This story comes from the files of the venerated Kansas City Star. Unfortunately the digitized archive for the Star is no longer online (sniffle) but someone was kind enough to send me a page containing the most remarkable story of family annihilator Lowell Lee Andrews, who makes a minor appearance in In Cold Blood as he awaits his execution.
Evidence of Love was also made into a TV-movie in 1990 called Killing in a Small Town starring Barbara Hershey and Brian Denehey (sp?).
Posted by: Darren Mitchell | November 21, 2007 at 06:46 AM
I was just starting to really get involved in the story and pow, no page 2! Oh well. Anyway, these events are always shocking, and often seem to come out of nowhere. Sometimes,however, there are those little signs, or warnings within a family that point to one of their clan being a little odd, or a little too different. Sometimes these concerns are whispered to others in the family, but would not be told to those outside the home, as it might be seen as a betrayal of that member. This is the unspoken concern you never hear about after everyone is killed. Then you have the folks who understand they really are living with a time-bomb, and often will speak to a friend or neighbor about the situation. Yet knowing action must be taken doesn't always translate into said action being taken; and very often the results can be fatal. In two case files I covered for stories here in the Louisville area, proper steps were never taken, and in both cases the result was murder. Reading the warning signs and taking proper actions to defuse a situation, especially when dealing with someone you love, (I know, I've had to take such steps in the past) )is never easy. Yet making such a decision just might keep you out of an early grave.
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | November 21, 2007 at 08:43 AM
Isn't there also an association between family-annhilators who survive and then go on to become serial killers on release from incarceration? Off the top of my head I'm thinking of Charlie Brandt (?sic) etc.
Posted by: Blimeyhecks | November 23, 2007 at 08:46 AM
The two in my case were mentally disturbed; and both killed themselves without killing any additional people.
However, those who do murder others may go on a "spree" so to speak, but they would be classified as mass murderers rather than serial killers. Serial killers are of a different sort altogether.
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | November 23, 2007 at 12:03 PM
I know that Charlie Brandt killed his mother and sister as a teenager, and then went onto be a serial killer later in life. I think there are some other examples as well.
Posted by: Blimeyhecks | November 23, 2007 at 02:07 PM
Graham Young in the UK, Blimey.
Posted by: Fiz | November 23, 2007 at 04:18 PM
I don't know Charlie Brandt, but it is true that some kill as you've described, and then sometime in the future they kill again. I believe this was the case with Ed Kemper. If my memory serves me correctly, I think he killed his grandparents when he was 15, and spent time in mental wards. Later, when he was "cured", which of course never happens with a sociopath, he became 'The Coed Killer'. He also killed his mother and his mother's friend. Kemper has a very high IQ, and he's very tall; like 6 feet 7inches...a real monster!
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | November 23, 2007 at 04:36 PM
Hi Kevin - yes Ed Kemper did the same. Google Charlie Brandt, it's a pretty horrific story.
Posted by: Blimeyhecks | November 24, 2007 at 04:48 AM
Hi Fiz - are you the Fiz from TCB? Yes Graham Young - although, that is quite a strange story in itself. I saw the BBC play about it recently, it was made in the early eighties, and repeated on BBC4 I think.
Posted by: Blimeyhecks | November 24, 2007 at 04:59 AM
I'm Fiz everywhere, Blimey. Yes, it's me! Also there's John Norman Collins, the Michigan Co-Ed killer, who is also have though to have murdered a family near where he lived before he started on all the pretty teens at Michigan.
Posted by: Fiz | November 24, 2007 at 09:48 AM
Hi Blimey-- Yes, Charlie Brandt is a monster. Now, here's the problem why we keep losing people to such vermin: Society has embraced, especially here in the USA, the idea that every person can somehow be redeemed; that there's good in everybody, no matter how many they murder in cold blood! We should love them and try to help them, they say. Well, I'm not buying it and I never did. When young psychopaths like Brandt and Kemper kill, lock them up and throw away the key. When they murder as adults, they should be executed. For me, it really is that simple. It is when you begin to show compassion to such ruthless killers that innocent people die. I'm not willing to let that happen, if I have anything to do with it.
What was it, 1972, that the US placed a moratorium on executions? By law it was determined that the current system was unconstitutional, and all those on death row had their sentences commuted to life, which of course, isn't life at all. Many of these fine individuals rejoined us in society and killed again! Well, isn't that a surprise? One individual,(I can't remember his name) returned to his small Texas town and some people actually were afraid of him! But did the men of that small town do anything about this menace? No, they depended on the police to protect them; which isn't really the job of the cops;(police are very good at bagging bodies and conducting investigations, but terrible at stopping murders). So what did this killer do shortly after being released? Why, he did that which is a part of his nature: he brutally murdered 2 or 3 more women. This is why I cannot believe anyone is fighting the death penalty here in the States. I don't care if its not a deterrent; It doesn't matter! It removes evil from the earth, and that's a good thing.
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | November 24, 2007 at 03:17 PM
Hi Kevin - I am from the UK and we don't have death sentences over here, so it is difficult for me to comment, not living in a country which has the death penalty. However, from what I have read and watched there are instances of people on Death Row being enoxerated and set free in the US, is there not? Is that why there is a moratorium at the moment? But I agree, in essence, that the Death Penalty is not necessarily about deterrent but about justice.
Posted by: Blimeyhecks | November 24, 2007 at 05:38 PM
Hi Blimey-- As to those people exonerated and released from death row, yes that does happen. However, most people on death row really do deserve to be there. I would rather be (as I am) subject to a false accusation whereby I could be arrested for a murder, tried, convicted, and sent to the death house, then live in a society which only incarcerates these inhumane people. And so, everyone in the States runs the risk of being falsely accused however small. As we say in America: Let's not throw out the baby with the bath water. The death penalty is the most appropriate and just response for those who commit horrific acts against innocent human beings.
Now, the current moratorium in the States in not really a moratorium at all. What is happening is this: The highest court in the land has agreed to hear the cases of two Kentucky (my state) inmates on death row whose attorney's are asking the court to rule on whether lethal injection is unconstitutional! Now Blimey, you must understand how it is over here: These attorneys don't really believe its cruel and unusual to put people to death in such a manor; but they will litigate this aspect and any and all aspects of execution, the trial, the clients former attorneys and their supposed incompetence, or anything which saves their client. In essence they will do anything to stop their guy from being executed. Now the Supreme Court is looking beyond Kentucky, and they want to settle this particular issue once and for all. So, in those states where people are facing death in this manor, the court will grant the stay of execution until the issue is settled. It is my hope that the wisdom of the court will uphold the position in favor of the current method of execution; but if not, we can always go back to the electric chair!
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | November 24, 2007 at 11:14 PM