Maury Travis’ Basement Sex Dungeon And Movie Studio
Public DomainMugshot of Maury Troy Travis, the “Videotape Killer.”
Maury Travis had fantasized about murder since he was a teenager, when he began killing small animals, including his neighbor’s dog. Years later, Travis transformed his basement into a hidden torture chamber. There, he bragged, he killed 17 women â and captured it all on video.
According to Vizaca, Travis frequently visited “The Stroll” in St. Louis, Missouri, picked up sex workers to take back to his house, smoked crack with them, and then locked them in his basement, raping and abusing them while he filmed it.
Maury Travis/MurderpediaA still from one of Travis’ videos showing the bound hands of a woman he captured and held prisoner.
Per FOX 2 in St. Louis, the tapes were so violent and depraved that Police Chief Joe Mokwa ordered every detective who viewed them to undergo mandatory psychological counseling.
In one of the videos, Travis could be heard saying, “This is first kill. Number one. First kill was 19 years old. Name? I don’t know. I don’t give a fâ… First kill was nice.”
In some cases, Travis also forced his victims to engage in strange rituals like dancing in white clothes or wearing blacked-out sunglasses. He shackled them to a wooden post in his basement and taunted them while he tortured them.
And his taunting nature ultimately proved to be his downfall, as he was arrested after sending a letter to a local reporter with a computer-generated map marking the location of one of his victims’ bodies.
RedditThe inside of Maury Travis’ basement, where he claimed to have murdered 17 women.
Police were able to trace that map to Travis’ IP address, and they raided his home, finding the blood of at least six victims in his basement.
They also found a map he’d drawn with plans to expand his basement torture chamber. Police Captain Harry Hegger said, “He was going to build two cells where he could chain the women… He made a list of things that he needed… so he could keep these women captive for some time.”
Before Travis could be convicted of any of the murders, however, he hanged himself in prison. Police may never know just how many women suffered in his basement of horrors.
After exploring the terrifying dungeons of depraved serial killers, see this collection of photos that killers took of their victims. Then, learn more about the crimes committed by America’s most infamous killers.
