You can listen to episode ten of “Aren’t You the Girl” podcast here:
Posted is the transcript for the episode for those who would like to read the story instead.
Special thank you to Rahyn Hollywood for being so open about her mom, life and music with me.
Sources used in this episode are listed at the end of this post.
One of Chicago’s Southside Strangler’s Gregory Clepper went on a murder spree from 1991 – 1996, possibly amounting to 40 victims.
Clepper lived in St. Paul for a time in the mid 1990’s; and had an obsession with sex workers in the area. One woman in particular was 1994 Wright County victim Victoria Morris.
Was he actually responsible for all of the crimes he admitted to or was he lying so his victim list could be higher and gain more notoriety?
In this episode of Aren’t You the Girl? I will cover Chicago’s slayer Gregory Clepper and the months he lived and prowled the streets in Minnesota.
Gregory Clepper was one of six of Chicago’s main predator’s and serial killers that hunted the low marginalized and violent streets of the vulnerable throughout the 1990’s.
Clepper was apprehended on May 2nd, 1996.
The third time in less than a year where a man in Chicago’s South Side had been charged as a serial killer.
He was 28 years old at the time.
Gregory was a crack addict and most of the victims he targeted were also drug addicted sex workers who would work in dark alleys and get into cars with unfamiliar men.
He would pick up victims, offer them money for sex then refuse to pay them once they have sex. If the girl became angry, then Clepper would strangle the victim.
It depended on how far the woman escalated the situation. If they didn’t put up much of a fight – he would let them walk away.
According to investigators, Gregory Clepper was active in different areas of the South Side between 1991 and 1996.
Clepper was also wanted on a number of rape charges in St. Paul, Minnesota where he lived from December 1994 to July 1995.
Minneapolis and St. Paul police originally investigated Clepper in reference to a sexual assault of a 14 year old. After being picked up on that warrant came the development of the homicides of several sex workers.
Twenty five year old Victoria Morris who was living in St. Paul at the time worked the streets as a sex worker.
She had just given birth to her daughter a month earlier in June.
Victoria was struggling with drug addiction at the time and was trying to get her life back on track and start anew with her baby.
Mid July, a friend of Victoria’s reported her missing to police.
Oct. 8th, 1994 Victoria’s body was found severely decomposed in Wright County, Minnesota. Her body had been there for a while.
At this time he was being looked into 12 other slayings of sex workers in Chicago that were similar to Victoria’s homicide.
Gregory had confessed to these 12 murders.
Investigators were working with the information that Gregory manually strangled 10 victims and used a ligature with 2 victims.
Victoria was strangled with a ligature.
With this information Detective Robert Kammer and Detective Brooks Martin of Wright County decide to go to Chicago Cook County Jail and arrange an interview with Gregory.
May, 8th 1996:
His interview was tape recorded for about 2 minutes before Gregory asked for the recorder to be shut off. He seemed to be uncomfortable with the recording.
The interview lasted about 25 minutes total.
Clepper stated his attorneys said he shouldn’t speak with investigators but since they came all the way from Minnesota that he would speak with them as long as they don’t ask about the current cases in Chicago he’s being held for.
He stayed at multiple addresses in the St. Paul area mainly and moved job to job quickly.
He had a girlfriend here who was 17 years old at the time and also lived with her for a little while.
Gregory did not have a vehicle and would sometimes borrow his girlfriend’s mothers car whenever he could, which was a 1987 Blue Ford Tempo.
Clepper was shown a photograph of Victoria Morris.
Detective Martin noticed he was constantly handling the photo of Victoria and looked at it.
Martin asked him if the photograph looked familiar to him.
Clepper said that he recognized Victoria and that she was much more beautiful in person than the photograph; that the picture doesn’t do her justice.
He may have gone to school with Victoria in Chicago. That she was a very intelligent girl. He described her height and weight.
Clepper said he may have seen her on University Ave. in St. Paul.
Clepper was also shown a photograph of Martha Bacon. He also stated that he knew Martha; that he had also met her on University Ave.
He said he had used the services of sex workers and that he only had one white sex worker’s services.
