Pod Insights Serial Killers & Murderous Minds SERIAL KILLER: "The Shoe Fetish Slayer” Pt. 1 About this episode Before he became one of Oregon’s most notorious serial killers, Jerry Brudos was a troubled boy with dark desires—and a violent need for control. In this episode, we explore his childhood trauma, disturbing sexual fixations, and his chilling transformation from outcast to predator.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Vanessa 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.
0:37 Speaker 01 This is Crime House.
0:43 Vanessa Richardson? According to the psychiatrist Carl Jung, everyone has a shadow side. It's where our secret desires live, those parts of us we don't show the rest of the world, which makes sense. We all have thoughts and fantasies we prefer to keep private. Jerry Brudos was no exception. On the outside, he was a perfectly normal husband, father, and electrical engineer. But on the inside, his shadow side, Jerry concealed extremely dark desires, mainly that he dreamed of controlling women, possessing them, hurting them. And when Jerry decided
1:22 Vanessa Richardson? to unleash his shadow side on the world, the consequences were deadly.
1:40 Vanessa Richardson? The human mind is powerful. It shapes how we think, feel, love, and hate. But sometimes it drives people to commit the unthinkable. This is Killer Minds, a Crime House original. I'm Vanessa Richardson.
1:56 Tristin Engels? And I'm Dr. Tristin Engels. Every Monday and Thursday, we uncover the darkest minds in history, analyzing what makes a killer.
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2:22 Vanessa Richardson? A warning: This episode contains depictions of sexual assault, necrophilia, and murder. Listener discretion is advised. Today, we'll begin our deep dive into Jerry Brudos, a man who committed a string of horrific murders between 1968 and 1969 in Salem, Oregon. Behind his unassuming exterior, Jerry hid terrifying secrets, especially when it came to his sexual desires. And once he finally unleashed his twisted fantasies on the world, there was no stopping him. In this episode, we'll explore Jerry's childhood trauma and how that led to repressed
3:03 Vanessa Richardson? physical and sexual desires. Then we'll examine how those fantasies grew, sparking Jerry's transformation into a cold-blooded killer.
3:13 Tristin Engels? As Vanessa goes through the story, I'll be talking about things like healthy fetishes versus dangerous fantasies, different methods of psychological manipulation, and how serial killers select their victims.
3:26 Vanessa Richardson? And next time, we'll follow Jerry's dark journey as he claims his victims. Then we'll see how the police finally caught on to his horrific crimes and brought Jerry to justice. And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?
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4:46 Vanessa Richardson? From an early age, Jerry Brudos felt like he wasn't enough. He was born on January 31, 1939, in Webster, South Dakota, to a hard-working, blue-collar father and a traditional, strait-laced mother. Jerry's dad wasn't around much, leaving most of the parenting up to his mom, Eileen. And she wasn't exactly an affectionate mother, at least, not to Jerry. Eileen doted on his older brother Larry, but she wanted her second child to be a girl. So Jerry, through no fault of his own, seemed to be a disappointment to her, and she treated him like one. Feeling lost and forgotten by his own mother,
5:28 Vanessa Richardson? young Jerry found comfort in the form of an elderly female neighbor. She did her best to give Jerry the attention, love, and care that Eileen didn't. But the woman suffered from severe diabetes, and by the time Jerry was five, she was too sick to have him over anymore. Left without a true caregiver, Jerry was basically on his own. To entertain himself, he foraged through the local dump for toys. And one day, five-year-old Jerry found a pair of women's heels. Without knowing why he was drawn to them, he took the leather shoes home and tried them on.
6:08 Tristin Engels? Around the age of two, children engage in what's known as imaginative play. It's essentially playing pretend or make-believe, and generally includes role-play, using dolls or stuffed animals as props, and playing dress-up as well. And common examples of role-playing is a doctor, teacher, or parent, because children typically imitate their environment. Imaginative play is a vital part of a child's development. It fosters creativity, confidence, problem-solving, and even language skills. It's normal, and ordinarily not something to be concerned about. However, what a child chooses to role-play and how they do it can tell child psychologists a lot.
6:50 Tristin Engels? For example, if a child's role-playing is focused primarily on violence or is overly sexual... For their age and if it's isolating them or it's inhibiting their social and emotional development, then there is cause for concern because we'd want to know who or what are they imitating. But how does this apply to Jerry? Wearing women's shoes at his age would not necessarily be cause for concern on its own. Most kids try on their parents shoes or their clothes and they walk around in them. It's the fact that he's wearing shoes he found in a dumpster that makes it concerning. It indicates that he's lacking in environment that fosters normal child development and that he has to find his own toys or props.
7:31 Tristin Engels? His mother is both emotionally and physically neglectful by what you described and he just lost the attention of his elderly neighbor. So he's clearly longing for maternal nurturance and acceptance. This would explain why he was interested in the women's heels. Not only is he trying to imitate what his mother longed for, a daughter, likely hoping to gain her acceptance, but he is also in a sense imitating the role of a matriarch, which is something that he is longing for.
7:59 Vanessa Richardson? Is it possible that Jerry maybe had some form of an Oedipus complex?
8:03 Tristin Engels? An Oedipus complex is a psychoanalytic theory founded by Freud and essentially Freud believed that around the age of four, which is the phallic stage, children develop an unconscious sexual desire of the opposite sex parent in a rivalry with the same sex parent. And it's not a literal sexual desire, but rather an unconscious and intense attachment. So to Freud, when there is an Oedipus complex that's occurring, children exhibit signs of possessiveness for the same sex parent and jealousy toward the opposite sex parent. So with Jerry, he would have this unconscious desire for his mother and the rivalry and jealousy would be with his father, only his father's not really in the picture. So what
8:45 Tristin Engels? would spark the jealousy? Well, in Jerry's case, the rivalry could be transferred to his older brother because he is receiving the attention and the affection from his mother. But that being said, the Oedipus complex is widely controversial because of gender bias, potential for misinterpretation and lack of empirical evidence. In fact, Freud was Once believed that unresolved Oedipal dilemmas resulted in homosexuality, which we know now is not at all accurate. But what we do know is there are child developmental stages in which parental involvement is crucial. And if it's lacking, it can cause impairment in cognitive development and an inability to form healthy relationships as adults.
9:27 Tristin Engels? And in Jerry's case, his mother's mistreatment will continue and ultimately lead to anger and resentment toward her, which will later generalize to all women.
9:38 Vanessa Richardson? Shortly after Jerry brought the heels home, Eileen caught him trying them on. When she saw what Jerry was doing, she was horrified. Yes, she wanted a girl, but not like this. Eileen demanded that Jerry throw away the heels. When he refused, she snatched the shoes from him and burned them in the fire pit behind their house. Feeling utterly powerless, Jerry watched his prized possessions burn in front of him. But Eileen's attempt to discipline her son backfired. Instead of stopping Jerry's budding fixation, it only intensified. As Jerry became a teenager, he started stealing women's shoes.
10:19 Tristin Engels? So now that he is an adolescent, this is when we would begin to see signs of paraphilic behavior, such as fetishism or even voyeurism.
10:28 Vanessa Richardson? Right, because before long, the forbidden thrill of wearing heels turned into a sexual experience. But since Jerry was raised by an absent father and a mother who didn't like to talk about sex, he never learned how to express his desires in a healthy way. All he knew was that the urges brewing inside of him were strong, and eventually, they became too powerful to be contained. Those desires started to take shape around 1955, when Jerry turned 16. That year, his family moved to Salem, Oregon. Jerry was neighbors with some teenage girls, and he tried to get to know some of them. But Jerry was awkward and didn't make the best impression. The experience left him feeling embarrassed and frustrated.
11:13 Vanessa Richardson? So instead of trying to talk to more girls and risk further humiliation, Jerry decided to spy on them. He'd watch them at all hours of the day and even stole their underwear off laundry lines. The fabric's texture was comforting to him, and Jerry would fantasize about the girls the underwear belonged to. But before long, the fantasies in Jerry's mind slowly turned from longing for touch to longing for dominance.
11:42 Vanessa Richardson? Later in 1955, one of the neighboring girls complained to Jerry about her clothes being stolen, but she had no idea he was the one taking them. That gave Jerry a frightening idea. He told the girl he knew who had stolen her underwear, and he could help her get them back. She just had to come over to his house to help formulate the plan. Before she arrived, Jerry changed into different clothes and put on a mask. Once he heard the doorbell ring, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen. Then he threw open the front door and pressed the knife against the girl's throat. Jerry led his neighbor into the empty house and ordered her to undress. The terrified girl did as she was told.
12:27 Vanessa Richardson? 16-year-old Jerry watched and took pictures until the girl's terror and humiliation satisfied him. Then he let her go. In her mad dash to collect her clothes and escape, Jerry ran and changed back into the clothes he'd been wearing before. He later explained that a man in a mask had locked him in the barn.
