Three Killers that Escaped the Authorities

It’s not uncommon to hear about a criminal attempting to escape police custody, but there are a fair few famous cases that have made history over the years. For your interest www.thejacktherippertour.com have put together three of these below and the story behind the killers.

Richard Caputo

Richard Caputo was deemed unsuitable for standing trial after murdering Natalie Brown, his girlfriend, in 1971 and was then admitted to a mental institution. During this time, he and Judith Becker, a psychologist, began a relationship and later down the line, Caputo was granted furloughs after being relocated to a minimum-security institution. In 1974, Caputo killed Becker by asphyxiation and fled New York City.

A year later, he killed his next victim, who was also a lover, and the fourth was murdered and discovered in 1977.

During the next 20 years, he evaded the authorities by alternating between Mexico and the US, before marrying and having children. Leaving this family behind, Caputo married again and had more children.

In 1994, he gave himself up after becoming overwhelmed with guilt. Though Caputo admitted killing four women, police speculated that he may have murdered another two. During the trial, his lawyers claimed that his behaviour was down to multiple personalities, however, in the end, he was found guilty. In 1997, Caputo died after serving two years of his original 8.5 to 25-year sentence.

Lyda Trueblood

Marrying her husband in 1912, Lyda (or Lydia) Trueblood settled and had one daughter, called Lorraine, but things soon took a turn for the worst. The brother-in-law was the first to fall ill and pass away, followed by Lorraine in 1915 and Lyda’s husband soon after.

Two years after these tragic deaths, she remarried, only for her husband to meet the same fate just a few months after the couple’s one year anniversary. In 1919 and 1920, two men followed suit and the police became suspicious, believing this was not down to natural circumstances.

Traces of arsenic were discovered in all of Lyda’s victims, but it was too late for the police, as she had already moved on to California, where she remarried again. This time, though, Lyda attempted to convince her new husband to invest in life insurance, after which she was found by the authorities and given a life sentence.

Ten years later, Lyda escaped prison after taking advantage of ‘relaxed rules’, which were granted for good behaviour and ran away with David Minton, who recently received parole.

After leaving Minton, Lyda married husband number six, only to be found once again. In 1941, she was released and lived at her sisters before remarrying for the last time, though her husband’s children refused to let her see him. In 1958, Lyda passed away in Utah.

The Ripper Mystery

Perhaps the most interesting case on our list, notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper managed to escape the authorities’ eye so well that the true identity of the murderer was never discovered. Today, there are more than a few theories regarding who the Ripper really was, why he was never caught and the motive for his crimes.

In 1888, the Ripper brutally murdered five (known as the canonical five) prostitutes though there is some debate as to whether he took more lives during his reign. After killing his final victim, Mary Jane Kelly, the culprit appeared to vanish into thin air, leading to more theories piling up.

Of course, if you’d like to find out more about the Ripper’s reign in the East End of London, join us on one of our tours, for a detailed insight into his grisly crimes.