Offender Record · OFF-2026-092
William Heirens (photo from the Radford University biography)
William George Heirens
Also known as The Lipstick Killer
Sex
Male
Race
White
Height
5'9"
Born
1928
Custody
Deceased
States
IL, IN
Distinguishing featuresKnown as 'The Lipstick Killer' after a message left at crime scene.
Custody
Died March 5, 2012 at University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago, from complications of diabetes.
This record documents arrests, charges and convictions reported by courts, law enforcement agencies and news organizations. Every statement is tied to a cited source with an archived copy. A charge is an accusation, not proof of guilt; a person charged is presumed innocent unless convicted. Solve the Case does not allege that this person committed any offense beyond what the cited records state, and this record is not a suggestion that the person is connected to any unsolved case. How records are built, corrected and removed.
Summary of the record
William George Heirens was convicted of three murders in Cook County, Illinois in 1946. He pleaded guilty to the murders of Josephine Ross (43) on June 5, 1945; Frances Brown (32) on December 10, 1945; and a 6-year-old girl on January 7, 1946. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences on September 5, 1946. Heirens spent 65 years incarcerated, primarily at Stateville Correctional Center and later at Dixon Correctional Center in Dixon, Illinois, until his death on March 5, 2012.
Documented Arrests, Charges and Convictions
Dispositions are shown exactly as the cited records report them. Pending charges are updated when a court acts; a record with no remaining conviction or pending charge is removed from the site.
Offense date Jun 05, 1945, Chicago, Illinois
Murder
Cook County Police Department · Criminal Court of Cook County, Illinois · Docket Murder Indictment · Arrested Jun 26, 1946 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Life sentence (consecutive)
Josephine Ross, 43 years old, was found stabbed and her throat slit in her Chicago apartment on June 5, 1945. Her body was positioned with her head wrapped in a dress. No valuables were taken.
SourcesWilliam Heirens v. Larry Mizell, 729 F.2d 449 (7th Cir. 1984); William Heirens; Guide to the The William Heirens Case Newspaper Clippings 1946-1949
Offense date Dec 10, 1945, Chicago, Illinois
Murder
Cook County Police Department · Criminal Court of Cook County, Illinois · Docket Murder Indictment · Arrested Jun 26, 1946 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Life sentence (consecutive)
Frances Brown (age reported as 31-33 in different sources; most commonly cited as 32) was shot and stabbed in her apartment on December 10, 1945. A message written in lipstick was left at the scene: 'For heavens sake catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself.' Her body was found with a knife lodged in her neck and a bullet wound to her head.
SourcesWilliam Heirens v. Larry Mizell, 729 F.2d 449 (7th Cir. 1984); William Heirens; Lipstick Killer: Murder, they wrote; Guide to the The William Heirens Case Newspaper Clippings 1946-1949
Offense date Jan 07, 1946, Chicago, Illinois
Murder and kidnapping of a child
Cook County Police Department · Criminal Court of Cook County, Illinois · Docket Murder Indictment · Arrested Jun 26, 1946 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Life sentence (consecutive)
A 6-year-old girl was taken from her bedroom on January 7, 1946. Her body was strangled and dismembered in a nearby basement. Her remains were discovered in storm drains and sewers near her home. A $20,000 ransom note was left at the scene.
SourcesWilliam Heirens v. Larry Mizell, 729 F.2d 449 (7th Cir. 1984); William Heirens; Guide to the The William Heirens Case Newspaper Clippings 1946-1949; List of kidnappings (1940–1949)
Pattern and Background
Victim counts and the pattern of the offenses as stated by courts, agencies and the cited reporting. Suspected counts are what officials have said publicly, not a finding of this site.
3
Victims convicted
3
Victims confessed
0
Victims suspected
Active years
1945–1946
Victim profile
Young women, Children, Strangers
Stated motive
Sexual, Thrill
Range from home
regional
Confessed
Yes
Education
some college
Marital history
Never married
Children
0
Died
2012-03-05 · natural
Places Lived, Worked and Frequented
Each place and date range comes from a cited record. Dates marked approximate are as reported. Know a place that is missing? Use Edit record under the photo; a moderator reviews it before it appears.
IL
Lincolnwood, Illinois
1928 – 1945 · Childhood home; family residence
Evanston, Illinois
1928 – 1928 · Birthplace
Peru, Illinois
approx. 1942 – 1945 · St. Bede Academy (detention/school facility)
Chicago, Illinois
1945 – 1946 · University of Chicago; worked as usher and docent
Chicago, Illinois
1945 – 1946 · University of Chicago student (Gates Hall dormitory); majored in electrical engineering
Crest Hill, Illinois
1946 – 1975 · Stateville Correctional Center, Joliet
Crest Hill, Illinois
1946 – 1975 · Stateville Correctional Center; garment manufacturing overseer (1965-1975), television and radio repair shop operator
Vienna, Illinois
1975 – 1988 · Vienna Correctional Center
Vienna, Illinois
1975 – 1988 · Vienna Correctional Center; Catholic chaplain secretary
Dixon, Illinois
1988 – 2012 · Dixon Correctional Center (Inmate No. C-06103)
IN
Terre Haute, Indiana
approx. 1941 – 1942 · Gibault School for wayward boys (juvenile detention)
Timeline
Nov 15, 1928
William George Heirens born in Evanston, Illinois.
