With Halloween just around the corner, the folks here at BD are interested in all things creepy, spooky, and scary! This weekend we investigated which serial killers have left their mark in our city of Corvallis. Although there are no explicit images included in this article, this content is graphic and may not be suitable for everyone, but if you have a deep fascination with which serial killers have affected the Corvallis community, continue reading!

Jerome (Jerry) Brudos

Brudos is the least murderous of the three serial killers we will discuss, but by no means does that make him any less evil. His legacy lives on in two names: The Lust Killer and The Shoe Fetish Slayer. Like most serial killers, Brudos had a strained relationship with his mother. When he was five years of age he found a pair of high heels in a junkyard which sparked his fascination with women’s feet and clothes; however, his mother found out and destroyed them. While perhaps this was an overreaction to a five year old playing dress up, it by no means justifies his actions later in life.

Brudos went on to murder four women between Corvallis and Salem, keeping their shoes as souvenirs. Brudos also kept an amputated foot of one of his victims that he used to model the trophy shoes he kept from his other victims. He not only kept their shoes; in the case of of two women he kept their amputated breasts and used them as paperweights. Thankfully, he was apprehended on May 25, 1969, given a life sentence, and has since passed away.

Randall Woodfield

Woodfield is another relevant serial killer in the area. He has gained a lot of notoriety and is known as The I5 Bandit/Killer. He grew up a football star and when he began indecently exposing himself to women his coach helped keep it quiet so he could continue to play football for Newport High School. He was ultimately selected to play professionally with the Green Bay Packers, but he did not make it past training camp.

Woodfield has been linked to the murder of 18 victims, however he is suspected of murdering 40+ women and sexually assaulting 60+ mostly along I5. In Corvallis he sexually assaulted two young girls, and was ultimately captured in March of 1981. He is currently serving his life imprisonment (plus 165 years) at Oregon State Penitentiary. In 2012 he was linked to three cold case murders through DNA evidence.

Ted Bundy

The big one. Yes, Ted Bundy. AKA the serial killer so bad he doesn’t have a nickname. One of America’s most notorious serial killers due to the number of victims he has and the way in which he killed. While he is officially linked to 30 murders, the range in which he is suspected of killing goes all the way up to 100 people. Here is the thing–no one knows when he started killing. Maybe in his early teens, maybe in his mid twenties. That is a huge lapse in our knowledge of the notorious Bundy.

He exclusively killed white women with dark hair between the ages of 15 and 25. Because of this, you could say high school and college ladies were very on edge. In fact, he is actually connected to Corvallis for the murder and a student from Oregon State University. He was known for sexually assaulting women and then bludgeoning them to death. Bundy even escaped prison twice. Crafty, unhinged, and violent are three traits we would say we don’t look for in a man. However, Bundy was the recipient of tons of love letters and marriage proposals once he was in jail. He was finally apprehended for the final time February 17th, 1978. He has since been executed.  

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/people/jerome-brudos-403432

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/sicko-shoe-fetishist-killing-spree-article-1.1829333

http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/woodfield-randall.htm

http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b1/bundy-ted.htm

http://www.refinery29.com/what-is-hybristophilia

Photography by Roya Ann Miller (via unsplash.com)