The Chilling Case of Timothy Krajcir: Who Were His Unlucky Victims?
Deborah Sheppard was just weeks away from graduating college when her promising future was brutally cut short. A bright, friendly student at Southern Illinois University, she had no idea that serial killer Timothy Krajcir had been watching her.
On the night of April 8, 1982, a friend made a horrifying discovery—Sheppard’s lifeless, nude body inside her Carbondale, Illinois apartment. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. There was no evidence that Krajcir and Sheppard knew each other. Like all his victims, she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
For nearly 25 years, Sheppard’s murder remained a mystery. Investigators had no idea who had taken her life—until DNA technology finally exposed Krajcir as the monster behind not just her death, but many others. In 2007, at the age of 63, Krajcir confessed to killing Sheppard and eight more women across Missouri, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.
A Predator Without a Pattern
What made Krajcir so difficult to catch? His unpredictability. Unlike most serial killers who target specific types, Krajcir’s victims were of different ages and races. His attacks were scattered across multiple states, leaving law enforcement struggling to connect the dots.
“He picked easy targets,” says Paul Echols, the retired Carbondale Police investigator who finally cracked the case. Krajcir stalked women in grocery store parking lots, memorized their addresses, and later returned to break into their homes. He would wait in the shadows until his victims walked into his trap.
His first known murders were particularly gruesome. On August 12, 1977, Krajcir had been stalking 58-year-old Mary Parsh, believing she lived alone. But when he broke into her Cape Girardeau, Missouri home, her 27-year-old daughter, Brenda, had just arrived to visit. Krajcir raped Brenda before shooting both women execution-style. After leaving their lifeless bodies behind, he attended a friend’s bachelor party. The next day, he stood smiling in wedding photos as a groomsman—without a care in the world.
The Women He Silenced
Following the Parsh murders, Krajcir continued his spree, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake. His known victims include:
- Sheila Cole (November 1977)
- Virginia Lee Witte (May 1978)
- Joyce Tharp (March 1979)
- Myrtle Rupp (April 1979)
- Marjorie “Margie” Call (January 1982)
- Deborah Sheppard (April 1982)
- Mildred Wallace (June 1982)
Sheppard’s murder was especially haunting. Krajcir had been watching her through her apartment window. He waited for her male roommate to leave, then broke in through a window while she was showering. What happened next was every woman’s worst nightmare.
Her family was devastated. Her younger sister, Bridgette, was just nine years old at the time. “Her spirit was so delightful—everybody loved her,” she recalls. “She represented light and love.”
The Unraveling of a Killer
For years, Krajcir’s killing sprees were interrupted by prison sentences for sex crimes. These gaps in his timeline aligned perfectly with the times he was behind bars. He might have continued killing indefinitely if DNA evidence hadn’t finally caught up with him in 2007.
Today, Krajcir is locked away at Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois, serving 13 consecutive life sentences. He remains unrepentant. According to Echols, “He doesn’t feel remorse. He knows what he did was wrong, but he’s wired differently than the rest of us.”
For the families of his victims, justice was long overdue—but the scars left behind can never fully heal. And perhaps the most chilling thought of all? If not for modern forensics, Krajcir might have gotten away with it forever.
