At the end of March, one of the members of the notorious "Chicago Ripper" gang was released. In the 1980s, they terrified Americans with the inhuman cruelty of their crimes. In two years, the criminals kidnapped and killed 18 women. Their victims were prepared for a terrible death, and the mutilated bodies of the unfortunate killers were used in bloody satanic rituals. "Lenta.ru" recalled the path of the "Chicago rippers" and found out how the relatives of the victims tried to prevent the release of one of the murderers.
In the early 1980s in the United States, devil worship, or Satanism, was a popular countercultural hobby among young people: teenagers dyed their hair black and performed harmless religious rituals in honor of Baphomet. Puritan America was painfully experienced by this phenomenon, but for the inhabitants of Chicago it became a real tragedy. The followers of Satan kept them at bay for two whole years. To rape a woman, amputate her left breast with a wire loop and start devouring the still warm flesh - that was the signature style of the "Chicago Ripper".
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On June 1, 1981, three detectives traveled to Vila Park, a remote area of Chicago, to the Moonlight Hotel: the hotel manager claimed to have found a corpse on his property. The detectives knew this hotel was notorious. There were rumors that it was always possible to quickly rent a prostitute or buy drugs here.
The maid was the first to smell the stifling putrid smell near the hotel: the manager was sure that the corpse of some animal was decomposing in the backyard, and without second thoughts he went in search. What he saw shocked him - in front of him lay human bones, covered with the remains of sticky flesh.
The arriving detectives found that in front of them were the remains of a woman who had been abused before her death. She had handcuffs on her hands, a gag protruded from her mouth, and her underwear was pulled down to her knees. There was a small bundle of dollar bills in her socks, which indicated that the robbery was not a motive for the murder.
At that time, there were no research centers in Chicago that would make it possible to quickly and accurately determine the time and cause of death. Following the rules, the detectives turned over the body to the coroner to establish the details of the murder.
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He was able to remove fingerprints and teeth from the victim, thanks to which the investigators identified the identity of the victim - it turned out to be 21-year-old prostitute Linda Sutton. During her short life, the woman was imprisoned several times, and also gave birth to two children, who, fortunately, lived with their grandmother. The coroner also managed to find out that, despite the strong decomposition of the body, Sutton had been dead for only three days. The intensive decomposition rate of the remains was caused by the fact that both breasts were removed and multiple injuries were inflicted on her, which made it easier for parasites and microorganisms to access tissues and internal organs.
The police officers working on this case caught themselves thinking that this was just the beginning. Unfortunately, they were right. On February 12, 1982, a 35-year-old waitress was abducted from her car. The gas tank was empty: investigators suggested that she may have turned to one of the passing drivers for help, who kidnapped her. The woman's handbag was in the front seat, the keys were inserted into the ignition. A few days later, her mutilated body was found on the bank of the river next to the road. Then the detectives asked the press not to report in the newspapers that her breasts had also been amputated in order to later use this information during interrogations.
A few days later, another victim was discovered with the same injuries, which allowed detectives to conclude that a sex maniac was operating in the city. Experts have compiled a psychological portrait of the killer - this is a local middle-aged man, he has a family, a good job, and also a dark side that no one knows about.
These guesses did not help the investigation; the police also did not find any evidence that could lead to the capture of the intruders. The public panicked, women were afraid to be alone on the street. In May, another girl, 21-year-old Loraine Borowski, went missing. She was last seen on the morning of May 15, 1982, when Loraine entered her office. Her body was found five months later in Clarendon Hills Cemetery. She was repeatedly raped, then amputated and hacked to death with an ax. Since May 1982, murderers have kidnapped girls at different intervals, preventing the residents of Chicago from recovering from their horror. Then the police did not yet realize that they were dealing with a whole group of psychopaths who kill in the name of Satan.
The detectives did not find anything that they could rely on in constructing their versions, until a new victim appeared who managed to escape. Angela York was kidnapped, tortured, cut off and thrown away while still alive. She was able to report that she was abducted by two men in a red van, held inside, handcuffed. They gave her a knife to cut off her own breast and were furious that she could not do it. One of the kidnappers cut off her left breast and started masturbating into the open wound. Then he sealed the wound with duct tape and threw the victim out into the street.
Despite York's testimony, detectives were unable to identify and find the maniacs. A month later, on the banks of the river, the police found the body of the prostitute Sandra Delaware. The woman was tortured, her wrists were tied with a string, her left breast was removed, and her bra was tied around her neck.
Two weeks later, 30-year-old Rose Beck Davis disappeared, whose mutilated body was found on September 8, 1982. In addition to the mutilations typical of maniacs, the girl was beaten with an ax, and there was no living space on her stomach from multiple stabbing. The last victim of maniacs - a prostitute Beverly Washington - was discovered on the train tracks in October 1982. In addition to being raped and tortured, her left breast was also cut off. The girl miraculously survived this nightmare and was even able to describe her tormentors.
