Lawrence Bittaker
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker and Roy Lewis Norris AKA The ToolBox Killers are two American serial killer
s who together kidnapped
, torture
d, rape
d, and murder
ed five young women over a period of five months in California
in 1979.
by Mr. and Mrs. George Bittaker. George worked in aircraft factories, which required the family to move often, from Pennsylvania
to Florida
to Ohio
and finally to California.
Bittaker, who had a tested I.Q. of 138, dropped out of high school in 1957, after several run-ins with juvenile authorities and police. Shortly thereafter he was picked up for car theft, leaving the scene of a hit-and-run accident, and evading arrest. He was imprisoned in the California Youth Authority until he was 19.
The FBI arrested Bittaker in Louisiana
several days after his release for violating the Interstate Motor Vehicle Theft Act. Convicted in August 1959, he was sentenced to 18 months in an Oklahoma
federal reformatory. His behavior there soon got him transferred to a Missouri
medical center. He was released after serving six months of his sentence.
In December 1960 he was arrested in Los Angeles
, and in May 1961 was sentenced to 1–15 years in a state prison. A psychiatric evaluation determined Bittaker to be paranoid
and borderline psychotic, with little control over his impulses. Despite these findings, he was released in 1963.
He was picked up two months later for parole violation and suspected robbery, and again in October 1964. While in prison he was again given a psychiatric evaluation, and again determined to be borderline psychotic.
In July 1967 he was arrested and convicted of theft and leaving a hit-and-run accident. He was sentenced to five years, but was released in April 1970. However, in March 1971 he was picked up for burglary and parole violation. He was sentenced to six months to 15 years in October. He served three years of that sentence.
He was arrested again when he stabbed a supermarket employee in the parking lot of the business. Bittaker had stuffed a steak down his pants and the employee had followed him outside and tried to stop him. The man survived, and Bittaker was convicted of attempted murder
. He met Norris while in prison at the California Men's Colony
in San Luis Obispo.
In 1976 Bittaker was hired as the manager for the Holiday Theater in the Reseda area of the San Fernando Valley
.
He was given another psychiatric evaluation, which rejected the borderline psychotic finding, saying instead that he was a classic sociopath
. Another psychiatrist called Bittaker a sophisticated psychopath. Despite the psychiatrists' warnings, he was released in November 1978 and moved to Los Angeles
.
. He spent most of his service stationed in San Diego, and served four months in Vietnam
. He saw no combat while there.
Back in San Diego, Norris was arrested on November 1969 for attempted rape. Three months later, out on bail
before his trial, he was arrested again. He had tried to attack a woman in her home. Police arrived before he could harm her. At this point Norris was discharged from the Navy for psychological problems.
In May 1970, while still out on bail, he attacked a female student on the San Diego State University
campus. He had jumped the woman from behind, hit her on the head with a rock, then slammed her head several times on the concrete. The woman survived, so Norris was only charged with assault
with a deadly weapon. He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital
as a sex offender
and spent five years there. When released he was considered no further danger to others.
Three months after his release Norris attacked and raped a 27-year-old woman. Convicted of forcible rape, he was sent to the California Men's Colony
in San Luis Obispo. While there he met and befriended Bittaker. Norris claims Bittaker saved his life twice in prison, which bound him to Bittaker according to the "prisoner's code".
Norris was released on January 15, 1979 and moved in with his mother in Los Angeles
, this is where it is believed he began an incestuous relationship. Bittaker contacted Norris and they continued their prison friendship on the outside.
On June 24, 1979, they claimed their first victim, 16-year-old Cindy Schaeffer. They picked her up near Redondo Beach
, Norris forcing her into the van. He duct taped her mouth and bound her arms and legs. Bittaker drove the van to a fire road on San Gabriel Mountains
out of sight of the highway. Both men raped the girl, and then Bittaker wrapped a straightened wire coat hanger around her neck. He tightened the wire with vise-grip pliers, strangling her to death. They wrapped her body in a plastic shower curtain and dumped it in a nearby canyon.
They picked up 18-year-old Andrea Hall hitchhiking on July 8. Norris hid in the back of the van and Bittaker talked her into the van. After she had gotten in Bittaker offered her a drink from a cooler in the back. When she went to the cooler Norris jumped her, bound her arms and legs, and taped her mouth shut. They took her to the fire road and raped her several times. Bittaker dragged her from the van, and Norris left to get beer. When he returned, Hall was gone, and Bittaker was looking at Polaroid
pictures of her. He had stabbed her with an ice pick in both ears and strangled her. He threw her body over a cliff.
On September 3, while driving near Hermosa Beach, the pair spotted two girls on a bus stop bench and offered them a ride. Jackie Gilliam, 15, and Leah Lamp, 13, accepted their offer. The girls became suspicious when Bittaker parked the van near a suburban tennis court. Lamp went for the back door and Norris hit her in the head with a bat. A short scuffle broke out, but with Bittaker's help Norris subdued the teens and bound them both. Bittaker then drove them to the fire road. They kept the girls alive for two days, raping and torturing them the whole time with a wire hanger and pliers. They even made an audio recording of the events. Eventually Bittaker stabbed Gilliam in both ears with an ice pick. When she didn't succumb to her injuries, both men took turns strangling her until she died. Bittaker then strangled Lamp while Norris hit her in the head with a sledgehammer seven times. They dumped the bodies over a cliff, the ice pick still in Gilliam's head.
