In the late 1950's there were a string of serial killings in a large Midwestern city. They never were "solved." At the time, the police had no suspects and the victims were all prostitutes. They were mostly high school aged. The victims had one other thing in common. They all had been runaways so had no family locally. At the time, there was no suspect for the police to chase and with relatives of the murdered distant in miles or uncaring, they were moved to a cold case file. About a decade later, there were two other prostitutes killed in similar fashion as to the victims in the late 1950's.
This time the police had a suspect. The problem was for them, the suspect was an A list singer. A singer who had powerful friends behind him who were all making a lot of money because of the singing. A huge sum of money was paid to certain police officers and city officials. The singer was never charged, let alone questioned by police.
When that happened, the singer stopped his killing for a number of years. Later in his life, the pattern emerged again. Always desperate for drugs, he would pay for prostitutes and then send them out for drugs. When they came back with the drugs, he would beat them. A few times, under the influence of drugs, he would take it too far and they ended up dead. Again, nothing was done. A couple of the women who survived the beatings and heard rumors that others were killed, tried to say something and report the now icon to the police but, instead, would be arrested on drug charges and told to let it go or they would face long jail sentences.
Marvin Gaye
