Lawrence Bittaker | The Devil And The Death Penalty | Serial Killer Documentary

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• published: 30 Mar 2016
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Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker and Roy Lewis Norris are two American serial killers who together kidnapped, tortured, raped, and murdered five young women over a period of five months in California in 1979. Shortly after his birth, Bittaker was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. George Bittaker. George worked in aircraft factories, which required the family to move often, from Pennsylvania to Florida to Ohio and finally to California. Bittaker, who had a tested I.Q. of 138, dropped out of high school in 1957, after several run-ins with juvenile authorities and police. Shortly thereafter he was picked up for car theft, leaving the scene of a hit-and-run accident, and evading arrest. He was imprisoned in the California Youth Authority until he was 19. The FBI arrested Bittaker in Louisiana several days after his release for violating the Interstate Motor Vehicle Theft Act. Convicted in August 1959, he was sentenced to 18 months in an Oklahoma federal reformatory. His behavior there soon got him transferred to a Missouri medical center. He was released after serving six months of his sentence. In December 1960 he was arrested in Los Angeles, and in May 1961 was sentenced to 1–15 years in a state prison. A psychiatric evaluation determined Bittaker to be paranoid and borderline psychotic, with little control over his impulses. Despite these findings, he was released in 1963. He was picked up two months later for parole violation and suspected robbery, and again in October 1964. While in prison he was again given a psychiatric evaluation, and again determined to be borderline psychotic. In July 1967 he was arrested and convicted of theft and leaving a hit-and-run accident. He was sentenced to five years, but was released in April 1970. However, in March 1971 he was picked up for burglary and parole violation. He was sentenced to six months to 15 years in October. He served three years of that sentence. He was arrested again when he stabbed a supermarket employee in the parking lot of the business. Bittaker had stuffed a steak down his pants and the employee had followed him outside and tried to stop him. The man survived, and Bittaker was convicted of attempted murder. He met Norris while in prison at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. In 1976 Bittaker was hired as the manager for the Holiday Theater in the Reseda area of the San Fernando Valley. He was given another psychiatric evaluation, which rejected the borderline psychotic finding, saying instead that he was a classic sociopath. Another psychiatrist called Bittaker a sophisticated psychopath. Despite the psychiatrists' warnings, he was released in November 1978 and moved to Los Angeles.