12:49 Tristin Engels? So Jerry's behavior escalated pretty quickly, given he's 16 years old here. And to explain that, we need to understand his pathology, or at least what we're seeing in the developmental stages. Jerry has been engaging in fetishism. Fetishistic disorder is a paraphilia disorder characterized by an intense and persistent sexual arousal caused by specific objects. Typically, they're nonliving objects, or a highly specific focus on nongenital body parts, such as feet. In the case of Jerry, he has developed a fetish with women's shoes and their underwear. Now, there is a big difference between having a healthy interest in these things sexually and fetishism.
13:30 Tristin Engels? Because with fetishism, the individual either has significant distress as a result of these interests, or it impairs their social interactions, their work or academics, and just overall functioning, including legal. We know at least that the second is true for him. Jerry is also exhibiting signs of voyeurism, which is another paraphilia disorder. Voyeurism is intense or persistent sexual arousal from observing unsuspecting individuals who are naked, undressing, or engaging in sexual activity. And the same criteria applies. It's either distressing to him, which it doesn't appear to be, or it's causing him impairment in functioning, and I think the second applies here.
14:12 Tristin Engels? So what we know about these conditions is they typically start to show around puberty, which we did start to see, and approximately 20% of all voyeurs will go on to commit sexual assaults. Jerry did not get any support, education, or guidance to ensure proper cognitive development and boundaries, including sexual education, which significantly affects his sexual behavior. For example, Jerry is at an age where he's curious about sex and relationships, but because he's lacked that guidance, he lacks the social skills to interact appropriately with girls, and their disinterest or rejection directly affects his self-worth and his ego, especially when you compound that with his experience with his mother.
14:55 Tristin Engels? So to compensate, he began to fantasize about humiliating women due to feeling humiliated by them personally, starting with his mother and now with his peers, which leads us here to what he is doing to this poor girl. This behavior is sexual sadism, because now he is acting on these fantasies. He's deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, torture, or humiliation onto a non-consenting person, that's the key, and whether he's doing it psychologically or physically, that is sadism. All of these combined, and the lack of education or intervention, are what led him here. The fact that he did this at his own house just shows how little judgment he has, how
15:36 Tristin Engels? poorly he's being monitored by his mother, and how driven he is by impulse and urges.
15:43 Vanessa Richardson? Whether or not this poor girl believed Jerry's lies, she didn't contact the police, and Jerry was elated. Everything had gone just as he'd planned. Now he wanted to take it a step further. One day after school, Jerry offered a female classmate a ride home, but instead of taking the girl safely to her door, he turned off the highway onto a dirt road and drove them both to a deserted farm. Jerry ordered the girl to get out of the car and stripped naked. When she refused, he started relentlessly beating her. Fortunately for the girl, a couple heard her cries and called the police. They caught and arrested
16:24 Vanessa Richardson? Jerry immediately. When officers went to Jerry's home to notify Eileen that her son was in custody, she gave them permission to search Jerry's room. There, they found all sorts of hidden trophies. Jerry had kept his neighbor's underwear, women's shoes, and the photographs he'd taken of the neighbor the day he humiliated her. But even though police had evidence that Jerry was a criminal, they didn't take him to jail. Since he was a minor and this was his first offense, they took him to the Oregon State Hospital for a psychiatric hold. Jerry told his doctors how much he hated his mother and how neglected
17:05 Vanessa Richardson? he felt. He didn't understand why he had so much anger and shame inside of him. Eventually, he also confessed that his secret desires went far beyond just controlling women. He dreamed about kidnapping girls and placing them in freezers so they would be powerless in resisting him. That way, he could play with them like toys and then put them neatly back in their box when he was done. These thoughts were concerning, to say the least. Ultimately, doctors diagnosed Jerry with borderline schizophrenic disorder, but after a nine-month stay at the hospital, they thought he was well enough to go home. The doctors didn't believe Jerry was a danger to himself or society at large.
17:50 Tristin Engels? Okay, borderline schizophrenic disorder is not something presently in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but it was historically used to diagnose someone who shared symptoms of both schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder. I don't see any indication of psychosis or schizophrenia symptoms thus far. I can certainly see the argument for borderline personality disorder. Typically, someone with borderline personality disorder has had an abusive or neglectful childhood, which Jerry has had, and as a result, they have this intense fear of real or imagined abandonment or rejection from others. And they feel chronically empty. They have emotional outbursts, poor emotional regulation, frequent interpersonal conflicts,
18:34 Tristin Engels? and sometimes they have paranoia. And similar to Jeffrey Dahmer, which was the first case that we covered on Killer Minds, formerly Mind of a Serial Killer, Jerry has a fear of rejection or abandonment, especially from women. And his desire to keep them as toys or objects speaks to that, especially that part about the freezer, because in doing so, they are forever with him and they cannot reject him. However, it's important to know that individuals who have borderline personality disorder are more likely to harm themselves than another person, since they tend to also experience chronic suicidality or self-injurious behavior. And individuals with schizophrenia are more likely to be victimized than to victimize others.
