Hadden Clark

Infobox Serial Killer
name=Hadden Irving Clark


caption=
birthname=Hadden Irving Clark
alias=Kristen Bluefin, Rockville Rocket
birth=April, 1951
location= Troy, New York, U.S.
death=
cause=
victims=2-3
country=United States
states=Maryland
beginyear=May, 1986
endyear=1992
apprehended=1992
penalty=70 years

Hadden Irving Clark (April, 1951) is an American impostor, murderer, and cannibal.

Early life

Clark's family was affluent but dysfunctional; his parents were both alcoholics who physically and emotionally abused their four children, and his two brothers were both arrested as adults for murder and domestic violence, respectively. Clark's mother would dress him in girl's clothes when she was drunk, and as a result he grew to identify himself as a woman and would often wear women's clothes. He exhibited sadistic tendencies from a young age, delighting in torturing animals and bullying other children. As an adult, he drifted through a series of menial jobs and a stint in the Navy, which ended when he was discharged after being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He eventually settled in Maryland, where he was often homeless.

Murders

While Clark later claimed to have begun killing as a teenager, his first documented victim was his six-year-old neighbor, Michelle Dorr, whom he killed and cannibalized in May 1986. Clark was not considered a suspect at the time, however, as police initially suspected the girl's father. In 1992, he murdered Laura Houghteling, a young woman whose mother had given him a part-time gardening job. The local police, who had begun to suspect him for Michelle Dorr's murder, investigated him and arrested him within days.

Trial and imprisonment

He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder the following year and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 1999, he was convicted of murdering Michelle Dorr after other prisoners testified that he had bragged about committing the crime. Another 30 years were added onto his sentence, plus 10 more for a past robbery charge, meaning that Clark is effectively serving life in prison.

External links

* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/clark/index_1.html Crime Library article on Hadden Clark]