#paulrunge

[criminol]

Paul Runge

Paul Frederick Runge is an American serial killer who sexually assaulted and murdered at least seven victims between 1995 and 1996 in Illinois. Rudge’s early life remains somewhat a mystery although there are reports he was a sexual sadist from a young age. His mother died when he was 17-years-old which is thought to have been a trigger as his crimes began shortly after this event. Rudge kidnapped, raped and beat a girl in Oak Forest but turned himself in to the authorities, he was given a 14-year sentence but paroled in May 1994. He married a woman called Charlene, got a job as a truck driver and resettled in three separate cities before his arrest for violating his parole conditions in May 1997. Rudge typically lured his victims by pretended to be interested in the property they were selling or renting and asking to check inside. He would then rape and murder his victims before disposing of the bodies- sometimes dismembering and dumping them in rubbish bins and, in four cases, by burning the victims' houses down. His first victim was a 25-year-old acquaintance of Rudge’s wife, she went to visit Rudge and his wife on 3rd of 4th January 1995 but was not seen alive again. About two weeks after her disappearance a dog brought a severed leg to its owner's home which it had found in a nearby field. DNA tests concluded this was the missing woman. Rudge’s next victims were two sisters and refugees who were known to have been offered cleaning contracts by the Runge couple. It is presumed Runge’s wife, Charlene, lured them into the house where Paul Runge raped, tortured and murdered them both before dismembering their bodies and discarding them in bins. In January 1997, Runge killed again, his victim’s burned body was found when firefighters extinguished a fire at her home. A month later Runge entered the home of a 45-year-old woman in response to for sale sign for sports equipment, he raped, tortured and murdered the woman and her 10-year-old daughter. Another month later another woman was murdered. Between 1995 and 1996 Chicago’s FBI unit attempted to find evidence to connect Runge to the disappearances of his first three victims, they recorded calls, sifted through garbage and attempted to follow the Runge couple. In May 1997, Runge was finally arrested for violating his parole with possession of a weapon. In 1999, while Runge was in prison DNA analysis linked Rudge to one of his murders, he quickly confessed to the other five murders. In January 2006, Runge was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. However, in 2011 the death penalty was abolished and Runge’s sentence was changed to life imprisonment.