Allen Gormely Sadistic Serial Killer 1

Allen Gormely – Long Beach New York’s Serial Sadistic Sexual Killer

Mark Fogel

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Psychology 766

Professor Schlesinger

December 1, 2008

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Allen Gormely, an unemployed white 37 year old male with a tenth grade education

raised in a lapsed catholic household with a history of not being able to keep a job is classified as

a serial killer who prowled the streets of Far Rockaway, New York for prostitutes and ultimately

homicide. Gormely’s two victims were both very petite prostitutes with heavy drug habits.

Victim #1 was a young 22-year-old white female known by her fellow co-workers as “Half Pint”

being just 5’2 and weighing in at 103 pounds. Half Pint was a heavy drug abuser. On February

11th, 1990 her body was found stuffed in a bloody yellow laundry bag on the streets of Long

Beach, NY. Her face was pummeled and the cause of death was manual strangulation. Victim

#1 showed signs of vaginal intercourse and anal tearing, perhaps an indication of forceful anal

sex.

The bloody pummeled body of Victim #2 was discovered on October 30th, 1990; more

than eight months after the discovery of Victim #1 crammed into a dark colored laundry bag also

on the streets of Long Beach. Victim #What lead to the 2 was also very petite, weighing in at a

mere 95 pounds and with a height of only 5”3 the similarities were striking. Victim #2 was a

twenty-five year old Hispanic prostitute drug abuser also a habituate of Far Rockaway, NY.

Victim #2 was manually strangled to death. Additionally, Victim #2 was bitten on her right

nipple. Victim #2 showed signs of vaginal intercourse and anal tearing, perhaps an indication of

forceful anal sex. Both Victims were found in partial undress, with Victim #1 wearing a man’s t-

shirt and Victim #2 wearing only her bra and panties.

What lead to the apprehension of the Offender was the name, address and telephone

number found on the inside of the laundry bag that contained the remains of Victim #2. Inside

the second laundry bag the investigators found an imprinted name, address and telephone

number.

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The police immediately questioned Mr. Tomaselli who indicated that he did not often go

to Long Island, but he had a cousin who did live on Long Island, one Allen Gormely, Jr. The

police brought Gormely in for questioning and within a few short hours of interrogation he

confessed to both homicides.

Gormely was a single male that lived alone in the basement apartment in his Uncle’s

house. He was a chronic alcoholic and heavy drug abuser. He had few friends. He lived a few

towns away from his mother, who lived in Rockville Centre, a more heavily catholic

neighborhood, and the seat of the Archdiocese of Long Island. Gormely confessed to both

crimes. Regarding Victim #1 Gormely stated that he met her with regard to drugs (not sex).

That she performed oral sex with Gormely and then proceeded to anal sex. Gormely stated that

he found anal penetration as “ultimate act of sexual submission by these woman.

Gormely confessed to the investigators regarding victim #1 that he met her and supplied

her with drugs. In exchange for sex he gave her drugs. He stated that while engaged in anal sex

he could not achieve orgasm. We question if this began the episode? However, Gormely and

Victim #1 engaged subsequently in sex hours later. Gormely stated that Victim# 1 wanted more

“crack” but got angry when Gormely stated he had no money to buy more crack. Victim #1

went through Gormely’s clothing and found some money. It would appear that Gormely wanted

the Victim to find the money and thus stage the argument. After finding this money Gormely

claims the Victim attacked him, scratching his face and biting his hand. It is at this time that

Gormely began to punch the victim, knocking her down, grabbing her from behind, pushing her

onto the bed and strangling her from behind until she died. Gormely stated that he held her face

down on the bed to muffle her screams so as not to attract his neighbors (his uncle?).

This story does not appear consistent with the autopsy facts showing that the victim was not

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just punched, but pummeled before being strangled. It also appears odd that during this

confrontation the offender got behind the victim to strangle her. Also how did they get on the

bed if this fight took place in the bedroom area? Now, this might have happened the way the

offender portrays but for the fact that a second homicide appears to have happened in identical

fashion.

