You are looking for information, articles, knowledge about the topic nail salons open on sunday near me george howard putt on Google, you do not find the information you need! Here are the best content compiled and compiled by the Chewathai27.com team, along with other related topics such as: george howard putt murderpedia tennessee, murderpedia school shooting, murderpedia west virginia, murderpedia minnesota, nashville murderers, murderpedia updates
Contents
memphis-serial-killer-george-howard-putt-dies-in-prison
- Article author: www.commercialappeal.com
- Reviews from users: 8104
Ratings - Top rated: 3.8
- Lowest rated: 1
- Summary of article content: Articles about memphis-serial-killer-george-howard-putt-dies-in-prison Updating …
- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for memphis-serial-killer-george-howard-putt-dies-in-prison Updating George Howard Putt, an infamous serial killer who terrorized Memphis during the summer of 1969 when he murdered five people in less than a month, died in a state prison hospital late last year, officials confirmed Wednesday.
- Table of Contents:
Crimes & Curiosities – George Howard Putt was an American spree killer…
- Article author: crimesandcuriosities.tumblr.com
- Reviews from users: 37670 Ratings
- Top rated: 3.8
- Lowest rated: 1
- Summary of article content: Articles about Crimes & Curiosities – George Howard Putt was an American spree killer… Updating …
- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for Crimes & Curiosities – George Howard Putt was an American spree killer… Updating George Howard Putt was an American spree killer active across August-September of 1969. Early Crimes After experiencing an already troubled childhood and being sent to live with his grandparents, Putt…george howard putt,murder,spree killer,true crime
- Table of Contents:
Episode Two: George “Buster” Putt – Unearthed: Memphis
- Article author: unearthedmemphis.com
- Reviews from users: 30401 Ratings
- Top rated: 4.4
- Lowest rated: 1
- Summary of article content: Articles about Episode Two: George “Buster” Putt – Unearthed: Memphis Known as “Buster” to his friends and family, George Putt d not begin his life in Memphis, but this is certainly where he ended his life as a … …
- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for Episode Two: George “Buster” Putt – Unearthed: Memphis Known as “Buster” to his friends and family, George Putt d not begin his life in Memphis, but this is certainly where he ended his life as a …
- Table of Contents:
A podcast uncovering Memphis’s lesser-known history
Death Metal Detectives: George Howard Putt on Apple Podcasts
- Article author: podcasts.apple.com
- Reviews from users: 9001 Ratings
- Top rated: 4.6
- Lowest rated: 1
- Summary of article content: Articles about
Death Metal Detectives: George Howard Putt on Apple Podcasts
George Howard Putt Death Metal Detectives … A Memphis serial killer who was nowhere near as prolific as Crunchy Black. Look out for our interview with the host … … - Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for
Death Metal Detectives: George Howard Putt on Apple Podcasts
George Howard Putt Death Metal Detectives … A Memphis serial killer who was nowhere near as prolific as Crunchy Black. Look out for our interview with the host … Listen, George Howard Putt, Death Metal Detectives, download, apple podcastsA Memphis serial killer who was nowhere near as prolific as Crunchy Black. Look out for our interview with the host of ‘the Flat Earth Podcast” this week. - Table of Contents:
29 Days: The Story of Serial Killer George Howard Putt
- Article author: jeffdroke.com
- Reviews from users: 8811 Ratings
- Top rated: 4.9
- Lowest rated: 1
- Summary of article content: Articles about 29 Days: The Story of Serial Killer George Howard Putt George Howard “Buster” Putt had spent most of his adolescent life in juvenile correctional facilities throughout the south on various charges ranging from … …
- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for 29 Days: The Story of Serial Killer George Howard Putt George Howard “Buster” Putt had spent most of his adolescent life in juvenile correctional facilities throughout the south on various charges ranging from … Memphis Serial Killer George Howard Putt – 1969Roy Dumas Bernalyn Dumas Leila Witt Jackson Glenda Sue Harden Mary Christine Pickens
- Table of Contents:
Amazon.co.uk
- Article author: www.amazon.co.uk
- Reviews from users: 4987 Ratings
- Top rated: 3.4
- Lowest rated: 1
- Summary of article content: Articles about Amazon.co.uk Buy 29 days of terror in Memphis: The George Howard Putt story by Currotto, William F (ISBN: ) from Amazon’s Book Store. Everyday low prices and free … …
- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for Amazon.co.uk Buy 29 days of terror in Memphis: The George Howard Putt story by Currotto, William F (ISBN: ) from Amazon’s Book Store. Everyday low prices and free …
- Table of Contents:
See more articles in the same category here: https://chewathai27.com/toplist.
Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
It may be fairly said that George Putt had two strikes against him from the moment of his birth. His father was a petty criminal and drifter, frequently away from home and brutal to his children when in residence. One of his numerous arrests, on June 4, 1946, involved a charge of cruelty to a minor; his victim, George – still shy of three months old – had been severely beaten with a leather strap. Putt’s family moved repeatedly throughout the latter 1940s and the early 1950s. In January 1947, George was dropped off with a family friend in Tupelo, Mississippi, where he remained, without word from his parents, for the next year. In 1954, when both his parents went to jail for forgery, Putt and his six siblings were sent to live with their grandparents in Richmond, Virginia. Putt and an elder brother were arrested in November 1957, after shooting out a neighbor’s windows with a stolen air rifle. Fed up, his grandparents sent George and four of his brothers to a rural orphan’s school, where fundamentalist religion was enforced with frequent beatings. Putt handled discipline poorly. With a brother, Clifford, he twice ran away from the school, and was rewarded with expulsion on his second failed attempt. Returned to the custody of his grandparents, George was packed off to the Richmond Home for Boys. Kicked in the forehead during a football game, Putt was knocked unconscious for “many minutes,” and may have sustained permanent damage. In months to come, Putt began sleepwalking with his eyes open, suffering blackouts that alternated with violent seizures, throwing furniture and ripping towel racks from the walls, professing amnesia after the fact. The summer after his injury, Richmond police arrested George for attacking two young girls, one of whom was stripped naked and forced to suck his penis. Arrested at his grandparents’ home, he was delivered to juvenile authorities. Psychological tests revealed Putt’s “morbid preoccupation with blood and gore,” a fact that led authorities to consider placing George in a mental institution. Terrified by the prospect, he fled from custody one night, clad only in his undershorts, teaming up with brother Clifford for several days before he was recaptured. Diagnosed as a “sociopathic personality,” created by “almost unbelievable physical and emotional deprivation,” Putt was ruled fit for trial on a sodomy charge. He escaped from custody again, on December 22, 1961; two weeks later, he abducted a 30-year-old Richmond woman at knifepoint, robbed her of $35, and raped her. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but George fled Virginia, hoping to locate his father somewhere in Mexico. On January 13, 1962, he kidnapped a woman from Laredo, Texas, at gunpoint, forcing her to drive him out of town, escaping on foot when she deliberately crashed her car. Two days later, Putt climbed through the window of a Laredo apartment, abducting the female tenant by threatening to kill her children if she failed to cooperate. George was driving the woman out of town in her own car when he spotted a police van and crashed, fleeing on foot. Captured the next day, as he emerged from a local theater, he spent thirteen months in the Webb County jail. Transferred to the Terrace School, in Laredo, on February 28, 1963, Putt escaped in October, was recaptured and sent to the more secure Hilltop School, where he passed his eighteenth birthday. In June 1964, following exposure of his plan to kidnap the school’s librarian and escape in her car, Putt was transferred to an “adjustment center.” Diagnosed as possessing the “earmarks of a psychopath in his makeup,” he was shipped on from there to the maximum-security juvenile lockup at Gatesville. A 1965 report termed him psychotic, but it made no difference in the end; Putt was routinely discharged from custody on his twenty-first birthday, in 1967. Returning to Tupelo, where his grandparents now lived, George found work as a hospital orderly. A few days later, he was fired for stealing $100 from a nurse’s handbag, but he escaped prosecution by repaying the money. From Tupelo, he moved back to his native New Orleans, and was there charged with stealing a checkbook from a room at the Roosevelt Hotel. On May 5, 1967, he was picked up for pilfering $46 from the till of a local cafe, but the owner declined to prosecute when his money was recovered from Putt’s stocking. In the fall of 1967, Putt married a Mississippi woman, insisting on six to eight bouts of intercourse every night, although he rarely climaxed. In public, he erupted into violent fits of jealousy whenever his wife spoke to another man, including co-workers, and by 1968 his violence was not confined to his marriage. On October 16, 1968, police in Memphis, Tennessee, arrested Putt after he forced his way into a black woman’s car and began beating her with his fists. Settling in Jackson, Mississippi, with his brother Clifford and their wives, Putt tried to rape his mother-in-law on three separate occasions in early 1969. Police believe he committed his first murder in Jackson, shortly after the third rape attempt, when a socially-prominent bachelor was slain on April 27, 1969. Rumored to participate in homosexual affairs, the victim was stabbed fifteen times at his home, a short distance from the gas station where Putt was employed. George was never charged in the crime, but authorities remain convinced of his involvement. Putt and his wife moved back to Memphis in the summer of 1969, and George launched a one-man reign of terror shortly after their arrival. On August 14, Roy and Bernalyn Dumas were found dead in their home, the woman spread-eagle on her bed, gagged, wrists and ankles bound to the bedposts. Both victims had been bludgeoned and strangled; Bernalyn Dumas had also been raped, her anus and vagina afterward mutilated with a pair of surgical scissors. Saliva samples taken at the scene revealed a blood type different from that of the victims. On August 25, Leila Jackson, an 80-year-old widow, was found strangled in her home, a nylon stocking tied around her neck, genitals mutilated with a butcher knife. Four days later, Glenda Harden, 21, was abducted and murdered in Riverside Park, stabbed fourteen times as she lay helpless, with her hands bound behind her back. Discovery of her body on August 30 touched off a panic in Memphis, as police scrambled to identify the killer. On September 9, an anonymous caller fingered George Putt as a suspect in the crimes, but detectives were still muddling through other leads two days later, when the slayer struck again. Mary Pickens was ambushed inside her apartment, returning from work, and stabbed nineteen times by a man who wielded his knife with desperate speed. Neighbors heard her screams and called police, providing officers with the description of a young man spotted running from the scene. The suspect led patrolmen and civilians on a wild, winding chase before two officers ran down George Putt, his clothing smeared with blood, and took