Roberts Sexual Fantasy With Men 3

Bob Berdella sat in the Jackson County jail awaiting his fate. For his own safety, he was isolated in a private area of the sick bay. Sexual abusers, particularly homosexuals, are often the victims of violence at the hands of other prisoners.

Observers claimed Berdella appeared remorseful and in denial, perhaps somewhat pensive and reflective. He refused to speak to anyone who might convey his side of the story such as the media or police. His friends who visited him said that he wished to speak to a particular minister with whom he had developed a friendship. Not necessarily for religious counseling, but to have someone to confide in.

Berdella was not interested at that time in confessing anything to anyone. He ignored the entire situation. As an individual accustomed to being in control, the experience was humiliating and irritating.

Because of his contacts in his business and years spent in Kansas City, Berdella had a lot of acquaintances, some of which were friends. But to all who knew him, it was difficult to believe such a monster lived within him. Some friends accused the police of framing Berdella. Actually, no one in Kansas City wanted to believe a human being was capable of this behavior whether it was Berdella or not -- it shattered the entire image of a wholesome Midwestern town.

This reaction from people made the investigation even more confusing. The police had no corpse and therefore could not prove a murder happened. Friends and family claimed Berdella was an eccentric, yet very likable and responsible. His worst fault, from the viewpoint of his friends, was that Berdella was condescending when dealing with women or people he considered less knowledgeable than himself.

A week into the investigation, the detectives knew they had to identify people in the pictures, including the ones with no faces portrayed. It was suggested by an outside source that detectives ask Berdella to assume the pose of the person taking the photographs, whose stomach, lower limbs and occasionally arms or hands were photographed.

A plan was put into action to have Berdella take strikingly similar photographs of him in these poses. They would then be sent to a professional for positive identification. At the same time, samples of Berdella's body hair would be obtained.

Berdella was very embarrassed and humiliated by having to pose for the photos, yet cooperative for the most part. He did resist with more than one position he was asked to assume. One of which was positioning him to represent having anal sex and another when the detectives wanted to position his hand as if shoving something into someone's anus.

At Berdella's arraignment in the courtroom of Judge Alvin Randall, Berdella shocked everyone by entering a plea of guilty to the charge of murder in the first degree. Eventually, Berdella confessed to the murder and torture of six young men between the years of 1984 and 1987. With an uncanny ability to recall detail, he told his frightening story as Court Reporter Ruth Emma Pietro recorded each grisly event of the carnage in the court record. He enjoyed his moment in the limelight while in the courtroom confessing because he was in total control of the stage.

This confession was the only way the detectives had a real case since the bodies of his victims were never located. Berdella claimed to have dismembered each body with various instruments, such as a chainsaw and knives. Berdella recounted how he placed the bodies in the bathtub and made precise incisions at the elbow joints, legs and groin to allow the blood to drain from his dead victim. He then packaged them into plastic trash bags and dragged them to the curb for the trash men to pick up and take to the dump. Berdella told a courtroom full of people, including loved ones of the victims, how he watched the bags being taken from the curb to insure they were not disturbed.

By confessing to the city's prosecutor, Albert Riederer, Berdella was able to negotiate for his life. He was promised the death penalty would not be sought if he provided the grisly details of his actions and he did. Judge Vincent E. Baker subsequently found Bob Berdella guilty of six counts of murder and sentenced him to two life sentences without parole.

It was recommended that Berdella go for psychiatric evaluation, which placed him outside the general prison population and prevented any violence from other inmates. The real Bob Berdella began to emerge in the ensuing psychiatric records.

Berdella appreciated control and considered himself important. He wanted his victims to be his sex slaves. He claimed never to have killed them intentionally. It is theorized that murderers convince themselves the victim is less of a human being. This perception gives the killer an opportunity to justify his actions or, at the very least, feel less guilty about it. Berdella referred to his victims as "playtoys."

In Berdella's case, the victims were young men with little or no education. Most of the victims made a living selling themselves and drugs. Obviously they were beneath the social stature of a well-liked and successful businessman such as Berdella. It was this mentality that led Berdella to the grotesque acts of torture to which his victims were subjected. He would befriend them and then deprive them of all emotions and sensations unless administered by him.

Berdella beat his victims with various instruments and injected them with drugs or chemicals. He put chemicals into their body cavities. It has been said he even put window caulk into the ears of his victims. He sodomized them in a variety of ways -- with his penis and with vegetables, such as cucumbers and carrots or his arm. One victim died from a ruptured anal wall after Berdella put his arm deep inside of the man. In his confession, Berdella callously referred to this as "Fist F." Some victims died from asphyxiation, while others died from drug overdoses.

Berdella believed he was a good and upstanding individual who may have done some terrible things. He set forth to prove this theory to the public. He hated having his name smeared in the public eye.

In an attempt to get back in the good graces of the public, Berdella opened a trust fund for his victims' families, administered by Rev. Roger Coleman who had stood by him throughout the entire ordeal. Some families of the victims sued Berdella for wrongful death but failed because of the inability to meet the statute of limitations for such crimes. . Berdella was smug in his remarks concerning the impending lawsuits.

Berdella claimed that he did not understand why he was a serial killer or what in his life had contributed to behavior. He took great offense and claimed people incompetent for thinking he himself understood it. He rejected emphatically that claim that he had any dealings with Satanism.

Berdella served only four years of his time in the state penitentiary in Jefferson City, MO before he died of a heart attack at the age of 43 on October 8, 1992.

Prior to his death, Dell Dunmire, a millionaire originally from Punxsutawney, PA, then living in the suburbs of Kansas City, purchased all of Berdella's belongings, including the house on Charlotte Street and the inventory in his home and store. Dunmire claimed to have no interest in the items other than he felt he understood Berdella. He later leveled the house and sold the property to surrounding neighbors.