Robin Gecht

Case record: Robin Gecht

Background

Robin Gecht was associated with the group known as the Ripper Crew or Chicago Rippers, which was described as a satanic cult. The group included Robin Gecht and three associates: Edward Spreitzer and brothers Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis.

Gecht was described as having once worked for the serial killer John Wayne Gacy. He was also described as having been accused of molesting his younger sister in some accounts, and as having a history of being linked to confessions and witness implicating him in some deaths.

Gecht stated that he was innocent of the murders and innocent of any murder. He also stated that he had never killed or took part in any such acts, and that he had never been charged in any murders of anyone.

A quote attributed to Gecht said:

"First mistake...is considering me a serial killer...am not considered one...I have never killed or took part in any such acts nor ever charged in any murders of anyone."

The offence

Gecht and his associates were suspected in disappearances of 18 women in Chicago, Illinois.

They were alleged to have driven around in a van looking for prostitutes to sacrifice in Gecht's apartment. It was alleged that they removed one breast from each victim and ate it while Robin read passages of The Satanic Bible. It was also said that after severing the breast, they took turns raping the open wound. They were then alleged to have masturbated into the flesh of the breast, chopped it into pieces, and devoured it.

Gecht was serving 120 years in Menard Correctional Center for mutilating and raping an 18-year-old prostitute.

The narrative also described other alleged victims and assaults and stated that investigators did not have enough evidence to charge Gecht with murder.

Investigation

Authorities linked Gecht with the “Ripper” slayings but had no proof, and he made bail October 26.

A case described in the material stated that on October 20, police arrested unemployed carpenter Robin Gecht, age 28, and charged him with the cruel assault on Beverly Washington.

A search of Gecht's apartment revealed the Satanic chapel described by Tom Kokoraleis, and lawmen came away with a rifle matched to the recent Torado shooting. Satanic literature was retrieved from the apartment occupied by Andrew Kokoraleis.

The manager of a motel near the dump sites of Sutton and Burrowski described Gecht and the others as “party animals” and also as “some kind of cultists,” according to the material.

A quote attributed to Gecht concerned pain and incarceration. It said:

"I don’t only face the injustices, but the nightmares that follows. You have no idea the pain and hurt I face and feel every single day I sit here and loose hope. I’m not an angel...but I never intentionally hurt anyone unless it was to protect myself or my family. I could never live with killing or knowing I was responsible for taking ones life."

Gecht sought DNA testing that he said would clear him; he had been unsuccessful in obtaining it.

Arrest

Robin Gecht was arrested on October 20, 1982 and charged with the cruel assault on Beverly Washington. He made bail October 26.

The material described that authorities swept up Robin Gecht, Ed Spreitzer, and 20-year-old Andrew Kokoraleis on November 5, lodging them in jail under $1 million bond.

A search with arrest warrants occurred at that time, and it was also described that Tom Kokoraleis was charged with the slaying of Lorraine Borowski on November 12 and formally indicted by a grand jury four days later.

Trial

Gecht attempted to avoid trial by offering an insanity excuse. He was evaluated for competency and found to be competent to stand trial, and also considered to have been sane at the time of the offenses.

Gecht's second trial began on September 20, 1983, and his trial opened on September 20. The material stated that Gecht took the witness stand on September 21, confessing the attack on Beverly Washington.

The material stated that Gecht was found mentally competent for trial on March 2, 1983.

In the trial described, Gecht was convicted on all counts, and he received a sentence of 120 years in prison.

The jury found Gecht guilty on all counts with which he was charged: attempted murder, rape, deviate sexual assault, aggravated battery, and armed violence.

Sentencing

Robin Gecht received a sentence of 120 years in prison on February 17, 1984.

The material stated that Gecht was serving 120 years in Menard Correctional Center for mutilating and raping an 18-year-old prostitute.

Appeals

The material stated that confessions by other co-defendants implicating Gecht were not admissible against him, and that investigators had never had enough evidence to charge him with murder.

