Horrific Crimes People Almost Got Away With Because Of White Privilege

Jeffrey Dahmer ranks among America's most famous serial killers. His crimes gained international headlines because they were so sensational. Dahmer killed 17 males between 1978 and 1991. He often dismembered his victims and kept them for sexual and cannibalistic reasons. Authorities captured him in 1991.He died in prison in 1994.Months before his death, Dahmer had a police encounter that should have triggered more suspicion than it did.

May 27, 1991.Neighbors called police after seeing a naked, bleeding boy run from Dahmer's apartment. Police interviewed Dahmer and accepted his story: he and the boy were lovers, and he was just drunk and upset. They sent the boy back to the apartment where he would be murdered that night. The boy, who was hysterical and bleeding from the anus, was 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone. Dahmer then claimed four more victims.

Officers received only suspensions, even while the Milwaukee Police Department faced public anger over racism and homophobia.

Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin had a simple motive for his killings: he was a fierce racist.Franklin claimed 18 lives.Franklin terrorized people for over ten years. This rabid white supremacist hated blacks, Jews, and other minorities. He consumed hatred and often sought blood.

Starting in 1977, Franklin robbed, murdered, and assaulted Jewish and African American people. Police questioned him about some killings and he confessed to one, but courts acquitted him or let him go. In 1980, Franklin shot and killed 14-year-old Darrell Lane and 13-year-old Dante Evans Brown in Cincinnati, OH. He hid under a railroad trestle waiting to murder the first black person he saw. Because the victims were two young black men, the investigation lacked depth, and Franklin avoided conviction for 17 years.

Many years passed before Franklin faced justice. Missouri executed him in 2013 for another murder conviction. In that crime, he killed a Jewish man outside a St. Louis synagogue, carrying out a sniper-style execution in the name of white race purity.

Gary Leon Ridgway.Also known as the "Green River Killer," Ridgway killed at least 49 women in Washington state, admitting to as many as 80. Ridgway's killing spree lasted nearly 20 years until he was caught in 2001.

Ridgway showed weak intelligence, a rare trait for such a successful killer. He worked painting trucks for 30 years and married three times. Ridgway was also a religious fanatic; he often went door-to-door reading from the Bible.

A man who liked picking up runaways and prostitutes, raping them, and then strangling them before dumping them in the Green River evaded authorities for a long time. Authorities picked up this man in connection with one of his 1984 murders and ran a polygraph.He failed the polygraph.Still, he walked free. A religious, soft-spoken white man could not imagine him being a brutal, sadistic killer.

Ted Bundy is probably the most famous killer of all time. He raped and murdered at least 36 women across several states—some suspect that number exceeds 100—and he remains one of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century.Bundy was a handsome, charming guy. He used his non-threatening nature to lure victims and avoid the police. His girlfriend once saw him keep a meat cleaver in his VW bug's glove box. Ironically, he enjoyed working for a suicide prevention hotline. He also volunteered for a young Republicans organization, which earned him a recommendation from Washington's governor when he applied to law school.It took ten years for Bundy to be convicted, after two successful escapes from custody, and face consequences for his brutal crimes.

Bundy was handsome and charming. He used his non-threatening nature to lure victims and avoid police. His girlfriend saw him keep a meat cleaver in his VW bug's glove box. Ironically, Bundy enjoyed working for a suicide prevention hotline. Bundy also volunteered for a young Republicans organization. This earned him a recommendation from Washington's governor for law school.

It took ten years for Bundy to be convicted. He faced consequences for his brutal crimes after successful escapes from custody.Albright, also known as "The Eyeball Killer," was arrested in 1991 and charged with murdering three women. The victims, all prostitutes from low-income areas, were shot dead before their eyeballs were removed. Albright kept the eyes as trophies, claiming the hatred came from his mother, who was also a prostitute.A good-looking, white law student and Republican. Connecting the dots on how he roamed freely in '70s America is simple.

Those who knew Charles Albright considered him aRenaissance man.He spoke French and Spanish fluently. Albright painted and played piano well. He loved literature, reciting Keats from memory. Beneath this cultured front, the Dallas native hid a terrible, murderous secret.

Albright, known as "The Eyeball Killer," was arrested in 1991. He faced charges for killing three women. These victims were prostitutes from low-income areas. Albright shot them before removing their eyeballs. Albright kept the eyes as trophies. He later claimed this came from hating his mother, who was also a prostitute.

Witnesses led to Albright's arrest and conviction. However, Albright's friends and lawyers claimed Axton Schindler, a truck driver living in a rental Albright owned, was the real killer. Schindler was innocent. They simply could not believe this well-to-do white man committed such awful crimes.

H.H. Holmes is known asone of America's earliest serial killersA wealthy business owner, H. H. Holmes, targeted migrant workers during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. He turned his home into a murder castle. It held airtight chambers where he suffocated or gassed victims brought in under the guise of a boarding house. Holmes built trap doors and chutes in the house. These dropped bodies into a basement kiln where they burned and destroyed. He created a killing factory, claiming an unknown number of victims, though some think it was near 200.

Philadelphia, PA, hanged H. H. Holmes in May 1896 for murdering Benjamin Pitezel. Holmes was a wealthy white man. No one checked on Holmes while dozens of poor, migrant workers vanished—often last seen with him. If Holmes had confessed—a self-serving boast—people likely would not have known the extent of his evil.

Dennis Rader appears in the list 'Horrific Crimes People Almost Got Away With Because Of White Privilege'.Dennis Rader, known as the "BTK Killer" (bind, torture, kill), took 10 lives between 1974 and 1991 over nearly 30 years. Rader's first killings were infamous: in 1974, he broke into the Otero family's home and brutally tortured, sexually assaulted, and strangled four family members.

Before his 2005 arrest and conviction, Rader received a 10 life sentence. On the surface, Rader appeared to be a typical white, suburban family man. He was a father of two, a Boy Scout leader, and a church member. Rader worked for the city as a compliance officer. This job brought reports of strange, cruel behavior, including killing dogs he called "strays." Rader's middle-class white status protected him too long, especially when he showed signs of psychopathic behavior as a city employee.

Despite being a convicted rapist and kidnapper,Todd Kohlhepp walked free.Kohlhepp got a career as a real estate agent. A judge called him violent and calculated, but prosecutors dropped the sexual assault charge if Kohlhepp agreed to plead guilty to kidnapping. Several news organizations reported he was registeredas a sex offender with the state..

For 13 years, Kohlhepp killed seven people and kept a woman chained by a dog collar on his property. He confessed after being arrested in 2016.

Neighbors said Kohlhepp seemed like a normal guy. Kohlhepp hid his sex offender status from friends and neighbors, stemming from a 1987 kidnapping case. He was a registered felon. He bragged to his only surviving captive, Kala Brown,that he was a skilled killer.He took the lives of at least 100 people. He boasted he would never get caught.