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Details :
Category: Serial Killer
Location: United States
Date: 1984
Crime: Known as 'The Beauty Queen Killer', Wilder abducted and raped ten women while killing at least seven of them. He is suspected of having killed 13 or more during his criminal life. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a scuffle with police on April 13, 1984.
Biography: Wilder was born on March 13, 1945 and raised in Australia. The son of an American naval officer and his Australian mother, he survived two near death accidents within his first two years of life. At the age of seventeen, he was involved in a gang rape at a beach in Sydney. As part of his probation, he received electro-shock therapy and experts believe that this course of treatment only exacerbated his violent-sexual fantasies. In 1969, he came to America and became very wealthy selling real estate in Florida. Between 1971 and 1975, he was charged in several cases of sexual misconduct, none of which led to jail terms. In 1982, he was charged with forcing two 15 year old girls to pose nude for a photo shoot. Various court delays prevented his case from ever being heard and while awaiting trial, he began his series of murders. In February of 1984, he is accused of murdering a model who was working at a race track where Wilder was racing his Porsche 911. Then on March 5, 1984 Wilder's former girlfriend went missing. Police linked Wilder to both women and he subsequently disappeared. Three days later, he killed again. On March 20th, he abducted and brutally tortured a young woman in Georgia, but left her bloody and alive in the bathroom of a hotel room. The next day he killed again, this time in Texas, dumping his victims body into a canal. One day later, he killed a woman in Oklahoma City, raping torturing and then stabbing her to death. On March 29th, he abducted an 18 year old woman in Colorado, killing her and dumping her body in Utah. Several days later, he abducted a 17 year old Las Vegas woman whom he killed sometime around April 1st. Then he abducted a 16 year old California girl and kept her with him as he traveled back across the country through New Mexico to Indiana and into New York where he killed again, dumping the body into a gravel pit. He then put his 16 year old captive on a plane back to California and drove to New Hampshire where he had another failed abduction/murder attempt. His vehicle's description was broadcast across the state and when he stopped for gas, he was seen and approached by two state troopers. In the ensuing scuffle, Wilder shot himself in the chest and died.
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