John Eichinger
John Charles Eichinger (born February 18, 1972) is an American serial killer who was convicted of killing three women and one child from 1999 to 2005 in Pennsylvania, which he committed after two of the victims had rejected his romantic advances. He was handed three death sentences for the latter murders and one life sentence for the former, and is currently awaiting execution. Early life. John Charles Eichinger was born on February 18, 1972, in Malvern, Pennsylvania, as one of four brothers. He attended the Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, where he was part  of a large group of friends who would play "Dungeons & Dragons" in their spare time. Through this activity, he became acquainted with Jennifer Still and Heather Greaves, developing a romantic interest in both women. After graduation, he found work as a clerk at a local Acme supermarket, where he worked alongside Greaves. In his spare time, he was noted for playing in local chess tournaments. Murders. On July 6, 1999, Eichinger, donning a pair of rubber gloves and carrying a large knife under his jacket, went to Still's home in Bridgeport in order to confess his feelings towards her . To his dismay, she rejected his advances, stating that she would not leave her fiancé. Enraged by her rejection, Eichinger pulled out the knife and repeatedly stabbed her, ultimately cutting her throat before leaving the house. In the subsequent investigations, police questioned Still's boyfriend and friends, including Eichinger, who claimed that he had been in New Jersey at the time of the murders. In an attempt to ward the police off his trail, he claimed that two other "Dungeons & Dragons" players might have information the murder, with one of them being heavily involved in Wicca. As the investigators had  no evidence to connect him with the murder at the time, they focused on the players mentioned by Eichinger, until a DNA swab proved that they were innocent. After the murder, Eichinger stored the bloodied knife, clothing and rubber gloves he had worn on the day of the murder in his room as a keepsake to remind him of the killing. For the next five years, when Halloween came about, he would take out the knife and don a mask of Ghostface from the horror franchise "Scream", and would go out trick-or-treating with them. Around 2003, he moved  to his parents' new home in Somers Point, New Jersey, where he transferred to work at a local Acme supermarket. On March 25, 2005, Greaves ordered some purple flowers for her upcoming birthday and arranged Eichinger to deliver them at her home in King of Prussia. Bringing the knife with him, Eichinger went to the house and confessed his feelings for Greaves, emphasizing that he wanted her to leave her husband for him. After being rejected again, he pulled out the knife and started stabbing her, before finishing her off by slitting her throat. The act was noticed by Greaves ' 21-year-old sister Lisa and 3-year-old daughter, Avery, who were in at the house at the time. Unwilling to leave any witnesses, Eichinger went to the bathroom and stabbed Lisa to death, before catching up to Avery in the hallway and killing her as well. He then started walking back to his car, where a neighbor of Greaves' observed him with bloodied clothes and a rag tied around his hand. The victims' bodies were discovered by Greaves' husband, George, when he returned home from work. Arrest, trial and imprisonment. As the killings heavily resembled Still's murder  from years prior, authorities started looking into whether the four victims had any connections. After learning that Still and Greaves had been mutual friends with each other and with Eichinger, Detective Richard Nilsen was dispatched to interrogate him at his workplace in Somers Point. Initially, Eichinger denied responsibility, claiming that the scratches on his arm were the result of a dog bite and a cut sustained while he was taking out the trash, and that he had been at a boardwalk in Ocean City when the killings took place. However, when he noticed that Nilsen was carrying a gun on  him, Eichinger decided to confess to the four killings, bizarrely stating that he followed company policy to "never resist a man with a gun." Not long after, Eichinger waived his right to an extradition hearing and was extradited to Pennsylvania, where he was charged with four counts of capital murder. He confessed to the four murders before the judge, arguing that he should be given a life sentence in light of mitigating evidence presented by his lawyers: these included claims that he suffered from schizoid personality disorder and that he was under extreme emotional duress when he committed the crimes , relating to the recent death of his father from Alzheimer's disease. These claims were contested by the prosecutors, who pointed that the defendant had no prior history of mental illness, had planned his crimes in advance and the murders of Lisa and Avery were done to get rid of witnesses. In the end, Eichinger was found guilty on all counts and was given three death sentences for the murders of the Greaves family; he was given a life term for Still's murder. At the sentencing phase, the victims' family members exclaimed that they hoped they would live long  enough to see Eichinger executed for the murders. Since his incarceration, he has attempted to appeal his sentence on multiple occasions, but each time, his appeals have been denied. In 2008, Eichinger's death warrant was signed by Governor Ed Rendell, but the sentence is yet to be carried out. In the media and culture. Eichinger's crimes were covered on two separate crime documentary series, both aired on Investigation Discovery: on "Homicide City" as an episode titled "Deadly Circle of Friends", and on "In Ice Cold Blood" as an episode titled "Dungeons, Dragons and Death".