He said he was familiar with Wright County as he used to drive to Buffalo to pick up drugs. Drug of choice being marijuana.
Clepper also said he had been to Albertville, that he got lost on the freeway and ended up there.
Detectives also learn that Clepper moved to St. Paul, Minnesota on December 16th, 1994. He lived here for about 7 months. He was certain that he had never been to the Twin Cities before Dec. 1994.
His sister didn’t believe he had ever been to Minnesota beforehand.
His cousin had moved to St. Paul from Chicago about two weeks before he made the move.
He met his 17 year old girlfriend Breanna close to Christmas while working together for a short time. By the end of December he had moved in with her and her mom.
By May of 1995, the two had gotten an apartment together.
She confirmed he didn’t own a vehicle and would sometimes borrow her mothers car. She would always ride with him when he took it.
He would cruise University Ave. with her and point out different sex workers.
He would stop and engage with them and invite them into the vehicle so they could talk about a potential threesome. The girlfriend stated they never engaged in threesome’s but he “got his jolly’s that way.”
Clepper kept a pack of condoms at home but didn’t use them with his girlfriend. He would point out the large supply he had and show them again and say look how many condoms he has used on sex workers.
He told her that he had killed a sex worker before.
Breanna did not believe him and didn’t question him further.
She considered him a pathological liar and claimed he had four different personalities.
She said he didn’t know his way around St. Paul too well and stayed in the University Ave area for the most part. He hated going to Minneapolis and had never mentioned going to the Buffalo or Annandale area.
In July of 1995, they both left for the Chicago area to visit his grandmother.
After four days in Chicago she returned to St. Paul.
She felt Clepper was holding her hostage at the home and she had help from Chicago police to get away from him.
Clepper wanted women he was sexual with to act as if they don’t like it. Wanting them to scream and act scared. He was into bondage and using a belt to tie their hands together.
He used cocaine and would frequently have to borrow money to supply his addiction.
Relatives and former girlfriends say he often came to the Twin Cities to pick up sex workers and once confided he had killed a woman in the area.
Amber, former girlfriend, said Clepper confided in her that he had killed a sex worker he picked up in St. Paul.
“He came home and he was high and claiming he had an alter ego named Tony, and started going on and on, saying he had killed a girl. When he came back to his senses, he broke down and cried.
He said, ‘I killed her,’ and left her in a garage in a Jeep.
St. Paul and Minneapolis investigators said they had no unsolved murders from when Clepper was known to be living in the area.
But there were unsolved murders when, according to Amber and his relatives, Clepper had visited the area.
Clepper told Chicago police he assaulted a prostitute shortly after arriving in St. Paul.
He worked as a groundskeeper at the Twins Motor Inn in the Midway District of St. Paul for about three months.
He lived in an apartment on the 400 block of Fairview Ave. North in St. Paul for a while.
People said Clepper kept to himself and caused no trouble.
Two women, one his girlfriend, lived with him.
Occasionally he’d join neighbors for meals.
“He was nice. There was nothing strange about him. He was normal. I would never think in a million years that he was capable of that.”
But in retrospect, a neighbor said Clepper did say a few things that gave her a pause.
“He would tell you that he killed somebody, but you didn’t think about it.”
She said she never thought to report it because he was always joking and didn’t seem like a killer.
Then one day, Clepper left everything in his apartment and left.
It was later learned a warrant was issued on Clepper for a number of assault charges.
Authorities decide in 1996 it is unlikely Clepper is the one responsible for killing Victoria Morris because he likely wasn’t in the area at the time.
It’s even more unlikely he could be responsible for Martha Bacon’s murder as her death wasn’t part of his M.O.
But did Wright County rule Gregory Clepper out of Victoria’s murder too soon?
Almost immediately after his arrest he said to police he had killed up to 40 women since 1986.
He was ultimately charged with killing 14 women from 1991 – 1996.
His modus operandi was to dump some of the women off at landfills and trash bins.
Clepper used a chalkboard to make diagrams and volunteered specific information describing the murders.
He rode around with detectives to different crime scenes and was very accurate with his information.
