www.thoughtco.com Open in urlscan Pro
151.101.66.137  Public Scan

Form analysis
2 forms found in the DOM

GET /search

<form class="general-search-form" role="search" action="/search" method="get">
  <div class="input-group">
    <span class="general-search__close">Close</span>
    <label for="search-input" class="is-vishidden">Search the site</label>
    <input type="text" name="q" id="search-input" class="general-search-input" placeholder="Search here..." required="required" value="">
    <button class="btn btn-go">
      <span class="is-vishidden">GO</span>
      <svg class="icon icon-search ">
        <use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="#icon-search"></use>
      </svg>
    </button>
  </div>
</form>

POST /robert-berdella-case-972707?print

<form id="print-button_1-0" class="comp print-button mntl-print-button" method="POST" action="/robert-berdella-case-972707?print" target="_blank" data-tracking-container="true">
  <button class="mntl-print-button__btn" aria-label="Print this article."> Print <svg class="icon icon-print mntl-print-button__icon">
      <use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="#icon-print"></use>
    </svg>
  </button>
  <input type="hidden" value="true" name="print">
  <input type="hidden" value="36c447366182fa6fb2c7c5880aeb1b7e" name="CSRFToken">
</form>

Text Content

Menu

Home
 * Science, Tech, Math
   * Science
   * Math
   * Social Sciences
   * Computer Science
   * Animals & Nature
 * Humanities
   * History & Culture
   * Visual Arts
   * Literature
   * English
   * Geography
   * Philosophy
   * Issues
 * Languages
   * English as a Second Language
   * Spanish
   * French
   * German
   * Italian
   * Japanese
   * Mandarin
   * Russian
 * Resources
   * For Students & Parents
   * For Educators
   * For Adult Learners
 * About Us

Search
Close Search the site GO
 * Science, Tech, Math
   * Science
   * Math
   * Social Sciences
   * Computer Science
   * Animals & Nature
 * Humanities
   * History & Culture
   * Visual Arts
   * Literature
   * English
   * Geography
   * Philosophy
   * Issues
 * Languages
   * English as a Second Language
   * Spanish
   * French
   * German
   * Italian
   * Japanese
   * Mandarin
   * Russian
 * Resources
   * For Students & Parents
   * For Educators
   * For Adult Learners
 * * About Us
   * Contact Us
   * Editorial Guidelines
   * Privacy Policy



Humanities › Issues


ROBERT BERDELLA

 * 
 * 
 * 

Print


Issues
 * Crime & Punishment
   * Criminals & Crimes
   * Basics
   * Serial Killers
 * The U. S. Government
 * U.S. Foreign Policy
 * U.S. Liberal Politics
 * U.S. Conservative Politics
 * Women's Issues
 * Civil Liberties
 * The Middle East
 * Race Relations
 * Immigration
 * Canadian Government
 * Understanding Types of Government

View More
By
Charles Montaldo
Charles Montaldo
Private Investigator
Charles Montaldo is a writer and former licensed private detective who worked
with law enforcement and insurance firms investigating crime and fraud.
Learn about our Editorial Process
Updated on January 16, 2020

Robert Berdella was one of the most brutal serial killers in U.S. history who
participated in despicable acts of sexual torture and murder in Kansas City,
Missouri, between 1984 and 1987. Berdella was born in 1949 in Cuyahoga Falls,
Ohio. The Berdella family was Catholic, but Robert left the church when he was
in his teens.



Berdella proved to be a good student, despite suffering from severe
nearsightedness. To see, he had to wear thick glasses, which made him vulnerable
to being bullied by his peers.



His father was 39 years old when he died from a heart attack. Berdella was 16
years old. Not long afterward, his mother remarried. Berdella did little to hide
his anger and resentment towards his mother and stepfather.




WHEN MURDEROUS FANTASIES BEGAN TO FESTER

In 1967, Berdella decided to become a professor and enrolled in the Kansas City
Art Institute. He quickly decided on a change of careers and studied to be a
chef. It was during this time that his fantasies about torture and murder began
to fester. He got some relief by torturing animals, but only for a short time.