No specific appeal for Gecht was described in the material, but it described that Gecht remained trying to obtain DNA testing.

Other details

Alleged connections and other criminal outcomes involving associates

Edward Spreitzer pled guilty on April 2, 1984, to murdering Rose Davis, Sandra Delaware, Shui Mak and Rafael Torado. He received life sentences for each murder, and the material stated that he received additional time on conviction for charges of rape, deviant sexual assault, and attempted murder.

Thomas Kokoraleis was convicted of Lorraine Borowski's murder on May 18, 1984 and received a life sentence on September 7.

The material stated that Andrew Kokoraleis was executed by lethal injection on March 16, 1999, at Tamms Correctional Center in Southern Illinois, for the 1982 strangulation murder of Lorraine Borowski. A quote was not provided for Andrew Kokoraleis in the material.

The material stated that the death sentence of Edward Spreitzer was commuted in George H. Ryan's last minute commutation of all death sentences in Illinois in 2003.

The material described that Andrew Kokoraleis was the first prisoner executed at a new super-maximum-security prison in southern Illinois.

The material also stated that on March 7, 1999, Robin Gecht's son David and three others were charged with first-degree murder in connection with a shooting death that police believed was gang-related.

Statements about victims and events (as described)

The material described a series of killings suspected to involve the group, including:

• Linda Sutton, 28, being raped and stabbed to death on May 23; her corpse recovered ten days later in Villa Park, with her left breast missing.
• Lorraine Burrowski and Shui Mak being abducted in May 1982, with their bodies not recovered until that fall; Shui Mak's body recovered at Barrington on September 30.
• Angel York surviving an attack on June 13.
• Sondra Delaware found strangled on a river bank on August 28 with her left breast missing.
• Rose Davis found in an alleyway on September 8.
• Carol Pappas, wife of a Chicago Cubs player, abducted on September 11 while shopping and never seen again.
• Beverly Washington, a twenty-year-old prostitute, found near death alongside railroad tracks on October 6; it described that she was raped, slashed, and had her left breast severed; she survived and gave a description of her attacker and the van she was taken in.
• The material stated that an unknown man named Rafael Torado was killed in an incident in a cruising van that peppered a phone booth with rifle fire, with a male companion wounded.
• It described that a teenage prostitute survived a prior assault and was able to identify Gecht's van.
• It stated that “Cynthia Smith” was slashed before she escaped from his van, according to the material.

These additional events were described as part of the broader suspected series in Chicago.

Charges and disposition for Gecht in the material

The material stated that Gecht was charged with kidnapping, rape, and attempted manslaughter of the last victim and incarcerated in Menard Correctional Facility in Illinois. It also stated that the kidnapping and rape charges have since been dropped, while Gecht remained trying to obtain DNA testing.

The material stated that “there is simply no hard evidence to prove that Robin Gecht is guilty of anything but attempted murder of the last victim.”

Prison letters

The material stated that Robin Gecht and Eric Spreitzer sent letters that were printed in Jennifer Furio's book The Serial Killer Letters.

A quote attributed to Gecht in relation to his family and breast-related obsession said:

"a thing with my entire family."

It also described Gecht saying:

"It is a thing with my entire family going back as I’m told to great grandfather."

The material included a quote attributed to Gecht about “having sex with breast,” which said:

"As to your question about having sex with breast...I have no real obsession with breast in that form. Only a very sick person would even think that."

The material also attributed to Gecht a statement about former wife breast size and satisfaction, which said:

"Each of us men have married large breast women. My ex-wife is a 39D and yes she was very satisfying to me."

The material described that two of the charges had been dropped and that Gecht would be released sooner than expected, and that his bid for DNA testing was stymied over and over again.

Other quoted material attributed to others (non-Gecht)

The material included a quote attributed to Edward Spreitzer describing assaults and violence, which said:

"A black female was picked up, blindfolded and gagged. Robin shoot her point blank in the head. Put chains around her neck and legs, attached two bowling balls and threw her in the water. I understand her body was not found."