J.D.
"Christ , Kid , you're a weirdo!"
Born December 11, 1936, in Philadelphia, Kallinger was surrendered for adoption as an infant, finding a home with Austrian immigrants Stephen and Anna Kallinger in October 1938. His childhood was bizarre, to say the least, marked by parental abuse in the form of floggings with a cat-o'-nine-tails, beatings with a hammer, and repeated threats of emasculation. In the summer of 1944, Kallinger was sexually abused at knifepoint by a gang of older boys, prompting subsequent episodes in which he masturbated while clenching a knife in his fist.
Kallinger married his first wife at age 17, the stormy relationship producing ten children before she abandoned their home for another man in September 1956. A year later, Joseph was hospitalized with a suspected brain lesion, but tests revealed only a "psychopathological nervous disorder." Married a second time in April 1958, Kallinger soon torched his own home for amusement, reaping the fringe benefit of $1,600 from fire insurance. Committed to a state hospital in July 1959, following a suicide attempt, Kallinger would set fire to the family's second home on four separate occasions -- twice in May 1963, once in August 1965, and once in October 1967.
By 1972, the Kallingers had six children at home, including two from his failed first marriage. On January 23 of that year, Joseph branded his oldest daughter's thigh with a hot iron, as punishment for running away. Arrested a week later, he was found incompetent for trial and held for 60 days psychological examination, ultimately ruled fit for trial in June. Conviction on child abuse charges earned him four years probation, with a provision for mandatory psychiatric treatment.
By mid-1974, Kallinger was reportedly hallucinating constantly, holding animated discussions with a disembodied head (dubbed "Charlie") and receiving personal "orders from God." The divine orders included demands that Kallinger murder young boys and sever their genitals, an urge that he confided to his son, 13-year-old Michael, on June 26. When Joe requested Michael's help, the boy responded with enthusiasm: "Glad to do it, Dad!" Eleven days later, they murdered Jose Collazo, a Puerto Rican youth, in Philadelphia, first torturing their victim and cutting off his penis.
Kallinger next set his sights on one of his own children, Joseph, Jr. In his first attempt, Joe tried to make the boy back off a cliff, cartoon-style, while posing for photographs. Failing in that, he took both boys along on a July 25 arson run, bungling an attempt to trap Joe Junior in a burning trailer. Finally, three days later, Kallinger and Michael drowned their victim at a demolition site, the body recovered by authorities on August 9, 1974. Questioned as a suspect in the murder, Kallinger was not arrested due to lack of evidence .
That autumn, the father-son team began ranging farther afield in their search for victims. On November 22, they burglarized a house in Lindenwold, New Jersey, but no one was home. At their second stop, victim Joan Carty was tied to her bed and sexually abused by Joe Kallinger. Eleven days later, in Susquehanna Township, Pennsylvania, five hostages were bound and robbed at knifepoint, the Kallingers making off with $20,000 in cash and jewelry after slashing one victim's breast. Striking in Homeland, Maryland -- a Baltimore suburb -- father and son held Pamela J. captive in her home, forcing her to fellate Joseph at gunpoint. On January 6, the ritual was repeated in Dumont, New Jersey, with victim Mary Rudolph.
Two days later, on January 8, Kallinger and son invaded a home at Leonia, New Jersey, holding eight captives at gunpoint while they ransacked the house. Nurse Maria Fasching was stabbed to death for refusing Joe's order to bite off a male victim's penis, but Kallinger got careless during the getaway, discarding a bloody shirt near the scene. Officers traced the shirt to its owner, and the Kallingers were arrested on January 17 by a joint raiding party of federal and state authorities. (Two months later, Michael Kallinger was ruled delinquent but "salvageable," with murder charges dismissed in return for his guilty plea on two counts of robbery. He was placed on probation until his twenty-fifth birthday, in December 1982.)
Joe Kallinger's first trial, in Pennsylvania, ended with a hung jury in June 1975. Three months later, at his retrial, he was convicted on nine felony counts, sentenced to prison for 30 to 80 years by a judge who called him "an evil man... utterly vile and depraved." Convicted of the New Jersey murder in October 1976, Kallinger received a mandatory life sentence, to run consecutively with his time in Pennsylvania.
