The Alphabet Serial Killer
The Alphabet Killer
- The alphabet murders also known as the double initial murders occurred in the 1970s in the Rochester, New York, area and possibly in Los Angeles, California.
- The Alphabet Killer is a 2008 thriller-horror film, loosely based on the Alphabet murders that took place in Rochester, New York between 1971 and 1973.
- The Alphabet murders in California have been put to rest after a man was sentenced to death for a series of slayings against women with double initials, but it.
- Nov 22, 2013 initials in the so-called Alphabet Murders was killer sentenced to death in California Alphabet serial killer may well die of.
The Alphabet Murderer, otherwise known as the Double Initial Killer, is known to have murdered three people and is suspected of murdering an additional four.
The Alphabet Killer is a 2008 thriller-horror film, loosely based on the Alphabet murders that took place in Rochester, New York between 1971 and 1973. Eliza Dushku stars as the main character, alongside Cary Elwes, Michael Ironside, Bill Moseley and Timothy Hutton. The film is directed by Rob Schmidt, director of Wrong Turn also starring Dushku and written by Tom Malloy, who also acted in a supporting role.
Megan Paige Eliza Dushku is an investigator for the Rochester Police Department investigating the murder of a young girl named Carla Castillo. Her body was found in the nearby village of Churchville, New York with white cat hair on it. Against opposition of her colleagues and boyfriend Kenneth Shine Cary Elwes, Megan insists that the murder is a work of a serial killer. Despite Megan s considerable efforts she fails to catch the killer. Stress and obsession of the investigation causes Megan to hallucinate the victim s image. She ultimately has a nervous breakdown after being kicked off the case and tries to commit suicide.
Following two years of medical treatment and attending a support group headed by a wheelchair-bound man named Richard Ledge Timothy Hutton, Megan rejoins the police department in an office job. Following a similar murder of another young girl, Wendy Walsh, whose body is found in Webster with some white cat hair on it, Megan successfully lobbies to rejoin the investigation. Partnered with Steven Harper Tom Malloy, they try to find links between the girls. Then another girl, Melissa Maestro, is killed in Macedon. They find a number of commonalities between Wendy and Melissa, but fail to connect these to the first victim. The Webster Police Department, which has jurisdiction over the latest murder but are uncooperative, receive a call from 19-year-old Elizabeth Eckers who is being held hostage in a house. Megan is convinced the suspect is not the Alphabet Killer and breaks procedure to preempt a police raid. Megan defuses the situation, but an officer shoots the suspect through a window and kills him. Webster police declare that the Alphabet Killer is dead and announce the discovery of white cat hair in the house. Megan spirals into another nervous breakdown.
Certain that the Webster police planted the evidence in order to justify killing an innocent, Megan continues the investigation on her own. Megan discovers that all three girls attended St. Michael s Church in Rochester. Still suffering from hallucinations of the victims, Megan visits the church and tries to question the pastor, but suffers another breakdown and is hospitalized. Megan flees from the hospital and takes refuge in Ledge s home. There, she finds out that he used to work as the math teacher for the St. Michael s Church which finally reveals that he is the killer. Before she can act, he leaps from his wheelchair - having only pretended to be disabled - and attacks her. Ledge knocks her unconscious and drives to a remote spot near the Genesee River to kill her. Before Ledge can inject her with a sedative and dump her in the river, Megan breaks free and shoots him with his own gun. Ledge falls into the river just past a large waterfall - though it s unclear if he is dead. Unsure whether Ledge is dead and confused by her surroundings, Megan is driven by the intense situation to another, longer breakdown.
Megan is hospitalized and kept under intensive psychiatric care. The final scenes of the film show Megan heavily sedated and strapped to a bed in a psychiatric ward. There is no one else in the room, but in her state, she envisions the spirits of the victims waiting for her to return and seek justice for them.
The final scenes of Megan are intercut with scenes of Ledge who, having survived Megan s attempts to kill him, has altered his appearance. He is shown in church, receiving communion and exchanging glances with a potential victim. It is unclear if these scenes of Ledge are actually occurring or are part of Megan s psychosis.
A title card announces: In 2006, police exhumed a fireman s body and posthumously cleared him as a suspect. To date, the Alphabet Killer has not been found.
