Serial killer Harvey Carignan who lured women with wanted ads dies in prison at 95

Harvey Carignan dies after decades behind bars for a number gruesome crimes

Serial killer Harvey Carignan, known as “the Want-Ad Killer” and “Harvey The Hammer”, has reportedly died of natural causes at the age of 95 at a prison in Minnesota.

Carignan used wanted ads to lure his victims and would then rape and murder them using a hammer. He died earlier this month, according to TMZ.

He was initially sentenced to hang in Alaska for the attempted rape and murder of a woman in 1949 when he was stationed in Anchorage with the US Army, but the conviction was overturned in 1951, according to KFGO.

He served another nine years for the assault of another woman before being paroled. Between 1952 and 1960, he served his time at the Alcatraz prison island outside San Francisco, according to The Times-Tribune.

In 1975, he was sentenced to life in prison after killing two women – Eileen Hunley and Katherine Schultz. He claimed at trial that god had ordered him “to kill whores and harlots”. He pled insanity, but he was found guilty.

Hunley vanished in August 1974 and her remains were found five weeks later. She had been raped using a tree branch and her skull had been crushed by several strikes.

Carignan admitted to the killing of Schultz, having committed the murder after picking her up in south Minneapolis in September of that year and driving to a desolate area. She was severely beaten and her body was found in a cornfield.

Harvey Carignan has died at the age of 95 (Mugshots / Seattle PD)

Similarly to Hunley, her skull had been beaten in with a hammer, leading to the nickname “Harvey The Hammer”.

He’s alleged to have killed at least five women before spending the rest of his life behind bars. He previously spent several years in prison for burglaries and a parole violation.

Leslie Laura Brock was found dead in Washington on 15 October 1972 after being struck in the head several times. At least one individual said they had seen her enter Carignan’s truck, according to researchers at the Department of Psychology at Radford University.

Kathy Sue Miller, 15, saw a help wanted ad from Carignan in connection to his gas station in May 1973. When she appeared, he raped her and killed her with a hammer. Her remains were found months later when two boys were out for a hike at the Native American reservation to the north of Everett, Washington. Her body was covered in plastic and she had hammer holes in her skull, the researchers state.

A lack of evidence led to Carignan not facing charges in the deaths of Ms Brock and Ms Miller, despite that he was the main suspect, according to KFGO.