Monster Of Florence

It started in 1968. A married woman and her secret lover decided to stop at a cemetery and have a bit of a romantic time while her baby slept in the car. The couple were just getting into it when a man appeared out of the shadows and shot them both at close range. The baby was taken by the killer and soon found at the front door of a farmer’s house. Police were notified and the gun shells were found at the crime, police were stumped, who would do this? And more importantly…why?

Police first went to the woman’s husband who was packing his bags and leaving when police arrived. This raised suspicion. He was taken down to the station and he mentioned a few other lovers he knew his wife had. She was seeing three brothers at the time, and police decided to investigate these men.

The following day the husband was visited again by police in which he went down to the station once more and this time told police that he had killed his wife, his story varied widely from what really seemed to have happened and he changed his story a lot also, completely leaving what he did to the baby out of it. He served 14 years in prison for the crime. 6 years later…another couple appeared. The young couple were found shot in a car, the woman half naked and the man pumped with bullets. Shells surrounded the car and there didn’t look like there was any struggle. The girl was actually removed from the car, stripped and posed naked on the ground, spread legged in which the killer put a tree branch in her. She looked like she had also been stabbed.

They had three suspects, a proclaimed healer, a man that was seen in the area and someone that walked in off the street and confessed. No evidence linked any of them to the crime. The investigation soon came to a stand still.

Another 7 years pass and another young couple are found in the bushes. Belongings from the girls handbag are scattered all around the car (like the last incident) and the drivers window seems to be smashed and a man has his throat cut. The woman was found 20 feet from the car, clothes slashed and her privates…well…literally cut out! Autopsy revealed both were shot and the man had been stabbed, she had herself cut out with something extremely sharp, which indicates the killer has access to instruments for surgery. The bullets in the crimes were all matched up to the previous incidents and they realised they might have a serial killer on their hands. A man that was seen in the area was arrested and sat in jail while he awaited his trial.

This time it was only a few months before he struck again. The young couple were found at a look out and another couple were unlucky enough to find them. Both were stabbed, and shot, and both were half naked outside the car, and the female also had her privates cut off. Autopsy proved it was the same weapon that killed these too as well. The arrested man was released and the town was growing scared.

Another couple were shot at shortly after the last couple were found. He didn’t kill them instantly when he shot at them and the car was put in reverse by the surviving girl, who rolled it into a ditch, was shot at again and died. The boy was still alive when the killer ran off, to avoid attractions. The boy wasn’t found till morning and he died shortly after, but the police tricked the press into publishing that the boy gave a description of the killer before he passed on. This got the killer worried. The hospital got calls off a man wanting to know what the boy said before he died.

It was a year before the killer struck again. He broke his pattern this time and killed two German boys sleeping in a car. He didn’t mutilate them like normal and it is said that he might have thought the one with long blonde hair was a girl, but realised it wasn’t and left the scene. It was said that the killer preferred Saturdays to kill, and he killed when the moon went behind the clouds. It was also thought that going through the women’s purses might be him keeping something. Was it cryptic? Or did he just not want to be seen and waited for the moon to go away? Questions of the killer being part of a cult soon became rumoured, especially since he removed women’s body parts.

Police later learnt that the worker that was in the ambulance that took the last victim to hospital received threatening calls from someone that said they were the killer. The police wondered how he knew who was working that day, was he watching?

Another year went by before he killed again. The boy was found cut up in the back seat and the girl away from the car as usual, spread legged, cut out as usual and one breast cut off too. She was also cut up over 100 times. Bullets matched the previous killings. No finger prints were found, meaning the killer probably wore gloves. The police, still, had no leads.

Another year went by, and another couple was found. They were making love in a tent when she was shot and he crawled out, the killer then stabbed him. She had her breast and her privates removed as per usual. The police got excited when they found a bullet outside a hospital and thought it might be where the man is getting his instruments from. After a full staff check, no suspects were found.

An envelope arrived with a letter made of magazine clipping to the DA office and a piece of flesh inside, it was part of the last victims breast.

The killings stopped after that, over 1000 people were looked into over the next 8 years. A farmer was a main suspect. He had been jailed several time, had killed, had stabbed and had raped, he also enjoyed hunting. The original 3 brothers from the first killing were all investigated and one was actually trialled. He was actually convicted but he left screaming that he was innocent, some would agree.

In 1996 he was re trialled, with evidence being not sufficient. Soon evident leant toward several killers being involved, like a cult effort. But the re trial was never ended as he was found dead in his home, strangled and pants down. With the suspects behind bars and this guy dead, it was assumed that the monster of Florence was gone.

Florence has a bit of a tainted name now. And since the killer was never officially found, its harder for the whispers to die down. In 2001, a few men were arrested and accused of the murders. But nothing was concrete. The case is still open and remains largely a mystery.

Horror\\\\Buff

Show all stories by   Author:  60162 ( Click here )