Harold Schechter - Deranged: The Shocking True Story of Americas Most Fiendish Killer!

Dont miss these top-drawer true-crime ( Booklist ) shockers by HAROLD SCHECHTER

DEVIANT

DERANGED

DEPRAVED

BESTIAL

FIEND

FATAL

and

THE A TO Z ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SERIAL KILLERS

by Harold Schechter and David Everitt

Be sure to read Harold Schechters acclaimed historical crime fiction featuring Edgar Allan Poe

THE HUM BUG

and

NEVERMORE

All available from Pocket Books

He preceded Ed Gein by decadesand forced a trusting nation to witness pure evil. The ghastly deeds of Albert Fish are chronicled by Harold Schechter, Americas foremost pop historian of serial murder. The Boston Book Review

DERANGED

The Shocking True Story of Americas Most Fiendish Killer

This biography of the ultimate dirty old man, Albert Fish [is] as horrifying as any novel could be.American LibrariesCompelling grippingly fascinating-repulsive. Booklist What Albert Fish did would chill the bones of Edgar Allan Poe. The Philadelphia Inquirer

Look for Harold Schechters essential account of H.H. Holmes, whose grotesque crimes shattered turn-of-the-century Chicago

DEPRAVED

The Shocking True Story of Americas First Serial Killer

This is must reading for crime buffs. Gruesome, awesome, compelling reporting.Ann Rule, bestselling author of Green River, Running Red Destined to be a true crime classic. As chilling as The Silence of the Lambs and as blood curdling as the best Stephen King novel. Flint (MI) Journal A meticulously researched, brilliantly detailed, and above all riveting account. Schechter has done his usual sterling job in resurrecting this amazing tale.Caleb Carr, bestselling author of The Alienist An astonishing piece of popular history. I unhesitatingly recommend [ Depraved ] to round out your understanding of the true depth, meaning, and perversity on [this] uniquely American brand of mayhem. The Boston Book Review Schechters writing keeps you turning the pages. Syracuse Herald-American

And dont miss Harold Schechters other true crime masterpieces

BESTIAL

The Savage Trail of a True American Monster

[An] essential addition deserves to be read and pored over the hard crime enthusiast as well as devotees of social history. The Boston Book Review [A] deftly written, unflinching account, Schechters macabre stories unfold like finely-tuned crime novels well-documented nightmares for anyone who dares to look. Journal Star (Peoria, IL)

FIEND

The Shocking True Story of Americas Youngest Serial Killer

A memorably gothic tale true-crime lovers will not want to miss it. Publishers Weekly

DEVIANT

The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original Psycho

[A] grisly, wonderful book scrupulously researched. Film Quarterly

THE A TO Z ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SERIAL KILLERS

By Harold Schechter and David Everitt

The scholarship is both genuine and fascinating. The Boston Book Review A grisly tome. Schechter knows his subject matter. Denver Rocky Mountain News The ultimate reference on this fascinating phenomenon. PI Magazine

Praise for Harold Sc hechters historical crime fiction featuring Edgar Allan Poe

THE HUM BUG

A riveting excursion Poe and his times come across with wonderful credibility and vitality. Booklist

NEVERMORE

[Schechter] keeps the finger of suspicion wandering until the very end. The New York Times Book Review A literary confection. A first-rate mystery. Booklist

Also by Harold Schechter:

FATAL

FIEND

BESTIAL

DEPRAVED

DEVIANT

A-Z GUIDE TO SERIAL KILLERS

OUTCRY

THE HUMBUG

NEVERMORE

DYING BREATH

The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as unsold and destroyed. Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this stripped book.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Pocket Star Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 1990 by Harold Schechter

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-671-67875-2

eISBN: 978-1-4391-8785-2

First Pocket Books printing October 1990

10 9 8 7 6

POCKET STAR and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Cover design by Brigid Pearson

Cover photograph by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS

Manufactured in the United States of America

For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798 or business@simonandschuster.com.

DERANGED

Prologue

O n March 6, 1932, readers of The New York Times, sipping their breakfast coffee or settling back on the living-room sofa, were jarred from the enjoyment of their Sunday morning ritual by an alarming full-page feature, headlined KIDNAPPING: A RISING MENACE TO THE NATION . Though the article was occasioned by the shocking abduction, just five days before, of Charles Lindbergh, Jr.the infant son of Americas most revered heroit was not illustrated with a photo of the missing baby or a picture of his famous parents. Rather, the portrait that appeared on the top of the page was that of another, earlier kidnap victim, who had disappeared from her home in 1928, never to be seen again. This was a sweet-featured, ten-year-old girl with bobbed brown hair, a gentle smile, and a name which evoked such vivid images of tenderness and purity that no novelist would have dared to invent it: Grace Budd.

From the day of her disappearance, the mystery of little Gracies whereaboutsand the efforts of the New York City Police Department to unravel ithad riveted the publics attention. What made the case so sensational was not simply the flowerlike innocence of the victim but, perhaps even more, the chilling circumstances of the crime. The child had been lured from her home and family by an elderly, kindly-seeming gentleman who had offered to take her to a birthday party. Neither Gracie nor her grizzled companiona figure of such cadaverous coloring that he came to be known in the tabloids as the Gray Manreturned that night. Or ever again.

The Budd kidnapping struck a powerfully disturbing chord in the hearts of parents throughout the country. In a way the crime was even more unsettling than the abduction of the Lindbergh baby. Because of the aviators extraordinary renown, the theft of his child (whose corpse was eventually uncovered in a shallow grave not far from home) became the most infamous crime of the Depression. It was a deed that seemed not simply heinous butgiven the worshipful regard in which the Lone Eagle was held by his countrymenalmost inconceivably wicked. As terrible as it was, however, the snatching of Lindberghs twenty-month-old son was committed out of conventionally base motives. It was a straightforward (if appallingly cruel) kidnapping for ransom.

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