Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris
Lawrence Bittaker | |
|---|---|
Bittaker on trial in 1981. | |
| Born | Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker September 27, 1940 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | December 13, 2019 (aged 79) |
| Criminal status | Died in prison while awaiting execution |
| Convictions | First-degree murder (5 counts), kidnapping, rape |
| Criminal penalty | Death (de jure, 1981) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 5+ |
Span of crimes | June 24 – October 31, 1979 |
| State | California |
| Locations | San Gabriel Mountains, Sunland-Tujunga |
Date apprehended | November 20, 1979 |
Roy Norris | |
|---|---|
Norris shortly before his arrest in 1979. | |
| Born | Roy Lewis Norris February 5, 1948 Greeley, Colorado, U.S. |
| Died | February 24, 2020 (aged 72) |
| Criminal status | Died in prison |
| Convictions | First-degree murder (4 counts), second-degree murder (1 count), kidnapping, rape, robbery |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years (never granted) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 5+ |
Span of crimes | June 24 – October 31, 1979 |
| State | California |
| Locations | San Gabriel Mountains, Sunland-Tujunga |
Date apprehended | November 20, 1979 |
| Imprisoned at | Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility |
Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker (September 27, 1940 – December 13, 2019) and Roy Lewis Norris (February 5, 1948 – February 24, 2020), also known as the Tool Box Killers, were two American serial killers and rapists who committed the kidnapping, rape, torture and murder of five teenage girls in Southern California over a five-month period in 1979.: 19
Described by FBI special agent John Edward Douglas as the most disturbing individual for whom he has ever created a criminal profile,: 135 Bittaker was sentenced to death for five murders on March 24, 1981, but died of natural causes while incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State Prison in December 2019.
Norris accepted a plea bargain whereby he agreed to testify against Bittaker and was sentenced to life imprisonment on May 7, 1980, with possibility of parole after serving thirty years. He died of natural causes at California Medical Facility in February 2020.
Bittaker and Norris became known as the "Tool Box Killers" because the majority of instruments used to torture and murder their victims, such as pliers, ice picks and sledgehammers, were items normally stored inside a household toolbox.: 19