Ricardo Caputo – The “Lady Killer”
Ricardo Silvio Caputo was an Argentine-born serial killer who murdered women in the United States and Mexico during the 1970s and then spent nearly two decades living under false identities. Known in the press as the “Lady Killer,” Caputo admitted responsibility for four murders committed between 1971 and 1977. His crimes occurred in New York, California and Mexico City and shared a disturbing pattern: the victims were women with whom Caputo had developed close personal or romantic relationships before turning violently against them.
Caputo's criminal history was also marked by repeated encounters with psychiatric institutions, escapes from custody, aliases and international flight. After his first murder in 1971, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and committed to a psychiatric hospital. After later receiving greater freedom of movement, he killed again and disappeared. He eventually crossed the United States, escaped from federal immigration custody, fled into Mexico and spent years building new lives while concealing his identity.
Early Life and Move to the United States
Ricardo Silvio Caputo was born in 1949 in Mendoza, Argentina. He later described an abusive and troubled childhood, and members of his family said that he experienced serious emotional problems while still young. Caputo underwent psychiatric treatment before leaving Argentina, although later claims concerning the precise nature of his mental illness became an important and controversial part of his criminal cases.
In 1970, Caputo immigrated to the United States and settled in the New York area. He found work in relatively low-paying jobs, including restaurant work, and was described by people who encountered him as intelligent, personable and capable of making a strong first impression. Those qualities would repeatedly help him establish relationships and, later, live under assumed identities.
The Murder of Natalie Brown
Caputo's first confirmed victim was 19-year-old Natalie Brown. He met Brown while she was working as a bank teller on Long Island. They began dating and eventually became engaged. Brown came from Flower Hill, an affluent community in Nassau County, New York, and was reportedly planning a career in nursing.
On July 31, 1971, Caputo and Brown were alone at her family's home in Flower Hill. Their relationship had deteriorated, and Brown had indicated that she wanted greater freedom to see other people. During the confrontation that followed, Caputo attacked Brown with a knife and fatally stabbed her.
Caputo did not immediately disappear. He contacted police that night and directed authorities to the Brown residence. Officers found Natalie dead inside the home, and Caputo was arrested. The case appeared to be headed toward a murder trial, but psychiatric evaluations changed the course of the prosecution.
Approximately four months after the killing, Caputo was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial. Instead of being prosecuted at that time, he was committed to Matteawan State Hospital, a secure psychiatric institution associated with the New York prison system.
Psychiatric Confinement and Judith Becker
While institutionalized, Caputo came into contact with psychologist Judith Becker, 26. Becker was dedicated to psychiatric work and became involved in his treatment. Accounts later differed over the exact nature of their relationship. Investigators and Caputo described it as romantic, while members of Becker's family maintained that she viewed Caputo primarily as a patient whom she was attempting to help.
Caputo progressed through the psychiatric system and in October 1973 was transferred to the less restrictive Manhattan Psychiatric Center on Wards Island. He eventually received considerable freedom to leave the institution and visited Becker at her apartment in Yonkers, New York.
By the fall of 1974, Becker reportedly wanted Caputo to stop visiting her. On October 20, 1974, Caputo went to her Yonkers apartment. There he violently beat Becker and strangled her with a nylon stocking. He then left the apartment and fled in Becker's automobile.
Becker's parents became concerned when they could not reach their daughter. They went to her apartment the following day, October 21, and discovered her body. Caputo had already disappeared. The killing transformed him from an institutionalized murder suspect into a fugitive wanted in connection with another homicide.
Flight to San Francisco
Caputo traveled across the country to San Francisco, California. He altered his appearance and began using false identities. Among the identities associated with him during his years as a fugitive were names identifying him as a South American or Uruguayan immigrant rather than a wanted Argentine murder suspect.
In San Francisco, Caputo supported himself in part by drawing portraits and presenting himself as an artist. This provided another way for him to approach strangers and begin conversations. It was through this new life that he met 28-year-old Barbara Ann Taylor.
The Murder of Barbara Ann Taylor
Barbara Ann Taylor worked in the publishing and educational-film field in San Francisco. Caputo began a relationship with her and eventually moved into her apartment. Once again, the relationship reportedly deteriorated after the initial period in which Caputo appeared charming and attentive.
