Horrific Crimes People Almost Got Away With Because Of White Privilege

America has a deep and pervasive history of racism. A blight that has persisted for centuries, it continues to seep into the justice system in both blatant and insidious ways. You don't have to look very far to see the disparity between how whites and minorities are treated in the criminal justice system - it seems almost daily there is a new outrageous case that defies belief. 

Racial profiling, a tactic still employed by authorities to this day, is not only an unfair and discriminatory practice, but it's resulted in many killers (particularly serial killers, who are overwhelmingly white) being able to slip below the radar for sometimes decades at a time. It's like the old cliche of the neighbor saying about the mass murderer next door, "He seemed so normal" - white men tend to go unchecked for longer periods of time. This list explores some of these killers who were able to elude authorities for far too long, likely due to the color of their skin, or that of their victims. Let's take a look at horrific crimes people almost got away with thanks to white privilege.

Charles Albright was considered by those who knew him to be a Renaissance man. He spoke fluent French and Spanish, was a masterful painter and pianist, and an avid fan of literature, able to freely recite Keats from memory. Underneath his cultured exterior, however, the Dallas native hid a terrible, murderous secret. 

Albright - aka "The Eyeball Killer" - was arrested in 1991 and charged with the murders of three women. The victims, all prostitutes from low-income neighborhoods, had been shot to death before having their eyeballs removed. Albright kept the eyes as trophies for his crimes, which he would later claim stemmed from a hatred of his mother, who was also a prostitute.

Though he was ultimately caught and convicted after witnesses came forward, friends and lawyers of Albright's claimed the real murderer was Axton Schindler, a lowly truck driver who lived in a rental property Albright owned. Schindler was of course innocent, they just couldn't believe this white, well-to-do man could be responsible for such awful crimes. 

Dennis Rader, better known as the "BTK Killer" - an acronym for his modus operandi of bind, torture, kill - took 10 lives over the course of a nearly 30-year run between 1974 and 1991. His first killings were among his most infamous: the murder of four members of the Otero family, who were brutally tortured, sexually assaulted, and strangled to death in 1974 when Rader broke into their home. He wouldn't be caught until 30 years later, after he sent multiple letters to media outlets bragging about the crime that were easily traced. 

Prior to his arrest and conviction in 2005 - for which he is currently serving 10 life sentences - Rader was, on the surface, a typical white, suburban family man. A father of two, a Boy Scout leader, and an active member of his church, Rader actually worked for the city as a compliance officer. At this job he was frequently reported for strange and cruel behavior, more than once killing people's dogs he deemed "strays." Undoubtedly, Rader's middle-class white status protected him for far too long, especially when he displayed signs - as a city government employee, no less - of psychopathic behavior.

H.H. Holmes is known as one of America's earliest serial killers. A wealthy business owner, Holmes preyed on migrant workers during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. He had turned his home into a sort of murder castle that contained air-tight chambers where he would suffocate or gas his victims, whom he had brought in under the guise of running a boarding house. He also built several trap doors and chutes in the house, which were used to drop the bodies to a kiln in the basement, where they were burned and destroyed. He created an efficient killing factory that claimed an unknown number of victims (though some believe it to be a number near 200). 

He was eventually apprehended and hanged in May of 1896 in Philadelphia, PA, for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel. A white man of considerable affluence, no one thought to check on Holmes when dozens of poor, migrant workers were disappearing - often being last seen in his company. Had he not confessed - a self-serving, gloating exercise - it's likely no one would have ever known about the extent of his evil deeds.

Jeffrey Dahmer is one of the most well-known serial killers in American history, his crimes so sensational that they made international headlines. Dahmer killed 17 males between 1978 and 1991, often dismembering his victims and keeping them for sexual and cannibalistic purposes. He was eventually captured in 1991 (he was killed in prison in 1994) but months before that he had a run-in with the police that should have raised more red flags than it did.

