Mystery of 8 missing women drew wide notoriety

Mystery of 8 missing women drew wide notoriety

www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

...The mystery deepened for almost two years, until police in the City of Poughkeepsie found themselves looking for eight women who had simply vanished.

On Sept. 2, 1998, 10 years ago today, they would find seven of them - and one who had never been reported missing - murdered and hidden in the home of 27-year-old Kendall Francois.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.poughkeepsiejournal.com
www.poughkeepsiejournal.com
www.poughkeepsiejournal.com
www.poughkeepsiejournal. com

[edit on 9/2/0808 by jackinthebox]

It's hard for me to know what to say about this case at the moment. I suppose I will share some of my own personal details, and let the conversation roll along from there after everyone has read the articles...

...I remember very well when all this went down. I knew the murderer in passing and went to the same schools. He and his family were also customers in the store where I worked, only a few blocks away. His house was only a few doors down from a friend of mine.

A picture of my ex's best friend was found among his things. She shared a class with him, but never spoke to him. Police told her that they suspected he might have planned to begin preying on women who were not prostitutes. Her specifically. At the very least, he had an infatuation with her that was chilling for her to learn of.

He also worked in the middle school where my little female cousin went to school, and she too remembers him quite well.

www.poughkeepsiejournal.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 9/2/0808 by jackinthebox]

Anyone interested in this case will probably want to read Body Dump, by Fred Rosen.

A city that size and they couldn't find the guy stashing 8 bodies? Pathetic.

Wouldnt the neighbors smell the decomposing bodies(8) wafling out of the house? What about "Stincky" isnt there a difference between body oder vs. body Rot especially from the school he worked at?

reply to post by 38181


I think most people realized something was wrong, but couldn't quite figure it out. Especially considering that most people don't know what a dead person smells like.

One of the detectives had gone to the house before the case broke and spoke with Kendall. He too smelled "something" that was off, but couldn't quite make the connection. Something he felt terrible about later, especially considering that he did know what a body smells like. Though he wrote it off because the smell was "older" and more stale, camoflaged by the squalor the family lived in.

When his family complained, Kendall told them that there were dead raccoons in the walls.

EDIT to add: But you could certinaly smell it through the whole neighborhood when police started to move the bodies. Terrible.


[edit on 9/2/0808 by jackinthebox]

To hell with the smell, a city that size and the guy was killing prostitutes.

April 1997 - Poughkeepsie Police made a decision to contact the F.B.I. for help. Although the F.B.I. investigators were interested, they were limited by the circumstances of the case. In order to establish a profile of a suspect, they needed a crime scene.

Source

Huh? What? Profile? Crime scene? How about start by locating one of the few guys who actually frequents the prostitutes in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Area prostitutes reported that he was notoriously rough during sex.

The only reason he was caught is because somebody physically led them to his place. I don't think the police cared.

reply to post by Dulcimer


Kendall was questioned several times before they had any probable cause to make an arrest. The probable cause came in the form of an assault charge against him. The police had to basically rough up and threaten the woman (victim) themselves to get her to make a statement on the record so that they could make the arrest.


[edit on 9/2/0808 by jackinthebox]

It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, no bodies, no crime scene, no evidence other than a missing person' report, and the girls were prostitutes who would have been seen in the company of many men, probably half the time no one even knew who they were seeing.

It's sick he lived with his victim's bodies decomposing in his home and forced his family to do so as well. One would think that over a period of eight years the family would have tried to find the source of the smell and stumbled onto the bodies or might have hired an exterminator, though most people who live in squalor are very ashamed of it and seldom hire anyone to come into the home until they have cleaned it.

Many times the people who live in squalor are depressed or ill physically.

reply to post by goose


Just two years actually. There were eight bodies. But yes, good points you have raised.

reply to post by jackinthebox


Unreal, jack. Another murdering sex-psycho! I'm just glad he's off the
streets. Star'd & Flag'd.

Wow, you knew this guy in passing, and attended the same schools.

