Jeffrey Mailhot

Jeffrey S. Mailhot (born November 9, 1970), also known as The Rhode Island Ripper, is an American serial killer who murdered three prostitutes in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, between 2003 and 2004. After strangling his victims to death, Mailhot dismembered their corpses with a saw, placed them in garbage bags, and threw them in dumpsters. After one of his victims survived, Mailhot was arrested on July 17, 2004, and later sentenced to three life terms in prison. Only the remains of one victim have been found.

Early life Jeffrey Mailhot was born on November 9, 1970. After graduating from Woonsocket High School, he got a job at a paper mill and moved into a first-floor apartment in downtown Woonsocket. Prior to his convictions for the murders, Mailhot had no criminal history. Locals described him as quiet and polite.

Murders In February 2003, Mailhot picked up Audrey L. Harris, a 33-year-old sex worker, outside of a laundromat. After driving her to his apartment, he strangled her to death as soon as they walked inside. Not knowing what to do next, he kept Harris' body in his apartment for a day and a half, until he got an idea from The Sopranos. After watching an episode where an antagonist of the show gets murdered and dismembered in a bath tub, Mailhot bought a bow saw at a hardware store. He then drove back to his apartment, put Harris' corpse in his bathtub and proceeded to dismember it with the saw. He then bagged the remains and the saw and threw them in dumpsters in Woonsocket and the surrounding communities. Harris' mother taped missing person posters of her on utility poles after her disappearance.

14 months later, in April 2004, Mailhot murdered 42-year-old sex worker Christine C. Dumont. Following the same pattern as the previous murder, he picked her up in his car, strangled her to death in his apartment, dismembered her, and discarded her remains in dumpsters.

On July 17, 2004, police arrested Mailhot on the steps to his home. A few hours later, he confessed to the murders and other assaults during his interrogation. During his confession, Mailhot appeared remorseful. He claimed to have committed the murders because he enjoyed trapping his victims. He also claimed that he was glad that he got caught, because "he knew he wasn't going to be able to stop". From this, they searched a landfill in Johnston for 10 days until they located the remains of Goulet.

In media

Literature

Television The crimes of Jeffrey Mailhot were covered on season one, episode six, of Oxygen's true crime documentary series Twisted Killers.