The 63 I.Q. Sadistic Serial Killer…

What this episode is about

The narrative explores the life of Harrison Frank Marty Graham, a man with intellectual disabilities who, despite appearing friendly and helpful in his community, committed a series of murders. It delves into his troubled upbringing, his struggles in education, and the impact of his relationships on his descent into violence, ultimately revealing how his outward charm masked a deeply twisted psyche.

Key takeaways

• In a neighborhood where everyone’s skirting the law, sometimes the most charming face hides the darkest secret.
• Harrison’s descent into murder reveals that kindness can mask monstrous intentions, proving appearances can be deadly deceiving.
• Intellectual disability didn’t stop Harrison; it served as a tragic guise for his heinous acts, complicating the very notion of 'normal.'
• Community ties can sometimes entrap; even the friendliest neighbor can become a wolf in sheep's clothing.
• In the embrace of street culture, love twisted into depravity, showing how vulnerability can lead to violence and manipulation.

Who speaks in this episode?

• James (Guest) · 13 min speaking
• Harrison Graham (Guest) · 1 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Harrison Frank Marty Graham, Philadelphia, Olney High School
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Philadelphia
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Philadelphia, Lillian Graham, Gary Heidnick
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Harrison Frank Marty Graham, March 7, 1988, Robin DeShazer, Joel Moldowski
5. 12:00 – 13:59: April 28, 1988

Notable quotes from "The 63 I.Q. Sadistic Serial Killer…"

• Manage to make it through Early Education and even move on to high school he attended Olney high school but was forced to leave after the 10th grade due to his poor academic…

  about Olney High School · at 1:16

• Going on to perpetrate some of the most gruesome killings recorded at that time in 1979 at the age of 20 Harrison left his parents house and moved to North Philadelphia sadly…

  about Philadelphia · at 2:52

• This seems to have had the desired effect and on the 17th of August Harrison tracked down and reached out to his mother now identified as Lillian Graham on the phone asking her…

  about Lillian Graham · at 8:29

• Hated women according to Harrison's confession it was this personality that murdered the women one of the women who some sources claim Harrison identifies as his first victim…

  about Robin DeShazer · at 9:47

• Argument and evidence such as IQ tests that had been run on Harrison placing him at an IQ of 63. Harrison was found guilty on all seven counts of murder and abuse of a corpse…

  about Harrison Frank Marty Graham · at 11:52

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Harrison Frank Marty Graham — Person · Primary subject (case focus) · 4 mentions · first at 0:35
  Central figure of the episode; described as a Philadelphia serial killer who murdered seven women and claimed to have multiple personalities (Marty/Junior/Frank).
• Robin DeShazer — Person · Referenced victim / girlfriend · 1 mention · first at 9:56
  Presented as Harrison Graham's longtime girlfriend and (per some sources in the narration) his first victim; also referenced in testimony about domestic violence and alleged boasting.
• Lillian Graham — Person · Referenced family member (mother) · 1 mention · first at 8:35
  Identified as Harrison Graham's mother; she persuades him to surrender and contacts police, and later supports him during trial.
• Joel Moldowski — Person · Referenced attorney (defense counsel) · 1 mention · first at 11:17
  Named as Harrison Graham's lawyer; argues insanity/multiple personality disorder and intellectual disability to mitigate culpability and oppose death penalty.
  So it is unclear if her testimony played any part in Harrison's sentencing Harrison was represented by Joel moldowski who argued that he was insane suffering in particular from…
• Gary Heidnick — Person · Referenced comparison case (another serial killer) · 1 mention · first at 7:59
  Mentioned as another Philadelphia-area serial killer arrested months earlier; used by media as contextual comparison due to proximity.
  Urging members of the public police officers and sheriffs to be on the lookout media houses almost immediately noted that Harrison lived less than two miles from another serial…

