True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

(From left: Abigail Saldana. Right: Stanley Szeliga. Picture credit: dailystar & collage created by Caledonian Kitty) 

Welcome back to my blog whether you are a regular reader or a newbie, I appreciate you being here and hope you will continue to join me every Sunday evening for more true crime content. In this particular post, I will be sharing with you the first in a short series of chilling true crime cases that have happened in recent times. This series is titled 'The Sugarbaby Murders' and will feature 4 different cases from the USA. If you are unfamiliar with the term 'Sugarbaby' I'll do a brief explanation because I know it can be confusing as there are different types of 'Sugarbabies', those that meet men for physical dates and offer sexual services and those who just talk to men online in exchange for cash payments and no physical interactions occur. 

Now you would think that to some people that would sound like an easy way to make some money and I suppose that it is but the grass is not always greener on the other side as they say. There are cases where both the lady (said Sugarbaby) and the man (customer, client, trick, Sugardaddy, whichever term you wish to use) have an 'arrangement' and both of them know where they stand but in other cases things don't quite go to plan. For example, there are women (and men, cause guys can be Sugarbabies too) who have been known to con men into fake relationships online in exchange for money. There's quite a few on YouTube that do and they try to teach other women tips on how to 'Get that bag'. It's quite scary because they will actually encourage other girls and women to join websites and go on 'dates' with strange men in the hopes that an 'arrangement' can be made. During lockdown we saw how sites like OnlyFans and sugarbaby channels on YouTube blew up and it seemed like every second person you came across was involved in something. 

Live and let live is what I say, if nobody is getting hurt and both parties (the sugarbaby and the customer or whichever name you wish to use) are agreed and on the same path then fair play to them but we have these common incidences where a lot of lies are involved and this is when trouble can happen. If someone is pretneding to be in a relationship with someone for money and that person finds out then there is no indication how that other person will react. Some guys will be deeply hurt and just never contact the lady/sugarbaby again but others can be aggressive, threatening and in a lot of cases, women have been tracked down and murdered. 

(Abigail Saldana. Picture credit: Daily Mail)

So, now that I have briefly explained the background of the sugarbaby lifestyle and some of the issues that can transpire with it, I will share with you this disturbing case from Texas, USA which occurred in 2021. 

Abigail Saldana was a beautiful, talented young single mother of just 22 back in 2021. She had dreams of working in the beauty industry full time and had a great reputation locally for being a 'Brow Queen'. Abigail (who preferred to be called Abby) had incredible makeup skills and was a talented brow technician. She was always doing her friends makeup and eyebrows and had picked up a few regular customers too. She dreamed of opening her own beauty parlour and this is what she was working towards, a better life for her and her son plus to have the opportunity to live out her dreams. 

The trouble was like a lot of things in life, money was tight and being the beautiful girl that she was, she was introduced to exotic dancing in a club. She was never shy of hard work and also had a bar tending job too. The money that she made at the gentlemen's club was easy and a lot more than what she would earn at the local grocery store. She also enjoyed the lifestyle that the money brought her, she was able to afford things that she otherwise wouldn't have been able to have. As is very common in these clubs, there are 'regular customers' who frequent the club weekly and some of these guys have favourite girls who they will pay to dance for them on a regular basis. The customers are not supposed to touch the girls and often is the case that these men will offer the girls more money if they agree to meet them outside of the club in exchange for more money. 

It's well known that exotic dancing can lead into full on sex work (which some people would still call prostitution but that term has now been deemed to be politically incorrect), escorting or 'sugaring' (meaning becoming a Sugarbaby). There's different terms and different approaches and this is why it can be quite confusing for some people to understand because some people believe it all to be a form of sex work ('prostitution' in their words).

Abigail had a regular customer by the name of Stanley Szeliga and she danced for him on a regular basis, he became very fixated on her and offered her more money to meet him in private for (as he claims) sexual services. Stanley had Abigail's personal phone number and the pair would text each other regularly. He would send her money and gifts and they would meet up. Going by the texts between the two, it was pretty clear that they had sexual relations and the majority of the texts that I read were very flirtatious, it was clear that Abigail had been trying to entice more money out of him by messages such as ''Hope I can see you next Friday?'' and ''I definitely can't wait to see you again. Babe you are unbelievable, you had me going crazy.'' These were just some of the responses that Abigail was sending back to the fixated and unhinged Stanley. He sent her a message saying ''I could seriously spend hours between your legs. You are so perfect, both personality and physically!''.

Stanley had been sending Abigail various payments and all seemed to be fine until Stanley claimed that he found out that Abigail (in his words) was 'part of a prostitution ring that was charging clients $2000 a session'. In his mind they were having a relationship, he was 54 years old and she was 22 and she worked as an exotic dancer in a gentlemen's club and he really thought that she could have been interested in something more from him that didn't involve cash. He knew that Abigail worked as an exotic dancer, so he knew she danced for other men for money and somehow that was perfectly ok because in his mind, the men didn't touch her and he thought he was special to her. 

He claimed that he could see himself having a future with her even though the pair had nothing in common and it was obvious to anyone looking in what the actual set-up was. Part of Abigail's job was to charm him in the club as all dancers and hostesses do as a way to entice customers to spend more money. But away from the club, this Sugarbaby arrangement carried on with Stanley regularly sending Abigail cash and meeting up with her, in his mind this was something more. 

When he (as he said) ''found out about all these lies'', he contacted Abigail and made it clear that he wasn't going to send her any more money. When Abigail was told this she switched from being sweet real quick to mocking him and telling him that she never really liked him and that he was just a 'trick' (a trick - a client who pays for sex). 

All hell broke loose because Stanley would not accept this and his obsession and what he thought was 'love', suddenly turned into pure bitterness and hate. He began stalking Abigail online and had made posts about her on Instagram telling people she was a 'prostitute' and that he had paid her for sexual services. At this point, Abigail wasn't bothered about him and didn't really care what he had to say and told him so. It was clear that there was no love lost between the pair. 

Nothing more seemed to have come of this despite alarm bells being raised and police being informed. Abigail posted a video to her Instagram about the tracker and obviously as he was watching her every move, Stanley knew that she had found it. This did not deter him though and he just placed another tracker under her car. 

Just two weeks after this incident, Abigail had been going about her life in her usual manner but on the evening of the 26th of October 2021, she had been driving home when she noticed Stanley's car behind her. Stanley chased her and her car was seen speeding before veering off to the side of the road and crashing. A witness recalled to the police that they approached the vehicle to find Abigail slumped in the front seat, unresponsive and it was clear that she had been shot three times. She was pronounced deceased at the scene. 

The police didn't waste any time (this time) in locating Stanley Szeliga. They contacted him and asked him to meet with them to be questioned, well Stanley didn't show up so they obtained a warrant for his arrest and headed to his apartment. 

At Stanley's apartment, he refused to answer the door so a SWAT team gained entry and found him covered with self inflicted cuts to his face and neck. He was arrested on the spot. The evidence against him was overwhelming and investigators discovered that his car had been seen near to the area where Abigail was found plus his car had been seen around her home on 5 separate occasions in the 12 days before he killed her. 

Investigators also found that Stanley had posted on Instagram just three hours before shooting Abigail. He had claimed that he had given her another $3000 payment and had threatened to tell authorities that she was part of a 'prostitution ring'. 

Stanley said in one of his Instagram posts: 

''I never thought I'd be one of those guys to be taken advantage of. Sharing for awareness. Abigail S, and I, Since July 2021, We have been enjoying each other's company. She's so beautiful and personable that I envisioned a future with her. But dealing with all the lies is overwhelming. I realize that is part of your primary job as an adult entertainer. But leave it at the club. if you only leave your second job, being in a high-end prostitution ring we could move forward. Yes, this pays $2000 per session, but it's illegal. And having a boyfriend whilst having sex with other men?''

As of right now, Stanley Szeliga has been charged with the murder of Abigail Saldana. This horrible crime took place of October of 2021 so I assume that there's been some hold up with the court case. Abigail's mother was determined to see him in court but so far investigators have not commented any further on what's going to happen. We know they have the right guy in custody but what the next step is going to be is currently unclear but as you know, I will update this post as soon as I hear anything. 

So what are your thoughts on this case? Feel free to comment below or share with me via my email at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com 

My thoughts? well like I mentioned before some people can perceive that working in a club as an exotic dancer or a sugarbaby etc is easy money but it actually isn't. I've seen what people go through and the toll it can take on one's mental health and the risks to safety are always there. You never know who's watching you, even us as we post our tweets or Instagram pictures, we have to be careful not to give our locations away. I read about a case where an online stalker had found out a victim's address just by zooming into a photograph and looking at the reflection on her sunglasses. It leaves a chill down the spine. There's risks involved in any job and anyone can be a victim of a stalker but as much as I feel incredibly sorry for Abigail (because she did not deserve to be harassed, stalked and murdered and taken away from her little boy and family) the truth was that she was playing with fire and it was obvious to anyone who knew Stanley that the guy had 'issues'. She put all of that aside and played on his vulnerabilities to get money and being just 22 maybe she didn't realise the danger and consequences of her own actions. This was a 54 year old unstable man who was always at the strip club and he threw thousands at her expecting everything in return. He wasn't going to just walk away as soon as she was done with him. These obsessed types can act like love sick gentlemen with money to burn but as soon as rejection is on the cards they can turn very nasty in the blink of an eye. 

Some of these types of guys can't handle normal rejection where a woman might not respond to a message or take their offer of a drink and they fly off the handle at that. But just imagine the mindframe of a guy like Stanley who's spent thousands convinced he's got a bright future with this beautiful girl who's calling him babe and saying she wants to see him and can't wait to see him, it's a recipe for disaster. At 54 years of age he should've known better and to guys like him who are currently in that situation, they really need to wake up and accept that what they are involved in is an arrangement and make it clear together with the other person, what it is they are expecting from this. I can't imagine how a guy would honestly believe that offering a stripper more money outside of the club for sex is the beginnings of a beautiful and committed relationship but there are men out there who want to be the 'saviour' of some of these types of women, they believe that they can take the girl away from that lifestyle and turn them into what they want them to be, it's crazy. I think they've been watching 'Pretty Woman' too many times. 

As for the women out there who choose this lifestyle, be honest and don't play mindgames with vulnerable and unstable men. I know the money is tempting but it's not worth losing your life over, ending up in prison and plus, it's just a very cruel thing to do, to take advantage of a vulnerable person. Nine times out of ten these situations always have horrific consequences. 

Abigail didn't deserve what happened to her, no matter what her choices were and whatever the true involvement was with Stanley Szeliga, she should not have been put in the position to be terrified, harassed and to lose her life. Her little boy has lost his mother over something so senseless and to think what could have been if Abigail did go on to fulfill her dreams of working in the beauty industry. 

RIP Abigail, you will never be forgotten.

Further Reading & Sources:

- Abigail Saldana: Article | Mirror

- Abigail Saldana: Article | The Independent

- Abigail Saldana: Article | NBCDFW

- Abigail Saldana: Article | People

- Abigail Saldana: Article | Times Record News

- Abigail Salanda | News Report (Clip)

- Abigail Saldana | News Report (Clip)

- Rick's Cabaret | Fort Worth

- Texas | Wikipedia

- Stanley Szeliga: Article | The Sun

- Stanley Szeliga: Article | Fox & Austin

Thank you for as always for taking the time to read my latest post and this being the first installment in The Sugarbaby Murders series, I hope you do find my articles on these cases to be informative and interesting. If you would like to help support my work, I would really appreciate it, you can either donate here: PayPal: @CalKittyTrueCrime or on my Ko-fi page (where you will also find weekly updates) Ko-fi: Caledonian Kitty

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Hope to see you in my next post, stay safe x

(Harvey Glatman. Picture credit: murderpedia)

*Please be aware that some of the details that I will be sharing in this post will be disturbing and deal with child self abuse as well as sexual abuse, assault and murder*

Often, when it comes to Serial Killers, it comes as no surprise when details emerge that their childhoods were less than satisfactory. Nine times out of ten there are signs and red flags of things to come pretty much early on in childhood through actions, behaviours as well as the environment in which the individual is brought up in. You can't always bank on that as we have seen with so many cases where killers have appeared to have had a normal childhood and then suddenly fallen on the wrong side of the law during their teenage years escalating into more and more disturbing behaviour. 

I've written about so many Serial Killers that I've lost count but in this case, the story of Harvey Glatman is particularly disturbing, not just because of his sadistic crimes but his childhood behaviour. To have a child carrying out disturbing sexual acts on himself at the age of 4 is just too much to stomach. Harvey Glatman was obsessed with sexual practices and rope as a child, he would tie things around his private area in order to gain gratification. It's disturbing to write as well as to read but that was the situation. His parents knew what had been going on and had caught him doing these things on many occasions. They turned a blind eye to it at first but eventually sought help to which they were told that it would just be a phase. Well, Harvey's unhealthy and disturbing behaviour was not just a phase, in fact it was the beginnings of a Serial Killer who became obsessed with binding, sexually assaulting and murdering women. 

As disturbing as this intro into this case is, I would like to go into Harvey's childhood to the very beginning. He was born Harvey Murray Glatman on the 10th of December 1927 in New York City to parents Albert and Ophelia. At first, things seemed pretty normal in the household, Harvey was his parent's only child and was the apple of their eye. The family moved to Colorado and there wasn't anything really out of the ordinary, no traumatic events or reported abuse from either parent but for some reason, Harvey started exhibiting some very disturbing behaviour. He was obsessed with rope and string. He would tie things around his private area for pleasure and he was doing this at the age of 4! His parents put it down to a phase as disturbed as they were and hoped that he would grow out of it but it carried on. By the age of 12 he was carrying out sexual acts in the bathroom involving rope. It sounds like to me that he was indulging in Autoerotic Asphyxiation which involves placing a rope around one's neck to the point of choking whilst masturbating at the same time. It's a very dangerous thing to do and has resulted in many fatalities and serious injury. The blood is cut off by the rope and it gives the individual a light-headed rush to the head which intensifies their orgasm. 

