John Charles Eichinger: The Pennsylvania Serial Killer
Overview
John Charles Eichinger is an American serial killer convicted of murdering four people in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, during two separate attacks nearly six years apart. His victims were 20-year-old Jennifer Still in 1999 and, in 2005, 27-year-old Heather Greaves, Heather's 23-year-old sister Lisa Greaves, and Heather's three-year-old daughter Avery Johnson. The crimes were connected not only by Eichinger's relationships with the victims, but by the same knife, which he admitted using in both attacks.
The murders were driven largely by Eichinger's obsessive romantic interest in Jennifer Still and Heather Greaves. Both women rejected his attempts to turn their friendships into romantic relationships. Prosecutors and court records described the murders of Jennifer and Heather as deliberate responses to those rejections. Lisa Greaves and Avery Johnson were killed during the second attack because Eichinger did not want them left alive as witnesses.
The Murder of Jennifer Still
Jennifer Still was a 20-year-old woman living in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. She was an aspiring poet and part of a social circle that included people who played Dungeons & Dragons together. Eichinger knew Jennifer through that circle and developed romantic feelings for her even though she was involved with another man.
On July 6, 1999, Eichinger went to Jennifer's Bridgeport residence carrying a large knife. According to the confession he later gave investigators, he told Jennifer about his feelings and wanted her to leave her fiancé for him. Jennifer refused. Eichinger responded by attacking her with the knife, stabbing her repeatedly and cutting her throat. Her boyfriend later returned home and discovered her body.
The investigation initially failed to identify Jennifer's killer. There was no obvious forced entry, suggesting that she may have willingly admitted the person who attacked her. Investigators questioned people in Jennifer's social circle, including Eichinger. Rather than admit what he had done, he gave police false information and attempted to direct their attention toward other acquaintances.
Important biological evidence was nevertheless left behind. Investigators preserved unidentified blood from Jennifer's residence, evidence that would become extremely important years later. Without a match at the time, however, Jennifer's murder remained unsolved.
A Murder Weapon Kept for Years
Eichinger did not dispose of everything connecting him with Jennifer's murder. According to statements he later gave police and information documented in his court proceedings, he kept the knife used to kill her, along with clothing and articles relating to the case. He stored the weapon instead of destroying it.
One of the most disturbing details to emerge after his arrest concerned Halloween. Eichinger told investigators that he kept the knife with rubber gloves and a Scream-style mask and, on Halloween, wore the mask and carried the same knife while handing out candy. For years, people around him had no knowledge that the knife was an actual murder weapon.
Heather Greaves
By 2005, Eichinger had developed a similar obsession with his friend Heather Greaves. Heather was 27 years old, had a three-year-old daughter named Avery Johnson, and was involved with another man. Eichinger wanted Heather to end that relationship and become romantically involved with him.
Unlike an impulsive encounter, the March 2005 crime involved preparation. Eichinger later admitted that he intended to kill Heather if she refused to end her relationship with her boyfriend. He arranged to meet Heather at her home so that his arrival would not be unexpected. On the morning of March 25, 2005, he drove to the Greaves residence in King of Prussia, in Upper Merion Township, carrying a concealed knife and rubber gloves.
The March 25, 2005 Triple Murder
Shortly after Eichinger entered the residence, he and Heather argued in the kitchen. Heather again rejected what Eichinger wanted from her. As she turned away, Eichinger pulled out his knife and repeatedly stabbed her.
Heather's three-year-old daughter Avery was present and witnessed the attack. Heather called for Avery to contact 911. Eichinger immediately turned his attention toward the child in an attempt to stop her from summoning help. Avery was attacked and ran into the hallway.
At approximately the same time, Heather's sister Lisa Greaves emerged from the bathroom and encountered Eichinger. Eichinger later admitted that he realized Lisa could identify him and testify about what had happened. He overpowered Lisa after a struggle and stabbed her repeatedly.
Eichinger then returned his attention to Avery and attacked her again, killing the three-year-old. He subsequently went back to Heather, who was still alive, and inflicted additional fatal wounds before cutting her throat.
After the murders, Eichinger attempted to manipulate the appearance of the crime scene. Court records state that he altered Lisa's clothing in an effort to make investigators believe she had been the primary target of the attack. While cleaning himself, he also realized that he had injured his own hand and attempted to prevent his blood from being left behind.
Despite those efforts, Eichinger had been seen. A neighbor observed him leaving the Greaves residence. Heather and Lisa's father later arrived at the house and discovered the bodies of his two daughters and his granddaughter.
Verified Victims
- Jennifer Still, 20 - Murdered July 6, 1999, at her residence in Bridgeport, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Eichinger admitted that he killed Jennifer after she rejected his romantic advances and chose to remain with her fiancé.
- Heather Greaves, 27 - Murdered March 25, 2005, at the Greaves family residence in King of Prussia, Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She was the intended target of Eichinger's second attack after refusing to end her relationship with her boyfriend.
- Lisa Greaves, 23 - Murdered March 25, 2005, at the same King of Prussia residence. Lisa was Heather's sister. Eichinger admitted killing her because she had encountered him during the attack and could identify him.
