Carroll Cole

Infobox Serial Killer
name=Carroll Cole


caption=Carroll Cole in prison in Nevada
birthname=Carroll Edward Cole
alias=
birth=May 9, 1938
location=Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.
death=death date and age|1985|12|6|1938|5|9
cause=Lethal injection
victims=16
country=USA
states=California, Nevada, Texas
beginyear=1948
endyear=1980
apprehended=1980
penalty=Death

Carroll Edward Cole (May 9, 1938 – December 6, 1985), was an American serial killer who was executed in 1985.

Biography

Early life

Carroll Cole was born in Sioux City, Iowa. While his father went to fight in World War II, Cole was taken along by his mother and forced to watch as she "entertained" men. She would often beat him to scare him into not telling his father. Even when his father returned home, Cole was frequently whipped and beaten by his mother for the most minor infractions, and he grew up with a deep hatred of women. He was also picked on at school for having a "girl's name", so he would usually go by his middle name, Eddie.

Murders

At the age of 10, Cole drowned a classmate of the same age in a lake. The boy's death was regarded as an accident until Cole confessed to it many years later.

After scraping through school, even with an IQ of 152, Cole became a drifter, doing menial jobs, drinking heavily and serving frequent prison sentences for crime such as burglary, vagrancy, arson and car theft. He attempted suicide at least once, and on a number of occasions, had himself committed to mental hospitals where he confessed his fantasies of murdering women. Although diagnosed as a psychopath, Cole was usually discharged promptly, as he had a personality disorder, as opposed to a mental illness - the former was considered to be untreatable by psychiatrists at the time, unlike the latter.

Cole eventually began acting on his murderous fantasies. He would pick women up in bars for sex, and though many left unharmed the next day, Cole would invariably kill those he perceived as "loose"; he was especially wrathful to women who were married, because they reminded him of his hated mother.

His first victim as an adult was Essie Buck, whom he'd picked up in a tavern in San Diego, California, on May 7, 1971. He strangled her to death in his car and drove around with her body in the trunk before eventually dumping it. Just two weeks later, he killed an unidentified woman and buried her in some woods.

In July 1973, Cole married barmaid Diana Pashal, who was also an alcoholic. They argued and fought frequently, and Cole regularly went off on his own for days at a time. He would commit murders while he was away, including one woman he allegedly cannibalized to a degree. In September 1979, Cole strangled Pashal to death. A suspicious neighbor called the police eight days later, but although they found Pashal's body wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a closet, they inexplicably decided that she had died because of her heavy drinking, and Cole was released without charge after questioning.

By 1980, Cole was married again and living in Las Vegas. Toward the end of the year, he murdered three more women. Arrested on suspicion of murdering the final victim, Cole began his confession, claiming that he had murdered at least 14 women over the previous nine years, although he added that there may have been more — he couldn't remember exactly, as he was usually drunk when he committed his crimes.

Death

Sentenced to death, Cole refused to appeal and was executed in Nevada on December 6, 1985 by lethal injection.

ee also

* Capital punishment in Nevada
* Capital punishment in the United States

References

* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/edward_cole/1.html?sect=2 Carroll Cole at the Crime Library]