Beverly told the detectives that the driver of the red van was a slender white man of about 25, dressed in a flannel shirt and square-toed boots. He had greasy brown hair and a mustache. He offered her more money than she usually demanded from her clients. The driver asked her to get into the van with him, where, threatening with a pistol, ordered her to take off her clothes and have oral sex with him. Then the kidnapper forced Beverly to drink a handful of pills, after which she lost consciousness and could not describe the subsequent events. The tormented victim with the severed chest was thrown into the trash can. The woman, however, told the detectives an important detail - feathers and a fish hook were hanging from the van's rearview mirror.
On October 20, 1982, law enforcement officers stopped a red van on the road: a man was sitting behind the wheel, completely unlike the killer described. He said his name was Eddie Spreutzer and that the van belonged to his boss, Robin Hecht. The officers went to Hecht's house and could not believe their eyes: he fully corresponded to the portrait described by Beverly Washington, down to the shirt and the shape of the toe of his boots. He acted as if he had no worries, not an ounce of fear or horror. He expressed full readiness to help the investigation.
Later, Beverly chose Hecht's photo among several photographs. When the police returned for him, he had already turned to a lawyer and was fully prepared to defend himself. What can not be said about Spreutzer, who could not stand the pressure of the investigation and began to testify, revealing to the detectives the terrible truth about his atrocities.
Chicago Ripper
He explained: the first time he became involved in the murder was when he got a job as a driver for Robin Hecht. The new boss got into some dark story that ended in a shootout, as a result of which one person died. Since then, the crime in life has become more and more.
Once Hecht told him to get behind the wheel and go to the prostitutes: Spreutzer carefully drove the van, not picking up speed so that the boss could carefully examine and pick up a woman for comfort. The maniac's choice fell on a black woman, whom he then beat, raped and cut off her chest.
“We blindfolded her and gagged her. Robin was shot in the head, point blank. We tied chains around her neck and legs, attached two bowling balls, and threw her into the water. It was clear that they would not find her,”Spreutzer said. He described his boss's actions with horror and disgust, but admitted that he once cut off another woman's breasts at the direction of the boss and masturbated into an open wound.
In total, Spreutzer testified about seven aggravated murders. The detectives were confident that they would now be able to influence Hecht during interrogation, using the data obtained. But Hecht was adamant. He looked at the photographs of the victims with sincere indifference, and at the crime scenes where the investigators took him, he behaved calmly, as if he had nothing to hide.
Over time, Spreutzer refused his testimony: he began to insist that Hecht had not killed anyone. In his behavior, there was an inexplicable fear of his boss. He testified against two other accomplices, Andrew and Thomas Cocoraleys, members of the Orthodox Church in Chicago. Hecht confirmed that he knew the Cocoraleis brothers, but did so without any alarm or interest.
The brothers discovered new details of the case. They told how, under the leadership of Hecht, they abducted women from the streets, raped them and stabbed them with knives, razors and lids of cans. With the help of a wire, they amputated one or both of the victims' breasts and also masturbated while watching their suffering. Andrew Cocorales admitted that he had killed Rose Beck Davis and Lorraine Borovski, and also let slip that he was involved in the deaths of 18 more women.
They described the bandits and the character of their leader. In the Hechts family, all men traditionally took young girls with large breasts as wives. But from Robin this fetish acquired painful sadistic traits: his acquaintances girls complained that he asked them to allow him to prick their breasts with a pin. He subjected his wife to terrible torture, but she never denounced her husband.
The detectives could not understand what unites all maniacs. What was their goal? What was their reason for this? The clue was given to them by Thomas Cocoralees, revealing the perverse satanic essence of their bloody deeds.
For the glory of Satan
Satanic rituals have indeed swept America all over the place, but the Chicago Rippers took their cult much more seriously than most errant teenagers who dream of contacting Satan.
In the attic of his house, Robin Hecht made an impromptu altar, where accomplices gathered in the evening hours, when his wife was not at home. The attic was illuminated only by a faint light from burning candles. There were six red and black crosses on the walls, and the altar itself was covered with red cloth. The accomplices knelt around the altar, on which Hecht laid out the severed breasts. He read passages from the Satanic Bible, then the men masturbated.
After that, Hecht cut the human meat into pieces and distributed it to the others to devour. So they performed the ancient ritual of communication with the devil. Hecht kept the amputated flesh in a separate box in which, according to Thomas Cocoraleis, he once saw 15 severed breasts.
Hecht's accomplices, without saying a word, testified that their leader had a supernatural power of persuasion. “We just had to do what he said,” Thomas Kokoraleis argued categorically.
Little is known about Hecht's personality. He was born in 1953 and was the oldest member of the Ripper Gang. As a child, he molested his sister, for which he was sent to live with his grandparents. As a teenager, he developed a keen interest in Satanism and its secret rituals. After becoming a construction worker, Hecht took a job as a contractor for John Wen Gacy, a notorious serial killer. In one of his conversations with detectives, Hecht said that Gacy's only mistake was not the murder of 33 young men, but the fact that he kept most of the bodies in the basement of his house. Investigators noted that he did not realize that the murder was already wrong behavior, but only pointed out the mistake of his former boss.
