Crime + investigation
He terrorized two towns in northwestern Indiana over a period of 17 years.
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A spate of rapes and murders in 1995 informed the residents of Gary, Ind., that they had a dangerous predator in their midst. However, police initially didn’t have any leads and were hesitant to link the crimes until after one of the final victims—an 8-year-old girl—was discovered.
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Many murderers have mental health issues that, combined with a violent upbringing, may be vessels for societal disaster. Most with that background do not grow up to be serial rapists or killers, but Eugene Victor Britt was an exception.
As a kid hiding in his parents’ bedroom closet, Britt witnessed his father assault his mother, according to the book Dark Truths by Dr. Christopher J. Kurtz and Robert D. Hunter. Britt said, “It was a violent act, my mother cried and screamed as my father raped her while her hands was tied to the bed post. This act was repeated almost every night and God forgive me I sat there and masturbated through it all.” He associated sex with violence at a young age and became addicted to pornography.
During one afternoon in 1978, 20-year-old Britt walked around a neighborhood in Gary and noticed a high school girl. He proceeded to beat her until she stopped resisting, then raped the teen and stole her ring.
Two weeks later, the teen spotted Britt at work and notified police. On their way to the station, one officer said, “Take that ring off his finger, that’s evidence.”
Britt was convicted of rape and sentenced to 30 years in prison. After serving 15 years, he was released, but the violence continued. On May 9, 1995, he raped a 13-year-old he eventually let go because she did not see his face.
Nekita Moore was not as fortunate. The 13-year-old’s body was found near an abandoned house on June 24.
Britt continued his violent rampage all summer long. Forty-one-year-old Deborah McHenry’s body was discovered on July 18, and 27-year-old Michelle Burns was found murdered on August 13.
On August 22, Britt was riding his bicycle to work when he spotted 8-year-old Sarah Lynn Paulsen riding her bike in a church parking lot. He sexually assaulted and strangled her to death.
All previous assaults took place in Gary and the victims were Black. This time, the attack was in Portage, Ind., 15 miles away, and the victim was white. Instead of the prior tepid responses, this murder drew national attention.
However, it wasn't enough to prevent the death of 50-year-old Betty Askew, a Black resident of Gary, who was walking through an alley when Britt approached and started talking to her. Askew became suspicious and began screaming. Britt carried her to an abandoned lot, and her body was discovered on September 2.
At the time of Sarah and Askew's murders, Britt was living in a homeless shelter where a pastor tried to introduce him to God. For the next few months, guilt ate away at Britt. He tried to die by suicide by jumping in front of a train and ended up in a wheelchair for several weeks. Eventually, he confessed his crimes to the pastor who persuaded him to tell authorities, and he did. Police arrested Britt in November 1995, and he revealed more murders.
The Delphi murders and the Gilgo Beach killings considered many.
The Delphi murders and the Gilgo Beach killings considered many.
Britt took a battery of tests throughout grade school. According to court documents, he “should have been functioning at the eighth grade level or ninth grade level and was actually functioning in the second, third and fourth grade level.” While incarcerated for the 1978 rape case, Britt was tested and received an IQ score of 69.
At his 1996 trial for Sarah’s rape and murder, Britt asked to be put to death. Instead, he got life in prison plus 100 years. Even if he had gotten the death penalty, he likely would not have been executed: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing people with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Stephen J. Morse, a professor of law and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, tells A&E Crime + Investigation that people with intellectual disabilities “were simply not responsible enough agents to be put to death. They may be responsible enough to be given prison terms, but the most awful penalty cannot be imposed because, as a class, they simply don’t deserve it.”
After investigating Britt’s confession of his other crimes, authorities charged him with six murders in connection with the deaths of Askew, Burns, 24-year-old Tonya Dunlap, McHenry, Nekita and 41-year-old Maxine Walker in 2000, along with the 1995 rape of the 13-year-old girl. Eventually, three of the murder charges were dropped, and he was convicted of three killings (Dunlap, Nekita and Walker’s) plus the sexual assault and is serving 245 years in addition to the previous sentence.
Of Britt’s death wish Morse says, “As guilty as he may have properly felt, the question is whether he was fully informed about the good works he might do in prison to make up for his awful crimes.”
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Eric Mercado was a longtime editor at Los Angeles. He has contributed to The Hollywood Reporter, Capitol & Main, LA Weekly and numerous books. Mercado has written about crime, politics and history. He even travelled to Mexico to report on the Tijuana drug cartel and was a target of a hit on his life by a gang in L.A.
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