On a cold January evening in 1957, the life of 45-year-old Ruth Speyer, a White female, was tragically cut short in an act of brutal violence that sent shockwaves through the community. On January 5th, Ruth and her husband, Bernard, were simply customers in a shoe store in North Haven, Connecticut, when they became entangled in a robbery that would ultimately claim their lives.
The couple from Meriden found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, encountering two men who were in the midst of a violent crime spree.
The perpetrators, later identified as Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky and his accomplice Arthur Culombe, entered Caso's Drive-In Shoe Store on Washington Avenue with the intent to rob it. During the commission of the crime, they viciously pistol-whipped the store's owner, Frank Adinolfi. Bernard and Ruth Speyer, who were present in the store, witnessed the assault. In a cold-blooded effort to eliminate witnesses, Taborsky and Culombe forced the Speyers to kneel on the floor and then fatally shot both of them in the back of the head with a. 38 caliber pistol. The couple was survived by their 19-year-old son.
The investigation into the murders of Bernard and Ruth Speyer became part of a larger effort to solve a series of robberies and killings that had been terrorizing Connecticut. State police established a special headquarters in North Haven to focus on the crime spree. A critical breakthrough in the case came from the shoe store owner, who, despite his severe injuries, survived the attack. He provided police with a crucial piece of information: one of the assailants had requested a pair of size 12 shoes. This seemingly small detail proved to be the key that unlocked the case.
Based on this lead, investigators began to review prison records for inmates who wore that shoe size, which led them to Joseph Taborsky. After Adinolfi identified Culombe from a photograph as the man who had assaulted him, both Taborsky and Culombe were arrested on February 23, 1957. Following their arrests, Culombe confessed to his involvement in numerous holdups and six murders. Both men were ultimately convicted for the murders of the Speyers. Taborsky was sentenced to death and became the last person to be executed in Connecticut's electric chair for many years. Culombe also received a death sentence, which was later commuted to a life sentence; he died in prison. The capture and conviction of Taborsky and Culombe brought an end to their reign of terror, but not before they had left a trail of violence and heartbreak in their wake, forever changing the lives of families like the Speyers.
