[SPEAKER_00]: Warning, this episode contains details that some listeners may find disturbing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Los Angeles has always been a city of contradictions.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of the largest urban centers in the country dripping with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, and it's also framed by sunny beaches, snow capped mountains, and just a stone's throw away the most extreme desert in North America, the Mahave.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1984, moving through these extreme worlds was William Richard Bradford, who claimed to be a professional photographer.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said all the right things to women chasing their fame and fortune in LA, promising modeling contracts.
[SPEAKER_00]: He would then invite women to take their photos out amid the majestic beauty and isolation of the Mahave Desert.
[SPEAKER_00]: What his victims didn't know was that these photo sessions would be there last.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bradford's last remark at his trial, think of how many you don't know about, suggest that his crimes extend further than the two murders he was convicted for.
[SPEAKER_00]: We knew all along there were more, quotes the prosecutor from Bradford's trial, it was one case I knew I couldn't afford to lose.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to convict this guy or he'd go out and kill more people.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a study of strange.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to the show, I am your host, Michael.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mind of a killer is curious.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of the primary reasons we're drawn to true crime.
[SPEAKER_00]: William Bradford today's story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some would say his tale has concluded.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was arrested for two murders, went to prison, and died while incarcerated, but there are parts of this case that are still unsolved.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't say that to be provocative on a podcast, there is evidence that exists that points to potentially more victims that haven't been found.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also a bravado a confidence that Bradford shares with other serial killers.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, before I get into that, let's learn about William Bradford.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1978, Donnelly Campbell do a male met a man and a bar in the neighborhood of Culver City and Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_00]: The man was a professional photographer, and he showed Donnelly some of his work and mentioned that he'd love to photograph her, in fact he could even take your pictures right then.
[SPEAKER_00]: Donnelly left the bar with this man and then disappeared.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her family, boyfriend, friends, everybody was worried and contacted the authorities and police asked around about this strange photographer that she had met yet no one could give many details the bar was dark.
[SPEAKER_00]: People were drinking, the investigation led nowhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few days later, Donnelly's body was found in a canyon in Malibu.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one has ever been arrested for this murder still to this day.
[SPEAKER_00]: But interestingly enough, William Bradford was living in Los Angeles at that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was born in Pleasanton, California, 1946, and then he moved around quite a bit during his life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't say for certain what brought William Bradford to Los Angeles in the late 1970s, but neighbors knew him as Bill, he was a handyman that drove motorcycles and he claimed to be a photographer.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of accounts describe him as charming and good looking, I'll admit that that's hard to accept because I now know the truth about William Bradford, but that's what people thought at the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was always looking for women to photograph and he would frequent bars, events, even real photo sessions where he would convince women that he could help them make it big.
[SPEAKER_00]: Court record showed that he had a long criminal history that included in decent exposure and a 1972 battery conviction related to an attempted rape.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1984 he was free on bail awaiting trial for raping a 21 year old woman.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, none of the women who would approach about photo shoots knew this information.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1984, a 21-year-old Sherry Miller was living out of her car and staying with friends in Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sherry was beautiful and had several distinctive tattoos, Harley Davidson wings on her left ankle, a witty, the poo on her abdomen, and an S on her foot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And late June, Sherry told her mother she was going to model for a photographer.
[SPEAKER_00]: and the shoot would be involving really cool clothes like leather jackets and boots all provided by the photographer, of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she got this gig by meeting the photographer William Dale Bradford.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a professional photographer who promised to help Sherry build her portfolio.
[SPEAKER_00]: Telephone records later confirmed she called Bradford at 222pm on June 30th, allegedly to inquire and confirm the details of this photo shoot.
[SPEAKER_00]: As much as a parent or friend would be concerned about a young woman going on a photo shoot with a random photographer she barely knew, Bradford seemed legit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sherry's friend Carol and Burry recalled that Sherry was excited about the opportunity and Sherry even emphasized that, hey, I told this guy, there's no new shots, no nudity.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a sexual thing and they agreed it is a real photo shoot to help her career.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bradford planned to host this photo session at a beautiful scenic location out in the Mahave Desert.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of articles you read about this case make this area seem like a formal campground but it's not.
[SPEAKER_00]: This doesn't have a name, it's not on any maps.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an isolated area that Bradford learned about while camping with his friend Nick Klaus.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd been there a few times and they used to drive their RVs into the area to camp.
[SPEAKER_00]: In early July of 1984, Bradford called class asking for directions to this location.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was picking the spot, not just because it was beautiful, but because of this isolation.
[SPEAKER_00]: At the end of June in early July, Sherry had a number of meetups with Bill Bradford.
