George Kearon Joseph Fitzsimmons: The "Karate Chop Killer"
George Kearon Joseph Fitzsimmons was an American murderer whose crimes occurred in two separate family killings in New York and Pennsylvania. Commonly called the "Karate Chop Killer" and sometimes the "Buffalo Ripper," Fitzsimmons killed four relatives between 1969 and 1973: his mother, his father, his aunt, and his uncle. His case became especially notorious because he was found not guilty by reason of insanity after killing his parents, was eventually released from a psychiatric hospital, and then killed two more family members only months after returning to the community.
Background and Mental Health History
Fitzsimmons was born George Kearon Joseph Fitzsimmons in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1936. As a young man he served in the United States Army and spent time in Korea, where he became interested in karate. Later accounts described him as physically strong and highly interested in martial arts and weightlifting. His life was also marked by serious psychiatric difficulties. He experienced periods of instability and was treated at Buffalo State Hospital in New York before the murders that ultimately made his name infamous.
After leaving psychiatric care, Fitzsimmons lived with his parents, William J. Fitzsimmons and Pearl T. Fitzsimmons, in Eggertsville, a community near Buffalo in Erie County, New York. William was 64 years old and Pearl was 60. The relationship between George and his parents became increasingly troubled, and on January 12, 1969, a disagreement inside the family home ended in their deaths.
The Murders of William and Pearl Fitzsimmons
On January 12, 1969, Fitzsimmons argued with his parents about attending church. Accounts of the precise weapons and sequence of the attack vary, but investigators and later reports consistently described Fitzsimmons using extremely powerful blows against his parents, including strikes associated with his karate training. Some accounts also report the use of a souvenir tomahawk during the assault. Both William and Pearl suffered fatal head injuries inside their home.
After the killings, Fitzsimmons took one of his father's automobiles and left the area. The case immediately became a major police investigation once the deaths were discovered. Fitzsimmons was eventually taken into custody outside New York and returned to Erie County to face two murder charges.
His criminal trial did not end with a conventional murder conviction. The court concluded that Fitzsimmons was legally insane at the time of the killings. He was therefore found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Buffalo State Hospital under the authority of New York's mental-health system. The finding had another unusual consequence: because the court had determined that his mental condition prevented criminal responsibility, Fitzsimmons was ultimately permitted to inherit from his parents' estates. The inheritance was reported to be worth well over $100,000, a substantial amount of money at the time.
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