CA CA - Lawrence Singleton: Brutal Attacker & Killer

[Yaya]

I hope she is doing OK, do you know anything about her life now?

I think she is doing fine now from what I read... after the death of Lawrence Singelton. She is an amazing artist, the mother of two beautiful sons, and lives with her family in Pierce County.

View Artwork by Mary Vincent: http://www.komotv.com/news/printstory.asp?id=21592

News Article:
"I never thought I could ever do artwork because when I had my hands I couldn't draw a straight line to help. I couldn't draw a stick figure."

But she quickly realized that regardless what she used for hands there was an artist living inside her. All this time she had the eye of an artist but didn't know it and didn't have the self-esteem to try.

"I had no self esteem. It took a nose dive straight into hell is what it did. A black hole that's where I was. That's where my frame of mind was, a black hole."

"But now I feel like Superwoman!"

And she has every reason to feel that way. Saturday she held her first public art exhibit. Her dream of a lifetime happened at Seattle's Alexis Hotel. It happened with the help of former ABC News Anchor and friend Asha Blake who organized the show.

"Your attacker can take your hands but your attacker cannot take what's inside of you," Blake told Vincent. "And what's been inside of you all along."

Saturday, the woman who suffered the unthinkable, struggled with homelessness, despair, and poverty in the years that followed, gave the Seattle mayor a tour of her work and fielded offers from people wanting to buy her drawings.

She says she can never erase this memory of Lawrence Singleton but knows that now she can create lasting new memories and remarkable works of art.

"Because of that great appreciation its so great. I can never sleep. I need to know what else I can do. I want to conquer the world."



:blowkiss: I am so proud of Mary for not giving up!

 

[Richard]

It has been almost five years since anyone has posted to this thread.

Singleton was a particularly evil individual who very likely committed crimes which have never been linked to him. Perhaps knowing more about his wherabouts at various times might link him to some of the unsolved murders and disappearances discussed here.

 

[Kat]

A member here just jogged my memory about Singleton. IMHO there is no way that he only had two victims.

 

[Ausgirl]

Oh dear gods- I read about Mary Vincent only recently. I will never forget her. Not ever.

How can the people who justified this monster getting only 14 years and not the chair is beyond me. It's wrong, just plain damned wrong. And then they let him out early!

To me, escaping the death penalty after that attack is another heinous crime Singleton was involved in - and the courts were his accomplices.

My unspeakable outrage aside, I'd be happy to help track down possible victims. Just tell me what you need, and if it's at all possible to do it on the computer I'll give it my best. Locations? I'm on it.

ETA: His family were from Tampa -- and he is former merchant marine officer. Finding out what ships he was on and when might yield a trail of murders close to ports. On it...

 

[believe09]

I sent this up the chain of command to see if he was worthy of heading into the Serial Killer forum.

 

[CrimeSolver]

Here's the piece of dirt:

 

[Ausgirl]

Early locations:

Born July 28, 1927, Orient Park, FL

Sparks, Nev
Truckee, San Pablo
Antioch, Calif.

Had close relatives in Georgia. If I have the right family (and I think I do), a Steve David Singleton seems to have made a family tradition of abduction and sexual assault:

Dekalb County Superior Court Pretrial Hearing
Case No. 09CR5473
STEVE DAVID SINGLETON DOB: 08-MAY-55
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT-/FEL/-
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT-/FEL/-
FALSE IMPRISONMENT
SEXUAL BATTERY

The Daily Tribune News - Bartow Blotter 10 27
Oct 25 2010
* Steve David Singleton, 55, of 14 Sherman Lane, Cartersville, was arrested on an agency assist.


Scarily, I think he ran this place:

Name KEY-TRAK SECURITIES SYSTEMS, INC.
Control No. K617108
Date 02/27/1996
Status Automated Administrative dissolution/Revocation
Address 1600 OLD MILL XING, MARIETTA GA 30062-5508

Yeah, I'd feel real secure...


ETA - I found [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Chopper-Kent-Allard/dp/0786005572%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAI2Y5XPFNYLDKGNEQ%26tag%3Dwwwradariscom-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0786005572"]Amazon.com: The Mad Chopper (9780786005574): Kent Allard: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41D38E031FL.@@AMEPARAM@@41D38E031FL[/ame]

Also, this arrest record for mail fraud, April 12 1996 which got the guy 46 days in jail - but I'm pretty sure it's not the same person.Born July 14 1929. Compare the mug shot below:

Thursday, February 20th, 1997 arrest for 1st degree murder - born July 28 1927.

