Serial Killer of the Month: Jerome Henry Brudos

Jerome Henry Brudos was a fetish murderer. His fetish: shoes. His style: escalatingly violent and homicidal. His undoing: a photograph of one of his last victims, Karen Sprinkler, hanging from a hook in his garage. The camera clearly reflects the demented photographer in a mirror that sits on the floor.

This fetish was not something that bore out of thin air. At five years old, Jerry found a pair of high-heeled shoes at the dump, and when he brought them home, his mother punished him violently. Sixteen-year-old Jerry dug a tunnel in a hillside; he hoped to take a girl there and make her do as he wished. Jerry began stealing high-heeled shoes and underwear during home break-ins while their owners slept, birthing the start of his collection.

In 1956, Jerry was arrested for assault and battery after trying to force a little girl to undress. 23-year-old Jerry would then go on to marry a 17-year-old after impregnating her with his child. Five years and two children later, he would turn to killing. He needed models for his private underwear and shoe collection, and dead models cooperate best.

In January 1968, Jerry strangled 19-year-old Linda Slawson, who had come to sell encyclopedias while living in Portland, Oregon. In his basement workshop, he dressed and undressed her cooling corpse. He cut her left foot, shoved it in a glamorous shoe, and left it in the deep freezer before leaving her remains in the Willamette River.

Ten months later, Jerry would kill again – another 19-year-old woman named Jan Whitney. He photographed the body in various clothes and amputated one breast before saving photographs from the murder as a trophy.

Mistake number one: Jerry kills with a particular set of knots in a cord. There are examples of these knots all over the house. When the police are investigating, and they get to Brudos, there are these pesky knots all over the house. And with a stash of souvenirs, it’s impossible to deny his guilt with a photograph showing Jerry’s sadistic smile in the mirror. Found guilty of three counts of murder, Brudos comes up for parole in 1999. Are you sure you want to move to Portland?

Read more Serial Killer of the Month:
Serial Killer of the Month: Ed Gein
Serial Killer of the Month: Ted Bundy

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