After the killing, Gormely claims he cleaned himself up, showered and dressed. He claims to

have looked for and found a laundry bag, which he used to cram the body of victim #1 into. It is

interesting to note that he choose to put the victim’s clothing in a separate bag for disposal apart

from the body to hinder identification of the victim. It also appears that Gormely understood that

since the victim was a street prostitute she might not be reported missing and she might be

unidentifiable.

Gormely reports to have left his apartment leaving the body in the bag in his home, returning

some time later thinking about where and how to dispose of the body. Gormely claims to have

driven the neighborhood with the body in the front passenger seat of his car, looking for a vacant

lot to dump the bag.

It is important to note that the day after the body is dumped, Gormely returns to the scene to

see if the body was discovered or there was police investigation. He did not however, interpose

himself in the investigation, driving off when he saw police presence at the scene.

The second victim confession is much more classic. Here, Gormely stated that Victim #2 was

the friend of his father’s girlfriend’s daughter. Victim #2 was also very small, only 93 pounds

and a mere 5’3 tall. Gormely claimed in his initial confession of this killing that victim #2 was

sexually aggressive and approached him for sex and drugs. He claimed that victim 2 was excited

by Gormely’s physical abuse, shoving his entire hand into victim #2’s annus. However, here

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Gormely again informs the investigators that he lost his erection during sex. At this point in the

narrative the victim demands more drugs. Now, Gormely informs the victim that he does not

permit drugs in his home. The same story plays out as with victim #1; she demands money for

drugs, the offender says he has no money; the victim attacks the offender who is only defending

himself. Gormely again hits the victim while defending himself, grabs her in a chokehold from

behind, pushes her on the bed to muffle her screams, she accidently gets strangled.

And. there just happens to be another laundry bag on the premises, this one taken from

Gormely’s cousin’s home in Brooklyn. Gormely disposes the body of Victim #2 in a similar

manner, only this time the victim has on her own underwear. And, Gormely does not dispose of

her clothing, but keeps it with whatever jewelry she had as souvenirs of his crime.

Furthermore, the offender placed his initials in victim #2’s laundry bag that had his uncle’s

identification in it. The offender dumped the second victim’s body within less than a mile of the

first victim’s body was found. However, here the confession is shown to contain lies and

Gormely alters it, subsequently admitting that victim 2 is a streetwalker prostitute he picked up

in the similar area.

Douglas, Burgess, Burgess, and Ressler (1992) partially define the term “Serial Killer” as

there are at least three murders. Here Gormely was apprehended after two murders, but it

appears from the facts that he would have continued to go on with his murders but for being

caught. From the facts of the two killings that these were planned out killings. They are of a

serial nature, spaced out by eight months and driven by sexual fantasies. Since the two murders

are very similar from Gormely’s hunt for the victims, violence at the crime scenes and disposal

of the bodies; that Gormely was acting out and perfecting his fantasy. It is my supposition that

Gormely’s continuing offense pattern was one of trying to perfect his fantasy into reality hope.

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It also appears from the pattern of acquiring a laundry bag from his relative that he would

have accelerated his pace of homicides. And, his alcohol and substance abuse may have been a

triggering factor that facilitated his break in inhibitory firewall protection. Or, the finding of a

vulnerable victim as posited with similar circumstances in Folino (2000) such as a prostitute.

What triggered the exact moment would seem to be a combination of various events since surely

the offender trolled the Far Rockaway neighborhood other times and surely abused alcohol and

drugs between the two killings. Perhaps it was finding the second laundry bag during a visit to

his cousin’s house. One can imagine the sublime pleasure when Gormely found the bag, seeing

it, touching it with his fingers, and then looking around to see if anyone was watching and then

folding it and secreting it. It was at that moment that somebody was going to be murdered.

