WIVES WHO DIDN’T KNOW HUSBANDS WERE KILLERS

Most everyone knows the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Though the work is fiction, it is loosely based on dissociative identity disorder.  A shocking and unbelievable phenomenon.  Such characters do exist, however.  The evil deeds more horrific than any story to date.  Their crimes are anything but fiction and true identities so much more disturbing than the facades they hide behind.  These monsters are known as serial killers.  They can live anywhere, even next door and go unnoticed.  What if they live closer, in your house even?  What if they are the very one you call husband?  How could one know?

John Wayne Gacy (aka Pogo the Clown) was married to Carol Hoff from 1972-1976 and although many bodies of his victims were already buried at their 8213 West Summerdale residence...Carol had no idea her husband was so terrifying.  Gacy by now owned PDM construction, which required 12-16 hour days sometimes.  Between his company, hosting parties for their community and his involvement in Democratic Party politics, where would one find the time to kill.  He was also the precinct captain of his neighborhood and the director of his community's Chicago Polish Constitution Day Parade.  Through his membership in his local Moose Club, Gacy became "Pogo"  for the Jolly Jokers.  "Pogo" performed at fundraising events and allegedly children's hospitals.  When he wasn't donning his famous clown suit, he was raising his own children.  There was a much darker side to Gacy.  A side that sexually abused and killed young men in the surrounding area.  At some point in their marriage Gacy had admitted to Carol he was bisexual and had extramarital affairs, but a brutal killer?  He found time in 1975, while carol and their children were visiting his sister, to kill an employee of PDM Contractors and bury him in the already crowded crawl space.  Carol, among others, remarked on the "dead" smell in the house.  Even a few authorities, who had come by to inquire about various accusations on Gacy (by young men who escaped) noticed the smell.  Gacy was such a well regarded member of society and such a great deceiver that he excused the smell as backed up sewer, a mouse, or the repeated urination of the family dog in the house.  He was so busy with work and extracurricular activites, the lies seemed completely feasible to all he told them to.
 
Dennis Rader (aka BTK) was married to Paula Dietz from 1971-2005.  Rader had a few jobs and "normal family man" activities that required long hours away from home.  His employment as an ADT security system installer, a dog catcher, and a census field operations supervisor allowed him to find victims and attack at a later date in their own homes.  The Cub Scout leader, and president of his church's congregational council, was reported to have doted on his wife and children.  He opened doors and fetched Paula's coat.  The only odd happenstance in their life was a poem in Dennis's writing Paula had found that detailed the brutal murder of a woman.  He reportedly told her it was an assignment for his college writing class.  Only later, when it was published in the local paper, did she realize he had actually committed this sickening crime.

Robert Lee Yates Jr (Spokane Serial killer), married to Linda Brewer from 1976-2000s, was the "perfect neighbor" and father of five.  Yates was an army pilot for the majority of his life.  He used time and distance to hide his crimes.  Many of his victims were too decomposed to take forensic samples from.  Robert often dumped the bodies at different sites from where they were killed, going so far as to plant gum and cigarette "evidence" from others to conceal what he had done.  His army involvement required him to travel all over the United States and overseas to different military bases.  He took at least one of these very trips to kill.  Two bodies were buried at the front gate of Camp Murray, Headquarters of the Washington National Guard.  He would routinely conduct his monthly training here.  The brazenness of his crimes doesn't stop here... Yates buried one of his victims in his own backyard, by the window of the bedroom he and his wife Linda shared.  Her only clue that something was amiss with Robert occurred one evening in which he took their daughter to work at 11 pm, not returning until 6:30 am the following morning.  Upon Linda unlocking the front door for him, Yates came in asking for cleaning supplies to clean up the blood in his van from a dog he had hit taking their daughter to work.  He claimed to have been at the vet with the dog during these unaccounted for hours.  Yates destroyed and replaced the cushion in the van because the "dog" bled all of over it.

Gary Ridgeway (aka The Green River Killer) was married to Judith Lynch from 1985-2001.  Ridgeway is described by his estranged wife as to having been handsome and polite.  He had a good job and liked country music.  Judith said he treated her like a lady and made her smile every day.  She said he never showed an iota of violence toward her.  They did average things like went camping, to yard sales and vacationed in their RV.  All was as it should be until, in to their second year of dating, Gary was questioned by authorities hunting the Green River Killer.  He was a person of interest but passed a polygraph and was released.  Ridgeway swore to Judith and the police they had the wrong man, he "resembled" the perpetrator but was not him.  Judith found it odd that when she moved in he had no carpet or bed.  Gary claimed the carpet had been ruined by previous tenants' children and his ex had taken the bed.  His job and union meetings obligated him to leave home early or arrive late from work on many occasions.  Although, Ridgeway seemed to have slowed down his spree during his marriage to Judith, he apparently had killed 7 or 8 during this time.

Jerome Brudos (aka Shoe Fetish Killer; aka The Lust Killer), married to a young woman  only know as "Darcie" "Ralphine" or "Susan" (depending on who you ask) from 1961-1970.  Darcie had always known something was a little off about her husband especially after he approached her wearing women's clothing.  She just thought him a pervert when he asked that she walk around the house in nothing but heels, caught him developing pictures of nude women, and requested that she stay out of his workshop and their attic.  The paperweight of a woman's breast almost tipped her off to his lust for killing. Jerome simply explained it away as being given to him as a prank.  Brudos was just brave (or stupid) enough to kill not one, but three of his victims on his own property.  He reportedly left one woman on the floor of his workshop while he calmly told his mother, wife and children to go out to dinner for the evening.  Yet another, he left hanging on a hook while he and his family went on vacation.  During their time away, a car crashed into the workshop.  Regardless of the police arriving on the scene, no one noticed the girl hanging.... Authorities even came back a second time to assess the damage from the accident and although the body had been removed (and hidden on another part of property), the smell of decomposition was not picked up on.  

These monsters could manipulate everyone around them.  They could make up lies and excuses, under intense scrutiny, for every oddity that arose.  The very jobs and activities they were celebrated for were the covers for how they could carry out such gruesome deeds.  They had friends, family, even whole communities fooled.  If professionals couldn't see through the fallacies then how would a wife?  They all just assumed  the strange and questionable behaviors of their husbands meant the men were simply cheating.