Murder, it’s one of the most prominent crimes around the world.
This specific case has a lot of gruesome details. The Co-Ed Killer
case where Edmund Kemper III killed his grandparents, mother, six
female hitchhikers, and one of his mother’s friends. The murders
happened in the years 1964, 1972, and 1973. Edmund was born
December 18, 1948, in Burbank, California. He was classified as a
very intelligent child with having a 136 IQ but also showed
sociopathic intentions.
Kemper tortured and killed animals, and he also did sexual
rituals with the dolls that belonged to his sisters. This kind of
behavior lead to him wanting to kill a teacher that he liked to do
sexual acts with her. Clarnell who is Edmund’s mother would
abuse him and lock him in the basement, afraid that he would
rape his sisters. Clarnell Stage was diagnosed with Borderline
Personality Disorder which people believed is why she abused
Edmund. On August 27, 1964 Kemper decided he was going to
kill his grandmother while his grandfather was out shopping.
When his grandfather returned, he found his wife dead in the
kitchen, then was killed also. Kemper then called his mother
who told him to call the police. While questioning him he
answered “I wanted to see what it was like to kill grandma.” The
reason behind killing his grandfather was because Edmund knew
that his grandfather would be mad at him. The then 15 year old
was arrested and taken to Atascadero State Hospital. He was so
brilliant that he had the psychologist believing that nothing was
wrong with him.
His psychologist gave Kemper permission to other patient
records, also he released Kemper back into society against the
other psychologists wishes. Fast forward Kemper worked odd
jobs until working with the State of California Department of
transportation. Between May 1972 until February 1973 Edmund
went on a killing spree. He began picking up female student
hitchhikers then take them to isolated areas; where he would
stab, shoot, and smother them to death. Edmund would take
their corpse back to his apartment where he would engage in
sexual acts, after he finished he would dismember their bodies
and buried the bodies in fields.
On one occasion he dismembered a 15 year old girl and buried
her in his mothers garden, with her head being held on a stick. It
was a sick joke as he said “my mother always wanted people to
look up to her.” Kemper would often go out hunting victims
after altercations with his mother. Two victims being from the
college where his mother works. He battered his mother to death
with a pick hammer, rapped her headless body, used her head as
a dartboard, and put her vocal cords in the garbage disposal.
Later down the line Kemper invited his mothers best friend over
and killed her by strangulation. He then left and went east, once
he didn’t hear anything about his crimes on the radio he got
disappointed. He stopped the car, called the police confessing to
his crimes which also include cannibalism and necrophiliac.
While waiting for the police Kemper didn’t ashamed or guilty of
his crimes. Once his trial started Kemper tried to plead for
insanity.
The court found him guilty on eight counts of murder. Edmund
begged for the death penalty, but the court sentenced him to life
in prison. The police looked for the remains and couldn’t find
them, Kemper happily showed them to the bodies. Later when
interviewed he gave the names of all of his victims, confessed to
keeping souvenirs from the victims, went into detail about the
murders and sexual acts he did with the bodies. It is believed
that Kemper is mentally insane but has yet to be diagnosed with
anything.
In conclusion, the abuse from his mother along with being
untreated for mental illness lead to all of his crimes. Edmund
Kemper could have been diagnosed and treated for mental
illness from a young age if only his mother would have cared
enough. The three murders of his family members were personal
as the first two were to see how it would feel, and the third was
for revenge.
Resources
Edmund Kemper | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
Edmund Kemper - Wikipedia
Edmund Kemper - Mother, Murders & Facts - Biography
edmund kemper graphic pictures - Google Search