The Mystery Behind Criminal Minds : Lust Killings

Happy True Crime Thursday Ya’ll!!

I am back after a bit of a break, for those that don’t know I had a beautiful baby boy on June 22nd and I've been spending all my time with him and enjoying every second! But I have missed working on my passion so here I am ready with my list of stories I’d like to cover.

Please let me know if there is one in particular you want to know more about and I would be more than happy to research it!

To kick things off I’m going to start with a case that occurred in my home state of Oregon. I’m covering the case of the Lust Killer who stalked woman from 1968-1969.

Jerome Brudos was born in South Dakota on January 31, 1939 and was the youngest of two boys. Growing up his family moved a few times, ending up in California and Oregon. His mother was extremely overbearing and the two of them had a strained relationship.

When Brudos was five years old he found a pair of high heels in a pile of trash and from that point on his fascination with women’s shoes grew. His strange obsession with shoes became a fetish and he started to break into homes to steal shoes and women’s underwear. In his teenage years he started to get violent, he would knock girls down, choke them until they were unconscious and then take the shoes.

When he was 17 he was sent to the Oregon State Hospital Psychiatric Ward, he confessed to holding a girl at knife point in a hole that he dug with the intention of enslaving her for sex. He was released after 9 months, which was a huge mistake because it was clear that he had developed the desire to act out his violent fantasies. These violent fantasies developed from the deep hatred he had for his mother according to hospital records.

When he finished high school he became an electrician and at the age of 22 he got married, moved to Salem, OR and eventually had 2 children. During this time he continued to explore his fetishes, sneaking into other people’s homes to take women’s underwear. His mother eventually came to live with them in their small suburban home.

The relationship with his wife began to crumble. She went along with his strange fantasies in the bedroom, but the final straw was when he approached her dressed in women’s underwear. Rejected by her he retreated to his workshop which was off limits to the rest of the family. She even eventually discovered pictures of naked women and an odd mold of a breast. Despite all of this the 2 of them remained married.

So let’s talk about when things really started to escalate with Brudos. Between 1968 and 1969 women started to disappear. In January of 1968, a 19 year old door to door encyclopedia salesperson named Linda Slawson knocked on the wrong door. Brudos’ door. He killed her, then cut off her left foot to use as a model for his stolen shoes collection.

In November of 1968, 23 year old Jan Whitney’s car broke down while she was driving home from college. Brudos pulled up, strangled her in her car, had sex with her body and then brought her back to his shop where he continued to violate her body for several days as it hung from hooks on his ceiling. Before he got rid of her body he cut her right breast off in order to make paperweights with them.

Karen Sprinkler, age 19, disappeared on March 27, 1969 from a department store garage, she was supposed to meet her mom for lunch. Brudos forced her into his car at gunpoint, brought her back to his workshop where he raped her and forced her to wear various women’s underwear and pose for pictures. He killed her by hanging her from the hook on his ceiling, like the others he removed her breasts and disposed of her body.

In April of 1969, 22 year old Linda Salee was kidnapped from a shopping mall. Brudos brought her to his home, raped her and then strangled her to death. Then disposed of her body. A few weeks later her body was discovered in the Long Tom River, her body had been weighted down by a car part. Investigators on the case noted the unusual knot on the nylon rope used to tie the auto part to the body. While continuing the search of the river they found Karen Sprinklers remains, also tied to a car part with the same unusual knot.

Police started to interview students at Oregon State University about the murders. Some of the female students stated that they had received calls from a strange man saying he was a Vietnam veteran looking for a date. One of these students actually said yes and went out on a date with this mystery caller, a heavier set man with light hair and freckles. During this date the man made a reference to the dead women found in the river...and spoke about taking the date away and strangling her. Police told this woman that if the man were to call her again that she set up a meeting at her dorm room. Well a few days later the man called and agreed to the meet up, the man was Jerome Brudos. When he came to the door room he was met by police.

After a lengthy interrogation, Brudos ended up confessing to all 4 murders and 2 attempted abductions and several assaults. He was only tried and convicted for 3 of the murders as Slawson’s body was never found. He didn’t take any photos of her and didn’t keep his trophy from her body. After pleading guilty, he received 3 consecutive life sentences and served his time at Oregon State Penitentiary. He died March 28th, 2006 as the longest incarcerated inmate in the history of the Oregon Department of Corrections.

If his name sounds familiar you may have seen his story on Mind Hunter on Netflix. If you haven’t watched it I recommend it, they also have several other serial killers they reference.