David Van Dyke

David Allen Van Dyke (born January 14, 1959) is an American serial killer who bludgeoned, beat, and stabbed six people to death at their residences in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between 1979 and 1980.

Van Dyke was born on January 14, 1959.

One of five children, he was raised by his grandmother until she died when he was six.

He then moved in with his mother, who had trouble raising him.

He refused to attend school, dropping out after seventh grade; broke windows; beat up weaker children; threatened his niece with a knife; and often threatened to harm his mother.

Additionally, he stole money from his mother's purse and paid stronger children not to beat him up.

He also used the money to buy a canary, which he strangled to death while laughing.

Van Dyke was often teased about his obesity.

He once punched a woman for calling him a fat pig.

However, he later lost 40 pounds through a weight reduction program.

As an adult, Van Dyke never held a job.

He earned about $600 a month as a pool shark and a burglar.

He often lived in cars and abandoned buildings.

In April 1979, he was paroled for a burglary conviction.

Between July 1979 and April 1980, Van Dyke murdered four women and two men at their residences in the same area of northern Milwaukee.

Gaining entry into his victims homes by asking to use their telephone or bathroom, he would then bludgeon, beat, or stab his victims to death using items in their homes.

Afterwards, he burglarized them, stealing money, clock radios, televisions, or jewelry.

He then fled the scene, leaving the weapons he used – a tire jack, ice pick, claw hammer, knives, or scissors – behind.

His victims varied in age, race, and gender.

Van Dyke's first victim, 69-year-old Della Mae Liggens, was stabbed to death on July 19, 1979.

On August 10, 1979, Van Dyke stabbed 78-year-old Florence Burkard in her North Side home 43 times with a pair of scissors, the fatal wound being to her heart.

Her body was discovered by two volunteers of a service organization for the elderly, who were there to deliver her a hot meal.

Although the attack began in her kitchen, Burkard's body was found at the bottom of her basement stairs.

Van Dyke beat 79-year-old Helen Wronski to death in the living room of her East Side home.

He then covered her body with a sheet and walked into her bedroom, where he rummaged through the drawers of her dresser.

However, he did not steal anything from there.

Her body was discovered by her son on November 9, 1979, and she had last been seen alive one day earlier.

Investigators found partial fingerprints, but failed to match them to any known suspects.

He was arrested in May 1980 after an attempted burglary, and subsequently connected to the murders through fingerprints.

On January 25, 1980, Van Dyke bludgeoned Charles Golston, 63, with a claw hammer.

Golston's friend found him bleeding and unconscious.

He spent more than three months in a coma before succumbing to his injuries in early May.

On March 3, 1980, 49-year-old Bernard Fonder died on his bed after receiving several blows to the head.

A few days before his death, he gave a note to his downstairs neighbors with the name and address of Fonder's former roommate, who had beaten him the previous December.

He forced the roommate to move out, but he returned one night in February because his girlfriend had kicked him out.

The note instructed his neighbor to hand the note to police if something were to happen to him.

In turn, the roommate was initially charged with Fonder's murder, but released after fingerprints found at the scene did not match his.

On April 14, 1980, a 28-year-old woman let Van Dyke into her home after he expressed interest in buying her car.

He was convicted of the murders in 1981, and received six terms of life imprisonment as well as an additional 40 years.

He is now imprisoned at a maximum security penitentiary in Waupun.