Richard Chase had been institutionalized prior to his four day killing spree, in January of 1978.  While in the mental institution, Chase, had complained that his head kept changing shape and that someone had stolen his pulmonary artery.  The staff at the hospital had actually started calling him, "Dracula."  So in 1978 they felt that the medication had finally begun to help him and that his paranoid schizophrenia was under control, at this time he was released.  Upon his release he stopped taking his medication so his delusions of grandeur had returned.

He now thought his blood was turning to powder and that his mother was being paid to poison him by the Nazis.  He was also hearing voices, they were telling him to treat his illness of blood turning to powder.

He was an unorganized killer, as most schizophrenics would be, therefore these acts were not planned or thought out, needless to say he left quite a bit of evidence at the crime scene, it took police only four days to capture him. His illness was progressively getting worse and Chase informed the police that he was being followed by aliens.

After Christmas, 1980, Chase took an overdose of anti-depressants and died in prison.

 

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Bibliography:

 

Written by Tracy Kennedy

Copyright © 2002  by [The Crime Web].

Except as provided by the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system  or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the author.
Original Written: July, 2001

Updated: February 1, 2002

 

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