Cold Case Files/Jeffrey Gorton
tinydancer
The Gorton files: The twisting story of a killer's obsessions
VIENNA TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, February 23, 2003
By Bryn Mickle
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Today and Monday, The Flint Journal reconstructs the life of murderer
Jeffrey W. Gorton from stacks of never-before-revealed evidence and police
reports.
Vienna Twp. - Jeffrey W. Gorton seemed like Mr. Average.
The meek suburban dad rarely raised his voice, helped his two children with
their homework and attended Baptist church services with his family.
But Gorton also hid secrets that went far beyond his kinky passion for
wearing women's underwear to bed.
By the time he was convicted of two savage murders that baffled police for
more than a decade, detectives had uncovered an obsession that led Gorton to
steal thousands of panties, nylons and bras from countless bedrooms in
Genesee County.
Using his job as a sprinkler worker for cover, Gorton rifled through homes,
including those of some of the area's most prominent residents, to satisfy
his obsession for underwear.
Police still don't understand what triggered Gorton to kill.
"How do you go from nylons and panties to murder?" said Dave King, a retired
Flint police detective who investigated one of Gorton's slayings.
Oblivious to her husband's double life as a serial killer, Gorton's wife
said she was never aware of Gorton's past that included almost 2 years in
prison where he was allegedly raped.
Sandra Gorton told police she had no idea her husband kept plastic tubs
filled with stolen underwear in the attic and had no clue he had spliced
videotapes that included rape scenes from movies, clips of actresses in
their underwear and shots of himself masturbating wearing a pair of white
nylons.
"The hardest part is to realize each day, the one I thought I knew, is
something I never imagined," said Sandra Gorton in her first public
statements since Gorton's conviction of two murders.
Her divorce from Jeffrey Gorton
should become final in May but she has already changed her last name.
Two weeks before he first met Sandra at a Burton bowling alley in November
1986, Jeffrey Gorton raped and killed Margarette F. Eby in the gatehouse of
the Mott estate in Flint.
Five months after their September 1990 marriage in Flint, Gorton killed
flight attendant Nancy J. Ludwig in a hotel room at Detroit Metropolitan
Airport.
Sandra never knew that her new husband spent almost two years in the Florida
prison system in the mid-1980s for knocking down women and stealing their
underwear. He later told his first wife at that time, Dawn Hemingway, that
he was raped in prison and then became involved in homosexual relationships
with fellow inmates.
"He said he was looking for a sensation," said Hemingway.
Sandra Gorton told police she didn't find out about her husband's underwear
fetish until she was nine months pregnant with the couple's son and found a
pair of nylons in their bed.
Gorton told her he had gotten them from a stripper, but Sandra found out the
truth several years later when he started wearing nylons to bed.
He told her he had been born with a fetish, leading Sandra Gorton to start
spending nights on the couch. She also asked him not to wear the nylons in
front of the children.
But knowing her husband had a kinky fetish didn't prepare her for the shock
that the man who had watched the birth of their two children was a savage
killer.
Gorton had never been violent, shown anger or even raised his voice, she
told police, adding that she heard him swear only once, when she told him to
go down a driveway and the car got stuck.
The Gorton she knew was the loving father of their children, who made sure
the kids got on the bus, helped them with homework, went to Baptist church
services in Mt. Morris on Sundays and kept the house clean.
"Everything was so far out of left field, it devastated Sandy," said
brother-in-law Dan Loga of Flint. "It turned her world upside down and
inside out."
Gorton, 40, has declined numerous requests for interviews and is now at
Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson where he is being
evaluated and tested for placement in the state prison system.
His search for new sensations apparently began in junior high school when
Gorton developed a fetish for his mother's clothing, he told police when
questioned last year about the murders.
He began going into his classmates' homes to steal underwear, establishing a
pattern of larceny that eventually led to his arrest in Florida in 1983 for
knocking down women and pulling the slips from their bodies.
Gorton told detectives last February that he knew it was wrong to want
underwear but that he never got help in prison and still had urges.
He managed to keep those urges hidden when he met his first wife in March
1981 at a Flint roller rink.
To this day, Hemingway doesn't know what attracted her to Gorton, a pimply
faced senior at Flint Southwestern High School and member of the chess team.
"He was this nerdy, geeky guy," said Hemingway. "In the book world he was a
genius. In the real world? Dumb as a box of rocks."
When she became pregnant with his son three months later, Gorton enlisted in
the Navy to escape but in February 1982 finally agreed to marry. He later
told her he had not wanted to get married because of his fetish for women's
clothing.