Two of 'em? Almost the same age? Same county? Same month of birth?

Irrelevant but weird coincidence: a Lawrence Singleton from CA (not our guy) holds a patent for :

US Patent : Robotic arm and hand
#6817641 (11/16/2004)
Filed: 08/30/2002
Abstract: A robotic arm and hand for imitating the human hand.

 

[Claireishere]

I submitted him today to the Santa Rosa California police as a possible match to the Santa Rosa hitchiker murders. I do not know where he was in the early 70s but he fits the profile really well and the victims are similar to one of his known victims.

 

[Claireishere]

Does anyone know if there is a way to find out where he was working with the Merchant marines?

 

[Claireishere]

Looking for anyone who has info on places he lives, handwriting of his or his time in the military.

 

[burblestein]

There is a very slim chance that he may be traceable through the Veterans Administration as a merchant mariner if he began sailing during the last year of World War II. However, I have also seen reference to him being a Korean War veteran.

 

[niko]

So I’ve been searching all over the Internet hoping to find a post like this. It’s surprising how little people know about Singleton before he attacked Mary Vincent. That being said, he’s a theory -

I was listening to the Hollywood and Crime podcast today, and the fbi profiler was disussing what type of person killed the black dahlia along with the other women murdered around that time. These are the things he mentioned -

-extreme hatred towards women
-particularly strong hands (he probably has a manual labor job)
-possible military experience
-would’ve been in his 30s during the crimes
-has a job that gives him the freedom to travel at night
-possible injury in knees or back

My first thought was Lawrence Singleton. First, he was in California in the 40s, he should be right around the same age that the profiler mentioned. He would have strong hands based on his sea merchant job. The job would allow to freedom to travel at night. I know Lawrence received a military pension, so he has that experience. Last, I think we can all agree that he shows an extreme hatred towards women.

What do you guys think? Could it be a possibility?


QUOTE=Yaya;921122]Lawrence Singleton was a brutal attacker and killer and I don’t believe it started with Mary Vincent in 1978

Based on his age (he was 50 years old when he attacked Mary Vincent), I believe this man could have been connected to many girls missing or unidentified in the California, Nevada, and other areas. His MO is overkill. Are there any cases you know of thought to be committed by someone the victim didn't know, but the kill was extremely brutal. Most overkill is thought to be committed by someone who knew the victim.

Killing years could be between 1948 and Oct. 8, 1978 and then again from April 1988 until Feb. 19, 1997

Most killers start out assaulting women, which over time escalates into murder. I believe by the time he attacked Mary Vincent he had already killed before. Who knows how many. His intention was not only to attack but also to kill. He left her for dead. I have never heard of him being connected to any other murders, but I feel certain he was. Lawrence Singleton had a deeply ingrained hatred and dislike of women, said Assistant Attorney General Scott Browne

He was in prison from Oct. 9, 1978 to April 25, 1987 for the brutal attack of Mary Vincent: Singleton, picked up 15-year-old Mary Vincent in Berkeley and drove her to an isolated area a few miles west of Patterson and not far from Interstate 5. There he bludgeoned her, then raped her and then used a hatchet to chop off her arms just below the elbows. Then he dragged her down into a culvert, where he left her, apparently thinking she would die from the trauma he had just inflicted on her body. But she didn't die. She managed to get out of the culvert and started walking toward the distant noise of I-5 traffic, her bloody stumps hanging down from her shoulders. People in the first car that saw her were so horrified they turned around and fled. People in the second car stopped and got her to a hospital. Mary was able to give a description of her attacker and the vehicle was driving.

Singleton is arrested in Sparks; Nev. Oct. 9, 1978. In March 1979, a San Diego jury convicted Singleton of kidnapping, mayhem, attempted murder, forcible rape, sodomy and forced oral copulation. He received 14 years. He served only 8 years.

He was paroled on April 25, 1987 but held in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin State Prison until April 1988 -- Singleton, released from parole, leaves San Quentin, and begins to roam around the East Bay, living part of the time in Richmond.

Singleton was free to kill again from April 1988 until Feb. 19, 1997

Singleton was arrested in February 1997 for the murder of another woman in Tampa Florida.

