning, Edmund woke up early and took off, leaving the bodies behind. Before he left, he wrote a message and placed it on his mother’s bloody mattress. It read, “Sorry champs for the mess. I had to go and did not have time.”

Edmund took Sally’s car and drove toward Pueblo, Colorado, some fifteen hundred miles away. While driving, he listened to the radio, anticipating there would be a news flash about the murders. He was disappointed by the lack of news coverage about his mother and Sally. However, at the same time, he was beginning to sense the police would catch up with him, given Sergeant Aluffi’s inquiry about his gun.

Calling It Quits

 

 

 

 

Upon reaching Pueblo, Edmund pulled over to a payphone and called the Santa Cruz Police Department, confessing to the killings of his mother and her friend. The officer who took Edmund’s call did not take him seriously, figuring the caller was playing a prank.

Edmund called back again, but the officer who answered continued to express disbelief. The officer knew of Edmund’s reputation for hanging around the police at the Jury Room; officers knew Edmund as a jokester, who also gave the impression of being gentle. In addition, the police were unaware of the deaths of Clarnell Strandberg, her name from her third marriage, and Sally Hallett. Edmund requested that Sergeant Aluffi go to his mother’s home—telling him this was no joke.

As Edmund requested, Sergeant Aluffi and another officer went to the home of Clarnell Strandberg. When they entered the home, they were hit with a putrid smell. Instantly, Sergeant Aluffi realized that Edmund’s claims were true. When they entered the bedroom, they saw dried blood splattered everywhere. They found the note that Edmund had written: “Sorry champs for the mess. I had to go and did not have time.”

When they entered Edmund’s room, they began to feel physically nauseated. There, perched on the dresser, was the decaying head of Clarnell Strandberg, covered with darts. They left Edmund’s bedroom and made their way down the hall to the two closets. The first closet contained the body of Sally Hallett, and the second had the headless corpse of Clarnell Strandberg.

Sergeant Aluffi called for the coroner and forensic team to start processing the crime scene. The officer who had taken Edmund’s original call was notified and instructed that should Edmund call again, they were to keep him on the phone and get any information they could. In the meantime, Sergeant Aluffi contacted the Pueblo Police to inform them about Edmund.

Edmund did call again. The officer who took his call got Edmund’s location, which he freely offered. Edmund understood that the Pueblo Police would be notified. He offered to wait for them to arrive at the motel where he was staying. When police descended on the hotel, they found Edmund, calmly waiting for them. He was arrested without incident.

District Attorney Peter Chang and a group of detectives traveled to Pueblo to pick up Edmund and transport him back to Santa Cruz. Edmund continued to be cooperative and waived his right to an attorney.

He is the only serial killer to have ever turned himself in.

Tying Up Loose Ends

 

 

 

 

When they arrived back in Santa Cruz, detectives interviewed Edmund, who spoke freely to them. He confessed to killing the female hitchhikers and took detectives to the sites where he had disposed of their body parts. He told them of the rush he’d experienced when having oral sex with their decapitated heads, feeling like he possessed them as his property.

Edmund also disclosed to detectives the urge to kill women after he experienced clashes with his mother. Edmund freely answered all the detectives’ questions; he was an open book without a hint of remorse. During police interviews, Edmund explained he did not know how to connect with women, nor did he know how to communicate with them. He was scared of being rejected.

Edmund’s conflicting desire to connect with women, while being afraid of them, would later be expressed during an interview, with the magazine Cosmopolitan . The reporter asked him how he felt after killing his mother, when he saw an attractive girl. His answer to the reporter was, “One side of me says, ‘I’d like to talk to her, date her.’ The other side says, ‘I wonder how her head would look on a stick.’”

As detectives dug deeper through their interview, Edmund shared that he felt the fear of rejection he’d experienced was caused by his mother’s behavior toward him. Since he had been a child, he had never been able to stand up for himself. He loathed who he was. He always ran away when other kids tried to fight him. Fearing that he was gay, Edmund’s mother tried to “make him a man” by being tough on him. He explained how, at eight years old, his mother had ordered him to kill his pet chicken, which she later made him eat. After this ordeal, he ran out of the house, hopped on his bicycle, and rode away with tears streaming down his face.

Edmund also expressed he had never kissed a girl, never gone on a date, nor had he ever had sex. As much as he wanted to socialize and connect with girls, he felt useless and undesirable. For him, violence was the only way he could associate with women. As much as he wanted to relate with the hitchhikers who entered his car, he felt they were all untouchable. The depth of his desire to be with these co-eds was only matched by the anger and rage that he would never be able to make that happen.

The only way he could ever be with these girls would be if he was in total control—which required killing them. Having sex was with a corpse meant no chance of rejection. In fact, as much as he wanted to rape the girls, he feared he would not be able to perform.

