#torso killer

The Cleveland Torso Murderer aka Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run was a serial killer who killed and dismembered at least 12 victims in the Cleveland area in the 1930’s. He is still unidentified.

The official number of murders attributed to the Cleveland Butcher is 12, though recent research has shown there are as many as 20. All of the victims were killed between 1935 and 1938. Three well known murders are also attributed to the Mad Butcher: The Lady in the Lake found on September 5, 1934, Robert Robertson found on July 22, 1950, and the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short, found on January 15, 1947.

His victims were typically drifters whose identities were never determines, though there are a few exceptions (see victims list). It didn’t seem like he had a preference, considering he targeted both male and females and one black victim, coming from the lower class in Depression-era Cleveland. Many were known as the “working poor”, who had nowhere to live other than the ramshackle shanty towns known as the Cleveland Flats. He got his name, The Torso Murderer, because he always beheaded and often dismembered his victims, cutting the torso in half. The cause of death was usually the decapitation or dismemberment itself. Most of the male victims were castrated, and some showed evidence of a chemical treatment being applied to their bodies. Apart from being drifters, the victims bodies took a while to be found, sometimes a year or more, which made identification even harder.

The victims include but are not limited to:

Edward Andrassy, one of the only identified victims, who was the first victim found on September 23, 1935 in the Jackass Hill area of Kingsbury Run. Edward was thought to have been dead for 2-3 days before he was found. He was found lying about 30 feet from the second found victim, John Doe I.

Second body found was of an unidentified man called John Doe I. He was found with Edward Andrassy, on the same day. He was emasculated and decapitated, though his head was found. His skin was treated with a chemical agent that caused it to become red and leathery. It was estimated he was killed 3-4 weeks before being found.

The third victim, which is also the other identified victim, was Florence Genevieve Polillo, found on February 7, 1936. She was found in downtown Cleveland, being decapitated. Her head was never recovered. She had been dead for 2-4 days before being found. Fourth, was called John Doe II, or “The Tattooed Man”. He was found June 5, 1936 on Kingsbury Run. He was decapitated while alive and his head was recovered. He was found within 2 days of being murdered.

Fifth, was a man called John Doe III. He was found on July 22, 1936 in the Big Creek area of Brooklyn, west of Cleveland. He was also dismembered while he was still alive. His head had been found, and he was the only victim coming from the West Side. He had been dead for 2 months before being found.

Sixth, was a man called John Doe IV, found on September 10, 1936 in Kingsbury Run. Only half of his torso was found and nothing remained below the hips. His head was never recovered. He had been dead for 2 days before being found.

Seventh was a woman named Jane Doe I, found on February 23, 1937 on Euclid Beach on the Lake Erie shore. She was found in the same spot of “The Lady of the Lake”. Her head has never been found. She was dead for 3-4 days before being found.

Eighth, is a woman named Jane Doe II, found on June 6, 1937. She was the only black victim. She had been decapitated and missing a rib. Her head was recovered. She had been dead for one year before being found.

Ninth was John Doe V, found on July 6, 1937. He was pulled out of the Cuyahoga River in the Cleveland Flats. His head has not been recovered. He was dead for 2-3 days before being found.

Tenth, is Jane Doe III, found on April 8, 1938 in the Cuyahoga River in the Cleveland Flats. Her lower leg was recovered on April 8, her thigh on May 2 was discovered floating in the river. A police search under the bridge found a burlap sack containing the victims headless torso cut in halves, another thigh, and a left foot. The head and the rest of the body were never found. She was the only victim with drugs in her system and was dead for 3-5 days before being found.

Eleventh, was Jane Doe IV, found on August 16, 1938 on East 9th Street Lakeshore Dump. She was decapitated, and her head was recovered. She had died 4-6 months before being found.

The last known victim was John Doe VI, found on August 16, 1938 on East 9th Street Lakeshore Dump. He was decapitated and his head was found in a can. He had been dead for 7-9 months before being found.

The first suspect was named Frank Dolezal, 52, on August 24, 1939. He was arrested as a suspect in Florence Polillo’s murder, but he later died under suspicious circumstances in the Cuyahoga County Jail. After his death, it was discovered that he had six broken ribs- injuries his friends said he did not have when he was arrested. There was no actual evidence that Dolezal was involved in the murders, though he claimed he had killed Florence Polillo in self defense. Before his death, he recanted his confession as well as two others, saying he had been beaten until he confessed.

Another suspect was Dr. Francis E. Sweeney. Sweeney was a veteran of WWI who was assigned in a medical unit that conducted amputations and patching in the field. Sweeney was personally interviewed by Eliot Ness, who oversaw the investigation into the killings in his capacity as Cleveland’s Safety Director. During the interrogation, Sweeney is said to have “failed to pass” two very early polygraph machine tests. Both were administered by polygraph expert Leonard Keeler, who told Ness he had his man. However, Ness felt there was little chance or obtaining a successful prosecution, especially as he was the first cousin of Ness’ political opponents, Congressman Martin L. Sweeney, who hounded Ness publicly about his failure to catch the killer. After Dr. Sweeney committed himself, there were no more leads or connections that police could assign to him as a possible suspect. From his hospital confinement, threatening postcares with Sweeney’s na,e harassed Ness and his family well into the 1950’s. Sweeney died in a veterans hospital at Dayton in 1964.