SERIAL KILLER: "The Dark Strangler" Pt. 2

After the American police started to catch on to Earle Leonard Nelson's murderous rampage, he tried to lie low in Canada. But Earle couldn't stop himself from seeking out more victims... and it wasn't long before the Canadian authorities realized there was a serial killer in their midst. Killer Minds is a Crime House Original. Follow us on social media, @crimehouse for more true crime content.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Vanessa Richardson?

  Hi, everyone. Before today's episode, there's another show I want to tell you about. It's called What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Plus, Connor's infectious energy that'll make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on earth. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.

• 0:32Vanessa Richardson?

  We have an exciting update. Mind of a Serial Killer is now Killer Minds, expanding beyond serial killers to cover cult leaders, crimes of passion, spree killers, and more.

• 0:45Tristin Engels?

  Nothing else is changing. Same expert analysis, same deep storytelling, now twice a week.

• 0:52Vanessa Richardson?

  New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday, right here. No need to do anything, just stay tuned. Now, enjoy the episode.

• 1:07Speaker 02

  This is Crime House.

• 1:12Vanessa Richardson?

  Most of the time, urban legends are harmless fun, like the man with a hook for a hand who attacks young couples kissing in a car, or the evil spirit of Bloody Mary, who appears in a mirror after you chant her name three times with the lights off. Maybe even the goat monster that kills livestock by sucking out their blood. But these are just cautionary tales, reminding us that if we step out of line, trouble isn't far behind. And, deep down, we aren't scared. Not really, because we know these are nothing more than just stories. But every once in a while, what sounds like an urban legend is actually real life.

• 1:57Vanessa Richardson?

  Like the story of the Gorilla Man, also known as the Gorilla Killer. But don't let the nickname fool you, because he was no circus sideshow. He was the hulking serial killer, Earl Leonard Nelson. He could appear anywhere, literally killing in multiple states and countries, and his victims never saw him coming.

• 2:34Vanessa Richardson?

  The human mind is fascinating. It controls how we think, how we feel, how we love, and how we hate. And sometimes the mind drives us to do something truly unspeakable. This is Killer Minds, formerly known as Mind of a Serial Killer, a Crime House original. Every Monday and Thursday, we'll be taking deep dives into the minds of history's most notorious serial killers and murderers. The show is still the same, the name just changed. And if you're interested in more true crime stories from this week in history, check out Crime House, the show. Every episode covers multiple cases unified by the same theme. So every week you get something a little different.

• 3:19Vanessa Richardson?

  At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. And to enhance your Killer Minds listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad-free, and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two-part series, you'll get access to both at once, plus exciting Crime House bonus content. I'm Vanessa Richardson.

• 3:53Tristin Engels?

  And I'm Dr. Tristan Ingles. As Vanessa takes you through our subject stories, I'll be helping her dive into these killers' minds as we try to understand how someone can do such horrible things.

• 4:04Vanessa Richardson?

  Before we get into the story, you should know it contains descriptions of murder and sexual assault. This is our second and final episode on Earl Leonard Nelson, whose nicknames include The Gorilla Man, The Gorilla Killer, and The Dark Strangler. For over a year in the 1920s, Earl wandered through the US and Canada, leaving a trail of over 20 strangled victims in his wake. Last episode, we discussed Earl Leonard Nelson's early life, his infamous killing spree, and the mistake that alerted the police to his activities. Today, we'll follow the frantic search to find Earl,

• 4:46Vanessa Richardson?

  the drastic measures he took to avoid justice, and his ultimate downfall.

• 4:52Tristin Engels?

  And along the way, I'll be talking about things like Earl's bizarre reaction to being caught, his attempts to charm his way out of trouble, and his refusal to confront the reality of his crimes.

• 5:03Vanessa Richardson?

  And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?

• 5:14Vanessa Richardson?

