Heidnik, now 53, is awaiting his execution at the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh.
Heidnik's lawyers argued that he was a schizophrenic and not responsible for his actions, but jurors convicted him of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
Kline Township Police Chief George Pennington was a Philadelphia vice squad cop for years and remembered Heidnik well.
"That name brings back a lot of bad memories," he said.
"Big suppoter of capital punishment that I am," he added, "I'm glad to hear it."
"He was the Jeffrey Dahmer (yeah right) of his time," Pennington continued.
Pennington knew of Heidnik before the infamous arrest.
"He was a pervert," he added. "We saw him regularly in the sex crimes unit. We locked him up for indecent assault and indecent exposure before this case," he continued.
The jury took three days to reach a verdict in the gruesome case, but spent less than two hours to sentence him to death.
Prosecution witnesses said Heidnik sawed apart the body of one of his victims and fed her remains to the other captives. They said another victim was electocuted when he touched live wires to her chains while she stood in a pit filled with water.
Three of the six women were prostitutes, one was retarded and one was illiterate. All of the victims were black. Heidnik is white.
The four survivors testified for the prosecution. They described going to Heidnik's house for sex, then being choked and taken in handcuffs to the basement, where they were shackled and placed in a small pit. Heidnik fed them dog food, beat them and kept loud music blaring around the clock.
Pennington remembered that Heidnik would cruise poor North Philadelphia neighborhoods in a Rolls Royce looking for pickups.
"After they died, he'd chop them up and put them in his refrigerator, and later cook them for food," he added.
Pennington remembered how police were alerted to it.
"Some neighbors complained about the loud music," he said, "but it was the smell of the bodies that really did it."
To show Heidnik was sane, prosecutor presented witnesses who described how he had parlayed $1,500 in cash into a $532,000 stock portfolio in 12 years, and how he carefully took steps to cover up the murders.
Heidnik will be murdered by the state of Pennsylvania on 4/15/97.
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