On the rainy afternoon of June 15, 1941, Jesse Elizabeth Strieff, a 23-year-old woman, was caught in a sudden downpour in Washington, D.C. A secretary for the War Department, she had been in the city for about a year, having moved from her home in Des Moines, Iowa, after graduating from Drake University. That evening, she was reportedly expecting her fiancé for dinner and had stepped out of her apartment building on 19th Street NW to quickly buy some butter from a nearby grocery store.
As the sky opened up and turned the afternoon dark, a car driven by a man in a chauffeur's cap pulled over. Believing him to be a taxi driver, Jesse accepted the ride to escape the deluge.
The driver was not a cabbie, but a man named Jarvis Theodore Roosevelt Catoe. He drove the unsuspecting young woman to a nearby garage, where he raped and strangled her. He then discarded her nude body in another garage ten blocks away, stuffing her clothes into a trash bin. Her body was discovered the following day, sparking fear and outrage in the nation's capital.
The murder of a young, white government clerk in the city's Dupont Circle neighborhood caused a significant public outcry and intense media attention. The case quickly became a political issue, leading two senators from Jesse's home state of Iowa to demand a congressional investigation into the city's police department. The perceived failure of local law enforcement to solve a string of violent crimes had already earned Washington the unwelcome title of "Murder Capital" in a national magazine that same month. Jesse's murder amplified the pressure, prompting a shake-up within the police force and even a public warning to young women in the city from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on her weekly radio program.
Despite a massive investigation, Jesse's murder remained unsolved for months, along with a series of other killings that had been terrorizing the city. The break in the case came not from Washington, but from New York. On August 4, 1941, a waitress named Evelyn Anderson was found strangled in the Bronx. The investigation into her death led police to a pawn shop, where the victim's watch had been sold. Detectives meticulously traced the watch back through several hands to a man who had received it from his girlfriend, who in turn had gotten it from Jarvis Catoe.
Washington authorities arrested the 36-year-old Catoe on August 29, 1941. Under interrogation, he confessed to the murder of Evelyn Anderson and then dropped a bombshell, admitting to a string of other rapes and murders in D.C. He was the serial killer the press had dubbed "The D.C. Strangler." In a gentle voice, he recounted his crimes, claiming he was troubled by "spells." He admitted to killing at least eight women, though he told investigators the total was "about ten." His victims were both Black and white, and his violent spree had begun as early as 1935.
Catoe's confession brought an end to a years-long reign of terror. He was convicted of first-degree murder, rape, and four counts of indecent exposure. For the murder of another victim, Rose Abramovitz, a jury took only 18 minutes to convict him and recommend the death penalty. Jarvis Theodore Roosevelt Catoe was executed by electrocution at the D.C. Jail on January 15, 1943. His capture and conviction finally brought justice for Jesse Strieff and the many other women whose lives he had brutally cut short.