him into custody. Before the day was out, he had confessed to all five homicides, and thereby sealed his fate. Convicted of the Pickens murder on October 27, 1970, Putt was sentenced to die, his punishment altered to a term of 99 years when the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972. A double conviction in the Dumas case, during April 1973, added 398 years to his term, making George a local record-holder, with accumulated prison time of 497 years. Unable to contain his mirth, Putt giggled as the judge pronounced his sentence. Michael Newton – An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers – Hunting Humans Serial killer Putt denied parole August 22, 2005 A convicted serial killer who terrorized Memphis during the summer of 1969 has been denied parole, officials said. George Howard Putt, 59, killed five people over a 29-day period in August and September of 1969 and was sentenced to 497 years. His release date is in 2436, but he now has had three chances before the Tennessee Probation and Parole Board, in part because of a ruling that says parole hearings cannot be denied more than six years at a time. The board reviewed his case on Aug. 11 at the Turney Center Industrial Prison and Farm in Only and on Friday a fourth board member’s vote to deny parole made the decision final, said spokesman Jack Elder. Putt is eligible to seek parole again on Aug. 1, 2011. George Howard “Buster” Putt At the time of this writing George Howard Putt is still alive in stark contrast to the five strangers he visited a horrific death upon during one hot and scary 28 day period in 1969. The victims were named Roy K. Dumas, Bernalyn Dumas, Leila Jackson, Glenda Sue Harden, and Christine Pickens. Glenda Sue Harden had graduated from Kingsbury High School, the same school my brother and I attended. My mother worked nights and returned home via public transportation. The reality of it all was palpable in a city that had just lived through the sanitation workers strike and the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in our city the year before. George Howard “Buster” Putt was born in New Orleans, LA in the mid-1940s. His parents were drifters who brought Buster and his siblings up amid abuse and neglect. The brothers were not allowed to go to school because of the rambling nature of the parents. Eventually Putt’s parents went to prison for passing bad checks and the seven children went to North Carolina to live with their grandparents. Within a relatively short period of time the grandparents sent the whole crew of children to an orphanage in Richmond, VA. Putt later landed in the Richmond Home for Boys, where it was noted that he had “a morbid preoccupation with blood and gore”. He was described as “seriously disturbed” in a report by one of the school’s counselors. By the time Putt was 16 he was under arrest for his second attempted rape. He had escaped after the first arrest and fled Virginia. The second attempt occured when he forced a woman into his car in Texas and subsequently wrecked the vehicle. Putt was then put in a maximum security facility for juveniles in Texas. One psychiatrist there described Putt as “a pyschopath capable of committing almost any crime”. When Putt turned 21 he was released and immediately left Texas. He drifted to Mississippi and later to Memphis where he married his brother’s pregnant ex-girlfriend who he had only know for a few weeks. Mary Bulimore, the new Mrs. Putt, worked at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. Mary had the baby and the couple named him George Jr. For whatever reasons the couple soon ended up in Tupelo, Mississippi where Putt worked at a gas station and Mary as a clerk in a local hotel. In May of 1969 Putt was arrested for burglary and sentenced to six months at the county penal farm. Very soon he escaped by simply driving a truck away. The couple headed for Memphis to escape the Mississippi justice system. The couple floundered around Memphis taking small jobs, selling blood etc. They made no friends. George seemed “odd” to most folks he met and never kept a job for long. Their last residence was on Bethel in North Memphis. Around the time George lost a job for stealing from the register the “Putt Murders” began. The murder spree began in midtown Memphis at 1133 South Cooper, home of Roy and Bernalyn Dumas. Roy Dumas was disabled from wounds suffered in World War 2 and his wife worked as a nurse at Baptist Hospital. It was a hot day, August 14, 1969. George Putt, still only 23 years old and only 2 years outside of the juvenile penal system somehow gained entry to the Dumas home where he tied and gagged both occupants. Putt brutally murdered both in such a horrible way that it became difficult to determine cause of death. The police commissioner called it, “the most atrocious and revolting crime he had seen in years.” Putt took Mrs. Dumas’ purse on the way out the door. Some rifling through the house was apparent, so robbery was listed as the motive for the crime. Police were holding back certain grusome details, chief of which was that Bernalyn Dumas was apparently molested with a pair of scissors. Mr. Dumas was not as badly mangled as his wife’s. The killer had left the scene of the crime with no witnesses and only a partial fingerprint on a piece of silverware. That night George Putt watched the television news coverage with his wife. Twelve days later Putt struck again. This time the victim was 80 year old Leila Jackson who lived at 21 N. Somerville. Mrs. Jackson was found by her grandson much the way Bernalyn Dumas had been found. Both had a lamp shining directly down on their body, a stocking wrapped around their neck and both were sexually molested with a sharp object, this time a butcher knife. The police knew immediately that this was the same killer. Fear began to grip the city with a vengeance. That evening, George Howard Putt showed his wife the afternoon paper and said, “Remember that old lady I tried to rent the room from over near the Terrace Hotel? That Mrs. Jackson? Remember her? Somebody killed her just like that Dumas couple! There must be some kind of really bad nut loose in this town.” Five days later, 21 year old Glenda Sue Harden was robbed and abducted as she got into her car leaving work. The police began a manhunt, but the search came to a bad end. Miss Harden was found, hands bound by her own pantyhose laying in the grass of Riverside Park. She had been stabbed 14 times in the back, chest, neck and head. Now there were four people dead in two weeks. Each crime not only wanton, but heinous. In each case the victim was robbed, but also assaulted in a way that appeared almost inhuman. The newspapers warned caution, but warnings were hardly necessary. All over the city new locks were being installed. One hundred and thirty-five detectives and vice squad officers were assigned to the case as the largest manhunt in the city’s history began. Clues were nowhere to be found. A twenty thousand dollar reward drew no takers. FBI assistance was sought for lab work. On September 11, 1969 George Howard Putt commited his last murder. He was less careful now. He was seen by a number of people as he skulked about the apartment building at 41 N. Bellevue. Christine Pickens, who was just turning 59 that day came home at a very inopportune time. Putt had already failed in a ruse to get another resident, Grace Oldham, to open her door and now he abducted Christine as she entered her apartment. Things did not go as smoothly this time. The victim began to scream for help and yelled “Murder!”