The 'Career Girl Murders' was the name given by the media to the murders of Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie in their Manhattan apartment on 28th August 1963.
Emily Hoffert was a 23-year-old school teacher. Janice Wylie was a 21-year-old Newsweek researcher. The girls lived with their roommate Patricia Tolles in New York. They were referred to as career girls as they were thought to be representative of thousands of young women who came to New York from other American cities to seek careers.
On 28th August 1963, Patricia Tolles returned to her apartment to find it has been ransacked and was covered in blood, the bodies of her two roommates Emily and Janice were in one of the bedrooms. Both girls had been stabbed over 60 times with knives taken from the kitchen and Janice, who was wearing just a towel, had been sexually assaulted.
The authorities suggested one or both of the girls had known their killer, the high level of violence seemed personal and there were no signs of forced entry. Although the apartment was messy no belongings had been stolen. Both victims had been bound and then tied back to back with each other.
George Whitmore Jr, a labourer living in New York, was named a suspect. It was reported that he had confessed but he later retracted his confessions claiming he had been forced and beaten to extract the confession. Whitmore was wrongfully incarcerated for 1216 days. He was found innocent and later successfully sued for false arrest.
In 1964 Nathan Delaney, a 35-year-old drug dealer, was arrested for the murder of a rival drug dealer, he offered a deal: in return for a more lenient sentence, he would give police the name of the real 'career girls' murderer. Delaney named Richard 'Ricky' Robles who he claimed had confessed to the killings. Delaney and his wife were wired with listening devices and over time Robles talked about details of the murders, convincing police he was responsible.
In 1965, Robles was tried and found guilty of the murders. He admitted he had broken into the apartment to steal money for drugs. When Wylie, who had been taking a shower, appeared he attacked and raped her. Hoffert came to see what the commotion was so he attacked and bound her too. Allegedly one of the girls had told him she would remember his face and report him to the police so he murdered both girls to stop them from reporting his crimes.
