51 y.o.mentally ill,convicted triple killer of 3 men in VA,is now a prime suspect in Richmond's unsolved "Golden Years" serial killings of FOURTEEN older gals,which occured between 1990-1996,Leslie Leon Burchart is the name of our perhaps PROLIFIC SK
Joe1orbit
It is always exciting to stumble upon a very little-known, or newly unveiled,
serial killing case. That is exactly the situation over in Virginia, where we
get a FASCINATING update on 51 year old Leslie Leon Burchart, ALREADY convicted
of serially harvesting THREE men, and now STRONGLY suspected of having
harvested FOUR older women as well, back in 1996.
We learn below that since adolescence, Leslie has been receiving treatment
for schizophrenia. NONE of his treating doctors felt that he was likely, at
ALL, to become VIOLENT. Just goes to show how totally IMPOTENT head shrinks
are, in forming ACCURATE conclusions about their patients. He was arrested in
1996, charged with carrying out three BRUTALLY vicious killings of men. A
fourth man that he attacked, suffered THIRTY-SIX SEPARATE fractures of his
SKULL, so VICIOUS was the attack, but managed to survive! What a GREAT job
Leslie must have done, of successfully HIDING his true Reality rage. Even AFTER
his arrest for the 4 vicious attacks, one of his psychiatric caseworkers told
the court: "Leslie seemed more likely to be a victim than a victimizer." of
course this caseworker, unwittingly, HAS hit the nail on the head. Leslie WAS
and still IS, a profound victim of his society. The fact that he also BECAME a
victimizer, justifiably so, in no way changes or diminishes the fact that he is
a PROFOUND victim.
We get some fascinating details on Leslie's early life. He grew up to HATE
his abusive stepMommy, with a VENGEANCE. In analyzing the victims that Leslie
targeted, detectives came to a startling conclusion: He was targeting MEN who
LOOKED like he did, physically, AND now they say he was ALSO targeting &
killing WOMEN, who looked like his stepMommy! Fascinating and UNIQUE type of
victim-choosing methodology! Head shrinks seem to feel that the fact that he
was targeting & killing men who looked like he did, indicates that he HATED
HIMSELF. I don't think that is necessarily true at all. Maybe he was simply
trying to KILL his PAST. To rid himself of the tormenting memories of his
childhood, by killing "surrogates", that he could ENVISION as representing his
past "selves". Doesn't necessarily mean he was overtly HATING HIMSELF, or
mentally "killing himself", while harvesting these men.
A detective who spoent hours talking to Leslie after his arrest, declares:
"He hated the way he turned out, and he picked victims that were exactly like
him or like his stepmother." Even IF Leslie STATEd that he felt hatred towards
himself, that does not necessarily mean that he did. It is of course true that
MANY societal torture victims, whether they turn to murder or not, ARE BROKEN
of their natural self-love and self-value character, via the GRINDING abuse &
brutalization that they are subjected to. IF in fact Leslie DID hate himself,
that makes his OUTWARD direction of his rage & hate, successfully killing at
least SEVEN humans, all the more impressive.
Yup, in ADDITION to the three murder convictions, for which he is already
serving out a LIFE sentence, cops now say that Leslie harvested FOUR older
gals, aged between 55 and 86. They were all strangled to death in the early
months of 1996.
Cops considered Leslie a SUSPECT, soon after they arrested him in 1996 for
the MINOR crime of TRESPASSING, and he STUPIDLY CONFESSED committing the 4
vicious attacks on MEN, three of which proved fatal, but were not able to come
up with enough evidence to indict or prosecute him, until now. They ALSo say
that he MAY have claimed additional victims in previous years, spent his time
aimlessly wandering around the streets, giving him PLENTY of time and
opportunity to make contact with VULNERABLE, easily victimized folks. Even IF
the victim fatality toll is only seven, that is still VERY impressive, all
things considered. Leslie clearly did NOT have much money, did not have much of
an education, and was uffering from an ORGANIC mental illness, schizophrenia.
