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Anthony JOYNER
Classification:
Serial killer
Characteristics:
Rape
Number of victims: 6
Date of murders: January-July 1983
Date of birth:
May 26,
1959
Victims profile: Elderly women, aged 80 to
92,
at rest home where he worked
Method of murder:
Suffocation
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Status:
Sentenced to life in prison on May 5,1984
Between January and July 1983, six elderly women -- ranging from 80 to 92 years of age -- were raped and murdered at Philadelphia's Kearsley Home, the oldest nursing home in the United States.
An employee of the home, 22-year-old Anthony Joyner, was charged with the crime spree, convicted in May 1984 on five counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree. He was sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment when jurors deadlocked over capital punishment in the penalty phase of his trial.
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of
Modern Serial Killers
Autopsy Finds Homicide In
Nursing Home Death
The New York Times
August 10, 1983
An autopsy has revealed that a third woman
who died at a Philadelphia rest home earlier this year had been raped
and murdered, the authorities said.
Dr. Herbert Fillinger, an assistant medical
examiner, said the examination showed that Kathryn Maxwell, 86 years old,
had been suffocated.
Her body was found Feb. 12 in her room at
the Kearsley Home, Christ Church Hospital.
A worker in the kitchen at the home has been
charged with raping and killing two residents. The police have said it
is likely he will be charged in connection with four more deaths.
Anthony Joyner, 24, is to have a preliminary
hearing Wednesday on charges he killed Eugenia Border, 90, and Mildred
Alston, 83, whose bodies were found in their rooms last month.
Miss Maxwell's death, which occurred in a
blizzard, had been attributed to a heart attack. Her body had been
donated to science and was at the University of Pennsylvania medical
school, awaiting use in an anatomy class, the police said.
Nursing home killings bring sentence of
life
The New York
Times
May 6, 1984
Anthony Joyner, convicted of raping and
killing six elderly woman in a Philadelphia nursing home, escaped death
in the electric chair today when a jury could not agree on the death
penalty.
The Common Pleas Court jury deliberted about
four hours before announcing it was deadlocked on whether Mr. Joyner, 22
years old, should be sentenced to death on his conviction in slayings of
the women, aged 80 to 92, at the Kearsley Home.
Because of the deadlock, Judge Edwin Malmud
imposed a sentence of life in prison.
Mr. Joyner, a Philadelphian, was convicted
Friday on rape and murder charges in the deaths, which occured from
January to July of last year.
The panel deliberated for eight hours over
two days before convicting him of first-degree murder in five of the
deaths and second-degree murder in one. He was also convicted of six
counts each of rape and burglary.
SEX:
M RACE: B TYPE: S MOTIVE: Sex.
MO: Rape-slayer of elderly women
at rest home where he worked.
