Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder, rape, and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Gary Heidnik, widely known as the Bishop, was a murderer and serial rapist who lured six women and held them captive in his Philadelphia home between November 1986 and March 1987. He reportedly served in the army many years before that and lived a lonely life after he briefly served time in prison and lost custody of his three children. However, as per a report by People Magazine, he abducted women and attempted to impregnate them.
ABC 6 reported that he was caught after one of the victims, Josefina Rivera, managed to flee from captivity and alerted authorities. Rivera was a sex worker and was picked up by Heidnik in 1986. At that time, Heidnik had started the United Church of the Ministers of God. He ordained himself as the Bishop and ran the church out of his living room.
The Bishop held Josefina Rivera in his basement when she was just 25 years old and a mother of three. She was reportedly his first victim before Gary Heidnik kidnapped 24-year-old Sandra Lindsey, 19-year-old Lisa Thomas, 23-year-old Deborah Dudley, and 18-year-old Jackie Askins subsequently. Rivera, according to Oxygen, began cooperating with Heidnik and helped him torture the other victims. When Deborah Dudley and Sandra Lindsey died from the torture, she reportedly assisted Heidnik to dispose their bodies and kidnap another victim, Agnes Adams.
However, Josefina Rivera only helped Gary Heidnik to earn his trust. When he was convinced of her loyalty, he let Rivera make a phone call to her parents. Per Oxygen, she then took the opportunity to call the police, which led to Heidnik getting caught in March 1987. The surviving victims were subsequently freed.
What happened to Gary Heidnik’s victims?
According to a report by CNN, disabled and vulnerable women were Gary Heidnik’s victims. Moreover, his six victims, who were either Hispanic or Black, were chained and kept half-naked state in his basement. He reportedly fed them dog food and repeatedly raped them. Gary Heidnik inflicted torture on his victims through electric shocks and other mental and physical methods. This included stabbing the women in the ear with a screwdriver. The Bishop also left the radio on at high volumes when he left the house to ensure that no one could hear the women’s screams.
Gary Heidnik killed Deborah Dudley and Sandra Lindsay while they were in captivity. The latter was reportedly hung by her wrist to a ceiling beam for days before she died, according to Oxygen. He then allegedly sawed her remains and forced the surviving women to eat parts of her. Deborah Dudley died after all the victims, except Josefina Rivera, were coerced to be in a pit of freezing water. Rivera was then asked to drop a live wire into the pit, which generated an electric shock and killed the victim.
His double life as a bishop reportedly helped him to stay in people’s good books and not attract unwanted attention. ABC 6 reported that according to Gary Heidnik’s lawyer, Chuck Peruto, the killer wanted to kidnap women and impregnate them so that his future children could not be taken away from him. He also allegedly wished to create “a perfect race of children” and raise them away from exterior influence.
What was the Bishop convicted of?
Prior to his months of crime, Gary Heidnik was reportedly discharged from the military after serving for 13 months on the grounds of mental illness. However, he didn’t get any access to help and pursued a nursing degree instead. Fox News reported that he had worked at a veteran’s hospital before he was fired due to his rudeness and poor attendance. After his mother died by suicide, he started the church a year after his mother’s death.
After he started kidnapping women and torturing them, his neighbors had complained about a stench coming from his home. However, the police did not discover Gary Heidnik’s crimes and the body of two victims until Josefina Rivera contacted them.
Per a report by Fox News, Gary Heidnik was charged with kidnapping, rape, false imprisonment, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, unlawful restraint, and interfering with the custody of a committed person. According to court documents, he was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, six counts of kidnapping, five counts of rape, four counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. He was sentenced to death.
Gary Heidnik was executed on July 6, 1999, at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Per his request, his last meal was black coffee and two slices of cheese pizza. The Bishop was reportedly the last person to be executed in Pennsylvania. He also made his way into pop culture, with the character of Buffalo Bill partially inspired by him.
An episode of People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer is titled, “Surviving the Bishop’s Basement.” It explores the crimes of Gary Heidnik through the lens of his surviving victims. The episode aired on ID on Sunday, May 26, 2024.