1941
Age 13: Heirens arrested for carrying a loaded gun; sent to Gibault School for wayward boys.
1942
Age 14: Heirens arrested for prowling at Rogers Park Hotel; sent to St. Bede's Academy.
1945
Age 16: Heirens released from St. Bede's Academy and enters University of Chicago, skipping senior year.
Jun 05, 1945
Josephine Ross, 43, found murdered in her Chicago apartment.
Dec 10, 1945
Frances Brown, 32, found murdered in her Chicago apartment; lipstick message left at scene.
Jan 07, 1946
A 6-year-old girl taken from her bedroom and killed; body dismembered and parts found in sewers.
Jun 26, 1946
Heirens arrested during attempted burglary in Rogers Park, Chicago.
Jul 12, 1946
Heirens indicted for assault with intent to kill, robbery, 23 counts of burglary, and three counts of murder.
Sep 04, 1946
Heirens pleads guilty to three murder indictments and twenty-six other indictments.
Sep 05, 1946
Heirens enters Stateville Correctional Center, Joliet, Illinois.
Sep 05, 1946
Heirens sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the three murders, plus statutory sentences for other offenses.
Feb 06, 1972
Heirens becomes first Illinois inmate to earn a bachelor's degree while incarcerated.
1975
Heirens transferred from Stateville Correctional Center to Vienna Correctional Center.
1988
Heirens transferred from Vienna Correctional Center to Dixon Correctional Center at his request.
Mar 05, 2012
Heirens dies at University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago, from complications of diabetes. He was 83 years old and had spent 65 years in prison.
Sources
Solve the Case is never the original source. Each item below is the public record a statement on this page rests on, with an archived copy where one exists.
Other · Injustice Busters ·
Lipstick Killer Case“Heirens was arrested in June 1946 at the scene of a burglary in the same neighborhood. Police charged him with murder after determining that his fingerprints were on a $20,000 ransom note that had been left behind at the girl's home.”
News report · Chicago Maroon ·
Lipstick Killer: Murder, they wrote“The naked corpse of 31-year-old Frances Brown had been found on December 11, 1945, in the bathtub of Brown's apartment.”
News report · Wikipedia ·
List of kidnappings (1940–1949)“Suzanne Degnan was taken from her home by a teenage kleptomaniac household intruder. Her extensively dismembered remains were found in storm drains around the neighborhood.”
News report · Murderpedia ·
William Heirens“Police found fingerprints and handwriting evidence linked him to the girl's murder. He was also linked to the other two murders.”
News report · Wikipedia ·
William Heirens“William George Heirens (November 15, 1928 – March 5, 2012) was an American criminal who forcibly confessed to three murders. He was subsequently convicted of the crimes in 1946.”
News report · ABC7 Chicago ·
Longest-serving Illinois inmate dead at 83“Heirens, known as the Lipstick Killer, was convicted back in 1946 in connection with three murders on the North Side.”
News report · CBS News ·
Convicted Killer William Heirens Dies After Over 65 Years In Prison“William Heirens died Monday at a Chicago hospital after officials at Dixon Correctional Center found him unresponsive in his cell.”
Other · Radford University ·
Radford University serial killer biography: Heirens, William“William Heirens, born November 15, 1928; sentenced September 5, 1946 to three life sentences for murder and one year-life for burglary; arrested June 1946 for burglary, confessed to all three murders.”
News report · NIU ·
Chicago Oct 1988“Five months later, William Heirens, a 17-year-old University of Chicago freshman, was arrested and charged with all three crimes. Amid massive publicity by the city's sensational newspapers, he pleaded guilty and was given three life sentences.”
Court record · Justia ·
William Heirens v. Larry Mizell, 729 F.2d 449 (7th Cir. 1984)“On September 4, 1946, William Heirens pleaded guilty, in the criminal court of Cook County, Illinois to three murder indictments and twenty-six other indictments charging various assaults, burglaries and robberies. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences on the murder indictments.”
Other · University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center ·
Guide to the The William Heirens Case Newspaper Clippings 1946-1949“On January 7, 1946 six-year-old Suzanne Degnan was taken from her bedroom, butchered in a nearby basement, and parts of her body were found deposited in a number of sewers on the north side of the city.”
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