Date

 Age

 Life Event

Jan 31 1949

0

Robert Berdella was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

May 1956

7

Brother, Daniel, was born

1961

12

Berdella was baptized as a Catholic

Dec 1965

16

Father dies of a sudden heart attack at age 39.  Mother remarries soon after.  Berdella resented it.

1965

Raped by a man he worked with in an Ohio restaurant.

Stopped attending church services

Watched the movie “The Collector” which was about a man who kidnapped a woman and kept her captive. He would later admit that this movie left a lasting impression on him.

Aug 1967

18

Enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute.

1967

Began to abuse and sell drugs and alcohol.

Jan 1968

19

Arrested, and plead guilty, for selling amphetamines to an undercover agent.  He received a five year suspended sentence.

Feb 1968

Arrested for possession of LSD and marijuana.  After spending 5 days in jail the charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

1968

Began to work as a short-order cook.

Sep 1969

20

Bought a house where he would live until his arrest

Dec 1969

Dropped out of art school

1970’s

20-30

Became more accomplished as a chef and worked for many well-known restaurants and country clubs. Joined local chefs association where he helped set up training classes for aspiring chefs.

Helped organize local crime prevention and neighborhood watch association

Began renting space at the local flee-market where he sold oddities, antiques, and artifacts.

Became open about his homosexuality

1981

32

Quit work as a cook and begin to work full time at his shop, which he named “Bob’s Bazaar Bizarre”.

1982

33

Became seriously emotionally involved with an unstable Vietnam veteran, however, the relationship did not last long.

Began picking up young male prostitutes.  He would become a friend with many of them, often allowing them to live with him in exchange for helping with housework.  He tried to get many of them to quit prostituting and get their lives in order.

1984

35

Began hanging out with 19-year-old Jerry Howell, one of the young prostitutes.

July 5

Drugged Howell with animal tranquilizers.  Bound and gagged him to a bed and sodomized him repeatedly. During this time, and subsequent crimes he took numerous pictures and kept a detailed log.

July 6

Howell died from asphyxiation.  Berdella hung Howell upside down in his basement and cut slits in the body in order to drain the blood.  He then dismembered the body, put the pieces in trash bags, and left them on his curb.  Garbagemen then unwittingly took the trash to the dump never to be found again.

Apr 10 1985

36

Allowed an acquaintance, Robert Sheldon to stay at his house for a couple of days.  Injected him with drugs with the intention of “keeping him” like he did to Howell.

Apr 11

Decided not to “keep” Sheldon and took him to the doctor because Sheldon was complaining of soreness from the drugs.

Apr 12

Sheldon got drunk and Berdella again decided to “keep” him.  He then drugged him with sedatives and tranquilizers and then bound and gagged him as he had done with Howell.  He then sodomized and tortured him repeatedly for days.

Apr. 15

A workman arrived to do some roofing work for Berdella.  Berdella then suffocated Sheldon with a plastic bag so that the workman would not hear him.  He then placed the body in his bathtub and made incisions to allow the blood to drain.  He then dismembered and disposed of the body as he had done with Howell, except this time he kept the head and buried it in his backyard.

1985

Met Mark Wallace after he had help with some yard work for him.

June 22

Berdella found Wallace in his tool shed seeking shelter from a violent storm.  He invited Wallace inside and drugged him.

June 23

Berdella tortured and sodomized Wallace for several hours until he died from asphyxiation.  Berdella then disposed of the body as he had done before.

Sept 26

Picked up an acquaintance, James Ferris, at a gay bar and took him back to his house.

Sept 27

He then drugged, bound, and tortured Ferris as he had with the others until he died from asphyxiation. He disposed of the body as he had before.

June 17 1986

37

Met a male prostitute he had known for a couple years named Todd Stoops and invited him back to his house.  He then drugged and tortured him for weeks.

July 7

Stoops died from blood loss as a result of the torture.  Berdella disposed of the body as had the others.

June 5 1987

38

Bailed a friend, Larry Pearson, out of jail and invited him to live with him.

June 23

Drugged and tortured Pearson in his basement for 6 weeks.

Aug 5

Berdella went to the hospital after Pearson had bit his penis.  Berdella was told that he would have to stay in the hospital for a couple days.  Before his stay, he went home and suffocated Pearson with a plastic bag.

Aug 7

Returned home from the hospital and disposed of Pearson’s body.  He kept his head and buried it in the backyard.  He also removed Sheldon’s previously buried skull and put it on display in his house.

Mar 29 1988

39

Picked up a 22 year-old male prostitute, Chris Bryson, and took him back to his house. He drugged and tortured him as he had done with the others for 5 days.

Apr 2

While Berdella was at work, Bryson freed himself by burning through the ropes that bound him, and jumping out of the second story window.  Bryson then ran to a neighbor’s house wearing nothing but a dog collar around his neck.  Police began to care for Bryson and listen to his story of repeated torture when Berdella arrived home.

Apr 2-4

Police searched Berdella’s house and found his torture logs and pictures. Berdella was arraigned on seven counts of sodomy, one count of felonious restraint and one count of first degree assault.  Initally, bail was set at $500,000.

Apr 5-Sep 13

Bail was revoked when an officer testified that one of the men in the photographs from Berdella’s house appeared to be dead.  Berdella remained in jail while police found more evidence of his crimes; this included digging up his backyard where they found Pearson’s partially decade skull.

July 22

Grand jury indicts Berdella for the murder of Larry Pearson

Aug 3

In order to avoid the death penalty Berdella pleads guilty to Pearson’s murder.

Sep 2

Grand jury indicts Berdella for the murder of Robert Sheldon

Sep 13

Berdella plea-bargains to life in prison in exchange for a full confession of his crimes.

Dec 13-15

Berdella confesses to investigators to his crimes in vivid detail.

Dec 19

Berdella pled guilty to 1st degree murder in the death of victim Robert Sheldon and to 4 counts of 2nd degree murder involving additional male victims. Berdella confesses in court and is sent to the state penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri for the rest of his life.  He also announces that he has set up a trust fund in the amount of $50,000 for the families of his victims.

Jan. 1989

40

Gives an interview with a local television channel in which he blames police and media for distorting him and his crimes.

Jan. 1992

42

Todd Stoops’ mother wins wrongful death civil suit against Berdella, and is awarded a record $5 billion. Because Berdella can’t pay this amount, Stoops’ mother would have a claim on any future earnings Berdella might make.

Oct. 8 1992

43

Berdella dies in prison from a heart attack.