The Shoemaker's Dark Past

The assignment content is about Joseph Kallinger, a shoemaker who was found guilty of murdering three people along with his teenage son. He had a troubled past, being tortured by his adopted parents and experiencing domestic violence in his marriages. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was imprisoned multiple times for various criminal offenses. His case is marked by violent behavior, suicide attempts, and conversations with God during his imprisonment.

Running head: JOSEPH KALLINGER (THE SHOEMAKER)
Joseph Kallinger (The Shoemaker)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1JOSEPH KALLINGER (THE SHOEMAKER)
Joseph Kallinger, the shoemaker (1974-1976)
It is the case about a murderer named Joseph Kallinger who was found guilty of
murdering three people along with his teenage son. It has also been found that Kallinger has
tortured another four families and committed several criminal offences with his 15 years old son.
In the early days, Kallinger was found to be in foster care following which he was
adopted by a new family where he had been tortured with various ways by his adopted parents.
They have punished him in many forms such as kneeling on jagged rocks, being locked inside
closets, consuming excrement, committing self-injury, being burnt with irons, being whipped
with belts, and being starved. He was sexually assaulted by a group of boys from his
neighborhood when he was 9 years old (Hickey, 2013).
Later when he got married, they got separated after the birth of their two children due to
domestic violence. Following this, he got married for the second time and had 5 children among
themselves (Srean, 2014). However, these also lead to separation, as he was found to be abusive
towards his wife and children. This led to spending most of his time in the mental institutions,
which treated him for amnesia, suicide attempts and for committing arson (Choi & Lee, 2014).
In his criminal career he had been imprisoned several times and was diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia One of his children, named Joseph Jr. was found to be dead in an old
building and at a later stage it was found that he had a life insurance under his name, which led
to the promptness of his father in demanding the entire amount from the company. However, the
insurance company sensed that there was an involvement of foul play over the death of his son
(Strean, 2014).

2JOSEPH KALLINGER (THE SHOEMAKER)
In the year 1974, he along with his 15 year old son named Michael was involved in many
criminal activities in areas like Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Jersey. The duo assaulted,
robbed and tortured four families and murdered them as well (Hickey, 2013). It was seen that in
most of the cases, the duo posed as salesman and entered in to the target houses. In the New
Jersey incident, it was found that they had tortured the family by tying them with cords and
sexually assaulted them at gun point. A nurse named Maria Fasching was also found to be
murdered by slitting her throat (Hickey, 2013).
After the nurse was killed, the duo dumped the weapons along with their blood stained
shits, which helped the police in arresting them. The police authorities, after the arrest found the
past histories about the domestic violence that was charged up on him along with the unsolved
mystery of death revolving around his son (Choi & Lee, 2014). Thus, it was seen that his 15 year
old son along with him was charged with the cases of kidnapping, rape and for committing
murder (Strean, 2014). After the court proceedings, the accused preferred an appeal contending
that he did not commit the offences deliberately but was instructed by God to do the same. The
court ordered for his 15 year old son to be sent to the juvenile court on the ground that his father
influenced him to commit the offences. As per the court order, the child was required to remain
in the correctional home until he attains the age of 21 (Strean, 2014). After being released from
the correctional home, the child changed his name. During the period of imprisonment, the jail
attendant stated that Joseph had made several attempts to commit suicides by causing harm to
himself.
When he was found to behave violently towards the other inmates in jail, he was sent to a mental
hospital in Trenton, New Jersey and was again shifted to a better facility in Philadelphia so that
he could be treated in a better manner for his psychological disorders (Strean, 2014). Kallinger

3JOSEPH KALLINGER (THE SHOEMAKER)
was found to be imprisoned for 40 years on the charges of robbery, rape, sexual assaults and
murdering of people. During his period in the jail, he always moaned and babbled, which led the
psychiatrists in pronouncing that he was paranoid and schizophrenic (Strean, 2014). He was
found to have conversations with God during his tenure in the jail and thought that he will
become God in his next life (Choi & Lee, 2014). On 26th March, 1996, Joseph Kallinger who
was a cobbler by profession was found to be dead due to a fit of seizure. During his last days
before his death, it was found that he used to express his sadness, rejected in having his food and
attempted to commit suicide on various occasions. It was seen that during his life as a criminal,
he was a critical person who had different psychological disorders that were also involved with
the criminal offences as well (Hickey, 2013).

4JOSEPH KALLINGER (THE SHOEMAKER)
References
Choi, K., & Lee, J. L. (2014). Assessment of the Extent and Prevalence of Serial Murder through
Criminological Theories. Sociology and Anthropology, 2(3), 116-124.
Garasic, M. D. (2015). Hunger Strikes and Other Controversial Cases. In Guantanamo and Other
Cases of Enforced Medical Treatment (pp. 55-73). Springer International Publishing.
Hickey, E. W. (2013). Serial murderers and their victims. Cengage Learning.
Strean, H. S. (2014). Psychoanalytic approaches with the hostile and violent patient. Psychology
Press.

5JOSEPH KALLINGER (THE SHOEMAKER)