Richard Lee Tingler Jr.

Born in December 1940, Richard Tingler was raised by a mother who often beat him and punished him, reminding him he was “born in sin”, as he had been born out of wedlock. Tingler joined the air force just to escape his home. He had his first run-in with crime in 1959, whilst stationed in Alaska. He was arrested for burglary, and ended up pleading guilty for four break-ins.

Later in Ohio he was arrested for thirteen counts of breaking and entering, and he was sent to prison for one to fifteen years. He was paroled in August 1964. More burglaries sent him back to prison for one to fifteen years. He was paroled in August 1964. More burglaries sent him back to prison for a while, but he was once again released in February 1968.

In September some joggers came across four bodies laid out side-by-side in the park. The victims had died from gunshot wounds from two different weapons. The victims were tavern proprietor Joseph Zoldman, two of his bartenders, and a young female prostitute. One month later a gunman entered a bar near closing time, stealing $562 from the cash register. The gunman ordered the manager Phyllis Crowe and two teenage employees into the back room, where he died them up. The man smashed in the manager’s skull, and did the same to one of the teenagers, then shot them. He strangled the other with a coat hanger and left her for dead. The bullets found in the two victims’ heads matched the bullets from the slayings in the park. The surviving teenager identified a mug shot of Richard Tingler as the attacker.

Tingler was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list on 8th November 1968. At this time Tingler was acting under the name Don Williams, and had started working on a farm near Oklahoma. But soon he became nervous and disappeared. On 27 April a man named Brooks Hutchenson checked into a motel in Illinois with an acquaintance, D.L. Williams. The following morning Hutchenson was found dead by the maid, four gunshot wounds in him, all his cash gone, and his Ford LTD car missing. On 29th April he went back to the farm driving the stolen car, left again, then arrived back the next morning without the car. People in the area became very suspicious. Several neighbours called the County sheriff to report Williams, and police investigated. They went out to the farm where Tingler was working in a field and arrested him. He was convicted of six counts of murder and sentenced to death.