Russell Johnson

AKA: The Bedroom Strangler, The Balcony Killer
Murder Category: Serial Killer, Sexually Motivated, Sex Crimes
Sub-Category: Hedonistic
Date of Murders: 1973-1977
Location: London and Guelph, Ontario

Victims:

Mary Hicks, 21

Alice Ralston, 42

Eleanor Hartwick

Doris (Dodi) Brown, 49

Diane Beitz, 23

Louella George, 22

Donna Veldboom, 22

Relationship to Victims: Stranger
Cause of Death: Stangulation, Stabbed
Characteristics: Stalking, voyeurism, sexual assault, strangulation, stabbing, necrophilia
Number of Murder Victims: 7
Number of Sexual Assaults: 11

Diagnosis: Sexual sadism, necrophilia, fetishism, voyeurism, transvestic fetishism and a “personality disorder not otherwise specified.”
Trial Outcome: Johnson was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the murders of Beitz, George, and Veldboom. He has been institutionalized every since.

THE CRIMES

Early Crimes

Russell Maurice Johnson experienced a lot of trauma in his childhood including sexual abuse at 14-year-old. His Juvenile Record showed arrests for several sexual offences.

Johnson was an auto worker from St. Thomas. He was described as obsessed with cleanliness and was a compulsive hand washer. He wore gloves and petroleum jelly at work and at the gym.

He began attacking and raping women as early as 1969, but it wasn’t until the 70s that he graduated to murder.

The “Natural Causes” Victims

Johnson’s murder victims were all between 20-49 years-old. He stalked his victims for days and would break into their homes to watch them sleep for hours. He was able to crawl up the sides of apartment buildings to gain access through balcony doors.

Johnson graduated to murder on October 19, 1973 when he murdered Mary Hicks, a 20-year-old student in London. Her death was attributed to an allergic reaction to medication because she was found in a natural sleeping position with no obvious signs of violence on her body.

Johnson took great pains to methodically clean-up the Hicks crime scene and make her death appear natural. He did the same with his next three victims.

Only a month later, another woman was found dead in a Guelph apartment. Alice Ralston, 27, was also found with no obvious signs of violence. Ralston’s death was attributed to a condition of hardened arteries.

On March 4, 1974, Eleanor Hartwick died at her home in London and, as in the case of Alice Ralston, her death was put down to a reaction to prescription drugs.

Doris (Dodi) Brown, 49, was found dead in August, and although the pathologist discovered minor abrasions to her body, as well as blood in her throat and rectum, her death was attributed to pulmonary edema.

The Vicious Murders

Russell’s next three victims suffered violent deaths and were sexually assaulted postmortem.

Diane Beitz, 23, was found dead in her Guelph apartment on December 31, She had been strangled to death with her bra and sexually assaulted postmortem.

Louella Jeanne George was found dead in her home in April, 1977. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted postmortem. Some of her jewellery and underwear was also missing. The items were later found in a garbage can nearby.

Donna Veldboom, 22, was found dead in her apartment not far from George’s residence. She had been stabbed to death and sexually assaulted postmortem. She was found dead in her London apartment after she didn’t show up for work at Union Gas.

THE VICTIMS