Leslie Irvin (serial killer)

Irvin was arrested in connection of killing 6 victims four separate incidents. This killing spree began December 2, 1954 and ended March 28, 1955. The crimes took place in Vanderburgh and Posey counties in Indiana and Henderson county in Kentucky. The victims were: • December 2, 1954: Mary Holland, 33. Shot in head at close range at work. She was 3 months pregnant. Motive: Robbery. • December 23, 1954: Wesley Kerr, 29. Shot in head at close range at work. Robbery. • March 21, 1955: Wilhelmina Sailer, 47, Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Housewife, killed at home. Shot in head. Burglary. • March 28, 1955: Goebel Duncan, 51. Henderson, Kentucky. Burglary. • Raymond Duncan, 29, Goebel's son. • Maple Elizabeth Duncan, 20, Dorris Ray's (Raymond's brother) wife. In the last incident, Goebel's wife, Mamie, was shot, but survived, permanently blinded. Elizabeth had a two-year-old daughter who was spared. In connection with the confession they claimed to have extracted from Irvin, the police claimed he admitted to two dozen burglaries and robberies. It turns out that Irvin had a criminal history. He had received a sentence of 10 to 20 years for armed robbery in Indianapolis in 1945, served 9 years, and moved to Evansville in May 1954. ==Capture==

Irvin became a suspect after someone recalled seeing his car at the Duncan property slightly before the murders there. This led to his arrest. Later, weapons and some loot that tied him to one of the murders were found. He was captured the first time because his car was spotted on a rural road in Western Vanderburgh County. It was seen by Edward Peerman, Gary Peerman, Alan Peerman, Russell Peerman, Pete Molinet and Larry Weber. The boys recognized a dent in the door of his car that had been reported in the paper. It had been parked on a lane off the road and the boys pulled in right behind him and yelled at him. They were just out having fun and were not sure it was Leslie Irvin at the time. The parents of the Peerman boys called the police and they verified that it was indeed Leslie Irvin the boys had seen on the road. ==Trials and appeal==

After some wrangling between Kentucky and Indiana over which would try Irvin first, it was decided to begin with the trial for the Kerr murder. Pretrial publicity was seen as a problem from the onset. Irvin's appointed attorney immediately moved for a change of venue from Vanderburgh County because of the difficulty of seating an impartial jury. The request was granted, but only to neighboring Gibson County. Ninety-five percent of the homes in Gibson County received newspapers with articles about the case, and the area was blanketed with radio and television reports. In the Supreme Court review, Justice Frankfurter made a special point "to attack the District Attorney's 'collaboration' with the media campaign" associated with the arrest and trial. Irvin escaped from the Gibson County jail in Princeton, Indiana on January 20, 1956. He did this by making keys with paperback novel covers, tin foil, and glue. He fled to the West. But on February 9, 1956, he was arrested in San Francisco while trying to pawn some rings taken in a Los Angeles burglary. == See also ==