Facebook murder suspect allegedly shares eerie trait with serial killers
The gunman who randomly executed an elderly Cleveland resident in cold blood — and then posted footage of the killing to Facebook — was a self-described “monster” who tortured animals as a kid, a report says.
Steve Stephens, 37, reportedly took his anger out on his pet parakeet while growing up, as well as other creatures that his family owned throughout his childhood.
He ultimately shares an eerie similarity with serial killers, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and “Boston Strangler” Albert DeSalvo, who also abused their pets as youngsters.
“That kid was not normal as we as normal people know it from the beginning,” longtime neighbor Tony Henderson told The Daily Beast on Monday.
“He was in his early teens when the family moved in there, and I was in my late 20s, but I could see something wasn’t right,” he said. “[Stephens] was smart, but some days he seemed OK with talking to people on the street, but on other days he was staring off into space with a blank face. He was very up and down.”
Henderson claimed he knew for sure that something was wrong with Stephens, mentally, after he watched him pummel his parakeet without remorse one day.
“He asked me to come in and see his pet bird, so I went in their house,” Henderson recalled. “He had a parakeet and he had that bird crawl from the cage and on to his finger. Then he slapped the bird as hard as he could with his other hand, and the bird was lying on the floor. The bird looked dead to me. I looked at him and his was smiling and laughing as he looked at me and that bird.”
Over the years, criminologists have found a distinct link between animal abuse and human violence.
Experts describe it as a “graduation effect,” in which troubled youths rehearse their killings on pets or other creatures before eventually working their way up to humans.
Before going on his cannibalistic murder spree, Dahmer reportedly slaughtered frogs, cats, and dogs — placing their heads on sticks and soaking their bones in acid.
DeSalvo, who murdered 13 women, was said to have shot several dogs and cats with a bow and arrow after trapping them inside wooden crates.
Notorious clown killer John Wayne Gacy reportedly tortured turkeys by throwing gasoline-filled balloons at them and setting them ablaze.
“Hey, animals don’t make you weird like that,” Henderson said. “[Stephens] was that way before he got that bird. Heard he used to torture other pets he had. He was like that from the time I first met him.”
Stephens is wanted for aggravated murder following the broad daylight killing of Robert Godwin Sr., a 74-year-old man he didn’t even know.
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The senior had been walking around the neighborhood, collecting cans and minding his own business, when Stephens shot and killed him in an apparent attempt to get back at his ex-girlfriend.
“All my life…I’ve been a monster,” Stephens explained on Facebook Live, moments after posting the murder online.
“I got a lot of built up anger and frustration,” he said.
Henderson told the Daily Beast that Stephens has been a loner most of his life, but didn’t always seem crazy.
“I never quite understood that kid,” he said. “On some days he would talk to you, and then on others he would be mean and staring at you and very quiet…It’s not like he was running around the street scaring old people when he was a teenager, but what he did on Easter Sunday doesn’t surprise me.”
Cops were still on the hunt for Stephens as of 10 p.m. Monday. He is believed to be in Pennsylvania, or possibly another state.
Authorities are offering a $50,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest.
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