Brothers Gary and Thaddeus Lewingdon began a yearlong shooting spree dubbed the “.22-caliber killings.”
The indiscriminate shootings around Columbus, Ohio, began with the murder of two women at a cafe. Workers Joyce Vermilion and Karen Dodrill were shot multiple times as they walked out after closing. Police recovered several shell casings from a .22-caliber gun, scattered around on the snow.
This and the eight subsequent killings were distinguished by the amount of overkill — the bodies were literally bullet-ridden.
Police eventually focused on two middle-age brothers after a teenage clerk noticed that a list of stolen credit cards was used by 38-year-old Gary Lewingdon. When police took him in for questioning, Gary Lewingdon nonchalantly recounted the last murder and taking of the credit cards and implicated himself and his brother, 42-year-old Thaddeus, in the other nine slayings.
Thaddeus received three life terms. Gary received eight life terms. Thaddeus remained in prison until he died from lung cancer in 1989. Gary died of heart failure in October 2004.