. Emma Gross who lived right above Christine ran to her aid. As she arrived Putt entered the hallway covered in blood, holding a knife and a woman’s purse. Putt decided not to kill Emma, probably because the scene was getting hot. He threw the purse and ran. Emman roused another neighbor, Wayne Armstrong from sleep and Armstrong began to give chase in his underwear while firing his pistol at Putt (Armstrong had left his glasses behind). The chase went on through midtown as Armstrong screamed “He’s a murderer! Catch him!” The chase was joined by two more men, Ray Brenner and Roger Meckley. The two had limited success chasing the younger Putt, but the chase and Armstrong’s continuous firing of his pistol had drawn police protection. Putt had actually shaken his pursuers by the time two officers spotted him, pants and forearms covered in blood. Police officers Glenn Noblin and Phil Scruggs made the arrest on Linden Avenue. Christine Pickens had died in the meantime from 20 stab wounds. Putt confessed to the murders within 48 hours. He told police that the motive was robbery, but he was not going to leave any witnesses that might send him back to prison. His victims were picked randomly except for the fact that each appeared vulnerable. Later Putt recanted his confession, but he was tried for the murder of Christine Pickens and sentenced to death. That sentence was later commuted to 99 years prompting prosecutors to also try him for the murder of the Dumases. In all Putt received a total of 497 years. Without the additional convictions Putt would have been eligible for parole in 1999. Putt is currently serving his sentence at the Turney Center Industrial Prison in Only, Tennessee. He now advocates a “Universal Law” philosophy and maintains that he murdered his victims “because that is the way it’s supposed to be”. Mary Putt learned the identity of Memphis’ serial killer just like everyone else… on the evening news. ‘The past does hurt’ In 1973, George Howard Putt was sentenced to 497 years for a month-long killing spree in 1969 that took the lives of five Memphians. By Lawrence Buser July 9, 2003 ONLY, Tenn. – When serial killer George Howard Putt was sentenced to 497 years in prison in 1973, Michael Dumas thought he would never again have to worry about the man who murdered his parents. But on Tuesday Dumas was at the Turney Center Industrial Prison here, 150 miles northeast of Memphis, urging the state parole board not to release Putt, who was convicted of three brutal killings and admitted to two others. “When I found out about this hearing I was sort of speechless,” said Dumas, who was 21 when he discovered his parents’ bodies in 1969 in their apartment on South Cooper. “Few people know what went on. I did because I saw it. The judge made his sentences consecutive so I would not have to be here today. “I’m trying to go forward, but it’s hard to put George Howard Putt out of my mind. The past does hurt.” Putt, now 57, waived his appearance at the parole hearing and no one spoke on his behalf. After a 30-minute hearing the two members of the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole who heard from Dumas denied parole for Putt because of the seriousness of the crimes. Concurring votes from two of the five other board members would make the decision final. Putt’s next hearing will be in 30 years when he is 87. “There are some offenders the public expects should never get out and Mr. Putt falls into that category,” said parole board chairman Charles Traughber, who was joined by board member Sheila Holt Swearingen. “He was unmerciful on his victims.” Traughber explained that the parole hearing was actually the second for Putt, who was denied parole in 1993. He was told then he would be considered again in 10 years. Traughber said the hearings were required because of a state court ruling in 1992 that made defendants sentenced to more than 50 years under an old law eligible for parole after serving 30 years regardless of their total sentence. Putt’s 29-day, one-man crime wave left the city gripped in fear as five people were stabbed or strangled and in some cases sexually mutilated. The first victims were Roy Dumas, 58, a disabled military veteran, and Bernalyn Dumas, 46, a nurse, who were found bound and strangled on Aug. 14, 1969. “I discovered the crime scene and death beds of my parents when they failed to show up at a birthday party in honor of my wife,” Michael Dumas told the parole board in a letter earlier this year. “The murders were a mystery with no motives or clues, and I, my wife and unborn family lived in both grief and fear.” Eleven days later 80-year-old Leila Jackson was found strangled in her home at 21 N. Somerville, where Putt had earlier asked about renting a room. Glenda Sue Harden, 21, a secretary, was abducted at knifepoint in her car downtown and her body was found the next day on Aug. 30 in a wooded area of Riverside Park. She was strangled and had been stabbed 14 times. The last victim was Christine Pickens, 59, who was stabbed to death in her apartment at 41 N. Bellevue on Sept. 11. Neighbors and police were alerted by her screams, however, and Putt was captured after a footchase that ended near Madison and what is now Midtown Interstate 240. Putt confessed in detail to all the killings. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1970 for the Pickens murder, but the sentence was commuted to 99 years when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. Realizing parole would be possible, the state then in 1973 prosecuted Putt for the Dumas murders. He was convicted and sentenced to 199 years in prison for each murder. Judge William H. Williams ordered the sentences to be served consecutively for a total of 497 years. Officially Putt’s sentence expires March 1, 2437. Behind bars Putt has worked a variety of jobs, including as an office technician, an athletic equipment custodian, an industrial cleaner, a utility worker and most recently a quality control technician in the prison’s industries. His custody level is listed as minimum restricted. In the hearing Tuesday, Dumas, a mortgage analyst, was accompanied by his grown son, a friend and two ministers from Christ United Methodist Church. “I’m not here to speak against George Howard Putt because I’ve prayed for him for 30 years,” said Dumas, who voice was choked with emotion. “I certainly oppose parole for George Howard Putt, though I have forgiven him and placed the forgiveness of his sins at the cross of Jesus. I hope he seeks salvation.”
