Edmund Kemper biography

Synopsis

Troubled Childhood

Serial killer. Born Edmund Emil Kemper III on December 18, 1948, in Burbank, California. During the 1970s, Edmund Kemper killed six young, college-age women in the Santa Cruz, California, area. In addition to the young women, he killed several members of his family and a family friend. Kemper committed his crimes in the same area and around the same time as two other serial killers, John Linley Frazier and Herbert Mullins. At the time, Santa Cruz area became known as the “Murder Capital of the World” in the press and Kemper was dubbed the “Coed Killer” and the “Coed Butcher.”

Kemper was the middle child of E. E. and Clarnell Kemper. After his parents’ divorce in 1957, he moved with his mother and two sisters to Montana. Kemper had a difficult relationship with his alcoholic mother as she was very critical of him, and he blamed her for all of his problems. When he was ten years old, she forced him to live in the basement, away from his sisters whom she feared he might harm in some way.

Signs of trouble emerged early. He had a dark fantasy life, sometimes dreaming about killing his mother. He cut off the heads of his sister’s dolls and even coerced the girls into playing a game he called "gas chamber" in which he had them blindfold him and lead him to a chair, where he pretended to writhe in agony until he "died." At the age of 13, Kemper killed his cat with a knife. He went to live with his father for a time, but he ended up back with his mother. She decided to send the troubled teenager to live with his paternal grandparents in North Fork, California.

Grandparents' Murder

Kemper hated living on his grandparents’ farm. Before going to North Fork, Kemper had already begun learning about firearms. His grandparents took away his rifle after he killed several birds and other small animals. On August 27th, 1964, Kemper turned on his grandparents. The 15-year-old shot his grandmother in the kitchen after an argument. (Some reports also indicate that he stabbed her as well.) When his grandfather returned home, Kemper went outside and shot him by his car and then hid the body. He called his mother who told him to call the police and tell them what happened.

Later, Kemper said that he shot his grandmother to see what it felt like. He added that he killed his grandfather so that the man wouldn't have to find out that his wife had been murdered. For his crimes, Kemper was handed over to the California Youth Authority. He underwent a variety of tests, which determined that he had a very high IQ and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.