Roberts Sexual Fantasy With Men

39-year-old Robert Berdella was a strange character who was the owner of Bob's Bizarre Bazaar in Kansas City, Missouri, Berdella carried business cards that advertised that he had "poison" in his head. Around the house, he showed a milder side, helping his Hyde Park neighbors establish a local community crime watch program. His strange behavior on the job was written off as so much advertising hype -- until the afternoon of April 2, 1988.

That day, a neighbor of Berdella's stepped outside to find a naked stranger crouching on his porch. The 22-year-old wore nothing but a dog collar, buckled around his neck, and he blurted out a tale of sexual abuse that sent Berdella's neighbor racing for the telephone, to call police.

According to the victim, he had been held captive in Berdella's home the past five days, subjected to repeated sexual assaults before he finally clambered through a second-story window and escaped.

Detectives picked Berdella up and searched his home for evidence. In doing so, they opened up a grim Pandora's box of horror. In the house, police discovered some 200 photographs of naked men, the subjects bound and clearly suffering from cruel abuse.

Torture devices were also seized in the raid, along with a pair of human skulls, occult literature, and a Satanic ritual robe. That weekend, deputies unearthed bone fragments and another human head in Berdella's yard.

On April 4, 1988, Robert Berdella was arraigned on seven counts of sodomy, one count of felonious restraint, and one count of first degree assault. Bail was initially set at $500,000, revoked the next day, when officers testified that one of the men in Berdella's photographs -- trussed up and hanging by his heels -- appeared to be dead.

While excavation continued on Berdella's property and prosecutor's contemplated murder charges, homicide investigators started checking out their list of missing persons dating back to 1984.

A bargained guilty plea on one count of murder consigned Berdella to prison for life, but authorities suspected him in at least seven other deaths.

On December 19, 1988, Berdella pled guilty to first-degree murder in the death of victim Robert Sheldon, and to four counts of second-degree murder involving additional male victims. He was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment during which he died due to natural causes.

Chris Bryson

Chris Bryson, the young man who jumped out the window that April morning in 1988, was in his early twenties. He hustled as a "chicken hawk" or male prostitute to support his family.

Bryson encountered Berdella late one evening around the old Greyhound bus station in downtown Kansas City. Bryson was attempting to hustle Berdella but it seemed Berdella was actually hustling Bryson. The two men met some five days before the Easter weekend, each with a different idea in mind as to the way the evening would unfold.

Berdella suggested they go to his house. Young Bryson was pleased with the idea, as he was used to cheap motel rooms and the backseats of cars to eke out his meager living.

The two spent some time at Berdella's house on Charlotte Road getting to know each other. Later that evening, Berdella suggested they go to upstairs. There were vicious dogs on the floor they were on, Berdella explained, whereas the room upstairs housed a television and comfortable furniture.

Climbing up the stairs, Berdella overtook Bryson with a swift blow to the back of the head with a blunt instrument. Bryson went down quickly, unconscious. Berdella immediately took advantage of the situation and began shooting pictures of his victim with a Polaroid camera. This was a great fascination for Berdella. It would also prove to be irrefutable evidence of his guilt. Berdella was immaculate in his methodical documentation of the events with each of his victims.

Over the next four days, Bryson would be subjected to many different kinds of tortures at the hands of Berdella. He beat Bryson with an iron club and injected various parts of his body with animal tranquilizers and antibiotics. Berdella shocked Bryson with an electrical current by attaching alligator clips to different parts of his body, including his testicles. Berdella sodomized Bryson, sometimes demanding sex from the incapacitated captive two and three times a day.

During this course of events, Berdella held Bryson captive with bondage and drugs. Bryson was tied with several ropes to the iron headboard of the bed, his limbs outstretched. Berdella showed Bryson pictures of men who had been in his position before and would not cooperate. He told Bryson they were now dead and the dogs had eaten them. This was not far from the truth and Bryson believed every word Berdella said to him. He was fearful for his life, and with good cause.

Early on in Bryson's captivity, he screamed as he was raped and Berdella injected Drano into his throat, next to his windpipe, telling him if he continued to call out he would lose his voice entirely. Berdella jabbed swabs into Bryson's eyes soaked with a chemical, which could have been alcohol.

Bryson did not think he would ever see his family again, but he continually thought of ways to get out of the situation alive. Berdella would come and go quietly, leaving the drugged and confused Bryson no idea of where, if at all, Berdella was in the house.

On the day of his brave escape, Bryson did not know for sure that Berdella was gone, although in fact, Berdella had gone out to run some errands. Bryson had been cooperating with Berdella and therefore was allowed to hold the remote control for the television between his knees with his hands while still bound with ropes. He lowered the volume on the television set to determine Berdella's whereabouts.

Also, his hands were tied in a different fashion than usual and he quickly learned how to loosen the ropes. Another treat Bryson received for his cooperation earlier in the day was a cigarette. Berdella tossed the matches by the bed.

This combination of events allowed Bryson to make his quick getaway. After freeing a hand from the ropes, he used the matches to burn the rest of the ropes. His mind was racing with thoughts about what Berdella would do to him if he were captured while trying to escape.

Naked, with the ropes dangling, he dashed to the window, worrying that it might be locked or nailed closed. It was not and he quickly broke the glass. Looking down from the second story, he realized he had no choice but to jump from that height. He injured his foot upon landing, but ignored the pain as he ran out into the street to locate the nearest neighbor.

The neighbor would not let the naked man into his home but he did call the police. Shortly after police questioned Bryson, as he sat on the neighbor's stoop with red, swollen eyes and crimson marks on his wrist and ankles, Berdella showed up at his home.

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