Trial George Russell Jr.: 1991 - Petty Thief Turned Murderer, Troubled Youth, A Serial Murderer On Mercer Island, Authorities Zero In On Russell

Trial George Russell Jr.: 1991 - Petty Thief Turned Murderer

Trial George Russell Jr.: 1991 - Troubled Youth

Abandonment was the story of George Russell's life. His college-bound mother left him with a negligent grandmother in Florida when he was six months old. She later remarried. With her dentist husband, she moved to Mercer Island when Russell was in junior high school. His mother and stepfather doted on their own new daughter, but Russell was barely tolerated. Although his gregarious nature e…

Trial George Russell Jr.: 1991 - A Serial Murderer On Mercer Island

When three murdered Bellevue nightclub habitues turned up within two months in the summer of 1990, some, including an ex-girlfriend whom he had beaten after his move to Bellevue, quickly suspected Russell. The first victim was Mary Ann Pohlreich. Her obviously posed, nude body was found beside a McDonald's restaurant dumpster. Her left foot was crossed over her right ankle, her hands lay ov…

Trial George Russell Jr.: 1991 - Authorities Zero In On Russell

Investigators called on an expert in sexualized crime who said that the murders were the work of one man. Although the expert said the serial killer would be a young, white male, police zeroed in on Russell, who grew up in a white, upper middle class neighborhood and "acted white." The challenge of the investigation and of the subsequent trial was connecting Russell to all three vict…