Alphabet murders

This article is about the serial killings. For the 1965 film, see The Alphabet Murders. For the poem, see John Tranter.

The Alphabet Killer
Background information
Birth name	Unknown identity
Also known as	The Double Initial Killer
Killings
Number of victims:	3
Span of killings	November 16, 1971–November 26, 1973
Country	United States
State(s)	Rochester, New York
Date apprehended	Unapprehended

The so-called "Alphabet murders" (also known as the "double initial murders") took place in the early 1970s in the Rochester, New York area; three young girls were raped and strangled. The case got its name from the fact that each of the three girls' first and last names started with the same letters (Carmen Colon, Wanda Walkowicz, and Michelle Maenza) and that each body was found in a town that started with the same letter as the girl's name (Colon in Churchville, Walkowicz in Webster and Maenza in Macedon).

• Carmen Colon, 10, disappeared November 16, 1971. She was found two days later 12 miles from where she was last seen. Although found in the town of Riga^[1], the village of Churchville is the town's center of population, and the town of Chili is nearby.
• Wanda Walkowicz, 11, disappeared April 2, 1973. She was found the next day at a rest area off State Route 104 in Webster, seven miles from Rochester.
• Michelle Maenza, 11, disappeared November 26, 1973. She was found two days later in Macedon, 15 miles from Rochester.

While hundreds of people were questioned, the killer was never caught. One man, considered to be a "person of interest" in the case (he committed suicide six weeks after the last of the murders), was cleared in 2007 by DNA testing.^[2] In the case of Carmen Colon, her uncle was also considered a suspect until his suicide in 1991.^[3]

Another suspect was Kenneth Bianchi, who at the time was an ice-cream vendor in Rochester, vending from sites close to the first two murder scenes. He was a Rochester native who later moved to Los Angeles, and with his cousin Angelo Buono committed the Hillside Strangler murders between 1977 and 1978.^[4] Bianchi was never charged with the Alphabet murders, and he has repeatedly tried to have investigators officially clear him from suspicion; however, there is circumstantial evidence in that his car was seen at two murder scenes. Bianchi has denied committing the murders, and has also attempted to get his name removed from the police investigators' lists in Rochester. He remains under suspicion.

In 2001, the Discovery Channel aired a program revisiting the murders.^[5] A 2008 film called The Alphabet Killer was very loosely based on the murders.^[6] In 2010, a book called Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders was released by author Cheri Farnsworth, detailing the actual events, from the time they occurred through to the present. ^[7][8] On April 1, 2011, the AMC network aired a short-form documentary regarding the murders called "Countdown to The Killing: The Alphabet Murders."^[9]

On April 11, 2011, 77 year old Joseph Naso, a New York native who lived in Rochester in the 1970s, was arrested in Reno, Nevada, for 4 murders in California dating back to 1977. His alleged victims were named Roxene Roggash, Pamela Parsons, Tracy Tofoya, and Carmen Colon (not the one listed in Rochester, but another person of the same name). All four women are described by authorities as prostitutes.^[10][11] Naso is being looked at as a "person of interest" in the Alphabet Murders in New York. Naso was a professional photographer who traveled between New York and California extensively for decades. ^{[12] [13] [14][10][11]}

See also

• The A.B.C. Murders, a 1936 detective novel by Agatha Christie describing a similar series of killings

References

1. ^ Craig, Gary (March 1, 2009). "'Double initial' murders remain mystery after 35 years". Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester: Gannett): pp. 1A, 8A. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090301/NEWS01/903010314. Retrieved March 2, 2009. "Two days later, her crumpled body was found in a gully, lying against a rock, along an infrequently traveled road in the town of Riga, near the Chili border." 
2. ^ Double Initial DNA Test Clears Man, R News, February 21, 2007.
3. ^ Cawthorne, Nigel (2007). The Mammoth Book of Killers at Large. UK: Robinson. pp. 209. ISBN 978-1-84529-631-5. 
4. ^ Craig, Gary (March 2, 2009). "Serial killer Bianchi denies he is 'double initial' slayer". Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester: Gannett): p. 6A. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090302/NEWS01/903020343. Retrieved March 2, 2009. "Bianchi, now 57, was a suspect in the double initial killings because he lived in Rochester in the early 1970s and was a security guard." 
5. ^ Murder Reopened—The Alphabet Killer @ Yahoo! TV
6. ^ The Alphabet Killer at the Internet Movie Database
7. ^ Gary, Craig. "New book delves deeper into Rochester unsolved Double Initial murders". Democrat and Chronicle. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100907/NEWS01/9070316. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
8. ^ Cheri, Farnsworth (2010). Alphabet Killer: The True Story of the Double Initial Murders. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0632-2. 
9. ^ Countdown to The Killing: Alphabet Murders @ AMC (TV channel) TV
10. ^ ^{a b} Justin Berton (July 07, 2011). "Joseph Naso now wants an attorney for murder trial". SFGate.com. http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-07-07/bay-area/29745957_1_case-law-safe-deposit-box-conduct-legal-research. Retrieved August 20, 2011. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Henry K. Lee (June 17, 2011). "Slaying suspect Joseph Naso kept notes on victims". SFGate.com. http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-17/bay-area/29668591_1_list-photos-carmen-colon. Retrieved August 20, 2011. 
12. ^ What's in a name? It may link Calif, NY cold cases April 12, 2011 Silicon Valley Mercury News
13. ^ 77-year-old man charged in four slayings dating to 1977 April 12, 2011 CNN
14. ^ Eerie similarites noted in NY, Calif. cold cases April 12, 2011 MSNBC

External links

• New York State Police Homicide Victim, Wanda Walkowicz case profile
• Website for the Alphabet murders, aka Double Initial murders