  In June 1927, 30-year-old Earl Leonard Nelson made his way to Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Over the past 17 months or so, Earl had murdered over 20 victims, mostly older women who ran boarding houses. Although the authorities didn't know who Earl was yet, his murder spree had become publicized in the United States, so Earl decided to head for Canada and presumably lie low. But Earl's compulsion to kill was unstoppable. On June 8, 1927, he deviated from his usual MO and murdered a 14-year-old girl named Lola Cowan.

• 5:58Vanessa Richardson?

  And two days later, he killed 23-year-old Emily Patterson. Earl knew it would only be a matter of time until the authorities realized the dark strangler was in town. To throw them off his scent, he bought some new clothes and went for a shave and a haircut. But Earl wasn't careful enough. The barber noticed blood and scratches on his scalp. After Earl left, the barber called the police. And by the end of that night, they realized what Earl had done.

• 6:32Tristin Engels?

  When it comes to serial sexual killers, there are two types of individuals who commit these murders. There are those that are highly organized. They do it in a planned fashion, where they are very aware of their crimes and the forensic evidence, and they leave their crime scenes with as little physical evidence as possible. And then there are those who are more spontaneous. They're less organized, and because of their psychopathology, they have an even more difficult time controlling their impulses. I think on the surface Earl could seem like he's the organized type because of the disguises he's used in the planning that went into his actions. But the reality is, he was nearly caught the first time with Mary Summers.

• 7:16Tristin Engels?

  He is choosing locations where he could be caught at any given moment by other residents or the husbands even of the victims. He does not take care of the forensic evidence at the crime scene and he has significant deficits controlling his impulses. If this was not the 1900s, he would have been caught almost immediately because of this. With that said, I think that this event at the barber was a result of the fact that he truly wasn't detail oriented at all and he lacks the awareness to even consider the risks of going to the barber to begin with.

• 7:52Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, the blood on his scalp wasn't the only thing Earl left behind. That same evening of June 10th, Emily Patterson's husband, William, came home and found her body. Investigators rushed to their home and as they searched the crime scene, they realized one of William's suits was missing. It was clear the killer had taken it because he'd left his own clothes on the floor. There was even a piece of newspaper in one of the pockets, advertising local rooms to rent.

• 8:23Tristin Engels?

  And this is exactly what I mean. This is not a detail oriented killer. This is someone who is not at all organized but rather acting on impulse.

• 8:32Vanessa Richardson?

  Which meant for the first time, the authorities had a real lead to chase down, but Earl was already long gone. By the time the Winnipeg police picked up his trail, he was 350 miles away in Regina in the province of Saskatchewan. On the afternoon of June 11th, while police in Winnipeg were investigating the Emily Patterson murder scene, Earl was renting a room from a woman named Mary Rowe. Mary didn't seem to know about the dark strangler, but even so, she wasn't sure about letting this large, hulking man into her home, especially because she had a nine-year-old daughter. However, Earl had charmed his way into a lot of boarding houses by now.

• 9:18Vanessa Richardson?

  He had his act down pat. He came to the doorstep, dressed nicely in a suit, maybe with a Bible tucked under his arm. And just like so many others, Mary was charmed by Earl's unassuming demeanor. She decided to rent him a tiny furnished, single bedroom near the back. The next morning, another one of Mary Rose's boarders, 23-year-old Grace Nelson, was in her nightgown, reading in bed. All of a sudden, she looked up to see Earl staring at her from the doorway. Startled, Grace shot up in bed and yelled at him to leave. Earl was taken aback. He muttered an apology before scurrying down the hallway.

• 10:02Vanessa Richardson?

  For maybe the first time, he backed down from an attack.

• 10:07Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, let's talk about this decision. The most obvious to me is his fear of getting caught. In the past, he's only killed when he was ready to disappear without a trace. And he might not be ready to do that. He's on the run, essentially, at this point. But more importantly, he doesn't have the element of surprise here. He also did not have the control in this situation. In all of his cases, he's been able to get his victims' defenses down by how he presented himself. And this allowed him the element of surprise. He was able to strangle these women before they could realize that he was a threat, let alone call out for help. So here he is, encountering a woman who is not immediately trusting of him,

• 10:51Tristin Engels?

  simply because he's living in the same boarding house. I think her reaction to him surprised him more than anything.