Places & events

• Philadelphia — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at 0:55
  Philadelphia is the city where Harrison Graham was born and where his crimes took place.
• March 7, 1988 — Event · Key event · 1 mention · first at 10:34
  The date when Harrison Graham's trial began.
  By domestic violence Harrison's trial began on the 7th of March 1988 about seven months after his arrest waving his rights to a jury trial Harrison required his case to be decided by a single judge as he had already.
• April 28, 1988 — Event · Key event · 1 mention · first at 12:14
  The date when Harrison Graham was sentenced.
  Capabilities had to be taken into account and a more lenient sentence be given eventually on the 28th of April 1988 Harrison was sentenced to six death sentences in one life…
• Olney High School — Place · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at 1:19
  The high school Harrison Graham attended before being forced to leave due to poor academic performance.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 have you ever met a person who lives in one of the more suspicious neighborhoods in town but seems out of place he's a nice guy he greets the children and families in the neighborhood and he helps his neighbors in any way he can he's almost too good to be true you wish you could somehow pay to get him to live somewhere other than the ghetto because you fear that the environment will badly influence him sooner or later you fear it will but it never seems to happen that is of course Until you realize that it already did a long time ago in fact welcome or welcome back to Twisted Minds my name is James and today we're going to be looking at someone who has a twisted mind literally Harrison Frank Marty Graham was the man who despite being intellectually disabled managed to kill seven women in the space of about one year without getting caught why did he do it how did he do it well you are about to find out

0:55 born in Philadelphia on the 9th of September 1959 Harrison was the oldest in a family of five children his mental struggle started to show early in his childhood he exhibited signs of intellectual disability that made it difficult for him to keep up with the academic and disciplinary standards expected of him at school he did however manage to make it through Early Education and even move on to high school he attended Olney high school but was forced to leave after the 10th grade due to his poor academic performance and attendance in school Harrison's mother later claimed that he was diagnosed with a mental disorder in 1971 which led to him being enrolled in a children's mental facility for two years being forced out of Education due to his inability to keep up Harrison entered the workforce in the early 1970s possibly due to his physique he soon found work in the construction industry this began a dark downward spiral for

1:50 him as his boss was also his lover the damaging effects of the age difference in their relationship and the inappropriateness of all of it would go on to manifest later in Harrison's life now in his early teens Harrison was further lured to Street culture where he began working as a prostitute he also started using drugs as a result of this lifestyle and the people it exposed him to Harrison claims that this lifestyle and experience was the first time he had ever felt deeply loved pointing to a dysfunctional home and childhood the deep love Harrison supposedly felt significantly strengthened his resolve not to return to the life he was raised in as expected his mother was not having any of it her spiritual convictions were imposed on him and she dragged him from the streets preaching to him about the immoralities of his lifestyle Harrison seems to have taken his mother's Faith as his own to an extent as he mentioned

2:46 his actions being sinful against God in his confession several years later regardless this didn't stop him from going on to perpetrate some of the most gruesome killings recorded at that time in 1979 at the age of 20 Harrison left his parents house and moved to North Philadelphia sadly this did not Mark his escape from the street lifestyle as he was only able to secure accommodation in a neighborhood that was Notorious for high crime and poverty rates as he settled into his new apartment and neighborhood Harrison continued his habits of drinking alcohol and using drugs it also did not take long for him to find and refrend the prostitutes and pimps in the area despite Harrison's lifestyle in his tall athletic build which many describe as intimidating everyone in the neighborhood regarded him as a nice friendly man he was never prosecuted for any Petty or major crimes in 1983 Harrison moved to a new apartment in a

3:45 primarily unoccupied complex in this new place Harrison and some of his neighbors came together to construct a makeshift drug station through which they bought and sold drugs without drying any unwanted attention or suspicion from authorities over the next four years of living in this new apartment Harrison became increasingly popular in this neighborhood his apartment turned into a drug Den where he would have friends and acquaintances over to buy drugs as well as group smoking sessions this newfound status also made him popular with the ladies he often picked up girls whether friends or strangers enticing them with drugs he would then take them to his apartment where he would give them the drugs he promised and pursue seated to have sex with those who consent to do it in all of this Harrison maintained his reputation as the friendly neighborhood guy who paid his rent on time and played