[SPEAKER_00]: She had been in his car, his apartment, and people saw them together.
[SPEAKER_00]: On July 3, 1984, she met with her boyfriend Oliver Delitor, who testified that Sherry left his home at 1am on July 4.
[SPEAKER_00]: She said that she had to meet somebody but she would be back.
[SPEAKER_00]: She did not come back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Witnesses then saw Bradford's car leave his apartment very early that same morning of July 4th, no one ever saw Sherry alive again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Photographs later showed Sherry posing in front of these very distinctive rock formations in that area in the Mahave.
[SPEAKER_00]: A forensic photographer used the shadows in the photos to determine that she was alive until at least the mid-morning of July 4th.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bradford would strangle Sherry to death with a ligature.
[SPEAKER_00]: He cut off her tattoos and any putter body in the trunk of his vehicle as he returned to Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her body was discovered on the morning of July 6th, 1984, behind a parking lot near West Pico Boulevard.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was bound with a leather song, and although her tattoos were removed, she was still wearing an Indian head ring.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, she was unidentified, and listed as Jane Doe Number 16.
[SPEAKER_00]: The autopsy confirmed literature strangulation as the cause of death and removal of the body parts after she died.
[SPEAKER_00]: On July 8th, police found Sherry's locked car just a few blocks from Bradford's apartment, and fingerprints in the car match Jane Doe number 60, so they have now identified Sherry's body, but the case was still under investigation.
[SPEAKER_00]: On July 11th, William Bradford made another modeling proposition.
[SPEAKER_00]: This time to Tracey Campbell, a 15-year-old who had recently moved from Montana to Los Angeles with her mother and siblings.
[SPEAKER_00]: The family rented a small studio at Midvale Avenue, eat very same apartment complex where Bradford lived.
[SPEAKER_00]: The story goes the family met Bradford while swimming and getting sun at the buildings pool.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can't help but make a comment that that is a creepy situation for a 15 year old to meet an older man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tracy told Bradford she wanted to be a professional model.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he suggests she get a photo graph from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a professional photographer after all, and he can help her get jobs.
[SPEAKER_00]: The next morning, July 12th, 1984, Bradford knocked on the
[SPEAKER_00]: And he mentioned having a job for Tracy, and her brother, but her brother left for work that morning leaving Tracy alone with Bradford.
[SPEAKER_00]: when the family returned around 5pm, Tracy was missing.
[SPEAKER_00]: They found a happy and sandwich, and her purse.
[SPEAKER_00]: Still inside the apartment, not to mention that her cat had not been let out.
[SPEAKER_00]: The family went to Bradford's apartment to ask about Tracy's wearabouts, but he wasn't home.
[SPEAKER_00]: A weird note from Bradford's roommates was later found taped to the door, saying something along the lines of, and this is not verbatim, a girl is missing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you don't have anything to do with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: The family eventually ran into Bradford at the apartment complex, and he allegedly was acting strange when they started asking him questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wouldn't make eye contact, he denied knowing anything about Tracy or seeing her that day, and just being all around KG.
[SPEAKER_00]: Police then asked him about Tracey and he claimed he drove her to a nearby store so she could buy cigarettes and then he never saw her again.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a couple of odd things about this.
[SPEAKER_00]: One, why deny that he saw Tracey to the family when he tell police that he did series took her to a store?
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, if she was going to go buy cigarettes, she would have taken her purse and she did not.
[SPEAKER_00]: It turns out that Bill Bradford did exactly what you're probably assuming.
[SPEAKER_00]: He took Tracy out to this desert bull area in the Mahave Desert.
[SPEAKER_00]: He photographed her, and then after they were done, he strangled her with a rope.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unlike Sherry, Bradford left Tracy's body at the site.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would decompose in the summer heat by the time people found it on August 11th in 1984, the hands and mini bones were missing likely taken by animals.
[SPEAKER_00]: A blouse with a snail print identified as Sherry Miller's was wrapped around Tracy's face.
[SPEAKER_00]: Medical Examiner Dr. Wagner concluded that ligature strangulation was the cause of death.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tracy's mother had filed a missing person's report on July 13th.
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators did have Bradford on their radar.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, he was awaiting trial for rape.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a history of criminal behavior, and it was known that he wanted to take pictures of Tracy and had approached her about doing this.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, they were able to obtain a search warrant for Bradford's apartment, and inside, they seized 189 photographs and negatives.
[SPEAKER_00]: Among them were images of Sherry and Tracy posing before those distinctive rock formations of the Mahave, and detectors realized that Sherry's tattoos corresponded to the areas of flesh missing from Jane Doe No.
