Mary Vincent, the teenage hitchhiker who lost her arms to a psychopath in 1978

And just like that, hitch hiking was over.

It’s horrible that he killed somebody but her being a mother of three didn’t make her life any more important than anybody else’s.

And why was she at this psycho’s home? He had a long list by then.

I wonder if this was the same guy? Back in the 70's I lived in the Santa Barbara / Goleta area of CA. There is a big college town there right on the beach called Isla Vista, UCSB. One of the safest places to be in the state where violence was very very rare. Anyways one morning 3 young men who were sleeping on the beach in sleeping bags were hacked to death by a total stranger in the middle of the night. The murderer was never found. It's still an unsolved mystery.

It only took two posts for the misogyny to seep through.

DL never disappoints.

I wonder if she’s related to Vincent Price

OP, what a miserable thread to create. Are one of those creeps whose hobby is psychopaths?

R2: “ It’s horrible that he killed somebody but her being a mother of three didn’t make her life any more important than anybody else’s.”

On the other hand, her being a girl made her life more of a target.

That’s the way the world has always been for girls and women.

The number of serial killers soared during the 70s and early 80s, then violent crime rates dropped significantly in the 90s and stayed there. One theory has it that the Boomers and Silents were suffering from lead poisoning which causes brain damage which leads to aggression and violence. When leaded gas was phased out the serial killing in particular dropped. It was also noted that legalizing abortion correlated with a reduction in crime.

The Lead-Crime Hypothesis: A Meta-Analysis", authored by Anthony Higney, Nick Hanley, and Mirko Moro consolidates findings of 24 studies on the subject. It found that there is substantial evidence linking lead exposure to a heightened risk of criminal behavior, particularly violent crimes. This aligns with earlier research suggesting lead exposure may foster impulsive and aggressive tendencies, potential precursors to violent offenses."

What was wrong with the California justice system then?

[quote]The number of serial killers soared during the 70s and early 80s, then violent crime rates dropped significantly in the 90s and stayed there. One theory has it that the Boomers and Silents were suffering from lead poisoning

The drop in violent crime in the ‘90s is also due to abortion becoming widely available in 1973.

Well welcome to the next 40 years.

Well welcome to the next 40 years.

^ well just execute them on the back end

Well welcome to the next 40 years

[quote] The drop in violent crime in the ‘90s is also due to abortion becoming widely available in 1973.

I mentioned that in my post.

[quote] What was wrong with the California justice system then?

Everything. Apparently if you survived a brutal assault your attacker got a pass. But at least this horrific crime changed the landscape a bit. It's still too lenient. These monsters should never get paroled.

In 1987 Singleton’s parole led to passage of California’s “Singleton bill,” which carries a 25-years-to-life sentence with possible parole for aggravated mayhem (torture).

R2 Some posters are so fucking tedious. No one said that it made her life more important. But the impact this maniac, who should have never been paroled, has on society enhanced because he not only killed a person, he killed a person leaving some children motherless. How the fuck do you only serve 8 yrs for attempted murder because that’s what the fuck he should have been charged with after severing someone’s limbs. Make it make sense. How the fuck did he get out so quickly. You have people in prison for selling crack who served 20, 30 years.

Bc crack wuz wack

I cannot fathom the kind of psychological trauma something like this would leave you with, let alone the physical horror of it. The fact that he was ever let free is unbelievable. This woman must have an incredible amount of strength to have continued on as she has.

“ This woman must have an incredible amount of strength to have continued on as she has.”

This diminishes r2.

[quote]He picked her up outside of Modesto, California, after which he knocked her unconscious with a sledgehammer, spent the night raping her, and tortured her by severing both her forearms with a hatchet. Singleton figured she was dead or near death, and he threw her off a 30-foot cliff on Interstate 5 near Del Puerto Canyon, leaving her naked and bleeding out. She mitigated the bleeding from her forearms by shoving them into mud, which suppressed her bleeding while she managed to pull herself back up the cliff. She walked for 3.9 miles, naked, covered in blood, and armless, before finding and alerting a passing couple who took her to a hospital.

It is a miracle that this woman did not die

I can't fathom this; but we did hear stories like this and other horrific things when I was a kid.

It made me fearful to do much in life; no hitch hiking. Overly cautious.

Didn't protect me 100% but...that poor woman.

The leaded gas thing sounds more like correlation than causation. I'm guessing that the explosion of serial killers is a little more complicated than that. Many of these people grew up during a time where it was more acceptable to viciously beat your kids. Receiving routine mental health care was also stigmatized. Maybe there was a change in policing culture where they suddenly had more pressure to catch serial killers as well as having better forensic technology.

The leaded gas thing has never convinced me because we weren't the only country with leaded gas. I think the answer has more to do with culture and technology.

[quote] The leaded gas thing has never convinced me because we weren't the only country with leaded gas

The study was international, violence increased everywhere post WWll. But I agree with you that there were other correlated phenomena like legalized abortion that might have played a role. Also, many of the most violent killers come from terrible and neglectful homes. They are often very poor and grew up in polluted environments.