Memphis serial killer George Howard Putt dies in prison
Yolanda Jones
The Commercial Appeal
Bernalyn and Roy Dumas. (Courtesy of Michael Dumas)
Serial killer George Howard Putt has died.
George Howard Putt outside Judge William Williams’ courtroom on April 24, 1973. (Fred Griffith/The Commercial Appeal) (Photo: Fred Griffith)
Police look for clues at 21 N. Somerville on August 25, 1969 after Leila Jackson was strangled by Memphis serial killer George Howard Putt. At this point in their investigation, 30 homicide detectives were on the case. (Sam Melhorn/The Commercial Appeal) (Photo: Sam Melhorn)
George Howard Putt, an infamous serial killer who terrorized Memphis during the summer of 1969 when he murdered five people in less than a month, died in a state prison hospital late last year, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Putt died Oct. 26 of natural causes at the Lois DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville. He was 69. After no one came forward to claim Putt’s body, he was given a state burial. It was unclear why officials with the state Department of Corrections didn’t release the information at the time of Putt’s death.
‘A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I logged into the website and it showed he was deceased,’ said Michael Dumas, whose parents were Putt’s first victims. ‘It was surprising that they didn’t let the victims know, the families of the people who died as well as victims being Memphians my age or older who recall that summer 47 years ago.’
Putt’s grim spree put Memphis on edge like nothing ever had before, or likely since. Residents made runs on hardware stores for stronger locks. Streets were nearly deserted at night. A Memphis police task force grew to more than 50 officers assigned to the case.
‘In my 29 years here, I’ve never seen anything like the state the city was in,’ former Memphis police Deputy Director Don Lewis said in 1989. ‘There have been other murders that were bad, but they didn’t compare with… the savagery with which he killed.’
Added former homicide chief Bob Cochran: ‘I just don’t have the words to describe the atmosphere. It was a 29-day period of pure hell.’
This all began in May 1969 when Putt, 23, was sentenced to six months on a Mississippi penal farm for burglary. A month later, on June 26, Putt walked away from a work farm. He and his wife, Mary, fled to Memphis later that summer.
Putt’s murderous spree began on Aug. 14, when he strangled Roy Dumas, 58, and his wife, Bernalyn, 46, in separate bedrooms of their apartment at 1133 S. Cooper, just south of Cooper-Young. Bernalyn had been sexually mutilated. Michael Dumas made the grisly discovery after his folks failed to show up at a birthday party.
Dumas said he eventually forgave Putt for what he did, but that he never got over the pain the killer caused.
‘My reaction (to Putt’s death) was remorse, because it brought back all the painful memories of that summer,’ Dumas said. ‘The death of my parents has always been painful. One part of me was happy that maybe this is over with. We all carry our pain from the past. You never get over that.’
On Aug. 25, 11 days after the Dumas killings, Putt strangled and sexually mutilated 80-year-old Leila Jackson at her rooming house on Somerville. Putt met Jackson when he asked about renting a room from her a month earlier.
After the killings of Bernalyn Dumas and Jackson, Putt strategically placed a lamp so that it shone on their bodies.
Putt struck again four days later, when he abducted Glenda Sue Harden, a 21-year-old employee at Jackson Life Insurance, after she left Downtown’s Falls Building. The next day, police found her body in Riverside Park. She had been stabbed 14 times, her hands bound with her pantyhose. Officials wouldn’t say at the time if she’d also been mutilated.
Putt cooled off for several days, but on Sept. 11, he struck again. He’d been drinking at a Midtown bar called the OK Cafe earlier that day, reports said. That afternoon, he made his way to the apartments at 41 N. Bellevue, where 59-year-old Christine Pickens lived.
Putt stabbed her repeatedly, but she let out a scream that alerted others in the complex. A janitor, Henry Currie, encountered Putt and slowed him down.
At that point, Walker Armstrong, who lived across the hall from Pickens, emerged with a gun. Wearing just his undershorts, Armstrong chased Putt down the street, firing at least six wild shots. Armstrong and Currie got in a car and continued the pursuit. Police were alerted, and two officers soon caught Putt on Pasadena a little north of Linden.
‘It was the highlight of my career,’ Officer R.G. Noblin said in 1989. ‘If I didn’t do anything else, I made the greatest catch in the history of the city of Memphis.’
Putt later confessed to all five murders, but was only tried for three: Ray and Bernalyn Dumas and Pickens. After a death sentence was commuted, Putt was eventually sentenced to 497 years in prison, a term that would have run through 2432.
In an interview with Memphis magazine on the 20th anniversary of the murders, Putt showed little remorse.
‘I think where I’m at now is where I’m supposed to be. If it meant me understanding … to get where I’m at (mentally and spiritually), I’d do it all again.’
Episode Two: George “Buster” Putt
October 26th, 2015 – George Howard Putt, the serial killer that terrorized the city of Memphis, for 29 days during the summer of 1969, died of natural causes at the Lois DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville. News of his death would not reach the public, nor the families of Putt’s victims, until March of the following year.
