Edmund Kemper

Ed Kemper
Black-and-white photo of an expressionless mustachioed man wearing owl-eye glasses
Mug shot taken on April 28, 1973
Born
Edmund Emil Kemper III

(1948-12-18) December 18, 1948 (age 75)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Other namesCo-ed Killer
Co-ed Butcher
Ogre of Aptos
The Mad Titan
Big Ed
Height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Motive
Conviction(s)First-degree murder (×8)
Criminal chargeNone (1964 arrest; murders deemed "incomprehensible for a 15-year-old to commit")
First-degree murder (×8; 1973 arrest)
PenaltyLife imprisonment with the possibility of parole
Details
Victims10
Span of crimes
August 27, 1964 – April 21, 1973
CountryUnited States
State(s)California
Date apprehended
August 27, 1964 (first arrest)
April 24, 1973 (second arrest)
Imprisoned atCalifornia Medical Facility

Edmund Emil Kemper III (born December 18, 1948) is an American serial killer convicted of murdering seven women and one girl, between May 1972 and April 1973. Years earlier, at the age of 15, Kemper had murdered his paternal grandparents. Kemper was nicknamed the "Co-ed Killer", as most of his non-familial victims were female college students hitchhiking in the vicinity of Santa Cruz County, California. Most of his murders included necrophilia, decapitation, and dismemberment.[2][3]

Found sane and guilty at his trial in 1973, Kemper requested the death penalty for his crimes. Capital punishment was suspended in California at the time, and he instead received eight concurrent life sentences. Since then, he has been incarcerated in the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

  1. ^ "Edmund Kemper III, the hulking former construction worker serving a life sentence". United Press International. June 3, 1985. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference schechter34 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference coed12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).