INTRODUCTION
Charles Ray Hatcher was an American serial killer who murdered 16 people between 1969-1982 and confessed it. He was continuously arrested and released for a variety of different crimes.
Classification: Serial killer
Number of victims: 2-16
Date of murders: 1969-1982
Date of arrest: August 3, 1982
Date of birth: July 16, 1929
Method of murder: Strangulation-stabbing with knife
Location: Missouri/Illinois/California, USA
Status: Sentenced to 50 years to life imprisonment without parole in Missouri, 1984. Committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell on December 7, 1984.
BACKGROUND OF CASE
Charles Ray Hatcher committed a number of crimes but is known for killings. He killed 16 children. He also used fake identities and was also arrested under those false names sometimes. He would also confess his crimes in order to decrease his punishment. Majority of the time he was caught because he confessed his crimes and also for recurring action of stealing cars. His father was also an ex-convict and alcoholic. He was bullied in school so this led him to bullying others. He was classified as a serial killer. He was also known as “One-Man Crime Wave”, “Mr. Prince”.
He was a petty criminal but later he took a big step up to commit murder of his fellow prisoner Jerry Lee to death in the kitchen of Missouri State Penitentary. Upon his release he was also convicted for child abduction and also for molestations, murders involving young children. In 1982, he also escaped and murdered 11-year-old Michelle Steele in St. Joseph Missouri. He was arrested and he also confessed by claiming guilt of murdering 15 other children. His first child killing took place in Antioch California, he also killed 4-year-old Eric Christgen and was sentenced to 2 life terms.
EVENTS
- 1947-1963: He committed crimes such as forging, burglary, auto theft, and killed his inmate.
- 1969-1977: He also started kidnapping, sexual assaults, killing children.
- 1978-1982: he was arrested for assaulting kids, and for knife fight.
- 1983: Again, arrested for murdering a young girl and later after a few days he also confessed to 15 other child murders since 1969.
CRIMES
Crimes committed by Charles Ray are as follows:
- Stealing multiple cars
- Forging checks
- Attempted burglary by escaping from prison
- Attempting abduction of young boy
- Molesting young boy
- Kidnaping young boys
- Raped and stabbed his inmate to death
- Knife fight
MODUS OPERANDI
Examining modus operandi helps to determine the type of personality characteristics killer possesses. His targets were young children. He used to abduct children and then threaten them with a butcher knife. His common mode of committing crime was abducting and molesting victims. He is a child killer. He was a killer from his childhood and he committed petty crimes to brutal murders. He is a psychopathic criminal. He committed murders by abduction, violence, lust, pedophilia. He also committed auto theft. He was a bisexual, he molested men and young boys, but also raped Michelle Steel. He used to stab with a knife and strangulate the victims to kill them, this was the mode of killing developed by him. He usually had a knife with his hand or his bare hands, he also used to overkill the victims, by stabbing 10-12 times.
FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS
In 1972 he was convicted of rape and murder of Gilbert Martinez and was admitted to California State Hospital for mentally insane. He was classed as mentally disordered sex offender. After release again he tried to stab a 7-year-old boy, his record of arrests and sentences read like a horror book. When the FBI agents arrived, Hatcher confessed to them the murders of 16 people and many other children. He also described the burial grounds and positions of each corpse.
CRIME SCENE
First, he was convicted for auto theft and sentenced to jail. And again, he was convicted of auto theft for the second time. He also tried to escape from prison and attempted burglary but he was caught and again sentenced to prison.
Charles was working as an employee at Lowa-Missouri Walnut Company for 2 weeks in 1947. He was convicted for robbing auto and received 2 years imprisonment; this was the first crime committed by him. He was again convicted for auto theft in 1948 and again sentenced to 2 years in Missouri State Penitentiary. He escaped from jail and attempted burglary in a place but he was caught and sent to prison and 2 years extra added to his sentence.
After releasing from jail, Charles tried to kidnap Steven Pellham- a 16-year-old boy. Charles kidnapped and threatened him with a butcher knife. This was the first kidnap committed by Charles. But police caught Charles while he was driving a stolen vehicle. He was again sentenced to 5 years in Missouri State Penitentiary.
Charles was blamed for the murder of inmate Jerry Tharrington in 1961, as there was reasonable doubt to believe that he was only the person missing from the kitchen when Jerry was murdered. Jerry was found in the prison stabbed to death. He was sent to solitary confinement but was released as there was no enough evidence to convict him in court.
Charles confessed to kidnapping William Freeman in 1969, he said that he took William to a creek and strangled him. This was the first confession made by him. He also confessed to the murder of Eric Christgen. He was convicted of the Christgen homicide in October 1983, and was sentenced for life imprisonment with no parole for at least 50 years. After facing his second Missouri conviction a year later for the murder of Michelle Steele, Hatcher requested a death sentence but the jury refused, recommending life on December 3, 1984. Four days later, Hatcher hanged himself in his cell, at the state prison in Jefferson City.
JUDGEMENT
First time he was sentenced for 2 years imprisonment. A few months later he was again sentenced for a few months for forging a cheque. In 1951, he escaped from prison to attempt burglary, was caught and again sentenced to 2 years in prison. Once released, he again stole a car and was sentenced to 4 years, again he tried to escape from prison and received additional 2 years of imprisonment.
In 1959, after attempting to abduct Steven Peliham, again he received 5 years imprisonment. In prison also he stabbed his inmate and claimed that he needed psychiatric treatment, but it was refused. After confessing to abducting William Freeman, Hatcher spent the majority of his time going back and forth between court and hospital. In December 1972, Hatcher was tried and convicted for abduction and molestation of Martinez. In January 1972, he was committed to the California State Hospital as – mentally disordered sexual offender. In 1973, In May 1973, a psychologist found Hatcher to be a manipulative institutionalized sociopath. A psychiatrist diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, and he remained at Vacaville. Hatcher was sentenced to 1-year imprisonment. After being found guilty for murders, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He requested the death sentence but the jury refused so few days later he killed himself.
Author
Suvarna Thripthi
Intern, Dept. of Forensic Science and Criminal Investigation
Legal Desire Media & Insights