OBIT

‘Lipstick Killer’ Dies at 83

Spent final 65 years of his life in prison.

William Heirens, Chicago’s infamous “lipstick killer,” has died in prison at the age of 83, more than 65 years after he was incarcerated. Heirens confessed in 1946 to three horrific murders in Chicago, which gained widespread media attention because of the scrawling in lipstick on the wall at the scene of the second victim’s murder: “For heaven’s sake catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself.” The circumstances of Heirens’s confession and imprisonment, however, were disputed. He later claimed to have confessed only to avoid a death sentence, and there are claims that he was mistreated and forced to confess. Heirens was the first American to earn a four-year college degree while in prison, and he set up several education programs.