| Leroy Snyder | |
| Alias: | "Duke" |
| Birth Date: | 13 February 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Camden, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Death Place: | New Jersey State Prison, Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Conviction: | Murder |
| Victims: | 7 |
| Beginyear: | February 14 |
| Endyear: | September 8, 1969 |
| Country: | United States |
| States: | New Jersey |
| Apprehended: | September 11, 1969 |
Leroy Snyder (February 13, 1931 – October 1, 2001) was an American serial killer who killed six women and one man during a series of violent crimes in Camden, New Jersey, between February and September 1969. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1970 and died in 2001.[1]
Snyder was born on February 13, 1931, in Camden, New Jersey, the fifth in a family of seven children. In the late 1930s, the family broke apart, and as such they lived in a socially disadvantageous environment, as Leroy and his siblings were sent to live in multiple locations. In the mid-1940s, Leroy, along with other siblings returned to Camden, where Leroy sparked his early criminal escapades.[1]
In December 1949, at age 18 he attempted to strangle a local woman using a clothesline.[1] Snyder was arrested not long after, and was convicted of the crime, but was released after a short time in prison. He returned to Camden once again, but was apprehended by authorities again after making vulgar threats against two young women. He was convicted but released again after a short prison term. After his release, Snyder began to find work, engaging in low skilled labor.[2]
Snyder was once again arrested in July 1955 for robbing and assaulting a cab driver in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for which he was given a five-year sentence. Another reported arrest came in 1959 for armed robbery, for which he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, which he served fully, and he was released in early 1969.[1]
On September 11, 1969, Snyder was arrested once again, and charged with the murder of 58-year old Gertrude Friedman, whose throat was slashed the day before in her apartment in Camden, New Jersey. He was arrested after police noticed he was wearing Friedman's wristwatch.[1] While in jail awaiting trial for the murder, in July 1970 he was connected to a string of violent murders that occurred throughout the previous year, and he was indicted on six charges of murder.
Authorities also investigated Snyder's possible involvement in three additional murders committed in the Camden area, but he was eventually ruled out as a suspect.[6] The victims were six women and one man, all of them friends or acquaintances of Snyder. At least two of the women had been raped, and on another occasion the victim was killed for financial gain.[7] Snyder admitted to all the murders. Under New Jersey law, he couldn't be sentenced to death after a confession, so on July 17, Snyder was sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment.[7]
On October 1, 2001, Snyder, who had served 31 years of his initial sentence died in New Jersey State Prison, at age 70.[1] His sentence required him to serve 43½ years in prison before being considered for parole, which would have been in 2014, when he would have been 84 years old.