Gerald Stano
Gerald Stano | |
|---|---|
| File:Gerald Stano.jpg | |
| Born | Gerald Eugene Stano (adopted at birth) |
| Cause of death | Electric chair |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 41 |
Span of crimes | late 1960s – 1980 |
| Country | USA |
| State(s) | Florida, New Jersey |
Date apprehended | April 1, 1980 |
Gerald Eugene Stano (September 12, 1951 – March 23, 1998) was an American serial killer.
He was born in Schenectady, New York. His given name at birth was Paul. His birth surname has never been made public. His natural mother neglected him to such an extent that when she finally gave him up for adoption when he was six months old, county doctors declared him unadoptable because he was functioning at what they described as "an animalistic level". He was eventually adopted, however, by Norma Stano, a nurse, who renamed him Gerald Eugene Stano.
By all accounts, the Stanos were loving parents, but discipline problems nevertheless plagued their adopted son all his life. He earned C's and D's in all subjects in school (except music, which he excelled at); he graduated high school at the age of 21 and did not attend college.
Officially, Stano began killing in the early 1970s, when he was in his early 20s. During his trial in the 1980s, however, Stano himself claimed to have begun killing in the late 1960s, at the age of 18. Several girls had gone missing in Stano's area of residence at that time, but since insufficient physical evidence was found when these claims were investigated almost 20 years later, Stano was never charged. He was most active in Florida and New Jersey. By his 29th birthday, he was in prison for murdering 41 women.
He was executed by electric chair in Florida.
In 1993, the true crime book Blind Fury was published about Stano's life and crimes.
Popular Culture
In the film Virtuosity, Gerald Stano's personality was one of the 183 criminal personalities programmed into the mind of the film's cybernetic villain, Syd 6.7 (Russell Crowe).
Sources
- Crime library article on Stano
- Florida Has Executed 56 Inmates Since 1979. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (2003-05-16). Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 079701. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- Flowers, Anna. Blind Fury: The Shocking True Story of Eugene Stano. Pinnacle (1993-06-01). ISBN 0786006625.