4:36 basketball with the teenagers of the community as far as honest work goes Harrison lived off his Disability Pension and was liked by all he came across in the summer of 1987 four years after he began living in the apartment Harrison's neighbors complained about a foul odor coming from his apartment the landlord made this known to him and suggested that he find a way to handle the situation but he chose to ignore the complaints on August 9th of that same year after being fed up with Harrison's failure to respond appropriately to the complaints made against him the landlord demanded that he vacate the apartment Harrison complied with this order gathered his personal belongings and left the apartment it sounds like all is well right well when the landlord tried to enter and inspect the apartment he discovered that Harrison had restricted people from getting into the apartment by covering the front door with boards

5:32 on realizing this the landlord called the police to intervene in the situation officer Pete scalatino who is the first to respond to this call mentioned that as soon as he stepped into the building he recognized that the odor that the neighbors had complained about was the smell of death as it turns out Pete senses did not fail him by the time he officer arrived on the floor where Harrison's apartment was located the smell around him thickened and he could quickly determine which apartment was Harrison's when officer Pete looked through the keyhole of the door he saw a human figure who he asked to let him in when there was no response or movement from the figure skeletino called for backup and the investigator Charles Johnson arrived at the scene together the two officers managed to get through the door and into the apartment they were immediately greeted by the site of the naked corpse of a black woman lying

6:20 on the mattress as if things were not gory enough the corpse was already visibly decomposing on the floor next to the bed was a partially dressed corpse of another woman according to the police reports there were also traces of drugs and blood around this horrific scene convinced by the massive piles of garbage and the persisting smell that there was more to be uncovered the officers called for additional support however as more detectives arrived at the scene the public became curious and swarmed around the apartment building this development caused officers to tape off the scene immediately the first to grab the officer's attention was a 40 centimeter High pile of garbage underneath all this debris a third victim was recovered this time already a skeleton a fourth body also a skeleton was found in one of the closets if you were wondering this skeleton had been carefully wrapped before being placed in

7:10 the closet victim number five skeleton was found hidden between two mattresses and the sixth one was found in the front closet covered with debris and old regs it was soon dark and the investigators had to Halt their excavation for lack of appropriate conditions they returned the next day the 10th of August and continued their search after all the horrifying discoveries they Unearthed in Harrison's apartment the authorities decided to broaden the area beyond the apartment this search Led them to finding dismembered skeletal Parts on the roof of the building bringing the total victim count to seven now that the authorities were aware of his heinous crimes a picture of Harrison was immediately put up in the newspapers and other other communication channels urging members of the public police officers and sheriffs to be on the lookout media houses almost immediately noted that Harrison lived less than two

7:59 miles from another serial killer Gary heidnick who had been arrested only a few months earlier during their investigation the authorities were able to identify the cause of the decomposing corpses deaths as strangulation through all of this Harrison was still wanted and had been spotted several times in public spaces but he had somehow managed to evade arrest each time Harrison's family who still lived in the Philadelphia area sent out a plea for him to come home this seems to have had the desired effect and on the 17th of August Harrison tracked down and reached out to his mother now identified as Lillian Graham on the phone asking her for food she managed to persuade him to surrender to the authorities as he had been declared wanted in all the newspapers and other reports Harrison agreed and Lillian called the police he was arrested just a stone throw away from his former apartment and taken to the

8:54 police station at the station Harrison fruitlessly tried for hours on end to convince investigators that the bodies and skeletons had been in the apartment when he first moved in as you would expect the investigators were not having any of it instead they remained persistent and Harrison eventually confessed first to one murder and then to all seven remember how much of a ladies man Harrison became at his new apartment well he confessed to strangling the women during sex and waking up the following day to find their lifeless bodies he would have sex with the corpses until they started to Decay however there was an interesting twist Harrison did not kill any of the women apparently Frank did according to Harrison he had three personalities Marty was the heterosexual Christian handyman who everyone loved Junior was a two-year-old that was attached to his cookie monster doll and Frank was a