On May 27, 1991, neighbors called the police after seeing a naked and bleeding boy run from Dahmer's apartment. After interviewing Dahmer, the police accepted the story that he and the boy were lovers, and that he was just drunk and upset. They inexplicably returned the boy to the apartment where he would be murdered later that night. The Laotion  boy, who was hysterical and bleeding from the anus, was 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, and after him, Dahmer would claim four more victims.

The officers faced mere suspensions, even amidst public outcries of racism and homophobia in the Milwaukee Police Department. 

Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin had a simple motivation for his murderous spree: he was a vehement racist. Franklin claimed 18 lives during a reign of terror that went on for over a decade. A rabid white supremacist, Franklin loathed blacks, Jews, and other minorities, and consumed with hatred, he frequently sought blood. 

Starting in 1977, Franklin robbed, murdered, and assaulted several Jewish and African American people. He was questioned in a few of the killings and even confessed to one, but was ultimately acquitted or let go by police. In 1980, Franklin shot and killed Darrell Lane, 14, and Dante Evans Brown, 13, in Cincinnati, OH. He laid under a railroad trestle waiting to murder the first black person he saw. As the victims were two young black men, the crime went under-investigated, and Franklin wouldn't be convicted for the crimes for 17 years. 

It would be many years, in fact, before Franklin faced any sort of justice. He was finally executed in Missouri in 2013 for another murder conviction. In that particular crime, he had killed a Jewish man outside of a St. Louis synagogue - a sniper-style execution he carried out in the name of the purity of white race.

When it comes to murderers, Ted Bundy is probably the most famous killer of all time. He raped and murdered at least 36 women in several states - though some suspect that number is over 100 - and he is undoubtedly one of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century.

Bundy was a handsome, somewhat charming guy who used his non-threatening nature to lure his victims and avoid police.  His girlfriend once noticed he kept a meat cleaver in the glove box of his VW bug, and ironically, he really enjoyed working for a suicide prevention hotline. He also volunteered for a young republicans organization, which earned him a recommendation from Washington's governor when he applied to law school. 

It took a decade for Bundy to be convicted (after, mind you, two successful escapes from custody) and face any consequences for his brutal crimes. A good looking, white law student and Republican, it isn't hard to connect the dots on how he was able to roam freely in '70s America. 

Gary Leon Ridgway, also known as the "Green River Killer," is one of the most prolific serial murderers of all time. Killing at least 49 women in the state of Washington - though he admitted to as many as 80 - Ridgway's murderous rampage lasted for nearly 20 years before he was finally apprehended in 2001. 

Ridgway was considered to be a man of weak intelligence - a rare quality for such a successful killer. He painted trucks for a living - a job he kept for 30 years - and was married three times. He was also a religious fanatic, often going door-to-door and reading from the Bible.

 How exactly did a man with a penchant for picking up runaways and prostitutes, raping them, then strangling them before dumping them in the Green River elude authorities for so long? He was actually picked up in connection to one of his murders in 1984 and took a polygraph, which he failed, but was still let go. A religious, soft spoken white man, who could ever imagine him being a brutal, sadistic killer? 

Despite the fact that he was a convicted rapist and kidnapper, Todd Kohlhepp was allowed to walk free and get a career as a real estate agent. Despite a judge in that case saying he was violent and calculated, he prosecutors dropped the sexual assault charge if Kohlhepp agreed to plead guilty to kidnapping. According to several news organizations, he was registered as a sex offender with the state. 

For 13 years, he killed seven people and kept a woman chained by a dog collar on his property. He was arrested in 2016 and confessed.

Neighbors said he seemed like a normal guy. Kohlhepp purposefully hid his sex offender status from his friends and neighbors, which stemmed from a 1987 kidnapping case. He was a registered felon. He bragged to his only surviving captive - Kala Brown - that he was a skilled killer who had taken the lives of at least 100 people. He also bragged about how he would never get caught.