The couple began living in an Orlando, Fla., trailer park while Gorton
studied at the Navy's nuclear power school at the nearby Orlando Naval
Training Center.
Soon, neighbors began to gossip that Gorton was stealing women's underwear
from other trailers and the park laundry room.
After the park manager told police he had seen 50 to 100 pairs of panties
strewn across Gorton's bed, the couple were forced to move to an apartment.
At the same time, Gorton had become a suspect in a series of assaults on
women on and around the naval base. When Orlando and military police
questioned him, he admitted to the assaults and was released on bond.
The threat of jail wasn't enough to deter Gorton, who tried to break into a
woman's apartment while on bond but was caught and sent to prison when
police found his fingerprint.
He was sentenced to 41/2 years but was paroled after almost 2 in prison.
Hemingway said she demanded a divorce when he told her about his experiences
in prison.
"I couldn't look at him in the same way, not after what he had done and what
he had gone through in prison," she said.
The divorce was final in March 1988 and Gorton cut ties with Hemingway,
occasionally talking to her about child support for his son. Gorton has not
seen his first son since the boy was 2, she said.
When he was released from prison in 1985, Gorton returned to his parents'
home and began working with his brothers at his parents' sprinkler business
in April 1986.
Buckler Automatic Lawn Sprinklers in Flint Township was perfect for Gorton,
who didn't have to worry about employers digging into his past.
Never opening up about his prison time in Florida, Gorton would tell people
he had studied to be a naval electrician but hoped to take over the
sprinkler business someday.
Working with his brothers from Easter until late fall, Gorton took winters
off and collected unemployment.
The business also gave him unfettered access to homes where he could satisfy
his obsession.
Sprinkler controls and water valves are often located in the basements or
garages of homes, where Gorton could be alone while his partner was outside
working on the sprinkler heads.
When police searched the attic of his Tuscola Road home after his arrest
last February, they uncovered thousands of articles of women's clothing,
many of which had been labeled with names, dates and locations.
Not everyone, however, was surprised when word spread of Jeffrey Gorton's
arrest last February.
Some of his former co-workers at the sprinkler company described Gorton as a
pervert who said rude things about women he passed.
"One of these days your perverseness is going to get you in trouble," said
one.
Other former co-workers told police it was common knowledge he stole
underwear and that he was nicknamed "Uncle Perve" and "panty sniffer."
Shortly after Gorton's arrest last year, Sandra Gorton told police she
visited her husband in jail and asked "how you could you do this to me and
the kids?"
"This all happened before the kids," she said he replied, adding she needed
to go on with her life.
The family declined to comment on Gorton's son and daughter, 11 and 8,
because they want to shield them from the case.
In September, a Wayne County jury took less than 90 minutes to convict
Gorton of killing Ludwig. He pleaded no contest to killing Eby and will
spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole.
"I can understand much of what the Eby family has gone through," Sandra
Gorton said. "One day all was normal for me, too. ... The next day, my
children's lives and mine are never to be the same again."
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/fljournal/special/stories/200
30223gorton_main.html
tinydancer
The Gorton files: The twisting story of a killer's obsessions
Today and Monday, The Flint Journal reconstructs the life of murderer
Jeffrey W. Gorton from stacks of never-before-revealed evidence and police
reports.
» The Gorton files: High-profile murder put cops on spot
Flint - When Flint police began investigating the slaying of one of the
city's elite, nobody thought to look at the sprinkler man.
» The Gorton files: Cases solved, but Gorton's motives remain a mystery
No one may ever know why Jeffrey W. Gorton did what he did.
» The Gorton files: Without a clue, Gorton helped police crack murder cases
Flint - He didn't know it at the time, but Jeffrey W. Gorton gave police
just about everything they needed to catch him when he killed Margarette F.
Eby in 1986.
» The Gorton files: Luck helped Gorton evade detection
Killer Jeffrey W. Gorton managed to evade homicide investigators in Flint
and Romulus for more than 15 years despite numerous run-ins with police for
everything from stalking women to window peeping.
» The Gorton files: Before a trip to Las Vegas, Gorton killed again
Romulus - Things couldn't have been better for Jeffrey W. Gorton in February
1991.
» The Gorton files: Coming Monday
» Suspect had own theories in Eby case, from FBI conspiracy to CIA mind
control
There was never a shortage of suspects in the 1986 slaying of socialite and
former University of Michigan-Flint provost Margarette F. Eby.
» The Gorton files: Police overwhelmed by Gorton's collection of women's
undergarments
Vienna Twp. - A sense of dread swept over police when they looked under
Jeffrey W. Gorton's mattress in February 2002.
