Early Crime
Albert Fish's life of crime began when he was a painter. He would go into the houses he was painting and molest young children.
Fish was sent to prison for embezzlement, but was released.
Fish would respond to ads placed in newspapers by widows with vulgar and horrific messages.
It is unknown exactly when Fish began killing. His first target victims were children of color and people with mental handicaps, so their disappearances would go unnoticed by the public. He usually targeted young boys, but would often stray from that pattern.
Fish was sent to prison for embezzlement, but was released.
Fish would respond to ads placed in newspapers by widows with vulgar and horrific messages.
It is unknown exactly when Fish began killing. His first target victims were children of color and people with mental handicaps, so their disappearances would go unnoticed by the public. He usually targeted young boys, but would often stray from that pattern.
Grace Budd
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One of Fish's major crimes was the murder of Grace Budd. In 1928, Fish responded to an ad placed by 18-year old Edward Budd. Edward said he was looking for a job and Albert went to their house claiming he was Frank Howard, a farm owner and needed a couple farm hands and was willing to hire Edward and his friend. Albert had been planning to murder Edward but he was 58 at the time and knew Edward would be able to overpower him. Fish saw Grace, Edward's 10-year old sister, and decided he wanted to kill and eat her instead. Fish didn't return on the day he planned, but sent a letter explaining he would come later. On Fish's second visit to the Budd home, he said he was going to attend his niece's birthday party and invited Grace to attend with him. Fish seemed like a friendly old-man and her parents let her attend, and never saw Grace again. Albert took Grace to his cottage in Wisteria, New York. Albert Fish strangled Grace and then cut her up and ate her. Her parents set a missing persons report and this lead to an intense search for Fish and the miscapture of Charles Edward Pope. In 1934 the Budd family received an anonymous letter giving a detailed explanation of the murder of their daughter. They matched the writing of this letter to the letter they had received from the letter from Frank Howard. However, since Frank Howard did not actually exist, that trail ran dry.
Billy Gaffney
In 1929, Billy Gaffney, a four-year old boy, was playing with his friend Billy Beaton in Brooklyn, New York. Both boys went missing but Beaton was found on the roof of the apartment in which they both lived. When Beaton was asked what happened to Gaffney, he told police "the boogeyman took him." Fish later confessed he kept the boy tied up in an abandoned house by a dump ground. On returning to the house, he molested Billy then he cut off Billy's ears and gouged out his eyes. Billy then died and Fish drank his blood, cut him up, took him home, and ate him.
Francis McDonnell
In 1934, an eight-year old boy, Frances McDonnell was seen walking into the woods with a gray haired old-man. His family organized a search for him and he was found hanging from a tree by his suspenders; he was strangled and brutally abused.
Capture
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During the time of the murders Fish was actually arrested many different times for various charges they, however, would be dropped and Fish would be released. Throughout the time of the disappearance of Grace Budd to his capture, Detective Will King was on pursuit of Albert Fish. Detective King found a boarding house where Fish used to stay. The owner told him that Fish's son still sent checks to this place. King waited three days and received a call that Fish was there, King went to arrest Fish. When he got there Fish had a straight razor and tried to harm King who disarmed him only to find his pockets were filled with razors and knives. The capture of Fish ended a six year manhunt.
Confessions
Fish readily admitted to the murder of Grace Budd and told the police about the cabin. They went there and found bone remains of Grace. He also confessed to numerous other murders but they either couldn't be proven or were overly exaggerated so it is unknown how many people he actually killed. The only three confirmed murders are the ones listed above, but because of the details of the confessions Fish provided, the detectives concluded that he killed other people.
Conviction and Death
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The defender of Albert Fish wanted the court to rule him insane, but the people didn't want him to be released so they would not claim his insanity. Fish was ordered to death by electric chair. He was the oldest prisoner to be executed by electric chair at Sing Sing prison on January 16, 1936.