In this episode of Anatomy of Murder, we delve into the background and crime of Edward Gingerich, the first-ever convicted Amish murderer. On March 18, 1993, Gingerich had been severely depressed and threatening suicide. That day he entered his kitchen where Katie was working and punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground. He shouted at her, “I am the devil.” Katie yelled to her six-year-old son Dannie and told him to fetch Dan Gingerich, Edward’s brother. When the young boy arrived at his uncle’s house, he said that “Daddy isn’t well.” Knowing of his brother’s illness, Dan raced to Edward and Katie’s home and was met with a gruesome scene.

Sada Abe was a Japanese geisha and prostitute who murdered her lover, Kichizō Ishida by erotic asphyxiation. She cut off his procreation station and carried them around in her kimono. The story became the stuff of legend and has been interpreted by artists, philosophers, novelists, and filmmakers. Abe was released after serving merely five years in prison and went on to become a nun and publish an autobiography.