These facts make his SUCCESS, in getting away with SEVEN serial killing, even
more impressive than they would otherwise be. And in reality, the ONLY reason
why Leslie is probably STILL not free and harvesting more victims, is because
he made the ONE, TERRIBLE decision, back in 1996, to CONFESS to being a killer,
when cops had NO INKLING that he done anything worse than trespass onto private
property.
Between 1990 and 1996, FOURTEEN older women were SLAUGHTERED, in and around
the city of Richmond. Those murders are KNOWN as the "Golden Years" serial
killings. Many of the gals were STRANGLED to death, some were stabbed to death.
The FOUR older gal murders that Leslie is now STRONGLY suspected of, were a
PART of the total of 14. This means that it is PERFECTLY possible that Leslie
committed ALL 14! I see nothing in the below article that serves to CLEAR
Leslie of any of the 14 murders. He was apparently FREE, and living in the
area, throughout this time period. Being 51 years old, Leslie has had PLENTY of
time to rack up a VERY high victim toll. All SEVEN of the murders he is now
STRONGLY suspected/convicted of committing, occured in the MID 1990's. Leslie
was already in his middle 40's, agewise, by then. Sure, he MAY have only
started killing then, but the odds are that he has victims under his belt,
dating back to even EARLIER than 1990, which is when this 'Golden Years" string
of FOURTEEN older gal murders, began.
Man, I HOPE Leslie ends up being credited for ALL his harvestings, but more
importantly, he needs to be SMART, maintain his INNOCENCE for ALL of these NEW
murders he is being acused of, and DEMAND that he be granted NATIONWIDE
immunity from ALL legal murder danger, in exchange for perhaps providing more
details, or confessing to, some of the killings.
Stay Strong, Leslie!
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of the 2/3/00 online edition of The Richmond
Times-Dispatch newspaper:
He picked victims 'like him' / Police believe Burchart disgusted with his life
Thursday, February 3, 2000
BY MARK HOLMBERG
AND CARRIE JOHNSON
Times-Dispatch Staff Writers
Alleged serial killer Leslie Leon Burchart, a suspect in the Golden Years
slayings, was generally thought to be harmless by those who treated him for his
schizophrenia.
After his 1996 arrest for three murders and an assault so vicious his victim
was left with 36 skull fractures, one of his caseworkers testified that
Burchart had seemed more likely to be a victim than a victimizer.
But now a picture emerges of a man so disgusted with his life and his
stepmother's role in it, he became a killer seeking her face -- and his own --
among his alleged victims.
"He hated the way he turned out, and he picked victims that were exactly like
him or like his stepmother," said Ron Reed, a former Richmond police
investigator who has spent hours with Burchart after his arrest.
Burchart, who is serving a 105-year sentence at a Sussex prison for the deaths
of three men and the malicious wounding of a fourth, is now suspected of
strangling four older women in early 1996: Jane Foster, 55; Elizabeth Seibert,
69; Mamie Verlander, 84; and Lucille Boyd, 75.
Burchart was arrested in 1996 on a trespassing charge. While in police custody,
he confessed to the murders of the three men.
Reed interviewed Burchart about those deaths and began to suspect him in the
Golden Years cases as well.
But police didn't have enough physical evidence to connect him to the women's
deaths.
"He's the type of person who will sit and tell you things but they aren't
true," Reed said.
Now investigators face the daunting task of measuring Burchart's rambling and
often incoherent statements against the facts in several homicide cases and
suspicious deaths that occurred over the years in the West End area that
Burchart wandered virtually every day.
Deputy Chief Teresa Gooch said investigators are aggressively looking at the
other Golden Years cases in reference to Burchart, but as yet have found no
concrete connection.
Golden Years is the label given to the murders of 14 older women in the
Richmond area between 1990 and 1996. Several of the cases, including the four
in which Burchart is suspected, involved strangling. Other victims were
stabbed.
Burchart was born Aug. 3, 1949, and spent many of his younger years in South
Side with his father, stepmother, brother and sister. His father, Samuel C.
Burchart, was a physical therapist at what is now McGuire Veteran Affairs
Medical Center.
