The rundown house at 3520 North Marshall Street in Franklinville, Philadelphia – HQ of the United Church for the Ministers of God – had been under suspicion for weeks.

It wasn’t just the stench of burning flesh, which neighbours had reported: there were also tales of orgies, of blows and screams, of a power saw buzzing late at night. But, in the spring of 1987 in this grim part of town, screams were not uncommon. The police made a routine check but left with nothing to report. Weeks later, after a phone call from a hysterical woman, they returned at five in the morning to smash down the barred and bolted door. Only then was the full extent of the horror revealed. Deep in a grimy basement, officers found a scene of savagery.

Two women, scarred and trembling, cowered beneath a filthy blanket. They were chained to each other, red weals round their wrists and ankles. A third lay naked in chains, curled up in the ‘punishment pit’ – a 4ft-deep hole in the earth covered by a plywood board held down with heavy bags. Freed from their bonds, the women, all black, were hysterical but identified themselves as Jacquelyn Askins, Lisa Thomas and Agnes Adams, the girl in the pit.

As the women stumbled towards a waiting ambulance and freedom, Homicide Lieutenant James Hansen and his men continued their grisly search. Opening a refrigerator in the kitchen, officer Dave Savidge found a human arm. Beside it, labelled ‘Dog Food’, were 24lbs of frozen limbs packed in polythene bags – two forearms, one upper arm, two knees and pieces of thigh – all with skin, muscle and soft tissue still clinging to the bone. All had been cut with an electric saw. A food processor containing traces of human flesh stood on a bloodstained kitchen top. And, in an oven dish, they found what looked like the burnt remains of human ribs. The scorched cooking pot on the blackened stove contained a foul-smelling fatty substance.

It was the boiled up remains of a human head.

Hansen and his men felt ill. A dog wandered in chewing a human leg bone. This was far worse than the sickest porn video the men had ever confiscated. With their noses covered by handkerchiefs, they stumbled from room to room, finding more blood and bits of flesh and bone everywhere. The place was a charnel house, a sexual abattoir that had witnessed the most unspeakable things – murder, rape, torture, electrocution, savage beatings and cannibalism. Kept against their will as sex slaves to a monster, two women had died violently. Three more would have permanent damage to their hearing caused by their ears being deliberately gored by a screwdriver.

As the grisly search continued, Gary Heidnik, a self-styled ‘Bishop’ of the church he founded, sat facing detectives at downtown police headquarters. Tall, broad-shouldered and brooding, with a dark moustache and beard, he was the epitome of pious hypocrisy. He had been arrested the previous day while waiting for one of his slaves at a gas station. His plan, as he sat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of his white, luxury Cadillac Coupe De Ville, had been to add to his harem.

Josephine Rivera, a captive ‘trusty’ had gained his confidence and, on the promise of better treatment, offered to find him a new slave to replace one he had murdered. It was the first time she had been free for months. Instead of picking a girl off the street, she fled to her boyfriend’s home and called the police. Heidnik had been conned. He was arrested and held in custody as Rivera’s fantastic story was checked. They didn’t have to wait long. At the house, there was overwhelming evidence to back up her story and the claims of the other traumatised women. Often in tears and shaking, the women appeared gaunt and malnourished, as they babbled about murder, sexual abuse and torture on an unbelievable scale. And the man responsible? Gary Heidnik, a 44-year-old, would-be slave master with a prodigious appetite for S/M sex. A detective thumbed through his record. The suspect was well known to the law.

Gary Michael Heidnik, ex-army, was a psychopath with a string of convictions, mostly for sex-related crimes. He had a passion for nubile black women, evidenced by the stacks of porno mags and videos found in a cupboard. But this was no sad, down-at-heel loner. Heidnik was extremely rich, having amassed $250,000 through a shrewd stock market investment. The house might be dilapidated and in need of repair, but he spent money on luxury cars. His stable included a Rolls Royce, a Lincoln Continental, a peacock-blue customised van and his pride and joy, a flashy, new Cadillac with the initials GMH on the door.

Parked outside in this neighbourhood, this showiness should have been another sign that something was wrong. But big cars also spelled power and gave Heidnik the ability to attract women whenever he felt the urge to enlarge his harem. Rivera, Heidnik’s favourite, told how the off-white limo, the driver’s blue eyes, jewellery and handsome good looks had proved irresistible to women. It marked him as a ‘john’ who could be generous in return for sexual favours. “I got hooked. I admit it,” she told the police. “And I’m fussy who I pick up.” Hustling on the street after a blazing row with her boyfriend, she gave her name as Nicole, agreed a fee for her services and got into Heidnik’s car. They drove to a local McDonald’s, drank coffee, and then went back to his house for sex. The date: 26 November 1986. Rivera would not be free again until 24 March 1987.

Although startled by the shabby surroundings, Rivera went upstairs and got into bed. Heidnik stripped, gave her a $20 bill and slipped naked under a blanket. Sex that night didn’t take long.

As she dressed, Heidnik clamped his hands round her neck and forced her through the kitchen and into the concrete cellar. Her ankles were manacled to an iron pipe and she was told to lie on a mattress. She looked desperately for a way to escape.

Clearly, the guy was a psycho. Except for a freezer, a pool table and a beat-up washer, the basement was bare. The only light came from a boarded window. Her eyes wandered to a hole in the ground where a square of concrete had been removed. She shuddered and tried to stay calm.

Later, Heidnik brought food, which she refused. Instead, she watched him enlarging the hole with a pick and shovel. He had sex again, then left her alone. Rivera’s plan to escape brought swift punishment from her captor and a taste of what was to come. She was viciously beaten with a plastic rod for screaming, then forced into the hole, which was covered with a board. It was cold and damp and her cramped limbs ached, making rest impossible.

