True Crime Friday: The Atlanta Ripper, an unidentified serial killer
The Atlanta Ripper was active in the greater area of Atlanta in 1911 and 1912. He is suspected of having at least 21 murders, but authorities identified at least fifteen victims. Unfortunately, many of these women were less dead because they were black and the police did not take their murders seriously.
A Serial Killer Method of Operation
Serial killers have a method in which they operate. When they pick their intended target, they will begin their surveillance of the victim by following them and learning their habits. Serial killers have control issues and will often pretend to be law enforcement to gain access to their victims. Serial killers may use dump sites in secluded areas and return to corpses for necrophilia. They will often pose bodies to serve personal fantasies. Serial killers may alter their methods, destroy evidence, or taunt police to confuse investigators.A Serial Killer's Signature
Serial killers will never change their signature it is part of their sexual fantasy. It is the reason they commit the crime in the first place. It serves the emotional or psychological needs of the killer. The signature comes from within the psyche of the killer. It reflects a deep fantasy need that the killer has about his victims.The Victims of the Atlanta Ripper
- Belle Walker
- Lena Sharpe
- Addie Watts
- Sadie Holley
- Minnie Wise
- Mary Ann Duncan
The Survivor of the Atlanta Ripper
- Emma Lou Sharpe
Eyewitness Account of a Suspect
The first victim Belle Walker’s crime was report in the Atlanta Constitution under the headline “Negro Woman Killed; No Clue to Slayer. The victim’s throat had been slashed. The black population of Atlanta lived in terror as news spread about the slaying within the community. The police did not to take the murders seriously until black women began to refuse to go to work after dark. That meant businesses began to suffer because of the lack of workers.According to the newspapers the victims were dark skinned, in their early twenties, pretty, well dressed and educated. The murders were all described as having been committed with a knife or other sharp object. The murderer would rip, tear and mutilate the bodies of the victims after death. The newspapers did most of the investigations and found six suspects. None of the suspects were ever arrested for the crimes. It was reported that the daughter of one of the victims, who was also attacked by an assailant and recovered, caught sight of the attacker. He was a large, black man who was powerfully built and neatly dressed. Emma Lou Sharpe identified 35-year-old Todd Henderson as the man who attacked her. A newspaper doubted her story, so charges were dropped against the suspect
The Less Dead
Black women fall into the Less Dead spectrum. The newspapers did more work on solving these murders than the police. The police only became interested once the women refused to show up for work which affected the business owners. The lives of these women did not matter because they were black.Police Inaction
The series of murders also drew attention to broader challenges within Atlanta's policing and social environment during the early 1911s. Newspapers at the time reported that residents in the affected neighborhoods expressed concern about the pace and coordination of the investigations. As the number of victims increased, both Black and White owned newspapers called for more organized investigative efforts, noting that investigative strategies often shifted from one suspect to another without the police having evidence.In addition to investigative difficulties, the surrounding community as well as local newspapers did not give the murders of black people especially, black women the same level of attention in local newspapers as other cases at the time. Most serial killers tend to kill within their communities in hopes of not attracting attention. Black serial killers murder within their communities just like white serial killers murder within their communities. It is rare for serial killers to kill outside of their race, but it does happen.