List of Serial Killers In CT
Connecticut has seen its share of notorious serial killers throughout the years.
Here are some of the most infamous serial killers from Connecticut:
EMANUEL LOVELL WEBB
Was a Connecticut native and member of the Black Panther Party who killed two white men in 1968. He was arrested and sentenced to death penalty, but his sentence was later commuted to life in prison.
Emanuel Lovell Webb is a serial killer who has been convicted of killing three people. He is currently on death row in the state of California. Webb was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. He grew up in a broken home and was often left to fend for himself. As a result, he turned to a life of crime at an early age. He has a long history of violence and has been in and out of prison since he was a teenager. Webb began his killing spree in 1993, when he fatally stabbed two women in Los Angeles. He then moved to San Francisco, where he killed a third woman. Webb was arrested in 1994 and has been in prison ever since. Webb is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison. His appeals have all been exhausted and his execution is scheduled for sometime in the next year.
LORNE JOE ACQUIN
Is a Canadian serial killer who murdered three women in Connecticut in the late 1980s.
Lorne Joe Acquin was arrested in 1989 and then he was sentenced to life in prison. He has been convicted of murdering four people. He is currently serving a life sentence in a Canadian prison. Acquin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He grew up in a abusive home and was often beaten by his father. When he was 18, he moved out of his parents’ home and began working as a dishwasher. He later worked as a janitor and then as a security guard. In 1987, Acquin murdered his first victim, a 19-year-old woman named Laurie Bell. He strangled and raped her before dumping her body in a ditch.
MATTHEW BECK
Was a nurse at Connecticut Valley Hospital who murdered four patients by injecting them with lethal doses of drugs. He was arrested in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison. Matthew Beck was a serial killer from CT. He killed four people and wounded two others in a shooting spree in 1998. Beck was caught after a high-speed chase and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Beck’s victims were:
Johanna Orozco: an 18-year-old high school student who was shot in the head by Beck as she sat in her car. Matthew Chew: a 22-year-old man who was killed while working at a gas station. William Soto: a 37-year-old man who was killed while working at a grocery store. Enfield resident Richard Rosenthal: a 54-year-old man who was killed while walking his dog.
Beck wounded two other people:
Hartford resident George Lathrop: a 56-year-old man who was shot in the head while driving. Manchester resident Kathleen fleets: a 47-year-old woman who was shot in the head while driving. Beck was caught after a high-speed chase and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
MATTHEW STEVEN JOHNSON
Is from New Britain, Connecticut who killed three women in 1997. He was arrested in 1998 and sentenced to life in prison. He was convicted of killing four women in Connecticut between 2001 and 2005. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2006.
Matthew Steven Johnson was born in New Haven, CT, in 1978. He grew up in a dysfunctional family and was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a child. He dropped out of high school and began using drugs at an early age. He was arrested several times for drug possession and burglary before he turned 18.
In 2001, He began his killing spree when he sexually assaulted and strangled to death 18-year-old Barbara French in New Haven. He then moved to Manchester, CT, where he killed 42-year-old Diane Gellenbeck and 26-year-old Lisa Nichols within two months.
He returned to New Haven in 2004 and killed 27-year-old Anne Bryan. All of Matthew Steven Johnson’s victims were prostitutes who he had picked up on the street. He would take them to deserted areas, where he would rape and kill them.
MICHAEL BRUCE ROSS
Michael Bruce Ross born in 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, the middle child of three boys. His father was a police officer and his mother was a store clerk. Michael Bruce Ross began killing animals at age 10 and graduated to killing people by age 18.
In 1984, Ross raped and murdered 14-year-old Leslie Mazzara after offering her a ride home from a Connecticut mall. He would later confess to raping and murdering eight other women between 1981 and 1985. In 1987, Ross was arrested for the rape and murder of University of Connecticut student Dawnell Batts.
He confessed to the crime and led police to her body. Sentenced to death in 1988, but he appealed his sentence. In 2000, Ross gave up his appeals and asked to be executed. On May 13, 2005, Michael Bruce Ross was given the death penalty and put to death by lethal injection at the state prison in Somers, Connecticut. He was the first person executed in Connecticut in 45 years.
