LONG ISLAND’S STRANGE
RED CIRCLE SLAYINGS
Case report by
Michael SternLong Island's Strange Red Circle Slayings Murder Most Foul 27R
ICHARD JARVIS looked
forward to his Sunday walks in
the countryside around New
York’s Long Island. They refreshed
him after six days of breathing in
fumes as a painter and decorator.
One of his frequent haunts was
Hollis Woods, a favourite spot for
picnickers and lovers, and he set off
after breakfast on October 3rd, 1937,
with a spring in his step. The autumn
trees were a blaze of fiery colours.
He shuffled and crunched through
the swirling leaves, passing a narrow
lane that wound through thick
undergrowth to a 30ft clearing
a couple of hundred yards away.
Glancing down it he saw a parked car.
Unusual, he thought, for couples
to park there during the day. And
although one of the doors was open,
there was no sign of movement.
Feeling uneasy for no reason he
could have put into words, he walked
slowly down the path. As he reached
the car, he froze. Lolling on the front
seats were the blood-drenched bodies
of a young man and woman.
Heart hammering and gasping
for breath, he ran back through the
woods until he reached the main road.
A motorcycle patrolman heard him
shouting and within an hour more
than 100 police officers had converged
on the clearing – among them Deputy
Chief Inspector John Ryan who took
charge of the case.
While his men swarmed over the site
searching for clues, Ryan stood quietly
beside the car’s open door, surveying
the bodies. The young man sat at
the wheel with both hands in his lap,
one holding his wallet. His head was
tilted against the closed window. Two
shots had been fired into his temple,
and blood had run down his cheek to
the back of his neck, staining his neat
grey-checked suit and smooth hair.
Apart from the bullet holes, his body
showed no other sign of violence.
The girl, aged about 20, was
sprawled half on the passenger seat
and half on the running board, her
feet twisted in different directions. She
had been shot twice through the rightThe killer drew a red circle in lipstick on his victims’ heads. But
this double-murder from the 1930s also bore a likeness to the Son
of Sam shootings that would terrify New Yorkers 40 years later...
temple and blood from the wounds had
gushed over her face. Both bullets had
ripped through her skull and exited on
the left side.
She was wearing a red velvet suit
with a white blouse – now stickyand crimsoned with blood from stab
wounds to her chest. Her open handbag
lay on her lap, but her lipstick had fallen
onto the floor of the car. It looked to
Ryan as if the killer had used this to
draw a red circle, an inch and a half