How long she lay there, she had no idea. Eventually, she heard the sounds of whimpering and chains dragging. When Heidnik lifted the lid, she emerged blinking and saw another girl, Sandra Lindsay, 25, chained to the same iron pipe. The girl was retarded and walked with a limp, but she invited Josefina to call her Sandy.

After a frugal meal, Heidnik had sex with both women. He warned them to behave while he was away.

Talking to Sandy was difficult. Her speech was slow. It appeared she knew Heidnik from way back and had had sex with him frequently. Certainly, she knew the rules: no screaming or escape attempts. The punishment was a beating and confinement in the Pit. Meanwhile, they were there simply for their ‘Master’’s pleasure – which was several times every day and night.

With Christmas looming, Heidnik went back on the prowl, picking up a 19-year-old black girl and bringing her back to the house. Her name: Lisa Thomas. Perhaps gripped by the spirit of Christmas, Heidnik felt generous. He bought her a meal and some new clothes at Sears, paying with his credit card. Drowsy from the wine, Thomas fell asleep. She awoke to find herself naked. Protesting brought Heidnik’s hands squeezing her throat until she agreed to sex in the bedroom. Gone was charm he had displayed earlier. Now, he stank like a hyena on heat.

After sex, she was led handcuffed to the basement to meet the other two slaves. Emerging from the pit, they saw stark horror on the new girl’s face, but couldn’t do anything at all to help. From now on, she would be a sex slave like them. Beatings were frequent, especially on the backside with a strap or stick which left bloody weals and had them screaming for mercy.

Of growing concern to the women, apart from their freedom, were the primitive toilet arrangements and the lack of adequate food. When, like Oliver Twist, they timidly asked for more, Heidnik brought cans of dog food which they ate ravenously. Tampons and a portable toilet helped improve conditions, but there was no privacy. Life was unbearable.

When Deborah Dudley arrived, she fought back as the chains were applied. But Heidnik was strong. The 23-year-old was beaten almost senseless. On January 18, yet another victim arrived: Jacqueline Askins, 18. Like the other slaves, she was told she could wear panties but no bra. Although slight in stature, she fared no better than the others in the overcrowded chamber. The only creatures free to roam were Heidnik’s two dogs, which often shared the cellar with the prisoners.

In February, Sandy Lindsay became the first slave to die. Hung from a beam by her wrists for an unspecified offence, she was then thrown into the pit as a warning to the others. When her breathing stopped, Heidnik swore and dragged her body away. He proceeded to cut it up with an electric saw. Hearing the whine terrified the women.

Their next meal was a mix of ground-up human flesh and dog food.

Starving, yet unable to eat, they prayed for an end to their suffering. God can’t have been listening.
Becoming more and more deranged as the stench of death began to escape the house, Heidnik hung each girl from a beam by the wrist and forced a screwdriver into their ears, piercing the eardrum to block out sound. Only Rivera escaped, pretending he needed her as a partner. Heidnik made her a ‘trusty’, expecting her to beat and inform on the others. As for Dudley, still making waves, he led her shuffling to the kitchen in chains, where he pointed to a large pot on the stove. Inside was Sandra Lindsay’s head.

Unable to speak when she returned, the girl sank to the floor, but began screaming soon after – which prompted Heidnik to try subduing her with electric shocks. Stripping the flex from a lead, he pressed live wires to her chains, and watched her jolt violently as the current coursed through her body. The slaves, already demoralised and weak, were appalled. From now on, the madman warned, disobedience would be punished with the excruciating pain of electrocution.

 

He didn’t need much excuse. One day, Askins, Thomas and Dudley, all tightly bound, were pushed into the pit and covered with the plywood board through which Heidnik had drilled holes. Josefina was ordered to fill it with water, using a garden hose. Certain they were about to be drowned, the girls clawed at the lid, begging Josefina to intervene.

Suddenly, two bare wires poked through, touching the chains. There were sparks and frantic screams. A second application touched Deborah’s flesh, stopping her heart. She fell face down in the water, dead. Her body was dragged to the freezer and later buried in New Jersey State Park.

Rivera later led police to her body.

Unconcerned by the deaths, Heidnik went cruising for a replacement next day. Rivera went with him, always seeking a chance to escape. They picked up Agnes Adams, did a deal for sex, and returned to the House of Horror. The girl soon found herself chained alongside the others.

Unable to escape, Josefina promised that, as soon as she had a chance, she would alert the police. On March 24, opportunity knocked. Promising to get him a “sexy, beautiful girl”, Josefina persuaded Heidnik to take her cruising in his Cadillac. She promised to return at midnight – and kept her word, returning in a patrol car.

Officers had seen the scars on her ankles and decided to act. As officers Cannon and Savidge approached, pistols drawn, Heidnik raised both hands. He realised he’d been tricked. He was arrested; his four-month reign of terror was over. While awaiting trial, he tried to hang himself in his cell. He appeared before the court on June 20, 1988. Ten days later, after 16 hours’ deliberation, the jury returned its verdict: “For the murder of Deborah Dudley, guilty in the first degree. For the murder of Sandra Lindsay, guilty in the first degree.” By the time the foreman was finished, Heidnik stood convicted on 18 separate counts, ranging from murder, rape and kidnapping to aggravated assault and deviant sexual intercourse.

Heidnik spent 11 years on Death Row, awaiting execution. At 10.29pm on July 6, 1999, after a final meal of pizza and black coffee, he was executed by lethal injection. Journalists present say he turned red, then deathly pale as the cyanide took effect.

His victims have begun civil proceedings to release funds from his Merrill Lynch account. If successful, they will share the proceeds.