Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Southside Slayer - L.A. Serial Killer Michael Hughes

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Southside Slayer - L.A. Serial Killer Michael Hughes · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: For an extended period, serial killer Michael Hughes operated covertly
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  until he was observed maneuvering a shopping cart along the
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  street with the remains of one of his victims concealed within.
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  Hughes was among several serial killers active in the streets
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  of South Los Angeles during the late nineteen eighties and
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  early nineteen nineties, a time marked by a surge in
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  crime within drug infested neighbourhoods. His chilling murder spree, along
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  with the crimes associated with other serial killers in the region,
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  is the central theme of Oxygen's documentary serial Killer Capital
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  Los Angeles. It was one of the most violent decades
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  in the city's history, remarked Bernard Parks, former chief of
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  the Los Angeles Police Department, reflecting on the era, I
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  think we had two or three years that over one
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  thousand murders were committed. A former Navy machinist, Hughes frequently
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  targeted vulnerable women on the streets and was ultimately convicted
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  of the murders of seven women over a span of
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  seven years who were the victims of Michael Hughes. Hughes
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  distinguished himself from other serial killers in South Los Angeles
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  by often arranging his victims in provocative positions. He is
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  trying to shock whoever finds the body, stated former Los
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  Angeles Police Department Cold case detective Cliff Shepherd in an
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  interview with The Daily Beast. We suspect there was some
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  incident in his life that set his actions in motion,
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  and he later decided to take it out on a
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  number of women. Originally from Michigan, Hughes relocated to Los
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  Angeles as a teenager. After serving in the Navy and
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  facing incarceration for theft and perjury, he returned to Los Angeles,
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  where he held various odd jobs, including working as a
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  security guard and selling Christmas trees near the Los Angeles
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  International Airport. His connection to the murders of four women,
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  Teresa Ballard, Brenda Bradley, Terry Miles, and Jamie Harrington was
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  established when an eye witness saw him pushing a shopping
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  cart containing Harrington's body down a street in Culver City
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  in November nineteen ninety three. Hughes abandoned the body in
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  a parking lot. Ropes were binding Jamie's wrists together, and
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  some torn fabric was utilized to fasten her to the
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  shopping cart. Shepard informed serial Killer Capital Los Angeles. An
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  eye witness observed Hugh's pushing the cart and was able
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  to provide a description to the authorities. His finger prints
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  were subsequently discovered on the shopping cart, linking him to
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  two additional homicides, while detectives uncovered documents bearing his name
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  at the sight of the fourth murder. Just one week
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  prior to the discovery of Harrington's body, detectives located the
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  remains of Terry Miles in another nearby parking lot in
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  Culver City. She was found partially undressed and had suffered
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  sexual assault and strangulation. Her niece, re Ale Miles, characterized
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  her to Serial Killer Capital Los Angeles as always lively
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  and energetic. She was perpetually smiling and laughing, yet she
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  faced significant challenges. Rhei l recounted my aunt sometimes lived
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  on the streets and moved in with various boyfriends. My
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  mother often felt a sense of guilt, believing she could
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  have done more, while my aunt yearned for freedom and
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  resisted following any rules. The impact of her murder was
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  devastating for the family. I vividly recall my mother's screams
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  and tears, Rhaell stated, noting that they lost a part
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  of my mother for several years as she grappled with
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  the guilt of not being able to assist her sister
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  more effectively. Hughes was found guilty of the four murders
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  in nineteen ninety eight, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
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  A decade later, he was connected to three additional murders
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  through DNA evidence discovered at various crime scenes. In twenty eleven,
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  Hughes was convicted on three counts of first degree murder
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  with special circumstances for the deaths of Ivonne Coleman, Verna Williams,
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  and Deborah Jackson. According to CBS News, Coleman, the youngest victim,
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  was merely fifteen years old when in January nineteen eighty six,
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  she decided to skip school to spend time with her boyfriend.
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  On her way home, she encountered Hughes, who subsequently raped
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  and murdered the teenager, leaving her body near a barbecue.
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  Paul Colter, a former robbery and homicide detective with the LAPD,
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  remarked he exhibited no remorse in displaying her on the
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  school grounds for children to discover what sort of monster
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  behaves in such a manner. The last victim associated with Hughes, Jackson,
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  was discovered deceased outside a paint store in mid Wiltshire
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  on June twenty fourth, nineteen ninety three, as reported by
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  the Los Angeles Times. What is the current status of
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  Michael Hughes. Hughes was incarcerated serving his sentence for the
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  four initial murders when he was connected to additional cases
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  in two thousand eight. Following a jury's conviction for three
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  more murders in two thousand eleven, Hughes received a death sentence. Currently,
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  at the age of sixty seven, he remains on death
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  row at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, California, according
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  to records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,