19:16 Tristin Engels? But when it comes to Jerry, if he was to have a diagnosis of either of those conditions, it's in addition to at least two paraphilia disorders, sexual sadism and conduct disorder. All of these combined grossly elevates his risk of violence towards others, especially sexual violence.
19:35 Vanessa Richardson? Well, once Jerry was back in the real world, he no longer had the support he'd gotten at the hospital. And his family wasn't much help either. When 18-year-old Jerry graduated high school in 1957, he was left to figure out his future on his own. He was talented with electronics, but finding a job in that field was hard, and college didn't seem to be an option. With nowhere else to turn, Jerry decided to join the Army, and things actually started off pretty well. After completing basic training in 1959, 20-year-old Jerry was stationed at Fort Ord in Monterey Bay, California. However, it wasn't long before his mind and his obsessions began to betray him.
20:20 Vanessa Richardson? Jerry would daydream about doing terrible things to women, holding them captive, enslaving them, hurting them. Eventually, his thoughts became so overwhelming, they kept him up all night long. Realizing something was wrong, Jerry went to the army psychologist for help. The psychologist put the young soldier through a full psychological evaluation and found him utterly unfit for military service. As 1959 came to a close, Jerry was discharged from the army and sent back home to Oregon. When he came back home, Eileen wouldn't let him stay in the house. Instead, Jerry was banished to the shed in the backyard.
21:03 Vanessa Richardson? Shivering in his makeshift bed during those first few nights, Jerry's rage intensified. He began to dream again of power, control, domination. And this time, he wasn't going to hold back.
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23:41 Vanessa Richardson? By 1960, 20-year-old Jerry Brudos had been discharged from the military, forced to live in a shed behind his parents' house, and he was struggling to find work. He had no social life to speak of, no real friends. His only companions were the dark fantasies swirling in his head. But after his last attempt to seek help backfired, he decided to let those thoughts go unchecked. And one day, when he was feeling particularly dejected, Jerry acted on them again.
24:15 Vanessa Richardson? While driving around the neighborhood, Jerry spotted a young woman walking down the street. There was nothing especially notable about her. She just happened to cross Jerry's path at the exact wrong moment. Jerry tracked her until she turned into an empty parking lot. Then he jumped out of his car and cornered her. Before the woman could even scream, Jerry was on top of her, squeezing his hands around her neck, until she went limp. At that moment, Jerry released her, both excited by and terrified by what he'd done. He stole the shoes from her feet, then jumped back in his car and drove away. He never found out if the woman lived or died.
24:58 Vanessa Richardson? That night, in the tiny shed behind his house, Jerry felt a rush from his successful attack. The feeling of power motivated him to get his life together. He was going to get an education, a proper job, and his own place, far away from his family, especially his mother's growing disdain.
25:19 Tristin Engels? This escalation of violence isn't uncommon for serial killers. Like Jerry and how you described in the story, it all starts with their thoughts. He began by fantasizing about this moment in great detail. Those fantasies can sustain them for a period of time, until in almost a systematic fashion, they begin to act on them little by little, much like Jerry has been doing, starting with humiliating his neighbor, to beating a woman, and now this. Strangling a woman, or taking a life, which we don't know if he actually did in this instance, is something that he's been fantasizing about but is now experiencing for the first time in real time. And that's a sensation or an exhilaration he could not experience through fantasy alone.
26:02 Tristin Engels? Now, given what we know about the events preceding this, first with his military discharge, after seeking help, which tells me this was becoming distressing even for him, and his mother's less than warm welcome when he returned home, he was desperate to regain a sense of power over his life. And the act of strangling someone gives him that because he quite literally holds Holds the power of someone's life in his hands. And after a serial killer has their first kill, they tend to feel a sense of relief. And this is not different for Jerry. He's relieved that this brought him relief. So this explains why, after the fact, he had this determination to fix his life. Because now he feels more in control of not only his life, but his feelings.
26:47 Tristin Engels? He's feeling more confident, strong, even renewed. And that's motivating him.
26:53 Vanessa Richardson? We've covered serial killers who experience a sort of addiction to killing. Does it seem like Jerry would be heading down that path?
27:00 Tristin Engels? Yes, it does. And for example, let's like break down the addiction analogy and why that applies. When someone uses a substance for the first time, like an illicit substance, they experience a euphoria that they've never had before. And often, they find themselves chasing that same feeling, which results in continued substance use. And they will try different substances, ingesting them in different ways, even combining them with other substances just to experience that same initial feeling again. Soon enough, they're dependent. This is similar with the urge to inflict pain, torture, or humiliation onto others that Jerry has. He will need to escalate these behaviors to get close to the same sensation that he just felt.