The first thing I must say, is: How devastating for the families of these
poor girls. Any hope they clung to, of finding their loved ones alive, was
eliminated. That crushes a person.

I know how that feels... Our family clung to hope when my gorgeous young
cousin, Bridgett (21) had vanished the night before a wedding rehersal for
a friend that she was supposed to be in.

She was being stalked for some time buy a 'man' age 63, who would not
take "NO" for an answer.

When the police came to the door, and asked for Bridgett's DENTAL
RECORDS, we fell apart. Her murderer had set his filthy place on fire,
after keeping Bridgett against her will, overnight, and shot himself to death

Bridgett's murder

There is nothing worse than that horror on earth. Except, maybe that the
cops knew about this stalker, and did nothing.

NOTHING !

reply to post by FRIGHTENER


I remember the story you shared with us, and I am still sorry for your loss.

In this case, just recently actually, the mother and sister of one victim met with Kendall up in Attica. One of them actually works as an advocate against the death penalty. Not in this case though, as he was spared the death penalty in exchange for his full cooperation. The prosecution hoped to find answers to a few other cases. One in particular remains unsolved.

EDIT to add:

I don't mean to sound harsh and I say this for the benefit of other readers who may not yet realize this, but the police aren't there to protect anyone. They can't protect you. I think it's time people wake up and realize that. It's all a show. Protect yourself. Lock your doors, buy a gun, and don't call the police unless you need them to haul away your attacker in a bag. That's what the police are there for, to try to pick up the pieces after it's all over.

But you know all too well that there really is no putting the the pieces back together. Even if the scumbag had lived to face "justice."

[edit on 9/3/0808 by jackinthebox]

This reminded me of the case of the severed feet washing ashore in Canada. Although I think that involved 1 man and the rest all women. Still don't know what happened with all that though.. Weird.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

-ChriS

You could not be more off by thinking this case has anything at all similar to the feet in Canada.

Originally posted by DulcimerI don't think the police cared.

Of course they didn't. Police don't get paid to care.

Consider yourself lucky that they can be bothered to ticket someone now and then.

reply to post by Dulcimer


Ok... you have to elaborate now Cat... curiosity.. etc.

I haven't seen anything of late on the mystery, has something been released on the feet yet? (you can post in original thread as to not hijack this one).

As for a comparison, this case resembles John Wayne Gacy in many ways.

How many are still operating or in the makings right now.. scary.

I can't remember the FBI's exact numbers of Serial Killers at any given time throughout NA, but I wonder if the basis for the number has changed at all since originally mentioned.

I did a search on the numbers....

According to an FBI Behavioral Unit study 85% of the world's serial killers are in America. At any given time 20 - 50 unidentified active serial killers are at work continually changing their targets and methods.

From here

Its a broad range, but I wonder if it increases as the world gets sicker.

reply to post by Grailkeeper


And it's not just killers either. This guy said repeatedly "I'm not a bad guy." I think he read the Bible and everything. He seemed to have genuinely seen nothing wrong with kidnapping women from a variety of demographics, and keeping them as sex slaves in an underground bunker. (The first he kept chained in a shed, before bulding the bunker under his house.)

This one also happens to come from NY...

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by Dulcimer
You could not be more off by thinking this case has anything at all similar to the feet in Canada.

you misread my post.
I never said it did..

-ChriS

Originally posted by jackinthebox
reply to post by FRIGHTENER

I remember the story you shared with us, and I am still sorry for your loss.

Thanks, jack. Sorry about the re-peat, but it's one of those stories that
I will never stop telling till the day they bury me, out of honor for Bridgett.
I know you understand.

the police aren't there to protect anyone. They can't protect you.

Yeah, you're right. In OUR family's case, truer words were never spoken.
I remember when squad cars used to have "To P R O T E C T and Serve"
written on them... I wonder what they should say nowadays?

"To show up after the fact, and arrest you if you're upset about your
family member being murdered"? They did to me.

Hard Lesson(s)!