THE GORILLA MAN STRANGLER CASE

A true-crime book focuses on an American serial killer’s murderous foray into Canada.

No one knows why Earle Nelson crossed from the United States into Canada in June 1927. But within a few days, he murdered 13-year-old Lola Cowan and 27-year-old Emily Patterson in Winnipeg, the last victims of the serial killer known as the “gorilla man strangler.” Esau chronicles Nelson’s Canadian journey—which ultimately resulted in his execution for the Patterson murder in January 1928—providing a microscopic level of detail that may satisfy true-crime devotees but suffocate general readers. True-crime specialist Harold Schechter covered the Nelson case in his 1998 book, Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster. But Esau, a former law professor at the University of Manitoba, concentrates on the two Canadian murders, his legal background making him an able guide through the prosecution of Nelson, whom one newspaper described as “the most vicious killer ever run to earth in the annals of Canadian criminal history.” Nelson found his 22 female victims at homes where he had responded to “room for rent” advertisements or “for sale” signs, strangling them and then sometimes sexually assaulting them after death. The bodies of Cowan and Patterson were both discovered under beds, with Nelson being captured in Killarney, Manitoba, after an intense manhunt as he appeared to be making his way back to the U.S. There was no scientific evidence linking Nelson to the murders, but the author deftly examines the circumstantial evidence. The testimony of a barber who noticed a sore with fresh blood on top of Nelson’s head supported the theory that Patterson had scratched him while fighting for her life. The only issue at the trial was whether Nelson, a “constitutional psychopath” who had spent time in a mental hospital in California, was legally insane at the time of the killings. The judge made it abundantly clear where he stood, telling the jury: “A man may be insane for a period at some time in his life and get over it.” Esau concludes: “The men on the jury may well have thought that Nelson was insane, but the ‘gorilla man strangler’ should hang anyway.”

While overly detailed, this homicide account skillfully guides readers through the legal thickets.