What Ed Kemper's Life In Prison Is Really Like

Publish date: 2024-05-06

While held at the California Youth Authority, Ed Kemper underwent multiple tests, Biography reported. Although the results showed that Kemper had a very high IQ, they also diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia. After his diagnosis, he was sent to Atascadero State Hospital — a maximum-security facility for convicts with mental health issues. Surprisingly, Kemper developed a friendly relationship with his psychiatrist, who eventually made the teenager his assistant. But despite his apparently well adaptation to the facility, several psychologists did not believe that Kemper was ready for release back into the world. Nevertheless, on December 18, 1969 — his 21st birthday — Kemper was released from the facility to live with his mother.

Kemper was massive. With a height of 6-foot-9 and a weight of 280 pounds, it's no surprise that some people began calling him "Big Ed." He hated his mother, but he was not ready to kill her just yet. Still, his bloodlust was insatiable — between 1972 and 1973, Kember killed six female students who were hitchhiking, Murderpedia reports. "When I see a pretty girl walking down the street, I think two things: one part of me wants to take her home, be real nice and treat her right; the other part wonders what her head would look like on a stick," Kemper allegedly said, per "The Aesthetics of Degradation."

Kemper made his victims feel safe before killing them in many different ways, including by shooting, stabbing, and strangling. The vicious killer also had sex with their bodies, which he would often decapitate to keep their heads as a trophy. In April 1973, he killed his mother while she was sleeping and raped the body. Later, he invited his mother's best friend over and strangled her as well.

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