Catch Me Before I Kill More: The Lipstick Killer Case

Catch Me Before I Kill More: The Lipstick Killer Case A message scrawled in red lipstick on a dead woman's wall. A six-year-old girl taken from her bed. And a seventeen-year-old college student who confessed, then spent sixty-five years insisting he never killed anyone. Did William Heirens really murder three people in postwar Chicago? Why did another man confess to the Degnan murder and simply walk away? And what happens to the truth when a confession is extracted with a drug, a spinal tap, and six days without a lawyer? In this episode, we follow the Lipstick Killer case twice: first as Chicago lived it in 1946, then under a modern forensic audit. We move from the murders of Josephine Ross and Frances Brown to the abduction of little Suzanne Degnan, through the largest manhunt in the city's history, to the arrest of a brilliant student burglar and the six days of interrogation that produced the most disputed confession in Chicago history. Person: William George Heirens, "The Lipstick Killer" Date: June 1945 to January 1946; arrested June 26, 1946 Location: Chicago, Illinois, North Side (Edgewater and Uptown) Case: Murders of Josephine Ross (43), Frances Brown (early 30s), and Suzanne Degnan (6) Legal status: Convicted by guilty plea in 1946; three consecutive life terms; never exonerated; died in custody March 5, 2012, after 65 years, the longest-serving prisoner in Illinois - The lipstick message on the wall: "For heaven's sake catch me before I kill more," and the allegation a reporter may have written it - Sodium pentothal, a spinal tap without anesthesia, and a vanished transcript: the interrogation methods no court would allow today - The Chicago Tribune's invented front-page confession, published before Heirens ever confessed - A fingerprint announced to the press, a handwriting match later experts rejected, and a prosecutor who admitted how thin the case was - Richard Russell Thomas: the drifter who confessed to killing Suzanne Degnan and was released The Lipstick Killer case never got a trial, and that is exactly why it never ended. Press play and judge the Lipstick Killer confession for yourself. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].