Joseph Edward Duncan is one of the most vicious sociopaths in the history of the term. Before the crimes which landed him his death sentence, he had already raped and murdered at least four children, most of them boys, in various places in California and Seattle. He claims to have raped at least 13 boys by his 16th birthday, most at gunpoint. He has been diagnosed with what is now referred to as “malignant narcissism,” “antisocial personality disorder,” and a violent hatred for society in general. His final crimes were the brutal bludgeoning murders of the Groene family in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in May, 2005.
He broke into the home of Brenda Groene and Mark Mackenzie, clubbed them and Brenda’s teenage son, Slade, to death with a hammer, then kidnapped her other children, Shasta, 8, and Dylan, 9, taking them into the Idaho and Montana wilderness. For the next 7 weeks or so, he filmed himself torturing Dylan by hanging him by his wrists to trees, stripping him naked, punching and kicking him all over, especially his genitals, burning him with cigarettes, all while shouting at him that, “God is nowhere listening, Dylan! I am the Devil!” He finally shot Dylan dead, after raping him multiple times over the course of those 7 weeks, during which time he raped and beat Shasta, also. He was apprehended in a Denny’s Restaurant in Coeur d’Alene, when a waitress recognized Shasta. Duncan was eventually given three death sentences and nine life sentences. He frequently smiled when facts of his crimes were read in court. After his sentencing was read aloud, he was asked if he had anything to say. He smirked and recited Ezekiel 21:31, “And I shall deliver thee into the hands of brutish men.” He defined himself as the brutish man, indicating a lack of remorse. He confided to his lawyer that “he only regretted being caught, and that he would try his best to escape prison and kill as many people as he could get his hands on before going back to prison.” For this reason, he is held at ADX Florence in Colorado, south of Denver, one of the most secure facilities in the United States.
Dissected - Dali, Van Gogh and Picasso by DDB Brazil for the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) Art School
On March 24, 1987, Philadelphia police received a call from a hysterical woman, who had escaped from the basement of serial killer, Gary Heidnik. She had been kept as a sex slaved, chained for months in his basement with other captive women. She reported that there were still three women being held captive in a pit in the basement of his home.
It didn’t take long upon entering Heidnik’s home for the police to understand they were dealing with a sick man. Dollar bills lined his hallway, and walls were covered with pennies. The police would also find a refrigerated human forearm, a sink clogged with human flesh, and a pot of charred bones on the stove.
In the basement, the torture that Heidnik’s victims were subjected to was quickly evident. He had a pit in his basement that he kept women in and routinely raped and tortured them. Electrocution seemed to be one of his preferred methods of torture.
