Ed Kemper: The Co-Ed Killer Who Turned Himself In

The Giant Who Craved Understanding

By Victor J. Fisher

January 16, 2025

Edmund Emil Kemper III stands six feet nine inches tall and possesses an IQ measured at 145. Between 1964 and 1973, he murdered ten people, including his paternal grandparents and his mother. He is serving multiple life sentences in California. He will never be released.

What makes Kemper unusual among serial killers is not his intelligence, though that is remarkable. It is his willingness to discuss his crimes with clarity and apparent insight. He has given extensive interviews to FBI profilers, psychologists, and journalists. He has attempted to explain what drove him to kill. Whether his explanations are genuine insight or sophisticated manipulation remains debated.

The Kemper case forces us to confront a difficult question: can we learn from monsters? And if so, what do we do with that knowledge?

The First Murders

Ed Kemper committed his first murders at age 15. On August 27, 1964, he shot his grandmother in the back of the head with a .22 caliber rifle, then stabbed her repeatedly. When his grandfather came home, Kemper shot him too.

When asked later why he killed his grandmother, Kemper said he wanted to see what it felt like. When asked why he killed his grandfather, he said he didn’t want the old man to see what he had done.

These murders revealed patterns that would persist. Kemper killed women he resented. He killed witnesses who might expose him. He was calm and methodical in his violence. He was 15 years old.

The court committed Kemper to Atascadero State Hospital, a facility for the criminally insane. He was released in 1969, at age 21, into his mother’s custody. The psychiatrists who approved his release believed he was rehabilitated.

They were wrong.

The Co-Ed Murders

Between May 1972 and February 1973, Edmund Kemper murdered six young women. All were hitchhikers or college students in the Santa Cruz area. His method was consistent: he would offer rides, gain their trust, then drive them to isolated locations where he killed them.

Kemper did not simply kill his victims. He dismembered them, engaged in necrophilic acts, and kept body parts as trophies. He buried heads in his mother’s garden, facing toward her bedroom window. Later, he explained this was because his mother always wanted people to look up to her.

The psychological implications are obvious and disturbing. Kemper’s hatred of his mother permeated his crimes, even when she was not the direct victim.

Hiding in Plain Sight

During his murder spree, Kemper frequented a bar called the Jury Room, popular with local police officers. He befriended several detectives. He discussed the ongoing investigation with them, absorbing information about what evidence police had and what leads they were following.

Kemper also worked with the police department in an unofficial capacity, helping officers with minor tasks. He applied to become a state trooper but was rejected due to his size. The officers who drank with him had no idea they were socializing with the killer they sought.

This behavior reflects a pattern seen in other serial killers: the desire to insert themselves into investigations. Some do it for the thrill of deception. Some do it to monitor police progress. Some seem to want, on some level, to be caught.

The Final Murders

On Easter weekend 1973, Edmund Kemper killed his mother. He beat her with a claw hammer while she slept, then decapitated her. He placed her head on the mantle and used it as a dart board. He cut out her larynx and put it down the garbage disposal. It jammed and was spit back out. Kemper later remarked that even in death, she wouldn’t stop nagging him.

He then invited his mother’s friend, Sally Hallett, to the house and strangled her. He slept in his mother’s bed that night.

The next morning, Kemper drove east. He drove for hours, expecting at any moment to hear news of a manhunt on the radio. No news came. Police had not yet discovered the bodies.

Finally, from a phone booth in Pueblo, Colorado, Kemper called the Santa Cruz police. He told them who he was and what he had done. The officers initially didn’t believe him. He had to call back multiple times before they took his confession seriously.

Why Did He Turn Himself In?

This question has fascinated criminal psychologists for decades. Kemper has offered various explanations.

He said he had accomplished what he set out to do. His mother was dead. The fantasies that drove him were fulfilled. Without her, there was no point in continuing.

He said he was tired of killing. The compulsion had exhausted him.

He said he wanted to be caught before he killed again. He recognized he could not stop on his own.

Whether any of these explanations reflect genuine self-awareness or post-hoc rationalization is impossible to know. What we know is that Kemper stopped killing when he chose to stop, not when police caught him. That fact alone makes him unusual.

The Interviews

In custody and later in prison, Kemper became one of the most interviewed serial killers in history. He cooperated with FBI agents developing criminal profiling techniques. He spoke with researchers, documentarians, and true crime writers.

His interviews are articulate and often chilling. He describes his crimes with clinical detachment. He offers theories about his own psychology. He discusses the experience of killing with a frankness that disturbs even seasoned investigators.

Some believe Kemper’s cooperation reflects genuine remorse and a desire to help prevent future crimes. Others believe he simply enjoys the attention and the opportunity to demonstrate his intelligence. Kemper himself has suggested both interpretations contain truth.

Lessons from the Kemper Case

Several lessons emerge from studying Edmund Kemper.

Juvenile Violence Is a Warning Sign

Kemper killed at 15 and was released at 21. While juvenile offenders can be rehabilitated, those who commit extreme violence require long-term monitoring and support. The decision to release Kemper into the custody of the mother he openly resented reflects a catastrophic failure of risk assessment.

Family Dynamics Matter

Kemper’s relationship with his mother was characterized by mutual hostility and emotional abuse. She belittled him constantly. He fantasized about killing her for years before he did so. While many people survive difficult family relationships without becoming violent, for those with other risk factors, toxic family dynamics can be accelerating forces.

Intelligence Does Not Prevent Violence

Kemper is brilliant by any measure. He taught himself to pass psychological evaluations. He manipulated parole boards. He evaded detection while socializing with the detectives investigating him. Intelligence made him a more effective killer, not a less likely one.

Killers Can Provide Insight

The FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit learned valuable lessons from interviewing Kemper and other incarcerated serial killers. These interviews contributed to the development of criminal profiling. If we are willing to listen to monsters, they can sometimes teach us how to catch other monsters.

The Rest of His Life

Edmund Kemper is now in his mid-70s. He has been imprisoned for over fifty years. He has been a model prisoner, working in the prison’s psychiatric unit and recording audiobooks for the blind. He has been denied parole multiple times and has reportedly asked to not be considered for future release.

Whether this reflects genuine acceptance of his punishment or simply recognition that he has no chance of release, only Kemper knows.

He remains one of the most studied serial killers in history. His case has influenced how we understand the psychology of serial murder, the importance of early intervention, and the complex relationship between intelligence and violence.

The giant who craved understanding has provided it, though the cost was ten lives.

Until next time, stay curious, stay vigilant.

Yours in darkness,

Victor J. Fisher