← All cases

Cleveland Torso Murders

Also known as: Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, Kingsbury Run murders

Active

1935–1938

Region

Cleveland, Ohio, USA

State

OH

Kind

Serial

Status

Unsolved

Victims

12

Between September 1935 and August 1938, the dismembered remains of at least twelve people were found around Cleveland, most of them in or near Kingsbury Run, a ravine of rail lines and shantytowns on the city's east side. Most of the victims were poor men and women living on the margins during the Depression, and only two were ever positively identified. Police, led by detective Peter Merylo and overseen by Safety Director Eliot Ness, questioned thousands of people, but no one was ever convicted. The case is unsolved, and since 2024 the county medical examiner and the DNA Doe Project have been working to identify the unnamed victims.

Have information? This case is unsolved. DNA Doe Project: Kingsbury Run cases (Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner)

Ask the Atlas about this case →

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Edward Andrassy, 29 · September 23, 1935

  A former hospital orderly, identified by his fingerprints.

• Unidentified man (found September 1935) · September 23, 1935

  Found near Edward Andrassy at the foot of Jackass Hill. Never identified.

• Florence Polillo, 44 · January 26, 1936
• Unidentified man, the "Tattooed Man" · June 5, 1936

  Estimated to be in his early twenties. Never identified despite wide publicity of his tattoos.

• Unidentified man (found July 1936) · July 22, 1936

  Estimated to be about 40. The only victim found on the city's west side.

• Unidentified man (found September 1936) · September 10, 1936

  Never identified. Among the victims exhumed for DNA testing.

• Unidentified woman (found February 1937) · February 23, 1937

  Never identified.

• Unidentified woman, possibly Rose Wallace · June 6, 1937

  Tentatively identified as Rose Wallace, 40, from dental work, but the match was never confirmed.

• Unidentified man (found July 1937) · July 6, 1937

  Never identified.

• Unidentified woman (found April 1938) · April 8, 1938

  Never identified.

• Unidentified woman (found August 1938) · August 16, 1938

  Never identified.

• Unidentified man (found August 1938) · August 16, 1938

  Never identified.

Timeline of locations

1. September 23, 1935
   Jackass Hill, Kingsbury Run (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Edward Andrassy and an unidentified man were found in the weeds at the foot of Jackass Hill, near East 49th Street and Praha Avenue in Kingsbury Run. They are the first two of the twelve official victims.

2. January 26, 1936
   Near Orange Avenue (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Remains of Florence Polillo were found near Orange Avenue and East 20th Street.

3. June 5, 1936
   Kingsbury Run rail lines (Recovery site, approximate area)

   The "Tattooed Man" was found beside the rail tracks in Kingsbury Run, near the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit line.

4. July 22, 1936
   Big Creek area, Brooklyn (Recovery site, approximate area)

   An unidentified man was found near Big Creek in the suburb of Brooklyn, on the west side.

5. September 10, 1936
   Pool near East 37th Street, Kingsbury Run (Recovery site, approximate area)

   A man waiting for a freight train found the remains of an unidentified man in a stagnant pool in Kingsbury Run, about 50 feet west of East 37th Street.

6. February 23, 1937
   Euclid Beach, Lake Erie (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Remains of an unidentified woman washed up on the Lake Erie shore at Euclid Beach.

7. June 6, 1937
   Beneath the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Skeletal remains of a woman, tentatively identified as Rose Wallace, were found beneath the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge (today the Hope Memorial Bridge).

8. July 6, 1937
   Cuyahoga River, the Flats (Recovery site, approximate area)

   In July 1937 the remains of an unidentified man were found in the Cuyahoga River in the Flats, below Kingsbury Run. In April and May 1938 the remains of an unidentified woman were found in the river east of the West Third Street bridge.

9. August 1938
   Cleveland City Hall (Other)

   Eliot Ness, Cleveland's Safety Director, oversaw the investigation from City Hall. In August 1938, after the last discoveries, he ordered raids on the shantytowns in Kingsbury Run and had them burned.

10. August 16, 1938
    Lakefront near East Ninth Street (Recovery site, approximate area)

    On the same day, remains of a woman were found at a lakefront dump at the end of East Ninth Street and remains of a man nearby, in view of Eliot Ness's office at City Hall. They were the last of the twelve official victims.

Sources

• Cleveland Torso Murderer (Wikipedia)
• Torso Murders (Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University)
• Nearly a century after the "Torso Killer" terrorized Cleveland, DNA testing is underway (CBS News)
• Kingsbury Run John Doe

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.