27:45 Tristin Engels? I think Jerry is hopeful that this has, quote, cured him of his urges, because he finally got a feeling of relief or felt something other than dejection or disappointment. But as we will learn, that is not a realistic idea. He will do this again, and it will become more violent.
28:04 Vanessa Richardson? Well, the attack definitely seemed to galvanize Jerry. And true to his word, he enrolled at Oregon State University in Corvallis, about 35 miles south of Salem. We don't know much about his time there, except that he pursued his talent with electronics and became a licensed broadcast technician. When 22-year-old Jerry finished his program around the spring of 1961, he got a job as an engineer at the Corvallis Radio Station. And that's when one of his coworkers set him up with 17-year-old Ralphine Leon.
28:37 Vanessa Richardson? Jerry and Ralphine felt an instant connection. Nothing about Jerry struck her as odd, and the two had a passionate whirlwind romance. Before they knew it, Ralphine was pregnant. Shortly after that, Jerry proposed and they got married. To outside observers, Jerry and Ralphine seemed like a happy couple. But behind closed doors, Jerry's behavior was disturbing. Instead of treating Ralphine like a cherished wife, he treated her like property. Jerry required Ralphine to act out his sexual fantasies, including predator-prey role-playing. Even while pregnant, Jerry demanded that Ralphine walk around naked in a pair of high heels,
29:20 Vanessa Richardson? even when she was cleaning the house or making dinner.
29:25 Vanessa Richardson? As long as Ralphine complied, Jerry was happy, so she obeyed. But his needs kept increasing, and eventually Ralphine couldn't keep up. This sent Jerry into a spiral. His mind was constantly wandering, and he had trouble staying at one job for very long. Ralphine hoped Jerry would settle down once the baby arrived. But when their daughter Theresa was born in 1962, Jerry's sexual appetite only continued to grow. Having a new baby meant that Ralphine had less time and attention for Jerry, and he did not react well to that. Whenever he didn't get his way, he retreated into the basement for hours on end.
30:11 Vanessa Richardson? Ostensibly, the basement was Jerry's workshop. In reality, it was more like his lair. Whenever his ego got bruised, Jerry stole high heels, undergarments, and women's clothing. Then he would put them on and escape into his fantasies, away from his family and the rest of the world. Upstairs, Ralphine tried her best to balance motherhood while also running their household. Though she was often exhausted, she clung to the hope that the passionate, doting man she fell in love with would someday return.
30:45 Tristin Engels? Ralphie was a minor when she got into a relationship with Jerry. And this is significant regardless if it was legal in Oregon in 1962 or not, or she had parental permission, because Ralphie immediately became fully dependent on Jerry. She's a minor and a new mother at the same time, and now legally bound to him. So her dependence on Jerry likely makes her feel trapped or helpless, which in turn can cause her to engage in defense mechanisms to avoid the discomfort of her reality. Defense mechanisms like rationalizing his behavior or minimizing it, avoiding what she can, or being in denial.
31:24 Tristin Engels? And Ralphie, being so young, was also likely groomed to not only accept Jerry's sexual interests as normal, but to also internalize the blame for his behaviors. And this can occur as a result of gaslighting, which is a form of psychological manipulation. Jerry is distorting her reality. He's making her doubt her feelings and her experiences in order to maintain control over her. She then begins to dismiss her own feelings, hoping for a better outcome, rationalizing the behavior. This is a common occurrence in relationships where there is intimate partner violence.
32:02 Vanessa Richardson? And despite her best efforts, Ralphie was struggling to manage Jerry and their new baby. So when she became pregnant with their second child in early 1967, she decided to finally put her foot down. She told Jerry it was time to step up, but instead, he retreated, spending even more time in the basement. Ralphie didn't appreciate that. When their second child was born later in 1967, a son named Brian, she wouldn't even let Jerry into the delivery room. It pushed Jerry to the brink.
32:37 Vanessa Richardson? Shortly after Brian was born in late 1967, 28-year-old Jerry went out for an evening walk. As he wandered, he spotted an attractive young woman and followed her back to her apartment. He watched from the street as she turned off the lights and went to bed. Then, he broke in and attempted to steal the clothing she'd been wearing that day. But he wasn't quiet enough. The woman woke up to find Jerry rifling through her things and screaming. Jerry dove onto the bed to silence her, wrapping his hands around her neck. But he didn't stop there. During his attack, Jerry also sexually assaulted the woman.
