George Waterfield Russell Jr. (born April 1958), known as The Charmer, is an American thief and

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 ...

responsible for the murders of three women in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

over the summer in 1990. After killing his victims, he would mutilate and have sex with the corpses, leaving the bodies posed in bizarre positions at the crime scene. For his crimes, he was sentenced to two

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

terms, and is currently imprisoned at

Clallam Bay Corrections Center Clallam Bay Corrections Center is situated on the Olympic Peninsula in Clallam County, two miles (3.2 km) south of the community of Clallam Bay, Washington. CBCC opened as a medium-custody 450-bed facility in 1985 and converted to a Close Custo ...

Early life

Born in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in April 1958, to Joyce and George Waterfield Russell Sr., George's parents separated when he was still an infant, with his mother moving with him to

Mercer Island, Washington Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue to i ...

, to live with her new husband. At the age of 16, he was forced to live with his stepfather who later on remarried to another woman. While living with them, he developed an inappropriate fascination with his stepmother. He started to spy on her, and for that he was kicked out the house. Later on he lived with his aunts. Throughout his childhood and early adulthood, Russell often had scrapes with the law, mostly involving thefts and burglaries. In 1971, he got into trouble for truancy. Rather than a punishment, he was given an opportunity to work at the Mercer Island Police Station. He later used this to make women feel comfortable around him. He was popular with women, frequenting cocktail lounges around Seattle in search of hook-ups. However, he did not take rejection well. After an incident where he impersonated a police officer, he was banned from a club. Not long after this, he committed his first murder.

Murders

Between June and August 1990, Russell sexually assaulted and murdered three women in Seattle. In each case, he horribly mutilated and violated the corpses, posing them in various grotesque positions before leaving the crime scene. * Mary Anne Pohlreich (27) - a resident of Redmond. Pohlreich's nude body was found behind a

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

restaurant's parking lot on June 23. She had been strangled, with her arms and legs crossed as if put in a coffin and her eyes covered with a plastic top. * Carol Beethe (35) - originally from Kirkland. Beethe's body was found in her bed at her Bellevue apartment on August 9. Her head had been beaten in, and she had bite marks on her arms and a plastic wrap over her head. Her legs were spread facing the front door with a shotgun pointed inwards towards her vagina. She was discovered by her daughter, who, during the night, noticed that somebody was searching through the house rooms with a flashlight before disappearing. * Andrea 'Randi' Levine (24) - also from Kirkland. Levine was found in her bed at her apartment Kingsgate on August 31. She had been stabbed many times and had her skull bashed in. Her killer shoved a sex toy down her throat and placed the book 'More Joy of Sex' in her left hand. A distinctive ring she always wore was also found to be missing.

Trial and imprisonment

On September 12, Russell was arrested as a suspect in the murders. Aside from semen samples and fiber pieces matching the truck he drove on the night of Beethe's murder, it was discovered that Russell had given Levine's ring to another woman, claiming that he had bought it from a street vendor in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. That ring was later found at a pawn shop. Russell pleaded innocent to all charges, and when questioned in telephone interviews, he admitted to having books on

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy ( born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade ...

, but denied being a fan of his. In spite of his claims, he was found guilty of the three murders in October 1991 by Justice Patricia Aitken, showing no emotion when the sentence was read out. At the time, his brutal killings were compared with the then-unsolved murders of five college students in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

, which were later linked to

Danny Rolling Daniel Harold Rolling (May 26, 1954 – October 25, 2006), known as the Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer. He murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida, over four days in August 1990. Rolling later confessed to raping severa ...

. In November 1991, Russell was found guilty by a jury of one count of

first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

, and two counts of aggravated first degree murder. George Russell was given two life imprisonment terms plus 28 years, and is currently imprisoned at Clallam Bay Corrections Center.

In popular culture

The case was dramatized in multiple

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...

television shows, including: ''Dead of Night'', ''Secrets of the Morgue'', ''

City Confidential ''City Confidential'' is an American documentary television show, originally transmitted on the A&E Network, which singled out a community during each episode and investigated a crime that had occurred there. Rather than being a straightforward ...

'', and ''Murder By Numbers''. He appeared in ''

Most Evil ''Most Evil'' is an American forensics television program on Investigation Discovery, first aired in 2006, presented by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael H. Stone of Columbia University during the program's first three seasons, and by forensic ps ...

'' (2006), one ID's most popular shows. He was ranked at 17 out of the 22 level scale, among other sexually depraved killers like

. The case was examined by the television series ''

The New Detectives ''The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science'' (or simply ''The New Detectives'', formally "Forensic Detectives") is a documentary true crime television show that aired two to three different cases in forensic science per episode from ...

'' in an

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning t ...

named ''Stranger than Fiction''. The case was also covered by

Oxygen Network Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primar ...

original series ''

Mark of a Killer ''The Mark of a Killer'' (or simply ''Mark of a Killer'') is an American true crime television series currently airing on the Oxygen Network. The program examines the disturbing behaviors of serial killers. As of Season 3, the series is currentl ...

'' in the episode named "The Charmer".

Bibliography

References

External links

Radford University Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, George Waterfield 1958 births 20th-century American criminals American people convicted of murder American people convicted of theft American serial killers Criminals from Florida Living people Male serial killers Necrophiles People convicted of murder by Washington (state) People from Florida Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Washington (state)