Carroll Cole
Carroll Cole | |
---|---|
First degree murder | |
Criminal penalty | Death (October 12, 1984) |
Details | |
Victims | 5 convicted, claimed 13–35 |
Span of crimes | 1947–1980 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | California, Nevada, Texas |
Date apprehended | November 30, 1980 |
Carroll Edward "Eddie" Cole
Early life
Carroll Edward Cole was born in
First murder
At age 8, he retaliated against one of his classmates, a boy of the same age named Duane, by drowning him in a lake in Richmond, California. The death was regarded an accident by authorities until Cole confessed to it many years later in an autobiography he wrote in prison. During a press interview, Cole said of this event, "I was primed, I had made the mental commitment I was going to get even with my mother, and things just built up and built up and became an obsession."[3][4]
As a teen, Cole committed several
Later life
Cole spent time in various mental hospitals over the next three years. At the last of them, Stockton State Hospital, a Dr. Weiss wrote: "He seems to be afraid of the female figure and cannot have intercourse with her first but must kill her before he can do it."[3] Weiss approved his release in April 1963, despite hospital staff having diagnosed Cole with antisocial personality disorder.[5]
Upon his release, Cole moved to Dallas, Texas, where his brother Richard was living. There, he met and married an alcoholic stripper named Billie Whitworth, but this did not change his perspective towards women. After two years, the marriage ended when Cole burned down a motel after convincing himself that Whitworth was having sex with men there. As a result, he was arrested for arson. Upon his release from prison, Cole attempted to strangle an 11-year-old girl in Missouri. He was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.[6]
After the sentence was up, Cole ended up in Nevada, where he attempted to strangle two more women. Once again, he checked himself into a mental hospital. The doctors there noted his murderous fantasies but still elected not to detain him and he was given a ticket back to San Diego.
Serial murders
Cole's first victim as an adult was Essie Louise Buck, whom he had picked up in a San Diego tavern on May 7, 1971. He strangled her to death in his car and drove around with her body in the trunk before eventually dumping it. Just two weeks later, he killed an unidentified woman and buried her in a wooded area. He later claimed that they had proven themselves unfaithful to their husbands, and so reminded him of his adulterous mother.[6]
In July 1973, Cole married barmaid Diana Faye Younglove Pashal, who was also an alcoholic. They argued and fought frequently, and Cole regularly went off on his own for days at a time. He would commit murders while he was away, including one woman he allegedly cannibalized to a degree. In September 1979, Cole strangled Pashal to death. A suspicious neighbor called the police eight days later, but although they found Pashal's body wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a closet, they decided that she had died because of her heavy drinking, and Cole was released without charge after questioning.
Cole left San Diego and started moving around again. In 1979, Cole met Marie Cushman at a bar in Las Vegas. That same evening, the two went to a motel where they had sex; he then killed her by strangulation.[7]
Following the Las Vegas killing, he returned to Dallas, where he fatally strangled three more women in November 1980. Cole was a suspect in the second of these killings and was also found on the scene of the third murder.
Conviction and death
On April 9, 1981, Cole was convicted of three of the murders committed in Texas. He was sentenced to
In February 1984, Cole was extradited to Nevada, where he was tried and convicted for the strangulation deaths of two women in 1977 and 1979. In October 1984, Cole was sentenced to death in Nevada.
On the day of his execution, anti-death penalty campaigners, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the United Methodist Church of Reno, and fellow death row inmates tried to have his sentence commuted, but Cole protested. For his last meal, Cole ordered jumbo fried shrimp, french fries, salad with French dressing, and Boston clam chowder. The night before he requested Kentucky Fried Chicken, but guards could only give him chicken nuggets, as he was not allowed to have food with bones.[1] Cole was executed by lethal injection at Nevada State Prison on December 6, 1985, at 2:10 am.[10][11][1] His brain was removed hours after his execution and studied for abnormalities at the University of Nevada-Reno medical school.[1]
See also
- List of people executed in Nevada
- List of serial killers by number of victims
- List of serial killers in the United States
References
- ^ a b c d Myers, Laura (December 6, 1985). "Last-minute stay rejected; silent protest outside prison". Reno Gazette-Journal. pp. 1A, 9A.
- ^ "Nevada Executes Killer of Five : 25 View Death of Carroll E. Cole by Lethal Injection". Los Angeles Times. 1985-12-07. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ ISBN 0760775664.
- ^ a b "Claims He Killed 3 S.D. Women, Many Others: Death Row Inmate Won't Appeal Dec. 6 Execution". Los Angeles Times. 28 November 1985. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
He was given a bad-conduct discharge in 1958
- ^ Richmond, Jessica. "Cole, Carroll" (PDF). Department of Psychology. Radford University. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
- ^ ISBN 0760775664.
- ^ RYAN, CY (5 December 1985). "Carroll Cole, who romanced at least 10 women before..." UPI. CARSON CITY, Nevada: United Press International, Inc. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ FREED, DAVID (7 December 1985). "Nevada Executes Killer of Five: 25 View Death of Carroll E. Cole by Lethal Injection". Los Angeles Times. Carson City, Nevada. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ "Cole v. State". Justia.
- ^ "CONFESSED MURDERER OF 13 IS EXECUTED IN NEVADA". The New York Times. Associated Press. 7 December 1985. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
Mr. Cole was the first person executed by injection in Nevada
- ^ "Eleven men executed in Nevada since 1979". LasVegasSun.com. Associated Press. 2 June 2005. Retrieved 16 August 2018.