Isadora Goomes, a 66-year-old widow, lived a quiet life in New York City. Her world, however, came to a brutal and senseless end on Monday, June 7, 1954, in the vestibule of her own apartment building. That day, she was attacked, strangled, and robbed of the only money she had in her purse: five pennies. Her death would be the final act in a short but terrifying crime spree that had gripped parts of Upper Manhattan.
The man responsible for her murder was Norman Roye, an 18-year-old who
would become known as "The Dreaded Strangler." Roye’s life had been marked by early tragedy; both his parents died when he was eight, leaving him and his sister to be raised by their grandmother. As a teenager, he fell into petty crime, which led to time in a state reformatory. After his release, he showed promise, joining his school's baseball team and dreaming of a career in the major leagues. But that path was abandoned for a series of violent crimes in 1954.
Roye's reign of terror began on January 2, 1954, when he followed 40-year-old Margaret Branch into her Harlem apartment building, where he choked, robbed, raped, and then strangled her to death with one of her own Christmas stockings. Four months later, on May 28, he stalked 25-year-old Kathleen Stewart from a subway station to her apartment near the Harlem River. He forced her into a parking lot, raped her, and strangled her.
Isadora Goomes was his third and final victim. As she entered her building, Roye ambushed her, throwing a noose around her neck and demanding money. Ms. Goomes gave him the five cents she was carrying. Unsatisfied with the meager sum, Roye tightened the rope until she died of asphyxiation. His callousness following the murder was shocking; he took the five pennies, bought a box of crackers, and returned to the scene to eat them while he watched the police begin their investigation into the very murder he had just committed.
Roye’s strange and brazen behavior did not go unnoticed. Detectives at the scene observed him watching the proceedings with an unusual interest and took him into custody. His arrest brought an end to the fear that had been spreading through the city. Once apprehended, Roye confessed to the murders of Isadora Goomes, Kathleen Stewart, and Margaret Branch, providing detailed accounts of how he had committed the crimes. He claimed, however, that he had not intended to kill Ms. Goomes, stating that she "just died on me" when he tightened the noose.
On February 4, 1955, Norman Roye was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of Isadora Goomes. The jury did not recommend mercy, which at the time made a death sentence mandatory. He was formally sentenced on March 5, 1955. While awaiting his fate, he gave a jailhouse interview to his sister in which he denied his confession, but his initial detailed admissions had sealed his fate. On January 19, 1956, Norman Roye, aged 20, was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison, bringing the case of the Dreaded Strangler to a close.
