From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frankford Slasher
Police sketch of the Frankford Slasher
Background information
Also known as:	Leonard Christopher (convicted of one of the murders)
Killings
Number of victims:	8-9
Span of killings:	1985–1990
Country:	USA
State(s):	Frankford, Pennsylvania
Date apprehended:	? - Leonard Christopher May 5, 1990

The Frankford Slasher is the name given by the media to a possible serial killer who operated in and around the neighborhood of Frankford of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1985 to 1990. Leonard Christopher was convicted in the murder of one of the nine supposedly linked victims, but the others remain unsolved. All the victims were sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. Several of the victims were seen with a middle-aged white man shortly before their deaths.

Possible Victims

• Helen Patent, 52, killed August 19, 1985
• Anna Carroll, 68, killed January 3, 1986
• Susan Olszef, 64, killed December 25, 1986
• Jeanne Durkin, 28, killed January 8, 1987
• Catherine M. Jones, 29, killed January 1987 (connection to other murders is disputed)
• Margaret Vaughan, 66, killed November 11, 1988
• Theresa Sciortino, 30, killed January 19, 1989
• Carol Dowd, 46, killed April 29, 1990 (Leonard Christopher was convicted of her death)
• Michelle Dehner, 30, killed September 6, 1990

Leonard Christopher

During the investigation into the death of Carol Dowd, Leonard Christopher, an employee at a nearby fish market, became a suspect. Despite the fact that he did not match the witness's description, and that there was no evidence to link him to any of the other eight murders, and little evidence linking him to Dowd's murder, he was tried and convicted of first degree murder on December 12, 1990.

See also

• Crime in Philadelphia

References

• Crime Library article
• "Under the El," Duane Swierczynski, Philadelphia City Paper