The Singing Strangler

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Within the span of only a few weeks, three women were killed in Melbourne, Australia. World War II raged in Europe, and police were at a loss as to who was committing the crimes.

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Leonski's three victims

Edward Joseph Leonski was born on December 12, 1917 at Kenvil, New Jersey. He was the sixth child of Russian-born parents John Leonski, laborer, and his wife Amelia, née Harkavitz. There was abuse and alcoholism in the household.

​The family moved to East 77th Street, New York, during Edward's infancy. Leaving junior high school in 1933, he took a secretarial course and finished in the top 10 per cent of his class. He held several clerical jobs before working for Gristede Bros Inc. Superior Food Markets.

​He was drafted, and when he shipped out on his military tour on February 17, 1941 he left behind an unhappy family: a mother mentally unstable, two brothers with prison records and a third in a psychiatric hospital.

Chances are that by the time the 23-year-old was stationed with the 52nd Signal Battalion in San Antonio, Texas he was already overindulging in alcohol. His favorite drink was a whisky laced with hot peppers. He was known to walk on his hands along the bar counter to call attention to himself. Around this time he tried to strangle a woman, but somehow he evaded repercussions.

His unit was shipped off to Australia. and he arrived in January, 1942. Leonski was quartered at Camp Pell, and his heavy drinking continued. There was another incident where he tried to rape a woman in her St. Kilda flat. This time he spent 30 days in the stockade.

On May 3, Ivy Violet McLeod (AKA Ivy Dargavel), 40, was found nearly nude and dead in the doorway of a shop next to the Bleak House Hotel, Albert Park. The huddled body only had shreds left of her clothing. She had severe bruising on the head and lower portion of her body, and blood was oozing from her mouth. Later examination of the body found her skull was fractured. She worked as a hostess at the Wentworth Café. Ivy was last seen leaving a tavern. Later a man told police she had spent the night with him until 2 a.m., then left to go home. The newspapers called it the "Brownout Crime", since street lighting had been reduced due to the war. She had been beaten and strangled, but her purse had not been taken, ruling out robbery as a motive.

Six days later Pauline Buchan Thompson was found dead outside a city boarding house, after she spent the night out. She was the wife of Constable Les, a Bendigo policeman, and a former radio announcer who used the name of "Coral". Like Ivy McLeod her clothing had been ripped and all of it bunched around her waist. There was obvious signs of strangulation on the body. A witness later described a disheveled American man asked him directions. He was out of breath, and covered in mud.  This matched the description of the man Pauline was last seen keeping company with.

On May 18, Gladys Hosking, 40, was killed while walking late at night in Royal Park near Melbourne University. Her clothing was also ripped and bunched around her waist.

All three were strangled, and though their genitals were exposed, none were sexually assaulted.

​A fourth woman was attacked, but when she threatened to call the police, the attacker fled.

While searching for what described as a "sex maniac", even though the newspapers would never disclose if any of the women were raped or not, a criminologist said that "all the slayings were of a sex and sadist type, probably committed by one man, of a sort whose overwhelming desires at intervals could be satisfied only by a cruel killing."

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Leonski's execution order was personally signed by General MacArthur c.1942

Other attacks described the same man, which was a young American. An Australian sentry reported a GI in bloodstained clothing on May 28, and suspicion focused on servicemen.

During a troop inspection in Melbourne, the sentry picked Leonski from the assembled men. Two of the women he had attacked and who escaped, also said this was the man who tried to strangle them.

He was questioned and made a full confession, admitting to a fascination with the female voice. He explained: "That's why I choked those ladies, it was to get their voices."

It turned out that Pauline Thompson had sung for Leonski on the night he killed her. The newspaper dubbed him the "Singing Strangler".

During the trial a psychiatrist testified that Leonski was sane, but under the influence of alcohol he would have continued killing women.

The public learned that Leonski's father was an alcoholic, and his mother and brother were confined in the same asylum.

It was noted that he always mixed his drinks, even putting in ketchup, mustard, pepper, salt and ice cream with his whisky and beer.

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Cartoon drawn by Leonski while he was imprisoned c.1942

Despite confessing to the murders, Leonski pled not guilty by reason of insanity, however the United State Army court-martial on July 17, 1942 convicted him, and sentenced him to death. A board of review upheld the finding, and he was scheduled for execution on November 1, 1942.

It was noted that during his trial, incarceration and up to the date of his execution, he seemed nonchalant and unaffected that he would be hanged for his crimes.

Leonski was a self-described Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which demonstrates he had some type of self-awareness of his actions.

The prisoner was kept at the city watchhouse, and even started a correspondence with a woman living at Eltham. Though he was Jewish he turned to the Catholic Church during his incarceration.

On November 4, 1942 General MacArthur personally signed the execution order, and he was hanged at Pentridge Prison on November 9.

Ira C. Rothgerber, as Leonski's attorney attempted to win an external review, even from the U.S. Supreme Court, but was unable to do so.

Leonski was the second American serviceman to be executed during World War II. Over a three year period from 1942 to 1945, the United States Army executed 141 men for murder and/or rape charges.

Initially buried in Australia, he ended up being dug up twice and ultimately buried in Section 9, Row B, Site 8 at Schofield Barracks Post Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii in a portion of the facility reserved for general prisoners who had died in military custody.

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