Albert Fish

Known for being one of the most vile pedophiles and killers of all time

By: Katelyn Barrick

The hidden monster

He was a small, gentle looking man, he appeared kind and trusting, but once alone with his victims his true monster self was released

His crimes were so perverse and cruel they seemed almost unbelievable

Eventually he was executed and rumors say that he turned his execution into a fantasy of pleasure

The early years• Birth name is Hamilton Fish• He was born on May 19th, 1870 in

Washington D.C.• His family had a long history of mental

illnesses• His father died when he was 5• He was abandoned by his parents at a

young age and he was sent to an orphanage

• Fish claims that at the orphanage he was exposed to regular beatings and sadistic acts of brutality

• At age 7 he was reunited with his mother

Early years cont…

• Had very little formal education• Grew up learning to work more with his hands

then with his brain He fell from a cherry tree causing severe head

trauma After graduating from high school, he started

working odd jobs and traveling around the country.

This is when he began committing small crimes He also began calling himself “Albert,” discarding

the hated first name, which led classmates to tease him, calling him “Ham and Eggs.”

Marriage He married in 1898 and fathered six children His children had average lives up until 1917, when

his wife left him for another man After his wife left him his children recall him

occasionally asking them to participate in his sado-masochistic games.

One of these games he wanted them to play included the nail laced paddle he once used on his victims

He would ask his children to paddle him with the weapon until blood ran down his entire leg

He would also find enjoyment in pushing needles deep into his skin

Across state lines He developed a skill as a house painter and

worked in different states across the country Rumored that he selected states largely populated

with African Americans because he believed the police would spend less time searching for African American children then Caucasian children

Several of his victims were black children selected to endure his labeled “Instruments of Hell”

They included the paddle, a meat cleaver and knives.

Methods

He would lure them away from their homes, torture them in various ways including using a paddle laced with sharp nails, and then rape them

As time went on his sexual fantasies grew more fiendish and bizarre

The crimes would begin ending in murdering and cannibalizing his young victims

He observed and experienced numerous acts of perversions including forced masturbation in front of other children

He was abusedThese acts lead up to his further obsession

with sado-masochism.He was never in a stable environment

Motives

Profile and Characteristics of victims

Young children Race and gender did not matter

Capture

The police traced the letter that was anomalously written to the Budd family on the case of their missing daughter back to a flophouse were Fish was living

He was arrested and immediately began confessing about killing Grace Budd and several hundred other children

Fish would smile as he told the detectives about the grizzly details of the tortures and murders he committed

He appeared to the detectives as the Devil himself

Charges and sentence On March 11, 1935 his trial began and he pleaded

innocent for the reason of insanity He claimed that he had voices in his head telling

him to kill those children Despite the numerous physiatrists who described

him as insane he was still found guilty Charged with (look up what degree) The jury found him sane and guilty after only a ten

day trial He was sentenced to death by electrocution On January 16, 1936, fish was electrocuted at Sing

Sing prison Reportedly a process Fish looked upon as "the

ultimate sexual thrill" but later dismissed as just rumor.

So difficult to spot?

They blend in, camouflaged in contemporary anonymity.

They lurk in churches and malls, and prowl the freeways and streets.

Like all predators, they stalk their victims by gaining their trust.

They hide behind a mask of fake emotions

Different types of Crime scenesOrganized :

offense planned victim a targeted stranger personalizes victim controlled conversation crime scene reflects overall

control demands submissive victim restraints used aggressive acts prior to death body hidden weapon/evidence absent transports victim or body

spontaneous offense victim or location known depersonalizes victim minimal conversation crime scene random and

sloppy sudden violence to victim minimal use of restraints sexual acts after death body left in view evidence/weapon often

present body left at death scene

Disorganized:

What I learned:

I learned that there are people out there that can cause them to do so much damage in a life time

Its just awful to learn how someone can cannibalize children

References

http://twistedminds.creativescapism.com/most-notorious/albert-fish/

http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/albertfish.htm