Hadden Clark Explained

Alias:The Cross Dressing Cannibal
The Rockville Rocket
Birth Name:Hadden Irving Clark
Birth Date:31 July 1952
Birth Place:Troy, New York, U.S.
Victims:2+
Country:United States
States:Maryland
Beginyear:1986
Endyear:1992
Apprehended:November 6, 1992
Conviction:Murder,
Robbery
Sentence:70 years in prison
Imprisoned:Eastern Correctional Institution, Westover, Maryland, U.S.

Hadden Irving Clark (born July 31, 1952)[1] is an American veteran, murderer and suspected serial killer currently serving two 30-year sentences at Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover, Maryland for the murders of 6-year-old Michele Lee Dorr in 1986, and 23-year-old Laura Houghteling in 1992.[2] [3] [4] [5] He was also given a 10-year sentence for robbery after stealing from a former landlord.

Family life

Clark is the second of four children, and was born and raised in Troy, New York.[6] His brother, Bradfield Clark, strangled a woman in California before eating several body parts.[7] [8] [9] [10]

Clark's parents were both alcoholics and often fought with each other in front of their children. Clark's mother dressed him in girls' clothes when drunk and called him "Kristen".[11] His father eventually committed suicide. As a teenager, Clark tortured and killed animals owned by children who bullied him.

Clark trained as a chef and served in the United States Navy until he was discharged after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Over the years, he held a number of menial jobs but was mostly homeless. Clark was arrested multiple times for theft and retaliation. He was arrested for robbery after he vandalized a former landlord's property and committed several thefts.[11]

Murders

On May 31, 1986, Clark was ordered by his brother to move out of the latter's home in Silver Spring, Maryland. Michele Dorr, a six-year-old friend of his niece, came over looking for her. Clark took Michele to an upstairs room and slashed her throat with a chef knife. Clark then attempted to sexually assault her corpse, drank some of her blood, ate a piece of her flesh, and stuffed her in a duffel bag. He buried her in a park 12 miles away.[11] [12]

On October 18, 1992, he killed 23-year-old Laura Houghteling in Bethesda, Maryland. Clark was working as a gardener for Laura's mother Penny when she accused Clark of stealing tools from her backyard shed. Clark entered the house through the back door and stabbed Laura to death in her bedroom with a kitchen knife and suffocated her with a pillow. He carried her body in a bedsheet through a wooded area and buried her a half-mile away. He left behind a pillow with his fingerprint as he moved the body. He later returned and dressed up in a wig and women's clothes and left through the front door to make people think Laura left the house alive to buy time to clean the scene. Police soon discovered the bloody pillow and linked the print on it to Clark. Clark confessed and led police to Laura's body eight months after the murder. Police began looking at him for Dorr's murder after discovering he lived two houses down from Dorr's father at the time she disappeared. Police later tested his brother's old house for blood and found Dorr's blood in the wooden floorboards of an upstairs bedroom. Clark later led police to her body in January 2000.[13] [14]

Alleged murders

Clark has confessed to murdering dozens of people starting as a teenager. In 2004, he sent a letter claiming he had killed a then-unidentified woman in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1974 known as "Lady of the Dunes". Clark explained that he had buried evidence from the crime in his grandfather's garden and that he knew the woman's identity but was not going to tell authorities because he claimed they mistreated him. As he has paranoid schizophrenia, police doubt the accuracy of the confession.[15] The decedent was identified in 2022 as Ruth Marie Terry, who was married at the time of her death to Guy Rockwall Muldavin, who was identified as her killer on August 28th, 2023.[16] Clark led police on December 15, 2000, to his grandparents' former property where they discovered a plastic bucket with more than 200 pieces of jewelry. Among the items were Laura Houghteling's high school class ring. He claimed the items were "trophies" he took from his victims.[13] [14]

