Good stuff Geo... just to clear up my poorly worded disclaimer above, I was trying to establish that I had no direct "link" to the murders. I remembered you mentioning you were in the courtroom for closing arguments and credited you with a "personal link." Sorry...
On to Clawson and where to start....
*Clawson was in jail in Camden County NJ in January 1976 for the following charges: possession of a weapon, assault with intent to kill, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, abduction for immoral purposes, armed abduction, armed kidnapping, lewdness, sodomy, armed sodomy, assault with an intent to rape, and carnal abuse. All these charges were a result of his attack on a 13 year old girl in NJ.
*Morgantown police received a call on Jan 9, 1976 from Camden County NJ saying that they had an inmate who was having nightmares about being haunted by the heads of murdered women.
*Morgantown LE thought it was a long shot, but went to talk with him. He offered a 35-page confession to the murders.
*Clawson offered to take officers to the crevice where he had dumped the gun and the girls' heads. One week later, he led police to a rock crevice near Port Marion, PA (about 14 miles north of Morgantown). He was familiar with the area, told police he played there as a child, and had a brother who still lived in Port Marion.
*this is when they found the questionable hair strands in bird nests in the area. 150 strands of hair were determined to be from 2 different female heads.
*Clawson did mention articles of clothing and a locket worn by the women that police never released to the public.
*Clawson took and passed a lie detector indicating he was telling the truth about killing the girls.
*However, at Clawson's arraignment, he entered a plea of Innocent to the murders.
*The judge ordered that he undergo psychiatric testing. Psychiatrists testified that Clawson was probably an "individual of not too high intelligence but he has sufficient and adequate intelligence to stand trial." Trial set for October 1976.
*In the trial, Clawson's attorney said that Clawson was "anything but normal." he was born with a chromosomal defect which caused him to develop breasts as a young man. He was a homosexual and never worked steadily.
*Clawson's attorney said he confessed because he was desparate to get out of the NJ jail where he was facing a possible 143 year sentence for charges listed above. A fellow "jailhouse lawyer" told him to confess to the murders, the charges would then be dropped because he didn't do it and NJ would forget about their charges.
*The confession: Clawson visited his mother the night of 1-18-70 in Point Marion PA. He "borrowed" (I'm assuming this is referring to the stolen car in PA) and drove 9 miles to Morgantown where he was "just cruising around to find someone to pick up." He claimed to do that because he has to have abnormal sex and he has to force people. "When I see someone hitchhiking, I shouldn't say this but, it excites me."
he noticed a couple pretty girls hitchhiking and offered them a ride. When he was out of sight of observers, he threatened them with a gun and told them to lie on the floor of the car. "I was speeding, taking LSD, smoking reefer."
he pulled into a remote wooded section outside of Morgantown, put handcuffs on one girl, handcuffed her to a spring under the front seat, told the other to get in the back and undress. he climbed in the back seat with her and had "abnormal sex." Then he made both girls undress and have unnatural sex acts with each other. They then had unnatural sex with him.
After sex, he told them to get dressed, get out of the car and walk into the woods. he shot one girl in the head and as she fell, she pulled the other one down. he shot the other but the bullet only grazed her. he took the machete and cut off the head of the dead girl while the other watched. "The blood excited me."
Later he decapitated the other, dragged the bodies to a section of the woods and covered them with rocks and logs. He wrapped the heads in a large dirty rags and put them in the back seat. He was returning to his mother's house in Point Marion and he stopped along the way and had sex with the heads. He then threw the heads in the crevice near Point Marion.
At his mother's house, he washed the machete and returned it to his brother's shed. he stashed the handcuffs and jewelry in a vacant house nearby.
On to Clawson and where to start....
*Clawson was in jail in Camden County NJ in January 1976 for the following charges: possession of a weapon, assault with intent to kill, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, abduction for immoral purposes, armed abduction, armed kidnapping, lewdness, sodomy, armed sodomy, assault with an intent to rape, and carnal abuse. All these charges were a result of his attack on a 13 year old girl in NJ.
*Morgantown police received a call on Jan 9, 1976 from Camden County NJ saying that they had an inmate who was having nightmares about being haunted by the heads of murdered women.
*Morgantown LE thought it was a long shot, but went to talk with him. He offered a 35-page confession to the murders.
*Clawson offered to take officers to the crevice where he had dumped the gun and the girls' heads. One week later, he led police to a rock crevice near Port Marion, PA (about 14 miles north of Morgantown). He was familiar with the area, told police he played there as a child, and had a brother who still lived in Port Marion.
*this is when they found the questionable hair strands in bird nests in the area. 150 strands of hair were determined to be from 2 different female heads.
*Clawson did mention articles of clothing and a locket worn by the women that police never released to the public.
*Clawson took and passed a lie detector indicating he was telling the truth about killing the girls.
*However, at Clawson's arraignment, he entered a plea of Innocent to the murders.
*The judge ordered that he undergo psychiatric testing. Psychiatrists testified that Clawson was probably an "individual of not too high intelligence but he has sufficient and adequate intelligence to stand trial." Trial set for October 1976.
*In the trial, Clawson's attorney said that Clawson was "anything but normal." he was born with a chromosomal defect which caused him to develop breasts as a young man. He was a homosexual and never worked steadily.
*Clawson's attorney said he confessed because he was desparate to get out of the NJ jail where he was facing a possible 143 year sentence for charges listed above. A fellow "jailhouse lawyer" told him to confess to the murders, the charges would then be dropped because he didn't do it and NJ would forget about their charges.
*The confession: Clawson visited his mother the night of 1-18-70 in Point Marion PA. He "borrowed" (I'm assuming this is referring to the stolen car in PA) and drove 9 miles to Morgantown where he was "just cruising around to find someone to pick up." He claimed to do that because he has to have abnormal sex and he has to force people. "When I see someone hitchhiking, I shouldn't say this but, it excites me."
he noticed a couple pretty girls hitchhiking and offered them a ride. When he was out of sight of observers, he threatened them with a gun and told them to lie on the floor of the car. "I was speeding, taking LSD, smoking reefer."
he pulled into a remote wooded section outside of Morgantown, put handcuffs on one girl, handcuffed her to a spring under the front seat, told the other to get in the back and undress. he climbed in the back seat with her and had "abnormal sex." Then he made both girls undress and have unnatural sex acts with each other. They then had unnatural sex with him.
After sex, he told them to get dressed, get out of the car and walk into the woods. he shot one girl in the head and as she fell, she pulled the other one down. he shot the other but the bullet only grazed her. he took the machete and cut off the head of the dead girl while the other watched. "The blood excited me."
Later he decapitated the other, dragged the bodies to a section of the woods and covered them with rocks and logs. He wrapped the heads in a large dirty rags and put them in the back seat. He was returning to his mother's house in Point Marion and he stopped along the way and had sex with the heads. He then threw the heads in the crevice near Point Marion.
At his mother's house, he washed the machete and returned it to his brother's shed. he stashed the handcuffs and jewelry in a vacant house nearby.