Richard Speck: His Murder of Eight Student Nurses in 1966 Shocked the Nation

Born to Raise Hell

On December 7th, 1941, the United States was rocked by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The “day that will live in infamy”, as Franklin Roosevelt described it, was preceded by an equally infamous date, for on December 6th, 1941, Richard Speck was born in Kirkwood, Illinois. It would take almost twenty five years for it to be clear to the nation the notoriety that this day truly deserved. 

Speck’s father, a religious man who abhorred alcohol, died when Richard was six years old. His mother married a Texan, Carl Lindberg, who was a violent drunk with an arrest record. The family moved to Dallas, and Lindberg beat Speck repeatedly throughout his boyhood, as Speck failed in school and turned to a life on the streets. Speck spent over two and a half years in prison for crimes varying from theft to assault from 1963-1965. Married in the early Sixties, Speck would often rape his wife at knifepoint. During her divorce proceedings, she described Speck as violent and needing sex four or five times a day. The divorce was final in January of 1966 and Speck, facing more burglary and stabbing charges, moved back to Illinois, staying with family friends in Monmouth. 

Speck had no intention of giving up his life of crime and promptly was arrested again for burglary and assault. He took off for Chicago to avoid his trial and was fired from a couple of jobs for being drunk, including one on an iron ore ship. Investigators looking into Speck discovered he was wanted in Monmouth for questioning in the murder of a bar maid and rape of a senior citizen. In addition, they linked him to the July 2nd disappearance of three girls in Indiana and the murders of four other females in Michigan. Authorities located the hotel room where Speck was staying, but he was not there.