Michael Dumas, the son of Putt’s first victims – Roy and Bernalyn Dumas – reportedly only discovered months later that Putt had died when his wife logged into the correctional facility website and noticed that they had listed Putt as “deceased.” In an interview with the Commercial Appeal following the announcement of Putt’s death in March of 2016, Michael Dumas said, “My reaction was remorse, because it brought back all the painful memories of that summer. The death of my parents has always been painful. One part of me was happy that maybe this is over with. We all carry our pain from the past. You never get over that.”
The summer of 1969 was quite a tense time in the US…
-The war in Vietnam had been in full swing, which was dividing the nation due to differing opinions on our involvement and conduct there…
-Charles Manson’s followers committed the infamous series of horrible murders in the Los Angeles Area…
-Riots broke out outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, after a conflict between gay rights activists and police…
And for Memphis in particular, the years of ‘68 and ‘69 were quite a struggle. First, the sanitation strike happened, which brought Martin Luther King Jr to the city. Protests were ending in violence and arrests. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on the 2nd floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel… and after all of this happened, business and residents in Downtown Memphis relocated en masse for fear of more racial strife in the area. By the time this all settled, the area was said to be home to more jail inmates than actual residents. It was indeed a very heavy time in Memphis.
Many Memphians who were not in Memphis during the late 60s, or who were not yet born at the time (like me), may not even be aware that there was ever a serial killer in Memphis. I personally was not aware of it until a coworker brought it to my attention just under a year ago. But it’s true! Memphis, during the latter part of the summer of 1969, was home to a series of brutal murders, all committed by one man – George Howard Putt.
There is quite a lengthy backstory here, which we will try to deliver as concisely as possible, but I think it might provide insight into George Putt’s early development and his progression from minor crimes and misdemeanors to his later crimes of a violent, sexual, and even murderous nature.
George “Buster” Putt
Putt’s Early Life and Criminal History
Known as “Buster” to his friends and family, George Putt did not begin his life in Memphis, but this is certainly where he ended his life as a free man. George was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to abusive, drifter parents Clifford and Leola Putt. Whether to look for work, or simply to satisfy their wanderlust, Clifford and Leola removed George from school, along with his older brother, to roam around the Southeastern United States with them. George’s parents were constantly in trouble for petty crimes, making whatever home life they had unpredictable and unreliable. George’s father, Clifford, was also extremely abusive to him and his siblings. One of Clifford’s many arrests during George’s early life was for cruelty to a minor for severely beating 3-month-old George with a leather strap. By the time George was 8 years old, his parents went to prison for check forgery, leaving Buster and his 6 siblings to live with their grandparents.
It took only three years for his grandparents to send George and four of his brothers to live at a school for orphans outside Richmond, Virginia, following the arrest of 11-year-old George and an older brother for shooting out a neighbor’s windows with a stolen air rifle. Discipline was strict and delivered with a heavy hand at that school, which did not mix well with George’s resistant attitude toward authority. A few years later, after repeated attempts to escape the school’s grounds, he was finally expelled from the school and shipped off to the Richmond Home for Boys in Virginia.
A counselor at the Richmond Home reportedly noted in Putt’s file that he was “seriously disturbed in contrast to the placid facade which he presented,” also noting that Putt had a “morbid preoccupation with blood and gore.” Putt’s criminal behavior continued, veering rapidly toward lude and violent offenses. He was detained for the attempted (although some sources say successful) rape of two teenage girls in Richmond. The authorities tried to send him to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, but Putt escaped custody and decided to try again. This time he did succeed, abducting a 30 year old woman at knifepoint, robbing her of $35 and raping her. At this point, seeing that his luck had run out in Virginia, and for some unfathomable reason feeling a need to reconnect with his father in Mexico, Putt fled Virginia and headed to Texas.
So, by this time, after all of this stuff has gone down, guess how old Putt is? Putt is a mere 16 years of age…
After only being in Texas for a short time, Putt kidnapped a woman from Laredo at gunpoint, but escaped when she intentionally crashed the car they were in. Two days later, he abducted a woman in her apartment (which he had entered through a window) by threatening to kill her children. He forced her into her own car and drove off, but was apprehended when he crashed his hostage’s car because he lost control after spotting a police vehicle.
After his capture, he was incarcerated at Webb County jail for 13 months, then transferred to a boys school in Laredo. Putt escaped 8 months later from that facility, but was captured shortly thereafter. He was then transferred to a more secure facility, where he turned 18 years old. After the discovery of his plot to kidnap the facility’s librarian and escape in her car, he was transferred to an “adjustment center” for psychiatric treatment. After diagnosing him as possessing “earmarks of a psychopath in his makeup,” Putt was placed in the maximum-security juvenile facility in Gatesville, Texas, where he stayed until his 21st birthday in 1967. He was discharged as a matter of routine, despite the red flags that were thrown up by his previous diagnoses from multiple sources.
After being released from the Gatesville juvenile psychiatric facility, he moved to Tupelo, Mississippi, which is where his grandparents lived at the time. Keeping with the pattern, this did not last long. He found work as an orderly at the local hospital, only to be fired within a few days for stealing $100 from a nurse’s handbag. He did not get in any legal trouble for this because they settled for George repaying the money to the nurse. From Tupelo, he returned to his native New Orleans, where he was arrested and charged with stealing a checkbook from a room at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Soon after that, George met an 18 year old graduate of Coldwater High School named Mary Ruth Bulimore. They got married in the fall of 1967, but as you might expect, George did not demonstrate a shining example of a husband in the throes of marital bliss. He was wildly jealous when Mary would speak to other men – even her coworkers – and he would become violent.