• 11:01Vanessa Richardson?

  After his encounter with Grace, Earl shifted his focus elsewhere. Later that day, his new landlady, Mary, was playing in the garden with her daughter, Jessie. Earl came outside and they chatted briefly, until Mary caught Earl's gaze wandering to her daughter. Unsettled, she cut off the conversation and took Jessie back inside. But Earl had already spotted his next victim. That afternoon, Mary was doing some house chores when she noticed that Jessie was missing. At first, she thought her daughter snuck back into the garden to keep playing, but Jessie was nowhere to be found. Mary threw on her shoes and ran around the neighborhood,

• 11:45Vanessa Richardson?

  desperately searching for her daughter. She made her way to a nearby park where Jesse liked to go, and that's where she saw her daughter strolling along with her new boarder. Earl said he was bringing her back home, but Mary wasn't taking any chances. She snatched Jesse away and brought her back to the house herself. When Mary questioned Jesse about why she ran off with him, Jesse said Earl was nice to her and bought her an ice cream soda. But Mary wasn't buying it. She told Jesse she was never to go anywhere with a stranger again.

• 12:24Tristin Engels?

  Aside from Earl knowing that children are more vulnerable, there might be another reason why he is suddenly targeting younger girls. He's new in this country. It's new to him, and he knows the police are after him. He's already made attempts to change up his appearance as a result. So he's been trying to throw off the police and throw off anyone possibly identifying him. If he cannot control his urge to kill until he feels confident he is safe from being identified, then changing who he kills would be another way, in his mind, to throw off the police while also satisfying his compulsion. Though we still continue to see that he is driven by impulse rather than details, because if he was paying attention to detail,

• 13:09Tristin Engels?

  he would have noticed that Mary saw the way that he was looking at Jesse on that occasion and intervened because it made her uncomfortable. If he was paying attention to detail, he would realize that she would also then be paying close attention to him and her daughter going forward. And he clearly did not consider this, or if he did, his impulsivity is overriding his judgment.

• 13:33Vanessa Richardson?

  Does it seem like Earl was planning to hurt Jessie here? Or if he wasn't, what could his motivations have been?

• 13:39Tristin Engels?

  I think at the very least, he was starting to groom Jessie by bribing her for her trust. At the worst, he planned to do much more that same day. But I don't think that she was at any real danger at the time, because he wouldn't have done it outside of the boarding home. I don't think so, since that is usually how his method is. Even when he had attacked Lola, he lured her back to his room first. So this is the pattern he has. He enjoys the act of gaining their trust first, and he needs a controlled environment. If Mary hadn't intervened when she did, and he got home with Jessie before Mary even realized that she was gone, I think it's highly likely that he would have impulsively done something

• 14:23Tristin Engels?

  simply because he had the opportunity.

• 14:27Vanessa Richardson?

  If Earl had decided to hurt Jessie, the authorities may have found him sooner. Instead, while Earl was spending a relatively leisurely weekend in Regina, the police in Winnipeg were still trying to track him down. Earlier that morning, on June 12th, the investigators back in Winnipeg were focused on the newspaper Earl had left behind. It was full of ads for rooms to rent, and they quickly located the boarding house in Winnipeg, where he'd stayed before making his way to Regina. The Winnipeg police asked the house's owner, Catherine Hill, if any of her boarders had been acting suspiciously. She said no.

• 15:08Vanessa Richardson?

  But later that day, Catherine realized she hadn't seen Earl in a couple days. Curious, she took another look in Earl's room. She'd checked on it a few days earlier while Earl was still in town. Back then, she'd noticed a bad smell emanating from it. Nothing else had seemed out of the ordinary at the time, though. But now, the smell was even worse. Catherine got the feeling that something was terribly wrong, so she called the police and asked them to come back. They looked around Earl's room and found the dead body of 14-year-old Lola Cowan under the bed. The discovery was shocking and tragic,

• 15:52Vanessa Richardson?

  but it was also the last piece of the puzzle the authorities needed to catch her killer. And it wouldn't be long before they knew Earl Leonard Nelson was the culprit.

