World's Most Evil Killers - Season 5, Episode 7 - Patrick Kearney - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[DRAMATIC TUNE] NARRATOR: In July 1977, a man walked into a Sheriff's department in Riverside County, California,
and handed himself in. He was wanted for the murder of three hitchhikers across the region.
But his confession to interrogators, would leave them stunned. I asked him, well, how many people have you killed?
And he said, I don't know, but more than 30. NARRATOR: The serial murderer was an unassuming 37-year-old Aircraft
Engineer named Patrick Kearney. He'd been killing young men and boys across Southern California
for the past 15 years. TERESA ROONEY: I guess, the first word that comes to mind
is evil. Just void of humanity. NARRATOR: After raping and killing his victims, the murderer would expertly dismember
their lifeless bodies. GEOFFREY WANSELL: The victims' families never knew what happened to their loved one.
The only person they had to rely on to find out, was the utterly revolting Patrick Kearney
NARRATOR: Patrick Kearney, the man dubbed The Trash Bag Killer, had confessed to being one of the world's
most evil killers. [MUSIC PLAYS] NARRATOR: By February 1978, 38-year-old Aircraft Engineer,
Patrick Kearney, had pled guilty to murdering a total of 21 young men and boys. His youngest victim, just five years old.
After his arrest, Kearney had confessed to a secret career of murder and necrophilia, that would make even
the hardiest detective wince. Former Riverside County Deputy DA, Dan Bacalski, remembers when he first began the hunt for
the notorious Trash Bag Killer. DAN BACALSKI: I think there were three murder cases at the time.
Three bodies that were found. One of the bodies was found without a head, and without feet and hands.
And so the first thing you need to do in trying to solve a crime, is to identify the victim.
And identification in most of these cases was hard, if not impossible. NARRATOR: But a distinctive mark on one of the bodies,
led investigators to the family of 17-year-old John LaMay, who'd been missing for four days.
TERESA ROONEY: I remember, because I was out of school going with my mom, and dad, and my sister,
driving all the way out to Riverside County. Where the purpose was to go to the police department there
to give their blood test, and to identify a photo that had a birthmark that was John's.
NARRATOR: The murder of John LaMay would finally unmask the elusive Trash Bag Killer.
DAN BACALSKI: Once they identified him, they were able then of course, to ask questions about his whereabouts, where he had last been.
And one of the leads led them to the house of a man named David Hill, and he shared that house
with Patrick Kearney. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Finally the pieces of the puzzle were coming together, and the police were getting
closer to catching this killer. NARRATOR: This killer's story begins in Los Angeles, California, in 1939.
Patrick Kearney was born on the 24th of September, the oldest of three brothers.
As a child, Kearney was small and scrawny, which led to him becoming a target for the school bullies.
DAN BACALSKI: He told me that he felt at times, as a youth, he was picked on. But he fantasized about striking back.
GEOFFREY WANSELL: He remembered later, at the age of eight, that he'd fantasized about killing people.
An extraordinary thing, when you consider it, for an eight-year-old to do. Horrifying.
DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: I think this was probably a control mechanism, because Kearney lacked control.
He lacked control over his childhood. He didn't have those good relationships with his peers.
So those skills to negotiate conflict was something that just didn't happen, they didn't emerge.
And in other children, you find that that does. So he's an outsider again, and this
will come to have an impact throughout the rest of his life. NARRATOR: Kearney later recalled that his mother was caring,
but his father, George, a Salesman, worked a lot, and seems somewhat disinterested in raising a family.
Although he did teach his son how to shoot. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: So at a very young age,
he gets to learn how to send something from a living animated creature into a corpse
that is quite easy to control. And I think the lesson from that, the feeling of power
perhaps, that that gave him, was something that stayed with him. NARRATOR: Kearney's relationship with his father
was a complex one. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: I think the important thing for me is what his father represented.
The stereotypical, masculine, American man. He's tough, he's stoic, he's resilient.
