Carroll Edward Cole (May 9, 1938 - December 6, 1985), was a US Serial killer who was executed in 1985.

He was born in Sioux City, Iowa. While his father went to fight in World War 2, Cole was taken along by his mother and forced to watch as she "entertained" men. He would often be beaten to scare him into not telling his father about his mother's extra-marital indulgences. Even when his father returned home, young Carroll Cole was frequently whipped and beaten by his mother for the most minor infractions, and he grew up with a deep hatred of women. He was also picked on at school for having a "girl's name," so he would usually go by his middle name, Eddie.

At the age of 10, Cole drowned a friend of the same age in a lake. The boy's death was regarded as an accident until Cole confessed to it many years later.

After scraping through school, Cole became a drifter, doing menial jobs, drinking heavily and serving frequent prison sentences for crime such as burglary, vagrancy, arson and car theft. He attempted suicide at least once, and on a number of occasions, had himself committed to mental hospitals where he confessed his fantasies of murdering women. Although diagnosed as a psychopath, Cole was usually discharged promptly, as he had a personality disorder, as opposed to a mental illness - the former cannot be treated, unlike the latter.

Cole eventually began acting on his murderous fantasies. He would pick women up in bars for sex, and though many left unharmed the next day, Cole would invariably kill those he perceived as "loose," in particular ones who were married. They reminded him of his despised mother.

His first murder in adulthood was of a woman named Essie Buck, whom he'd picked up in a tavern in San Diego, California, on May 7, 1971. He strangled her to death in his car and drove around with her body in the trunk before eventually dumping it. Just two weeks later, he killed an unidentified woman and buried her in some woods.

In July 1973, Cole married barmaid Diana Pashal who, liked Carroll, was an alcoholic. They argued and fought frequently, and Carroll regularly went off on his own for days at a time. He would commit murders while he was away, including one woman he allegedly cannibalized to a degree. In September 1979, Cole strangled to death his wife, Diana. A suspicious neighbor called the police eight days later, but although they found Diana's body wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a closet, they inexplicably decided that she had died because of her heavy drinking, and Cole was released without charge after questioning.

By 1980, Cole was married again and living in Las Vegas. Toward the end of the year, he murdered three more women. Arrested on suspicion of murdering the final victim, Cole began his confession, claiming that he had murdered at least fourteen women over the previous nine years, although he added that there may have been more - he couldn't remember exactly, as he was usually drunk when he committed his crimes.

Sentenced to death, Cole refused to appeal and was executed in Nevada on December 6, 1985.

External Links

Carroll Cole at the Crime Library