• 16:11Vanessa Richardson?

  Following a frantic phone call from Catherine Hill on June 12th, 1927, police rushed back to her boarding house in Winnipeg. After identifying 14-year-old Lola Cowan's body, officers realized she was killed in the same manner as Emily Patterson, who had been murdered two days earlier. Earl had left some clothes behind at the Patterson crime scene. Catherine Hill was able to confirm that, yes, the clothes belonged to Earl, who she knew as Mr. Woodcoats. Finally, the pieces were falling into place. Earl's pattern of discarding and buying thrift store clothing, how he killed his victims,

• 16:55Vanessa Richardson?

  and the location of his crimes, it all led police to realize they weren't dealing with a local menace. This was the work of the Dark Strangler. By that evening, a citywide announcement was made across Winnipeg for everyone to be on the lookout for the mysterious Mr. Woodcoats. It wasn't long before reporters and regular citizens alike swarmed Catherine Hill's boarding house. One reporter from the Winnipeg Tribune overheard two women chatting about the killer. They called him "The Gorilla Man", due to his large stature and the fact that he strangled his victims with his bare hands.

• 17:36Tristin Engels?

  Let's talk about the media giving serial killers nicknames. The reason this happens is because they don't have a confirmed identity yet. Just descriptions, sketches, or even aliases. So they need to have an identifier to refer to them to when they're reporting on the case. The name they settle on is usually a variation of known characteristics, often the location or method, or something related to identifiable features. Like Gorilla Man being the one for Earl, or one of them, given he's got Gorilla Killer and Dark Strangler. The Gorilla Man came about, like you said, because he was described to police as being a large, stocky man who had long arms and large hands.

• 18:19Tristin Engels?

  And the unfortunate reality is that these nicknames, although intended to be identifiable for reporting purposes, actually serve to sensationalize them even more, which is a phenomenon that we often see when it comes to the news. It attracts more attention, and that sells more newspapers or gets more advertisements. And once their identity is confirmed, people tend to continue calling them by their nickname because at this point, it's become so ingrained in the public consciousness for the purpose of recognition that their real name gets rarely used after the fact. The attention-seeking serial killers love this.

• 19:00Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, once Earl was nicknamed the Gorilla Man, it stuck. And it didn't take long for the headlines to spread from Winnipeg throughout the rest of Canada, which meant on the morning of June 13th, 1927, news of the Gorilla Killer was reported in the newspapers in Regina. Presumably, Earl found out the authorities had caught on to him, which is probably why around 8 o'clock that morning, Earl frantically collected his few belongings and tore out of Mary Rose House without a word to anyone. Earl high-tailed it back to the US, but he needed money and a disguise, so his first

• 19:40Vanessa Richardson?

  order of business was to pawn a ring he'd stolen from his last victim, Emily Patterson. Then he exchanged clothes at two different thrift shops. At the second one, the owner noticed a Chevrié label on Earl's hat. It was a store in Winnipeg. Making friendly conversation, the man asked Earl where he was from and how he came to Regina. He didn't realize Earl was a wanted man, but it made Earl nervous anyway. The second another customer entered, Earl ran off, forgetting the new pair of shoes he'd just purchased.

• 20:16Tristin Engels?

  Wow, okay, so it seems like Earl's starting to really feel the weight of consequences breathing down his neck for once. He's definitely exhibiting signs of anxiety and fear, maybe even realistic paranoia for someone who likely has developed a level of arrogance related to being able to kill an average of one person a month for nearly two years without getting caught. I wouldn't be surprised if we find him more desperate, doing whatever he can to avoid being caught or spotted, or maybe even an escalation of violence.

• 20:48Vanessa Richardson?

  Does a situation tend to make serial killers or violent offenders more likely to lie low, or do some of them just not care?

• 20:57Tristin Engels?

