Paul Bateson

Paul Bateson
A man with short brown hair, beard and mustache wearing a white top looks to the left and down; he appears to be in a hospital room
Bateson in The Exorcist, 1973
Born (1940-08-24) August 24, 1940 (age 84)
Lansdale, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other namesJohnny Johnson
OccupationRadiological technologist
EmployerNew York University Medical Center
Known forAppearance in The Exorcist; murder of magazine journalist Addison Verrill and suspicion of contemporaneous serial killings
Criminal chargeSecond-degree murder
Criminal penalty20 years to life
Criminal statusReleased on parole after 24 years and three months; released from parole after five years

Paul Bateson (born August 24, 1940) is an American convicted murderer and former radiographer. He appeared as a radiologic technologist in a scene from the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, which was inspired when the film's director, William Friedkin, watched him perform a cerebral angiography the previous year. The scene, with a considerable amount of blood onscreen, was, for many viewers, the film's most disturbing scene;[1] medical professionals have praised it for its realism.[2][3]

In 1979, Bateson was convicted of the murder of film industry journalist Addison Verrill and sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison; in 2003 he was released on parole, which ended after five years. Prior to Bateson's trial, police and prosecutors implicated him in a series of unsolved slayings of gay men in Manhattan known as the “bag murders”, killings he had reportedly boasted about while in jail, with prosecutors bringing it up at his sentencing.[4] However, no additional charges were ever brought against him. The experience inspired Friedkin to make the 1980 film Cruising which, while based on a novel written a decade earlier, incorporated in its storyline the city's leather subculture, with which Bateson had identified.

In 2012, Friedkin recalled having visited the jailed Bateson prior to his trial and having a conversation which suggested that either Bateson had committed the additional “bag murders” or merely that he was considering confessing to them for a lighter sentence. However, other than the alleged comments made during the Friedkin interview and the assertions by police and prosecutors immediately prior to and during Bateson's murder trial that he had admitted to the serial murders while in jail, there is no other record of definitive incriminating evidence that Bateson committed the "bag murders", though he remains the most consistently proposed suspect. Despite the lack of conclusive evidence, Bateson is often described as a serial killer.[5]

  1. ^ Seth Abramovitch and Chip Pope (October 1, 2018). "William Friedkin: The Exorcist". It Happened in Hollywood (Podcast). Event occurs at 33:30–38:30. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  2. ^ Harrigan, Mark R.; Deveikis, John P. (April 20, 2009). Handbook of Cerebrovascular Disease and Neurointerventional Technique. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-60327-125-7. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  3. ^ Harrigan, Mark R. (August 1, 2012). Catheter-Based Cardiovascular Interventions: A Knowledge-Based Approach. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 304. ISBN 978-3-642-27676-7. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  4. ^ "Murderer of a Writer Is Implicated in Cases Of Unsolved Slayings". The New York Times. April 7, 1979. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  5. ^ Miller, Matt (October 25, 2018). "Searching For the Truth About the Actual Murderer in The Exorcist". Esquire. Retrieved February 22, 2019.