Investigators also found that sometimes he was very inaccurate with his statements and didn’t fit the evidence.
Overall his statements seemed credible and information about crimes were accurate so authorities took him seriously.
DNA evidence starts to unravel Gregory Clepper’s confessions.
In 1999, another man, Earl Mack Jr, was linked with the Cook County Jane Doe case – one of the 14 Clepper was charged for.
May 25th, 1994 Cook County Jane Doe was found dead in an alley behind the 4800 block of South Champlain Ave. in Chicago.
Clad only in a torn top, ripped panties and one sock when discovered.
She had been raped and strangled.
Clepper confessed to this crime stating he picked this girl up in the Woodlawn community at 63rd Street and Kimbark Ave. and later killed her.
Gregory was charged and the case was closed with his confession in 1996.
Case reopened in 1999 with Earl Mack Jr.
A relative told authorities that Mack had picked up the victim and had strangled her when he caught her going through his pockets looking for money.
Investigators found his story consistent with the manner of death and wounds on the body.
Mack was also a suspect in this case early on.
This one case was dropped from Gregory Clepper’s charges in 2000.
Now reviewing the other 13 victims’ cases. The Cold case unit and FBI looked closely at Clepper and the cases.
Ultimately in 2001, prosecutors decided there is insufficient proof of guilt to take the 12 cases to trial.
He admitted he killed Patricia Scott in a plea agreement and was sentenced to 80 years.
Although the charges were dropped, police and prosecutors said Clepper remains a suspect in most of those cases as well as 15 other unsolved murders of women.
I’m interested in his confirmed victim Patricia and the victims he’s suspected of and if they have any similarities to Victoria’s homicide.
Patricia Scott was the only case strong enough to convict Gregory. Patricia was 30 years old and lived on the 8500 Block of South Halsted Street.
She was sexually assaulted and strangled in Gregory’s bedroom.
Gregory kept her body in his closet before getting help from his mother and friend to help him bring her body to the car and dispose of her body.
At first his mother didn’t believe him when he told her what he had done then when he brought her to the body… She felt compelled to help her son.
She readily admitted her participation.
Authorities found Patricia’s shirt and earring along with her blood in Clepper’s bedroom.
Gregory Clepper boasted to a friend about killing her.
Police received a tip from this person Clepper had confessed to that is what jump started the investigation.
Most of the victims were close to Clepper’s home. He lived in the 8300 Block of South Halsted Street.
Alicia Thomas was 28 years old.
Her boyfriend helped her piece together from scraps of wood and white picket fencing a barrier to two vegetable gardens they planted together in their Southside back yard.
Neighbors insist Alicia was involved in a committed relationship and lived a life of listening to reggae music and babysitting for friends.
But, she had a drug problem.
She was sexually assaulted and left in a city garbage cart.
Clepper’s friend witnessed this murder and also helped conceal her body.
In the 9400 block of South Peoria street, neighbors watched as the appearance of 24 year old Jordana Ashley began to deteriorate.
Money started disappearing from her grandmother’s purse, and it became obvious to a neighbor that she was selling herself for money after seeing her climb into trucks near 63rd and Halsted Streets, a known stroll for sex workers.
Jordana was sexually assaulted, strangled and left in a city garbage cart and later found at a recycling center.
Further south from where Jordana walked the streets – on Exchange Avenue, near 79th Street – China, a 23 year old woman carries mace and sometimes a knife for protection.
Her cousin was 17 year old Kizzy Macon.
China said she and her cousin had known Gregory Clepper and had gotten high and intimate with him.
Kizzy was strangled and left in a garbage cart.
Clepper was charged with killing her.
China said,
“Kizzy thought it was a game. I kept telling her to slow down. It ain’t no game. But Kizzy would get high with anyone.”
Caroline Swayzer, allegedly beaten and strangled by Clepper. She turned to sex work to feed her crack addiction.
The last time friends saw her, she was in her southside cottage style home to tell her boyfriend’s mother she was “going out” for the night.
“I was trying to keep her in the house, but she was out the door.”
Said her boyfriend’s mother Barbara.
