‘HARVEY THE HAMMER’

Sadistic Murderer Known as the ‘Want-Ad Killer’ Dead at 95: Report

Harvey Carignan took out “help wanted” advertisements to find victims he beat to death with a hammer.

Harvey Carignan, a serial rapist and murderer known as “The Want-Ad Killer,” has died at the age of 95, according to TMZ. Carignan’s nickname came from his MO of taking out “help wanted” adverts in order to lure victims whom he then raped and murdered with a hammer. TMZ reports that officials at MCF-Oak Park Heights in Minnesota confirmed his death from natural causes earlier this month. Carignan was serving a life sentence after being found guilty of the brutal murders of two women, Eileen Hunley and Katherine Schultz, in 1975. At trial, Carignan tried to plead insanity, saying God had instructed him to “kill whores and harlots,” but his defense was rejected. Both Schultz and Hunley had been beaten to death with a hammer—leading to Carignan sometimes being referred to as “Harvey the Hammer.” Hunley had also been raped with a tree branch and he had earlier served time in Alcatraz for killing Laura Showalter, 58, in 1949 during an attempted rape. It’s thought he may have killed at least five women, though he was only convicted of three murders.