» The Gorton files: A perverse odyssey
Jeffrey W. Gorton was arrested more than 15 years after Margarette F. Eby's
murder. But signs of his obsession were evident much earlier.
» Judge orders Gorton to stand trial in Eby slaying
A judge found "overwhelming evidence" to order Jeffrey W. Gorton to stand
trial in the 1986 slaying of former University of Michigan-Flint Provost
Margarette F. Eby.
» Gorton tied to DNA evidence in Eby slaying
DNA evidence from the body of University of Michigan-Flint provost
Margarette F. Eby matches Jeffrey W. Gorton's DNA, state forensic officials
said Thursday.
» Provost killing suspect ruled competent
A Vienna Township man charged with killing, raping and robbing University of
Michigan-Flint Provost Margarette F. Eby in 1986 has been determined
competent for trial.
» Hearing set in UM-Flint provost slaying case
A competency hearing is scheduled Wednesday for the Vienna Township man
charged in the 1986 slaying of University of Michigan-Flint provost
Margarette F. Eby.
» Attorney says Gorton doesn't understand charges
An attorney for Jeffrey W. Gorton, accused of the 1986 slaying of University
of Michigan-Flint provost Margarette F. Eby, says Gorton doesn't understand
the seriousness of the charges against him.
» No match of DNA in 3rd killing: Gorton dropped as suspect in Ill. flight
attendant's death
Police in a Chicago suburb have eliminated Jeffrey W. Gorton as a suspect in
the 1999 slaying of a flight attendant who was stabbed to death in her
apartment near O'Hare Airport.
» Gorton pleads not guilty to slaying, Wayne County trial set
Jeffrey W. Gorton on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges that he raped and
murdered a Northwest Airlines flight attendant in 1991.
» Eby suspect eyed in slaying of 3rd woman
Police in a Chicago suburb are looking at Jeffrey Gorton as a possible
suspect in the 1999 slaying of a flight attendant who was stabbed to death
in her apartment near O'Hare International Airport.
» Gorton to stand trial in '91 killing
An 11-year investigation into the slaying of a Northwest Airlines flight
attendant culminated in a 90-minute hearing Wednesday that centered on
scientific evidence.
» Gorton faces court hearing on flight attendant's 1991 slaying
Jeffrey W. Gorton was due in a Romulus courtroom today for a preliminary
hearing in the 1991 slaying of a flight attendant at a hotel near Detroit
Metropolitan Airport.
» Regimented days for accused killer
Accused killer Jeffrey W. Gorton spends his days at the Genesee County Jail
sipping Kool-Aid, watching television and wearing only a heavy padded smock
meant to keep him from hurting himself.
» Gorton probe widens: Labeled underwear may provide leads
Slaying suspect Jeffrey W. Gorton was charged Monday with the 1991 rape and
murder of a Northwest Airlines flight attendant who was found brutally slain
in a hotel near Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
» Advancements in forensics help unravel crimes of yesteryear - solved by
science
When investigators processed evidence at the gatehouse of Applewood, the
Charles Stewart and Ruth Mott estate where Margarette F. Eby was bound,
raped and her throat slit on Nov. 9, 1986, they were surprised at how
thoroughly the perpetrator had cleaned up the scene of the crime.
» Local woman backed off 1993 stalking case against Gorton, police say
A Vienna Township woman who reported being stalked by Jeffrey W. Gorton in
1993 declined to prosecute him when a state trooper investigated the matter,
a state police report shows.
» Gorton's history one of conflict, Navy evaluation cited mental problem
As details about Jeffrey W. Gorton's past emerge, some people are asking how
a person could graduate from stealing women's underwear to accusations of
committing a pair of heinous murders.
» Help sought for Gorton in 1983, Florida lingerie cases reveal history of
troubled behavior
Three years before he allegedly killed Margarette F. Eby, Jeffrey W. Gorton
admitted pulling underwear off unsuspecting women and stealing more women's
undergarments in break-ins and thefts in Orlando, where he was living at the
time.
» Woman claims Gorton stalked her
State police say they will examine a woman's complaint that Jeffrey W.
Gorton stalked her in the mid-1990s.
» Search finds women's lingerie: Evidence could point to additional victims
Hundreds of articles of women's underwear found in Jeffrey W. Gorton's home
have opened up numerous leads in the investigation of the accused killer
described as a "Jekyll and Hyde."
