# Gruesome Mutilation Crime **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459 "2005-01-24T20:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/1 "2005-01-24T20:15:01Z")
It was some years ago, probably 1992-1994 time period when I remember reading on the news the horrific story of some psychopath who cut off both of a woman’s arms. If I recall correctly this happened in the deep south, maybe Florida. Either way I’m sure someone here remembers the case as it was on the news pretty regularly back then. What I was wondering is 1) What was the name of the killer/specifics of the case 2) if this actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/2 "2005-01-24T20:29:38Z")
It did happen but I can’t remember specifics. I believe a man kidnapped or carjacked a woman and left her in a ditch after cutting off both arms at the elbow. I think someone found her - she didn’t die. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/3 "2005-01-24T20:54:59Z")
You are probably thinking of [Lawrence Singleton](http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/News/021601/Hillsborough/High_court_upholds_ki.shtml), who raped and cut the arms off Mary Vincent in 1978, leaving her for dead. He received early release, but was later sentenced to death for murdering a prostitute in 1997. Singleton died of cancer while on death row in December 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/4 "2005-01-24T23:55:06Z")
I think the important question here is if Mary Vincent received BEAUTIFUL DORRANCE #5X STAINLESS STEEL HOOKS. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/5 "2005-01-25T03:09:05Z")
A story about [Mary Vincent](http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1997/Feb-21-Fri-1997/photos/vincent.html) from 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/6 "2005-01-25T15:50:38Z")
What an awful story. What can possibly drive any human to such savagery? And how on Earth did he fool enough people to get released from prison? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/7 "2005-01-25T16:28:51Z")
Pardon my ignorance, and feeding the off-topic stuff, but … What is the origin and meaning of all this “BEAUTIFUL DORRANCE #5X STAINLESS STEEL HOOKS?” ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/8 "2005-01-25T16:34:50Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Pardon my ignorance, and feeding the off-topic stuff, but … > > What is the origin and meaning of all this “BEAUTIFUL DORRANCE #5X STAINLESS STEEL HOOKS?” Several years ago, there was a woman in her early 20s who maintained a Web site dedicated to her obsession with cutting her own arms off and replacing them with DORRANCE #5X STAINLESS STEEL HOOKS. It was a fetish for her - she thought they were beautiful. She also got off on really thick glasses. Think coke-bottle glasses from the early 70s. It was a surreal Web site, to say the least. She kept updating it, saying that she’d figured out just how she would stage an accident in which her arms would be severed, and she could get her DORRANCE #5X STAINLESS STEEL HOOKS. She always used all caps, thus the all caps in references. It was the subject of much speculation here at the SDMB whether or not it was a real Web site or a hoax, and what, if anything, we could do to get this anonymous young woman some help before she cut off her own arms. Finally, the Web site was yanked, and I don’t think we ever found out what became of her. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/9 "2005-01-25T16:39:23Z")
(Yikes, I am sooo glad I did not Google it.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/10 "2005-01-25T16:59:45Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > What an awful story. What can possibly drive any human to such savagery? This is _not_ intended to mitigate what Singleton did in any way, but as an explanation of his motivation for the mutilation IIRC he thought his victim was already dead when he cut off her arms, and he did so to delay identification by fingerprints. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/11 "2005-01-25T19:36:16Z")
No. He knew she was alive, and she was begging for her life. He chopped off her arms and then threw her in a ditch, figuring she would then die and wouldn’t be identified. Mary Vincent stopped the flow of blood with mud, managed to climb out of the ditch and find help. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-mutilation-crime/286459/12 "2005-01-25T20:57:26Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > No. He knew she was alive, and she was begging for her life. He chopped off her arms and then threw her in a ditch, figuring she would then die and wouldn’t be identified. Mary Vincent stopped the flow of blood with mud, managed to climb out of the ditch and find help. I think she also managed to use her severed arms as props to help herself up. Brave lady! And I’m so glad God’s death penalty got the bastard!