Friday 14 March 2014

Andrew Six - Serial Killer

This man was labelled a serial killer 16 years after his execution, after a DNA cold case review put him firmly in the frame for a triple murder 30 years before.  It was in 1987 that Andrew Wessel Six aged 22, and Donald Eugene Petary, 49, went to a home in Ottumwa in Iowa to supposedly buy a truck.  What they did instead was to subject the family to a truly horrifying experience.  Going out on a test run in the truck with Janet Allen, they tied her up.  When they returned to the Allen home, where Don Allen was also bound.  Six then carried out a sickening sexual attack on 17 year old Christine Allen.  A plan was hatched to abduct the family, but the father and daughter managed to escape.  Janet Allen had her throat slashed, a gruesome injury that required 50 stitches.  But this twisted pair sank even lower when they abducted 12 year old Kathy Allen, who was mentally handicapped.

    They crossed state lines to go into Missouri, an act that brought in the FBI.  The poor girl was sexually assaulted by Andrew Six, had her throat slashed and her body dumped near to Highway 63.  They made their way to Texas but a widespread bulletin from the FBI yielded results very quickly, with the duo being arrested in Texas.  They told agents where they had left the body, and took them to it.  They were put on trial in Missouri, which has the Death Penalty, and as it was a kidnapping across state lines and murder, this became a capital crime.  Iowa is one of about 15 states that no longer has the Death penalty. They were both convicted and condemned to death.  Six received his just rewards on August 20th 1997.  Donald Petary escaped the gurney, dying from cancer in 1998.

    A cold case review of the triple murders of Sarah Link aged 41, her son, 20 year old Justin Hook, and Justin`s girlfriend, 19 year old Tina Lade.  Six was a suspect in this crime but Police had no evidence to charge him and DNA techniques were only in the development stage.  This triple homicide took place in April 1984.  All three had suffered blunt force trauma.  Clothing kept in cold storage yielded the DNA of Six in 2014, clearing up a 30 year old mystery, and that the perpetrator had got his just desserts.  Who can say that DNA has not been the greatest breakthrough in fighting crime?

No comments:

Post a Comment