PETER MANFREDONIA
He has been convicted of killing two people and is suspected of killing three others. Peter Manfredonia was born in New York City on March 21, 1951. He grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in the Bronx. Peters father was a police officer and peters mother was a housewife. Peter Manfredonia has two brothers and one sister.
He graduated from high school in 1968. After graduation, Peter Manfredonia worked as a social worker for the state of Connecticut. In 1975, he began working as a case worker for the Department of Children and Families.
Then Peter returned to Connecticut. In May 2003, Peter Manfredonia murdered his neighbor,62-year-old Theodore Garofalo Jr., with a baseball bat. Peter Manfredonia then stole Garofalo’s car and drove to Massachusetts, where he killed 23-year-old Jonathan Rizzo with a knife. He drove to Pennsylvania, where he kidnapped 19-year-old Billy Flynn. Peter Manfredonia took Flynn to New Jersey, where he shot and killed him.
Peter Manfredonia then returned to Connecticut. On May 26, 2003, Peter Manfredonia surrendered to police. He was charged with three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping. Peter Manfredonia was convicted of two counts of murder in 2006 and was sentenced to death and is currently on death row in the United States.
ROBERT FREDRICK CARR III
Was from Norwich, Connecticut who murdered three women between 2003 and 2006. Carr III was arrested in 2006 and then sentenced to life in prison. In 2009, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of two women.Carr III was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1965. He grew up in a dysfunctional family; his father was an abusive alcoholic and his mother was a drug addict.
Carr III began using drugs at a young age and dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. In the early 1990s, Carr III began killing animals. He soon progressed to killing people, starting with the murder of his girlfriend in 1992.
He then killed two more women in 1995 and 1996. His victims were all strangled to death.Carr III was finally arrested in 2009 after DNA evidence linked him to the murders. Robert Frederick Carr III was sentenced to life in prison without the potential of parole.
ROBERT SHULMAN
Robert Shulman was a doctor from Greenwich, Connecticut who murdered five women between 1992 and 1994. He was arrested in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison. He terrorized the state of Connecticut in the early 1990s.
He was convicted of killing four women, but is believed to have killed many more. His victims were all young women who he met through his work as a photographer.
He would lure them to his home with the promise of taking photos of them, then he would kill them. Robert Shulman’s crimes shocked and horrified the people of Connecticut, and he remains one of the most notorious serial killers in American history.
STEVEN JOSEPH HAYES
Is from Cheshire, Connecticut who murdered two women in 2007. He was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to death. Steven Joseph Hayes is a serial killer who committed some of the most brutal murders in American history. He preyed on young women, luring them into his web of lies and manipulation.
He was convicted of killing seven people, but is believed to have killed many more. Steven Hayes is a textbook example of a sociopath – he is charming and charismatic, but also cold and calculating. He has no remorse for his victims and believes that he is above the law. Steven Hayes is currently on death row in California.
WILLIAM DEVIN HOWELL
Is from Hampton, Connecticut who murdered seven people between 2003 and 2004. William Devin Howell was arrested in 2005 and then sentenced to life in prison.
William Devin Howell was sentenced to six life terms in prison in 2015. Howell was convicted of killing seven people in 2003 and 2004, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in Connecticut history. He was arrested in September 2005 after police found the bodies of three women buried in a state park in New Haven. Howell pleaded guilty to the murders in 2015 and was sentenced to six life terms in prison, with no possibility of parole. Howell is currently incarcerated at the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, CT.
Death Penalty In Connecticut?
Connecticut had just the single death penalty conviction. The last execution in CT was in 2005. A man named Michael Ross was put to death by lethal injection for killing four young women and girls.
What Is A Serial Killer?
An individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of time, with a “cooling off” period between each murder. This definition applies to murderers who operate alone or in pairs, and who have no apparent connection to their victims. They often have a history of violence, sexual assault either in their childhood or in their adult lives. Some are usually very methodical in their approach to killing, and they often keep souvenirs from their victims, such as jewelry or body parts. They are often able to avoid detection for years, sometimes even decades.
What Motivates A Serial Killer?
There is no one answer to this question, as each is motivated by different things. For some, the thrill of the kill is what drives them to continue killing. Others may kill for power or control, or because they derive some sort of satisfaction from it.
If you have any information about Connecticut serial killers, please contact the CT State Police.