1. Richard Trenton Chase
Serial Killer

2. Background Born in Santa Clara, California on May 23, 1950
Died in jail on December 26, 1980 because of an overdose on prescribed medication that he had been saving up
Family members include a mother, father, and a sister four years younger than him.

3. Childhood
He grew up in Santa Clara, California playing with fire and torturing animals. As a teenager he smoked marijuana and drank. It was said that his mother abused him and that he believed that the Nazi’s told his mother to poison him to turn his blood into powder. That is why he started drinking animal blood and eating their organs.

4. Disorganized, Organized, or Mixed?
Disorganized killer; he left bloody footprints and fingerprints all over the crime scene. He made no conscious effort to clean up after himself whatsoever

5. MO
Shot victims and then stabbed them, taking out intestines and organs, and also just mutilating the body in general. He would pour blood into containers and then he would drink it. He would cover himself in the victims’ blood. He also sodomized the women.

6. Diagnosed?
When he was 18 he saw a psychiatrist that thought he might have a mental illness , but he was never committed. After injecting rabbit blood into his veins, he was committed as a schizophrenic. The court ruled him sane after deliberating for hours. After committing suicide in jail, a psychiatrist said that he was psychotic when entering prison.

7. Crime Details He was a serial killer There were six victims
He wasn’t a trophy collector, but he did take body parts home to “snack on”
Yes, he was caught and put in jail. He was sentenced to be put to death in a gas chamber at San Quentin Penitentiary, but committed suicide first

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