WILLIAM HANCE
In Columbus, Georgia 1977-1978 they had what people were
calling the "Stocking Stranglings" which put fear in the city
of Columbus. Seven well-respected women were assaulted and strangled in
there own homes. This put the whole city on the edge for months after.
The strangler did not attempt to hide his crimes and, indeed, he seemed
to flaunt them before the police and public. Also during this time the
news media started getting letters from a person who called himself the
chairman of the "Forces of Evil." In these letters he threatened
to kill a black woman every time the "stocking strangler" killed
a white woman. He also claimed to be holding a black woman captive and
said that he would kill her if he was not paid a ransom of $10,000. The
letters were written on army stationary and the Forces of Evil killer was
quickly identified as Pvt. William Hance, a Fort Benning soldier. Hance,
a black man, was arrested and eventually tied to the murder of three prostitutes,
one of whom he had first knocked unconscious, then propped up against a
tree and crushed her by driving a car into her. Hance was convicted of
murder and sentence to death. It was 1984 before police made an arrest
on the stocking strangler case. Columbus Police Department traced a handgun
stolen from one of the victim's home to Michigan and back to Phoenix City,
Alabama, just across the state line from Columbus to a man named Jim Gary.
Jim Gary told police that he had bought the gun from his nephew, Carlton
Gary. Carlton Gary was arrested on May 3, 1984 in Albany, Georgia. He turned
out to be a Columbus native and had a long criminal history. In 1986 Gary
was tried and convicted of three of the stocking stranglings and sentenced
to death. Despite the heavy weight of the evidence against Gary, which
included a partial confession and an eyewitness identification of Gary
by an elderly woman that survived one of his attacks, there are still people
in Columbus who insist he is not the Stocking Strangler. Part of this relates
to Gary's personality and looks. With a better than average I.Q. (115),
he has what several of his friends and associates call "star quality"
which is common in characteristics of certain types of serial killers.
OTHER GEORGIA SERIAL KILLERS
John
Williams and Clyde Manning, "The Murder Farm killings"
Lendell
Hunter
Junior
Pierce
Wayne
Williams, "The Atlanta Child Murders"
R.L.
Hunter
James
Samuel Walraven, "The Bathtub Murderer"
John
Latham and George York
Paul
John Knowles
Henry
Lucas and Ottis Toole
Janie
Lou Gibbs
Terri
Rachals
Anjette
Lyles
Billy
Sunday Birt
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