‘The Chicago Rippers’ terrorised the city between May 1981 and October 1982 and may have claimed as many as 18 lives. The rippers were four men: Robin Gecht, Ed Spreitzer and Andrew and Tommy Kokoraleis. The gang abducted women, raped them, strangled them to death and then mutilated and cannibalised parts of their bodies. On 6 October 1982 Beverly Washington, a 20-year-old prostitute, fell victim to the Rippers, but survived and was found barely alive by the police. She had been raped and slashed and her left breast had been removed - one of the gang’s signatures. She was able to give the police a good description of the men and while following this lead they found Gecht’s trophy case, which housed the amputated breasts of his victims, parts of which had been eaten. Gecht was given 120 years; Thomas Kokoraleis was given 70 years, whilst his brother Andrew and Spreitzer were condemned to death. Andrew Kokoraleis was the first to be executed on 17 March 1999, but in January 2003 Spreitzer’s death sentence was reduced to life without the possibility of parole. Thomas Kokoraleis had been a key witness in damming the rest of the men and as a result had received the lowest of all the sentences.