Photo: Neilson Barnard/ NYCWFF / Getty Images
The dismembered body of Florence Polillo was found in a basket and several burlap sacks in Cleveland, on 16 of January of 1936. The 18 year old woman was the third victim in 18 months to be found precisely dismembered.
These terrifying and bloody murders caused panic in that Ohio population, where the unknown murderer was nicknamed the “Crazy Butcher”.
In June of 1938, another head appeared, and then a headless body, and the police were unable to identify the victim. Even when a portrait of the victim was shown at the Great Lakes Exposition, it remained a mystery as the criminal continued to kill.
For the summer of 1938, with the body count in double digits, the Cleveland police were desperate
for finding the Mad Butcher.
The authorities had a suspect, a real butcher named Frank Dolezal, who was interrogated for 40 hours in a row until he confessed to having killed Florence Polillo. However, he subsequently changed his story many times and committed suicide in his cell before his guilt could be determined.
However, in reality, few authorities believed that Dolezal was actually the murderer ; the real suspect is believed to have been relatively prominent and politically connected, and as a result, the police department fabricated the case against Dolezal. All official police records on the matter have been destroyed.
The Mad Butcher attack stopped in Cleveland after Dolezal’s suicide.
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