33:18 Vanessa Richardson? Though she survived, the woman never reported the incident and was never named. But that didn't change the fact that on top of his other crimes, Jerry was now a rapist. After that night, Jerry stopped trying to keep his behaviors a secret. He started to leave little tokens around the house for Ralphine to find, like pictures of him wearing women's clothing that he'd stolen.
33:43 Tristin Engels? Whenever serial killers feel that they've lost a sense of control or power, they will seek to regain that in whatever way they can. They'll do psychological manipulation. They will assault somebody in the way that he just did. And with Jerry, there's been a power shift in his marriage, where Ralphine is setting boundaries and she's demanding change in Jerry. Leaving these items around the house for her is his way of regaining that power. It's meant to inflict psychological harm, likely fear, something a sadist like Jerry would be gratified by.
34:15 Vanessa Richardson? Would this be like a smaller version of the clues that serial killers leave behind to the police?
34:21 Tristin Engels? Yes, in a sense. But it doesn't seem like they're clues of the crimes he's committed, not in that sense. Instead, they seem like clues intended to remind Ralphine that she is property to him and she needs to start complying again, as she had been in the beginning of their marriage. He knows how uncomfortable she is with his sexual interests. So this is almost like a threat to her to keep her complicit.
34:45 Vanessa Richardson? Well, Ralphie did her best to ignore those photos. And if the pictures bothered her, Ralphie may have felt like there was nothing she could do about it. She had two children to look after and no financial way to get out of their marriage. So she went on doing the best she could. But if she thought things were bad already, they were about to get a lot worse. In late 1967, Jerry had an accident on the job. He was doing some wire work and was suddenly electrocuted. Though he didn't stay in the hospital for very long, Jerry was never the same after that. He developed chronic headaches and had periodic short-term memory blackouts.
35:27 Vanessa Richardson? Worst of all, his compulsions were getting even more disturbing. And he was about to release them in the most terrifying way possible.
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38:09 Speaker 07 Did you know that if your spouse goes missing and you don't tell anyone, that's not necessarily a crime? That surprising fact is at the heart of the brand-new season of Bear Brook, the critically acclaimed true crime podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio. I'm your host, Jason Moon. In this season, Bear Brook investigates another New Hampshire mystery. A Christmas tree farmer with dementia vanishes. His wife never reports him missing. Can he still be found? Don't miss it. Follow Bear Brook wherever you get your podcasts.
38:40 Vanessa Richardson? By the beginning of 1968, 29-year-old Jerry Brudos had two young children, an estranged wife, and, after a shocking accident, a growing thirst to unleash his deadly desires. On January 26th of that year, Jerry got the opportunity to act on them when a 19-year-old encyclopedia saleswoman named Linda Slosson rang his doorbell.
39:06 Vanessa Richardson? Linda came from a modest home and was trying to earn enough money to go to college and build herself a better life. Door-to-door sales were thankless and tiring, so when she got to Jerry's house late in the day, she was happy to finally have the opportunity to sell some books. Only, she never got the chance. Jerry quietly brought Linda into his basement workshop, where he hit her over the head with a two-by-four piece of wood. Then, he strangled her to death, which meant Jerry had just killed his first known victim. And he wasn't stopping there.
39:44 Vanessa Richardson? After killing Linda, Jerry went back upstairs, where his mother Eileen was babysitting his five-year-old daughter Teresa. Jerry gave Eileen some money and asked her to take Teresa out so he could have some alone time. Once they were gone, Jerry undressed Linda's body. He slipped a pair of high heels on her feet, dressed her up in lingerie, and engaged in acts of necrophilia. Finally, when he was finished, Jerry took a saw to one of Linda's feet. He put the severed appendage in the freezer for another time.
40:22 Tristin Engels? Linda was a crime of opportunity. She came to him. His mother and his daughter were in the home when he strangled her, and this really speaks to his lack of impulse control, his callousness, his lack of remorse, and a certainly lack of empathy. And not only are we seeing traits of psychopathy, but now he's engaging in another paraphilia disorder known as necrophilia. There are a lot of different theories about necrophilia, but generally, the consensus is that individuals who engage in this do so because they want a non-resisting and non-rejecting partner. And this fits for Jerry's psychopathology. I mean, he himself has said, "He wants to keep women in freezers so they cannot resist him."
41:04 Tristin Engels? So, he is deeply triggered by rejection, specifically with women, and has an intense desire to have that power and control over them. Strangling Linda gave him the power that he craves, and assaulting her after the fact allows him to... To gain sexual gratification without rejection or resistance. Now let's talk about how he severed her foot and put it in the freezer. It's significant that he chose her foot because this is the part of her he will be sexually gratified with the most, given that he has a fetish for shoes. It's also a memento. He can use it to relive this moment. Again, I see a lot of similarities to Jeffrey Dahmer, who is so complex that we had to cover him in four episodes.
