A couple of days after his basement flooded, John Schmale finally mustered the energy to head downstairs and investigate the damage. "A lot of people will be here shortly. Who are the victims of the mass murderer? And so, shortly after 12:15, Mary Ann and Suzanne climbed the stairs to Suzanne's bedroom. Their mother eventually forgave Richard Speck and urged her children to do the same. On this day, Amurao personally identified Speck as the killer. I watch her comedy show. ''. Richard Speck - Life in Prison | Life Prison - LiquiSearch Abigail Atienza followed in her mother's footsteps and became a nurse practitioner, and Christian is a certified public accountant. A Tribune freelancer in the Philippines had no success either, and reported that the Philippine Nurses Association in Manila had no contact information for their families. "The Nurse Killer" Richard Benjamin Speck - Happy Scribe ''I know it keeps up their morale. "I'm home.". Forty miles from home, when they spotted a gas station, they were reluctant to stop for directions because their curlers made them look like creatures from Mars. Pat lived above Joe Matusek's Club, the tavern her father ran in the 10800 block of South Michigan Avenue. Murder made Richard Speck famous. "Time is moving on," he said one afternoon, sitting in his peaceful yard under the old, low-hanging trees. He told Greene one of his pleasures in prison was "getting high." When Greene asked him if he compared himself to celebrity . Together they helped prepare Pat's body for burial, at the funeral home run by Arlene Baskys' dad, next door to Joe Matusek's bar. On what occasion? Peter McNamee washes the 1957 Chevrolet owned by his girlfriend, Nina Jo Schmale, whom he planned to marry after graducation, circa 1966. Tina was known as a good cook. In 1966, Richard Speck committed one of the most horrifying mass murders in American history when he brutalized and killed eight student nurses living on Chicago's South Side. A few days later, 8,000 miles from their native land, Merlita Gargullo and Valentina Pasion were memorialized at a Mass led by Archbishop John Cody. Betty Jo had one more request. Took a nap. Fifty years later, Pat Matusek's two best childhood friends are the primary custodians of her past. His mother filed them away neatly, along with the pictures and newspaper clippings. "She did well with other people in situations that you're not necessarily in control of," Farris said, "which I think is a good skill for nursing.". Would Kubasek help? From the transcript of Speck's trial: Q: How long did you scream, in a sitting position, with the window open? He pushed up his left sleeve to reveal ugly scars on his arm. Inside sat four square, off-white boxes labeled "Kodak," and on top of them lay a sheet of thin pink paper. So did the fact that her brother, John, who was four years older, was studying to be a doctor. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our. Her family her father, John, a pipe fitter; her mother, Lena, a homemaker born in Germany; and her only sibling, Jack lived in a small, one-story brick Cape Cod on Commercial Avenue. Speck was never officially charged with the murders of which he was suspected prior to the events that took place in the South Chicago townhouse and, officially, those cases remain unsolved. She was not the same person. Those who had been fortunate enough to be out at the time of his arrival found themselves also subjected to brutal attacks when they returned home later that evening. The murders happened in a townhouse in the 2300 block of East 100th Street that served as housing for student nurses who worked at South Chicago Community Hospital. There she joined two other Filipina exchange nurses, Merlita Gargullo and Corazon Amurao, who had arrived a few days earlier. Her brother Phil, who lost both his sister and his fiancee on that July night, died at 64. We kind of lost her, Lori said. It was all right. With a rush of excitement and a pang of dread, he read her penciled note: "Nina South Chicago Hospital.". But 50 years ago, the murders were perhaps as shocking in the Philippines as they were in Chicago. With her salary, she paid tuition for college night classes downtown, after which she commuted home to 111th Street and Avenue E. Eventually she enrolled in nursing school, and though it wasn't a field she had dreamed of as a girl, she had a knack. Life in the new country must have brought surprises, but it was hardly dramatic. Guarded by detectives, Corazon Amurao arrives at the courthouse in Peoria to testify as the state's chief witness against Richard Speck on April 5, 1967. `Parents ought to be careful about their kids,'' Richard Speck said. The children suffered considerable abuse at the hands of their drunken stepfather, and Speck's childhood was marked by juvenile delinquency and alcohol abuse, which soon led to petty crime. At South Chicago Community Hospital she earned $350 a month, much of which she sent back to the Philippines, and, like the other exchange nurses, she wrote a lot of letters. Subsequent nationwide enquiries also raised the other incidents in which Speck was suspected, as well as his criminal record. A total of eight woman, between ages 19 and 24, were systematically bound, robbed, beaten, strangled and stabbed during Speck's frenzy. Atienza, 73, retired about five years ago after many years as a critical care nurse in Washington, D.C. She now spends most of her time with her husband, Alberto, daughter Abigail, son Christian and her six grandchildren. Only recently, since John Schmale got in touch with her about a 50th anniversary commemoration for the women, has Lori let herself believe that it's OK to remember, OK to cry. Their mother, of English and Czech stock, stayed at home to take care of her children. Editor's note: This story was first published on April 28, 2016, and is being republished to mark the 50th anniversary of the murders. News item: Speck's death sentence reversed. What the camera couldn't catch were the girl's thoughts, the confusion she felt at the spectacle of all these other graduates. It hurt to see Nina in her yellow swimsuit he thought back to the Life magazine photo after the murders that showed it hanging on a rod in her bedroom but it also made him glad, glad to be reminded of who his sister was before death defined her. ''Because any kid can end up to be like me. Kubasek said no. Her brother, John Farris, still carries the photo and prayer card in his wallet 50 years later. Jordan Morin, who was 15 when Mary Ann died, has never before spoken publicly about her sister's death, and she doesn't talk easily about it now. After it was aired on TV, Wilkening obtained a copy of the video. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune). It will be available May 10. On this day, Amurao personally identified Speck as the killer. She also had a hard time believing he actually died of a heart attack in prison in 1991 and wonders why she was spared. She closed the box, surely hoping that one day it would be opened. You climbed down to the ledge on 100th Street? In Lori's words, Gloria was driven, independent, intelligent, headstrong, poised, creative and snippy when she didn't like what you were doing. Episode #1.9: Directed by David Fincher. Elmhurst Blotter: Man charged with battery for allegedly punching a security guard at a bar, Hinsdale police blotter: multiple thefts reported by patients at Hinsdale Hospital, Glenview police blotter: Harwood Heights woman charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Dykton and the unidentified woman were not killed by Richard Speck. After his father died, his mother married an abusive alcoholic who savagely abused Speck and his seven siblings. "The mailman would bring them in boxes," he said. These days, Farris is retired from his job as an administrative services manager at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago. John had his own. He committed several violent crimes against his family as a teenager and young man before he became a mass murderer at the age of 25. Being in the world of the older girls felt cool. The Mystery Novelist Who Committed a Real Murder, Boston Marathon Bombings Survivors, 10 Years Later, A Complete Timeline of Adnan Syeds Trial, Release. '', Even when he attempted to express remorse for the murders, he still came off as a conscienceless criminal: ''I`m sorry as hell. Through the end of spring and on into summer, Tina and her Filipina friends were sometimes spotted walking to a nearby shopping center, and they took occasional field trips, but they spent a lot of their nonworking time in the townhouse, frequently writing letters home. Speck is the character who, while being interviewed by Ford and Tench, tosses a pet bird into a fan. Speck's jury trial began April 3, 1967, in Peoria, Illinois, three hours southwest of Chicago, with a gag order on the press. Richard Speck Serial Killer Documentary - YouTube There's no question that Richard Speck lived a very troubled life from an early age. But I ended up in jail before I could keep the appointment.'' Theyre smiling and wearing regular clothes. "It ended an innocence we all had,'' Martin said. ''A lot of them women are pretty,'' Speck said. Nursing students were under strict rules during the 1960s, but still they found time for fun. Not only had they been allowed a slumber party with their mother, but their big sister who was about to graduate from nursing school was coming home for good the next day. Often after a day of classes at Fenger High School, Pat Matusek walked to Roseland Community Hospital to see her cousin Tommy. She wanted to make her sister look like her sister, Kubasek said, choking up on the word sister., Student nurses Patricia Matusek, left, and Suzanne Farris, circa 1966. The first season of Mindhunter saw Ford interview a number of famous serial killers, including Edmund Kemper (Coed Killer), necrophile Jerry Brudos and mass murderer Richard Speck all of. Their lives are what John Schmale wants the world to see, and he can't help but believe that's what his mother wanted too. According to news accounts published at the time, Merlita, 23, was quiet, shy, hardworking, efficient, pretty and blessed with a rich singing voice. (Harold Norman / Chicago Tribune). Clint Eastwood, he always plays good. All of the bedrooms were upstairs, and none had a phone. After the trial, she went home to the Philippines, got a job as a nurse and was elected to the town council in her hometown of San Luis. Asked if she recognized the killer, she stepped off the stand and pointed: Since then she has rarely spoken to the media, though in a 1970 court hearing she described her fear of the night, of being alone, of a knock on a door. What would Nina, who died at 24, look like today, at 74? Corazon Amurao Atienza has moved on with her life and wants to be happy every day. The first floor consisted of a living room, a powder room and a kitchen. In the early 1900s, Grace Jordan was a high-ranking surgical nurse at the University of Michigan, and the stories of her accomplishments made Mary Ann think she could be a nurse too. "She laughs a lot.". (Schmale family ). Speck admitted he committed the killings _ breaking for the first time his claim of drug-induced amnesia. Atienza was one of three Filipina exchange nurses who lived there, too, and worked at the hospital. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. She helped raise eight younger siblings, swam in the river and was good enough in school to be admitted to the nursing program at Arellano University in the big city of Manila. Eight thousand miles from home, they could earn decent money and many, like Tina, sent much of it back to their families. The last time John Farris saw Suzie, 21, he had just come home from a track meet, carrying his victory medals, and she was visiting with her boyfriend, Phil. Student nurses Patricia Matusek, left, and Suzanne Farris, circa 1966. Billy was the youngest, born with Down syndrome. At the door stood a tall stranger with a pockmarked face and a gun. There was a man with a gun in the house. Richard Speck was a murderer notorious for killing eight student nurses in 1966. Subscribe. What he did, however, is known, because Cora, a 4-foot-10 nurse from the land of the concealed knife, escaped his sight at one point and hid under one bed, then another, until he was gone. He has never discussed it with them in depth or with his sister Marilyn, who has moved away from Chicago. Dorothy Schmale died five years after her daughter did, her death hastened by heartbreak. "I'm in," said Gloria, who phoned her mother every night to say she was back and safe. Gloria's brother and three of her sisters are still alive. "She found the thing she loved doing, she meets a guy that she says 'yes' to about being married," he said. "For Filipinos and Filipino Americans who came of age during the 1960s," she said in a recent email, "I think Gargullo and Pasion are remembered as nurses who encountered American violence and tragedy, and Amurao is remembered as the nurse who used her wits to survive.".
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