In October of 1968, George was arrested in Memphis for beating a woman after he forced his way into her car. After that ordeal was over, Putt left town with his brother and both of their wives, settling in Jackson, Mississippi. Although this is not well documented, I did find mention of Putt trying to rape his mother-in-law three times in early 1969.
OK… this is where Putt is believed to have committed his first murder, although he was never charged with the crime. Still in Jackson, Mississippi, shortly after the third attempt at raping his mother-in-law, a man was stabbed 15 times at his home, which was near the gas station where George was employed. The authorities were convinced of his involvement, but for whatever reason he was not charged with the murder.
Putt’s Memphis Home
So, we’ve finally arrived at the Memphis portion of this story… In the summer of 1969. Putt and his wife were living in Memphis, in the house at 642 Bethel Ave.
Roy and Bernalyn Dumas
August 14th, 1969: Roy and Bernalyn Dumas
On August 14th, 1969, Roy and Bernalyn Dumas were getting ready to go out to dinner with their son Michael and his wife Tanya. Roy was a 58 year old veteran and was a Bronze Star recipient for his gallantry in combat during World War II. He was also a self-employed accountant. Bernalyn was 46, and worked as a nursing supervisor at Baptist Hospital on Union Avenue. She also served as a nurse in the Army during World War II.
Hermitage Apartments
While Roy and Bernalyn were preparing to go to dinner, George Putt gained entrance to their apartment in the Hermitage Apartment complex on South Cooper and tied the couple up. Roy Dumas was then violently forced into the guest bedroom by Putt. His feet and hands were bound with suspenders and then Putt proceeded to strangle Roy to death with a sock. Bernalyn was forced into the other bedroom and tied to the bedposts and strangled with one of the stockings from her nursing uniform but not before mutilating her genital area. Putt then left a disturbingly creepy calling card of sorts, an act that would be used to tie him to another murder. He placed a table lamp over the top of Bernalyn’s body, and then strategically positioned it to cast an eerie, horror-film-like effect on her body.
Putt later told Memphis Police detectives that the only reason he went into their apartment in the first place was for money. He also later told his wife, Mary, that he was pretty sure that someone would find Mr. and Mrs. Dumas before they died. Clearly there was some serious delusion or denial happening in Putt’s head.
When Roy and Bernalyn did not show up for dinner, their son Michael went to their apartment. That poor fella was the one that had to discover his parents’ bodies and report the murder to police. Unfortunately, Putt had not left any signs that he had forced entry nor any other evidence that would lead to his identity.
August 25th, 1969: Leila Witt Jackson
Leila Jackson was an 80-year-old Illinois native and widow that ran a four-unit apartment house next to the Memphis Medical Center. The house was bought as a family home by Leila and her late husband Charles, but was converted into an apartment house following his death. Leila was aware of the Dumas murders that had happened only a few days earlier, and was making an extra diligent effort to keep everything locked up tight at night. She reportedly stated to a friend a few days after the Dumas murders that she thought nobody would want to rob her because she never kept any money in the house. About a week prior to the crime, Putt reportedly walked from his job at the Hudson Oil station on South Bellevue to Jackson’s apartment house on North Somerville and asked Jackson if he could rent an apartment from her. It definitely sounds like he was scouting for a victim.
Leila’s House
On August 25th, 1969, Putt entered the apartment house through the front door, and in the same fashion as the Dumas murders, he tied her to her bed and strangled her with a stocking. He then found a butcher knife in the kitchen and used it to perform the same type of mutilation that he did to Bernalyn Dumas. Before leaving, Putt once again left his calling card, as many serial killers do. He placed a reading lamp over the body to create the same type of lighting effect over Leila’s body as in the previous murders. He then laid the butcher knife on the nightstand and left the house. Her grandson was the unfortunate soul that found her.
It was clear to Memphis Police Homicide Chief Robert Cochran that the two crimes were connected, based on the genital mutilation and the lamp placement. He would say later, about the Jackson murder, “When I saw that lamp, I was the loneliest bastard that ever lived.”
According to Putt’s wife Mary, on the evening following Leila’s murder, Putt showed her that afternoon’s paper and told her, “Remember that old lady I tried to rent the room from over near the Terrace Hotel? That Mrs. Jackson? Remember her? Somebody killed her just like that Dumas couple! There must be some kind of really bad nut loose in this town.”
…he was correct.
Glenda Harden
August 29th, 1969: Glenda Sue Harden
Glenda Sue Harden was a graduate of Kingsbury High school, recently engaged, and was employed as a typist for Jackson Life Insurance located on Front Street. She had just left work, walked west on Court Street and crossed Riverside Drive to the cobblestone landing where her Ford Mustang was parked. George Putt had also parked his Chevy Impala on the same landing. When Glenda was preoccupied with unlocking and entering her vehicle, Putt put a knife to her throat, forced his way into the driver’s side of her car, and forced her into the front passenger floorboard.
Putt drove Glenda’s car to Riverside Park, where he bound her hands behind her back with her panty hose. He then killed Glenda by stabbing her 14 times in various spots on her head, neck, chest, and back. He then discarded Glenda’s body and drove back to the Riverside cobblestone lot where he had abducted her, took her purse, and drove off in his Impala.
