Carroll Edward "Eddie" Cole (May 9, 1938 – December 6, 1985) was an American serial killer who was executed in Nevada in 1985 for killing two women by strangulation. He was also convicted of murdering three other women in Texas and is believed to have murdered dozens between 1947 and 1980.
Early life
Cole was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the second son of LaVerne Cole (May 25, 1900 – February 5, 1975) and Vesta Cole (September 4, 1904 – January 27, 1984). His younger sister was born in 1939 and soon afterward, his family moved to California, where LaVerne found work in a shipyard. Not long after that, LaVerne went to fight in World War II. While his father was away, his mother had several affairs and sometimes took Cole along to her rendezvous, threatening to beat him if he told his father. Vesta was emotionally abusive to Cole and dressed him as a girl. At school, he was teased about his "girly name" by his peers. In 1960, Cole attacked two couples parked in cars on a lover's lane. Soon afterward, he called the police in Richmond, California, where he was living, and told them that he was plagued by violent fantasies involving strangling women.
Upon his release, Cole moved to Dallas, Texas, where his brother Richard was living. There, he met and married an alcoholic stripper named Billie Whitworth, but this did not change his perspective towards women. After two years, the marriage ended when Cole burned down a motel after convincing himself that Whitworth was having sex with men there. As a result, he was arrested for arson. Upon his release from prison, Cole attempted to strangle an 11-year-old girl in Missouri. He was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
After the sentence was up, Cole ended up in Nevada, where he attempted to strangle two more women. Once again, he checked himself into a mental hospital. The doctors there noted his murderous fantasies but still elected not to detain him and he was given a ticket back to San Diego.
Serial murders
Cole's first victim as an adult was Essie Louise Buck, whom he had picked up in a San Diego tavern on May 7, 1971. He strangled her to death in his car and drove around with her body in the trunk before eventually dumping it. Just two weeks later, he killed an unidentified woman and buried her in a wooded area. He later claimed that they had proven themselves unfaithful to their husbands, and so reminded him of his adulterous mother.
Following the Las Vegas killing, he returned to Dallas, where he fatally strangled three more women in November 1980. Cole was a suspect in the second of these killings and was also found on the scene of the third murder. When his sentencing was passed he said, "Thanks, Judge."
On the day of his execution, anti-death penalty campaigners, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the United Methodist Church of Reno, and fellow death row inmates tried to have his sentence commuted, but Cole protested. For his last meal, Cole ordered jumbo fried shrimp, french fries, salad with French dressing, and Boston clam chowder. The night before he requested Kentucky Fried Chicken, but guards could only give him chicken nuggets, as he was not allowed to have food with bones.