- Avery Johnson, 3 - Murdered March 25, 2005, at the King of Prussia residence. Avery was Heather Greaves' daughter and witnessed the attack on her mother. Eichinger killed the child after Heather called for her to contact 911.
The Investigation Quickly Turns Toward Eichinger
The 2005 murders generated immediate investigative leads. Police learned that a neighbor had seen Eichinger leaving the Greaves home, and investigators discovered his connection to Heather. They also learned that Heather had been acquainted with Jennifer Still, whose 1999 murder remained unsolved.
Montgomery County investigators and Upper Merion police located Eichinger at the Acme supermarket where he worked in Somers Point, New Jersey. Eichinger initially made false statements while speaking with detectives. As questioning continued, however, he confessed to killing Heather, Lisa and Avery.
The confession did not end with the triple murder. Eichinger told detectives that he had also murdered Jennifer Still on July 6, 1999. Even more significantly, he admitted that the knife used to kill the Greaves family was the same weapon he had used against Jennifer almost six years earlier.
Evidence Connecting the Two Crime Scenes
Eichinger's admissions were supported by physical evidence. DNA evidence connected him with the crimes, while testing associated the knife kept by Eichinger with the victims. The old biological evidence preserved from Jennifer Still's 1999 murder could finally be considered alongside Eichinger's DNA and confession.
Investigators also had Eichinger's detailed accounts of both attacks. He provided multiple incriminating statements, including additional statements while being transported from New Jersey back to Pennsylvania. While imprisoned awaiting trial, Eichinger wrote journal entries and letters containing details of the murders in his own handwriting.
The evidence demonstrated that Jennifer's previously unsolved killing and the King of Prussia triple murder were not simply similar crimes. They had been committed by the same man with the same weapon and were tied to the same pattern of obsessive romantic rejection.
Motive and Pattern
The circumstances of the four killings created an unusual serial-murder pattern. Eichinger was not primarily selecting strangers. Jennifer Still and Heather Greaves were women he knew personally and toward whom he had developed romantic feelings. In both cases he expected the woman to choose him over an existing romantic partner.
When Jennifer refused in 1999, Eichinger killed her. Nearly six years later, he placed Heather in a similar situation. According to his own account, he traveled to her house already prepared to kill her if she refused to leave her boyfriend. He concealed a knife and rubber gloves before entering the home, showing that the possibility of murder had been contemplated in advance.
Lisa and Avery were different kinds of victims. There was no comparable romantic motive for killing them. They were killed because they unexpectedly became witnesses to the attack on Heather and threatened Eichinger's ability to escape without being identified.
Trial and Convictions
Eichinger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder along with charges involving possession of an instrument of crime and making false statements to authorities. On October 18, 2005, he waived a jury for the guilt phase of his case and proceeded with a stipulated bench trial. He did not contest the Commonwealth's evidence and was found guilty of all four murders.
The prosecution sought the death penalty for the murders of Heather Greaves, Lisa Greaves and Avery Johnson. During the penalty proceedings, jurors were asked to weigh aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Among the aggravating circumstances were the multiple murders, the killing of witnesses and, in Avery's case, the fact that she was a child under twelve years old.
The jury returned death verdicts for all three of the March 25, 2005 murders. On December 12, 2005, the court formally sentenced Eichinger to three consecutive death sentences for murdering Heather, Lisa and Avery. He received a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Jennifer Still, along with additional prison terms for the related offenses.
Appeals and Death Sentence
Eichinger challenged his convictions and death sentences through Pennsylvania's appellate and post-conviction process. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the convictions and sentences on direct appeal and later rejected his post-conviction claims. His federal challenges were also unsuccessful, and the United States Supreme Court declined to review his case in December 2022.
Pennsylvania corrections officials signed another notice of execution in January 2023 setting an execution date of March 7, 2023. The execution was not carried out. Eichinger has remained under Pennsylvania's sentence of death for the murders of Heather Greaves, Lisa Greaves and Avery Johnson, while also serving a life sentence for Jennifer Still's murder.
A Six-Year-Old Murder Finally Solved
The arrest of John Charles Eichinger closed a homicide investigation that had haunted Jennifer Still's family for nearly six years. Her murder had appeared isolated and had generated suspicion around several people in her social circle. Only after three more people were killed did investigators uncover the direct connection between the cases.
Eichinger's own decisions ultimately provided many of the strongest links. He retained the knife instead of destroying it, preserved reminders of Jennifer's killing, used the weapon again, left evidence behind, was observed leaving the second crime scene and then confessed. His subsequent written statements provided still more documentation of his involvement.
John Charles Eichinger was ultimately proven responsible for four murders committed in Pennsylvania between July 6, 1999, and March 25, 2005. The cases of Jennifer Still, Heather Greaves, Lisa Greaves and Avery Johnson remain notable for the long interval between the attacks, the repeated motive of romantic obsession and rejection, the deliberate elimination of witnesses, and the extraordinary fact that Eichinger preserved and reused the weapon that connected the two sets of killings.