41:46 Vanessa Richardson? What is the significance of Jerry dressing Linda up and putting high heels on her feet?
41:52 Tristin Engels? Jerry wants to reenact his sexual fantasies. He attempted this initially just by trying to dress himself up in women's clothing and heels. That didn't work. Then he forced Ralphie, again systematically, he's escalating. He forced Ralphie to do it and indulge in his fantasies, except Ralphie, she can resist. She can reject, and she is doing that. She's been setting boundaries, and it sounds like the only reason she's even still with Jerry is because she's financially dependent on him, and I even touched on that earlier. On some level, I think Jerry knows this about Ralphie, that she's only there because she needs to be. That alone can trigger his fears of rejection and abandonment. So rather than pushing that and risking that, Linda is a replacement for that.
42:37 Tristin Engels? She cannot reject his fantasies if she's not alive to do so. And he turned her into his real-life doll. Dolls can't reject, they can't leave, and he's in complete control, at least for a short time.
42:50 Vanessa Richardson? Once Jerry was done, he dropped Linda's remains in the Long Tom River just outside of town. After that, he laid low for a while, but he kept revisiting the crime in secret. He would often take Linda's foot out of the freezer and use it to conjure the memories of his conquest. For a little while, that kept him psychologically and sexually fulfilled. Things settled down in the Brudos household, and they moved back to Salem, Oregon, where Jerry's dangerous compulsions had first manifested. But toward the end of 1968, Jerry felt an itch for some new toys. On November 25th of that year, Jerry went for a drive. As he wandered aimlessly around the streets of Salem,
43:34 Vanessa Richardson? he came across a woman named Jan Whitney, whose car was stalled in the middle of the road. Jerry invited Jan to drive with him back to his house so he could fetch a toolbox to fix her car. She agreed, grateful for the help. With his pudgy frame and thinning red hair, he certainly didn't seem threatening. When they pulled into his driveway, Jerry jumped out and said he'd be right back with his tools. But when he returned, all he had was a thick leather strap. Then he slid into the backseat and sexually assaulted Jan as he strangled her to death. For the next few weeks, Jerry secretly kept Jan's body
44:17 Vanessa Richardson? in the separated garage in the back of his house. Like his previous victim, Linda Slosson, he treated Jan's remains like a plaything. He hung her up using a pulley system in the ceiling and periodically returned to dress her up and engage in necrophilia. With the strict control Jerry had over his household, he felt confident his wife and kids wouldn't ever barge in on him or try and look in the garage while he was out. But there were some things Jerry couldn't control. While the family was on vacation the first week in December of 1968, a car crashed into the garage. Half of the building was destroyed,
45:00 Vanessa Richardson? nearly exposing Jan's body. Police were called to the scene while Jerry and Ralphie were still on their trip. Unfortunately, there was no reason for them to investigate the part of the garage that was still intact. So Jan's body remained unseen, and Jerry's secret was safe.
45:20 Tristin Engels? It seems like every case we cover, there's at least one near miss with law enforcement like this that seems just so hard to believe. But let's talk about Jerry's confidence that he wouldn't get caught or his family wouldn't barge in. But let's explore that because he's literally hiding in plain sight, which isn't uncommon. A lot of serial killers do, especially those with families because they put on that mask of sanity. They want to hide in plain sight. But they also condition their family to avoid questions or avoid rooms like the garage. And their family typically complies because if they don't, they face aggression or abuse of some kind. And we call this avoidance conditioning. So after years of this, Jerry's grown accustomed to not worrying about being found out.
46:03 Tristin Engels? Even when there is this unusual freak accident that risk exposing him to both family and law enforcement, it just strengthens his arrogance and his sense of invincibility. Not only did he likely get a thrill from this close call, but the reality is psychopaths aren't deterred by consequences, real or imagined. They're driven by impulse. They're driven by instinct and arrogance, and these close calls just reinforce that. This wasn't going to stop him.
46:32 Vanessa Richardson? But you're absolutely right. This close call seemed to make Jerry more confident. Instead of waiting for his next target to randomly cross his path, he sought one out. On March 27, 1969, 30-year-old Jerry decided to stake out a local department store. Around 10 a.m., he saw a woman in a miniskirt and heels go inside. Jerry went after her. But when he got into the store, the woman was nowhere to be seen. Frustrate, Jerry headed back to his car on the top level of the parking garage. But on his way back, he had another chance encounter, this time with a 19-year-old girl named Karen Sprinker. Karen was on her way to meet her mom for lunch at the department store's restaurant.