The next morning, Memphis Police officers located Harden’s Mustang parked on the cobblestones at the foot of Monroe Avenue. Later in the day, police officers located Harden’s lifeless body in Riverside Park.
At this point, the city of Memphis was on edge, driven to fear by this utterly unknown predator in their midst. There were very few clues as to Putt’s identity. Memphis law enforcement ramped-up their investigation, resulting – at that time – in the largest manhunt in the city’s history. The newspapers warned caution. new locks were being installed all over the city. A total of 135 detectives and vice squad officers were assigned to this case. Clues were almost non-existent. A $20,000 reward for information on the murders went unclaimed. FBI assistance was even enlisted to perform lab work.
This brings us to the fourth (or possibly fifth?) and final murder commited by George Putt.
September 11, 1969: Mary Christine Pickens
Christine Pickens worked as a receptionist for a dental office in the Sterick Building and had Thursday afternoons off. She had just turned 59 that same day, and she was coming home to her apartment in the LaBlanche Building at 41 North Bellevue after ending her workday at noon. She happened to come home at a very unfortunate time. As Christine approached her apartment door, Putt had just given up an attempt to trick Christine’s neighbor into opening her door for him, so he took the opportunity to instead force Christine into her home.
Putt was decidedly less careful this time around. Multiple people claimed to have seen him lurking around the apartments earlier in the day. He also bounced from one potential victim to another victim without any thought, meaning one more person had seen him and knew he was up to no good. His situation was exacerbated when he first pushed Christine into her apartment because she began to scream, “Murder! Murder! Don’t do it! Don’t Kill Me!”. Emma Grosse, a nurse that lived directly above Christine heard her screams and ran to help her.
When Emma arrived at Christine’s apartment, Putt was coming out of it, covered in blood, with an icepick and one of Christine’s stockings in one hand and Christine’s purse in the other. Emma was very lucky that day, because when Putt saw her, instead of attacking her he threw the purse and ran away. Emma roused another neighbor, Wayne Armstrong, from sleep and told him what had happened. Wayne grabbed his personal handgun and began chasing Putt, clad only in his underwear, firing at him along the way. During the chase, Putt left the icepick embedded in the wall of an apartment at 217 Pasadena Place, with the stocking hanging from it. As two more people joined the chase, the gunshots and the ruckus that the chase had stirred up made the police take notice and they joined in the chase as well. Putt scaled a security fence with the help of a parked truck, ran down North Bellevue, and then turned west onto Madison Avenue. He then jumped the overpass at Madison onto I-240 and ran south down the unfinished interstate, police still in pursuit. He was finally detained near an apartment complex on Linden Avenue when two officers noticed his blood-soaked arm and pants. While the chase was happening, unfortunately Christine had died from her stab wounds. He stabbed her 20 times.
Putt’s arrest
Confession, Conviction, and Aftermath
George Putt confessed to the murders soon after his capture, maintaining that the motive was robbery, but that he wasn’t about to leave a witness that could send him back to prison. He recanted his confession later on, prior to his trial.
He was tried initially for the murder of Christine Pickens and sentenced to death. In 1972, when the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in all cases, Putt’s sentence was commuted to 99 years. This prompted prosecutors to take action and try him for the murders of Roy and Bernalyn Dumas, a double-conviction which added 398 years to his prison sentence. Judge William H. Williams ordered the sentences to be served consecutively for a total of 497 years. Officially Putt’s sentence expires March 1, 2437. According to witnesses, Putt giggled when the judge announced his sentence. Putt has confessed in detail to all five of the murders, but was only ever been convicted of three.
Now serving a total of 497 years, it seemed unlikely that Putt would ever see the outside world again. But in 2003, Michael Dumas, son of the first victims, Roy and Bernalyn Dumas, found himself at a parole hearing for George Putt. Putt waived his right to appear at his parole hearing, and no one spoke on his behalf. He was denied parole, due to the severity of the crimes.
Michael Dumas, who thought he’d never have to worry about the man who brutally murdered his parents, said of the parole hearing, “When I found out about this hearing I was sort of speechless. Few people know what went on. I did because I saw it. The judge made his sentences consecutive so I would not have to be here today. I’m trying to go forward, but it’s hard to put George Howard Putt out of my mind. The past does hurt.”
In an interview with Memphis Magazine on the 20th anniversary of the murders, a remorseless George Putt remarked, “I think where I’m at now is where I’m supposed to be. If it meant me understanding… to get where I’m at (mentally and spiritually), I’d do it all again.”
Putt died Oct. 26, 2015 of natural causes at the Lois DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville. He was 69. It was unclear why officials with the state Department of Corrections didn’t release the information at the time of Putt’s death. After no one came forward to claim Putt’s body, he was given a state burial..
Sources:
Commercial Appeal
http://archive.commercialappeal.com/news/crime/memphis-serial-killer-george-howard-putt-dies-in-prison-2e2ea7f8-5428-7260-e053-0100007fc221-37224551.html/
Jeff Droke
http://jeffdroke.com/George%20Howard%20Putt%2029_days.htm
Murderpedia
http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/putt-george.htm
Wicked We
George Howard Putt / He Had A Morbid Preoccupation with Blood and Gore
**Photos on this site are for informational purposes only and constitutes Fair Use under Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. We do not own the rights to the photos.**
Share this: Twitter
So you have finished reading the george howard putt topic article, if you find this article useful, please share it. Thank you very much. See more: murderpedia tennessee, murderpedia school shooting, murderpedia west virginia, murderpedia minnesota, nashville murderers, murderpedia updates