And this is everything that Kearney is not. So there's that inadequacy there, in terms of his relationship with his father.
So that is something that would stay with him, and I think that is a factor that fueled his offending.
NARRATOR: By the age of 20, Kearney had joined the US Air Force as an engineer and was living in Texas.
It was there he fell in love with a man named David Hill. GEOFFREY WANSELL: The affair develops, and Hill
leaves his wife for Kearney. Now, perhaps for the first time, Kearney felt truly loved.
The love that he'd never had during his childhood. NARRATOR: By 1977, 37-year-old Patrick Kearney was living back
in California with David Hill. Kearney had found a job as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft,
and the couple were sharing a home together in Redondo Beach. Around the same time, 70 miles away in Riverside County,
Deputy District Attorney, Dan Bacalski, was given a new assignment. DAN BACALSKI: I was in the office,
and the Sheriff's department out there came in with some evidence they wanted me to look
at regarding some bodies they had found over the last year or so. These bodies were found dismembered expertly
in industrial plastic trash bags. And wanted me to look at the evidence. NARRATOR: The bodies of three young men
had been found across Riverside County in Southern California. The murders bore all the hallmarks
of a twisted serial killer. DAN BACALSKI: In these cases, the dismemberment was done expertly.
And the pathologist opined that the individual who had done this had lots of practice.
There were no hesitation marks. It was as if someone had trained on how to dismember the human body.
So he's like a professional butcher in a butcher shop. He's an expert. Of course, that leads law enforcement
to focus in on what they believe to be a serious serial perpetrator. NARRATOR: In March 1977, 17-year-old John LaMay
went missing. His sister, Teresa, was just nine years old when her big brother vanished.
TERESA ROONEY: I remember my mom and dad talking to each other a lot, and going, well, have you seen--
wondering where John was, because John apparently did not come home the night before.
NARRATOR: John hadn't returned home from school on the 13th of March. His family immediately reported him missing.
TERESA ROONEY: All I remember my dad saying is-- to my mom after he got off the phone-- well,
he's either missing, or he's dead. And I remember that just floored me, when I heard the word dead.
You know, just, what? I'm 9 years old. That rings in my ears. Because at that moment, I just thought, he's dead.
That's all I heard. NARRATOR: And Teresa's fears were soon realized. TERESA ROONEY: They found body parts and dismemberment
in a trash can in Corona. They think it might be John, but they weren't quite sure.
And they just have to confirm. NARRATOR: Identified by a birthmark on his remains,
John LaMay had become the victim of the murderer the press had dubbed The Trash Bag Killer.
A callous and perverse sexual predator. DAN BACALSKI: We don't know his cause of death.
If it followed the normal pattern, he would have been shot in the head with a 22 Derringer.
And he would have been then sexually assaulted in either a semiconscious or dead state.
And then he was disarticulated, dismembered, put in a plastic bag and dumped. The cause of death could not be conclusively
proven, because we never found his head, his hands, or his feet. NARRATOR: The news of 17-year-old John's death,
brought heartache to the LaMay home. TERESA ROONEY: The atmosphere in the house with my siblings,
it was very somber. No one wanted to talk about it, I kind of remember that. Because we were a family that, you know, you do life,
but as far as sharing your feelings or thoughts or what's going on, it was more everybody just closed up.
NARRATOR: But information from John LaMay's mother, Patricia, would bring detectives a much needed clue.
DAN BACALSKI: When the police spoke to her and interviewed her, she said that the last person she knew
that he was going to meet was an individual by the name of David Hill. NARRATOR: 34-year-old David Hill immediately
became a person of interest. When investigators arrived at his Redondo Beach home,
they were greeted by his partner, 37-year-old aircraft engineer, Patrick Kearney.
DAN BACALSKI: He was a very mild mannered person that didn't express emotions or feelings that
caused the officers to believe he was guilty. GEOFFREY WANSELL: Given Kearney's character,
and his extraordinary conceit, he was going to make absolutely sure not to complain when the police arrived at his front door.
