Harvey Murray Glatman was 31 years old when he raped and murdered three women. Whilst still a teenager in 1945, he was imprisoned for robbery and given psychiatric treatment. When released in 1951, his parents helped him to open a TV repair shop and for several years he kept out of trouble. However, during this period, he took up photography as a hobby and became increasingly interested in bondage images. On 1st August, 1957, a pretty 19-year-old model, Judy Arm Dull, left her apartment in West Hollywood, to keep an appointment with a slightly built, jug-eared young man who called himself Johnny Glynn. ‘Johnny’ had informed her that he was working for a flesh and bondage magazine and promised her a very attractive rate of pay in return for a few snaps which would only take a couple of hours to take.
‘Johhny Glynn’ was really Harvey Glatman; he took Judy Dull to his room in Melrose Avenue, Hollywood and still posing as a professional photographer, took two naked photographs of her before producing a gun and raping her twice. She promised never to tell anyone and begged him to let her go. Glatman made her dress, and took several bondage pictures of her with a gag in her mouth, her hands tied and her dress pushed up. Later that night he drove her out to the desert north of Indio and took more flashlight photographs of her bound and helpless. Then he strangled her with a rope and buried her in a makeshift grave.
On 8th March Shirley Bridgeford, a 24-year-old divorcee, went out on a 'blind date' with a man she had met through a lonely hearts club. The man was Glatman; he drove her to the desert near San Diego, raped her, took photographs of her tied up and crying, raped her several times more, then strangled her and left the body covered with brushwood.
On 23th July, Glatman called on a 23-year-old Latin girl called Ruth Mercado - another model. He forced his way into her apartment in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles, tied her up, raped her repeatedly and took photographs. Afterwards, he drove her out to the desert near San Diego. This time he took food and drink along so that he could enjoy a picnic. Glatmen spent most of the next day raping the girl and taking photographs of her. Ruth begged Glatman to let her go so she could feed her pet parrot; he was strongly tempted to. 'I liked her’ he later told policemen. But finally he decided she had to die and killed her on the second night.
On 27th October Glatman, sticking to a convenient routine, picked up yet another model - Lorraine Vigil, a 27-year-old Latin girl. He asked her to come to his apartment to be photographed. She didn't like the look of him and suggested taking a chaperone, but he dissuaded her. He drove fast out to Santa Ana, turned down a dark side road, then pointed his gun at her. When he tried to tie her, she screamed and struggled. The gun went off, burning her thigh, and Glatman looked dazed, saying: 'I've shot you.' Still struggling, they rolled out of the car. At this moment a policeman passed by on a motorcycle; Harvey Glatman was arrested.
He readily admitted to killing the three girls. At his trial, Glatman urged the Judge and jury to convict him and sentence him to death; to make sure that they did just that, he stated that, if allowed to live, he’d make every effort to escape so that he could rape and kill again. Glatman warned them that the next woman he abused and murdered might be one of their wives or daughters. He got the sentence he asked for; when, obviously against his will, an appeal was launched on his behalf, Glatman wrote a letter to the Judge stating: 'I only want to die'. On 18th September, 1959, the state complied with his wish and sent him to the gas chamber.