Draft:Richard Byrd Las Vegas Strip Strangler

Serial Murderer Richard (Dick) Byrd, also known as the Las Vegas Strip Strangler, was responsible for the deaths of 8 young women between the years 1991-2001. Although his attacks were brutal and shocking in nature, his case has gone under reported due to being arrested on September 12, 2001, the day after the World Trade Centers fell.

Victims

Between March 1991, and September 2001, 8 women were murdered in the Las Vegas Strip area. Most were sexually assaulted and strangled.

Richard (Dick) Byrd is often credited with the murder of young Tina Huffman. In 1973 Tina, aged 14, Huffman goes missing from Winnemucca. Her body would not be discovered for several years, buried in a shallow grave in the dessert.

March 13th, 1991 the body of 23-year-old Alicia Mitchell is found on the Las Vegas Strip

December 4th 1991 the body of 20-year-old Hannah Curtis is found a mile outside of the Las Vegas Strip

Spring of 1992 the body of Tianna Baker is found in Clark County Wetlands Park

October 16th, 1998 the body of Celia Gonzales is found in the parking lot of few miles from the strip

March 21st, 1999 the body of a Jane Doe is discovered a few miles from the strip

August 1st, 1999 the body of Monique Alexander is found in Burke Holder Park

December 30th, 2000 the body of Tiffany Davenport is found Baker Park

July 10th, 2001 the body of Natalie Gains is found in Baker Park, same location as Tiffany Davenport.

Arrest

September 12, 2001 Richard (Dick) Byrd is at the Vegas Strip, and picks up 21-year-old Emmy Martinez. Dick drives them both to Sunset Park, where he tries to sexually assault and strangle Emmy, who is able to fight back using her Krav Maga training. Park Ranger, Nora Collins, hearing the struggle is able to intervene. After being taken into custody, lead homicide detective on the "Strip Strangler" Serial Killer force, Andy Bowen is brought in.

Byrd confesses to the 8 Strip Murders, and on October 5th, 2001 Richard Byrd pleads guilty and is sentenced to 8 life sentences, plus an additional 30 years for the attempted rape and attack of Emmy Martinez.

Early life and education

Childhood

Richard (Dick) Byrd was born, 1958, in Winnemucca, Nevada, to Parents Harris and Phyllis Byrd. Dick Byrd was the middle child of three, two sisters Peggy Sue (Older) and Barbara Jane (Younger)

Byrd entered into Elementary school in the year 1963, attending Winnemucca Grammar School. His first couple years in schooling were uneventful, until his second grade year in 1965. It was in this year his parents were often called in to the Principals office to discuss some of the contact Byrd had started making with female classmates and to himself, of a sexual nature.

In 1967, trouble at home began with the 9 old Byrd. It was at this time that he was sent to live out in the uninsulated shed in the backyard, after showing signs sexual deviancy towards his family, as well as acts of voyeurism.

It wasn't until 1968 when Byrd would have another notable run in at school. He was caught hiding in the girls bathroom, and once found out was suspended for a week and threatened with expulsion.

1971, a now 13 year old Byrd's father, Harris Byrd, goes missing. It is in this year, he is also held back to repeat the 8th grade. This is also when Dick started to experience relentless bullying.

Former classmate Tracy Moses had this to say after he was arrested for multiple murders almost 30 years later:

" I wasn't surprised, not really, when I heard about what he'd done. He was always different, as a girl you never wanted to be anywhere alone with him. I remember when we were little he was the kid you would tease your girlfriends about going out with because it was such an insult, you know? You'd say stuff like "I heard you had a boyfriend, I heard you and Dick Byrd (except even then we called him Dick Turd) are going steady!" By Junior High we didn't joke like that anymore, we were scared of him. Then after Tina went missing we were real scared of him. He'd always been kind of quiet at school and by Junior High he never said much at all, but he was always looking at the girls. Like if you wore a shirt that he could see down at all, he would be staring. If you wore a skirt he'd try and look up it, he'd do stuff like walk to the front of class, drop his pencil on purpose in front of a girl's desk and then he would just take his time down on the ground picking it up. Like just straight up trying to peek up her skirt."

Highschool

1977, Richard "Dick" Byrd now graduates from Albert M. Lowry Highschool at the age of 19.

Adult Life

In the fall of 1977 Dick Byrd leaves to work for the Goldstrike mine complex, and stays here for the next 16 years, living in Elko, Nevada. No known murders attributed to Dick in this time, but he was highly suspected in the disappearance of at least 1 woman.

In 1983, Byrd was questioned in the disappearance of April Beasley.

September 9th 1985 Byrd picks up mail-order bride, Yuni AKA Sunny, who arrives in Elco Nevada from South Korea.

In the Summer of 1990, Sunny would leave to Las Vegas, and Byrd would follow shortly after

Once in Las Vegas, Byrd would get a job at a Distribution Center called Ice Production working in a warehouse. He would work her for the next 11 years, up until his arrest.

Death

April 1st, 2007 at 49 years old, Richard Byrd would die from peritonitis, following a surgery to try and repair a ruptured colon from smuggling a hairbrush.

In popular culture

• Richard (Dick) Byrd is a popular topic for True Crime Podcasts and Blogs alike, most notably being featured on the "TimeSuck" Podcast hosted by Dan Cummins, and the "Human Monster" Podcast by Morgan Rector, who's inability to finish an episode is legendary in the Podcast community.