He does not dress up like a clown.
Or sport a tattoo of a swastika on his forehead.
He’s not dirty and sweaty, like every bad guy, in every thriller, in every Stephen King novel and movie.
He’s not stupid.
Or mentally challenged.
In fact, our boogeyman speaks quite charmingly.
Smartly. Intelligently. Even elegantly.
He’s charismatic and good-looking. A Rutgers graduate. Honor student.
Fun to be around.
“The kind of guy your mother,” a former female acquaintance told me, “would want you to marry.”
Indeed. Right up until the moment he places his cold and clammy hands around the throats of those women he chooses to kill and squeezes the life out of them before penetrating the blade of his favorite knife into their chest, he is the perfect gentleman.
The all-American boy next door.
You see, every one of these ingredients—and there are plenty more in the pages that follow—are what make this boogeyman even more dangerous than that creature from your childhood dreams. The one all of us have thought we’ve seen. Yes, the features displayed by our boogeyman will make you think twice about those people you think you know—and, likely, when you’re in bed some night and you hear a bump in the closet, you’ll either get up and run out of the house as fast as you can, or, quite courageously, face your fears and open the door.
II
There are those stories that get under your skin and just sit there, tugging at your soul. For me, this is one of those cases. Having the opportunity to interview a serial killer—a guy who fashioned himself after Ted Bundy and later became obsessed with Bundy’s killing strategy—only heightened the intensity of writing this book. Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all, along comes a story that changes everything, and for a moment, you think, Is there a human being capable of such madness? And then you begin a dialogue with this person and a new understanding of brutality emerges alongside a rather voyeuristic need to know what makes a guy like this tick. From where do these terrible thoughts of harming women come?
I don’t know why, but some stories never receive the national attention of, say, a Natalee Holloway, John Mark Karr, Jeffrey Dahmer, or any other high-profile crime story you want to insert here. Some stories are just designed for the 24-7 stimulus of roun’-the-clock news coverage the cable networks have adapted to over the years. While others, like the one I am about to tell, fall below that commercial radar.
Still, I love these stories—the ones we’ve never heard of. The ones that seem to embody the clichéd spirit of “truth is stranger than fiction.” The truth is, we may never know what goes on inside the mind of a maniac. Yet, for the first time in my career, I believe I’ve come close. In this story, the killer speaks.
Loud and clear.
III
Hundreds of hours of interviews made this book possible: with prosecutors and crime victims, family members of victims, detectives, patrol officers, investigators of all types, forensic specialists, profilers, and, of course, a killer and jailhouse snitch. In no other book I’ve written, however, have I used more inside (anonymous) sources who have helped me, through their courage, get to the truth and put every piece of this complex crime story together. I cannot thank those courageous people enough for coming forward and making this book what it is.
IV
There may be a question as to why I refer to Ned Snelgrove as a serial killer. I questioned this myself. I’ve written two books about serial killers before this one. I understand the motives and thinking behind their crimes and, of course, the clinical definition. In talking with one of the top forensic psychologists in the United States, it was explained to me that Snelgrove could, easily, be considered a serial killer. He had killed in different states, years apart, and attempted to kill in between. His motives are clear in his own handwriting: he would continue to kill if he had the opportunity. Add to that the additional murders that sources claim he’s responsible for, and a classic serial murderer emerges.
M. William Phelps
January 2008
Vernon, CT
If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.
—“Cities of Refuge,” New American Standard Bible, Numbers (laws) 35: 30–31
Contents
Book I: Mr. Hyde
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Book II: Mary Ellen
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Book III: Karen
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Book IV: Carmen
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter