The Gruesome & Disturbing Crimes of The Trash Bag Serial Killer

(Patrick Kearney & David Hill. Picture credit: imdb)

*Please be aware that the details of this post are quite disturbing. I have aimed, as always, to be as sensitive with the details whilst not taking away from the facts of the case. If you have any questions or comments about this post or any case I have covered, please feel free to contact me in confidence at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com* 

Patrick Kearney is a serial killer that you never hear much about but yet, he is one of the most sadistic, calculating and evil serial killers to have ever existed in American history. He committed his gruesome crimes long before the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer but his name might not ring a bell with most people. As shallow as things can be at times, the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer may make more headlines, more books and grab more attention because of the fact that he and certain other killers were (what some may say) good looking? Patrick Kearney just seemed like any other guy, nothing stood out about him, some would even say he looked more like a librarian or a school teacher with his bookish appearance. 

Like a lot of killers hidden in plain sight, Patrick wasn't really the quiet guy next door that he appeared to be on the surface, there was a whole other layer to him, a layer so evil that even the most darkest and most gruesome of horror movies wouldn't be able to recreate the depths of depravity that ran rampant within him. He was born in September of 1939 and raised in California. His relationship with his parents wasn't a very close one, especially with his father who was often frustrated at Patrick's apparent vulnerability. His father tried his best to encourage his oldest son (Patrick was the eldest of three boys) to be more tougher and he thought the best way to teach his son to be more masculine, was to use guns and hunt. A regular past time was the shooting of pigs and Patrick was encouraged by his father to kill pigs by placing a gun behind their ears. 

As Patrick grew a bit older, he found school to be increasingly difficult because he lacked confidence and was a lot skinnier than the other kids, he felt that he didn't have any control and would be bullied constantly. When he was at home and shooting the pigs, he felt a sense of power and satisfaction. Then came the point where the shooting of the pigs was not satisfying enough and he wanted to see what their insides looked like. He began mutilating the dead pigs and playing with the blood and organs. All of this when he was still just a child. It was around the age of 8 that he claimed to have first fantasized about killing people. It began with the bullies at school, he would imagine ways of killing them and getting revenge. This became a theme throughout his life, he would continue these fantasies and anyone could be a target for these sickening thoughts, if someone disagreed with him over something, he would have sick thoughts about harming them. If someone was rude to him, he would imagine doing horrific things to them. As the years went on as well as having a disturbed mind he realised that he had a strong sexual attraction towards men and soon both his appetite for sex with men and his appetite for murder was blurred together. 

I mentioned Jeffrey Dahmer earlier and as I go more into Patrick's story you may see some similarities between him and Jeffrey. Both men were homosexual, both fantasized about murder and having sexual intercourse with corpses as well as mutilating the bodies. One of the differences between them was that Jeffrey would keep parts of his victims whilst Patrick would dispose of them. 

Either by his own personal choice or to impress his father, Patrick joined the US Air Force at the age of 20 and during his time in the force he realised that his feelings towards men was only growing stronger and he discovered that he had struck up a close friendship with a married man. The married man (David Hill) was living with a woman at the time but he was secretly homosexual and when he met Patrick the pair realised that they both had a strong attraction and so an affair began. Feelings between the two of them intensified and when they both left the force they moved in together in California with David having left his wife for Patrick. 

The relationship between them was often tumultuous but Patrick was utterly devoted to David and felt that for the first time in his life he had found someone who finally loved and accepted him for him. Although happy in the relationship Patrick couldn't keep the dark fantasies at bay and it would get worse whenever he and David had a fight. David would use cheap shots during arguments which would hurt Patrick, he would threaten to return to his wife and on one occasion he did but soon came back a short time later. They were both deeply in love with each other despite the difficulties in their relationship. 

The relationship between Patrick and David made me think about Aileen Wuornos and Tyria Moore, this might not come across as understandable at first but you'll see my point as we continue further. Like Aileen, Patrick was the one who supported the pair financially whilst David stayed at home (much like Tyria). Patrick however, was not a sex worker, he had quite a well paid job as an engineer working for the well respected Hughes Aircraft Company. Patrick despite the obvious flaws we know about, was actually something of a genius intellectually. He had a very high IQ and so was able to bring a decent amount of money home which David took full advantage of. 

(Patrick Kearney. Picture credit: imdb)

So, Patrick had a great job and for the most part, a great relationship but despite the positives in his life, he couldn't shake off the sick thoughts and fantasies. He was eager to carry out his fantasies with real boys and men and even more disturbingly is the fact that he did. Young boys and men started going missing, dismembered male remains were being dumped at the side of freeways, there was a serial killer on the loose and it was Patrick Kearney. These sickening murders of innocent boys and men were said to have taken place whenever David was not around or had left the couple's home either for a few days or the time that he went back to his wife....according to Patrick when later questioned by investigators. 

Patrick was using his bookish, nice guy persona to pick up boys and young men, he would shoot them in that back of the head like he had done with the pigs in the past, then he would have sexual intercourse with the deceased bodies before dismembering and dumping the remains. As intelligent as he was, he was still careless because he used a particular type of trash bag to put the remains into and a particular type of tape. Later on when David and Patrick had a pet dog, the animal had a distinctive type of white fur and this would often be found in the bags with the remains as well as carpet fibres they had in their home. 

Patrick later confessed to investigators that he had been carrying out his sick crimes as far back as 1962. With one of his victims he had shot in the back of the head and panicked about the bullet being traced back to him so he actually removed the bullet from the victim's brain before further mutilation of the remains and disposal. The home that he shared with David (whom he claimed had not a single thing to do with any of the abductions, the murders, the dismemberment of the bodies or the disposal of the remains) had been the crime scene to many of the murders, the bath had been used to dismember bodies and drain the victim's blood. The victims had been either murdered in the house or their bodies brought back to be dismembered because of the dog hair and carpet strands that had been found on the victim's remains in the trash bags. 

Patrick Kearney's reign of terror had been going on for 15 years and most of his victims were vulnerable young men, a lot of them hitchhikers or or sex workers. He was finally traced by the police when they were investigating the murder of his final victim, 17 year old John Lamay. John's family were worried sick about what had happened to their loved one and did all they could to find him. John's mother claimed that John had mentioned having a friend called 'Dave' and that he would often spend the night at his house. His mother knew the location roughly and investigators headed over to the house where they encountered both Patrick and David. The house was searched and at first glance it was clear that a lot of evidence in the property confirmed that the cops had the right suspects. The white fur and the distinctive carpet fibres as well as the trash bags and tape all matched up. Investigators had to take it all back to the forensics lab to confirm that it was all a match before they could go any further. Patrick and David were as cool as cucumbers without a look of anxiety amongst them, they were warned to stay put and they agreed, pretending to be unaware of what was going on and only happy to help the police. 

(David Hill. Picture credit: imdb)

All evidence that was gathered at the house confirmed by forensics to be an exact match and the cops rushed over to Patrick and David's house to arrest them but as you can probably guess, they fled the scene. A manhunt was quickly underway and they were placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List with posters plastered all over the place it was going to be difficult for them to hide and so it was that a short time later, 37 year old Patrick Kearney and David Hill handed themselves into the police in July of 1977. The pair just walked into the police department, one of them pointed to the wanted poster on the notice board, smiled and said ''That's us''.

Both of them were arrested on the spot and investigators as well as the families of the victims breathed a sigh of relief that they were now in custody and off the streets. In a bizarre turn of events, in the interrogation room, Patrick insisted that David had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the murders. He claimed that David knew nothing and that everything was done without his knowledge. The police investigated David and couldn't find a connection to him and did take note that some of the dates in which the boys and men went missing or the estimated times of death sort of fell in with the times that David and Patrick had been apart from each other, so they let David go. 

This was another part of the story that reminded me of Aileen Wuornos and Tyria Moore, because you may remember me talking about the blood on the steering wheel of the stolen car from one of Aileen's victims. Tyria was driving the car with the blood still there as well as the fact that Aileen was making a lot of money as well as bringing home items that belonged to victims. Tyria always claimed to be innocent of any wrongdoing or knowledge but Aileen was so wrapped up in Tyria emotionally that she protected her. This is just my opinion but I know that many other people have suspected the same but there was no way to ever prove what conversations went on between Tyria and Aileen after the murders and despite Tyria selling Aileen out, Aileen remained faithful to protecting her until the day she died. Was this the same situation with David? Or was David 100% innocent of any part in the crimes? let me know your thoughts on this. 

Patrick confessed to the murders he was accused of and claimed to have murdered even more victims, possibly more than 30. He was convicted of only 21 of the murders due to lack of enough physical evidence but he detailed each murder as if it had only happened the day before. He received 21 life sentences and at the time of writing this post he is currently 86 and serving his sentence at Mule Creek State Prison in California. The whereabouts of David Hill (if he is still alive) are not known. Some of Patrick Kearney's victim's remains have never been found and many victims still  remain unidentified. 

RIP to John Lamay and the many victims of Patrick Kearney. To those who are still unidentified, I hope and pray that one day justice will be done and my heart goes out to all of the victim's families and survivors. 

You may be interested in this little clip about Patrick Kearney's so-called connection to Lee Harvey Oswald (the man who allegedly shot the late President John F Kennedy). You can view the clip here!!

Further Reading & Sources:

The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers | Book by Michael Newton

The Big Book of Serial Killers | Book by Jack Rosewood & Rebecca Lo

Patrick Kearney | Wikipedia

Patrick Kearney & David Hill: Article | The New York Times

Patrick Kearney | IMDB

Patrick Kearney | Reddit Discussion Thread

Patrick Kearney | Murderpedia

Patrick Kearney: Documentary | Youtube

Patrick Kearney Victims | Find A Grave

Redondo beach: California | Wikipedia

Patrick Kearney & Lee Harvey Oswald | Youtube

If you have made it this far in this post, I appreciate it, as I know that this was another very disturbing case to get through. I appreciate your time and would be interested to read your thoughts on this shocking story. Please leave a comment below or email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

In the meantime, I hope you will join me on my Socials and also hope that you will join me for my next post. Stay safe until next time....x 

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