Bernard Hatch is doing life in jail in upstate NY for dragging a lady behind his vehicle for 9 miles. There was nothing left of her. This was in the early 70's and I recall my parents talking about it and when I chimed in, they stopped talking. This happened about 7 miles from our camp. He is in Auburn Correctional facility now and is now In his 70's. He had several other girlfriends simply disappear and one of his girlfriends children simply disappeared, never to be seen again and they are thought to also be victims of Hatch. He worked at a gas station 5 miles from my house.
You mentioned your camp Sarge and that reminded me of one more incident that struck a nerve with me at the time...
On November 18, 1973 a guy by the name of George Fizsimmons murdered his elderly aunt and uncle in Roulette, PA, which wasn't far from my grandparents camp. He was a nutty guy and thought his aunt and uncle were trying to poison him, so he knifed them. After he did it, he drove to Buffalo, NY and turned himself in.
That shook the entire area.
That in itself was bad, but as my grandfather told me the story, it got much worse...
You see in 1969 George Fitzsimmons got into an argument with his parents (while living in the Buffalo area) and killed both of them using karate chops. Yes, karate chops.
After being labeled a kook, he was put in a local mental hospital and was inexplicably let free in 1973. In less than three years, the doors of the hospital swung open for Fitzsimmons. A panel of doctors declared him "no longer a danger to himself or others."
He then went to live with his aunt and uncle in tiny Roulette, PA.
Needless to say, for several days after that I thought George Fitzsimmons was lurking behind every corner waiting to karate chop me to death!
F. Lee Bailey ended up representing Fizsimmons in court after the last set of murders.
Fitzsimmons ended up dying of cancer in prison in 1999.
