Charlie Chop-off is the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

given to an unidentified American

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

known to have killed three black children and one Puerto Rican child in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

between 1972 and 1973. This assailant is also known to have attempted to murder one other child. All the victims of this assailant were male, and the majority of murders committed by this individual involved the

genital mutilation The terms genital modification and genital mutilation can refer to permanent or temporary changes to human sex organs. Some forms of genital alteration are performed on adults with their informed consent at their own behest, usually for aesthetic ...

or attempted genital mutilation of the victims. While the case is still considered an open one, Erno Soto was held as a suspect and confessed to one of the murders, but was considered unfit for trial and sent back to a

mental institution Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

Murders

On March 9, 1972, eight-year-old Douglas Owens was found dead, stabbed 38 times. His

penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...

had been cut, but not severed from his body.''The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers'' p. 320 On April 20, another black youth was repeatedly stabbed; his genitals were severed from his body, although he survived his injuries. On October 23, nine-year-old Wendell Hubbard was stabbed to death on the roof of an East Harlem tenement block. His penis had also been severed from his body. On March 6, 1973, a nine-year-old Puerto Rican child named Luis Ortiz was stabbed 38 times and likewise mutilated. Finally, on August 17, 1973, eight-year-old Steven Cropper was repeatedly slashed with a razor on the roof of a tenement block. He bled to death from an injury to his arm, although his penis was left intact.

Erno Soto

After the botched abduction of a Puerto Rican boy on May 15, 1974, Erno Soto was arrested by the police. He was an intermittent patient of the Manhattan State Hospital since 1969 and confessed to the 1973 slaying of Cropper. His only surviving victim did say that Soto looked like his attacker, but refused to positively identify him. Manhattan State Hospital officials stated Soto was in their custody at the time of the murder, but also later confirmed that he might have eluded confinement, as it had happened before. Despite lack of evidence, investigators still believe that he is a likely suspect, citing the fact that the murders ceased after his arrest, and that an anonymous source placed him as a potential culprit on the first killing. However, due to his acute mental instability, he is unlikely to stand trial.

Miguel Rivera

In 1975, Barbara Gelb published ''On the Track of Murder'' and used Miguel Rivera as a pseudonym for Soto. Since then, numerous authors, such as

Peter Vronsky Peter Vronsky is a Canadian author, filmmaker and investigative historian. He holds a PhD in criminal justice history and espionage in international relations from the University of Toronto. He is the author of the bestseller true crime histori ...

or Lane and Gregg, have erroneously cited the name as being that of the killer.

References

Cited works and further reading

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External links