Stephen D. Richards

Common card · No. 491525

Stephen Decatur Richards (March 18, 1856 – April 26, 1879), known by the nicknames The Nebraska Fiend and The Ohio Monster, was an American mass murderer, outlaw, and serial killer who committed nine to twelve murders in Nebraska and Iowa between 1876 and 1878. Richards was born in West Virginia (then part of Virginia) in 1856. His family later moved to Ohio, and eventually settled in the Quaker village of Mount Pleasant. In 1876, Richards left his home and headed westward to seek his fortune. For a time, he found work at a local asylum; he claimed that during his time there, he lost all empathy for other people. When Richards later confessed to his crimes, he claimed to have committed his first murder sometime in late 1876, two weeks after arriving in Kearney, Nebraska. He went on to commit several other murders, which he later claimed were done in self-defense. Richards fled after murdering Mary L. Harlson and her three children, but was captured in Mount Pleasant. In 1879, he was convicted...

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