The Heinous Crimes of the Serial Killer Melvin David Rees

[emmet]

Here's a good start. There are many articles on Melvin David Rees online.

Death of Innocence: Jackson Family Murders Shock Area
fredricksburg.com

Interstate 95 was six years away from slicing through Virginia, the Fredericksburg area was still a rural region with abundant numbers of country stores, many kept their doors unlocked at night, and violent crime, except for some barroom altercations, was relatively rare.

But then residents of the area were suddenly dragged from an age of innocence by a fiend who struck in their midst. What happened touched off the largest police manhunt in Virginia history at the time and spurred a dramatic increase in the sale of guns in the city and surrounding counties.
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A tall, handsome, arrogant jazz musician, Melvin David Rees kept a steady, almost uncanny composure while on trial in federal court in Baltimore and later in Circuit Court in Spotsylvania for the kidnap-murders of Carroll and Mildred Jackson of Louisa County and their small daughters, Susan, 5, and Janet, just 18 months old.
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also see

Melvin Rees - Wikipedia

Melvin Rees | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

 

[Richard]

Melvin Rees in handcuffs being escorted by authorities

Melvin David Rees
Born 1928 Maryland, U.S.
Died October 26, 1995 (aged 66–67)
North Branch Correctional Institution, Cumberland, Maryland, U.S.
Cause of death Heart failure
Other names The Sex Beast
Conviction(s) Life imprisonment

Details
Victims 5–9+
Span of crimes
26 June 1957–11 January 1959
Country United States
State(s) Maryland, Virginia
Date apprehended
June 24, 1960; 60 years ago

LINK:

Melvin Rees - Wikipedia

 

[Richard]

Serial Killer Melvin David Rees

On June 26, 1957, Margaret Harold, a Maryland resident, was out with her boyfriend in Annapolis, VA on a date. While driving, they were forced off the road by another car. The other driver, a dark haired man, came up to Margaret in the driver’s seat and asked her for money and cigarettes.

When Margaret refused to give the dark man anything, he became irate and pulled out a gun and shot Margaret in the head. Margaret’s boyfriend was so shocked and terrified that he immediately jumped out of the car and began running through nearby fields until he found a farmhouse.

When Margaret’s boyfriend reached the farmhouse, he was able to call the police. While Margaret’s boyfriend ran through the fields, the dark haired man opened the car door and brutally raped Margaret’s dead corpse. The man left just before the cops arrived at the scene.

As the cops were searching the mysterious dark haired killer, they came across a building with a broken in basement window. The cops went into the basement in hopes of finding Margaret’s killer, but they walked into a horrifying scene rather than the killer. The basement was filled with extremely violently graphic pornographic pictures as well as female autopsy photos.

Police continued to search for the dark haired killer, but were left without any answers until another killing occurred two years later. It was discovered that the dark haired man, who killed Margaret Harold, was none other than Melvin Rees.

LINKS:

McCabe, Scott. "D.C.-Area Sax Player was Sex Beast Killer." The Examiner, Jun 26, 2011. 6, Shibboleth Authentication Request (accessed April 21, 2014).

Serial killer Melvin David REES Jr. | AKA The Sex Beast

Margaret Harold Murder - Melvin David Rees

 

[Zach Ford]

There's never really been adequate coverage of Rees. A short book was self-published a few years ago and it is the best summary available, but it only scratches the surface and leaves many unanswered questions. The biggest question is whether his confession of killing Shelby Jean Venable and Mary Elizabeth Fellers was legitimate. The reporter he confessed to doesn't really offer any information to confirm the confession.

 

[Richard]

Melvin Davis Rees Jr.
BIRTH 1928 Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA
DEATH 10 Aug 1995 (aged 66–67)
Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, USA
Burial Details Unknown

A.K.A.: "The Sex Beast"
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape
Number of victims: 5 - 9
Date of murders: June 26, 1957 / January 11, 1959
Date of arrest: June 24, 1960
Date of birth: 1928
Victims profile: Margaret Harold / Carroll Jackson, his wife Mildred, and their two daughters, Susan, aged four, and Janet, aged eighteen months
Method of murder: Shooting - Beating - Suffocation - Strangulation
Location: Maryland/Virginia, USA
Status: Sentenced to life in prison in Maryland, 1961. Sentenced to death in Virginia, 1961. Commuted to life in prison in 1972. Died in prison 1995

LINKS:

Melvin Davis Rees Jr. (1928-1995) - Find a Grave...

A.K.A.: The Sex Beast Classification: Serial killer Characteristics: Rape Number of victims: 5 - 9 Date of murders: June 26, 1957 / January 11, 1959 Date of arrest: June 24, 1960 Date of birth: 1928 Victims profile: Margaret Harold / Carroll Jackson, his wife Mildred, and their two daughters...

www.findagrave.com

Melvin Rees - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Melvin Rees | Photos | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Murderpedia, the free online encyclopedic dictionary of murderers. The largest database about serial killers, mass murderers and spree killers around the world

murderpedia.org

Killer: Melvin Rees - The Sex Beast profiled on Killer.Cloud

Melvin Rees - The Sex Beast killed at least 5 victims between 1957 and 1959. Melvin Rees (Melvin David Rees Jr.) an American serial killer known as The Sex Beast. Rees shot and defiled a woman in - Killer.Cloud the Serial Killer Database

killer.cloud

Legacy — Melvin Rees -- a little known but deadly sadist and rapist — Crime Library

