Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 12

Austin American-Statesman WORLD NATION Sunday, October 31, 2004 A12 SLEUTHS: 'Servant Girl Annihilator' murdered seven women; one man 'if- Although bound by their interest, group members jealously guard their information, hoping to be the first to claim an answer in the 119-year-old "There is no closure to it," said Nadine Oduor, a state contract worker who has researched the killings since 2000. "Itisjustthis big open case, this open wound. It's still there and needs to be healed." Victim No. 1 "BLOODY WORK. A fearful midnight murder on West Pecan Mystery and Crime.

A Colored Woman Killed Outright, and Her Lover Almost Done for. Austin Daily Statesman, Jan. 1, 1885 In those days, homicides in Texas' capital city were a rarity, Continued from Al evidence remains, Krizak and a small but rabid group of fellow amateur sleuths have spent years trying to trace the killer's path and learn his identity. The magazine writer, the office contract worker, the part-time playwright and the small business owner say they are compelled by morbid curiosity and a desire to bring some sort of postmortem justice to a string of 19th century murders that are widely considered the work of the first modern serial killer. Most people think of Charles Whitman's 1966 sniper killings of 14 people from the University of Texas tower as Austin's most notorious crime.

Few know about the figure who stalked the city's downtown streets in 1884 and 1885. They called him the Servant Girl Annihilator. He killed seven women and one man, mostly African American cooks and maids for some of the city's wealthiest families, during a yearlong spree that ended Christmas Eve in 1885. Several suspects were tried for murder, but the cases all broke apart during trials. The killer's trail quickly grew cold.

More than a century later, Krizak and the others have leafed through the same documents and newspaper clippings at the Austin History Center. One has clambered into attics across the country to study the family papers of some victims. Another wants to call together fellow hobbyists, conduct a seance and ask the victims a single question: Who killed you? Kelly West an-s i a i ksman found murdered on Aug. 29, 1885. 'I'm not going to give up until I solve Krizak said.

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