Her futile attempt was one of many to keep Caroline off the streets. Caroline would sneak out the bedroom window to sell sexual favors for money to use to buy more drugs.
Janice Hilt also fell in this path. She was a sex worker and crack addict.
Veronica Sims was walking along the 6700 block of South Stewart Ave. in the early morning hours of March 3rd, 1992, when Clepper saw her and became attracted to her.
The two walked and talked until they came upon an abandoned garage at 6717 S. Stewart Ave.
Clepper dragged her into the garage and strangled her.
“She reminded him of someone he knew.”
Said attorney Adreinne Mebane.
Tarra Abington’s best friend last saw Tarra the night before Valentine’s day 1992. She gave Tarra baby pearl earrings for her to wear on her night out.
The next day, Tarra was identified by those pearl earrings in the morgue. She was found beaten beyond recognition, strangled and stuffed into a garbage can only three blocks from her friend Michelle’s home.
Her body was found behind 7439 S. Prairie Ave.
Tarra’s then 18 year old son Johnny quickly took matters into his own hands and put up a $1,000 reward of his own money to find his mother’s killer.
He couldn’t understand who could do this to his mother.
She was a very kind hearted woman and had many friends who deeply loved her.
Her friends were most shocked to find that she was beaten so severely. She had numerous bruises and had a huge open wound at the back of her head.
She had been struck with a blunt instrument.
Her son at first felt that her killer had to die for what he had done – but quickly realized that would put him at the same level of his killer.
Instead he vowed to find her killer.
He put up flyers in his neighborhood along with photos and reward information.
Johnny knew that people in the neighborhood wouldn’t want to talk to the cops so that’s why he hoped people would come to him instead.
Not every victim was a sex worker and some had personal connections to Clepper.
They were very thin and petite – several weighed just over 100 pounds.
Their size was no match compared to Clepper’s 6 feet-tall and 155 pounds.
Are there any similarities when you compare Victoria to Clepper’s many suspected victims he was originally charged for?
Let’s start with the time frame:
Victoria’s body was found on Oct. 8th, 1994.
Gregory lived in Minnesota from December 1994 to July 1995.
His ex girlfriends and some relatives believe he had been in Minnesota before moving and that he had killed a sex worker here.
If he had come to Minnesota beforehand – where did he get a vehicle to do so?
It’s known Clepper was frequently around University Ave. in St. Paul during his time in Minnesota.
From his interview with Wright County detectives, Clepper stated he may have seen Victoria on University Ave.
This was a known area where Victoria would work. Men who were regular’s of Victoria’s have stated she worked mainly on University Ave.
Clepper’s victims were very thin and petite – several weighed just over 100 pounds.
Victoria was 5 foot 2 inches and just over 100 pounds.
Most of the victims were close to Clepper’s home. Found within the city in alleys, trash cans and vacant houses.
Victoria was found about 40 miles away from St. Paul. Whoever murdered her had to transport her to the area and dump her along the side of the road in deep grass; where she wouldn’t be found for weeks.
Clepper had no car and needed help from others when or if he used a vehicle to transport his victims.
And with help he still transported Patricia Scott’s body to a garbage bin within the city.
Victoria was on the side of the road in a remote area.
It’s important to point out how Victoria was found also. Her feet and knees were bound and she was completely naked.
From what I could find about Clepper’s other suspected victims – none of them were bound in any way. Victoria was also found with a ligature around her neck meaning she was strangled and killed with an object.
For the most part Clepper manually strangled his victims.
Again, if he did kill Victoria – how did he get a vehicle to drive to a remote area in Wright County with no help?
His girlfriend he lived with said he didn’t know his way around Minnesota – only knew his way around St. Paul and hated driving around in Minneapolis.
It’s important for me to know if Clepper really knew Victoria – like he had stated. I tried to find information on both Gregory and Victoria’s high school years and didn’t find anything.
Clepper knew victim Kizzy Macon and supposedly knew at least two other victims beforehand.
Wright County described in their file for Clepper that,
“He described her (Victoria’s) height and weight.”
My question to this – was he correct when he stated this information? The police notes don’t say much when it comes to actually fact checking what Clepper told them.
