Alfred Knapp

Alfred Andrew Knapp (April 30, 1862 – August 19, 1904), known as The Hamilton Strangler, was a 19th-century American serial killer responsible for killing at least five women and girls between 1894 and 1902. He was executed for murdering his third wife on August 19, 1904.

Biography Early life Alfred Knapp was born in Greensburg, Indiana, as one two children of Cyrus Knapp (1839–1903) and Susana Knapp (née Hudson, 1840–1918). In his later years, Knapp spent most of his years behind bars in state prisons for brutal assaults on women. Despite this, he had joined the Fourth Christian Church and admitted to the Christian Endeavor Society, where he was described as a man of unassuming manners. At the time of his arrest, he was living with his fourth wife in Indianapolis.

Murder of Hannah Knapp On December 21, 1902, Hannah Knapp (née Goddard), Alfred's third wife, suddenly disappeared from her Cincinnati home. That morning, her husband had awoken with a seizing impulse to strangle her. After killing her, Knapp got a box and stuffed the body inside before nailing it up. Knapp then proceeded to haul the body two miles away, dumping it into the Great Miami River. The murders to which he confessed were of: Emma Littleman - murdered in a lumberyard in Cincinnati on June 21, 1894 Mary Eckert - murdered on Walnut Street in Cincinnati on August 1, 1894 Jennie Connors Knapp - Alfred's second wife, murdered on Liberty Street in Cincinnati on August 17, 1894 Ida Gebhard - a child, murdered in Indianapolis in July 1896

Despite his confessions, Knapp was suspected of more murders, as he himself confessed that he had pounced on innocent children and had choked them.

On March 10, Knapp was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the trial of a man named Joseph Roth. Roth was suspected of assaulting two little girls named Hattie and Stella Motzer. Despite his denial of any involvement, Alfred was arraigned to testify because of his similarity to Roth, which led some to believe that the two girls had been mistaken.

On July 16, Knapp, whose only defense was insanity, was convicted and sentenced to death without any chance of commutation of the sentence. Despite the verdict severely affecting his sister and mother, Knapp appeared disinterested in the ordeal, as he was quoted three hours after the trial as saying: "I suppose it is all off with me."

On January 4, 1904, Judge Swing from the circuit court granted Knapp a new trial, as there were errors during his first trial. The major error was that the court allowed his written confession to be read to the jury.

On July 22, an appeal was filed on Knapp's behalf by his lawyer, Thomas Darby, to the State Board of Pardons. It was later rejected.

Execution On August 19, 1904, Alfred Knapp was executed by electric chair in the Ohio Penitentiary, dying six minutes after the initial shock. He refused to give any further confessions beforehand. Shortly after his execution, newspapers compared his crimes to those of H. H. Holmes, noting that, unlike Holmes, Knapp appeared to have committed his crimes out of pure diabolical desire to do harm.