Robert Bruce Spahalski

Serial Killer

Robert Bruce Spahalski: The Rochester Serial Killer Who Confessed

Background

Robert Bruce Spahalski is an American serial killer convicted of murdering four people in the Rochester, New York, area between December 1990 and November 2005. His crimes remained separated by time, geography and circumstance until November 8, 2005, when he unexpectedly entered Rochester police headquarters and confessed. What began as an admission to a recent killing soon expanded into a series of statements about three older homicides, including cases that investigators had been unable to solve for approximately fourteen or fifteen years. Spahalski was born on December 12, 1954, in Elmira, New York. He had an identical twin brother, Stephen Spahalski, who was separately convicted of killing a man in 1971. Robert accumulated his own lengthy criminal history beginning in adolescence, including arrests and prison terms for offenses involving vehicles, arson, burglary and other crimes. By adulthood, he was living a transient and unstable life marked by cocaine use, street activity and repeated contact with the criminal justice system. Unlike serial killers who hunted complete strangers according to a rigid pattern, Spahalski generally killed people he knew. His victims included acquaintances, a girlfriend and individuals with whom he had personal or sexual relationships. Cocaine use was present in his descriptions of several killings, but prosecutors emphasized that drug intoxication did not excuse the deliberate acts of violence. His known methods included strangulation, blunt-force assault and beating a victim with a hammer.

Confirmed Victims

• Moraine Armstrong, 24 December 31, 1990 509 Lake Avenue, Rochester, New York: Armstrong was strangled inside her Lake Avenue apartment. Spahalski later admitted that he had shared cocaine with her and became angry during an argument involving money and sex. He described choking her until she died. Her death remained unresolved for nearly fifteen years before his confession supplied details that investigators said were consistent with the evidence.
• Adrian Berger, 35 July 21, 1991 85 Emerson Street, Rochester, New York: Berger was Spahalski's girlfriend. She was found dead in her Emerson Street apartment after being strangled. Spahalski was questioned shortly after the killing because of his relationship with her, but he was not charged at that time. In 2005, he admitted killing Berger and gave investigators information about the crime that helped connect him conclusively to her death.
• Charles Grande, 40 October 1991 Webster, New York: Grande, a landscaping business owner, was beaten to death with a hammer. His body was discovered in Webster, a suburb east of Rochester. Court records consistently identify the homicide as occurring in October 1991, although secondary accounts differ over the precise day. Spahalski was found driving Grande's vehicle and carrying Grande's identification soon after the killing, making him an early suspect. Authorities lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute him for murder until he confessed in 2005.
• Vivian Irizarry, 54 on or about November 4, 2005 Spencer Street, Rochester, New York: Irizarry was an acquaintance who frequently visited the apartment building where Spahalski lived. She was beaten in the head and strangled with cord or twine. Spahalski dragged her body into a basement room and left it there. Her remains were recovered on November 8, 2005, after Spahalski entered police headquarters and told officers where to find her.

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Confirmed Victims: (4)

Morraine Armstrong Age: (24), Date of Death: 1990-12-31

Confronting a Serial Killer Robert Spahalski (TV Episode 2011)