9:45 homosexual lover of ghetto culture that hated women according to Harrison's confession it was this personality that murdered the women one of the women who some sources claim Harrison identifies as his first victim had been Harrison's longtime girlfriend Robin deshazer he was also shocked by what he had done that he left the body in his apartment because he didn't know what else to do or how to handle the situation it it was not until he had another women over in his apartment that he allegedly hoisted Robin's corpse onto the roof in an attempt to conceal his actions it is also on record that Harrison had violent tendencies because some of his friends came forward to say that at one point or another they'd become aware that Robin and Harrison's relationship was marred by domestic violence Harrison's trial began on the 7th of March 1988 about seven months after his arrest waving his rights to a jury trial

10:40 Harrison required his case to be decided by a single judge as he had already admitted to committing the murders during the proceedings Paula a lady who had close relations with Harrison was called up to the witness stand she claimed Harrison used to strangle her during sex and often boasted about killing Robin to Shazer and having sex with her corpse according to Paula Harrison's Revelations made her too scared to leave him there were however some discrepancies between Paula's testimony and the facts investigators had uncovered during their investigation so it is unclear if her testimony played any part in Harrison's sentencing Harrison was represented by Joel moldowski who argued that he was insane suffering in particular from multiple personality disorders and as such could not correctly distinguish right from wrong this coupled with his heavy drug use moldowski said prevented hair person

11:34 from judging correctly and so he could not be held entirely liable for his actions in all of this Harrison's best ally other than his attorney was his mother who insisted that she was certain Harrison would not hurt a fly even if he were under the influence of drugs or alcohol sadly despite moldovski's argument and evidence such as IQ tests that had been run on Harrison placing him at an IQ of 63. Harrison was found guilty on all seven counts of murder and abuse of a corpse the prosecutors demanded a death penalty while moldovski argued that Harrison's mental capabilities had to be taken into account and a more lenient sentence be given eventually on the 28th of April 1988 Harrison was sentenced to six death sentences in one life sentence without parole hiding moldowski's plea the Court ruled that the death sentence would only take effect after Harrison had completed his life sentence this effectively meant

12:30 that he was never going to be executed throughout the trial Harrison remained long and observers note that he did not even seem to realize that he was being punished once the proceedings were over he requested for his cookie monster doll which was collected from him after his arrest presumingly because Junior needed it despite the judge's ruling some sources say that certain parties insisted on Harrison being executed and even began the process of making it happen Harrison's legal team made appeal after appeal until eventually a law was passed that stated that certain categories of mentally disabled people one of which he belonged were exempt from execution this law gave Harrison his team and his family peace of mind that he would only have to serve his life sentence without any threat of execution still not satisfied with the ruling some sources have expressed their displeasure with the fact that Harrison

13:20 was only put in prison and not in a proper mental institution for rehabilitation as he had been declared mentally incapable and even unstable when influenced by drugs or alcohol however despite all odds Harrison seems to be thriving and has settled well into life in prison going by his confession Marty seems to have grown stronger than the other two personalities during Harrison's time in prison as he became more committed to his beliefs thanks for tuning in to Twisted Minds that was the case of Harrison Graham and why don't you go ahead and click on one of the two videos on your screen for another one of our videos

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The 63 I.Q. Sadistic Serial Killer…"?

James (Guest), Harrison Graham (Guest).

What is "The 63 I.Q. Sadistic Serial Killer…" about?

The narrative explores the life of Harrison Frank Marty Graham, a man with intellectual disabilities who, despite appearing friendly and helpful in his community, committed a series of murders. It delves into his troubled upbringing, his struggles in education, and the impact of his relationships on his descent into violence, ultimately revealing how his outward charm masked a deeply twisted…

What is mentioned in this Twisted Minds episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Harrison Frank Marty Graham, Philadelphia, Robin DeShazer, March 7, 1988, April 28, 1988, Lillian Graham. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The 63 I.Q. Sadistic Serial Killer…"?

The episode runs 14 min; the transcript is about 2,497 words in 16 timestamped sections.

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