Serial Killers Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris
Larry was adopted shortly after his birth on September 27, 1940 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His adoptive family moved around quite a bit because of his father's work in aircraft factories. They lived in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and California while Lawrence was growing up.

He quit high school in 1957 after a number of run-ins with the police. Shortly afterward, he was picked up on several offenses: auto theft, a hit-and-run, and evading arrest. He was imprisoned in California until he was 19. Just after his release, he was re-arrested in Louisiana by the FBI for violating the Interstate Motor Vehicle Theft Act. He was convicted in August 1959 and sentenced to 18 months in a federal reformatory in Oklahoma. He was soon transferred to a medical center in Missouri because of his behavior. After serving six months, he was released.

In December 1960, he was arrested in Los Angeles and was sentenced the following May to a prison term of 1-15 years. During this term, Lawrence Bittaker was determined by a psychiatrist to be paranoid, borderline psychotic, and to have severely impaired impulse control. Despite this, he was released after serving only 2 years. Only 2 months later, Bittaker was arrested for a parole violation and suspected robbery, and was picked up again in October 1964. While in prison this time, his evaluation confirmed the earlier diagnosis as a borderline psychotic.

Then, in July 1967 he was arrested and convicted of theft and leaving a hit-and-run. He was sentenced to five years, but was released in April 1970. In March 1971, Lawrence was picked up again for burglary and parole violation. That fall, he was sentenced to six months to 15 years and only served three years.

He was again arrested for stabbing a supermarket employee in the parking lot of the business. The whole incident stemmed from Bittaker's attempt to steal a steak by stuffing it in his pants. The employee had followed him outside in an attempt to stop the theft. The man survived and Bittaker was convicted of attempted murder. While in prison at California's Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, he met Roy Norris. During this stint, the earlier diagnoses of borderline psychosis were rejected and Lawrence was reclassific as a sociopath. Despite the new warnings of psychiatric professionals, Bittaker was released in November 1978. [....]
At the age of 17, Roy Norris dropped out of school and joined the Navy, where he spent most of his service time stationed in San Diego. He did serve four months in Vietnam, but saw no combat action. Norris was arrested in San Diego in November of 1969 for attempted rape. He was released on bail and three months later and arrested again for attacking a woman in her home. Police had thankfully arrived before he was able to harm the woman. Norris then received a psychological discharge from the Navy.

Still out on bail in May of 1970, Roy Norris attacked a female student at San Diego State College. He had jumped the woman from behind, hit her in the head with a rock, and then slammed her head several times on the concrete. The woman survived, so Roy was only charged with assault with a deadly weapon. He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital as a sex offender and spent five years there. He was released with the blessing of the professionals there who deemed him to no longer be a danger to others.

Three months after his release, Norris attacked a woman who was walking home after having had an argument with her boyfriend. Norris offered her a ride, but she refused. Not deterred by this, Norris got off his motorcycle and attacked th woman. He strangled her into unconsciousness with her own scarf and then dragged her behind a hedge and raped her. She could only give a vague description of her attacker, but a month later she saw him and took down his license plate number.

This forcible rape conviction and Roy's subsequent term in prison would bring he and Bittaker together. NOrris was released on January 15, 1979 and moved in with his mother in Los Angeles. Bittaker and Norris got in touch on the outside.
Murderous Intent

Bittaker and Norris hatched a plan to rape and kill local girls and Bittaker bought a 1977 GMC cargo van for the job. It had no side windows in the back and a large passenger-side sliding door, perfect for abducting women. They called their van Murder Mack. Between February and June 1979, they drove along the Pacific Coast Highway, stopped at beaches, talked to girls, and took their pictures. This was practice season. When they were finally arrested, police found nearly 500 photographs among Bittaker's possessions. The plan had been to kill at least one girl of each age between 13 and 19 years. They were going to record all of their exploits on tape and film.

Their first victim was Lucinda "Cindy" Schaeffer, a 16-year-old the pair picked up near Redondo Beach on June 24, 1979. She had just left a youth meeting at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. The van pulled alongside her, which she ignored, and then pulled into a driveway to cut her off. Attempting to persuade her again on the sidewalk, she brushed past Norris. He then forced her into the van, then duct taped her mouth and bound her arms and legs. They left one of her shoes behind on the sidewalk as they sped away. Bittaker took the van to a fire road on San Gabriel Mountains, out of sight of the highway. The men smoked some pot and asked her about her family. Then they got tired of small talk and ordered her to strip naked. Both men took a turn raping her. Norris first tried to strangle her, but couldn't do it and left to vomit in the weeds.Bittaker wrapped a straightened wire coat hanger around her neck and then tightened it with vice-grip pliers, strangling her to death. The pair wrapped her body in a plastic shower curtain and dumped it in a nearby canyon.
Lucinda "Cindy" Schaeffer

On July 8, the killers picked up their second victim, Andrea Hall, 18. She was hitch-hiking on the Pacific Coast Highway when she was picked up by a driver in a white convertible. Norris complained about their bad luck, but the men followed behind the convertible and waited for the driver to let his passenger off down the road. When the driver of the other car signalled to get off at an exit ramp, Andrea got out and stuck up her thumb to catch another ride.
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The rest along with pictures is here at link
http://psychautopsy.weebly.com/8/cat...0norris/1.html

Lawrence Bittaker confession
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTOr-U7oAaQ