In 1912 John Frank Hickey, "The Postcard Killer," was one of the
first known and captured serial killers.
This fascinating story tells how a solitary milquetoast of a man
wandered the American east coast for decades, harboring a terrifying
assortment of personal demons. Many of the behavior patterns that have
long since come to be trademarks of the sociopathic killer are revealed
in Hickey's long, demented life of crime.
Unfortunately, the police and investigators in the early 20th
Century had few if any tools to battle with a solitary individual's
compulsion to murder young newsboys who wandered the urban streets
alone.
From his first murder at eighteen until his capture and conviction
nearly three decades later, Hickey traveled and worked at anonymous
clerical or engineering jobs while he committed murders of breathtaking
brazenness, sometimes attacking in open view.
Hickey was well into middle age when his need for public attention
drove him to taunt his victims' families and mock the police. He began a
long series of correspondence about his crimes in the form of postcards.
He enjoyed knowing that they could be read by anybody while they were en
route. The postcards eventually formed the net that snared him.