John Brennan Crutchley

The Vampire Rapist

MALABAR, Florida: Twenty-two hours of hell for a nineteen-year-old vacationing in Florida culminated in a rescue by a good Samaritan who was just passing by. The young bookeeper from Westminster, CA was raped and tortured before making a difficult and daring escape through a bathroom window with both her hands and feet handcuffed. When taken to the Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, the young woman was treated for shock, rope burns around her neck, significant abrasions on her arms and legs. During her time in captivity, the girl was raped multiple times and forced to shower with her attacker. It was later released that she was kept in the center for two days because she was suffering from severe anemia. Her attacker had drained her of aproximately forty-five percent of her body's blood content.

Her attacker identified himself several times as a vampire who intended to suck her blood, which he did on more than one occasion. During the final bloodletting, the young woman weakly raised her head to see her blood being collected through a rubber hose into a jar. When the jar was half way full, her attacker raised it to his lips and drained the container.

John Crutchley was a thirty-nine-year-old computer engineer working for the prestigious Harris computer and electronics company in Melbourne. He was born in Pittsburgh to a well-to-do family. He graduated from high school and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Physics at Defiance College in Ohio, and a master's degree in engineering administration from George Washington University. He spent his youth as a loner, but made good wages fixing and rebuilding complex radio and stereo systems. At the time of the attack, Crutchley had two ex-wives, a wife and a son who were out of state visiting relatives.
Inquiries were made to other law enforcement agencies about Crutchley, and the response was worrisome. Deborah Fitzjohn (age 25) had disappeared from Fairfax, Virginia in 1977 when Crutchley was a resident. The state's attourney Norm Wolfinger then ordered a report of missing women since Crutchley's arrival in the area in 1983. The probe produced dossiers on six women and five skeletons, two whose remains had been positively identified - Kimberly Walker (21) and Lynn Kay Desantis (40).
Crutchley was arrested and charged with kidnapping, several counts of sexual battery, possession of marijuana, and theft of blood. Prosecutors accepted a plea bargain from the defense that dropped eight charges, but Crutchley had to plead guilty to kidnapping, and three charges of sexual battery. 23 June, 1986 saw Crutchley jailed for twenty-five years to be followed by 50 years of probation. Under current guidelines, Crutchley was eligible for release in 1993. He is still the prime suspect in the unsolved murders.

UPDATE:

'Vampire Rapist' Commits Suicide


Tue Apr 2,11:21 AM ET

MIAMI (Reuters) - A prisoner dubbed the "vampire rapist" for drinking his victim's blood committed suicide at a Florida prison where he was serving a life term, corrections officials said on Tuesday.

Guards at the Hardee Correctional Institute in central Florida found John Crutchley, 55, in his cell on Saturday with a plastic bag over his head. Doctors were unable to revive him and he died of asphyxiation, state corrections officials said.

Crutchley kidnapped a 19-year-old hitchhiker in 1985 and raped her repeatedly. He tied her to his kitchen counter and used needles and tubing to drain her blood into a jar, then drank from it.

She escaped through a bathroom window, handcuffed and naked, and was hospitalized for the loss of about half of her blood.

Crutchley pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexual battery. He was released to a halfway house in Orlando in 1996 after serving 10 years of his 25-year prison sentence, prompting an uproar among residents who did not want him in the community.

He was sent back to prison one day later when a drug test showed he had used marijuana. Crutchley admitted he had smoked it during a going-away party in prison the night before his release. He was sent back to prison for life for violating parole.

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