Charles Sears

Homicide

2known / alleged victims

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Case Facts

Gender: male
Country: USA
Location: New York City, New York, USA
Date of birth: 1949
Age at first offence: 32
Characteristics: mutilation
Victim profile: Two male vagrants
Method of murder: Slashed with razor
Date(s) of murder: July 5, 1981
Years active: 1981
Date of arrest: Next day
Status: Found unfit for trial in March of 1982; confined to an institution for the criminally insane.

Case Summary

Background

Charles Sears was a 32-year-old man who had previously worked as a mechanic for Con Ed. He had a rap sheet spanning the past decade.

In June 1971, Sears drew a year in jail on conviction of weapons charges, larceny, robbery, and resisting arrest. After being released in 1972, he was back in jail by December, when he was sentenced to three years for grand larceny, forcible theft with a deadly weapon, and other charges. He was paroled in March 1974 and discharged from parole in November 1975. Sears had been a fugitive since 1977 and was sought on charges of clubbing a man with a wrench in an argument over a parking space.

Sears attempted for a plea bargain on August 25, when he pleaded guilty on two counts of attempted murder. On October 25, Sears withdrew his plea and asserted that he was on drugs at the time he confessed.

The offence

On the night of June 27, 1981, Sears was described as a knife-wielding slasher who wounded eight vagrants on New York City streets. The random attacks were committed over a two-hour period, between the Bowery and Pennsylvania Station. The wounded victims included four white men, three blacks, and one Latino.

Eight days later, on July 5, Sears killed two vagrants and critically wounded four others in a new series of random, unprovoked slashings.

In the predawn hours of July 6, police captured Sears near the scene of the latest attack, with the bloody razor still in his pocket.

Investigation

Police captured Sears in the predawn hours of July 6 near the scene of the latest attack, and the bloody razor was still in his pocket.

Arrest

In the predawn hours of July 6, Charles Sears was captured near the scene of the latest attack.

Trial

Sears tried for a plea bargain on August 25, pleading guilty on two counts of attempted murder. He changed his mind on October 25 by withdrawing his plea and asserting that he was on drugs at the time he confessed.

Psychiatrists found Sears unfit for trial in March of 1982.

Outcome

In March of 1982, Sears was ruled incompetent and confined to an institution for the criminally insane.

Other details

Sears was described as slashing male vagrants with a razor in random street assaults. The motive was described as PC-nonspecific.

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