On September 8, 1982, the body of 30-year-old white female marketing executive Rose Beck Davis was discovered in an alley in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. She had been abducted, raped, beaten with an axe, and fatally stabbed. Her breasts had been slashed, and a stocking was tied around her neck.
Investigations linked her murder to a group known as the Ripper Crew or the Chicago Rippers, comprising Robin Gecht, Edward Spreitzer, and brothers Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis. This group was suspected in the murders of up to 18 women in Illinois during 1981 and 1982. They abducted women, subjected them to sexual assault and torture, and mutilated their bodies, often amputating their breasts. These acts were part of alleged satanic rituals conducted in Gecht's attic, referred to as their 'satanic chapel.'
Following the attack on another woman who survived, authorities arrested the group members in late 1982. Andrew Kokoraleis was convicted of rape, murder, and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Rose Beck Davis and was executed by lethal injection in 1999. Edward Spreitzer pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including the murder of Davis, and received a life sentence without parole. Robin Gecht was convicted of rape and attempted murder in a separate case and is serving a 120-year sentence. Thomas Kokoraleis was convicted of murder and, after serving part of his sentence, was released in 2019.
The brutal murder of Rose Beck Davis remains one of the most heinous crimes committed by the Ripper Crew, highlighting the terror they inflicted upon the Chicago area during their spree.