47:16 Vanessa Richardson? Only, she never made it. Jerry threatened her with a gun and forced her into his car. She had no idea the weapon was fake. Jerry drove Karen back to his now repaired home garage, where he forced her to put on different outfits as he took pictures. Then, once he was done, Jerry strangled her to death with a noose. Afterward, he decided to cut off Karen's breasts to keep his trophies. Jerry's confidence was at an all-time high, and he felt unstoppable. Less than a month later, in late April 1969, Jerry tried and failed to abduct three potential victims.
47:59 Vanessa Richardson? The first was a 24-year-old woman named Sharon Wood. Jerry tried to grab her as she walked to her car after work, but Sharon fought back, and when another car entered the parking lot, Jerry ran. After that, Jerry went after even more vulnerable targets. First, a 15-year-old girl, and then a 12-year-old. Thankfully, he was unsuccessful both times. But just like his last murder, Jerry was out for blood, and he wasn't going to stop until he claimed another victim. On the evening of April 23rd, 1969, Jerry was back on the prowl. He went to a mall parking lot and approached 22-year-old Linda Sally,
48:44 Vanessa Richardson? who was there to buy a gift for her boyfriend. Posing as a police officer, Jerry told Linda he suspected her of stealing. He said he was going to take her back to the station for questioning. Instead, he took her to his garage, where he strangled her to death. But this time, Jerry didn't take any trophies. Later, he would tell the police that there was a slight discoloration in Linda's skin. He didn't like that, so he disposed of her body as quickly as he could, dropping it in the Long Tom River.
49:18 Tristin Engels? Okay, this is a deviation a little bit from his normal method, so let's explore that. He had three failed abductions, and their ages are significant, because failing means a loss of power to Jerry. Sharon, his first failed abduction, was 24 years old. This enraged him. Like you said, Vanessa, he was out for blood. To regain his sense of power, he targeted younger and more vulnerable girls, believing them to be easy targets, or a quick way to correct that experience with Sharon. Thankfully, those attempts failed. Well, but now Jerry is operating in pure desperation and rage. He's more impulsive, aggressive and instinctual. And then he happened upon Linda. It is noteworthy that he did not take any trophies from Linda, but more importantly,
50:03 Tristin Engels? it doesn't sound like he even sexually assaulted her. It's not like he didn't have the opportunity to. He did bring her to his controlled environment after all. So was it really because of the discoloration of her skin? Or was it something more? And to answer that, we have to look at how he has historically targeted his victims. In reality, he's not selective. He's rather opportunistic. Either his victims happened upon him at his home, or he happens upon them in public. They were simply available, vulnerable and desirable in the sense that they were young white women. There may have been something about what they were wearing, like in that case, when he was tracking that one girl who was wearing a miniskirt and high heels.
50:44 Tristin Engels? That might have caught his eye, but unlike someone like Ted Bundy, who appeared to target women that resembled his ex-girlfriend Diane, there's no symbolism with the individuals that Jerry's targeting. It's just opportunity. So that tells me that this skin discoloration is a deflection from something else. He was driven by rage and a need to prove himself after the humiliation of so many failed attempts. Those failures negatively affected his ego and his confidence. And because of this, he was unable to get aroused. He may have been embarrassed by that and looked to project the blame onto something else. And in this case, that would be Linda's skin discoloration.
51:24 Vanessa Richardson? Whatever might have driven Jerry to discard Linda Sally's body, he did it in a rush. And on May 10th, 1969, two weeks after he killed her, she floated to the surface of the Long Tom River. When police retrieved the body, they saw that Linda's killer had tied her to some car parts using a nylon cord. But apparently it wasn't enough to weigh her down. And two days later, divers found Karen Sprinker's remains in the same river. She'd also been tied to some car parts with the same kind of nylon cord. Considering the similarities, the police were certain they had a serial killer on their hands, and they already had an idea where to start looking.
52:08 Vanessa Richardson? Both victims had been tied down in a specific manner, with knots an electrical engineer would use, and it wouldn't be long before the trail led straight to Jerry Brudos.
52:34 Vanessa Richardson? Thanks so much for listening. Join us next time as we conclude our deep dive on Jerry Brudos.
52:40 Tristin Engels? Killer Minds is a Crime House original powered by Pave 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 Crime House. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.
53:00 Vanessa 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. 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, Natalie Pritzowski, Sarah Kemp, Meredith Allen, Sarah Tardif, and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening.
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54:49 Vanessa 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.
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