Man kept women in hole dug in basement floor before cooking body parts | World | News

The Silence of the Lambs introduced the chilling character of Hannibal Lecter to millions in chilling scenes. However, what many may not realise is that some of the most unsettling sequences and arguably the film’s most disturbing character, are reportedly inspired by a real-life kidnapper, rapist and murderer accused of dismembering and cooking his victims.

In the 1991 thriller, audiences witness Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb confine one of his victims in a pit in his basement. While it might seem too gruesome to be true, the actions bear a disturbing resemblance to those of Gary Heidnik, a killer who imprisoned six women in a self-dug pit in his basement, subjecting them to repeated physical and sexual abuse, eventually murdering two of them.

His lawyer later recounted how Heidnik cooked parts of one of the bodies. Chuck Peruto revealed: “Heidnik was cooking the girl’s head, and was getting ready to get rid of certain body parts, because he didn’t want anybody to be identified. It was his 148 IQ kicking in. Heidnik was not putting them all in one spot; he was burying them all over the place.”

Residents reported a horrific smell emanating from Gary Heidnik’s Philadelphia home before his eventual arrest, reports The Mirror. His next-door neighbour, Doris Zibulka, told Philadelphia Magazine: “I kept calling the city. There was one day I asked Gary about the smell. He said ‘I haven’t smelled anything. I’ve been cooking. Maybe you just don’t like my cooking’.”

When a police officer initially visited the property, Heidnik dismissed the odour and “the officer left”. The officer reportedly stated: “I proceeded to knock on the door for approximately 10 or 15 minutes. I then proceeded to the rear of the premises where I did some more knocking, looked through the rear window. I could see a large pot. Something was overboiling, and the smell was twice as strong in the back of the house. I was about to call for a supervisor.”

Zibulka continued the narrative: “All of a sudden, door opens, Gary walks out. I said ‘Gary, what is that god-awful smell, what is that burning?’ ‘I’m cooking a roast. I fell asleep and it burnt,’ he said. And the cop left.”

The horrifying truth was revealed when one of Heidnik’s victims managed to escape, leading to the police discovering a tragic and appalling crime scene within his house. They found a torture chamber where three women were still chained to a pipe in a pit dug into the basement. Two other women had already been killed – one by electrocution and another starved to death while chained up.

In a tragic twist, it appears that the presence of at least one captive woman in Heidnik’s basement was known well before his eventual arrest. After founding his own church and hosting services at his home, an attendee reportedly claimed there was a woman held captive in the basement. However, this was dismissed as “far-fetched” and no action was taken.

‘He put me in a hole in the basement floor’

Heidnik’s reign of terror commenced in November 1986 with the abduction of his first known victim. She had been “hustling on the corner” when Heidnik approached her in his car.

After settling on a $20 fee for sex, he took her to his house where he “came up behind me and grabbed me by my neck. I wasn’t able to breathe, and then I went unconscious”.

Next, he led her down to his basement. She recounted: “I saw this big hole in the floor, and plastic bags full of dirt were stacked in the corner. He shackled my legs to a chain… he put me in a hole in the basement floor.”

A week later, she “heard his voice and a girl’s voice coming down into the basement”. By the end of March 1987, four more women, all aged between 18 and 25, would join them.

Reports suggest that Heidnik subjected the women to repeated beatings and sexual assaults. He barely kept them alive with cheap dog and cat food and even forced them to attack each other.

As punishment for eating too slowly, Sandra Lindsay endured a horrific ordeal when Heidnik suspended her by her arms in a standing position for three days. A fellow victim recalled: “She was up there for three days, standing. Then it looked like she was just hanging down, sleeping. I went over to smack her face and Gary came back downstairs saying she was playing… but she was dead.”

‘We could hear a sound like an electric saw – then there was a terrible smell’

One survivor recounted the chilling aftermath: “Gary took her chain off, and he carried her body upstairs. I could see that Gary was upset. We were all upset, because we didn’t know what he was going to do. I was afraid that he would panic and take it out on all of us. Later on, we could hear a sound like an electric saw. Then we started to smell a terrible odour for like three or four days.”

Deborah Dudley became the second fatality when Heidnik killed her through electrocution. He disposed of her remains in an isolated location.

Heidnik’s capture came when he brought one of his captives along to help locate another potential victim. She managed to persuade him to “trust her” and allow her to act independently.

Once he agreed, she escaped and contacted police from a telephone box.

‘House of horrors’

Former police officer David Savidge, who attended the scene, remembered: “She told a bizarre tale of being held captive and chained up and people that were in the basement.”

Police enter the ‘house of horrors’ When police arrived at Heidnik’s residence, former lieutenant James Hansen described it as “sort of intimidating – it had metal doors on it and all the windows had bars and in the bars was a crucifix”. The property soon earned the chilling moniker of the “house of horrors” in press coverage.

Officer John Cannon recounted: “The television was up, playing real loud. We went to the cellar door, down to the cellar, in the back, and sure enough, laying on the floor were these half-naked girls, and they were screaming ‘We’re saved, we’re saved’.”

Hansen revealed: “I open the freezer and I went to enough autopsies to know they were body parts.”

During his trial, Heidnik’s defence attempted, but failed, to establish his legal insanity. A significant factor against this claim was Heidnik’s substantial wealth – at least $500,000 – accrued through savvy financial investments.

He was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder, six of kidnapping, and five of rape. He received a death sentence and was executed on 6 July 1999 in Pennsylvania, marking the state’s most recent execution.

One observer at his execution noted: “He never looked at us. Never acknowledged us. Never said he was sorry. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look in our direction.”

Sandra Lindsay’s sister, Tracey Lomax, recently revealed to CNN that she “really wanted” Heidnik to remain behind bars.

She explained: “I wanted him to do time because I wanted him to not be able to run away from the women that he killed. Because I know that they spooked him. I know that they came back to haunt him. His death was so much easier than his victims’.”

Silence of The Lambs writer Thomas Harris has never officially acknowledged any inspiration for the character of Buffalo Bill.