Robert Nixon

Robert Nixon (1919-1939) was an American serial killer who targeted white women.

Los Angeles Brick Bat
On the 28th of January 1937, Nixon entered Monte Sano hospital in Los Angeles and assaulted a white woman, H. W. Koll, with a brick. On the 3rd of February, he attacked Elizabeth Reis in her hotel room and beat her to death with a brick. On the 2nd of March, Nixon broke into Rose Valdez's house, raped her in the same room as her baby child and smashed her head with a brick. On the 28th of March, he bludgeoned Zoe Damrell with a brick and almost killed her. On April the 3rd, he sexually assaulted Edna Worden and her 12-year-old daughter in their home and killed them with a brick.

Arrest
Realising that he was probably going to be caught, Nixon moved to Chicago, where he and his friend Earl Hicks broke into Florence Johnson's house to burgle it. When she woke up, either Nixon or Hicks smashed her in the head with a brick and killed her. While trying to flee, both Nixon and Hicks were arrested due to blood on their clothes. Hicks and Nixon pinned blame on each other, although Nixon confessed to murdering Florence Thompson Castle at some point, having been implicated by fingerprint evidence. With a suspect in jail for two brick slayings, the Los Angeles police looked into the murders of Reis, Valdez and the Wordens and found Nixon's fingerprints. Koll and Damrell also identified him as the man who attacked them, and other women assaulted during the spree pointed the finger at Hicks. Nixon confessed to raping and murdering Anna Kutcher at his trial, and was suspected of murdering Florence Kennedy, although there was insufficient evidence to prove this. He also claimed to have been abused by police.

"Brick Moron"
During his trial, Nixon was depicted as a barbarian and a moron by the press, due to the overt racism in the US at the time. This resulted in the media nicknaming him "The Brick Moron". With negative press coverage the only press coverage from everywhere except the Chicago Defender, which dedicated its time to defending black people, Nixon's public image was ruined. Both of the men were convicted; Nixon was sentenced to death, whilst Hicks received a sentence of five years to life in prison. Nixon was executed by electric chair on the 16th of June 1939.