Hungarian Bela kiss began his career as a serial killer later in life. in February 1912, at forty years of age, Bela moved to the village of Czinkota with his wife Marie, about fifteen years his junior. Within a matter of weeks Marie had taken up with one of the neighbors, Pual Bikari. Then in December 1912 Bela sadly told his neighbors that Marie and Paul had "runaway" together. To replace Marie, Bella hired a lonley old woman as a housekeeper. she in turn learned to ignore the parade of women who came to spend time with Czinkota's newly eligible bachelor. Around this time Bela began collecting 55-gallon drums. He told anyone that was curious that they were to store gasoline for the upcoming war.
Budapest authorities, meanwhile, were seeking information on the disappearnce of two widows, named Schmeidak and Varga, who had not made contact with their family or friends for several weeks. Both women had last been seen in the company of a man named Hoffman, near the Margaret Bridge in Budapest. In fact a lot of women were last seen in the company of this Herr Hoffman.
In November 1914 Bela was drafted into the military. By 1916 news was spreading that Bela had died in battle. Then in June 1916 the army confiscated seven of the metal drums thinking they held gasoline. But when the soldiers opened up the drums they found no gasoline but instead each drum contained a naked female corpse strangled and preserved in alcohol. Autopsies also indicated that there were wounds on the neck and the body had been drained of blood. A search turned up 17 more drums. One of which contained the bodies of his wife and her lover. In the drawers of Bela's dresser there was an overflow of cards and letters sent to him from women responding to a newspaper advertisement purchaced by "Hoffman." 24 victims were recovered in all.
After the gruesome discovery, soldiers went to the hospital where Bela had supposedly died. Apparently Bela was able to steal another dying man's identity and escape. After this discovery there were reports of Bela seen all over the world.
The last sighting of Bela was in New York. Wether or not he was in New York is a mistery to this day. He is still remembered today in Hungary as, "the one that got away."
~Kaylah