Further, the axiom that haste makes waste appears to apply to the offender’s behavioral pattern

because in his haste to relive his fantasy with victim number two Gormely used a laundry bag

with tell tale evidence, his relatives identification clearly imprinted n the bag. They have more

elements of organized typology than disorganized in that it appears that the offender planned out

the killings with obtaining at least the second laundry bag to use to dispose of the body of victim

#2. And, he kept the bodies while he planned how to dispose of the bodies. He also sought out

victims who would be hard to trace and who would have few relatives pressing for an

investigation. They were all strangers. He lured the victims into his control with promises of

money, drugs and other items of value. He took and kept souvenirs of his crimes. He placed his

initials in the second body bag as a signature of his crime.

Focusing on the sadistic aspect of the offenses first the offender he use of a murder kit with

its similarities to a rape kit McLawsen, Jackson, Vannoy, Gagliardi, and Scalora (2008) place the

use of a rape kit as a sign of sadistic behavior. The offender’s entire behavior pattern fit within

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the range of the sadistic behavior pattern. The offender’s murder kit included drugs, money and

other goods to entice victims into his control and the all-necessary laundry bags, which were the

offender’s signature to the killings. Furthermore, the additional sadistic behaviors listed by

McLawsen et al (2008) that match Gormely’s behaviors are that the offender planned the attack

(went looking for the victims in a different neighborhood than his own), he was under the

influence of alcohol and drug (had them in his possession), he approached the victims using a

pretext (that he wanted to engage in sex with them), used deceptive practices to lure the victims

to a different location (offender took them back to his apartment under pretense of sex for hire),

kept trophies of attacks (kept victims’ jewelry and clothing), digital penetration (offender

inserted his hand forcefully into victim’s annus), vaginal and anal rape (since the offender had

sex with these victims under false pretenses this could be considered rape), sexual dysfunction

(offender failed with both victims to maintain an erection during parts of the sex acts), offender

achieved orgasm during the offense, degraded the victims (the offender stated he called the

victims humiliating names), affectionately touched the victim, beat both victims after sex, then

strangled the victims after sex, during which time he tried to calm the victim and the offender

took items from the victim after killing them. McLawsen as signs of sadism, Gormely met forty-

five out of sixty, a great preponderance.

Marshall, Kennedy, Yates, & Serran (2002) had a lesser and slightly different list of

variables to indicate sadism of which Gormely met seven out of twenty-four with five being not

applicable to a homicide and thus the offender meets 19% of the criteria under Marshall.

And the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1980-2000) lists twenty-

seven different and similar variables of which four are inapplicable with the offender meeting

43% of the variables for sadistic behavior.

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Dietz, Hazelwood, & Warren (1990) and Gratzer & Bradford (1995) list thirty-four

variables of which three or more are inapplicable or unknown and of the remaining thirty-one

variables, Gormely has sixteen variables for a 51% match of sadistic behaviors.

Furthermore, Gormely lied about his sexual prowess and showed his sadistic tendencies and

fantasies through his confessions by claiming that anal sex is in his mind the ultimate act of

submission by the female partner. He may have forcefully raped these prostitutes, but because of

victim previous history it is difficult to ascertain this. The method of killing, manual

strangulation further fits the typology of a sexual murder. This, with the series of killings and

the balance of acts indicates to me that Gormely is a serial sadistic sexual murderer who is

organized, but also has some level of disorganized behaviors or became more confident believing

that he could not be apprehended.

A sadistic rapist posits Pardue and Arrigo (2007) is both highly manipulative and deceitful, and

here Gormely manipulated and was deceitful for several hours with each of his two victims,

tricking what should have been two streetwise prostitutes into coming into his lair.

Several newspaper articles mention he had an extensive interest in pornography (Forrest, Nov

10, 1990). Gormely had no previous criminal history that was ascertainable. Investigators

attempted to clear an additional five unsolved similar homicides they believed were committed

by Gormely. But, it appears that there was insufficient evidence to tie him to those other

unsolved crimes (Perlman , 1990).