What's more compelling about the lead exposure theory is that people with high levels of lead ARE significantly more impulsive and aggressive. Lead poisoning causes brain damage. And it's not just leaded gas but the total lack of regulated industry during and after WWll. There was NO safe level of lead in blood established. People lived next door to smelters spewing arsenic, lead, and dozens of other toxic chemicals. It corroded the paint off their cars. The smokestacks were a draw--they meant jobs.

Killers Gary Ridgway, Israel Keyes and Ted Bundy all lived near smelters in Tacoma. When children's lead level was teated back then, the results would be classified as lead poisoning today. Lead was, and still is, everywhere, in the air, the soil, the water, inside your house.

Lesbian author Terri Jentz wrote a book, "Strange Piece of Paradise," about the axe attack she and her roommate survived in Oregon in 1977. They were Yale students on a summer bicycling trip and their assailant (who also crushed them with his pickup truck) was never caught, though there was a strong suspect.

The book's almost 20 years old but I recall reading it when it first came out and not understanding why there was such a short statute of limitations on a crime as violent as their attempted murders. The 1970s really did seem like the Wild West when it came to violent crimes against teens and 20-somethings, and of course it was also notable for highlighting the vulnerability of male runaways and hitchhikers as well.

R25 I remember that case. I saw a documentary about it once on TV. It piqued my interest because I grew up in Oregon. It seems like the west coast really is serial killer central, especially the Pacific Northwest.

R18 It is wack. You know what else is wack—YOU, you desperate ass bitch.

R9 Then? The California justice system has always been shit and still is.

They house incredibly violent men, who have killed women, with women.

[quote] It’s horrible that he killed somebody but her being a mother of three didn’t make her life any more important than anybody else’s.

Of course it does. She’s a woman and she was caring for three children. You want them in foster care?

R2 = a morbidly obese, anti-natalist "disabled" dyke in a wheelchair

"It was also noted that legalizing abortion correlated with a reduction in crime."

Told you so ...

I kind of am on the fence with the lead theory because other societies like the Romans and their great aqueducts failed at one thing, they used lead pipes to deliver the water all through the city. They just didn't know about lead poising yet. Although, there is some data that showed most people didn't drink straight water like we do today but rather a watered down form of beer or wine.

I’m suspicious of how physical evidence is often “lost”. Makes me wonder if law enforcement was involved somehow. I know these attacks are from 50 years ago, but those items could be tested for DNA today, and the crimes could be solved.

The leaded gas effect was noted in Australia as well as the USA. Some studies have analyzed neighborhoods within one city.

There are about four trucrime cases that are so creepily violent they almost make me want to vomit, and this story is one of them [bold]: (

R36 the only upside I guess is that she miraculously didn't die, although I suppose there are some who would have opted for death after experiencing what she did. It is amazing that she didn't bleed to death. The worst thing about it all is that the sick motherfucker was not incarcerated for life and managed to successfully kill someone after this. Utterly shameful on part of the California justice system. A total abomination.

I’m female and I was 13 living in So Cal in 1978. I vividly remember the Mary Vincent story. That story scared me for years! That old man! The cutting her arms off made it almost folk lore but it was true. That is V one of those awful stories that stay tucked away in the back of your mind.

[quote]R38 That is one of those awful stories that stay tucked away in the back of your mind.

Yes. The stories that have out and out sadism in them really make my skin crawl.

I mean, murderers are obviously sick, twisted people, as a rule - but, for instance, there isn’t anything particularly sadistic about Bryan Kohberger‘a attack in Idaho. He was in and out of the house quickly - which is really different from wanting to prolong suffering. (Such as cutting off someone’s arms while they’re alive! Eeeeek!)

I think that story back in the 70's almost single-handedly (pun intended) stop the hitch hiking movement of the day.

It’s all very Titus Andronicus.

There was a couple of gay serial killers in LA back in the 70's that would pick up young men who's cars broke down on the freeway and would rape, torture and kill them. It was actually two guys who worked together doing this. Look up the Freeway Killer William Bonin.

Apparently this thread is only about women victims r42.

Query why he wasn’t sentenced to being thrown into a vat of hydrochloric acid

[Quote] pick up young men who's cars broke down

Oh dear.

I went to Norwalk High School with Vernon Butts, who was an accomplice of William Bonin. He was in the chorus of Funny Girl when we were sophomores. Not a popular kid.

One of the things that was so scary about it was the fact unless you went to an R or X movie - you just didn’t hear about that sort of sickening random violence that often.

Too early for dismemberment. I’ll save this for later.

How did she pack mud onto her arms to stop the bleeding if she had no arms to pack the bleeding stumps?

R49 she shoved the stumps into dirt which helped the bleeding, and then held her arms above her head as she walked to the nearest road before a passerby came upon her. I can’t imagine how shocking it would be to come across someone in the state, but it luckily saved her life