'Monster Preacher': How many times did killer Gary Heidnik attempt suicide before his execution in 1999?
One of Oxygen's offerings for January 2021, filled with new television specials, is on the rapist-killer who inspired the character of Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) in the 1991 film, 'The Silence of the Lambs' – Gary Heidnik. Heidnik was a pastor in Philadelphia who lured and confined six women as captives in his basement. Heidnik would create a toxic environment encouraging the women to turn on each other in exchange for being treated better. Eventually, one woman died of starvation and an untreated fever, and he allegedly went on to grind her body, mix it with dog food, and feed it to the other women.
'Monster Preacher' from Oxygen takes a deep dive into the life of Heidnik, who abducted the women to have his offspring. The two-hour special features exclusive access to two of the four surviving victims, Josefina Rivera and Jackie Askin, as well as expert interviews. The two survivors also meet in person for the first time since their release from Heidnik's basement to recount their experiences.
Who was Gary Heidnik?
Heidnik was born in 1943 to Michael and Ellen Heidnik and was raised in the Eastlake suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. His younger brother, Terry Heidnik alleged that their father would abuse them and would humiliate Heidnik when he would wet his bed, making him hang the sheets out the window in the neighborhood's view. Terry Heidnik told Associated Press that he was knocked unconscious by his father once, saying, "It got to the point where we’d be afraid to pick anything up because he’d beat us if we dropped something like a glass or something," pointing out that this is where "it comes from."
Heidnik joined the US Army when he was 17 years old for 14 months. He fell ill at one point and was hospitalized, following which he was diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder and honorably discharged.
Ken Englade writes in his book, 'Cellar of Horror: The Story of Gary Heidnik', that Heidnik's mother, Ellen, who was diagnosed with bone cancer and was suffering from the effects of alcoholism, died by suicide by drinking mercuric chloride in 1970.
Heidnik incorporated a church called the United Church of the Ministers of God in 1971 and set up a trust in its name, potentially as a tax shelter, which then went on to have over $500,000 in it at one point in time.
His first imprisonment came in 1978 after he signed his girlfriend's cognitively disabled sister out of a mental institution on day leave and kept her prisoner in a locked storage room in his basement. After she was found and returned to the hospital, examination revealed that she had been raped and sodomized.
In 1986, he began abducting women and holding them prisoners in his cellar. They were sexually abused, tortured and beaten in front of one another. The women – all of them were Black women – were forced to turn on each other so that they could be treated better themselves. Heidnik was eventually arrested in 1987 when one of his captives, Rivera, managed to win his trust and promised to bring back a seventh victim, but instead called the police. He was sentenced to death and was executed in 1999.
How many times did Gary Heidnik attempt suicide?
Heidnik spent time in and out of psychiatric hospitals from August 1962 until his arrest in March 1987, and Englade wrote in his book that Heidnik had attempted suicide at least 13 times. According to Philadelphia Magazine, in one suicide attempt from before he committed the crimes, he took over 1,000 milliliters of Thorazine, drank a quart of vodka, and put a hose inside his car.
In 1999, before his execution, Heidnik was taken to the hospital after overdosing. According to UPI, police believe that he tried to kill himself with Thorazine pills he had stockpiled in his cell in a Pittsburgh prison. His defense attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr said that this was his 25th suicide attempt in 22 years.
'Monster Preacher' will premiere on Oxygen on Saturday, January 16, at 7/6c.