Shirley Ledford, The Final Victim Of The “Toolbox Killers” Roy Norris And Lawrence Bittaker
Wikimedia CommonsShirley Lynette Ledford suffered one of the worst deaths in history at the hands of the “Toolbox Killers” in 1979.
Over the course of five months in 1979, Roy Norris and Lawrence Bittaker stalked Los Angeles County, kidnapping and raping five teenage girls before torturing them to death with instruments from their “toolbox.”
According to The Independent, Bittaker and Norris had met in prison earlier in the 1970s. At the time, Norris had been imprisoned for rape, and Bittaker had been locked up for stabbing a store clerk who accused him of shoplifting. It was there that they had planned their deadly spree. Once they were released, Bittaker and Norris wasted no time in carrying it out.
On Halloween night in 1979, 16-year-old Shirley Lynette Ledford became their fifth and final victim. Shirley had decided to hitchhike home after a Halloween party and was fatefully picked up by Bittaker and Norris.
Much like the other victims, Shirley endured horrific rapes and torture with several instruments, including screwdrivers. But it wasn’t enough for the Toolbox Killers to commit the heinous acts. They recorded them too.
However, the audio tape of Shirley’s torture and murder was instrumental in ensuring both Bittaker and Norris would never again see the light of day.
Getty ImagesLawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris had bonded over a love of sadism and fantasies of rape and torture.
As Oxygen reported, the men were only caught because Norris bragged to a friend about their crime spree. That friend went to the police, and Norris was arrested. Bittaker, hearing about the arrest, started destroying the evidence. He missed one crucial piece, though: the audio tape of Shirley’s murder.
“For those of you who do not know what Hell is like, you will find out,” prosecutor Stephen Kay told the jurors during Bittaker’s trial.
The tape played for 10 minutes in court. Bittaker sat emotionless as the jurors cried. Other people, including the courtroom artist, fled the room. Some jurors said they had nightmares after hearing the tape. “I had a dream I was coming down an elevator at the courthouse,” one said, “And when it opened, Bittaker was standing there, and he threw cinders in my face.”
Criminologist Laura Brand later interviewed Bittaker while he was in prison, describing to The Independent the chills she felt when he spoke so casually of his crimes. She could only listen to 30 seconds of Shirley’s tape.
“It’s just her screaming,” she said. “It’s a visceral reaction because you’re hearing a real-life scream. It’s so much different than what you’d hear in a horror movie. You can feel it in your gut when you’re hearing the screams.”
Bittaker was sentenced to death for his crimes, but he ultimately died in prison in 2019. Norris, who had pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty, was sentenced to life in prison and died shortly after Bittaker in 2020.