Timothy Hutton as Richard Ledge
Michael Ironside as Nathan Norcoss
Carl Lumbly as Dr. Ellis Parks
Tom Noonan as Captain Gullikson
Andrew Fiscella as Len Schafer
From 1970 to 1973, three girls in and around Rochester, New York were brutally raped and strangled, their bodies dumped in neighboring villages. Each girl s first and last names started with the same letter and matched the initial of the name of the village where their body was found. The film deviates significantly from established facts, most evident with the setting in modern time. See Cheri Farnsworth s book, Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders for a detailed look at the real Alphabet murders. 2 3 In the movie, the filmmakers chose to focus on the personal aspect of the story and its impact on the lead character, instead of police procedure in the investigation. 4 Writer Tom Malloy developed the script with the help of a homicide investigator who had worked on the original case. The writer noted that he saw the film as a cross between A Beautiful Mind and Zodiac. 5
Dushku was an immediate choice for the lead role. 4 The filmmakers also deliberately chose certain actors who had earlier played the role of a killer in other films. The film was shot in and around Rochester. The climactic scene was shot near the High Falls of Genesee River. 5
The film was screened at multiple film festivals, including European Film Market and Screamfest Horror Film Festival. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on Friday, November 7, 2008 when it was released in 2 theaters, only in New York. 6 As of December 14, 2008 the film s domestic earnings are 29,784 while it grossed 4,191 in the foreign markets for a worldwide total of 33,975. 1
The film received negative reviews from critics, earning a 14 Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 7 Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times commended the actors performances but thought the end was very unsatisfactory. 8 LA Weekly s Luke Thompson said the plot was quite predictable, but said that the presence of multiple supporting characters keeps viewers guessing, which made the film very interesting. 9 Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times praised Dushku s skills and Schmidt s interest in facts than in frights. 10 Andy Klein of Los Angeles CityBeat bemoaned the preposterousness of the mystery s solution. 11
a b The Alphabet Killer 2008. Box Office Mojo. 2008-12-14. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
Gary, Craig. New book delves deeper into Rochester unsolved Double Initial murders. Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
Cheri, Farnsworth 2010. Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0632-2.
a b Exclusive Interview : Rob Schmidt. Moviehole. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
a b The Alphabet Killer : Thriller depicts Rochester slayings, toll on detective. The Buffalo News. Trading Markets. 2008-11-28. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
The Alphabet Killer 2008. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
The Alphabet Killer 2008. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
Goldstein, Gary 2008-11-14. The Alphabet Killer issues go unsolved. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
Thompson, Luke 2008-11-12. Film Reviews: Antarctica, The First Basket. LA Weekly. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
Catsoulis, Jeannette 2008-12-12. Movie Review -The Alphabet Killer-Murder by the Letter. New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
The Alphabet Killer at the Internet Movie Database
The Alphabet Killer at AllMovie
The Alphabet Killer at Box Office Mojo
AMC s Countdown to The Killing: Alphabet Murders
Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders
Website for Alphabet Killer: The TRUE Story of the Double Initial Murders
Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php.title The_Alphabet_Killer oldid 693602243
Categories: English-language films2008 filmsAmerican filmsFilms based on actual eventsAmerican independent films2000s psychological thriller filmsFilms shot in New YorkFilms shot in New York CityFilms set in Rochester, New YorkSerial killer films.
Alphabet murders
Has the alphabet murderer finally been caught. Naso s house point to a serial rapist who attacked women the Alphabet Murders near San Francisco shook.
This article is about the serial killings. For the 1965 film, see The Alphabet Murders. For the poem, see John Tranter.
The Alphabet murders also known as the double initial murders took place in the early 1970s in the Rochester, New York, area; three young girls were raped and strangled. The case got its name from the fact that each of the girls first and last names started with the same letter and that each body was found in a town that had a name starting with the same letter as each girl s name Carmen Colon in Churchville, Wanda Walkowicz in Webster and Michelle Maenza in Macedon.
Investigators have theorized that a series of murders with similar circumstances in California in the late 1970s is connected to the earlier New York murders.
New York alphabet murders edit
While hundreds of people were questioned, the killer was never caught. One man, considered to be a person of interest in the case he committed suicide six weeks after the last of the murders, was cleared in 2007 by DNA testing. 1 In the case of Carmen Colon, her uncle was also considered a suspect until his suicide in 1991. 2
Another suspect was Kenneth Bianchi, who at the time was an ice cream vendor in Rochester, vending from sites close to the first two murder scenes. He was a Rochester native who later moved to Los Angeles, and with his cousin Angelo Buono, Jr. committed the Hillside Strangler murders between 1977 and 1978. 3 Bianchi was never charged with the alphabet murders, and he has repeatedly tried to have investigators officially clear him from suspicion; however, there is circumstantial evidence that his car was seen at two of the murder scenes. He remains under suspicion. However, on Investigation Discovery s television series Dark Minds episode name Double Initial Murder which first aired 22 February 2012 and was hosted by M. William Phelps it was reported that Bianchi s DNA profile was tested in 1985 and it did not match the biological evidence left at the crime scene of Wanda Walkowicz.
Carmen Colon, 10, disappeared November 16, 1971. She was found two days later, 12 miles from where she was last seen. Although found in the town of Riga, 4 the village of Churchville is the town s center of population, and the town of Chili is nearby.
