Episode 549: The Lipstick Killer (Part 2)
Morbid
Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart
4.5 • 95.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2024
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The brutal murders of Ross, Brown, and Degnan shocked the city of Chicago and terrified and outraged the city’s residents, who wanted only to feel safe once again. Under intense pressure from the press, the public, and city officials, investigators were desperate to catch the killer and solve the case by any means necessary, even if they had to break more than a few rules and ignore some inconvenient facts in order to do it.
Thank you to the incredible Dave white of Bring Me the Axe & 99 Cent Rental Podcast for research!References
Amended Petition for Executive Clemency. 2002. C-06103 (Illinois Prisoner Review Board, April).
Arizona Republic . 1946. "Defendant fails in plea to jury." Arizona Republic, June 20: 18.
Banks, Joe. 1946. "Prisoner says he killed girl." Tucson Daily Citizen, June 26: 1.
Chicago Tribune. 1946. "Police resift all clues in Degnan case." Chcago Tribune, January 12: 1.
—. 1946. "2 rewards offered for 'execution' of girl's kidnap-slayer." Chicago Tribune, January 8: 2.
—. 1946. "Call Heirens sane; today's plea in doubt." Chicago Tribune, September 4: 1.
—. 1946. "Child stolen from her bed during the night." Chicago Tribune, January 8: 1.
—. 1945. "Ex-WAVE slain, plea written in red on wall." Chicago Tribune, December 11: 1.
—. 1946. "Handwriting similarity to killer's shown." Chicago Tribune, June 27: 1.
—. 1946. "Heirens gets new grilling following 'futile' lie test." Chicago Tribune, July 1: 1.
—. 1946. "Heirens made choice of plea, attorneys say." Chicago Tribune, August 7: 12.
—. 1946. "Murders, assaults, thefts, shooting; Heirens' story." Chicago Tribune, August 7: 1.
—. 1945. "Mystery grows in WAVE slaying." Chicago Tribune, December 12: 1.
—. 1943. "Organize posse of tenants and catch prowler." Chicago Tribune, August 9: 18.
—. 1946. "Repudiates his 'confession' in Degnan slaying." Chicago Tribune, June 29: 6.
—. 1946. "Student held in Degnan case puzzles police." Chicago Tribune, June 29: 1.
—. 1946. "Tubs in basement, saw and ax held best clews." Chicago Tribune, January 9: 1.
—. 1946. "U.C. Sophomore, facing police quiz, fakes coma." Chicago Tribune, June 29: 1.
—. 1946. "Use of serum in Heirens quiz still mystery." Chicago Tribune, July 1: 5.
—. 1945. "Widow is found in home; suitor quizzed." Chicago Tribune, June 6: 10.
Decatur Daily Review. 1946. "Chicago girl kidnapped; note demands $20,000." Decatur Daily Review, January 7: 1.
—. 1946. "Janitors grilled in kidnap-death." Decatur Daily Review, January 9: 1.
Decatur Herald. 1945. "Brutal WAVE slayer sought." Decatur Herald, December 12: 1.
Higgins, Michael. 2007. "1940s killer denied parole." Chicago Tribune, August 3: 1.
—. 2007. "Is 61 years in prison enough retribution." Chicago Tribune, July 29: 1.
Kennedy, Dolores. 1991. William Heirens: His Day in Court. New York, NY: Bonus Books.
New York Times. 1946. "Heirens confesses in no-chair deal." New York Times, August 7: 36.
Pantagraph. 1945. "Former Wave found brutally slain in Chicago bathtub." Pantagraph, December 10: 1.
People of the State of Illinois v William Heirens. 1954. 33165 (Supreme Court of Illinois, September 23).
People of the State of Illinois v William Heirens. 1995. 1-90-2240 (Appellate Court of the State of Illinois, March 15).
Priddy, Gladys. 1945. "Slain ex-WAVE a friend to all, roomate says." Chicago Tribune, December 14: 3.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wundery Plus subscribers can listen to morbid early and add free. |
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| 0:07.9 | You're listening to a morbid network podcast. The Last City is a new scripted audio drama from Wondery. |
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| 0:29.8 | Wondery.com slash Plus. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash, and I'm Alana, and this is morbid. And it is part two of the lipstick killer. Part dieu. Part one was rough. But then you got a little |
| 1:01.4 | pilot cleanser of our besties Curran and Sabrina. |
| 1:04.5 | Not between parts. |
| 1:06.5 | Bye. |
| 1:07.5 | The way you said it last time made me think that. |
| 1:14.1 | No I meant between the career girls and the lipstick |
| 1:17.1 | killers two girls one goes. |
| 1:18.6 | Well like I said bye. |
| 1:20.0 | So part one was rough. Yeah, not easy to get through. No, that was one of the tougher ones I think that we've covered. Yeah. And this is one that I think a lot of people have heard of if you've studied |
| 1:36.7 | true crime or like read true crime books you know anything like that the |
| 1:40.6 | lipstick killer you always like we said associated with William |
| 1:44.4 | Hirons yes and I do wonder wonder if that's going to change today interesting and |
| 1:50.3 | we talked a lot about, you know, the police department beating up a grandpa. |
| 1:56.6 | That was horrible. |
| 1:58.0 | And then realizing that oops, that wasn't him, maybe it's two guys, like who knows who's to say. |
| 2:04.7 | After all that. |
| 2:05.9 | Yeah, and I think when we last left you, they were in a true place of desperation. They are not handling the public outcry and the |
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