1950s Washington, D.C. area jazz musician Melvin Rees was a sadistic serial rapist and serial killer operating in northern Virginia and the Annapolis, MD area. Dutch psychic Peter Hurkos was brought into the case and provided excellent insight into Melvin Rees and his crimes. Melvin Rees was...

crimelibrary.org

Melvin Rees

Melvin David Rees (1928 – October 26, 1995) was an American serial killer who committed five murders in Virginia and Maryland between 1957 and 1959. He murdered and sexually assaulted (in that order) Margaret Harold, the girlfriend of US Army soldier Sgt. Roy D. Hudson, during a highway...

dbpedia.org

 

[Richard]

Melvin Rees in prison garb after his 1960 arrest.

Melvin Rees and the girl he was living with at the time he murdered the Jackson family and months later at the time of his capture. She "stood by Melvin" and testified in his defense during his murder trial.

She went by many names: Patricia Annette Bray, Patricia Barrington, Pat Routt, Vivian Storm, Pat Weidenhouse, Pat Rees, Laura Stevens, and Camille Grant. She was a night club dancer, and actress, and entertainer. She died in 2014.

Here is a link to many photos documents from her scrapbook, and to newspaper clippings she kept about his trials.

LINK:

Pat Barrington: Scrapbook of an Actress - The Rialto Report

To accompany our podcast on Pat Barrington, The Rialto Report presents rare and unpublished photographs from her private scrapbooks.

www.therialtoreport.com

 

[Richard]

On 26 June 1957 Margaret Harold was shot and killed while out for a drive with her boyfriend near Annapolis, Maryland. Her killer swerved in front of the couple’s car, approached with a .38 revolver, and shot Harold in the side of the face, while her boyfriend managed to escape.

Investigating police found an abandoned building nearby, filled with pornographic pictures, but its full significance would not be revealed until nearly two years later.

Early in 1959, the Jackson family was driving along a dirt road in Virginia, returning home, when they were forced to stop and abducted at gunpoint. Two months later, two men came across the bodies of Carroll Jackson and his one year-old daughter Janet, dumped in a remote area of Fredericksburg, Virginia. A short time later, Mildred Jackson and her five-year-old daughter Susan were found buried in a shallow grave, just outside the abandoned building that police had discovered when investigating Harold’s murder.

Mildred had been brutally raped in the same room where the pornographic pictures had been found two years earlier. Since investigators were reasonably certain that the same killer had committed the murders, the media jumped on the story. Tips began to pour in, and although most of them were worthless, one pointed authorities towards Melvin Rees.

Rees was eventually found in West Memphis, working as a piano salesman. Margaret Harold’s boyfriend picked him out of a lineup and a search of his home turned up a .38 pistol. The most damning evidence, however, was a note paper-clipped to a newspaper article about Mildred Jackson in which Rees described his horrific crimes in detail.

Detectives also found evidence that linked Rees to the slayings of four other young women in the Maryland area as well, although he was never convicted in those cases. Rees was tried in February 1961 for the murder of Margaret Harold and in September 1961 for the murders of the Jackson family; he was convicted of both and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1972, and he died in prison from heart failure in 1995.

How many others???

LINK:

A serial killer preys upon a woman out for a drive

Margaret Harold is shot and killed while out for a drive with her boyfriend near Annapolis, Maryland. Her killer swerved in front of the couple’s car, approached with a .38 revolver, and shot Harold in the side of the face, while her boyfriend managed to escape. Investigating police found an...

www.history.com

 

[Zach Ford]

To comment on the other four murders he is often mentioned in conjunction with, he apparently confessed to killing teenagers Mary Elizabeth Fellers and Shelby Jean Venable. However, the article written by the reporter he confessed to offers no supporting information to determine the validity of his confession and the article was not published until after the death of Rees. It's worth noting, perhaps, that those cases were never closed after his confession, but I don't know how closely police examined the supposed confession. Although his name is often mentioned in connection to the killings of the other two girls, Nancy Shomette and Michael Ryan, there has never been any real evidence to link Rees to them. In fact, there is a solid (deceased) suspect in that case who investigators pretty much believe was guilty. Perhaps it does speak to the truth of his confession, though, that he did not claim to have killed Shomette and Ryan.

 

[Richard]

Melvin Rees can be considered a serial killer based on the 1957 murder of Margaret and the 1959 quadruple murder of the Jackson family. It is highly that he murdered others as well based on those murders, the time interval, and the extreme violence and total lack of empathy.

Besides being a serial killer, he is very likely a serial liar as well. He may well have killed Shomette and Ryan, Fellers and Venable. But as you indicate, perhaps there was not enough solid evidence to convict him of them.

How many other victims were there in other states? And how much did his girl friend really know?

 

[Zach Ford]

Of course it's possible, but it is not highly likely that he killed others, because VA, MD, and FBI investigators thoroughly checked him out for other crimes. It is very unlikely there are victims in other states because he only resided in West Memphis for a short time after moving from Norfolk. Read up on Shomette/Ryan and you will see why he was never a serious suspect. Different circumstances (non-sexual) and a pretty clear personally-directed attack.

 

[cenazoic]

@Richard - unrelated, but thank you for the link to the Rialto Report site! Fascinating stories there.