As far as they were concerned, he was a model citizen. Upright, hardworking, and ordinary.
There was nothing that he was going to do to contradict that impression. NARRATOR: With Kearney watching on,
the detectives were looking for specific forensic evidence during their search of the house.
DAN BACALSKI: There was a dog that had white hair. And the Sheriff's department officers
knew that some of the trash bags had contained white animal hair. And in addition, the carpet color was the same as some
of the fibers found on some of the bags. So obviously, they want to follow that up.
NARRATOR: The white dog hair and blue carpet fibers led to the first breakthrough in the case.
DAN BACALSKI: They took those back to the lab to have them further analyzed, more than just visually.
And of course, there was a match with the carpet fibers, and a match with the dog hair, on I
think two of the trash bags that were found with the bodies. NARRATOR: When detectives returned on the 19th of May,
Dan Bacalski came along too. He was looking for evidence that could link the three bodies he'd been investigating
to Kearney and Hill. But the couple weren't going to be as compliant this time around.
DAN BACALSKI: We went to the house to execute the search warrant. And when we got to the house, no one was home.
It was obvious that both Patrick Kearney and David Hill had fled. I believe that they felt the police officers were onto them.
DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: When this kind of individual is faced with a choice between fight or flight, stay or go,
they are always going to go. They will always flight, because they want to avoid confrontation at all costs,
because they simply do not have the skills to deal with that. So I'm not surprised that Kearney
run at this point in time. I think he was actually quite afraid. NARRATOR: As this search of Kearney and Hill's house
began in earnest, Dan was certain that he was in the home of a serial killer. DAN BACALSKI: When you're in that situation,
there is a-- this sounds a little bit funny-- but there is some sort of atmosphere feeling
when you walk in a house like that. I felt it. And I don't know whether that was my imagination,
but we're looking at somebody that's pretty evil, pretty matter of fact about it.
And when you believe that that house was probably the scene of a lot of crimes--
cruel, heartless crimes-- it does give you a little bit of a buzz feeling when you go into that residence.
It did, me. NARRATOR: Evidence collected in a vacuum cleaner during the search, link Kearney, who worked as an engineer
at nearby Hughes Aircraft, to the discarded and dismembered bodies. DAN BACALSKI: In the vacuum cleaner bag,
there were found round plastic circles, thick plastic circles. Those matched the punch outs from the commercial grade
garbage bag liners. The brand name was Mipro, and it was a industrial bag, and it was used at Hughes Aircraft.
Those plastic bags are unusual, and there was a supply of those plastic bags in the attic
at Patrick Kearney's house. NARRATOR: And it wasn't just circumstantial evidence
that was discovered in Kearney and Hill's Redondo Beach home. DAN BACALSKI: In addition, there was a hacksaw blade.
Looking normal and clean. But when it was taken apart, and the nut and bolt were loosened,
there was blood and human hair wedged in the part between the blade and the bolt.
The bathroom was sprayed with luminol, and showed the presence of a lot of blood in the bathtub
and on the walls around the bathtub. So it appeared pretty quickly that at least one body, maybe
more, were dismembered, disarticulated in the bathtub in the home of Patrick Kearney and David Hill.
NARRATOR: Whether Kearney or Hill were involved or not, their home was clearly a hotbed of evidence that linked
them to the three murdered men. DAN BACALSKI: It was obvious that there was physical evidence in that house that linked
the house with these bodies. There was nothing specifically that linked Patrick Kearney
himself, or David Hill, but the house they lived in was definitely linked to all of these murders.
NARRATOR: A box of Manila envelopes discovered at the house, specifically linked Hill and Kearney
to another Trash Bag Killer victim, Arturo Marquez, whose body had been discovered in Riverside
County in March 1977. Bizarrely, the killer had sent mail to his victims home. DAN BACALSKI: The criminalist was
able to opine that that thick, yellow, cardboard envelope likely came from this box, which was found
in Patrick Kearney's house. That envelope had been used to mail car keys back to the Marquez family.
