Norris (Born in 1948)
He was a severe sex offender known for committing tons of sexual crimes over his lifetime.
Both Lawrence and Roy had very dark sexual fantasies, involving the rape and torture of young women. They started discussing plans, once released from prison; they would kidnap teenage girls “of every single age” and proceed to torture and kill them for sexual gratification.
Both of them eventually were released from prison and met each other once again, then they proceeded to become the “Tool Box Killers”
Over the span of 4 months in 1979 (June to October ‘79), together while living in California they would drive around the streets, trying to lure teenage girls into their van.
They ended up claiming 5 teenage girls as their victims, between the ages of 13–18.
Lawrence Bittaker was born in 1940, he had a fairly neglectful childhood as an adopted child who moved around a lot. He became committing crimes at a young age, getting arrested for shoplifting at the age of 12 and only escalating from that point on; getting multiple charges for theft-related crimes over his adolescence years.
He later dropped out of high school, and was reported to have an IQ of 138; he ended up being examined by multiple psychiatrists who diagnosed him as a “psychopath” and claimed he had dangerous and manipulative tendecies.
He continued committing crimes into his adult years; and in his mid-30s while in prison for assault, he met a man named Norris
Aside from being murders, these were also extremely brutal crimes; almost always involving rape and torture.
They ended up being called “The Tool Box Killers” due to their habits of using items typically found in tool boxes such as Ice picks, Pliers, Sledgehammers etc. to torture and multilate the victims.
Lawrence Bittaker was always the one committing the torturing and killing, he was definitely highly sadistic and cruel; one time his victim told him she wanted to have a moment to pray before he killed her, he refused and killed her straight on the spot.
Roy Norris obviously wasn’t any better, he admitted that he only liked the sex aspect of kidnapping the girls. On occasions he couldn’t handle watching Bittaker torture and kill the girls, looking away or even puking. But over time, Bittaker would pressure Norris into killing them too.
They were eventually caught after Roy Norris would break down and confess to a friend about what they did, Roy’s friend would report them to the police and they were arrested.
They were charged and had to stand trial for their crimes.
Society would begin to understand the details of their gruesome crimes, and plenty of people were absolutely shook the core once they confessed to what they did.
Practically all of their victims died horrific & terrifying deaths, especially for young girls. Their first victim, Lucinda Schafer was raped before being strangled to death with a coat hanger twisted around her neck. Their second victim, Andrea Joy Hall; Lawrence stabbed ice picks into her ears then threw her off a cliff.
Their next two victims were best friends they picked up together, Jackie Doris Gilliam and Jacqueline Leah Lamp were best friends; 15 and 13 years old. They tried escaping at first but both the men beat them. They both preferred 15-year-old Jackie over 13-year-old Jacqueline so they took turns repeatedly raped her while Jacqueline watched. After Bittaker tortured Jackie with pliers, he eventually stabbed her with ice picks then strangled her to death. Roy Norris killed the 13-year-old by smashing her head with a sledgehammer.
Their next victim would be the most infamous of all, mainly due to the horrific details and the actual auditory evidence of her death which would be found. It was known in history as a very horrific crime:
16-year-old Shirley Ledford:
Shirley got abducted by Bittaker/Norris on Halloween Night, 1979 as she left her job as a waitress. They lured her in as she was hitchhiking to a party and she got in their van.
Bittaker had a tape recorder with him, that he turned on when they started. Bittaker started out by beating her and insulting her, then he started hitting her with a hammer and mutilating her body with pliers. Norris joined in and raped her and hit her with a sledgehammer.
This went on for two hours until Roy Norris strangled her to death. All of this was captured on a tape recorder so they could listen later.
The tape was found and played in court. People had extremely strong reactions to it, people ran out the courtroom screaming and crying; some people vomited and fainted. The others were all trauamtized for life. The tape eventually led to a suicide years later, by a detective who had to deal with the case. He committed suicide because he had nightmares every night.
Lawrence Bittaker was in the courtroom too, and he supposedly smiled while it was playing.
Lawrence Bittaker died on December 13, 2019 at the age of 79; natural causes. Roy Norris died on February 26, 2020 at the age of 72. Both of them passed away in prison after 40 years of their sentence, only in a two-month span from each other.
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