Wayne Boden
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Wayne Clifford Boden (c. 1948 - March 27, 2006) was a Canadian serial killer and rapist active from 1968-1971. He earned the nickname "the Vampire Rapist" because he had the penchant of biting the breasts of his victims, a modus operandi that led to his conviction due to forensic odontological evidence, the first such conviction in North America and several years ahead of another serial killer, Ted Bundy.
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[edit] Deaths in Montreal
On July 23, 1968, police found the body of Norma Vaillancourt, a 21-year old teacher, in her Montreal apartment. She had been violently raped and strangled, and her breasts were torn and savaged with vicious bite marks, but found no signs of a struggle. In fact, it was noted that the woman died with a relaxed, somewhat passive smile on her face.
On October 3, 1969, another woman, Shirley Audette, was found dumped at the rear of an apartment complex in West Montreal. Although she was fully clothed, she had nevertheless been raped and strangled, and showed savage bite marks on her breasts as well. Like the previous murder, there were no signs of struggle (such as bloody skin under the fingernails of the victim). Neither victim was under the influence of drugs or alcohol that would have diminished their capacity to resist as a result.
One of Audette's former boyfriends told the police that he believed that she got involved with a very dominant, attractive man because, as she said with a mixture of fear and thrill, she was "getting into something dangerous"; she never mentioned the man's name. Based on this interview, police have surmised that the killer had an attraction for girls who wanted and accepted "rough sex."
On November 23, a jewelry clerk named Marielle Archambault left work at closing time with a young man whom she introduced as "Bill" to her co-workers, who afterwards remarked that she seemed happy and entranced by the man.
When she did not report for work the following morning, Archambault's employer went to check on her in her apartment to see if she was ill. Together with her landlady, they discovered her naked body under a blanket on the living room floor. However, it appeared that she put up a struggle against her assailant, as shown by the wrecked state of her apartment. The killer ripped her pantyhose and bra, raped her, and left his telltale teeth marks on her breasts.
The police were able to find a crumpled photograph amidst the wreckage of Archambaut's apartment, which was readily identified as the mysterious "Bill" by her co-workers. However, despite this apparent break, the police were not successful in connecting the photograph to any known suspect, even through a police sketch based on the picture was distributed for publication in the newspapers.
"Bill" waited two months before he struck again. On January 16, 1970, the boyfriend of Jean Way, 24, came to pick her up for a scheduled date. When she did not answer the door, he decided to come back a little later. Upon returning, he found the door unlocked and found her naked body on the sofa, her breasts chewed all over; it seemed that the killer had been in the apartment when Jean Way's boyfriend was knocking at the door earlier that evening. As with the first two victims, there were no signs of a struggle and she died with a somewhat serene look on her face.
The resulting publicity from the murders put the city under a grip of fear. But it turned out that Jean Way's murder was the last in that city, as "Bill" had disappeared, only to turn up in another city twenty-five hundred miles to the west more than a year later.
[edit] Boden's last victim and arrest
In the city of Calgary, a 33-year old high school teacher named Elizabeth Anne Porteous did not report to work on the morning of May 18, 1971. Her apartment manager was called, and found her body on the bedroom floor. As with Marielle Achambaut, her apartment showed considerable signs of a struggle. Raped and strangled, her breasts were likewise mutilated with bite marks. Amidst the wreckage, however, the police were able to recover a broken cufflink under the victim's body.
In their investigation of the murder, the police were able to find out from two of her colleagues that she was seen at a stoplight riding in a blue Mercedes on the night she died; the car was reported as having a distinctive advertising bull-shaped decal in the rear window. A friend of the victim also informed police that she had been recently dating a man named "Bill", described as a "flashy" dresser with neat, short hair. Clearly, there was a link between Elizabeth Porteous' death and the murders in Montreal.
The following day, on May 19, the blue Mercedes was spotted by patrolmen, parked near the murder scene. A former male model named Wayne Boden was arrested half an hour later as he went to his car. He told the police that he moved from Montreal a year previous and admitted that he had been dating Elizabeth Porteous and was with her on the night of the murder. When the broken cufflink was presented to him, he admitted its ownership. However, he insisted that Elizabeth Porteous was fine when he left her that night.
But the police in Calgary were in possession of a copy of the photograph recovered from Marielle Archambaut's apartment and as Boden resembled the man in the picture they held him for suspicion in murdering Elizabeth Porteous. They then turned their attention to the alarming marks on the victim's breasts.
[edit] Bite mark evidence
The police turned to a local orthodontist, Gordon Swann, to prove that the marks on Porteous' breasts and neck were Boden's bite marks, with the intent to verify them as having been left by Boden. As there was nothing in Canadian forensic literature on bite mark evidence, Swann wrote to the FBI, hoping for any information on the matter. What he got in reply was a letter from then-director J. Edgar Hoover, who directed him to England, where he met a man who had dealt with 20 or 30 cases.
Eventually Swann was able to get the information he needed and based on a cast made of Boden's teeth he demonstrated 29 points of similarity between the bite marks in Elizabeth Porteous' body and Boden's teeth. This evidence was sufficient for the jury of Boden's trial to find him guilty of murder for which he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
[edit] Conviction, imprisonment, and death
Boden was returned to Montreal to face trial, where he confessed to three of the related murders, but denied involvement in the death of Norma Vaillancourt. For these crimes he was convicted of three additional life terms and he was sent to the Kingston Penitentiary, where he began serving his sentence on February 16, 1972.
Boden died at Kingston Regional Hospital on March 27, 2006 of natural causes after being confined in hospital for six weeks.
[edit] References
- Richard Monaco and Bill Burt, The Dracula Syndrome, New York: Avon Books, 1993. ISBN 0-380-77062-8
- Article by Kim Guttormson, Edmonton Journal, March 31, 2006
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Boden, Wayne |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | The Vampire Rapist |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Canadian serial murderer and rapist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 27, 2006 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Kingston, Ontario |