Victoria has had very little media attention and her photo never released to the public until this year.
How did Gregory Clepper have so much knowledge of Victoria in 1996?
I can’t completely rule Clepper out of Victoria’s murder. While I see evidence that doesn’t match or seem to connect with Clepper’s M.O – I need some questions answered first.
I need to completely rule Gregory Clepper out to build a stronger case against her real killer.
I’m not too convinced by the work that Wright County has conducted into both Clepper and Victoria’s lives that he can be absolutely crossed off the suspects list.
Did Clepper just have another obsession with a sex worker like Victoria? She would be his type of victim. I believe Gregory would have murdered Victoria if he came across her on the street.
But did he really?
The Chicago Strangler name was given to at least 6 men throughout the 1990’s. But that hasn’t done anything to slow down the rate of vulnerable women being targeted in that area since these men were arrested.
Was Gregory Clepper one of the most prolific serial killers we have had or was he a serial liar?
Authorities haven’t been able to substantiate his confession to killing up to 40 women. But he is a suspect in at least 26 cases today.
It’s possible he dumped bodies in landfills and many bodies have never been recovered.
We will probably never know the true number.
Some of the challenges brought to investigators were that most witnesses were other sex workers or addicts who wanted to shy away from police.
And many victims often had recent sex with more than one
person making DNA a less reliable tool to solve the slayings.
For drugs, victims took the risk. In the part of town in the Southside, the women are sisters, mothers and best friends.
They have no pimps with them and walk the streets alone, waiting to get into anyone’s vehicle.
Or they wander with their customers to desolate factory areas or dark alleys.
Type of victim authorities call “amateur sex workers” in the 1990s.
The amateurs are in it for the money. Living normal lives before addiction took over for them.
Even with several active men strangling women in Chicago’s South Side – it did nothing to make women not go out onto the streets.
These women were disposable to Gregory Clepper. He threw most of them in trash cans or dumpsters, considering them nothing more than trash.
And the media barely paid attention.
Researching for this episode – Gregory Clepper doesn’t even have a wikipedia page meaning all of his 14 victims also have no digital or media presence.
Only white serial killers like Bundy, Gacy, Dahmer, ect. are talked about in society and media.
The lack of creating space for sharing stories about even black serial killers creates an environment for black women to be targeted and also not talked about afterwards.
Again, black women are last to be talked about when statistically they are the ones who are being targeted at the highest rates.
Victoria was a victim of Chicago’s South Side but also a victim of Minnesota’s Twin Cities – who didn’t treat her any more kindly than her home city did.
It’s not only a story of what happens in a high crime city – Victoria was found in conservative Wright County and since there has not been much space or urgency to solve her murder.
We don’t have that level of crime here – Victoria is one of three of our main unsolved cases in this area. In 30 years she has never gotten proper attention or help that others have received in our county.
And for that – there is no excuse.
Victoria deserved so much more than she was given and that she’s currently given today.
The suspects in her case are all still alive and she has DNA evidence.
There is no reason why her case should be so cold today.
Victoria represents how every victim I’ve mentioned in this episode is treated by law enforcement and society.
It’s not just Chicago’s South Side – this is how these women are treated everywhere.
On arentyouthegirl website you can find photos of Victoria along with the official list of Gregory Clepper’s suspected victims which isn’t available anywhere online.
These women deserve to have their names at least mentioned somewhere online today. Technically, these cases are still unsolved today.
They all have family and friends who are feeling the void that we as a society are creating for them.
Rest in Peace to Victoria Morris along with –
- Patricia Scott
- Alicia Thomas
- Kizzy Macon
- Jordana Ashley
- Caroline Swayzer
- Janice Hilt
- Veronica Sims
- Diane Miller
- Annette Jefferson
- Diana Kelly
- Alean Raggs
- Tarra Abington
- Latrice Wood
Thank you for listening. Stay safe, everyone.
End song is called “Chicago’s Concrete Rose” by Rahyn Hollywood.
Sources:
- Victoria’s children
- Victoria Morris Police files and interviews
- Associated Press, Star Tribune and Chicago Tribune.
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