Otto Stephen Wilson

Case record

Otto Stephen Wilson was executed by asphyxiation-gas at San Quentin Prison on September 20, 1946.

The offence

On 15 November 1944, a maid discovered the mutilated body of a prostitute, Virginia Lee Griffin, sprawled on a bed in a run-down hotel at the corner of Fourth and Main streets in a seedy downtown area. Griffin’s body had been slashed open from her throat to her vagina, and her entrails had been pulled out of her body. Her breasts had been cut off, and an arm and a leg had been partly severed. A razor-sharp carving knife lay near the body.

A second mutilation murder was reported in another downtown hotel only three blocks away. The victim was another prostitute, thirty-eight-year-old Lillian Johnson. Johnson’s mutilations were less severe than Griffin’s. Johnson had been slashed from throat to knees.

Witnesses from both hotels gave similar descriptions to the police.

Investigation

Police used the information gathered from both hotel scenes and created a dragnet around a twenty-block area.

An officer spotted a man matching the description in a Fourth Street bar. The man was in a booth in deep conversation with a brunette in a tight red dress. He lit his cigarette with a matchbook from the hotel where Griffin had been killed.

Police arrested the man. They found that his fingerprints matched those found at both crime scenes.

Arrest

When arrested, Otto Stephen Wilson was taken into police custody.

Confession and motive

Wilson confessed to both killings. He admitted his compulsion toward bloodlust.

Wilson told police that his first wife had left him because he would creep up on her when she was naked and slash at her buttocks with a razor. He said his favorite pastime was kissing and licking the blood away while he apologised for his odd behavior. He stated that the fantasies had gotten out of control when he picked up the two prostitutes.

Wilson’s police-described motive was “Sex./Sad.”

Sentencing

Wilson was executed in the gas chamber of San Quentin Prison on September 20, 1946.

Outcome

Wilson was executed by asphyxiation-gas at San Quentin Prison on September 20, 1946.

Timeline

• 15 November 1944 — A maid discovered the mutilated body of Virginia Lee Griffin in a hotel at the corner of Fourth and Main streets, and a second mutilation murder involving Lillian Johnson was reported three blocks away.

Other details

Wilson had been described as a fry cook in the yard commissary and was 33 years old.

Police officer Charles Pasco fingerprinted Otto Stephen Wilson behind bars.

Outside police headquarters, the victim’s first victim’s husband cried to police: “Leave me alone with that guy for five minutes and I’ll save the state a lot of money!”

SELECTIONS: SEX: M; RACE: W; TYPE: T; MO: Women dismembered in hotel rooms.