Wanda Walkowicz, 11, disappeared April 2, 1973. She was found the next day at a rest area off State Route 104 in Webster, seven miles from Rochester.
Michelle Maenza, 11, disappeared November 26, 1973. She was found two days later in Macedon, 15 miles from Rochester.
California alphabet murders edit
On April 11, 2011, 77-year-old Joseph Naso, a New York native and former photographer who lived in Rochester in the 1970s, was arrested in Reno, Nevada, for four murders in California dating back to 1977. The California murder victims, like the New York victims, had double initials: Roxene Roggasch, Pamela Parsons, Tracy Tofoya, and Carmen Colon a different woman from the Rochester, New York victim. All four women are described by authorities as prostitutes. 5 6 Naso is also considered a person of interest in the New York Alphabet Murders.
On January 12, 2012, in his preliminary hearing in Marin County, California, his alleged rape diary was entered into evidence. It mentioned the death of a girl in the Buffalo woods, a possible allusion to Upstate New York. 7 Naso was a professional photographer who traveled between New York and California extensively for decades. 5 6 8 9 10
On June 18, 2013, Naso was tried for the murder of the four California alphabet murder victims. 11
On August 20, 2013, Naso was convicted by a Marin County jury of the murders.
On November 22, 2013, Naso was sentenced to death for the murders. 12
Roxene Roggasch, 18, was found slain on January 11, 1977, off the side of a road near Fairfax, California.
Carmen Colon not the Rochester victim of the same name
In 2001, the Discovery Channel aired a program revisiting the murders. 13
A 2008 film called The Alphabet Killer was very loosely based on the murders. 14
In 2010, a book called Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders was released by author Cheri Farnsworth, detailing the actual events, from the time they occurred through to the present. 15 16
On April 1, 2011, the AMC network aired a short-form documentary regarding the murders titled Countdown to The Killing: The Alphabet Murders. 17
The A.B.C. Murders, a 1936 detective novel by Agatha Christie describing a similar series of killings.
Double Initial DNA Test Clears Man, R News, February 21, 2007. dead link
Cawthorne, Nigel 2007. The Mammoth Book of Killers at Large. UK: Robinson. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-84529-631-5.
Craig, Gary March 2, 2009. Serial killer Bianchi denies he is double initial slayer. Democrat and Chronicle Rochester: Gannett. p. 6A. Retrieved March 2, 2009. Bianchi was a suspect in the double initial killings because he lived in Rochester in the early 1970s and was a security guard.
Craig, Gary March 1, 2009. Double initial murders remain mystery after 35 years. Democrat and Chronicle Rochester: Gannett. pp. 1A, 8A. Retrieved March 2, 2009. Two days later, her crumpled body was found in a gully, lying against a rock, along an infrequently traveled road in the town of Riga, near the Chili border.
a b Justin Berton July 7, 2011. Joseph Naso now wants an attorney for murder trial. SFGate.com. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
a b Henry K. Lee June 17, 2011. Slaying suspect Joseph Naso kept notes on victims. SFGate.com. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
Dillon, Nancy 12 January 2012. Joseph Naso, suspected serial killer, kept rape diary: authorities. NYDailyNews.com New York Daily News. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
Dearen, Jason; Scott Sonner 13 April 2011. What s in a name. It may link Calif, NY cold cases. The Salem News. A.P. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
CNN Wire Staff 12 April 2011. 77-year-old man charged in four slayings dating to 1977. CNN Justice CNN. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
Dearen, Jason; Scott Sonner. Eerie similarites sic noted in NY, Calif. cold cases. Crime Courts on MSNBC.com. A.P. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
Accused Double Initial serial killer Joseph Naso, on trial for killing four prostitutes, claims he is not the monster prosecutors say he is. Daily News New York Mortimer Zuckerman. 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
Klein, Gary 2013-11-22. Marin judge sentences Joseph Naso to death row for murders of six women. San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
Murder Reopened The Alphabet Killer Yahoo. TV
The Alphabet Killer at the Internet Movie Database
Gary, Craig. New book delves deeper into Rochester unsolved Double Initial murders. Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
Cheri, Farnsworth 2010. Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0632-2.
Countdown to The Killing: Alphabet Murders AMC TV channel TV
New York State Police Homicide Victim, Wanda Walkowicz case profile
Retrieved from Alphabet_murders oldid 643461354
Categories: American serial killers1971 murders in the United States1973 murders in the United StatesUnidentified serial killersMurderers of childrenHistory of Rochester, New YorkUnsolved murders in the United StatesLiving peopleCrimes in the San Francisco Bay AreaPeople from the San Francisco Bay AreaSerial murders in the United StatesMurdered American childrenChild sexual abusePedophiliaMale serial killers.
