Hadden Clark

Hadden Clark
1992 mugshot
Born Hadden Irving Clark
(1952-07-31) July 31, 1952
Troy, New York, U.S.
Other names The Cross Dressing Cannibal
The Rockville Rocket
Criminal penalty 70 years in prison
Conviction(s) Murder,
Robbery
Details
Victims 2+
Span of crimes
 1986–1992
Country United States
State(s) Maryland
Date apprehended
 November 6, 1992
Imprisoned at Eastern Correctional Institution

Hadden Irving Clark (born July 31, 1952)[1] is an American murderer and suspected serial killer, currently serving two 30-year sentences at Eastern Correctional Institution in Maryland for the murders of 6-year-old Michelle Dorr in 1986 and 23-year-old Laura Houghteling in 1992.[2][3][4][5][6] He was also given a 10-year sentence for robbery for stealing from a former landlord.[3]

Family Life

He is the second of four children, and was born and raised in Troy, New York.[3] Clark's brother, Bradfield Clark, strangled a woman in California; his father, Hadden Sr., committed suicide.[7][8][9][10] Clark's parents were both alcoholics and often fought with each other in front of their children. Clark's mother would dress Hadden in girls clothing when drunk and addressed him as "Kristen". As a teen Clark would torture and kill animals owned by children who bullied him. Clark trained as a chef and served in the US Navy but was discharged after being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Over the years he held a number of menial jobs but could not hold onto a permanent job and was homeless most of the time. He was arrested multiple times for theft and retaliation. He was also arrested for robbery after he vandalized a former landlord's property and stole several items.

Murders

On May 31, 1986, Clark was ordered by his brother to move out of his Silver Spring, Maryland home. Michelle Dorr, a friend of his niece, came over looking for her. Clark took her up to an upstairs room and stabbed Michelle to death. Clark then stuffed her in a duffel bag and buried her in a park 12 miles away.

On October 18, 1992 he killed 23-year-old Laura Houghteling in Bethesda, Maryland. Clark was working as a gardener for Laura's mother Penny when she accused Hadden of stealing tools from her backyard shed. Clark entered into the house through the back door and stabbed Laura to death in her bedroom with a kitchen knife and suffocated her with a pillow. He carried her body in a bed sheet through a wooded area and buried her a half mile away. He left behind a pillow with his fingerprint as he moved the body. He later returned and dressed up in a wig and women's clothes and left out the front door to make people think Laura left the house alive to buy time to clean the scene. Police soon discovered the bloody pillow and linked the print on it to Clark. Clark confessed and led police to Laura's body eight months after the murder.

Police later began looking at him for Michelle Dorr's murder after discovering he lived just two houses down from Michelle's father at the time she disappeared. Police later tested his brother's old house for blood and found Michelle's blood in the wooden floor boards of an upstairs bedroom. Clark later led police to her body in January 2000.

Alleged Murders

Clark has confessed to murdering dozens of people starting as a teenager. In 2004, Clark sent a letter claiming he had killed an unidentified woman in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1974 known as Lady of the Dunes. Clark explained that he had buried evidence from the crime in his grandfather's garden and that he knew the woman's identity but was not going to tell authorities because he claimed they mistreated him. Because he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, police doubt this confession.[11] He however did lead police on December 15, 2000 to his grandparents' former property where they discovered a plastic bucket of over 200 pieces of jewelry. Among the items were Laura Houghteling's high school class ring. Clark claims they were "trophies" taken from his victims.

Media

Books

  • Author Adrian Havill's book Born Evil: A True Story of Cannibalism and Sexual Murder (2001) is a true crime story of Hadden Clark's split personalities, cannibalism and murders.[12][13][14]
  • Author Robert Keller's book True Crime: American Monsters Volume 3: 12 Horrific American Serial Killers (2013) one of the twelve murderers reported on in the book is Hadden Clark. The author focuses on Clark's cross-dressing cannibalism who also had a stash of trophies suggesting there are more victims.[15][16]

Television

  • The Channel 5 (UK) series Born to Kill episode The Cross-Dressing Cannibal, aired: 17 September 2013, reports on Clark's formative years and their impact on his adult criminal behavior.[17][18]
  • The Investigation Discovery network series Evil, I season 5 episode 32, Dressed to Kill, aired: 3 August 2012, reports on Houghteling's disappearance and law enforcement suspects the family gardener Clark is responsible. When police search his storage shed they discover evidence tying him to her death.[19][20]
  • The Court TV (now TruTV) network released multiple crime-documentary episodes from different shows covering the Hadden Clark crimes.
  • Forensic Files - Season 7, Episode 25: Dressed to Kill, aired: 29 March 2003, covers Michelle Lee Dohr's case. Her dad is mentally shocked from his daughter's passing and provides detectives with a false confession. However evidence and diligence discover who murdered his young daughter.[21][22][23]
  • The series Mugshots episode Portrait of a Serial Killer: Hadden Clark, aired: 1 June 2002.[24]
  • The true crime and on-the-scene police investigation series Crime Stories episode Dark Secrets: Hadden Clark, aired: 2002.[25][26]
  • The series The Investigators episode Dark Secrets, aired: 9 September 2002.[27][28][29]
  • Forensic Files - Season 3, Episode 3: Beaten by a Hair, aired: 26 November 1998, covers Laura Houghteling's disappearance. Police find the victim's hair brush with thirty hairs, one of which was artificial and did not belong to Laura. The artificial hair, along with other forensic evidence, directly tied Clark to her death.[30][31]

