Melvin David Rees

Serial Killer

Melvin Davis Rees Jr.: The Maryland and Virginia Serial Killer

Background

Melvin Davis Rees Jr., whose middle name is sometimes reported as David, was an American serial killer responsible for five confirmed murders in Maryland and Virginia between 1957 and 1959. A talented musician who performed in jazz groups around Washington, D.C., Rees appeared capable of maintaining an ordinary public life while privately developing violent and sexually sadistic fixations. His known victims included a young woman attacked beside a rural highway and an entire family abducted while returning home from a visit with relatives. Rees attended the University of Maryland for a time and became known as a skilled pianist, saxophonist, clarinetist and vibraphone player. He worked as a traveling salesman and performed in nightclubs and restaurants. Beneath that respectable appearance, however, investigators later discovered writings and altered photographs depicting women restrained, beaten and killed. These materials revealed a disturbing preoccupation with domination and violence that closely resembled the crimes for which he was eventually convicted.

The Murder of Margaret Harold

On June 26, 1957, Margaret Harold was riding near Annapolis, Maryland, with her boyfriend, Army Sergeant Roy Hudson. Rees used his vehicle to force their car off a rural road. Armed with a nickel-plated .38-caliber revolver, he approached the couple and demanded cigarettes and money. When they did not satisfy him, Rees fired through the car window, striking Harold in the face and killing her. Hudson escaped from the vehicle and ran across fields until he reached a farmhouse where he could call for help. When authorities returned to the car, they found that Harold's body had been removed from the vehicle and sexually assaulted. Hudson supplied investigators with a description of the gunman, but Rees was not identified at that time. The killing remained unsolved for approximately three years. Investigators searching the surrounding area located an abandoned structure containing violent images and photographs of deceased women. Among the material was a photograph connected to a woman who had once known Rees, although detectives did not immediately understand its significance. Only after Rees became a suspect in the Jackson family murders did the evidence from the Harold case begin to point toward him. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Margaret Harold Age: (35), Date of Death: 1957-06-26

Melvin Rees - Wikipedia