On a summer evening in Minneapolis, 40-year-old Caucasian female Barbara Simons was enjoying a night out at the Hexagon Bar. It was there she crossed paths with a man named Paul Michael Stephani. After sharing a cigarette and conversation, Stephani offered her a ride home on August 6, 1982. This seemingly kind gesture would be her last. The following day, Barbara's body was discovered, having been brutally stabbed to death over one hundred times.
Her body was left on an embankment of the Mississippi River.
The investigation into her murder soon took a chilling turn. Police received a haunting phone call from a man who, in a high-pitched, weeping voice, confessed to the crime. The caller, who would come to be known as the "Weepy-Voiced Killer," told the dispatcher, "Please don't talk, just listen... I'm sorry I killed that girl. I stabbed her 40 times." This was not his first such call; he had a history of taunting police with anonymous confessions following his violent acts. Through interviews with staff at the Hexagon Bar, police were able to piece together Barbara's last known moments. A waitress recalled a conversation with Barbara, who had expressed hope that the man she was with was "nice" as he was giving her a ride home. This waitress provided a clear description of the man she had seen with Barbara.
The crucial break in the case came after another attack. On August 20, 1982, Stephani assaulted another woman, Denise Williams, stabbing her with a screwdriver. Williams fought back, hitting him in the head with a glass bottle, and her screams attracted the attention of a nearby resident. This witness intervention saved Williams' life and directly led to Stephani's capture. The description from the Hexagon Bar waitress and the testimony of the witness who saw the attack on Williams helped solidify the case against him.
Although he initially pleaded not guilty, Paul Michael Stephani was ultimately convicted for the murder of Barbara Simons and the attack on Denise Williams. He was sentenced to 40 years for Barbara's murder and an additional 18 years for the assault. Years later, in 1997, after being diagnosed with terminal skin cancer, Stephani confessed to the murders of two other women, Kimberly Compton and Kathy Greening, officially confirming his status as a serial killer. He died in Oak Park Heights Prison in June 1998, taking the full story of his violent crimes with him to the grave.
