The son of a Kansas City policeman, born in 1943, Herrington was regularly beaten by his mother, with a belt, until age 12 when he "got tired and took it away from her." 

By age 23, he was working in Milwaukee as a shipping clerk, married, with his wife expecting their first child. A jet-black 1957 chevy was his pride and joy, but it would also prove to be his downfall, as internal pressures mounted toward the point of "an explosion of all this anger that I built up over the years." 

On September 1, 1966, Mrs. Duane Troyer, a 34 year-old Oak Creek resident, was driving to work when another motorist pulled her over by means of a ruse. Emerging from his car -- described by Troyer as a "gray 1956 Chevrolet" -- the stranger slashed her with a knife, then fled when she began to scream. She would survive her wounds, but other victims proved less fortunate. 

On September 3, 10-year-old Julia Beckwith was raped, beaten and stabbed to death on a vacant lot in Milwaukee. Herrington was questioned as a suspect in the case, and then released. Six weeks later, 18-year-old Sherryl Thompson was found by her brother behind a Catholic church, partially nude, her body torn by 22 stab wounds resulting in death. 

A week later, 11-year-old Kathleen Dreyer was accosted by a man who slashed her with a knife and left her bleeding on the street, escaping in a 1957 Chevrolet. 

A neighborhood boy spotted the car at a nearby gas station and summoned police from the crime scene. Herrington was arrested on the spot, a search of his vehicle turning up drugs and a stockpile of surgical instruments. In custody, Herrington confessed to the Beckwith and Thompson murders, along with the stabbing of Kathleen Dreyer. Found competent for trial, he was convicted by a jury on July 7, 1967, after 35 minutes of terse deliberation. 

Herrington was sentenced to consecutive life terms for the two murders, with an additional 30 years tacked on for attempted murder.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers

SEX: M RACE: W TYPE: T MOTIVE: Sex./Sad.

MO: Raped/stabbed females age 10-19.

DISPOSITION: Two consecutiva life terms + 32 years.