Because when Patrick Kearney killed him, he had possession of the car and the keys.
And being a good citizen, he mailed the keys back. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Now this would appear
to be a really bizarre thing to do, but this is a killer who likes order. He likes to know exactly where things are,
and what's going on with them. So he's not the kind of person who could just throw these keys
away in a bin somewhere. NARRATOR: Investigators were sure they had found the killer.
But Patrick Kearney and his partner, David Hill, were nowhere to be found. They'd fled over 800 miles away to Texas,
but they wouldn't be gone for long. DAN BACALSKI: After the all points bulletin was issued,
I believe he was on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. There was a lot of publicity, and these pictures
of David Hill and Patrick Kearney were published everywhere. Within months, they both walked into the Riverside County
Sheriff's Department and turned themselves into the watch Sergeant. NARRATOR: Kearney and Hill's returned to California was
an unexpected turn of events. DAN BACALSKI: Well, I was surprised. I was in my office, and I got a phone call from the Sheriff's
department and say, well, Patrick Kearney walked in, come on over you need to interview him.
So I went over to the Sheriff's department, got a tape recorder, and interviewed him.
NARRATOR: On the 1st of July 1977, Kearney was arrested. He told police that his partner, David Hill,
was completely innocent of any crimes. DAN BACALSKI: We don't know what he's going to say,
or whether he's going to blame it on someone else or deny it. So I was focusing my interview on going to his background.
Finding out about him, what caused him to do it, why he turned himself in. NARRATOR: But Dan in the Riverside County detectives
had no idea just how prolific a killer they had arrested. Patrick Kearney's next statement would stun them all.
DAN BACALSKI: I asked him, well, how many people have you killed? And he said, I don't know, but more than 30.
NARRATOR: Patrick Kearney told the investigators that he'd been killing for over a decade, since 1962.
The twisted killer detailed each of the murders, including taking the life of 17-year-old
John LaMay in March 1977. TERESA ROONEY: What I know, that Patrick Kearney picked up John from my house in El Segundo,
and drove him to his own home in Redondo Beach. Where apparently, he was watching TV,
and apparently John had changed the channel, Patrick Kearney didn't like that, so he shot him in the back of the head.
NARRATOR: Kearney told detectives how his father had taught him to shoot as a child.
So accustomed to using a gun, an execution style method of killing had become his trademark.
TERESA ROONEY: From there proceeded to-- like every other victim-- dismember him in the bathtub.
All but his hands and his head. Because Patrick Kearney, very smart, knew that's how they could identify this body
when he would dump it. And so he put the body parts in bags, apparently drove them out to Corona.
And then they were placed, I believe, in a trash can in some park. This victim was only 17 years old,
and he was one of seven children. So this is going to have a really devastating impact on this family dynamic.
This is a very significant point in somebody's life. So to have this individual taken out of your family picture
by this sadistic serial killer, is something that is going to affect all members of that family.
NARRATOR: News of Kearney's arrest brought some semblance of peace to the LaMay family.
TERESA ROONEY: When I heard that-- Again, from all the fears of a little girl, feeling like,
OK, they're going to come get us. They got him, so they know where we live. That brought peace.
That OK. We're safe. NARRATOR: Detectives were only just beginning to learn about the sadistic life
of Patrick Kearney. And the killer's confessions would shock them to the core. DAN BACALSKI: Interviewing people like that,
you look right into the eye of someone who can talk like that, knowing what they did.
It's a sobering experience. NARRATOR: After handing himself in, Kearney had stunned the interrogators
by confessing to at least 30 murders across the previous 15 years. But was the 37-year-old engineer telling the truth?
