Tony Costa was convicted of brutally murdering and dismembering Patricia Walsh and Mary Anne Wysocki in 1969, but he’s suspected of killing as many as eight women over a three-year period.
IMDbTony Costa was sleep with in Provicetown , Massachusetts as a well-favored hipster who was wizardly with women .
In 1969 , constabulary in Truro , Massachusetts unearth the bodies of four women who had been mutilate almost beyond credit . They were the victims of Tony Costa , who soon became recognize as the “ Cape Cod Vampire . ”
Two of the char , Patricia Walsh and Mary Anne Wysocki , had been visiting nearby Provincetown in January when they enigmatically disappear — and they were last seen with Costa . The other two had been missing since the former year , but they had also been connected to Costa .
IMDbTony Costa was known in Provicetown, Massachusetts as a handsome hippie who was charming with women.
Though the four murder were unbelievably gruesome , law did n’t think the women were Costa ’s first victim . In fact , he may have shoot down as many as eight women between 1966 and 1969 , though he was only convicted in the demise of Walsh and Wysocki .
The truthful routine of Costa ’s dupe will never be have it away , as he died by felo-de-se in 1974 while serving a life sentence in prison house . However , due to the ferociousness of his known murders , he ’s remembered today as America ’s own Jack the Ripper .
The Disturbing Early Years Of The Cape Cod Vampire
Antone Charles “ Tony ” Costa was brook in Cambridge , Massachusetts , on Aug 2 , 1944 . According to an excerpt fromHunting human : An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial KillersonMurderpedia , he was caught committing his first disturbing law-breaking when he was just 17 years sometime .
One dark in November 1961 , he broke into a neighbor ’s flat . When the adolescent girl come alive and reckon Costa looming over her , she yell and he fly .
Flickr / William L. BirdProvincetown , Massachusetts in the 1950s .
Flickr/William L. BirdProvincetown, Massachusetts in the 1950s.
Three days later , however , he returned . Costa endeavor to haul the girl down the stairs of the building . Neighbors intervened and detained Costa , and he was subsequently convict of burglary and violation . He received a one - year debar sentence and three years of probation .
At 18 , Costa marry a teenage little girl and fathered three nipper . Over the years , his marriage fell asunder , reportedly due to violence and drug consumption . By the mid-1960s , Costa was separate from his wife and had go keeping the company of other women — many of whom enigmatically disappeared after meeting him .
The Strange Disappearances Connected To Tony Costa
In 1966 , as reported byThe Lineup , Tony Costa pluck up two young womanhood appoint Bonnie Williams and Diane Federoff and offered to give them a ride to Pennsylvania on his way to California . They were never seen again , and they ’re now believed to be Costa ’s first dupe .
Two years later , his girlfriend in California , Barbara Spaulding , fly on the very daylight Costa was leaving to hark back to Massachusetts . She was never seen again , either .
Back in Provincetown , 18 - year - previous Sydney Monzon vanish in May 1968 after she was last seen getting into a railway car with Tony Costa . Then , that September , Costa ’s new lover Susan Perry disappear as well . When friend asked what happened to her , Costa recite them she ’d “ gone to Mexico . ”
Public DomainMary Anne Wysocki (left) and Patricia Walsh (right).
Public DomainMary Anne Wysocki ( leave ) and Patricia Walsh ( right ) .
Tony Costa and his wife disjoint around this time , and after a short stint in jail for failing to give child sustenance , he met yet another woman named Christine Gallant . Both Costa and Gallant were phallus of the hipster tantrum of the 1960s , and they often partake drugs . In November 1968 , Gallant was feel beat in her bathtub from an overdose on barbiturates .
at long last , on Jan. 24 , 1969 , Patricia Walsh and Mary Anne Wysocki get at a node planetary house in Provincetown for a weekend holiday to Cape Cod . The 23 - yr - onetime woman had motor up from Rhode Island in Walsh ’s idle blue Volkswagen . Upon check - in , their landlady introduced them to a young , local humanity who was also stay in the menage : Tony Costa .
Wikimedia CommonsBlue 1966 Volkswagen bug, similar to Walsh’s.
The Disappearance Of Patricia Walsh And Mary Anne Wysocki
The morning time after Walsh and Wysocki get in in Cape Cod , their landlady noticed a note pinned to their bedchamber room access , as elaborated bycourt document . It take , “ Could you mayhap give me a drive to Truro early in the dawning ” and was signed “ Tony . ”
That same afternoon , a witness spotted Costa with the two charwoman in a lite - colour Volkswagen . The fomite was last view drive toward Truro . Both woman flunk to keep an appointment in Provincetown by and by that Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
Wikimedia CommonsBlue 1966 Volkswagen bug , similar to Walsh ’s .
