Jerry Brudos: The Shoe Fetish Slayer
On 10th May 1969, two fishermen came across what they believed to be a large parcel floating in a shallow section of the Long Tom River. On closer inspection, it was actually the bloated and bound body of a young woman.
The gruesome discovery would mark the beginning of a manhunt for the soon-to-be-dubbed Shoe Fetish Slayer. Crime+Investigation examines how a childhood obsession curdled into one of Oregon's most disturbing killing sprees.
Jerry Brudos: An unhappy childhood
Jerry Brudos was born on 31st January 1939 in Webster, South Dakota. His mother, Marie Eileen, had desperately wanted her second child to be a girl. When Jerry was born, she didn’t hide her disappointment.
While Marie emotionally abused Jerry, she frequently doted on her oldest son, James. Starved of maternal acceptance, Jerry formed close relationships with other women in the neighbourhood, sometimes fantasising about them being his mother instead.
How the obsession began
When Jerry was around five years old, his family moved to Salem, Oregon. It was here that he developed his disturbing obsession with women’s shoes.
As a young boy, he became transfixed by a family friend’s high heels and tried to remove them from her feet while she slept. On another occasion, he found a pair of rhinestone-studded leather heels in a junkyard, which he took home to show his mother.
Marie was horrified and told her son to take the shoes back. When she discovered that he had hidden them instead, she beat him before burning the shoes in front of him.
His fetishism only grew more troubling over time. As a teenager, he would steal underwear from female neighbours and friends, some of which he would later wear.
Early offences
As with so many dangerous serial killers, Jerry’s fantasies ultimately bled into real life.
He committed his first known violent offence when he was 17. In April 1956, a young couple was driving along a deserted road in Salem, Oregon, when they heard piercing screams. Soon, they pulled up alongside a 17-year-old girl covered in blood. Jerry had beaten the girl when she refused to undress for him.
The young couple took Jerry and the girl to the police station, where Jerry was arrested and referred to the Polk County Juvenile Department. He was subsequently sent to Oregon State Hospital for psychiatric evaluation, where he remained for nine months.
Doctors noted that his sexual fantasies centred on hostility towards women, but did not consider him mentally ill. He was eventually released and returned home.
The shoe fetish slayer murders
As Jerry entered adulthood, he tried his best to blend in. He worked as an electronics technician, was married, and had two children. However, domesticity wasn't enough to quash his disturbing fantasies.
In May 1967, while his wife was in the hospital giving birth to their second child, Jerry stalked a woman wearing high-heeled shoes back to her apartment, where he forcibly entered and choked her unconscious. He then raped her and stole her shoes as a souvenir.
The violence only escalated. Between 1968 and 1969, Brudos murdered four young women and attempted to abduct at least two others.
The motivation behind his crimes soon became obvious. Jerry wanted to dominate and sexually abuse attractive young women. After killing his victims, he dressed and posed their bodies in lingerie and high-heeled shoes, photographing them in his garage. He also subjected his victims to horrific acts of necrophilia.
Disturbingly, Jerry would also mutilate his victims after their deaths. He used a hacksaw to remove the foot from 19-year-old Linda Slawson, which he used to model his favourite shoes.
Arrest and conviction
Jerry was ultimately caught after the fishermen discovered one of his victims’ bodies in the Long Tom River. During the investigation, police were led to Brudos after an Oregon State University student told investigators about a strange man who had contacted her for a date.
Additionally, an earlier victim identified Brudos, helping police establish probable cause to search his property.
During the search, investigators uncovered several pieces of forensic evidence linking him to the crimes, including women’s shoes and lingerie, rope, copper wire and Polaroids showing his victims. In June 1969, Brudos confessed to four murders.
On 27th June 1969, Brudos pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. The Shoe Fetish Slayer died after 37 years' imprisonment at 67 years old.
For more on the killers whose obsessions turned deadly, sign up to the Crime+Investigation newsletter. Every week, you'll receive the latest articles, episodes and more from C+I delivered straight to your inbox.