They kidnapped Shirley Sanders on September 30, macing
her and forcing her into the van. Both raped her, but she escaped. Police had showed her pictures of the men and she had identified the men as Lawrence and Roy.
They kidnapped 16-year-old Shirley Lynette Ledford on October 31, raping her and torturing her, while driving around Los Angeles instead of heading to their usual mountain spot. Bittaker stabbed the young girl several times and also tortured her with the pliers. During her torture, her screams and pleas were tape-recorded as Bittaker repeatedly beat her elbows with a sledgehammer, all the time demanding that she not stop screaming; he eventually strangled her with a wire hanger, using the pliers to twist a cinching loop around her throat. Instead of tossing her body over a cliff, they left it on a random lawn in Hermosa Beach to see the local reaction in the newspaper. The body was found the next day and caused quite a stir, being only days since the arrest of "Hillside Strangler
" Angelo Buono.
with information about Norris.
At the trial, both Norris and Bittaker were charged with murder
, kidnapping
, forcible rape, sexual perversion and criminal conspiracy. Bittaker was convicted of rape, torture, kidnapping, and murder on February 17, 1981 and sentenced to death
. , Bittaker is still on death row
, where he still receives mail, which he signs using his nickname "Pliers" Bittaker. Norris was also sentenced, but was spared a life sentence or being executed in return for his testimony against Bittaker. Norris was denied parole
in 2009, and will be eligible in another ten years.
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
s who together kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d, and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed five young women over a period of five months in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1979.
Lawrence Bittaker
Shortly after his birth, Bittaker was adoptedAdoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
by Mr. and Mrs. George Bittaker. George worked in aircraft factories, which required the family to move often, from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and finally to California.
Bittaker, who had a tested I.Q. of 138, dropped out of high school in 1957, after several run-ins with juvenile authorities and police. Shortly thereafter he was picked up for car theft, leaving the scene of a hit-and-run accident, and evading arrest. He was imprisoned in the California Youth Authority until he was 19.
The FBI arrested Bittaker in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
several days after his release for violating the Interstate Motor Vehicle Theft Act. Convicted in August 1959, he was sentenced to 18 months in an Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
federal reformatory. His behavior there soon got him transferred to a Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
medical center. He was released after serving six months of his sentence.
In December 1960 he was arrested in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and in May 1961 was sentenced to 1–15 years in a state prison. A psychiatric evaluation determined Bittaker to be paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
and borderline psychotic, with little control over his impulses. Despite these findings, he was released in 1963.
He was picked up two months later for parole violation and suspected robbery, and again in October 1964. While in prison he was again given a psychiatric evaluation, and again determined to be borderline psychotic.
In July 1967 he was arrested and convicted of theft and leaving a hit-and-run accident. He was sentenced to five years, but was released in April 1970. However, in March 1971 he was picked up for burglary and parole violation. He was sentenced to six months to 15 years in October. He served three years of that sentence.
He was arrested again when he stabbed a supermarket employee in the parking lot of the business. Bittaker had stuffed a steak down his pants and the employee had followed him outside and tried to stop him. The man survived, and Bittaker was convicted of attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
. He met Norris while in prison at the California Men's Colony
California Men's Colony
California Men's Colony is a male-only state prison located northwest of the city of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California, along the central California coast approximately halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.-Facilities:...
in San Luis Obispo.
In 1976 Bittaker was hired as the manager for the Holiday Theater in the Reseda area of the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
.
He was given another psychiatric evaluation, which rejected the borderline psychotic finding, saying instead that he was a classic sociopath
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
. Another psychiatrist called Bittaker a sophisticated psychopath. Despite the psychiatrists' warnings, he was released in November 1978 and moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Roy Norris
At 17, Norris dropped out of school and joined the NavyNavy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
. He spent most of his service stationed in San Diego, and served four months in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. He saw no combat while there.
Back in San Diego, Norris was arrested on November 1969 for attempted rape. Three months later, out on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
before his trial, he was arrested again. He had tried to attack a woman in her home. Police arrived before he could harm her. At this point Norris was discharged from the Navy for psychological problems.
In May 1970, while still out on bail, he attacked a female student on the San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
campus. He had jumped the woman from behind, hit her on the head with a rock, then slammed her head several times on the concrete. The woman survived, so Norris was only charged with assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
with a deadly weapon. He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital
Atascadero State Hospital
Atascadero State Hospital is located on the central coast of California, in San Luis Obispo County, half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is an all-male, maximum-security facility, that has patients from all over the state...
as a sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
and spent five years there. When released he was considered no further danger to others.