DAN BACALSKI: You want to make sure that you are focusing in on hard facts and not just fantasy,
maybe he's seeking attention or something. NARRATOR: Kearney confessed to killing
a man in his apartment in 1968. Dan pressed for more details. DAN BACALSKI: And he said, I don't remember his name.
How did you kill him? I shot him in the head with a 22. What did you do with the body?
Well, I cut it up into small pieces and I put it in a box, and I put it underneath the apartment building I lived in.
NARRATOR: Kearney continued to describe gruesome details of how he'd remove the evidence
from his poor victim's head. GEOFFREY WANSELL: He was sufficiently aware, ballistically, that he knew that if he left the bullet,
someone might find it and trace it back to the gun. And so Kearney took a hacksaw to the dead man's
head to retrieve the bullet. NARRATOR: Kearney drew a map of exactly where he'd left the remains over a decade before.
While the interview continued, Dan instructed the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department to search
underneath the garage. DAN BACALSKI: And they go to that apartment complex, and they're there within an hour.
And they retrieve a box with a bunch of bones in it, a human skeleton that's been cut up.
And the skull has a hole in it consistent with a 22 caliber bullet. And you can see the hacksaw blade marks in the skull.
So before we finish the interview, we had confirmation that this guy is telling the truth.
NARRATOR: The unidentified skeleton in the box was just one of Kearney's many victims.
The vicious killer had been active for 15 years. He told investigators how he targeted
hitchhikers along the Southern California road network. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: The victims were alone,
they were hitchhiking. They were quite easy to prey on. Kearney had access, he had opportunity.
And I think there were some echoes of his own victimization as a child and as a young man here.
So it's almost like he's trying to rewrite his own history here. He's putting himself in the role of the aggressor.
I think, perhaps, to step into the shoes of those who bullied and victimized him.
So that's quite interesting for me. NARRATOR: By the 15th of July 1977, Patrick Kearney had confessed to killing 32 young men and boys.
One of his many revelations included the story of 21-year-old, Larry Walters, a mechanic who
was living in the town of Hawthorne, just North of Redondo Beach, in 1975. KAREN FRYER: Although Larry was our older brother,
we were really his older sisters, because he was mentally slow. So at the age of 21, Larry had the mentality of maybe an 8
to 10-year-old child. He was not very streetwise. NARRATOR: Larry was at his most content, when
he was surrounded by family. KAREN FRYER: Larry was a very, very happy person. But we were very protective over him, because he
believed anything you told him. He trusted everybody. We had to watch over him to make sure that people
didn't take advantage of him. NARRATOR: Karen vividly remembers the week Larry went
missing in late October 1975. KAREN FRYER: He just worked down at the end of the block
from where I lived. And he had been coming to my house every day at noon on his lunch hour, because he was waiting
for some checks that were being mailed to him, money owed to him. He had just wrecked his car two weeks before.
And I said to him, instead of going home tonight after work, why don't you just stay at my house tonight,
get up in the morning and go to work, and that way you don't have to hitchhike. NARRATOR: As Karen headed out to a Halloween party,
she had no idea it would be the last time she would see her brother. KAREN FRYER: The last day that I saw Larry, he was upbeat,
nothing out of the norm. Said he'd see me the next day. And we went to the party.
And when we got home at like 3:00 in the morning, my lights were on, my TV was on.
My house was in a little disarray, and Larry was very neat and clean. And so I thought, well, he just ran out for a minute,
he'll be back. So we just went to bed thinking everything was fine. NARRATOR: The following morning when Karen woke,
it seemed that Larry had already left for work. KAREN FRYER: Later on that morning,
the mail came, and his checks came. And so he didn't come at lunchtime, and he had come every day that week at lunch.
And so I went down to his work at the end of the corner, and his boss told me he didn't show up for work.
And so we knew something was up. But I thought, did he go out with some friends,
and just didn't sleep and didn't go to work. NARRATOR: The following morning however, there
was still no word from Larry. KAREN FRYER: The next morning, my mother called me and said,
Larry was supposed to have come today, and he didn't. And then we knew something was wrong.