Taylor wanted Caputo out of her life. At one point she helped pay for him to travel to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he hoped to find restaurant work. Caputo returned to San Francisco on March 26, 1975. Taylor picked him up at the airport, but she reportedly remained determined to end their relationship.
Caputo was seen leaving Taylor's apartment with luggage on the morning of March 27. Taylor subsequently failed to appear for a planned dinner with her family. On March 30, 1975, police entered her San Francisco apartment and discovered that she had been beaten to death. March 30 is the verified date on which her body was discovered; available accounts do not establish her precise time of death with the same certainty.
Caputo was already gone. Investigators identified the man who had been living with Taylor under an alias as their principal suspect, and evidence from the apartment connected him with the residence. Caputo later admitted that he had killed Taylor.
Escape from Immigration Custody
Caputo headed toward Mexico after Taylor's murder. On April 3, 1975, he was detained near the United States-Mexico border and placed in federal immigration custody in El Paso, Texas. He was using another false name, but fingerprinting threatened to reveal that he was Ricardo Caputo, the fugitive wanted in New York.
On April 7, Caputo and several other detainees escaped from the detention facility. Guards were overpowered, and Caputo succeeded in getting away before authorities could return him to New York. He crossed into Mexico and again disappeared.
Laura Gomez and the Mexico City Murder
In Mexico City, Caputo established another identity and found employment. He eventually became involved with Laura Gomez, a young college student. Gomez was approximately 23 when she died and was living with Caputo in Mexico City.
On October 3, 1977, Gomez was found dead in the apartment. She had suffered a severe and fatal beating. Caputo disappeared following the killing. Years later, when he finally confessed to his series of murders, he specifically acknowledged killing Laura Gomez.
The Gomez homicide became the last murder that Caputo admitted committing. Although authorities later investigated whether he had killed additional people during his many years as a fugitive, no later homicide was conclusively established as one of his crimes.
Confirmed Victims
- Natalie Brown, 19 – Killed July 31, 1971, at her family's home in Flower Hill, Nassau County, New York. Brown was Caputo's girlfriend and fiancée. She was fatally stabbed. Caputo was arrested afterward but was later declared incompetent to stand trial.
- Judith Becker, 26 – Killed October 20, 1974, in her apartment in Yonkers, New York. Her body was discovered by her parents on October 21. Becker was a psychologist who had treated Caputo. She was beaten and strangled with a nylon stocking.
- Barbara Ann Taylor, 28 – Found dead March 30, 1975, in her apartment in San Francisco, California. Caputo had been living with Taylor and was seen leaving the apartment with luggage several days before her body was discovered. She had been beaten to death. The precise time of death is less clearly established than the March 30 discovery date.
- Laura Gomez, approximately 23 – Found dead October 3, 1977, in the Mexico City apartment where she had been living with Caputo. She died from a violent beating. Caputo later admitted responsibility for her murder.
Possible and Suspected Victims
Authorities investigated Caputo in connection with other violent deaths. These cases should be distinguished from the four murders he admitted committing because Caputo was never convicted of, and did not confess to, these additional killings.
- Devon Green, 23 – Killed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. Caputo became a suspect years later after a former coworker reportedly recognized him as a man who had worked at a Los Angeles restaurant where Green was employed. Caputo was never charged with Green's murder and never admitted killing her.
- Jacqueline “Jacqui” Bernard – Found murdered August 2, 1983, in her apartment on Riverside Drive in Manhattan, New York City. Caputo became a significant suspect after witnesses reportedly connected a South American man resembling him with Bernard. Caputo denied involvement, and he was never charged with her murder.
Years as a Fugitive
After the Gomez murder, Caputo effectively vanished into a succession of identities and locations. He lived in the United States, Mexico and South America, worked at ordinary jobs, entered relationships, married and became a father. The ability to build apparently conventional lives while concealing his history helped him remain beyond the reach of the authorities for years.
Caputo used numerous aliases and changed details about his nationality and background. His extended life as a fugitive complicated efforts to determine whether he committed additional murders. When investigators later reconstructed his movements, significant periods remained uncertain, leaving open questions about what he had been doing between his known crimes and his eventual surrender.
