Unusual Ways Police Were Able to Catch a Killer

If you are a fan of true crime, you know that it only takes one small mistake for a killer to be caught. With the advancement of technology and the help of the internet sleuth community, cases are being solved in the most surprising ways. Here are a few of the most shocking and unusual ways a killer was caught.

You’ve Got The Wrong Mail

Peter Kurten was a serial killer who committed his first murder at just nine years old by drowning two other boys on a rafting trip. Kurten was responsible for the murders of at least nine people and the attempted murders of around 31 people between 1913 and 1929.

Kurten was able to terrorize people for over fifteen years before his luck came to an end. In 1930, a woman named Maria Budlick moved to Dusseldorf, Germany and was looking for a place to live. After seeing an advertisement, she agreed to meet with a gentleman that claimed to have a place for her to stay. The man asked her to cut through a dark alley and knowing there was a serial killer on the loose, Budlick refused. The man became highly offended by her fear and this caused a fight between the two. Kurten, who happened to be in the area, witnessed the fight and stepped in to rescue Budlick.

Kurten took Budlick back to his house and he attempted to have sex with her. After Budlick refused, Kurten took her back to the train station and raped her in the nearby woods. Kurten would later admit he did not kill Budlick because she did not resist the rape.

Budlick decided it was best if she did not go to authorities after the incident. Instead, she wrote a letter to a close friend and sent it through the mail. The letter was mistakenly delivered to the wrong address and the receiver promptly handed the letter over to police. Budlick was contacted by authorities and revealed everything that happened that night.

When police arrived at Kurten’s home, he and his wife had escaped and were on the run. Realizing his wife could not make it if something happened to him, he admitted his crimes to his wife and asked her to turn him in. She did just that.

Please Call Back Later

Ed Kemper was a killer that was responsible for the deaths of ten people, including his own grandparents, at the age of 15. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in a psychiatric facility until he was 21. He was released to his mother, Clarnell Strandberg, who referred to him as a “real weirdo”. They had an extremely hostile and abusive relationship.

After fights with his mother, Kemper started to target female student hitchhikers. He would pick them up, take them to a secluded area, and kill them. He would take the bodies back to his apartment where he would dismember, mutilate and violate them.

In 1973, Kemper brutally murdered his mother as she slept in her bed. He invited his mother’s friend over in an attempt to create a cover story about the two disappearing while vacationing together. Kemper killed her friend, Sara Taylor “Sally” Hallett, and put both bodies into a closet. He then fled the scene.

Kemper drove non-stop to Pueblo, Colorado expecting that he was the target of a nation-wide manhunt. After hearing nothing on the news of the murders, Kemper called the police from a payphone. He confessed that he had murdered his mother and her friend and police were convinced it was a prank call. They requested Kemper call back at a later time. Kemper waited a few hours and called back, requesting to speak to an officer he knew personally. He confessed to his crimes a second time and waited for authorities to come arrest him.

Down the Drain

Dennis Nilsen committed the murder of at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983 in London. Nilsen would lure his victims to one of his two apartments with the promise of alcohol or shelter. After he fed them and gave them a few drinks, he would strangle them. After keeping the bodies in his apartment for an extended amount of time, he would dismember them and burn most of the remains. Nilsen would flush the smaller bones and some of the flesh down the toilet.

Noticing he was having some plumbing issues, Nilsen called a plumber to his home. After opening the drain cover, the plumber noticed the pipe was packed with a flesh-like substance and what appeared to be bones. The plumber reported his findings to his supervisor, who decided it was best if they resumed the repair until the morning. When they returned the next morning, the drain had been cleared. After inspecting another drain, more flesh and bones were found and it was reported to police. Police were able to track the drain to the top floor of the building, where Nilsen lived and he confessed to his crimes.