Singleton's known timeline:
-- Sept. 29, 1978 -- Lawrence Singleton kidnaps hitchhiker Mary Vincent, 15, from Berkeley, drives her to rural Stanislaus County, then rapes her and chops off her forearms with a hatchet.

-- Oct. 9, 1978 -- Singleton is arrested in Sparks, Nev.

-- March 29, 1979 -- Singleton is convicted by a San Diego jury of multiple counts and is sentenced to more than 14 years in prison.

-- April 25, 1987 -- Singleton is paroled from California state prison in San Luis Obispo after serving just over half of his sentence. A furor erupts in Contra Costa County after many towns refuse to allow Singleton to settle there. State officials eventually settle him in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin State Prison.

-- April 1988 -- Singleton, released from parole, leaves San Quentin, and begins to roam around the East Bay, living part of the time in Richmond.

-- Sept. 14, 1990 -- Singleton, now living in Tampa, Fla., is released from jail after serving 48 days for petty theft.

-- Feb. 19, 1997 -- Roxanne Hayes, a 31-year-old prostitute and mother of three, is stabbed to death in Singleton's Tampa, Fla., home, nine days after Singleton is released from a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide. A sheriff's deputy, knocking on Singleton's door, finds him in blood-spattered shirt, Hayes' bloody corpse lying on the floor nearby.

-- April 14, 1998 -- Singleton is sentenced to die after a Tampa jury convicts him of first-degree murder in Hayes' death.

-- Dec. 28, 2001 -- Singleton, 74, dies of cancer in a Florida prison hospital.​

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/InmateReleases/detail.asp?Bookmark=1&From=list&SessionID=318619253

[/QUOTE]

 

[j_rey916]

I submitted him today to the Santa Rosa California police as a possible match to the Santa Rosa hitchiker murders. I do not know where he was in the early 70s but he fits the profile really well and the victims are similar to one of his known victims.

Read my mind! (2 years before I thought it, but yay!) Glad you're on the ball.

 

[Earth]

Does anyone know if there is a way to find out where he was working with the Merchant marines?

I believe he met his wife in 1970 on board a ship before moving to Sparks. But I can't find very much.

 

[burblestein]

Elsewhere in this site I have posted a precis of his merchant marine career. I'll see if I can locate it, and copy it over here.

 

[burblestein]

Found it:

"Singleton sailed out of New Orleans until 1968. Investigators there found no criminal background on him locally, once they checked. It is noted that no foreign investigations took place.

In 1968, Singleton moved to Oakland and began sailing with American President Lines on their cruise ships. In 1970, while serving as navigator of the S.S. President Wilson, he became involved with the ship's nurse. She became his second wife. Shortly after their marriage, he returned to New Orleans to ship out with Central Gulf Lines. He took the post of Chief Mate on the S.S. Green Wave, hauling munitions to the Vietnam War. To quote "The Mad Chopper" on the matter:

"While Henry Kissinger had brokered a peace agreement to end the Vietnam War in December 1972, that didn't stop the stockpiling of arms."

The Green Wave sailed to Saigon, Danang, Guam, Midway Island, Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Yokohama. By 1975, Singleton and the Green Wave were transiting the Panama Canal. In New Orleans, he switched ships to the S.S. Green Valley, which made runs to Europe, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf.

I got this from the only true crime book I could find on Singleton. It's called "The Mad Chopper".

So, fellow Sleuths, was Singleton even in-country when the Hitchhike Murders were committed?"

 

[burblestein]

I have often wondered if Singleton was butchering young women overseas during his port stays.

 

[burblestein]

Yaya, I was living in Cali at the time of his release from prison. I read a great article about Singleton in an alternative paper published out of Berkeley. At that time many of the mainstream papers were blaming Mary Vincent and casting doubt on Singleton's guilt.If you could find the author of the article, I am sure s/he would be interested.

Blaming a 15 year old child for having her hands cut off? What hardhearted idiots!!

 

[burblestein]

As a sidenote, I despise defense attorneys who trash the victim's reputation to defend their client. I believe that in such cases, the prosecutor should have the right to present every rotten thing the defendant has done in his/her past. Even up, and fair is fair.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I had never heard of this monster until a few days ago! I don’t thinks it’s possible that he does not have other victims out there!

Here are a few links I’ve come across today for those who aren’t familiar with him.

Lawrence Singleton
Mary Vincent: The Girl who Lived - Panic Among Us
Left for Dead - Mary Vincent
My Favorite Murder podcast