Norris's extended family lived within a short distance of his parents' home due to his grandfather's real estate investments. : 74 Norris was conceived out of wedlock his parents had married to avoid the social stigma surrounding illegitimate birth at the time. Roy Lewis Norris was born in Greeley, Colorado, on February 5, 1948. He would never see his adoptive parents again. : 250 Upon release, Bittaker discovered that his adoptive parents had disowned him and moved to another state. : 250 For these offenses he was imprisoned at the California Youth Authority, where he remained until he was 18 years old. Within a year of dropping out, he had been arrested for car theft, a hit and run, and evading arrest.
: 257 By this stage in his adolescence, he and his adoptive parents were living in California. : 250Īlthough reported to have an IQ of 138, Bittaker considered school to be a tedious experience and dropped out of high school in 1957. Bittaker would later claim these numerous theft-related offenses committed throughout his adolescence had been attempts to compensate for the lack of love he received from his parents. īittaker was first arrested for shoplifting at the age of 12 and obtained a minor criminal record over the next four years after further arrests for the same offense-in addition to petty theft-which brought him to the attention of juvenile authorities. Bittaker's adoptive father worked in the aviation industry, which required the family to frequently move around the United States throughout his childhood. : 84 He was placed in an orphanage by his birth mother and was adopted by Mr. Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 27, 1940, as the unwanted child of a couple who had chosen to not have children. 4.3 Jackie Doris Gilliam and Jacqueline Leah LampĮarly life Lawrence Bittaker.īittaker and Norris became known as the "Tool Box Killers" because the majority of instruments used to torture and murder their victims, such as pliers, ice picks, and sledgehammers, were items normally stored inside a household toolbox. He died of natural causes at the California Medical Facility in February 2020. Norris accepted a plea bargain whereby he agreed to testify against Bittaker and was sentenced to life imprisonment on May 7, 1980, with possibility of parole after serving thirty years. Douglas as the most disturbing individual for whom he has ever created a criminal profile, : 135 Bittaker was sentenced to death for five murders on March 24, 1981, but died of natural causes while incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State Prison in December 2019.
Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker (Septem– December 13, 2019) and Roy Lewis Norris (Febru– February 24, 2020), also known as the Tool Box Killers, were two American serial killers and rapists who committed the kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of five teenage girls in southern California over a five-month period in 1979.ĭescribed by FBI Special Agent John E.