So my mother went and filed a missing persons in that area. And then we waited. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: This poor family suffered for two years,
not knowing what had happened to Larry. And it was only when Kearney confessed in 1977, that they
actually knew what happened. KAREN FRYER: The day that the police contacted my mother
and said they needed to speak to me, because I was the last one to see him. They wanted to get my story and corroborate it with what
Kearney had told them. NARRATOR: Kearney had told the investigators exactly what had happened to Larry Walters
on that fateful Halloween night. GEOFFREY WANSELL: Larry is used to hitchhiking, and so
perfectly prepared to accept a lift from this mild mannered, ordinary looking little man.
Kearney drives him back to his house in Redondo Beach. But Larry has underestimated the man who's picked him up.
Tragically, Kearney shoots him in the head and kills him. KAREN FRYER: I remember the police, after all
of the questions they asked me, asking me, do you have any questions? And I said, yes, I have just one.
And my mom knew what it was going to be, and she left the room. Begging me not ask it.
And the officer told me, I know what you want to know. Did he suffer? And I said, yes.
And he said, no, Larry never knew anything from start to finish. And I have to believe that.
It wasn't like he was in a car accident or that he was in the hospital, we could say our goodbyes
When I saw him on Friday, I didn't know it was the last time. NARRATOR: The body of 21-year-old Larry Walters
has never been found. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: The family haven't been able to say goodbye because they don't have a body.
And this is really significant for me, because Kearney is an offender who is incredibly organized.
He knows exactly where this body is. But I think he's not going to reveal the location of it,
because bodies tell stories. They tell us what happened in regards to a particular murder.
And there is something about this story that Kearney does not want out in the open.
And that's really significant for me. But it's really significant for the family
as well, because they will continue to suffer whilst he still retains this information.
NARRATOR: During the police interview, Kearney unashamedly detailed his perverse necrophilia.
DAN BACALSKI: After he shot them in the head, he would cut a hole in them and have
sexual intercourse with their bodies, because he felt empowered by it. DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: This is a killer who is a lot more
comfortable with the dead than he is with the living, because the dead are easier to control.
They cannot insult you, they can't reject you, they can't make you feel bad about yourself.
NARRATOR: The nefarious killer appeared to display no shame during his confessions.
DAN BACALSKI: You would be able to have a conversation with him sitting here and talk about a lot of things,
and never have an inkling that there's something bizarre about this guy, there's something weird about this guy.
You would not get that feeling with this man. GEOFFREY WANSELL: There were no tears running down his cheeks.
There was no remorse. There was no empathy for the victims. There was absolutely no understanding of the pain
he'd caused their families. Absolutely blank. And I think that's how he got away with hiding in plain sight
for all those years. NARRATOR: Once Kearney's confession was done, investigators had to try and link the killer's confessions
to actual missing persons. DAN BACALSKI: Well it took a long time to interview him and get all of his stories correct.
And then the law enforcement contacted other jurisdictions, in other words, to try to match up
his stories with actual bodies or missing persons. That work went on for some length of time.
NARRATOR: In December 1977, Patrick Kearney pleaded guilty to the murder of the three men
whose bodies have been found in Riverside County. Arturo Marquez, John LaMay, and 21-year-old Albert Rivera.
Despite sharing a home with his partner for nine years, a house where human blood had been found,
it was Kearney, and Kearney alone who was charged with the murders. When we took the case and presented
this physical evidence, the confession, and the testimony to the grand jury, they did not indict David Hill,
and he was let free. NARRATOR: Kearney was sentenced to life in prison, but investigators hadn't finished with him yet.
In February 1978, he was charged with a further 18 killings in neighboring Los Angeles County.
Deputy DA, John Breault, led the prosecution against the so-called Trash Bag Killer.
