March 5th 1979: Paul Bateson Trial Comes to An End In A Guilty Verdict.

Paul Bateson moved to New York from Pennsylvania in 1964 after he had been discharged from the army due to his heavy drinking. At first, he tried to get sober but ultimately this didn't work out and his alcohol problem was dragging him in, deeper and deeper. He engaged in a relationship with a bisexual man when he moved and this only fuelled his drinking as it was more acceptable and tolerated by the parties the couple used to have on a regular basis or by nights out on the town drinking cocktails. This man was supposedly involved in music, Bateson had been known to have a keen interest in the arts and music. While Bateson was a heavy drinker he did become a neurological radiological technician and landed himself in a job at New York University Medical Centre, where Bateson was well respected and liked by his peers. 

In 1972 Bateson appeared as an extra during a medical procedure scene in the cult classic horror film "The Exorcist". The scene was the one where they perform a cerebral angiography to try and determine if Regan's demonic like behaviour has some scientific cause.  During the scene it is Bateson that speaks most of the dialogue. The scene became infamous and one of the most gruesome scenes in the movie in spite of it's lack of demonic or supernatural elements and it's basis in a medical procedure. 

His relationship came to an end in 1973 after Bateson's mother and brother both died in unrelated incidents. The couple had been sharing a home together and Bateson moved to Brooklyn. Around the time when The Exorcist came out in 1975, Bateson's drinking had become seriously out of control. 

As a result of his heavy drinking, Bateson was sacked from his position in the hospital and relied on odd jobs to get by. He started to attend AA meetings. I feel it's important to note here that Bateson at this time in his life was completely alone. He had no immediate family to speak of, he had lost his long term relationship and also would most likely have in some form, lost a group of work colleagues which he was well liked and respected by. His decision to start attending AA meetings is something that seems to get glanced over a little bit in the grand scheme of the events that were to unfold but he was making conscious decisions to get his life back on track, several times. 

Unfortunately by 1977 Paul Bateson was once again drinking and this was according to Bateson himself this spell of drinking deprived him of all energy that he rarely left his apartment. What little time he did spend out of his apartment was spent visiting local "leather bars", these were bars that would have a known clientele of members from the gay community involved in the S&M community or scene. 

Addison Verrill was a Princeton graduate who had studied English and went on to become a film critic and reporter for Variety Magazine. On the 14th of September 1977 he met Paul Bateson in a leather bar and the pair shared a drink or two. One thing led to another the the two ended up back in Verrill's apartment. The two were high on a mixture of pills, alcohol and cocaine. It was at this point that Bateson came to the realisation that this was as far as their relationship would go, a meaningless night of sex, alcohol and drugs. Bateson claims that he decided to do something that night that HE'D NEVER DONE BEFORE, he beat and stabbed Verrill to death. He stole $57, his passport, credit cards and some clothes. It is reported that Bateson spent the next day drunk. 

Police found Verrill dead in his apartment and tough there were no signs of forced entry, police ruled that Verrill had been murdered in a robbery gone wrong. At the time Arthur Bell was a gay activist and journalist and he had seen quite a number of cases over the past year where police showed very little interest in solving cases where members of the gay community were the victims. Cases would appear in the media but would never get the same coverage as when a crime committed against a straight man or woman was committed. Bell decided to take action and he began reporting on the crimes. In an article that Bell wrote about the Verrill killing he referred to the killer as a psychopath who targeted gays. This gnawed at Bateson in an unexpected way, to the point that he phoned Bell to clarify and correct some of the information in the article. Bell ran a second article about the Verrill killing with the contents of the phone conversation with the killer in a story called "Phone Call From A Fugitive." During the call, Bateson told Bell several times he wanted to atone but he could not as he would lose his license, he would not elaborate when Bell pushed for further information on this matter. Bell went to authorities over the call and police decided to follow up on the lead as the caller had specific information to the case that only the killer would know, such as the fact the credit card had been stolen. Police decided to wait at Bell's apartment in the hopes of another phone call where they would be ready to intercept the call. A phone call from a second caller who identified himself as "Mitch" phoned and disclosed to Bell that Paul Bateson was the murderer in the Addison Verrill murder. Police decided to arrest Bateson and he gave a handwritten confession of the crime with the specific details that had been given to Arthur Bell during the initial phone call. He was charged with second degree murder and was sent to Rikers Island before his trial. 

So, here we get into the sketchy part... 

Between 1975 and 1976 there was a a crime spree which resulted in the deaths of six gay men in New York. If we think about Bateson this was the period of his life where he had lost his job in the hospital and started working on his sobriety again. These murders were reported as "The Bag Murders" due to how the bodies were disposed, the remains were dismembered and placed into plastic bags that were dropped into The Hudson. Some of the men had clothing that was linked to a shop in a Greenwich Village that was known to be a hit with members of the leather subculture. Other victims had tattoos that implied they were members of the sadism & masochism community. While none of the men were identified these links to the leather culture made police sure that there was only one killer responsible. 

As Arthur Bell had expressed in his writings, he felt police did not really care about these murders and did very little to solve the crimes. While this may be true, police I feel were correct in their assumption that they were looking for one killer in relation to the six deaths. 

Police did also link each bag to the next by one other common element, that was NYUMC was worded on the bags, that is New York University Medical Centre, where Bateson had worked. 

Due to the dismemberment of the bodies police believed that the killer may have a history of working in medicine or performing medical procedures. They led the public to believe that Bateson was also responsible for the deaths of these six men and his seventh victim was Verrill. He was never charged for the crimes but their decision to almost assume that Bateson must also be responsible for these murders has driven the idea that it is true without cause. The evidence is circumstantial at best. 

Bateson was sober, or at least working on his sobriety during the time of the killing spree and had relapsed during the time he killed Verrill. 

Bateson claimed in a quote underlined above that he done something he'd never done before. 

Bateson mentioned multiple times that he wanted to atone for the killing of Addison Verrill on the phone and showed remorse for his actions during the call. 

Was Bateson a psychopath that was capable of lying about 6 murders while admitting to one via phone call, police had no leads at the time and he could have gotten away with it I believe had be not contacted Bell?

On March 5th 1979, Bateson was found guilty on the one count of murder he had been charged with for the killing of Addison Verrill. 

Serial Killer, Yay or Nay?