In the 1970s, Philadelphia was a city on the edge of losing itself. Factories closed. Jobs disappeared. And in the Kensington neighborhood… one man was about to lose his mind. Joseph Kallinger, known as the ‘Shoe Maker” was a man shaped by abuse throughout his entire childhood. The abuse spilled into his adulthood, into both of his marriages and his parenting. He became haunted by voices, one of them he claimed to be God, who were telling him to hurt the innocent. After he had committed the murders of a neighborhood boy and even one of his own sons, Joseph and one of his other sons, Michael went on a six-week spree of terror, stretching across three states. The pair committed a multitude of Burglaries and assaults. But it wasn’t until the murder of Maria Fasching did their spree come to an end. This case reminds us that evil is everywhere and it can influence even the most innocent of minds.

Sources:

“CRIME: The Bizarre Case of Father and Son” on TIME on February 3, 1975 (https://time.com/archive/6879545/crime-the-bizarre-case-of-father-and-son/)

“Joe Kallinger: Is he Jekyll or Hyde?” by Hoag Levins in The Philadelphia Daily News on January 20, 1976

“KALLINGER'S FAMILY DESCRIBES BEATINGS” by Donald Janson on The New York Times on October 6, 1976 (https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/06/archives/kallingers-family-describes-beatings-2-children-testify-father.html)

“’Hard Evidence’ Against Kallinger” by Joe O’Dowd in The Philadelphia Daily News on January 22, 1976

“Joseph KALLINGER” on SERIALKILLERCALENDAR.COM (https://www.serialkillercalendar.com/Joseph%20KALLINGER.php)

“Cobbler Traced by Shirt Label” by Dan Enoch in The Philadelphia Daily News on January 22, 1976

“Joseph Kallinger was 'not faking' insanity to escape a Conviction” by Michael Dabny on UPI on January 27, 1984 (https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/01/27/Joseph-Kallinger-was-not-faking-insanity-to-escape-a/3938444027600/)

”Kallinger Son Insured Just Before Death” by Carol Towarnicky in The Philadelphia Daily News on January 20, 1976

“How Joseph Kallinger’s murder spree came to an end” by Bill Doyle on New Jersey 101.5 on January 17, 2020 (https://nj1015.com/how-joseph-kallingers-murder-spree-came-to-an-end/)

“Kallinger Found Ill in ’73 Test” in The Philadelphia Daily News on January 22, 1976

“Another Robbery, Last September, Laid to Kallinger Boy in Harrisburg” by Donald Janson on The New York Times on February 28, 1975 (https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/28/archives/another-robbery-last-september-laid-to-kallinger-boy-in-harrisburg.html)

“Michael Kallinger: Signs of Trouble in School” by Don Haskin in The Philadelphia Daily News on January 22, 1975

“What Philadelphia Was Like In The Summer Of 1973” by Kamelia Angelova on Business Insider on August 17, 2012 (https://www.businessinsider.com/life-in-philadelphia-in-1973-2012-8)

https://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kallinger-joseph.htm                             

https://www.facebook.com/groups/613095332367558/posts/2645038639173207/

https://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Kalinger,%20Joseph%20_spring%202007_.pdf

https://archives.law.virginia.edu/dengrove/writeup/trial-serial-killer-joseph-kallinger