In killing his mother, Edmund felt like he was finally in charge; exorcising his demons and standing up to her. This was his way of expressing to her who he was; no longer a scared, abused boy. He was powerful!

When asked why he had turned himself in, Edmund stated, “The original purpose was gone… It wasn’t serving any physical, or real, or emotional purpose. It was just a pure waste of time… Emotionally, I couldn’t handle it much longer. Toward the end there, I started feeling the folly of the whole damn thing, and at the point of near exhaustion, near collapse, I just said to hell with it and called it all off.”

Edmund’s original purpose was to get back at his mother, which he achieved. The fact he had frequented the Jury Room, socializing with the officers there, prevented him from falling under their suspicion for any of the killings.

Throughout the interview, Edmund told detectives he was living in parallel realities. When he was killing women or holding their decapitated heads, he felt like he was in another world, totally devoid of reality. Yet, he could snap back to reality instantly. He recalled a time when he was enjoying playing with the head of one of his victims and heard a knock at the door. He answered. It was his apartment manager, who Edmund was able to talk with calmly about her concerns, without arousing any suspicion. When she left, he went back to playing with the head.

Another time, Edmund was walking upstairs to his apartment and carrying a camera bag that belonged to one of his victims; inside the bag was his victim’s head. As he approached his apartment, he passed a young couple who were going out on a date. The couple smiled at him, and he responded back with a friendly smile of his own. Deep inside, he longed to be on a date like they were. His ability to seem invisible to others, despite the horrors that he was committing, boosted Edmund’s confidence in his ability to kill and get away with it.

He told police it had reached a point of flaunting his killings. He recalled burying the heads of two of his victims in the front yard of his mother’s home while she was there. Furthermore, her neighbors’ living room window faced him, with the curtains drawn open. The neighbors had been home as well.

Edmund told detectives his urge to kill always followed an argument with his mother. In fact, the co-eds he killed had somehow represented what his mother coveted. Most of his victims were students of the University of Santa Cruz, where his mother worked. His mother would not introduce him to any of the girls she knew there because she felt he was not good enough for them. Edmund stated he wanted to love his mother, but was unable to; calling her an angry, sick woman, and that he hated her. He saw how she was destroying herself with alcohol. However, he also acknowledged that she’d had a difficult life.

A Killer On Trial

 

 

 

 

On May 7, 1973, Edmund was indicted on eight counts of first-degree murder. Attorney Jim Jackson was the Chief Public Defender for Santa Cruz County. Jackson offered a plea of insanity. Jackson was limited to the insanity defense because Edmund had waived his rights to an attorney when he had been arrested and had spoken freely to the police. Offering an insanity defense would be a hard sell because Edmund had carried out the murders in a strategic and carefully planned manner.

States like California apply the M’Naghten rule, which includes:

“A criminal defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity, if at the time of the alleged criminal act, the defendant was so deranged that he or she did not know the nature or quality of his or her actions, or, if he or she knew the nature and quality of his or her actions, he or she was so deranged that he or she did not know that what he or she was doing was wrong.”

Jackson also challenged the diagnosis that had been given to Edmund at Atascadero, successfully arguing that Edmund’s violent fantasies were not sufficient to diagnose him as being psychotic.

Edmund attempted to take his life twice while waiting for his trial. He tried to slit his wrists; however, both attempts were unsuccessful. His trial began on October 23, 1973.

The prosecution had three psychiatrists examine Edmund before the trial, and they concurred in their assessments that Edmund was sane. One of the psychiatrists, Dr. Joel Fort, stated that Edmund had most likely engaged in cannibalism by eating parts of his victim and that he had experienced a sense of notoriety from being a serial killer.

Jackson offered the following closing statement to the jury, “There are two people locked up in the body of this young giant: one is fighting to be here with us now, and the other is slipping away to his world of violent fantasy where he is happy.”

When he was found guilty, Edmund requested he be put to death. An ironic request, given that dying by the gas chamber was a game that he used to play with his sisters.

His request was denied, given that California had temporarily banned the death penalty at the time of his sentencing.

 
Solace Amid The Cement And Steel

 

 

 

 

The trial was over in less than three weeks. After five hours of deliberation, the jury found Edmund guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison at the California Medical Facility State Prison, in the small town of Vacaville. He shared the same cell block with Charles Manson and convicted killer Herbert Mullin.

Edmund did not show up for his parole hearings; he was eligible in 2007 and 2012, and declined both hearings. His attorney, Scott Currey, states, “His feeling is that he—and this is his belief—no one’s ever going to let him out and he’s happy; happy going about his life in prison.”

