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The Riverside Prostitute Killer William Suff · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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William lester Seff was convicted of his first crime in nineteen seventy four, when
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he and his wife, Terrell, were accused of fatally beating their infant daughter.
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Although Terrell's conviction for the murder was eventually reversed because of a lack of
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evidence, William ended up receiving a seventy year sentence, but after only a
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decade behind bars, he was released on parole. By now, William was
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thirty four years old, and he seemed to turn his life around, getting
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a job as a stock clerk in Riverside County, California. He found it
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easy to make friends in the area, and those who knew him described him
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as a friendly nerd who was always doing things to help people when he wasn't
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at work. He was passionate about being a cook a chef, and he
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wrote his own cookbooks and even won prizes for his homemade chili in local cooking
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competitions. Two years after William was released from prison, a body was found
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at a drainage ditch in Riverside. A member of the public was walking along
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picking up aluminum cans when he saw a young woman lying on her back covered
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in blood and wearing clothes that had been ripped and shredded. The man stepped
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closer, realized that the woman was dead and quickly ran to get help.
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Although the female victim had been severely mutilated, her face was identifiable. Her
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name was Michelle Yvette Gaudierrez and she was only twenty three when she died.
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Her autopsy revealed that she had been strangled, stabbed in the torso, buttocks,
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and face, and her genitals had been deliberately mutilated. It was clear
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that Michelle's death was murder, and although investigators thoroughly searched the scene for evidence,
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they had no clues pointing them towards the perpetrator. Only two weeks later,
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another body was found. A twenty four year old homeless woman, Charlotte
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Palmer, had been dumped by the roadside, only twenty five miles away from
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where Michele Gudierrez had been discovered. However, unlike Michelle, Charlotte's body had
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been exposed to the elements for a long time, and her autopsy wasn't helpful
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to reveal any information. In fact, her cause of death was ruled as
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inconclusive. The next death came in January nineteen eighty seven, when thirty seven
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year old Linda Ortega's body was found by a road in the city of Lake
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Elsinore. It was clear that her remains had been left there for quite a
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while. The medical examiner estimated that she had been killed at least three days
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before the body was found, possibly even longer. Now California law enforcement was
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aware that they had found the mutilated bodies of three women, all disposed of
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in a very similar way. For the first time, they were starting to
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wonder if they were dealing with a serial offender. Three months later, twenty
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seven year old sex worker Martha Young was found dead in a ravine only a
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few miles away from Linda Ortega's body. Martha was strip naked, had high
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levels of amphetamines in her system, and had died around three weeks before she
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was discovered. Her autopsy ruled her cause of death as being a combination of
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strangulation and a drug overdose. Martha's death confirmed police suspicions a serial killer was
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at work and Riverside targeting vulnerable women whose disappearances were less likely to be discovered
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quickly. The Riverside Police formed a task force dedicated to solving the case.
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And almost immediately the killings stopped. It was as if the murderer was aware
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that the police were on to him and either stopped his crimes or found a
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new way of disposing his victims. For two full years, there was complete
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silence from the Riverside Killer until the body of a thirty seven year old sex
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worker was found partially buried on the shore of Lake Elsinore. Linda may Ruiz
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had died from asphyxiation, her head had been partially buried, and her throat
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was full of sand. Once again, the case didn't move forward for another
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six months, and then another prostitute was found dead. The task force was
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devastated to learn that another victim appeared to have been taken by the killer.
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Kimberly Little was a twenty eight year old woman who shared many characteristics with the
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Riverside Killer's previous victims. She had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol,
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and she was a sex worker, and she had been killed by asphyxiation.
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However, Kimberly's body provided the task force with something that they had been
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searching for, physical evidence that they could use to narrow down their search.
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During Kimberly's autopsy, several pieces of clothing, fiber, and a couple of
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pubic hairs were found which were confirmed to not belong to her. While this
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evidence alone could not be used to identify who the murderer was, it would
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be incredibly useful if investigators had a suspect and mind. Kimberly's murder was also
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the crime that truly brought the case into the public eye. Reporters from nearby
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towns began traveling to Riverside to find out more about the debts, and before
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long, the media had nicknamed the murderer the Lake Elsinor Killer and the Riverside
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prostitute killer. The police captain ended up holding multiple press conferences about the murders
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in an attempt to stop the public from panicking. He insisted that the task
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force was pulling out all the stops in order to find the culprit. But
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even though the task force was working endlessly, they seemed to be no closer
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to apprehending the Riverside killer. In November nineteen eighty nine, thirty six year
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old sex worker Judy Lynn Angel was found dead close to Lake Elsinore. It
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was clear during the autopsy that Judy had not died quickly. In fact,
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she had viciously fought back, sustaining deep defensive wounds to her hands, before
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she was overpowered. Her skull had been crushed by multiple blows to her head
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and face, and her body had been mutilated. After Judy's murder, the
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killer seemed to become more and more bold. It was as if he was
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less afraid of being caught. He was killing more frequently, sometimes posing the
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bodies of his victims or torturing them in new ways. But the key details
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of the cases remained the same, making it easy for law enforcement to link
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the crimes together. The first real break in the case came in August nineteen
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ninety one, when a sex worker was picked up by a man in a
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gray van out of nowhere. The man became angry and violent, and the
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woman managed to escape from his vehicle and run away, only for the same
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man to then pick up one of her friends, twenty three year old Kelly
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Hammond. Kelly's body was found that same day on the side of the road.
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She had been strangled to death so recently that she was still warm.
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The survivor, who had managed to escape from the killer's car, provided a
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description which was used to create a composite sketch. Over the rest of nineteen
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ninety one, the killer was still at large, taking at least one victim
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every month. By October, the Riverside Killer's body count was at eighteen,
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and he had started to mutilate the bodies of some of his victims by removing
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their right breasts. It also seemed like he was starting to toy with the
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task force, placing their bodies in locations near the police station to taunt them.
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On the ninth of January nineteen ninety two, a police officer pulled over
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a gray van that matched the description of the Riverside Killer's vehicle. The driver
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was William suff who had now been out of prison for almost two decades.
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After discovering that William had an expired vehicle registration and a suspended license, the
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officers took him back to the station. During hours of questioning, William denied
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any knowledge of the crimes, but he was still arrested and samples of his
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hair were taken to compare to the samples from the bodies of the Riverside Killer's
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victims. Ultimately, Judge Becky Dugan ruled that there was sufficient evidence of William's
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guilt for the case to go to trial. In March nineteen ninety five,
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the trial began. The prosecution described William as a sexual sadist who got pleasure
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from torturing and killing his victims. A criminologist from the Department of Justice testified
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that William's hair matched samples taken from two of the crime scenes, and so
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did fibers from William's clothing, sleeping bag, and betting. After almost fifty
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days of testimony, the jury found William suff guilty of twelve counts of first
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degree murder, and he was sentenced to death. Despite the Riverside killing now
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having received justice, one question remained unanswered. What had he done with the
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breasts that he cut out of two of his victims. Although it has not
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been confirmed, it is highly suspected that William may have used human meat in
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his award winning homemade chili, which he then fed to the employees of Riverside
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County. That's ten minute murder for today brief and bingeable True Crime. I'm
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