  This is a great question, because it's actually a myth that all serial killers cannot fight the urge to lie low, even in the face of being caught. One well-known example of this is Dennis Rader. He killed 10 victims from 1974 to 1991 and did not kill again prior to getting captured in 2005. It's also a myth that they all want to get caught. Their ability to lie low or their desire to be caught really depends on the psychopathology and personality factors that are there, as well as whether or not they have the mask of sanity. Like Dennis Rader, he had an entire family, so he had that mask of sanity. He did what he needed to do to blend in, and with that come obligations that may have

• 21:41Tristin Engels?

  helped him to resist killing for that period of time. Someone like Earl does not have family. His wife certainly isn't holding him accountable, or even knows where he is at this point in the story, so there's no need for him to be self-disciplined, even if he could be. Though, I truly don't think, when it comes to Earl, that he is someone that's capable of lying low for any length of time in the same way that Dennis Rader was.

• 22:09Vanessa Richardson?

  At this point at least, it seems like Earl was doing his best to evade capture. After he fled from the thrift shop, he trudged on foot for several miles before resorting to hitchhiking. Throughout the day, the folks he met asked him polite questions like where he was from, what he did for work, and why he was heading south. Earl was as vague as possible, but said he came from working on a ranch near Winnipeg. He had no idea he'd just given himself away. One of the people Earl hitched with in Regina called the police with a tip, saying they may have encountered the Gorilla Killer. The police realized Earl was heading south. They traced his route and stopped at some stores along the road he'd hitchhiked down.

• 22:54Vanessa Richardson?

  When asked if an odd stranger had passed through their town, the store owners immediately thought of Earl, not just for his distinctive frame, but because he said he was a ranch worker, which wouldn't have set off alarm bells back in the States, but in Canada, the term most people used was just "farmworker." By that evening, later on June 13th, police had been able to fully piece together Earl's movements. They realized he'd stayed at Mary Row's boarding house in Regina, that he'd pawned Emily Patterson's ring on his way out of town, and that he was making a beeline for the American border. At that point, Earl was only a few miles from freedom.

• 23:38Vanessa Richardson?

  He stopped at a store in a town called Waukapaw to buy a final round of supplies. The owner recognized him from his description in the papers, and as soon as Earl was gone, he contacted the police. The call went to a local constable named Wilton Gray. Hearing the news, he quickly grabbed another officer, and they set off in pursuit. Not knowing he'd been identified, Earl proceeded on foot, but just when Earl thought he was home free, he crossed paths with Constable Gray near a set of railroad tracks. The two men stared each other down. Earl's legs twitched, but before he could move, Gray drew his gun and pointed it right

• 24:23Vanessa Richardson?

  at Earl's head. And the man known as the Dark Strangler, the Gorilla Killer, who had struck fear into so many hearts, put his hands up and surrendered.

• 24:37Tristin Engels?

  Earl's surrendering here could have been purely out of self-preservation. If you think about it, he was on foot, he's heading back to the United States, and an officer has a gun to his head. He was in a lose-lose situation. If he didn't surrender, his only choice would be to take off running, and that would not get him far before he would likely be shot and/or killed. This also tells me that Earl is able to do cost-benefit analysis of risk in a situation like this. But when put in a do-or-die situation, we are all biologically wired to survive. And since Earl has lived life on impulse, it's not surprising he would follow his survival impulse in this situation.

• 25:18Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, Constable Gray probably wasn't wondering why Earl surrendered so easily. In that moment, he was more concerned with getting him to jail, but Earl was proving to be surprisingly cooperative. Sitting in the back of their police car, he seemed almost relaxed. He cracked jokes and chatted with them as if the situation was totally normal. His behavior was so casual, Gray and his partner had trouble believing this was the killer they'd been hunting. So when Earl told the officers he was hungry, they agreed to stop and get a mistake dinner before booking him. After a pleasant meal,

• 25:59Vanessa Richardson?

  the officers gently put Earl back into the car and drove him to Killarney Jail. They fought through a throng of onlookers, anxiously awaiting a glimpse of the supposed killer. The crowd was just as surprised as the officers to see the docile prisoner. He didn't look like the disheveled gorilla man the papers made him out to be at all.

