Daniel Gonzalez (spree killer)

Daniel Gonzalez (1980 – 9 August 2007), also known as the Freddy Krueger Killer^[1] and the Mummy's Boy Killer,^[2] was a spree killer who killed four people and injured two others during two days across London and Sussex in September 2004. His mother had previously written a letter to her MP criticising the fact that a serious incident had to occur before he could receive mental help. In her letter, she rhetorically asked "...does my son have to commit murder to get help?".

Gonzalez was inspired by horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th to become a "famous serial killer". He went on a drug-fuelled stabbing spree, attacking the elderly and infirm, writing about his experiences in letters to himself as Zippy, his past nickname. His letters said how much he enjoyed the murders "...one of the best things I've done in my life", and how similar he was to Freddy Krueger.

Victims

On September 15, 2004, Daniel Francis Gonzalez told 61-year-old Peter King, who was walking his dog with his wife in Hilsea, Portsmouth, that he was going to kill him. He was fought off and fled to Hove where he stabbed 76-year-old Marie Harding while wearing a hockey mask. After this, he returned to his home in Woking. He concluded that the reason for his failure to kill King was because his knife was too small.

He travelled to Tottenham. At 5:30 AM he left 46-year-old Kevin Molloy for dead after stabbing him in the face, neck and torso with a pair of large knives he had stolen from a department store. At 7:00 AM he made a forced entry into the Hornsey house of Koumis Constantino, but was fought off after stabbing his arm. By 8:00 AM he was in Highgate, where he randomly tried to gain access to houses. He succeeded in murdering an elderly couple, Derek and Jean Robinson,^[3] an experience he claimed was "orgasmic". He was arrested at a tube station after a decorator saw him naked and covered in blood in the Robinsons' house.

Trial

Gonzalez tried to claim that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, although this was rejected. He was given six life sentences and the trial judge recommended that he should never be released. It was revealed that he was a habitual drug user who had run naked down a street while drunk a week before he was arrested.

Death

Gonzalez immediately attempted to kill himself by biting through an artery in his arm. ‘I have never seen anyone bite himself with that ferocity,’ said the inspecting doctor. He survived but committed suicide in his cell in Broadmoor Hospital, Berkshire, on 9 August 2007 by slicing his wrists with the edges of a broken CD case.^[4]

References