Eddie Leonski
| Eddie Leonski | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Edward Joseph Leonski December 12, 1917 Kenvil, New Jersey, United States |
| Died | November 9, 1942 (aged 24) Coburg, Victoria, Australia |
| Cause of death | Execution |
| Other names | The Brownout Strangler The Singing Strangler |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 3 |
|
Span of killings
|
May 3, 1942–May 18, 1942 |
| Country | Australia |
| State(s) | Victoria |
Edward Joseph Leonski (December 12, 1917 – November 9, 1942) was a United States Army soldier during World War II. He was also a serial killer responsible for the strangling murders of three women in Melbourne, Australia. Leonski was known as both the "Brownout Strangler", given Melbourne's wartime status of keeping low lighting (not as stringent as a wartime blackout) and also as the "Singing Strangler" due to his self-confessed motive for the killings being a twisted fascination with female voices, especially when they were singing, and his claim that he killed the women to "get at their voices."
Born into a Polish-American family in New Jersey, Leonski grew up in an abusive, alcoholic family, and one of his brothers was committed to a mental institution. According to a psychologist who interviewed Leonski during his trial, his mother had been overprotective and controlling. Leonski had been bullied by other neighborhood kids and called a mama's boy. Accordingly, the psychologist ruled that Leonski's crimes were born of his resentment and hatred of his mother and thus constituted "symbolic matricide."
He worked for a time as a delivery boy.
He was called up for the U.S. Army in February 1941 and arrived in Melbourne on February 2, 1942.
On May 3, 1942, Ivy Violet McLeod, 40, was found dead in Albert Park, Melbourne. She had been beaten and strangled, and because she was found to be in possession of her purse it was evident that robbery was not the motive.
Just six days later, 31-year-old Pauline Thompson was strangled after a night out. She was last seen in the company of a young man who was described as having an American accent.
Gladys Hosking, 40, was the next victim, murdered on May 18 while walking home from work at the Chemistry Library at Melbourne University. A witness said that, on the night of the killing, a disheveled American man had approached her asking for directions, seemingly out of breath and covered with mud. This description matched the individual Pauline Thompson was seen with on the night of her murder, as well as the descriptions given by several women who had survived recent attacks.
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