• 26:21Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, this is superficial charm and gullibility, and those are traits of psychopathy. He's been mastering this for some time and has been successfully cunning and manipulative. You have to be in order to dress in a disguise and play the role of, say, a plumber or a faith-based harmless nomad seeking shelter. Because otherwise, you would not be successful gaining the access to victims in the environment that he's choosing to attack them in. He has been doing this all over the United States and now in Canada, and this charm, this manipulation, this gullibility has been working this long.

• 26:57Vanessa Richardson?

  Regarding the officer's doubt here, what is the psychology behind that? Are we just primed as humans to give people the benefit of the doubt in situations like this? Or was Earl just that good at lying?

• 27:09Tristin Engels?

  We all have biases, especially individuals in law enforcement. When they learned about the heinousness of Earl's crimes and the gorilla man description that was given to the press or the newspapers, they likely imagined something absolutely different than the version of Earl that he was presenting to them. And their bias about Earl was being challenged by his charming and calm demeanor, which was making them question themselves. But thankfully, they did not let that cloud their judgment.

• 27:38Vanessa Richardson?

  Whatever doubts Constable Gray might have had, he still went through with booking Earl into jail. He followed the standard procedure of taking Earl's belt, socks, and shoes, then locked him in a cell. Once Earl was secured, Gray called his supervisor. He just couldn't believe this was their guy. But a few minutes later, Gray received a wire transfer confirming Earl's description, down to the shoes Gray had just personally removed. Baffled but confident, Gray realized he'd just captured a violent killer. But not for long. When he got back to the station, one of his officers came up in a panic.

• 28:19Vanessa Richardson?

  He frantically ushered Gray to Earl's cell, where the two padlocks Gray had shut himself were popped open. The gorilla man had broken out of his cage and was back on the loose. On the night of June 13, 1927, it seemed like 30-year-old Earl Leonard Nelson's 17-month murder spree had finally ended. But the moment Constable Wilton Gray took his eyes off of Earl, he escaped from his cell at the local jail in Killarney, Manitoba.

• 29:02Tristin Engels?

  Just like Ted Bundy did.

• 29:04Vanessa Richardson?

  That's right. At first Constable Gray was baffled by Earl's escape. He'd secured both padlocks on the cell door himself. But it quickly became clear what happened. There was a small wooden shelf about a foot away from the cell, just close enough for Earl to reach. When the officer on duty had left to roll a cigarette, Earl must have grabbed a slender nail file that was resting on the shelf and used it to pick the locks. Now Earl was racing to cover the 12 miles to the US border, and he was moving fast, or as fast as he could without any socks or shoes on. When his feet were so sore he couldn't take it any longer, Earl ducked into an abandoned barn for the night.

• 29:49Vanessa Richardson?

  He found some old moth-eaten clothes and a pair of hockey skates which he turned into a makeshift pair of shoes. After a quick nap, Earl got up before sunrise and continued his journey south. Meanwhile, Constable Gray had called in every available officer to search for the Gorilla Man. The investigators scoured the nearby shops, restaurants, thrift stores, and hotels, but couldn't find Earl anywhere.

• 30:20Vanessa Richardson?

  On the morning of June 14th, Earl believed he had outsmarted the officers on his tail. He even stopped to bum a cigarette off of a local handyman named Alfred Wood. But as Earl rolled his cigarette, Alfred noticed he was wearing overalls underneath his sweater, exactly what the local paper said the escaped Gorilla Man was wearing when he was captured. Once Earl was out of sight, Alfred called the police and told them he'd just encountered their fugitive, and he knew where Earl was going. Minutes later, officers swarmed a nearby local train station. They hopped out of their cars and saw the imposing Gorilla Man in the distance, heading

• 31:05Vanessa Richardson?

  south along the tracks. As the officers approached, Earl leapt onto the tracks, but he was soon surrounded and threw up his hands. Just like his first arrest, Earl's second was quite anticlimactic, but this time, police kept a much closer eye on him. By 10 a.m. on June 14th, a crew of Canadian police officers boarded a train toward Winnipeg with Earl in tow. They put shackles around his hands and feet and told the conductor not to make any stops along the way. For his part, Earl behaved exactly as he had the first time he was arrested.