His mother caught him in the bathroom and terrified that her son would accidentally kill himself, his parents sought help and shockingly they were told that it was just a phase and that Harvey would eventually stop. The truth was that even during his childhood his parents knew that their son was not normal but they had no way to help or stop him. All they could do was just try and prevent something terrible from happening but they were truly powerless. It is unknown how or why Harvey was doing these things or where he had learnt it from. His parents could not explain it. 

As is often the case, Harvey wanted to carry out these things on women he desired. As a teenager he would stalk women, break into their houses and go through their lingerie drawers. He fantasized about tying women up, having complete control over them. The pattern of behaviour was escalating more and more because he no longer got a thrill just from the masturbation and stealing women's underwear, he wanted to carry out sexual assaults. He had carried out various sexual assaults during some of the break-ins at various women's homes but on one occasion he abducted a woman and subjected her to a horrific sexual assault, luckily she escaped alive and he was put behind bars but it wasn't long until he was back on the streets. 

Whilst he was in prison he had been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as schizophrenic with a sexual impulse which was a warning right there that this guy was a ticking time bomb. Normally, people have sexual fantasies but know where to draw the line, with Harvey there was no line and no dulling down. As soon as he was released from prison his behaviour only got worse. 

Back on the streets he'd discovered a new tactic for getting close to women, to beautiful women that he knew would probably not look twice at him. He posed as a professional photographer and lured aspiring models to his apartment in the pretence of a photoshoot to help with their modelling portfolio. Once the women were in his apartment the tone had changed, he either convinced them or forced them to allow him to tie them up as part of the photoshoot. 

His first known murder victim was the beautiful 19 year old Judy Ann Dull, Judy had been subjected to a horrific ordeal and it was during this disgusting assault that Harvey was reported to have officially lost his virginity. He'd sexually assaulted women in the past but was technically still a virgin up until that point apparently. He was 29 years old at this time. There are infamous pictures of Judy on the internet and which you will often see pop up on documentaries. The haunting picture of her tied up on the chair with the look of fear in her eyes, it's very disturbing especially if you know what was actually happening at that time and after the picture was taken. After Judy's ordeal at the sick hands of Harvey Glatman, she was strangled and her body was dumped in a desert which was on the outskirts of LA. The location where Judy's body was placed became a regular spot where Harvey's victims would be discarded. Harvey would take the women there to further torment them, sexually assault them before strangling them and their bodies would be left there. 

(Judy Ann Dull. Picture credit: murderpedia)

Harvey went on to kill two other women in a similar manner, Ruth Mercado (24) and Shirley Ann Bridgeford (24). He attempted to carry out another kidnap, assault and murder on another victim, Lorraine Vigil (28). Lorraine initially got in his car on the knowledge that they were going to conduct a photoshoot but she soon realised that something wasn't right and tried to make an escape. Harvey tried to threaten Lorraine with a gun but she bravely fought back, resulting in a slight injury to her thigh. During the struggle, she bit him and managed to get hold of the gun and kept the cowardly Harvey Glatman terrified to move until the police arrived. 

(Judy Ann Dull. Picture credit: murderpedia)

To everyone's surprise, Harvey Glatman was only too happy to tell anyone who would listen, that he had killed women and confessed to everything. He'd kept trophies of his victims in a toolbox which contained photographs, lingerie etc. He wanted to be put to death and having been found guilty of his horrific crimes, he was sentenced to die in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison which he accepted. Harvey Glatman died on the 18th of September 1959. 

RIP to the known victims of Harvey Glatman: 

Judy Ann Dull

Ruth Mercado

Shirley Ann Bridgeford

And to all of the possible unknown victims. 

RIP also to the brave and inspirational survivor, Lorraine Vigil who sadly passed away in 2002.

Further Reading & Sources: 

- The Big Book of Serial Killers | Book by Jack Rosewood

- The Killer Book of Serial Killers | Book by Michael Philbin, Tom Philbin.

- Harvey Glatman | Wikipedia

- Harvey Glatman | Murderpedia

- Harvey Glatman | This Day in History

- Rope: The Twisted Life & Crimes of Harvey Glatman | Book by Michael Newton

Thank you as always for checking out my latest true crime post, I hope you will join me in the next one. in the meantime you can find me on my socials here and if you would like to help support my weekly content, donations can be made here

Stay safe x

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As promised, I will be continuing on with more weekly content this year and I welcome your requests!

So here's to 2024, wishing you all the best for this year. Stay safe and I hope you will join me every Sunday evening here on my blog.