In the materials of the investigation into the Gacy case, there is evidence that for some time he killed with his partner. However, the police were unable to prove that this partner was Hecht. Hecht's acquaintances warned the detectives never to look him in the eye. Many noticed his ability to control the minds of people, to inspire others to disgusting actions. He had a wife who loved him dearly and tolerated his strange inclinations, and three sons, one of whom was convicted of murdering a man in 1999.
Hecht insisted on his complete innocence. He called the testimony of his accomplices a silly joke, which was repeated over and over again.
Sentence
In this horrifying story, it is shocking that, despite the confessions of Spreutzer and the Cocoraleys brothers, as well as the testimony of Beverly Washington, the police were unable to accuse Robin Hecht of any of the murders. Instead, he was sentenced to 120 years for attempted murder and rape of a prostitute and will be eligible for parole in 2022. In addition, Hecht constantly appeals, insisting on a DNA test in order to establish his innocence.
“You have no idea how much pain I feel every day as I sit here and lose hope. I am not an angel … but I have never done any harm to anyone, except when I was forced to protect myself or my family. I could not live by killing someone or knowing that I can take someone's life,”says Hecht. Members of his family, especially his wife, are absolutely sure of the innocence of a relative and are looking forward to when he can be released on parole.
Edward Spreutzer was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted at the last minute to life imprisonment by Governor George Ryan, who commuted all death sentences in Illinois in 2003. But Andrew Cocoralis could not escape retribution and in 1999 he was executed by lethal injection. It was the only death penalty during Governor Ryan's administration. Also, Andrew Cocoralis became the last prisoner to be executed in Illinois. 12 years later, Gov. Pat Quinn will sign legislation to abolish capital punishment in the state.
The Orthodox Church of Chicago tried to commute Andrew's sentence, but to no avail. Dimitrios Kantsavelos, then Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Chicago, became an activist in the fight against the death penalty and subsequently lobbied for its abolition in the state.
During the first trial of Thomas Cocorales, the jury was presented with an audio recording of him confessing to the murders of Lorraine Borovski and Linda Sutton. But at the trial, Kokoraleis said that he came up with all this under pressure from the investigation. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Later, he and his lawyer lodged an appeal on the basis of a legal error during the trial. Some time later, in July 1987, Thomas changed his defense strategy and again confessed to the murder of Lorraine Borowski in exchange for 70 years in prison. Such a deal with the investigation involved a prison sentence, in which every day the prisoner is assessed for behavior. Depending on the grade, the prisoner is entitled to parole after half of the term.
The 35th anniversary of the entry into force of the judgment came on September 30, 2017. After release, Kokoraleis must be under police supervision for three years. September 30, 2020 will be the last day of this period and Thomas Cocoraleis will be completely free.
Shadow of the Ripper
The alleged release of one of the Chicago Ripper gang was announced to the public in August 2017 by newspapers. Naturally, a storm of indignation and indignation of the relatives of the dead and injured followed. Family members of Lorraine Borowski launched an online petition and collected more than 22 thousand signatures, appealed to the authorities and the media to prevent the release of Cocoraleis.
Elmhurst Police Chief Michael Ruth said: “I fear he can walk the streets freely again. I would feel much more comfortable if I knew that he would remain in prison. I feel that his release is a danger to society."
In September 2017, Kokoraleis's parole was rescheduled to the end of March 2019, as he was unable to find a place to live that would meet the requirements of his parole. Thomas's older brother, Greg Cocoraleys, refused to accept his brother, citing the fact that he was disabled and was huddled in a small apartment himself.
In an interview with The Tribune newspaper, he stressed that neither he nor the other members of his family will live with Thomas. Also in an interview, Greg noted that his other brother, Andrew, re-converted to the Orthodox faith before his execution. “We'll see you again in heaven,” said Greg Cocoralis.
From September 2017 to the present, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Dupage County Attorney Robert Berlin have tried to use the latest loophole in the law to keep Thomas behind bars. According to the law, the authorities can indefinitely detain a person who has committed a sexual offense and is suffering from a mental disorder. The presence of these two conditions means the potential danger of the prisoner to society if released. However, no mental abnormalities were found in Thomas.
The news of the imminent release of Cocoraleis is of increasing public concern. Relatives of the murdered girls are trying to warn the Chicago community of the impending threat. “We don't want him to hurt anyone,” says Mark Borowski. - Everyone should know that he is like fireworks. He can disappear at any moment, and by the time someone finds out where he is, it will be too late. We have exhausted all possibilities to try to keep him in prison. We no longer have the strength to do anything to prevent this. Now it's just a game: sit, wait and watch the game. I don't know what he is going to do … But he must be unhappy every day of his life."
“In the end, he’ll just get out of jail - no ankle bracelet, no parole officer, nothing. This is the worst nightmare you can imagine,”said Liz Suriano, the best friend of Borowski, who was killed by the rippers.