• 31:48Vanessa Richardson?

  Amiable, compliant, chatty, asking for nothing except cigarettes from his captors.

• 31:54Tristin Engels?

  I think Earl is just having fun at this point. If we consider the psychopathology of serial killers, that need for stimulation or sensation-seeking is strong. And he's definitely getting stimulation from toying with the police. Is it possible he does not fully understand the gravity of the situation? Well, given that he escaped custody, I think he very much does understand it. I simply don't think he knows how to be anything but superficial. He's been manipulating his entire life.

• 32:26Vanessa Richardson?

  One thing was clear: the police wouldn't be fooled again. When they arrived back in Winnipeg with the prisoner, even more officers swarmed Earl and took him to booking. After that, he was immediately put into a lineup. The Winnipeg Police, it seems, had witnesses standing by, just waiting for Earl's train to arrive. Forty witnesses, to be specific, each waiting to ID him. Among them were Catherine Hill and her husband, who had found Lola Cowan's body. They all positively identified Earl. And finally, after the authorities dug into his background, they learned his real name.

• 33:08Vanessa Richardson?

  Back in the San Francisco Bay Area, local police approached Earl's wife, Mary. She hadn't seen Earl in nearly a year and confirmed Earl hadn't been home when the killings in Winnipeg occurred. Though she fully cooperated with the investigators, Mary kept shaking her head, as if it was impossible her husband could do such things. Even now, after all of this evidence, and even now after all the pain Earl had caused her.

• 33:39Tristin Engels?

  I think with Mary, her self-denial is somewhat of a normal first reaction to news like this. I mean, denial is a defense mechanism and it's intended to avoid deeply uncomfortable feelings, but it's also the first stage in the grieving process. Family and wives of serial killers express shock and denial when learning about their loved one and what they've been doing or what they've been accused of, even if they may have noticed signs or saw some concerning behavior. It's just simply not natural for pro-social people to automatically assume that their loved one was out doing depraved and heinous serial killings. Mary hadn't even seen Earl for the past year. So with that in mind, let's also recap about

• 34:22Tristin Engels?

  what we do know about Mary. We know she was 58 years old when they had gotten married and he was only 22. She clearly was in some ways abused by Earl, at least on that one occasion where he attempted to chase her down in a rage, which we talked about in episode one. But let's also not forget that they married eight years earlier in 1919, and a lot of pressure existed on women to have husbands back then. She was 58, which is considered elderly for that time. And when suddenly a 22-year-old man shows interest in her, there could be some real deep-seated insecurity there as well that is causing her denial. She was religious, which is what she was attracted to when it came to Earl,

• 35:05Tristin Engels?

  because he also shared that. And it likely wasn't within her faith to divorce, so knowing that she remained married to someone doing acts that violate her own faith likely contributed to this denial as well. I would imagine it would take any one time to process information like this.

• 35:24Vanessa Richardson?

  Whether Mary believed that he had actually committed these crimes or not, there were plenty of people who were certain Earl was the Dark Strangler. On June 17, 1927, the day after his second arrest, 30-year-old Earl appeared in the Winnipeg City Police Court. Though he had also been indicted in several US cities, the Canadian authorities were adamant about trying him in their country first, specifically in a place which had the death penalty at the time. Earl's lawyers were able to postpone his trial, which was eventually set for three and a half months later on November 1st, 1927. But that delay also worked out for the prosecution.

• 36:09Vanessa Richardson?

  They were able to officially link Earl to 22 murders from the beginning of his spree on February 20th, 1926, to his final murder on June 10th, 1927, when he killed Emily Patterson. By the fall, the prosecution was armed with an ironclad case against Earl. And when the trial finally got underway on November 1st, the defense's only hope was to convince the jury that Earl was medically insane. They cited his unstable upbringing, his years of suffering through diseases like syphilis, and the trauma that shaped him as the reasons for his behavior.