Three months after his release Norris attacked and raped a 27-year-old woman. Convicted of forcible rape, he was sent to the California Men's Colony
California Men's Colony
California Men's Colony is a male-only state prison located northwest of the city of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California, along the central California coast approximately halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.-Facilities:...
in San Luis Obispo. While there he met and befriended Bittaker. Norris claims Bittaker saved his life twice in prison, which bound him to Bittaker according to the "prisoner's code".
Norris was released on January 15, 1979 and moved in with his mother in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, this is where it is believed he began an incestuous relationship. Bittaker contacted Norris and they continued their prison friendship on the outside.
Murders
Bittaker and Norris hatched a plan to rape and kill local girls. Bittaker bought a 1977 GMC cargo van, which they came to call "Murder Mack", because it had no side windows in the back and a large passenger side sliding door. From February to June 1979, they gave their plan a test run. They drove along the Pacific Coast Highway, stopped at beaches, talked to girls and took their pictures. When the pair was arrested, police found close to 500 pictures among Bittaker's possessions.On June 24, 1979, they claimed their first victim, 16-year-old Cindy Schaeffer. They picked her up near Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach is one of the three Beach Cities located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 66,748 at the 2010 census, up from 63,261 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area.Redondo Beach was originally part of...
, Norris forcing her into the van. He duct taped her mouth and bound her arms and legs. Bittaker drove the van to a fire road on San Gabriel Mountains
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains Range is located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east...
out of sight of the highway. Both men raped the girl, and then Bittaker wrapped a straightened wire coat hanger around her neck. He tightened the wire with vise-grip pliers, strangling her to death. They wrapped her body in a plastic shower curtain and dumped it in a nearby canyon.
They picked up 18-year-old Andrea Hall hitchhiking on July 8. Norris hid in the back of the van and Bittaker talked her into the van. After she had gotten in Bittaker offered her a drink from a cooler in the back. When she went to the cooler Norris jumped her, bound her arms and legs, and taped her mouth shut. They took her to the fire road and raped her several times. Bittaker dragged her from the van, and Norris left to get beer. When he returned, Hall was gone, and Bittaker was looking at Polaroid
Instant camera
The instant camera is a type of camera that generates a developed film image. The most popular types to use self-developing film were formerly made by Polaroid Corporation....
pictures of her. He had stabbed her with an ice pick in both ears and strangled her. He threw her body over a cliff.
On September 3, while driving near Hermosa Beach, the pair spotted two girls on a bus stop bench and offered them a ride. Jackie Gilliam, 15, and Leah Lamp, 13, accepted their offer. The girls became suspicious when Bittaker parked the van near a suburban tennis court. Lamp went for the back door and Norris hit her in the head with a bat. A short scuffle broke out, but with Bittaker's help Norris subdued the teens and bound them both. Bittaker then drove them to the fire road. They kept the girls alive for two days, raping and torturing them the whole time with a wire hanger and pliers. They even made an audio recording of the events. Eventually Bittaker stabbed Gilliam in both ears with an ice pick. When she didn't succumb to her injuries, both men took turns strangling her until she died. Bittaker then strangled Lamp while Norris hit her in the head with a sledgehammer seven times. They dumped the bodies over a cliff, the ice pick still in Gilliam's head.
They kidnapped Shirley Sanders on September 30, macing
Mace (spray)
Chemical Mace is a tear gas in the form of an aerosol spray which propels a lachrymatory agent mixed with a volatile solvent. It is sometimes used as a self-defense device...
her and forcing her into the van. Both raped her, but she escaped. Police had showed her pictures of the men and she had identified the men as Lawrence and Roy.
They kidnapped 16-year-old Shirley Lynette Ledford on October 31, raping her and torturing her, while driving around Los Angeles instead of heading to their usual mountain spot. Bittaker stabbed the young girl several times and also tortured her with the pliers. During her torture, her screams and pleas were tape-recorded as Bittaker repeatedly beat her elbows with a sledgehammer, all the time demanding that she not stop screaming; he eventually strangled her with a wire hanger, using the pliers to twist a cinching loop around her throat. Instead of tossing her body over a cliff, they left it on a random lawn in Hermosa Beach to see the local reaction in the newspaper. The body was found the next day and caused quite a stir, being only days since the arrest of "Hillside Strangler
Hillside Strangler
The Hillside Strangler is the media epithet for two men, cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who were convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing girls and women ranging in age from 12 to 28 years old during a four-month period from late 1977 to early 1978...
" Angelo Buono.
Arrest, trial, and sentence
Norris had been telling prison friend Jimmy Dalton all about the murders. Dalton thought the stories were lies until Ledford's body was found. He talked to his lawyer and they went to the Los Angeles Police DepartmentLos Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
with information about Norris.
At the trial, both Norris and Bittaker were charged with murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, forcible rape, sexual perversion and criminal conspiracy. Bittaker was convicted of rape, torture, kidnapping, and murder on February 17, 1981 and sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. , Bittaker is still on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, where he still receives mail, which he signs using his nickname "Pliers" Bittaker. Norris was also sentenced, but was spared a life sentence or being executed in return for his testimony against Bittaker. Norris was denied parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
in 2009, and will be eligible in another ten years.