Surrender in 1994
By the early 1990s, Caputo claimed that memories of the murders had returned to him and that he was once again experiencing disturbing psychological symptoms. He contacted relatives and lawyers and indicated that he wanted to surrender because he feared he might become violent again.
On March 9, 1994, approximately twenty years after disappearing from New York following Judith Becker's murder, Caputo surrendered to authorities. Through his attorney, Michael Kennedy, he acknowledged killing Natalie Brown, Judith Becker, Barbara Ann Taylor and Laura Gomez.
Caputo's surrender attracted national attention because a man who had successfully hidden for nearly two decades was voluntarily admitting responsibility for a succession of murders spread across two countries. His claims that psychiatric illness and separate personalities had influenced his crimes became a major issue as prosecutors prepared the old cases for court.
Guilty Pleas and Sentencing
Unlike in 1971, Caputo was found competent to face criminal proceedings after his 1994 surrender. The oldest case, the murder of Natalie Brown, was prosecuted first in Nassau County.
On February 1, 1995, Caputo pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for killing Brown. He admitted in court that he had stabbed her to death. The plea avoided a trial over a crime that had occurred more than two decades earlier. He was subsequently sentenced to a prison term of 8 1/2 to 25 years.
Authorities in Westchester County then proceeded against him for Judith Becker's murder. On June 28, 1995, Caputo pleaded guilty to murdering Becker, abandoning the prospect of an insanity defense at trial. The plea established legal responsibility for the second killing that had sent him into hiding in 1974.
In August 1995, Caputo received a sentence of 25 years to life for Becker's murder. The sentence ensured that he faced the possibility of spending the remainder of his life in prison. Although he had confessed to the Taylor and Gomez killings, the New York convictions were the cases that ultimately placed him permanently behind bars.
Mental Illness and Criminal Responsibility
Mental illness was central to Caputo's story from the beginning. He was judged incompetent following Natalie Brown's murder and remained in psychiatric custody for years. After his eventual surrender, he and his attorneys described hallucinations, voices and what Caputo characterized as separate personalities.
Those explanations were controversial. Being diagnosed with or treated for psychiatric illness did not by itself establish that Caputo lacked legal responsibility for his crimes. Prosecutors emphasized his ability to flee, change identities, obtain employment, develop relationships and avoid capture. His conduct after several murders demonstrated an ability to take calculated steps designed to conceal his whereabouts.
Ultimately, Caputo abandoned an insanity defense and entered guilty pleas. The court proceedings therefore ended with him accepting criminal responsibility for the Brown and Becker killings rather than having a jury decide whether mental illness legally excused his conduct.
Death in Prison
Caputo was incarcerated at Attica State Prison in New York. On October 1, 1997, only a few years after returning to face justice, Ricardo Caputo suffered a fatal heart attack while imprisoned. He was 48 years old.
His death prevented investigators from obtaining definitive answers to some of the questions surrounding his years as a fugitive. Four women were established through Caputo's own admissions as his victims, while other killings remained only suspected connections. His ability to disappear, repeatedly adopt new identities and establish new relationships left investigators with the continuing possibility that the complete extent of his violence was never discovered.
Legacy of the Case
The Ricardo Caputo case is notable not only for the murders themselves but for the institutional and investigative failures that allowed him to remain free for so long. After killing Natalie Brown, Caputo was already in state custody. His transfer to a less restrictive psychiatric facility gave him increasing freedom, and his disappearance following Judith Becker's murder allowed him to travel across the country.
Even after the San Francisco killing, authorities briefly had Caputo in custody in Texas, only for him to escape before his identity and outstanding cases could fully catch up with him. Once in Mexico, aliases and international borders provided additional protection. By the time he surrendered in 1994, an entire generation had passed since his first murder.
Caputo ultimately admitted killing four young women whose lives had become intertwined with his: Natalie Brown, Judith Becker, Barbara Ann Taylor and Laura Gomez. Their murders, committed from July 1971 through October 1977, form the confirmed record of a serial killer who repeatedly gained the confidence of women close to him, responded violently when relationships deteriorated and then attempted to leave his identity and crimes behind.
