Edmund Kemper

Edmund Kemper: A Profile of Infamy

Edmund Kemper, known as the “Co-ed Killer,” is one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. His crimes began at the age of 15 when he murdered both of his grandparents in 1964. Motivated by a desire to “see what it felt like,” Kemper’s brutal actions set the stage for a life of violence. After spending time in juvenile detention, he was released and continued his criminal behavior, eventually murdering six young women in the Santa Cruz, California area during the 1970s. His killing spree culminated with the murder of his mother and her friend in 1973. Kemper then turned himself in, bringing an end to his violent reign.

Early Life and Troubling Signs

Born on December 18, 1948, in Burbank, California, Edmund Kemper was the middle child of E. E. and Clarnell Kemper. After his parents’ divorce in 1957, he moved with his mother and two sisters to Montana. Kemper’s relationship with his mother, an alcoholic woman who was both emotionally abusive and critical, played a significant role in shaping his troubled psyche. His mother kept him isolated, forcing him to live in the basement away from his sisters. This further fueled his anger and resentment.

From an early age, Kemper exhibited disturbing behavior. He harbored violent fantasies, including thoughts of killing his mother. His childhood was marked by sadistic acts, such as decapitating his sisters’ dolls and engaging in a twisted game he called “gas chamber,” in which he pretended to suffer from an agonizing death. At the age of 10, he began to kill animals, first burying one of his family’s cats alive and later stabbing another to death. His escalating violence and abnormal behavior raised serious concerns.

Grandparents’ Murder: The First Killing

In 1964, at the age of 15, Kemper’s simmering rage finally erupted. Sent to live with his paternal grandparents in North Fork, California, he felt alienated and resentful. His grandparents, disapproving of his firearm use, confiscated his rifle, further intensifying his anger. On August 27, 1964, after a heated argument with his grandmother, Kemper shot and killed her in the kitchen. When his grandfather returned home, Kemper shot him as well, hiding the body afterward. He then called his mother, who instructed him to report the murders to the authorities. Kemper later stated that he killed his grandmother to experience the act of murder, and killed his grandfather to prevent him from learning of his wife’s death.

After the murders, Kemper was sent to the California Youth Authority and underwent psychological evaluations. Despite his high IQ, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Kemper was subsequently sent to Atascadero State Hospital, a facility for mentally ill offenders, where he would remain for several years before being released.

This period of his life marked the beginning of a series of horrific crimes, as Kemper’s capacity for violence would grow, leading to the brutal killings that would define his criminal legacy.

Release

In 1969, Edmund Kemper was released from prison at the age of 21. Despite recommendations from his prison doctors to avoid living with his mother due to her history of abuse and his psychological issues, Kemper chose to rejoin her in Santa Cruz, California. She had moved there following the end of her third marriage to take a position at the University of California. While residing with his mother, Kemper attended community college for a time and worked various jobs before securing a position with the Department of Transportation in 1971.

Kemper had applied to become a state trooper but was rejected due to his size—standing 6 feet 9 inches tall and weighing around 300 pounds. He was nicknamed “Big Ed” because of his imposing stature. Despite the rejection, he formed relationships with some Santa Cruz police officers, one of whom gave him a training-school badge and handcuffs, while another lent him a gun, as noted in Whoever Fights Monsters by Robert K. Ressler and Tom Shachtman. Kemper even owned a car that resembled a police cruiser.

In the same year he began working for the highway department, Kemper was injured in a motorcycle accident, resulting in a severely damaged arm. He received a $15,000 settlement from the civil suit he filed against the driver. With this settlement, Kemper purchased a new car and began to focus on his disturbing impulses. Noticing many young women hitchhiking in the area, he equipped his vehicle with tools—such as a gun, knife, and handcuffs—that he believed would help him fulfill his murderous desires.

‘The Co-ed Killer’

Kemper initially picked up female hitchhikers but let them go unharmed. However, this changed when he offered a ride to two Fresno State students, Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa, who never reached their destination. Their families reported them missing soon afterward, but their fates remained unclear until August 15, when a female head was discovered in the woods near Santa Cruz, later identified as Pesce’s. Luchessa’s remains were never found. Kemper later confessed to stabbing and strangling Pesce before also killing Luchessa. After the murders, he brought their bodies back to his apartment, decapitated them, and engaged in sexual activities with their corpses.

Later that year, on September 14, 1972, Kemper picked up 15-year-old Aiko Koo, who had been hitchhiking to a dance class. She met the same tragic fate as Pesce and Luchessa.

In January 1973, Kemper continued his killing spree by picking up hitchhiker Cindy Schall, whom he shot and killed. While his mother was out, Kemper brought Schall’s body to her home, hid it in his room, and dismembered it the next day. He disposed of the parts in the ocean, though some were later recovered. He buried her head in his mother’s backyard.

On February 5, 1973, Kemper used a campus parking sticker provided by his mother to facilitate a double-murder. He offered a ride to students Rosalind Thorpe and Alice Liu, whom he shot shortly after picking them up. Kemper then drove past campus security with their bodies in his car. After the murders, he decapitated the women, dismembered their bodies, removed the bullets from their heads, and disposed of their remains. Some of their parts were discovered in March along Highway 1 in San Mateo County.

At the time, two other serial killers, John Linley Frazier and Herbert Mullin, were active in the area, contributing to the media’s dubbing of Santa Cruz as the “Murder Capital of the World.” Kemper himself earned the nicknames “The Co-ed Killer” and “The Co-ed Butcher.”

Mother’s Murder

In April 1973, Kemper committed his final two murders. On Good Friday, after a contentious exchange with his mother, he attacked her while she slept. He struck her with a hammer, slit her throat with a knife, and then decapitated her, removing her hands and larynx, which he disposed of in the garbage disposal. After hiding his mother’s body parts, Kemper called her friend, Sally Hallett, and invited her to the house. Once she arrived, Kemper strangled Hallett and concealed her body in a closet.

The following day, Kemper fled the area, driving east until he reached Pueblo, Colorado. On April 23, he called the Santa Cruz police to confess his crimes. Initially, they did not believe the man they knew as “Big Ed” could be the killer. However, during subsequent interrogations, Kemper led the authorities to crucial evidence that proved he was the notorious “Co-ed Killer.”

Trial and Imprisonment

Kemper was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder and went to trial in October 1973. He was found guilty of all charges in early November. When asked by the judge what he thought his punishment should be, Kemper responded that he should be tortured to death. Instead, he received eight concurrent life sentences. He is currently serving his time at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.