[SPEAKER_00]: 60.
[SPEAKER_00]: A case, mind you, that William Bradford was not a suspect on, police were able to locate this area in the desert using Nick Klaus, Bradford's friend, and when they went to investigate the site, they found Tracy's body.
[SPEAKER_00]: A length of white rope recovered from Bradford's apartment made an impression identical to the licorice marks on Tracy's neck.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was enough to arrest William Bradford, which they did on August 16, 1984.
[SPEAKER_00]: During questioning, he denied killing Sherry or Tracy, and he asked for an attorney.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when Bradford stood trial for the murders in 1988, he dismissed his attorneys and insisted on representing himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: He offered no evidence and his own defense and even requested the death penalty.
[SPEAKER_00]: In his closing argument, he taunted jurors and the court by saying, think of how many you don't even know about.
[SPEAKER_00]: The jury convicted him on two counts of first degree murder and found the special circumstance of multiple murder.
[SPEAKER_00]: On May 9, 1988, the jury recommended the death penalty and Bradford agreed the judge then sentenced him to death.
[SPEAKER_00]: later on in prison.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bradford became known as the death row poet after writing poetry about life at San Quentin, and as much as he didn't defend himself during the trial and in a weird frown about way passive aggressively admitting to multiple murders, he later appealed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's where the story takes an interesting turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned earlier in this episode the murder of Donnelly Campbell-Dua Mel.
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's a cold case, but it shares a lot of similarities with Bradford's M.O.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it turns out, in his photograph collection, there's roughly 50 women that are unidentified, and they all could be victims.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Associated Press reported at one point that Donnelly doML was one of the women in those photographs.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 2006, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department released the photos in his collection hoping to identify the women.
[SPEAKER_00]: Captain Ray PV commented that some of them could be homicide victims.
[SPEAKER_00]: Others could just be women that he photographed that are alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Police also connected and investigated an unsolved licatrice strangulation murder of Mesha Stewart.
[SPEAKER_00]: They also looked into the disappearance of Trisha.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do long just as an example of a few women they looked into.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say some of the women in these photographs have been identified and are alive, thank goodness.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been reports even a TV movie about women that had close calls with William Bradford.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the truth remains that not all the women have been identified and there's still a high likelihood that some are murder victims that have not been found.
[SPEAKER_00]: On March 10th of 2008, while incarcerated in the California Medical Facility, Bradford died of natural causes at the age of 61.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Bradford's off-handed, quirk room taunt, if you will, or he said, think of how many you don't even know about.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was more than just bravado or overly confident, socio-pathic behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are other killers.
[SPEAKER_00]: who glowed about their crimes and bask in the terror they create.
[SPEAKER_00]: Criminologists Scott Bonne has said that serial killers who'd contact authorities often do so for narcissistic and self-gratifying reasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: They crave notoriety, they want to show that they're intellectually superior,
[SPEAKER_00]: and they enjoy controlling the narrative.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bradford knew that by implying there were more victims, he would command headlines he could taunt investigators, taunt the courtroom, even after his trial ended.
[SPEAKER_00]: His photographs are like trophies, other serial killers of kept trophies if you watched TV show Dexter he would keep droplets of blood.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other killers that have followed similar behaviors include Dennis Raider, the BTK killer, who wrote newspapers in 1978 and complained that the press hadn't given a catchy enough name, and asked how many do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper?
[SPEAKER_00]: The zodiac killer, of course, would contact the press, he had codes, he would taunt the police.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even in the 1880s, Jack the Ripper, many believe that he wrote the famous deer boss letter to London news papers, bragging that the police had not caught him, and promising to shant quit ripping prostitutes until he was arrested.
[SPEAKER_00]: What drives serial killers?
[SPEAKER_00]: To taunt authorities, taunt police, crave this attention, criminologist, suggest that this feeds their ego.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also this narcissistic superiority complex where they think they're smarter than investigators.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a way to play a game, essentially, and prove to themselves that they're smarter than investigators.
[SPEAKER_00]: And William Bradford's case.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not he actually had any more victims, this boast, this taunt of his, it's a familiar psychological move for serial killers.
[SPEAKER_00]: It shows a desire for him to remain a control to feel smarter than detectives and to turn real people into characters in his story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Understanding this psychology or trying to understand it, we're always learning, helps investigators catch killers, and it also helps dismantle the mythology that people like Bradford so desperately crave.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've just listened to a study of strange, consider helping us keep the lantern lit, illuminating the unexplained by subscribing to our sub-stack, just head to the support tab at a study of strange.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, stay curious and stay strange.