Albert Dyer

Case record: Albert Dyer

Background

Albert Dyer was a 32-year-old WPA crossing guard and traffic guard at Centinela grammar school (Centinela Elementary School). He knew Jeanette Stephens, Melba Everett, and Madeline Everett through his work at the school where the children attended.

The murders involved three little girls: Madeline Everett, 7, her sister Melba Everett, 9, and their playmate Jeanette Stephens, 8. The girls were lured to the Baldwin Hills by Albert Dyer, and he raped and strangled the girls one at a time.

The offence

On June 26, 1937, Albert Dyer lured the three girls to the Baldwin Hills. He murdered each girl after taking them separately to the gullied wilderness and ravine.

Albert Dyer told how he asked the girls to meet him so they could go hunt rabbits, and how he separated the girls so that each could be killed in turn. He said he took Madeline up the canyon, choked her with his hands, and then tied a piece of rope around her neck to make sure she was dead. He then told how he singled out Jeanette, choked Jeanette to death with his hands, and bound her neck with a rope to make sure she was dead. He also described how Melba went with him, how she tried to scream and fought, and how he choked her and knotted a rope around her.

After murdering the three youngsters, he raped Madeline’s corpse. He later arranged the girls’ shoes side by side and prayed over the bodies.

A community search was broadcast after the girls were reported missing. Police found the bodies in the Baldwin Hills in a deep gully about two miles back from the road.

Investigation

Police began with the theory that a stranger had abducted the girls, and then began focusing on Albert Dyer as an acquaintance after his behavior at the discovery of the bodies.

Police pieced together possible clues and began a round-up of suspected sex criminals. At the discovery of the bodies, Albert Dyer asked men in the crowd not to smoke “out of respect to the dead.”

During the investigation, investigators interviewed people who had been known to frequent the park. Nell Cracroft, called the “matron of the park swimming pool,” stated that the girls had told her they were going off into the hills to hunt rabbits. Olive Everett, an eleven-year-old sister of two of the missing girls, was taken to the police station and asked to look at police photos of “known sexual degenerates.”

A man known as “Eddie the Sailor” showed children in the park how to tie knots. He was interviewed and quickly eliminated as a suspect.

Investigators found a clothesline in the Dyer home that they said matched the rope around the girls’ necks. They also found a paper bag beneath the body of Madeline that bore the name of a drugstore where Albert had recently bought supplies.

Arrest

Albert Dyer was taken to the Los Angeles jail to prevent him from being lynched.

During questioning, Dyer denied that he had murdered the girls. Detectives grilled him for hours, growing more suspicious all the time.

He was confronted with a threat: detectives said they would take him to Inglewood so he could explain to crowds outside the jail the discrepancies in his statements. Dyer pleaded:

“Don’t let them take me back to Inglewood,” he pleaded. “They’ll tear me to pieces.”

He then confessed.

Albert’s wife, Isabel, and two neighbors were placed into protective custody to protect them from surging crowds outside the jail.

Trial

Albert Dyer was tried and convicted after his confession. He later repudiated his confession.

Sentencing

Albert Dyer was put to death after conviction.

Appeals

The record indicated that Dyer later repudiated his confession, and that he was ultimately hanged at San Quentin.

Outcome

Albert Dyer was executed by hanging at San Quentin Prison on September 16, 1938.

Aftermath

After Albert Dyer was convicted, his wife no longer believed in his innocence.

Isabel Dyer did not believe that her husband could commit such crimes and said:

“Albert couldn’t have done this terrible thing. . . . We both loved children. We lost two babies of our own.”

A separate account recorded that Isabel said:

“Albert couldn’t have done this thing,” she said. “We both loved children. We lost two of our own.”

When asked by the District Attorney what he said, Dyer answered:

“I said ‘Lord forgive what I have done.’ Then I went home to my wife.”

A local newspaper quoted Merle Everett, the father of the Everett girls, as saying:

“We came here three months ago from Boston,” Merle Everett said. “We wanted to bring our children up in the open air and sunshine of California. We moved near the park so they would have a place to play. We never dreamed this would mean the deaths of our little girls. I am not vindictive, though. At least, I’m glad their bodies were found. I think the killer is insane. I want to see him captured so he can’t perpetrate another crime such as this.”

Timeline

• June 26, 1937 — Three little girls disappeared after being lured to the Baldwin Hills by Albert Dyer; he raped and strangled the girls one at a time.
• September 16, 1938 — Albert Dyer was executed by hanging at San Quentin Prison.

Other details

At the discovery of the bodies, there was a clothesline tight around the girls’ necks and the girls were found ravished and murdered. Police found the bodies in weeds and reported that the bodies were in a straight line on the sandy soil of the ravine, about 25 yards from each other. Their clothing was disarranged, their tiny dresses pulled up above their heads, and searchers found three pairs of little shoes side by side.

During his confession, Dyer described watching the three girls coming down the road and told how he reached out and grabbed Madeline by the neck and choked her to death. He described using a rope around Madeline’s neck “to make sure she was dead,” then choking Jeanette to death and binding her neck with a rope “to make sure she was dead,” and then choking Melba and tying a rope around her neck after she struggled.

After murdering the girls, he prayed and left them with shoes arranged side by side.