Vaughn Greenwood

Case record

Background

Vaughn Greenwood was known as the “Skid Row Slasher.” He was suspected of killing at least 13 people.

He was a 31-year-old Black man, also known as Vaughn Orrin Greenwood, and he ritually killed 11 down-and-out alcoholic bums in Los Angeles. All the victims died by having their throats cut open. Salt was sprinkled around the bodies, and the victims’ shoes were removed and left pointing toward the body. Bodies were found bearing signs of ritualistic abuse, including cups of blood next to bodies.

The offence

Greenwood launched his one-man war in 1964 and later returned to terrorize Los Angeles with nine more murders committed over the space of two months.

Police described the victims as being ritually “posed” by the slasher in death, with salt sprinkled around their bodies and cups of blood standing nearby, and their wounds surrounded by markings of unknown significance.

In Hollywood, he stabbed people to death, and his killings were described as having characteristic mutilations.

Investigation

Police wasted a lot of the investigation searching for a white man.

Police recruited psychiatric “experts” to create a profile of the killer and published assorted sketches of their suspect. The case was ultimately solved by accident.

A psychiatric profile, published on the morning of Clyde Hay’s murder, described the killer as:

"sexually impotent coward, venting his own feeling of worthlessness on hapless derelicts and down-and-outers... He strongly identifies with the derelicts and drifters he kills, and we think he's trying to resolve his own inner conflicts by turning his wrath and hatred outward."

The slasher was further described as a friendless, poorly-educated loner, probably homosexual, with an unspecified physical deformity.

By the time of Clyde Hay’s murder, L.A. detectives formed a mental picture of their suspect as a white male in his late twenties or early thirties, six feet tall and 190 pounds, with shoulder-length stringy blond hair.

Later evidence and testimony indicated Greenwood did not match that profile, including that he was 32-year-old and Black and lacking any obvious deformities, and that he was not impotent.

Arrest

Police picked up Vaughn Greenwood and charged him with counts of burglary and assault.

The search of Greenwood’s residence netted a pair of cufflinks stolen from victim George Frias.

People

• Vaughn Greenwood / Vaughn Orrin Greenwood — defendant; also known as “the Skid Row Slasher.”
• David Russell — victim; an aging transient.
• Benjamin Hornberg — victim; 67-year-old.
• Charles Jackson — victim; 46-year-old.
• Moses Yakanac — victim; 47-year-old.
• Arthur Dahlstedt — victim; 54-year-old.
• David Perez — victim; 42-year-old.
• Casimir Strawinski — victim; 58.
• Robert Shannahan — victim; 46-year-old.
• Samuel Suarez — victim; 49-year-old.
• George Frias — victim; 45-year-old.
• Clyde Hays — victim; 34-year-old.
• William Graham — assault victim in Greenwood’s assault conviction; also a Hollywood home invasion victim.
• Kenneth Richer — a person who intervened when William Graham was assaulted.
• Burt Reynolds — actor whose home was targeted; Greenwood dropped a letter in the driveway.
• Mance Porter — victim in an earlier incident in Chicago; 70-year-old.

Timeline

• 1964 — Greenwood launched his one-man war, taking a decade off before he returned to terrorize Los Angeles with nine more murders.
• November 13, 1964 — David Russell was found on the library steps with his throat cut and numerous stab wounds.
• November 14, 1964 — Benjamin Hornberg was killed in the second-floor restroom of his seedy hotel with his throat slashed from ear to ear and numerous stab wounds marking his head and upper torso.
• December 1, 1974 — Charles Jackson was murdered.
• December 8, 1974 — Moses Yakanac was knifed to death in a Skid Row alley.
• December 11, 1974 — Arthur Dahlstedt was slain outside an abandoned building.
• December 22, 1974 — David Perez was found in shrubbery adjacent to the Los Angeles public library.
• January 9, 1975 — Casimir Strawinski was found in his hotel room.
• January 17, 1975 — Robert Shannahan was found dead several days earlier, with a bayonet protruding from his chest, when another hotel maid discovered his body.
• January 29, 1975 — Greenwood switched his hunting ground to Hollywood and stabbed 45-year-old George Frias to death in his own apartment.
• January 31, 1975 — Clyde Hays was found in his Hollywood home marked by the Slasher’s characteristic mutilations.
• February 2, 1975 — a prowler invaded the Hollywood home of William Graham, assaulting him with a hatchet before Kenneth Richer intervened and both men plunged through a plate-glass window.
• January 23, 1976 — Greenwood was indicted on eleven counts of murder in the Slasher crimes.
• December 30, 1976 — Greenwood was convicted on nine counts of first-degree murder; jurors failed to reach a verdict in the case of victims David Russell and Charles Jackson.
• January 19, 1977 — Greenwood was sentenced to life; the judge recommended that he never be released because “His presence in any community would constitute a menace.”
• 2 deaths to life imprisonment — Greenwood was sentenced on 2 deaths to life imprisonment.

Trial

Greenwood had been convicted of assaulting William Graham and Kenneth Richer while awaiting trial on murder charges, drawing a prison term of 32 years to life.

On December 30, 1976, Greenwood was convicted on nine counts of first-degree murder. Jurors failed to reach a verdict in the case of victims David Russell and Charles Jackson.

Sentencing

On January 19, 1977, Greenwood was sentenced to life.

The judge recommended that he never be released and stated:

"His presence in any community would constitute a menace."

Appeals

No appeals information was provided.

Outcome

Greenwood was convicted in connection with the Slasher crimes and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Aftermath

Greenwood was in Ironwood State Prison in Blythe.

Other details

Greenwood had finished seventh grade before he fled his Pennsylvania foster home and thumbed a ride to California.

Most of his adult life was spent drifting from Chicago to the West Coast and back again, riding the rails and earning his keep as a migrant farm worker.

In Chicago during 1966, Greenwood demanded cash from 70-year-old Mance Porter following a sexual encounter in the latter’s skid row apartment. When Porter refused, Greenwood slashed his throat and stabbed him repeatedly with two different knives. Greenwood spent five and a half years in jail on conviction for aggravated battery.

Police had described the slasher’s physical profile as including shoulder-length stringy blond hair and an unspecified physical deformity; later testimony indicated Greenwood lacked any obvious deformities.

Greenwood was described as a loner and homosexual, and acquaintances testified that he was not impotent.