The Strangler's Wife
True Crime Historian
Richard O Jones
4.4 • 729 Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2016
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Around the jails and the Indiana and Ohio neighborhoods where he lived, Alfred Knapp carried the nickname “Looney” Knapp for his bizarre, often childish behavior. He spent half of his adult life in prison for petty larcenies and attacks upon young women. When he was released from the Michigan City Penitentiary in the summer of 1902, he joined his third wife, Hannah, in her hometown of Hamilton, Ohio. Three days before Christmas that year, Knapp strangled his wife in the early morning hours and put her body in a box and put the box in the Great Miami River, then told everyone that Hannah had left him. Some in his family became suspicious, and when he remarried two months later, they had him arrested for bigamy. Alfred Knapp then not only confessed to killing his wife, but four other women in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, including his second wife. Consequently, “The Strangler Knapp” became a Midwest sensation and dozens of newspapers sent reporters to cover the case.
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One of the many things that makes the Knapp case a remarkable story worth telling is the intense family and courtroom drama that was chronicled in the extensive press coverage. One of the most colorful real-life characters in this tale is the young, simple-minded fourth wife, from whose bed he was arrested for bigamy at four in the morning. So I want to tell you her story in a series of excerpts from my latest book, The First Celebrity Serial Killer: Confessions of the Strangler Alfred Knapp.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | True Crime Historian presents True Crime Storytime, a reading from a true crime story by Richard O. Jones. |
| 0:28.4 | Around the jails and the Indiana and Ohio neighborhoods where he lived, Alfred Knapp carried the nickname Loonie Knapp for his bizarre, often childish behavior. |
| 0:39.3 | He spent half of his adult life in prison for petty larcenies and attacks upon young women. |
| 0:45.3 | When he was released from the Michigan City Penitentiary in the summer of 1902 at the age of 40, |
| 0:51.3 | he joined his third wife, Hannah, in her hometown of Hamilton, Ohio. |
| 0:57.0 | Three days before Christmas that year, Nap strangled his wife in the early morning hours, |
| 1:03.0 | put her body in a box, and put the box in the Great Miami River, then told everyone that |
| 1:08.0 | Hannah had left him. |
| 1:17.9 | Some in his family became suspicious, and when he remarried two months later, they had him arrested for bigamy. |
| 1:27.3 | Alfred Knapp then not only confessed to killing his wife, but four other women in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, including his second wife. Consequently, the Strangler |
| 1:30.0 | Nap became a Midwest sensation and dozens of newspapers sent reporters to cover the case. |
| 1:36.8 | One of the things that makes the Knapp case a remarkable story worth telling is the intense |
| 1:41.8 | family and courtroom drama that was chronicled in the extensive |
| 1:45.5 | press coverage. One of the most colorful real-life characters in this tale is the young, simple-minded |
| 1:52.1 | fourth wife from whose bed he was arrested for bigamy at four in the morning. |
| 1:59.3 | So I want to tell you her story in a series of excerpts from my latest book, The First Celebrity Serial Killer, Confessions of the Strangler, Alfred Knapp. |
| 2:09.5 | I invite you to visit my website, www.truecrimehistorian.com for source information and instructions on how you can buy an inscribed edition of the first celebrity serial killer. |
| 2:25.0 | I'm true crime historian Richard O. Jones, and I give you The Strangler's Wife, the sad tale of Anna May Gamble Nap. |
| 2:57.8 | Indianapolis, Indiana, February 27, 1903. |
| 3:04.9 | On the Friday morning following Alfred Knapp's arrest, an Indiana news reporter approached Anna Mae Gamble Nap. |
| 3:07.3 | And asked her if she had ever awakened in the middle of the night with her husband's hands around her throat. |
| 3:12.3 | She clung to the partially open door of the basement apartment with one hand, clutching a loose fitting dirty black wrapper at the throat. |
... |
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