References

  1. ↑ "Hadden Clark Prison Record". Maryland Department of Corrections. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Van Olsen, Cora (20 November 2012). "Serial Killer Spotlight: Hadden Clark". Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Havill, Adrian. "Hadden Clark". Crime Library. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Curreri, Frank (17 March 1999). "Judge views tape of accused killer's interrogation". www.gazette.net. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  5. ↑ O'Brien, Dennis (24 September 1998). "Suspect charged in 1986 slaying of 6-year-old". tribunedigital-baltimoresun. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  6. ↑ Shaver, Katherine; Duggan, Paul (24 September 1998). "Murder Charge Is Filed In '86 Case of Missing Girl". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  7. ↑ Jennings, Veronica T. (15 November 1993). "Murder Suspect's 'Lifestyle Is Getting Even'". Washington Post. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  8. ↑ Haworth, Jessica (28 November 2016). "Cannibal killer and his sick brother who killed girl, 6, and drank her blood". mirror. MGN Limited. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  9. ↑ "Search turns to Clark's past". AmeriCast.Com. 14 Nov 1992. Retrieved 25 January 2017. Bradfield Clark pleaded guilty in June 1985 to one count of second-degree murder and one count of mutilation of human remains in the July 23, 1984
  10. ↑ West, Dan; Jack, Pippa (9 June 2011). "Bones found are not human remains". Block Island Times. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "HADDEN CLARK - set of 2 drawings - CRIME CONTENT - ( Lady in the Dunes - COLD CASE )". Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Havill, Adrian (2001). Born Evil (St. Martin's Paperbacks ed.). New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Paperbacks. ISBN 9780312978907. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  13. ↑ "Book Titles by Adrian Havill". crimelibrary.com. Courtroom Television Network LLC. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  14. ↑ Adrian Havill (2001). Born Evil: A True Story of Cannibalism and Serial Murder (Reissue ed.). New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312978907. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  15. ↑ Robert Keller (24 March 2013). "Serial Killers: Hadden Clark". www.robertkellerauthor.com. Amazon Digital Services LLC. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  16. ↑ Keller, Robert (24 March 2013). True Crime: American Monsters Vol. 3: 12 Horrific American Serial Killers. Amazon Digital Services LLC. Retrieved 29 October 2017. Hadden Clark : a cross-dressing cannibal who was convicted of two murders, but had a trophy stash that suggested many more. (ASIN: B00C11HCH0)
  17. ↑ "Born To Kill - Channel 5". Channel 5. Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2017. The Cross Dressing Cannibal S3 E6 : Profile of American serial killer Hadden Clark.
  18. ↑ "Born to Kill | The Cross-Dressing Cannibal". TVGuide.com. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 29 October 2017. A cross-dresser is accused of two murders in Maryland.
  19. ↑ "Evil, I | Dressed to Kill". investigation.discovery.com. Discovery Communications, LLC. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2017. When 23-year-old Laura Houghteling goes missing police suspect the family gardener, an eccentric man with a history of cross-dressing.
  20. ↑ "Evil, I | Dressed to Kill". TVGuide.com. CBS Interactive Inc. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  21. ↑ "Forensic Files - Season 7, Ep 25: Dressed to Kill". youtube.com. FilmRise. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  22. ↑ "Forensic Files - Season 7 Ep 25 "Dressed to Kill"". filmrise.com. FilmRise. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  23. ↑ "Forensic Files - Season 7 Episode 25: Dressed to Kill (2003) - BuddyTV". www.buddytv.com. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  24. ↑ "Mugshots | Portrait of a Serial Killer: Hadden Clark". imdb.com. Court TV. 1 June 2002. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  25. ↑ "Crime Stories | Dark Secrets: Hadden Clark". imdb.com. 2002. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  26. ↑ Limited, GipsyMedia. "Dark Secrets - Hadden Clark - Crime Stories". digiguide.tv. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  27. ↑ "The Investigators". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  28. ↑ "The Investigators (US) Season 3 Episode 17 - Hadden Clark: Dark Secrets - Watch Series". www.ewatchseries.ac. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  29. ↑ "The Investigators: Dark Secrets". TV.com. CBS Interactive Inc. 9 September 2002. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  30. ↑ "Forensic Files - Season 3, Ep 9: Beaten by a Hair". youtube. FilmRise. 26 November 1998. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  31. ↑ "Forensic Files - Season 03 (1998) - Crime Documentary". crimedocumentary.com. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
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