William Heirens, Convicted ‘Lipstick Killer,’ Dies in Prison

William Heirens, the 1940s “Lipstick Killer,” and Illinois’ longest serving prisoner has died, prison officials said.

Heirens, 83, was found unresponsive in his cell at Dixon Correctional Center Monday and taken to the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m.

An autopsy was planned for Tuesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, while the Tribune reported the examination may be conducted Today.

CBS News writes that Heirens was just 17-years-old when he confessed to killing two women in 1945 — one was shot and stabbed, the other stabbed — and the abduction, slaying and dismemberment of a 6-year-old girl the next year.

Investigators found a message scrawled on a mirror with lipstick at one of the women’s homes that read:

“For heaven’s sake, catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself.”

That note earned Heirens the moniker “Lipstick Killer.”

After confessing to the slayings, Heirens was sentenced to three consecutive terms of natural life with the possibility of parole.

In the ensuing decades, Heirens sought release from prison some 30 times, claiming that he was innocent and that he only gave a 19-page confession after police sedated him. His attorney subsequently struck a deal in which Heirens confessed to avoid the electric chair.

Over the course of his more than 65 years in prison, Heirens was denied parole over 24 times. In addition to murder, he was later convicted of robbery, 25 burglaries and assault to kill an officer of the law.

While the exact cause of his death remains to be determined, CBS Chicago reports that William Heirens had been suffering from renal failure and hypertension.

More on the the Lipstick Killer’s gruesome killings in the video below:

via CBS