The tragic case of Barbara Daly

The Socialite who was Murdered by her own son 

Barbara Daly was born on September 28, 1921 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Barbara had a normal childhood. But at the age of 11 she found her father, who committed suicide in the garage. Which left a significant trauma on Barbara. After the tragic incident Barbara and her mother moved to New York and started a new life there. 

In her early 20's Barbara became a prominent socialite in New York city. Her social charisma and beauty lead her to many elite parties and events as well as modeling contracts. She was featured in magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. In fact, she was named top 10 most beautiful girls in New York. And of course she had many wealthy admirers. 

All the glamor aside, in her private life Barbara and her mother were suffering from severe mental health issues. Now at the time mental health wasn't talked about and was considered "shameful". So Barbara secretly started seeing a psychiatrist by the name of Foster Kennedy. 

At one point Barbara became friends with an aspiring actress named Cornelia Baekeland. Later she introduced Barbara to her brother Brooks Baekeland, who was a trainee pilot. She kind of brushed him off but later she found out that they're filthy rich. Brooks grandfather was actually the man who invented plastic! 

Their relationship was very rocky from the get go. At one point when Brooks wanted to get out of the relationship, Barbara allegedly told him that she was pregnant. So they immediately got married because it was heavily frowned upon at the time(still is). 

After the marriage the couple started their lavish life of constant parties and social events. Barbara at this time had a bit of a reputation for outbursts and just being straight up rude. And Brooks had countless affairs.

Regardless, Barbara did end up actually giving birth to a son in 1946 and he was named Antony Baekeland. Antony, best believe, grew up in wealth and luxury but his parents were mostly never around and neglectful of him.

Antony, in his early 20's decided to travel around Europe. In 1967, he met a guy by the name of Jake Cooper who was a bisexual Australian man. They became very close friends and Jake introduced him to various kinds of drugs. 

Soon they engaged in a romantic relationship. somehow Barbara found out that her son was in a relationship with a man. This made her furious. Barbara even drove down to Antony's place and made him move back with them to Paris.

Barbara thought he just needed to meet the right kind of girls. So she set him up with one of her friends' daughter, Sylvie. Sylvie moved to their house and the 4 of them started living together. Imagine Barbara's surprise when, instead of Antony, Brooks started a relationship with Sylvie. 

So Brooks divorced Barbara and married Sylvie. And her son was still attracted to men. To her it seemed like her whole life was falling apart. 

She would even hire prostitutes for her son, but nothing was working. She allegedly went as far as  manipulating her son into having sexual relationships with her, because she was so confident in herself that she thought it would finally "fix" him. 

Tony was diagnosed with schizophrenia which he was unable to treat for his family's "status". And Barbara's actions were affecting his mental state even more. 

On 17th October, 1972 Antony had enough of Barbara. So that day he went into the kitchen, grabbed the kitchen knife and attacked his mother which killed her immediately. Barbara passed away at the age of 50. 

After his arrest he confessed to the murder. He stated that he just couldn't take the abuse any longer and it was driving him insane. To him killing her was the only option. 

Afterwards Antony was institutionalized at Broadmoor, a psychiatric hospital. In 1980, at 33, he was discharged from there. Later he went on to live with his maternal grandmother in New York. 

But it wasn't a happy ever after, because it only took him 6 days to attack his grandmother the way he attacked his mother. Fortunately, she survived even after being stabbed 7 times. 

This time he was sent to prison for life. But in 1981 Antony committed suicide by putting a plastic bag over his head. 

England's whisper killer and his house of horrors

JOHN CHRISTIE:THE BRITISH SERIAL KILLER AND NECROPHILIAC 

John Reginald Halliday Christie was born on 8th April, 1899 in Halifa, Yorkshire. John's father was a carpenter and he was the 5th of seven kids. His father was very strict and had little to no tolerance towards his kids. John was a bit of a loner growing up and was often bullied by other kids.

What really affected John's upbringing, was his grandfather's funeral which he attended when he was only 8. It was his first experience with death and John later stated that it had a profound effect on him. In his teen years he would roam around the cemetery in his past time to be closer to the dead.

At the age of 15 he left school and worked as a movie projectionist for a while. At 18 he was called up to the army to serve in WWI. 

In 1919, John left the army and joined the post office. That is when he met a woman by the name of Ethel and they got married. But apparently it didn't last very long for them due to John's infidelity. 

So later he moved to London. During this time John went to jail many times for small crimes. In 1938, the couple got back together and moved to the ground floor of 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill. 

Things were going good for them for a while but then in 1939, John was called up again to serve in WWII. This time he worked as a special constable in the war reserve police. John said that the uniform gave him a lot of power. 

In 1943, John's wife left the town for a bit. So John decided to get back to his old self. One night he brought a 17 year old sex worker home. And when she wasn't looking, he proceeded to strangle her with a rope. First he tried to dispose of the boy in his house but failed. Then he waited for his neighbors to fall asleep then he dragged her body outside and buried the body in his garden. The girl's body was found nearly a decade later.

Later he went on to work as a clerk. And there he met a 31 year old woman and one night he invited her over to his house. He made her feel comfortable before making her unconscious with coal gas fumes. Then he proceeded to assault her and later strangled her with a stocking. Then he buried her beside his first victim. 

In 1948, a truck driver, Timothy Evans along with his wife Beryl and their 14 month old moved next to John and Ethel. The couples soon became friends. One day Beryl told John that she was pregnant but couldn't keep the baby. So John told her that he can perform an abortion on her. 

But during the abortion something went extremely wrong and Beryl passed away. Many believe that John intentionally killed her. 

Weirdly enough, Beryl's husband went to the police station and told them that he had killed her and shoved her body down the drain. 

So the police went to the house to investigate. They found her body in the bathroom and they even found her 14 month child's body beside her. When the police told Timothy this he was shocked and completely flipped his story. He told them that in reality, John was the one who had killed his wife and children. 

Regardless, they took him to court and he pled guilty. In 1950 he was hanged for murder that he probably did not commit. It was said that he had a very low IQ and that was exactly what John took advantage of. 

In 1952, the couple was on very bad terms again. So on the morning of December 4, 1952 John decided to kill his wife. John strangled Ethel in her sleep and killed her. Then he buried her under the floorboards of their flat. 

Few days after, when John needed money he sold all his belongings, including his dead wife's things and started a life of full freedom. John during this time murdered more women. So, he would go out at night, bring sex workers back to his place, torture them and eventually murder them. 

It was alleged that John had sexual relations with the victims body. Later he would either stuff their bodies in the alcove of the kitchen or in the floorboards like his wife. 

In 1953, John moved out of his house of horrors and went traveling through west London. But apparently for John, when the new owners of the apartment moved in, it didn't take them long to discover the bodies. They called in the police and soon they found the bodies of all his victims. They started a manhunt for John.

But he was found sooner rather than later. One night when he was roaming around the streets a police officer saw him and arrested him. 

After his arrest John claimed that those murders were all mistakes and were all accidental. Regardless he pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity. 

John's trial began on 22nd June, 1953 and after 3 days he was sentenced to death for 4 murders. On July 15th, 1953 John was hanged at Pentonville prison.

And that was the end of the Whisper Killer of England.