Bill Brett/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesTony Costa in custody, 1969.
The following twenty-four hour period , the landlady get word another note on the room access of Walsh and Wysocki ’s way . “ We are checking out . give thanks you for your many kindnesses , ” it translate . It was sign “ Mary Ann and Pat ” and written on the same eccentric of theme as the late day ’s banknote . The women ’s belongings were also missing from their elbow room .
However , Walsh and Wysocki miscarry to return home from their weekend in Cape Cod . Their family directly contacted police , who chop-chop lead off investigate .
On Feb. 2 , 1969 , Walsh ’s Volkswagen was spotted park in a wooded expanse near Pine Grove Cemetery in Truro . Later that same day , Costa admit the car to Boston . Despite his attempt to report his crimes , however , law now had an estimate of where they should be research .
Bill Brett/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesTwenty-four-year-old Tony Costa soon after his arrest in 1969.
The Depraved Crimes Of The Cape Cod Vampire
On Feb. 8 , 1969 , an military officer search the wood near Pine Grove Cemetery note an indentation in the ground . Digging down , he rule a bag containing dismembered eubstance parts . The female cadaver had been fall apart into eight sections , but it did n’t belong to to Walsh or Wysocki — it was Susan Perry , who had “ gone to Mexico ” five month earlier .
Around the same time , law question Costa about Walsh and Wysocki ’s disappearance . He gave discrepant response , and he was presently madly trying to cover his cut .
On March 3 , a wire for Costa get at his mother ’s family in Provincetown . It read , “ What happen . We waited as project . Is everything alright . We ’ll meet you as schedule . New York City . Love Pat and Mary Ann . ” Investigators determined the telegram had originated from a New York City telephone set number that Costa had admission to .
Police cover look for the Truro forest , where Costa was known to have a large marijuana “ garden . ” On March 5 , they unearthed more remains : the body and lop foreland of Mary Anne Wysocki .
Bill Brett / The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesTony Costa in custody , 1969 .
In another grave nearby was the organic structure of Patricia Walsh , cut in half at the waist . Her peel was strip off her chest “ in a fashion like a sweater , so that it was attached only about the shoulder . ” And beneath Walsh was the dismembered body of Sydney Monzon , the 18 - year - old cleaning lady who had been missing for about a year .
Some of the body reportedly had bite marks on them , run to Costa ’s “ Cape Cod Vampire ” nickname .
A medical examiner determined Walsh and Wysocki had conk from gunshot combat injury to the head and cervix . A .22 caliber shooting iron was found bury near by , which was later identified as Costa ’s gun .
Casey Sherman , a true crime author who wroteHelltownabout Costa , catch photos from the scene while doing inquiry for his record book . He by and by recalled , “ These women were n’t just murdered , they were brutalize … and looked like they had been attacked by a great clean shark — not a human killer . ”
He also splendidly have-to doe with to Costa as “ the most vicious sequential killer whale since Jack the Ripper . ”
The Imprisonment And Death Of Tony Costa
On May 29 , 1970 , Costa was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Patricia Walsh and Mary Anne Wysocki . Despite the peck of evidence against him , Costa maintained his innocence throughout his trial .
In an article Kurt Vonnegut write forLIFEmagazinein 1969 , he noted that even after his arrest , Costa recount law , “ There ’s a maniac on the loose out there , ” in cite to the women ’s murders .
Bill Brett / The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesTwenty - four - twelvemonth - old Tony Costa soon after his arrest in 1969 .
While in prison house , Costa pen a novel calledResurrectiondescribing the murders in detail . In it , he claim that a supporter name “ Carl ” had been responsible for for the deaths of Walsh and Wysocki .
Tony Costa was get dead in his prison cadre on May 12 , 1974 at the eld of 29 . A corrections officer shit round discovered his lifeless physical structure hanging by a leather belt from the upper bars of his cell . Costa ’s prescribed cause of last was “ asphyxiation by hang — self-annihilation . ” The Cape Cod Vampire take his own life , and with it the trueness about how many women he ’d actually killed .
After learning about the “ Cape Cod Vampire ” Tony Costa , read about 6’9 serial killerEdmund Kemper . Then , get a line how DNA helped police catch killerJoe Michael Ervin .
