June 26 – The Lipstick Killer Is Caught

June 26th. On this day in 1946, 17-year-old William George Heirens was arrested during a burglary in Chicago. He would later be linked to a string of gruesome murders attributed to the so-called “Lipstick Killer.”

On the day of his arrest, Heirens broke into an apartment armed with a revolver. When a tenant discovered him, she screamed—alerting two nearby police officers. A violent struggle followed. Heirens was overpowered after being struck with a flowerpot and arrested on the spot.

Following his arrest, authorities connected Heirens to several brutal crimes, including the horrifying murder of 6-year-old Suzanne Degnan, whose dismembered body was found scattered in Chicago sewers. He was also linked to the death of Frances Brown, discovered in her apartment on December 10, 1945, with a knife plunged into her neck and a bullet wound to the head. While nothing was stolen, a chilling message was scrawled on the wall in lipstick:
“For heAVen’s SAKe catch me BeFore I Kill More I cAnnot control MyselF.”

After five days of continuous interrogation—including the use of sodium pentothal, known then as a so-called “truth serum”—Heirens confessed to the murders of Josephine Ross, Frances Brown, and Suzanne Degnan.

To avoid the death penalty, Heirens accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to three consecutive life terms. He later recanted his confession, claiming it had been coerced through police brutality and made under the influence of the sodium pentothal drugs.

William Heirens spent the rest of his life behind bars. He died on March 5, 2012, at the age of 82, at the time he was Illinois’ longest-serving inmate, having spent 65 years in prison.