For Edmund, prison is the only real home he has ever known; a safe place where his needs are taken care of. He is free from the murderous temptations he had experienced when he was around women and excised his past with his mother.

He is considered a model prisoner and involved in numerous activities, including crafting ceramic cups, scheduling the psychiatric appointments of other inmates, and recording audiobooks for the blind; he has completed over five thousand hours of narration.

Edmund has accommodated researchers by allowing them to interview him in their pursuit to better understand the minds of serial killers. In fact, he was one of the first murderers to be interviewed by the FBI’s newly formed Behavioral Science Unit.

He feels he can provide a unique service to others by sharing his own experience in the hopes it can help someone else by preventing them from killing.

Edmund was one of the killers interviewed in the documentary Murder: No Apparent Motive , where he stated:

“There’s somebody out there watching this and hasn’t done that—hasn’t killed people, and wants to, and rages inside and struggles with that feeling, or is so sure they have it under control. They need to talk to somebody about it. Trust somebody enough to sit down and talk about something that isn’t a crime; thinking that way isn’t a crime. Doing it isn’t just a crime, it’s a horrible thing, it doesn’t know when to quit and it can’t be stopped easily once it starts.”

Despite the fact that Edmund is now a model prisoner, it was not always that way. There was an incident in the late 1970s when Edmund challenged a researcher, which resulted in a change in FBI policy.

Robert Ressler was a criminal profiler for the FBI, who had interviewed Edmund several times as part of the Criminal Personality Research Project he was working on. For his last interview with Edmund, Robert declined all offers by prison officials to have a guard present, which is normally provided for the security of visitors.

Robert felt comfortable with Edmund and felt any added security would interfere with the interview; besides, there was a button in the interviewing room that would alert guards if needed. When the interview was over, Robert pushed the button so they could let him out of the locked room, but no guards came.

Robert pushed the button two more times, but to no avail. Edmund told him, “Relax. They’re changing the shift, feeding the guys in the secure areas. Might be fifteen, twenty minutes before they come and get you.” Robert was worried, which fed Edmund’s manipulative personality. “If I went ape shit in here, you’d be in a lot of trouble, wouldn’t you? I could screw your head off and place it on the table to greet the guard.”

Robert tried to call Edmund’s bluff by advising him of the potential consequences that he would incur if he harmed him, to which he replied, “What would they do—cut off my TV privileges?”

Understanding the futility of his response to Edmund, Robert told him he was carrying a weapon. Edmund inquired as to the kind of weapon he was carrying, but Robert told him he would not give specifics. His continued stalling bought him the time he needed for a guard to finally show up. As Robert left the room, Edmund told him, “You know I was just kidding, don’t you?”

Since that incident, it has been FBI policy to conduct interviews with serial killers in pairs.

Edmund has also been known to manipulate other prisoners, in particular, Mullin. Edmund had a strong dislike for Mullin, who committed murders in Santa Cruz around the same time he did. He feels Mullin was an indiscriminate killer, with no good reason for what he did. At the same time, Edmund admits to the hypocrisy of his thinking. It was this kind of self-awareness that led FBI profiler John E. Douglas to call Edmund, “among the brightest prison inmates” he has ever interviewed, saying that he offered unique insights for a violent criminal.

Edmund used his towering six-foot nine-inch stature to impose his “house rules” on the five-foot-seven Mullin, whom he called “Herbie.” Edmund could not stand it when Mullin sang while he and other prisoners were watching television.

Mullin liked to sing, but lacked any consideration for others. Edmund trained Mullin to be courteous to others by employing behavior modification. When Mullin distracted others with his singing, Edmund poured water on him. When he demonstrated courtesy by respecting others, Edmund gave him peanuts, one of his favorite treats.

Edmund’s notoriety has made his story prominent in popular culture, inspiring movies, books, and music. In the 2000 film American Psycho , Edmund is the inspiration for actor Christian Bale’s character, Patrick Bateman, who uses some of Edmund’s words as dialogue.

The 2008 cult horror film Kemper: The Co-Ed Killer , is loosely based on the facts of the case. Edmund was one of five serial killers used to develop the character of Buffalo Bill in the novel, The Silence of the Lambs .

In his 1996 novel Intensity , author Dean Koontz used Edmund as his inspiration for creating the character of Edgler Vess. Punk and Thrash metal bands have written songs about Edmund with titles like Edmund Kemper had a Horrible Temper by Macabre, Fortress by System of a Down, and Murder by the German duo, Seabound.

Accessories can be purchased online that bear his image include: t-shirts, trading cards, novelty coins, and tote bags.

Even though Edmund Kemper has been denied parole multiple times, his family still lives in fear that one day he will be granted parole through some fluke.