Russell Maurice Johnson

Russell Maurice Johnson (born 1947) is a Canadian serial killer who was convicted of raping and murdering at least three women in the 1970s, although the total number of victims later turned out to be higher. He is known as the Bedroom Strangler.

Murder method

Johnson stalked his victims to their apartments, waiting until he thought they were asleep. He gained access to their apartments by scaling the outside walls, sometimes for many stories, to access their apartments. There, he attacked them. He sometimes watched the women sleep before sexually assaulting and suffocating them.

Arrest

Johnson was indicted after he was arrested for the murders of Diane Beitz, Louella George and Donna Veldboom, but was declared insane in 1978. Since then he has been locked up in a secure department of the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene, Ontario. After his confinement, Johnson confessed to committing seven murders and ten more cases in which he non-fatally attacked women in a period of 18 years.

Many of his killings were not initially noted as murders, due to the lack of traces of violence. For example, the cause of death of Mary Hicks and Eleanor Hartwick was initially attributed to a negative reaction to medicine. Suffocation was noticed on the bodies of Beitz and George, in their cases being strangulation.

Victims

Johnson's murdered victims were:

• Mary Hicks (20)
• Alice Ralston (42)
• Eleanor Hartwick
• Doris Brown (49)
• Diane Beitz
• Louella Jeanne George
• Donna Veldboom (22)

References

Lfpress.com - Manhunt 27-7-2007
Users.on.net - Russell Johnson to The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers from Brian Lane and Wilfred Gregg