The movie Black Christmas, a cult classic, was inspired in part by a murderer dubbed The Lipstick Killer (because of a message the killer wrote in lipstick on a wall at the crime scene). The Lipstick Killer ended up being blamed for three murders, one of which was very different than the others. And a boy named William Heirens would be accused of being the Lipstick Killer, despite any evidence that pointed to his guilt. William Heirens was a troubled young boy, who started committing burglaries and thefts at a young age. He was institutionalized at two different boys schools because of his crimes at thirteen years old, which seemed to have a positive impact on his grades and life trajectory. His grades were good enough for him to get accepted to the University of Chicago when he was only seventeen, but he really struggled to shake his bad habits. Little did he know, his crimes would land him smack dab in the middle of the multiple-murder investigation. Many people, including experts in forensics and lawyers, believe Heirens is innocent of the murders.
Sources:
Crime: Bill and George. Time Magazine, 29 July 1946, web.archive.org/web/20091208035126/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776927-2,00.html.
Kennedy, Foster, et al. “Psychiatric Study of William Heirens Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 38, no. Four, 1948, p. 1948, scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3496&context=jclc.
Presnell, Riley. “The Chilling True Story That Inspired “Black Christmas.”” Collider, 5 Dec. 2022, collider.com/black-christmas-true-story/#:~:text=The%201974%20cult%20classic%20Black. Accessed 4 Jan. 2024.
“Wayback Machine.” Web.archive.org, Apr. 2002, web.archive.org/web/20040618085916/www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/documents/Heirenspetition.pdf.
“William Heirens.” Wikipedia, 16 Feb. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heirens.
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