JOHN BREAULT: When I took over the case, Mr Kearney had already been arrested. And it was just tying all the loose ends together,
and assimilating all the information so that we had a fileable case. NARRATOR: Kearney had already confessed to the murders,
and the evidence against him was strong. Investigators had found a link between the killer,
and the number of his victims. A very specific item that was readily available to the 38-year-old engineer.
The police officers tied Patrick to these cases, because of the type of tape he used to wrap these victims in.
After he killed the victims, he cut them up, wrapped them in plastic bags, and then wrapped those bags
with a very distinctive tape that's only used in one place in Southern California,
and that's at Hughes Aircraft. NARRATOR: Kearney had taken the distinctive tape and trash bags
he used to dispose of his victim's bodies, from his place of work. It was also where he'd spotted one of his youngest victims.
For a seasoned prosecutor like John, the heartbreaking story of the eight-year-old boy
who lost his life at the hands of Patrick Kearney, was the one that stood out. JOHN BREAULT: The case I remember most,
it was a little different than the other cases, it's Merle Hondo Chance. Chance was riding his bicycle in the parking lot at Hughes
Aircraft, and had a problem. Patrick Wayne Kerney came out and saw, and tried to help him.
Eventually, put the bicycle in the back of the pickup truck they used in the other murders, drove him to a bike shop
at the corner of Washington and Sepulveda Boulevard. Got the bike fixed. Took him down for a hamburger and a shake at the hamburger
stand next to Tito's Tacos, at the corner of Washington and Sepulveda. GEOFFREY WANSELL: And Kearney, as a little extra penchant
something to the invitation, he tells the boy, I tell you what, one day I'll take you to Disneyland.
The boy must have been thrilled. NARRATOR: But Kearney had no intention of taking
Merle to a theme park. Unlike his other victims, Kearney didn't kill the eight-year-old for sexual gratification,
he killed Merle Hondo Chance because he was worried about getting caught. JOHN BREAULT: He was with him for a period of time,
for a couple of hours. And in Patrick Wayne Kearney's mind, he had said or intimated enough information to Hondo Chance,
that if Merle Hondo Chance spoke to anyone about that, the police officers would find out and know that Patrick
Wayne Kearney was the killer. And that's why he killed Merle Hondo Chance. NARRATOR: As the prosecution were processing the paperwork
for 18 murders, including that of Merle Hondo Chance, Patrick Kearney, just as he had in Riverside County,
decided not to contest any of the charges. GEOFFREY WANSELL: At the preliminary hearing
in Los Angeles, the municipal judge asked him why he'd done it. The families of the victims want to know why.
Can you tell us why? And Kearney said, and I quote precisely, "I'd prefer not to."
DAN BACALSKI: I don't think he was ashamed. I don't think he was embarrassed by this.
It was just matter of fact. You might as well have been talking about living on a farm
and killing your cows, and steers, and pigs for food. It just had no emotion about it.
NARRATOR: It soon became clear that Patrick Kearney pleaded guilty to protect his partner David Hill.
JOHN BREAULT: Patrick Wayne Kearney did not go to trial, because he made a deal that the DA's office would not
seek the death penalty if we did not go after his roommate on any of these charges.
Patrick pled guilty to 21 counts of first degree murder with youths. That also would merge with the three counts from Riverside.
They are all-- after he was sentenced-- merged by law, into one count of murder.
GEOFFREY WANSELL: We will never know for certain how many people Kearney killed.
What we can say, with some degree of certainty, is that there were probably more than 21 victims.
Chillingly, even the killer couldn't remember how many people he'd killed. NARRATOR: Kearney's admission of sole responsibility
for the death of 21 people, meant that his victims' families may never truly know what really
happened to their loved ones. GEOFFREY WANSELL: I would like to have seen Kearney
pilloried in court, not least for the benefit of the victims' families. They were airbrushed out of the story.