» Quiet life comes apart - Eby suspect had relatively clean record
Jeffrey W. Gorton's journey from high school chess team standout to accused
killer is marked by contrasts between a family man who led a quiet life and
a convicted robber who spent almost two years in a Florida prison.
» Murder suspect ID'd by Fla. print
A robbery and break-in in Florida in the early 1980s likely led Jeffrey W.
Gorton's fingerprints to be entered in a national database.
» Suspect held in 1986, '91 slayings
A fingerprint left on a faucet at the Mott estate has linked a Vienna
Township man to the 1986 slaying of a former University of Michigan-Flint
provost, police said.
» Suspect denied bond: Charges expected in Wayne County slaying
A judge denied bond Saturday to Jeffrey Wayne Gorton, 39, the accused killer
of former University of Michigan-Flint provost Margarette F. Eby.
proudmari
tinyd...@nospam.com (tinydancer)
<snip most of posted article>
>"I can understand much of what the Eby
> family has gone through," Sandra
> Gorton said. "One day all was normal
> for me, too. ... The next day, my
> children's lives and mine are never to be
> the same again."
Oh yeah, being humiliated by your own ignorance regarding the actions of
a spouse is 'JUST LIKE' having your daughter bound, torchered, raped
and throat-slit.
Sure, her and her children's lives will never be the same, but comparing
that "change" to the Eby's loss is EXTREMELY thoughtless imo.
proudmari
tinydancer
"proudmari" <mar...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:454-408...@storefull-3234.bay.webtv.net...
Did you happen to watch this one on Cold Case Files last night? The crime
scene photo's were pretty gruesome to say the least, that's why I hunted
down a bit more on this case. The cops certainly don't think these two
women were his only victims that were murdered. And they found huge boxes
and boxes of womens panties in his attic. It was stated that the evidence
confiscated from his home took up more space than the evidence they'd
collected on 'all' other cases combined.
td
>
proudmari
> 2004, 3:57pm (PDT+3) From:
> tinyd...@nospam.com (tinydancer)
> Did you happen to watch this one on >Cold
> Case Files last night? The crime scene
> photo's were pretty gruesome to say the
> least, that's why I hunted down a bit
> more on this case. The cops certainly
> don't think these two women were his
> only victims that were murdered. And
> they found huge boxes and boxes of
> womens panties in his attic. It was
> stated that the evidence confiscated
> from his home took up more space than
> the evidence they'd collected on 'all'
> other cases combined.
> td
As a matter of fact I did. I think it was the close-ups of all those
shallow cuts to the head and torso, inflicted only TO cause pain, is why
I reacted as I did to the quote by his mrs.
It struck me the same as someone telling a parent who's lost a child to
a drunk driver, "I know just you feel, _my_ husband's an alcoholic."
It's interesting that everyone in the neighborhood, as well as the guys
he WORKED with knew he was a panty thief, but SHE didn't have a clue.
Yup. Love is blind.
proudmari
tinydancer
>
> > 2004, 3:57pm (PDT+3) From:
> > tinyd...@nospam.com (tinydancer)
>
> > Did you happen to watch this one on >Cold
> > Case Files last night? The crime scene
> > photo's were pretty gruesome to say the
> > least, that's why I hunted down a bit
> > more on this case. The cops certainly
> > don't think these two women were his
> > only victims that were murdered. And
> > they found huge boxes and boxes of
> > womens panties in his attic. It was
> > stated that the evidence confiscated
> > from his home took up more space than
> > the evidence they'd collected on 'all'
> > other cases combined.
> > td
>
> As a matter of fact I did. I think it was the close-ups of all those
> shallow cuts to the head and torso, inflicted only TO cause pain, is why
> I reacted as I did to the quote by his mrs.
Those bothered me too, but also seeing that poor flight attendants arms
still bound to the sides of the bed with twine that really got to me. She
looked so helpless, trapped. That really got to me.
And the fact that the detective said 'he thought this guy had attacked and
killed or disabled her as she entered the room'. I thought, 'if that were
true, why would he have had to tie her down to the bed to assault her then?
>
> It struck me the same as someone telling a parent who's lost a child to
> a drunk driver, "I know just you feel, _my_ husband's an alcoholic."
>
> It's interesting that everyone in the neighborhood, as well as the guys
> he WORKED with knew he was a panty thief, but SHE didn't have a clue.
> Yup. Love is blind.
Deaf and dumb apparently too. :(
td
>
> proudmari
>
grea.la...@gmail.com
Hey, anyone know if stem cell research was done on the brain of this serial killer?
Was that stem cell transfer interrogation done? If so, who was the victim who had to have the abuse of the inner workings of that man's brains?