His birth mother also suffered from schizophrenia and wasn't in the picture.
Instead, Jane E. Burchart served as the children's mother. Both father and
stepmother are now dead.
"She didn't like those children," said a former neighbor, who asked not to be
identified. She recalled the children being locked out of their home during
thunderstorms.
But the youngsters seemed happy enough.
"They were the sweetest children," the neighbor said. Leslie was a
"good-looking boy, a hard worker. You would've dreamed that he would've grown
up to be anything but an all-American boy."
Records show Burchart worked for a city directory, going door to door checking
information, from 1977 to 1982. For much of his adult life he rented a
furnished room on West Grace Street. He later moved to Hanover Avenue.
Court records from his murder trials show he had a history of being treated at
the Richmond Mental Health Clinic since 1978.
As early as 1992, Leslie Burchart's strange, violent side became known to
authorities.
That's when a Virginia Commonwealth University student noticed a man following
her whenever she left her apartment.
"One evening she was in her kitchen," recalled the student's mother. "Staring
at her through the back door was the man who had been following her. She called
the police."
Burchart was arrested on peeping tom and trespassing charges. There was already
a warrant for his arrest for indecent exposure. In September 1992 he was
sentenced to six months in the City Jail, where he was soon charged with
assaulting a deputy, records show.
Burchart was transferred to Central State in February of 1993, where he stayed
until that November, and was prescribed the drugs Moban and Cogentrin for
schizophrenia. The court record shows he had problems with hallucinations and
hearing voices, and he'd often stuff toilet paper in his ears to block the
sound.
Representatives from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill said those
medications can cause side effects such as the inability to urinate,
uncontrollable twitching, excessive sedation, muscle problems and sexual
malfunction.
Soon after his release, Burchart moved into the Executive Home for Adults, 2524
W. Main St., a home for the mentally ill. A woman who answered the phone at the
Executive Home remembered him as a nice man.
"He was very quiet. I remember he collected cans" for recycling, she said.
He also apparently quit taking his medication, according to social workers.
In July 1996, police arrested Burchart for trespassing. He began confessing to
murders.
The three men he was convicted of killing were generally like him: Close to his
age and street wise. But unlike the 5-foot-11-inch, 175-pound Burchart, his
victims were often smaller. And more frail.
Montaque Dewitt Winston, 35, was killed in June 1994. At the time he died, the
5-foot-3-inch Winston weighed 72 pounds, according to the autopsy. Burchart
told Detective James Hickman that he strangled Winston with a gray towel over a
$275 marijuana debt.
Gary Wayne Shelton, 46, was also small, 5-foot-4, 132 pounds. He lived in an
abandoned car on West Broad Street. Burchart caved in his skull with an
unidentified object on June 14, 1996.
Burchart beat and strangled 42-year-old John Wade Pleasants, a self-employed
carpenter, after the two men got into an argument at Pleasants' apartment in
the 1700 block of Floyd Avenue June 29, 1996.
Burchart also had the opportunity to encounter some of the Golden Years
victims.
Reed said Burchart talked about spending a lot of time at The Shops at Willow
Lawn, where victim Jane Foster worked the evening shift, cleaning tables at the
Food Court. Burchart also told Reed he frequented the McDonald's in Carytown,
where Elizabeth Seibert drank her morning coffee.
"[Burchart] said he would go door to door, acting like he was collecting money
for the church. That's how he gained entry into some of the houses" of the four
Golden Years victims, Reed said.
Police recovered hairs from some of the crime scenes and sent them to the state
lab for analysis, Reed said. But in 1996, when Burchart was on trial for the
murders of the three men, investigators didn't have enough physical evidence to
link him to the four Golden Years victims.
Lt. David Martin, head of the homicide division, said detectives were
originally looking at a different suspect. But as they began to reconstruct the
murders and re-submit evidence to the state lab, the case against Burchart grew
stronger, he said.
But official sources said Burchart provided information about the slayings that
only the killer would know.
"I think we have more than enough to convict," Martin said.
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