Yes, I know there were a lot of them. But many of them felt they had been denied,
cheated out of their day in court. As ever, Kearney was manipulative, deceitful,
and denied them their right. It was truly despicable. NARRATOR: But the fact that Kearney was behind bars,
was a sweet relief for Patricia, the mother of John LaMay. TERESA ROONEY: I remember her saying,
that the greatest comfort that she takes from John's death, is that John is the one that caught Patrick Kearney,
and that he could do it no more. And it seemed like that was what really gave her peace of mind and heart,
that she came to grips with that. That if it meant for no one else to be killed,
almost like a sacrifice, then so be it. NARRATOR: It had been a tough journey for the family members
of many of the other victims. LAURA MASTRO: When he was spoken of as one of the victims,
they would say, John LaMay and 20 others. And our brother was never really mentioned.
And we felt like he fell under the radar, and he mattered. Larry was sweet, and kind, and innocent.
And he fell victim to somebody that we consider evil. And we don't want to be here, but we
think it's important for everybody to know who these people were that we lost. So it's difficult, but it's important.
DR. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: I think having to rely on your loved ones killer for the narrative for the story of a murder,
is really devastating, because they have control over that narrative. The victim has been silenced, they can't
tell their side of the story. This is something I come across in a lot of cases,
where there's a nobody murder, you are completely reliant on the testimony of the serial killer.
And as we know they are wholly unreliable. NARRATOR: Patrick Kearney robbed the Walter's family
of a lifetime of memories. KAREN FRYER: My fondest memory-- Probably one of the last pictures I have with him,
is holding my daughter on Easter of the year he died, with her Easter basket. She was a year old.
And him just smiling. LAURA MASTRO: We want people to hear, Larry Gene Walters. And we want them to know he was important.
NARRATOR: Patrick Kearney is currently serving life at Mule Creek State Prison in California.
The killer confessed to 32 murders during his initial interrogation in July 1977.
So investigators are certain that he is guilty of more than just the 21 killings
he was convicted of. GEOFFREY WANSELL: If Kearney hadn't been caught, he would have gone on, and on, and on.
Serial killers never stop, they escalate. And Kearney was a perfect example of that.
JOHN BREAULT: I remember a lot of my cases, but obviously, this was the most number of dead bodies
that I ever handled. And that's probably the reason I remember it. DAN BACALSKI: His lack of emotion, his matter
of fact attitude, and kind of a shrug of the shoulder accepting it. To me, that's real evil.
I can still see him. If I think about him in my mind's eye, I can still picture him as he appeared then.
You won't forget something like that. NARRATOR: Kearney was a callous killer who terminated the life
of his innocent victims for nothing more than his own perverse sexual pleasure. We may never know how many young men he picked up and murdered.
But his cold hearted confession proves that he had no remorse for them whatsoever, which makes Patrick
Kearney, one of the world's most evil killers. [MUSIC PLAYS]

A profile into the murderer who terrorised the gay community as the ‘Trash Bag Killer’ and confessed to killing 32 victims.

An in-depth look at the lives and crimes of some of the world's most evil killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, Cary Stayner, Leonard Lake, Dorothea Puente and more.

Brief Summary

Patrick Kearney, The Trash Bag Killer, confessed to over 30 murders, shocking investigators and devastating victims' families in Southern California.

Key points

The Trash Bag Killer's Confession. Patrick Kearney confessed to killing more than 30 people, shocking investigators.
The Impact of John LaMay's Murder. The murder of 17-year-old John LaMay devastated his family dynamics.
A Chilling Interview. Detective Dan Bacalski describes the sobering experience of interviewing Kearney.
Kearney's Gruesome Methods. Kearney detailed his horrific methods of dismembering his victims during an interrogation.
The Confession of Patrick Kearney. Kearney confessed to killing 32 young men and boys, revealing chilling details about his crimes.
The Tragic Story of Larry Walters. Larry Walters, a mentally slow young man, went missing and was later confirmed as a victim of Kearney.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I don't know, but more than 30.

Patrick Kearney's chilling confession to investigators.

0:24WatchAug 19, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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