At age 19, he got into selling drugs and drinking a lot of alcohol. He was
arrested for possession of LSD and marijuana, but the charges did not stick. He
was asked to leave college in his second year after murdering a dog for the sake
of art. For a few afterward, he worked as a chef, but quit and opened his store
called Bob’s Bazarre Bazaar in Kansas City, Missouri.



The store specialized in novelty items that appealed to those with darker and
occult-type taste. Around the neighborhood, he was considered odd but was liked
and participated in organizing a local community crime watch programs. However,
inside his home, it was discovered that Robert ‘Bob’ Berdella lived in a world
dominated by sadomasochistic enslavement, murder, and barbarous torture.




WHAT WENT ON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

On April 2, 1988, a neighbor found a young man on his porch clad in only a dog
collar fastened around his neck. The man told the neighbor an incredible tale of
torturous sexual abuse that he had endured at the hands of Berdella.



The police placed Berdella in custody and searched his home where 357
photographs of victims in various positions of torture were recovered. Also
found were torture devices, occult literature, ritual robes, human skulls and
bones, and a human head in Berdella’s yard.




THE PHOTOGRAPHS DISCLOSE MURDER

By April 4 the authorities had an overwhelming amount of evidence to charge
Berdella on seven counts of sodomy, one count of felonious restraint, and one
account of first-degree assault.



After closer scrutiny of the photographs, it was discovered that six of the 23
men identified were homicide victims. The other people in the pictures were
there voluntarily and participated in sadomasochistic activities with the
victims.




THE TORTURE DIARY

Berdella established the 'Rules of the House' which were mandatory for his
victims or they risked being beaten or receiving bolts of electric shock on
sensitive areas of their bodies. In a detailed diary that Berdella kept, he
logged details and the effects of the torture he would subject upon his victims.



He seemed to have a fascination with injecting drugs, bleach, and other caustics
into the eyes and throats of his victims then anally raped or inserted foreign
objects inside of them.




NO INDICATION OF SATANIC RITUALS

On December 19, 1988, Berdella pled guilty to one count of first and to an
additional four counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of other victims.



There were attempts by various media organizations to try to connect the crimes
of Berdella to the idea of a national underground satanic group but the
investigators responded that over 550 people were interviewed and at no point
was there any indication that the crimes were connected to a satanic ritual or
group.




LIFE IN PRISON

Berdella received life in prison where he died of a heart attack in 1992 soon
after writing a letter to his minister claiming that the prison officials
refused to give him his heart medication. His death was never investigated.

Cite this Article
Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Montaldo, Charles. "Robert Berdella." ThoughtCo, Sep. 8, 2021,
thoughtco.com/robert-berdella-case-972707. Montaldo, Charles. (2021, September
8). Robert Berdella. Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/robert-berdella-case-972707 Montaldo, Charles. "Robert
Berdella." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/robert-berdella-case-972707
(accessed December 13, 2023).
copy citation

 * Profile of Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross
 * Profile of Serial Killer Rodney Alcala
 * Profile of Serial Killer Tommy Lynn Sells
 * The Grim Sleeper Serial Killer Case
 * Profile of Sean Vincent Gillis
 * Profile of Richard Kuklinski
 * John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown
 * Dean Corll and 'The Candy Man' Murders


 * Profile of Serial Killer Debra Brown
 * Sadistic Killer and Rapist Charles Ng
 * Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog
 * Gilles de Rais 1404 - 1440
 * The Trial of Leopold and Loeb
 * Herbert Richard Baumeister, Serial Killer
 * 1893 Lynching by Fire of Henry Smith
 * Profiles of Notorious Male Criminals


Home
Follow Us
 * 
 * 

 * Science, Tech, Math
 * Humanities
 * Languages
 * Resources

 * About Us
 * Advertise
 * Careers
 * Privacy Policy
 * Editorial Guidelines
 * Contact
 * Terms of Service

ThoughtCo is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.
Please review our updated Terms of Service.