The Craigslist Killers

Caldwell, Ohio, is a small town of about 2,200 people in Noble County, in the south-east of the state, roughly an hour and a half from Columbus and two hours from Pittsburgh. James Pietragallo sketches it as a close-knit place of mom-and-pop businesses where everyone is friendly but where the oil and gas boom has pushed rents up, the median household income is only $43,185 against $69,000 nationally, and the median home costs $115,500. It was founded in 1857 and named for Joseph and Samuel Caldwell, who owned the original town site, and it became a real town only when the Pennsylvania Railroad arrived in the 1870s. Noble County is also where the first North American oil well was struck, in 1814, and where the navy dirigible USS Shenandoah broke up in a storm in 1925, killing 14 people. None of that prepares the listener for the story James then tells.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now His father Mike, president of the North Coast Motorcycle Club, was a disciplinarian who beat him, once breaking his nose over a lost report card, and who disappeared to biker bars at weekends. His mother Yvette was a crack addict who left him to fend for himself. details of the account remain covered until revealed He became the boy's counsellor, his 'uncle dad', the one adult who turned up when he said he would. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed On release he returned to Akron, opened a halfway house on Yale Street, ministered at the Hope Cafe and presented himself as Chaplain Rich. The halfway house was in fact a brothel. He pimped about twenty women, kept them supplied with crack through his own detox system of three rocks, then two, then one, and took the money. His favourite was a 17-year-old named Savannah, who died of an overdose on his watch. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

His solution was a Craigslist advertisement. In August 2011 he offered $300 a week and a free double-wide trailer to someone who would watch a farm in southern Ohio, remark on the changing seasons and make sure no equipment was stolen. The land was real, in a corner of Appalachia near Caldwell, but it belonged to a coal company, not to him. He interviewed applicants at the food court of Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, using an official-looking application form and asking whether they had a wife, children or anyone who would look for them, whether they could live in peaceful isolation, and what vehicle and possessions they would bring. The advertisement was designed to attract unattached men whose lives had gone wrong, men nobody would miss. this part of the story is covered for now

The first victim was Ralph Geiger, 56, a homeless former construction company owner from Akron whose business had collapsed in the housing crash. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it They stripped him, buried him and covered the ground. this part of the story is covered for now By the end of August he had a Ralph Geiger driving licence with his own photograph, and he used the identity for job applications to Tech Center Inc. and Walco Trucking, for a PNC Bank account and for medical appointments at Akron Community Health Resources, where he asked for painkillers and claimed he had been treated in Tijuana.

Other applicants escaped by being unsuitable. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Dave LeBlanc mentioned a fiancee and never heard from him again. David Pauley, a divorced father from Norfolk, Virginia, was more typical. He told his twin sister Deborah that he had been hired, loaded his blue pickup and a U-Haul with his possessions, including model trains and NASCAR memorabilia, and left on 27 October 2011. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

On 6 November 2011 Scott Davis, 49, from South Carolina, was taken to a Shoney's for breakfast and then into the woods. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Davis heard a curse and a click, turned, was shot in the elbow and ran. He climbed a tree and hid there for seven hours while he bled, then walked about three miles to a house and raised the alarm. Sheriff Hanham of Noble County did not believe him at first, because he knew of no 688-acre cattle farm in the county, and Davis was rambling. this part of the story is covered for now Davis became the witness who made the case.

The last victim was Timothy Kern, 47, a recently laid-off Speedway parking-lot cleaner from Akron, divorced and the father of three boys. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He claimed that Davis was a hitman sent by a motorcycle gang and that he had no idea anyone had been killed on the farm. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now