Kallinger's outbursts have continued in prison, with Joseph setting himself on fire in March 1977. A month later, he assaulted a fellow inmate before lighting a fire on his cell block. In March 1978, he slashed another convict's throat in an unprovoked attack, but his victim managed to survive. As recently as 1988, in television interviews, Kallinger expressed his continuing desire to slaughter every person on earth, after which he hopes to commit suicide and "become God."
Kallinger married his first wife at age 17, the stormy relationship producing ten children before she abandoned their home for another man in September 1956. A year later, Joseph was hospitalized with a suspected brain lesion, but tests revealed only a "psychopathological nervous disorder." Married a second time in April 1958, Kallinger soon torched his own home for amusement, reaping the fringe benefit of $1,600 from fire insurance. Committed to a state hospital in July 1959, following a suicide attempt, Kallinger would set fire to the family's second home on four separate occasions -- twice in May 1963, once in August 1965, and once in October 1967.
By 1972, the Kallingers had six children at home, including two from his failed first marriage. On January 23 of that year, Joseph branded his oldest daughter's thigh with a hot iron, as punishment for running away. Arrested a week later, he was found incompetent for trial and held for 60 days psychological examination, ultimately ruled fit for trial in June. Conviction on child abuse charges earned him four years probation, with a provision for mandatory psychiatric treatment.
By mid-1974, Kallinger was reportedly hallucinating constantly, holding animated discussions with a disembodied head (dubbed "Charlie") and receiving personal "orders from God." The divine orders included demands that Kallinger murder young boys and sever their genitals, an urge that he confided to his son, 13-year-old Michael, on June 26. When Joe requested Michael's help, the boy responded with enthusiasm: "Glad to do it, Dad!" Eleven days later, they murdered Jose Collazo, a Puerto Rican youth, in Philadelphia, first torturing their victim and cutting off his penis.
Kallinger next set his sights on one of his own children, Joseph, Jr. In his first attempt, Joe tried to make the boy back off a cliff, cartoon-style, while posing for photographs. Failing in that, he took both boys along on a July 25 arson run, bungling an attempt to trap Joe Junior in a burning trailer. Finally, three days later, Kallinger and Michael drowned their victim at a demolition site, the body recovered by authorities on August 9, 1974. Questioned as a suspect in the murder, Kallinger was not arrested due to lack of evidence .
That autumn, the father-son team began ranging farther afield in their search for victims. On November 22, they burglarized a house in Lindenwold, New Jersey, but no one was home. At their second stop, victim Joan Carty was tied to her bed and sexually abused by Joe Kallinger. Eleven days later, in Susquehanna Township, Pennsylvania, five hostages were bound and robbed at knifepoint, the Kallingers making off with $20,000 in cash and jewelry after slashing one victim's breast. Striking in Homeland, Maryland -- a Baltimore suburb -- father and son held Pamela J. captive in her home, forcing her to fellate Joseph at gunpoint. On January 6, the ritual was repeated in Dumont, New Jersey, with victim Mary Rudolph.
Two days later, on January 8, Kallinger and son invaded a home at Leonia, New Jersey, holding eight captives at gunpoint while they ransacked the house. Nurse Maria Fasching was stabbed to death for refusing Joe's order to bite off a male victim's penis, but Kallinger got careless during the getaway, discarding a bloody shirt near the scene. Officers traced the shirt to its owner, and the Kallingers were arrested on January 17 by a joint raiding party of federal and state authorities. (Two months later, Michael Kallinger was ruled delinquent but "salvageable," with murder charges dismissed in return for his guilty plea on two counts of robbery. He was placed on probation until his twenty-fifth birthday, in December 1982.)
Joe Kallinger's first trial, in Pennsylvania, ended with a hung jury in June 1975. Three months later, at his retrial, he was convicted on nine felony counts, sentenced to prison for 30 to 80 years by a judge who called him "an evil man... utterly vile and depraved." Convicted of the New Jersey murder in October 1976, Kallinger received a mandatory life sentence, to run consecutively with his time in Pennsylvania.
Kallinger's outbursts have continued in prison, with Joseph setting himself on fire in March 1977. A month later, he assaulted a fellow inmate before lighting a fire on his cell block. In March 1978, he slashed another convict's throat in an unprovoked attack, but his victim managed to survive. As recently as 1988, in television interviews, Kallinger expressed his continuing desire to slaughter every person on earth, after which he hopes to commit suicide and "become God."