In 1992 Gormely was found guilty of two counts of 2nd Degree Murder and sentenced to

25 years to life each to run consecutively. He remains in prison to this day (Perlman, 1992).

The research into sadistic rapists and sadistic killers made it possible for me to see the

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target of this study, Gormely in a different light. It was easy to see he was a violent murderer,

but it wasn’t until looking at the data in the studies that I realized he was a sadist and that his

ultimate aim was the infliction of fear and his control over the victims that was his real sexual

gratification. At first I thought that the laundry bags that he used to dispose of the bodies were at

first accidental, but with reading it came to me that the bags were looked for as he planned his

crimes. I also thought that the second bag might be a triggering event, that he saw the bag and it

set him into his violent fantasy.

But the more I read and compared the offender’s conduct to the various variables it

became exceedingly clear that Gormely was a sadistic killer. And, had he not been apprehended

as soon as he was, he would have gone on killing and most likely at an accelerated rate. The

time difference between the two victims was a mere eight months whereas other serial killers

seem to kill at longer intervals. Also, the research made it clear to me why this offender is

classified as a serial killer with only two victims. His method of killing, strangulation during sex

classifies these as sexual homicides and the interval of eight months is long enough of a cooling

off period to make these two distinct parts of a series.

And, my research has clearly shown that a sadistic rapist can and will easily ratchet up

his crimes to that of homicide since there is really no difference between the two, just how far

the offender goes to achieve his satisfaction.

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REFERENCES

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Vol. Text revision. Washington,

DC, 2000.

Dietz, P. E., R. R. Hazelwood, and J. Warren. "The sexually sadistic criminal and his offenses."

Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 18 (1990): 543-49.

Douglas, J. E., A. C. Burgess, A. W. Burgess, and R. K. Douglas. Crime classification manual.

Lexington, MA: Lexington B, 1992.

Folino, George O. "Sexual Homicides and Their Classification According to Motivation: A

Report from Argentina." Comparative Criminology International Journal of Offender

Therapy and Comparative Criminology 44 (2000): 740-50.

Forrest, Susan. "Trail of Sex, Murder Long Beach man charged in slaying of 2 prostitutes." NY

Newsday 10 Nov. 1990. 20 Nov. 2008. UMI.com. ProQuest. Library, Port Washington.

20 Nov. 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?

did=77403896&sid=2&fmt=3&clientld=13385&rqt=309&vname=pqd>.

Gratzer, T., and J.M. W. Bradford. "Offender and offense characteristics of sexual sadists:A

comparative study." Journal of Forensic Sciences 40 (1995): 450-55.

Marshall, W. L., P. Kennedy, P. Yates, and G. Serran. "Diagnosing sexual sadism in sexual

offend." Sexual Abuse:A Journal of Research & Treatment 14 (2002): 301-11.

McLawsen, Julia E., Rebecca L. Jackson, Stephen D. Vannoy, Gregg J. Gagliardi, and Mario J.

Scalora. "Professional Perspectives on Sexual SadismJulia." Sexual Abuse: A Journal of

Research and Treatment 20 (2008): 272-304.

Pardue, Angela, and Bruce A. Arrigo. "Offender Personality Power, Anger, and Sadistic Rapists:

Toward a Differentiated Model of Offender Personality." International Journal of

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Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 52 (2008): 378-400.

Perlman, Shirley E. "5 Homicides Get 2nd Look." NY Newsday [Nassau And Suffolk Edition]

10 Nov. 1990. 20 Nov. 2008. UMI.com. ProQuest. Library, Port Washington. 20 Nov.

2008 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?

did=77533120&sid=2&fmt=3&clientld=13385&rqt=309&vname=pqd>.

Perlman, Shirley E. "Maximum Term in 2 Slayings;." NY Newsday [Nassau And Suffolk

Edition] 1 May 1992: 41. 20 Nov. 2008. UMI.com. ProQuest. Library, Port Washington. 20 Nov.

2008 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?

did=77533120&sid=2&fmt=3&clientld=13385&rqt=309&vname=pqd>.

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