• 36:51Vanessa Richardson?

  They even brought his wife, Mary, up to Canada to testify on Earl's behalf.

• 36:57Tristin Engels?

  Well, they have to prove that during the commission of each murder that occurred in Canada, that Earl was incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission due to a mental disorder, and whether or not he knew that that act was wrong. And that's going to be difficult to do.

• 37:17Vanessa Richardson?

  Earl's Aunt Lillian came with Mary as well. Only 10 years older than Earl, Lillian had been one of his most constant companions. She'd given him a place to stay after their grandmother died and supported Earl as best she could. However, it was clear the defense was grasping at straws. Mary and Lillian testified about Earl's erratic, frightening behavior, but it didn't convince the jury that he was functionally insane. Less than an hour after Earl's trial ended on November 5th, he was officially found guilty of murder and sentenced to die by hanging on January 13th, 1928.

• 38:00Vanessa Richardson?

  The day before his execution, Earl gave a final interview. The reporter asked Earl one last time if it was possible that even in an altered state of mind, he had killed all of those people. Earl looked up at the reporter and with sincere conviction stated, "No, sir."

• 38:22Tristin Engels?

  It's interesting how some serial killers will ultimately confess to their crimes while others don't. And those that do seem to do it when they have no other choice and they do it to regain control in some way. Like Ted Bundy. He adamantly denied any wrongdoing until he was convicted and sentenced to death. Then he started to admit to his crimes, but he did this for attention and to extend his execution date. He was buying time because they were not going to execute him when he had more information to share and to help them solve cold cases. But Earl, he did not confess. He had several months between his sentencing and his execution date to start talking if

• 39:05Tristin Engels?

  he wanted the attention or if he wanted to manipulate officials. But he was never driven by attention-seeking behaviors and his manipulation efforts were used to gain the trust of others before taking their lives. He can't gain anyone's trust anymore. The trust is lost. So maybe he felt that if he maintained his innocence, he could get people to question him the same way law enforcement did when they first apprehended him? Or maybe he was in his own denial? Maybe he really did experience dissociative fugue when he was engaging in those killings? Or he really did have memory loss from a combination of two head traumas and neurosyphilis? But I am inclined to believe that his lack of confession was a form of control in its own right.

• 39:49Tristin Engels?

  In the end, though, only Earl can really explain why he maintained his innocence and never confessed.

• 39:58Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, one thing was for sure, Earl wasn't convincing anyone at this point. But it doesn't seem like it bothered him all that much. When the reporter left the cell that night, Earl casually ate his last meal, which was made up of liver, bacon, grapefruit, apple pie, and coffee. After that, an archbishop came to grant him the sacrament of confirmation, which was meant to strengthen Earl's faith. Lastly, a priest arrived to read and discuss scripture with Earl well into the night. After so many years of people trying to instill him with religious beliefs, it seems like Earl was finally ready for it. At 7:30 a.m. on January 13th,

• 40:42Vanessa Richardson?

  he walked to the gallows with the priest at his side, climbed the scaffold, and took his place by the trapdoor. The priest held out a cross for Earl to kiss and muttered a final prayer. When Earl was asked if he had any last words, he said, "I declare my innocence before God and man." With that, the execution commenced. When the jury's coroner confirmed Earl's cause of death, he reported strangulation.

• 41:30Vanessa Richardson?

  Thanks so much for listening. Come back next time for a deep dive into the mind of another murderer.

• 41:37Tristin Engels?

  Killer Minds is a Crime House original powered by Paved Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media at @CrimeHouse. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

• 41:58Vanessa Richardson?

  And to enhance your listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of Killer Minds ad-free, along with early access to each thrilling two-part series and exciting bonus content.

• 42:14Vanessa Richardson?

  Killer Minds is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and Dr. Tristin Engels, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Killer Minds team: Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Laurie Marinelli, Stacy Warrenker, Sarah Camp, Meredith Allen, Sarah Tardif, and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening.

• 42:43Vanessa Richardson?

  If you're looking for your next podcast, check out What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.