Media

Books

Television

Podcasts

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hadden Clark Prison Record. Maryland Department of Corrections. February 20, 2014. https://archive.today/20220828080020/https://www.dpscs.state.md.us/inmate/search.do?searchType=detail&id=678857456. August 28, 2022.
  2. Web site: Van Olsen. Cora. Serial Killer Spotlight: Hadden Clark. 9 April 2014. 20 November 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20150210070507/http://www.crimelibrary.com/blog/2012/11/20/serial-killer-spotlight-hadden-clark/index.html. February 10, 2015. dead.
  3. News: Curreri. Frank. Judge views tape of accused killer's interrogation. 25 January 2017. www.gazette.net. March 17, 1999. gazette. 2 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170202042530/http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/1999/199912/wheaton/news/a43801-1.html. dead.
  4. News: O'Brien. Dennis. Suspect charged in 1986 slaying of 6-year-old. January 25, 2017. The Baltimore Sun. September 24, 1998. baltimoresun1998.
  5. News: Shaver. Katherine. Duggan. Paul. Murder Charge Is Filed In '86 Case of Missing Girl. January 25, 2017. www.washingtonpost.com. 24 September 1998. washingtonpost091998.
  6. Web site: Havill. Adrian. Hadden Clark. Crime Library. April 3, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131023062139/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/weird/clark/index_1.html. October 23, 2013. dead.
  7. News: Jennings. Veronica T.. Murder Suspect's 'Lifestyle Is Getting Even'. The Washington Post. November 15, 1993. May 2, 2013.
  8. News: Haworth. Jessica. Cannibal killer and his sick brother who killed girl, 6, and drank her blood. January 25, 2017. Daily Mirror. November 28, 2016. mirror2016.
  9. Web site: Search turns to Clark's past. AmeriCast.Com. January 25, 2017. November 14, 1992. Bradfield Clark pleaded guilty in June 1985 to one count of second-degree murder and one count of mutilation of human remains in the July 23, 1984.
  10. News: West. Dan. Jack. Pippa. Bones found are not human remains. 25 January 2017. Block Island Times. June 9, 2011. blockislandtimes.
  11. News: Maria. Bovsun. Jailed 'Cross Dressing Cannibal Serial Killer' tops brother's violent history, claims he slayed at least 12 women. The New York Daily News. November 26, 2016. May 23, 2022.
  12. Web site: Hadden Clark – Radford University . Mike Aamodt . April 6, 2024.
  13. Web site: Crime Stories: Dark Secrets: Hadden Clark. imdb.com. October 29, 2017. 2002.
  14. Web site: Limited. GipsyMedia. Dark Secrets - Hadden Clark - Crime Stories. digiguide.tv. October 29, 2017.
  15. Web site: Lady in the Dunes - COLD CASE. March 12, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112842/http://www.darkvomit.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=236. March 4, 2016. dead.
  16. Web site: Guy Muldavin . 2022-11-03 . AncientFaces . 1960 . en.
  17. Book: Havill. Adrian. Adrian Havill. Born Evil. 2001. St. Martin's Paperbacks. New York City. 9780312978907. October 29, 2017. registration.
  18. Web site: Book Titles by Adrian Havill. crimelibrary.com. October 29, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20070220223127/http://www.crimelibrary.com/about/authors/havill/books.html. February 20, 2007. dead.
  19. Web site: Robert Keller. Serial Killers: Hadden Clark. robertkellerauthor.com. Amazon Digital Services LLC. October 29, 2017. March 24, 2013.
  20. Book: Keller. Robert. True Crime: American Monsters Vol. 3: 12 Horrific American Serial Killers. March 24, 2013. Amazon Digital Services LLC. October 29, 2017. Hadden Clark: a cross-dressing cannibal who was convicted of two murders, but had a trophy stash that suggested many more. B00C11HCH0.
  21. Web site: Born To Kill - Channel 5. Channel 5. Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd. October 29, 2017. August 24, 2016. The Cross Dressing Cannibal S3 E6 : Profile of American serial killer Hadden Clark..
  22. Web site: Born to Kill: The Cross-Dressing Cannibal. TVGuide.com. CBS Interactive Inc.. October 29, 2017. A cross-dresser is accused of two murders in Maryland..
  23. Web site: Evil, I: Dressed to Kill. investigation.discovery.com. Discovery Communications, LLC.. October 29, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20120802073603/http://investigation.discovery.com/tv/evil-i/episodes/episode-guide-11.html. August 2, 2012. When 23-year-old Laura Houghteling goes missing police suspect the family gardener, an eccentric man with a history of cross-dressing..
  24. Web site: Evil, I: Dressed to Kill. TVGuide.com. CBS Interactive Inc.. October 29, 2017. August 3, 2012.
  25. Web site: Mugshots: Portrait of a Serial Killer: Hadden Clark. imdb.com. Court TV. October 29, 2017. June 1, 2002.
  26. Web site: The Investigators. TVGuide.com. October 29, 2017.
  27. Web site: The Investigators (US) Season 3 Episode 17 - Hadden Clark: Dark Secrets - Watch Series. ewatchseries.ac. October 29, 2017.
  28. Web site: The Investigators: Dark Secrets. TV.com. CBS Interactive Inc.. October 29, 2017. September 9, 2002. October 29, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171029174354/http://www.tv.com/shows/the-investigators/dark-secrets-1152501/. dead.
  29. Web site: Forensic Files - Season 03 (1998). crimedocumentary.com. October 29, 2017.
  30. https://www.lastpodcastontheleft.com/episodes/2019/11/2/episode-389-hadden-clark-part-i-mommys-basement-bakery Episode 398 Hadden Clark Part I- Mommy's Basement Bakery
  31. https://www.lastpodcastontheleft.com/episodes/2019/11/8/episode-390-hadden-clark-part-ii-womens-panties Hadden Clark Part II- Women's Panties

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