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Earle Leonard Nelson was knick named the ‘Gorilla Man,’ because he had large hands, which he believed were given to him by God to better hold his Bible, he later believed his large hands were to be used to deal with ‘Jezebel’s’ and ‘Delilah’s’ of the world.  
 
He is reputed to have killed 24 women in the U.S. plus an eighth-month-old baby: sand probably caused the death of a six-year-old boy. The American authorities estimate that he had also attempted to murder an additional fifty women who described him minutely.  
 
He had left fingerprints at the scene of his crimes, but he continued to disappear in broad daylight, and the American authorities were unable to catch him or identify him.  
 
On the morning of June 8, 1927 Nelson had hitchhiked to Winnipeg, and that afternoon he had paid a $1.00 deposit on a second floor bedroom at Mrs Hills rooming house.  
Next day, the ‘decent young man’ as Mrs Hill called him spent the day away from the house, returning at suppertime to apologise to his landlady that he had not raised the additional $2.00 for his room, but he hoped to get the money the next day. Mrs. Hill was used to cash-short young men and agreed to wait.  
 
That same evening, in a house on a nearby street, fourteen-year-old Lola Cowan was getting ready to go out. Her father had recently had an operation, which severely handicapped his ability to work, and to help with the family finances little Lola sold artificial flowers that her sister made.  
 
The young girl left her house and walked the short distance to Smith Street. She was spoken to at about 9.30 pm. By a neighbour who wanted to know why she was on the streets at such a late hour. She replied that she had to help her family. Minutes later, Lola was on Smith Street, the same street that the American Strangler had taken up residence.  
 
Lola never returned home, and her father, John Cowan began a search, and he reported her disappearance the next morning to police.  
 
That same morning William Patterson bid goodbye to his pretty young wife Emily and their two young children. When he returned that evening he discovered his children were with his next door neighbour who told him they had arrived at her house about two o’clock, saying their mother had ‘gone away’, so she let them stay.  
 
At nine, Mr. Patterson put his children to bed, not yet too concerned about his wife’s absence, but by eleven o’clock she had still not returned he became anxious and phoned the local constabulary to enquire about accidents. None had been reported.  
 
Patterson searched his house, and noticed his suitcase in the dinning room had a broken lock. Inside, the envelope that contained their savings was missing. His wife’s absence now had taken on a sinister aspect.  
 
Being a religious man Mr. Patterson knelt beside their bed to pray. As he got up his hand brushed the sheet hanging close to the floor. It revealed the sleeve of his dead wife’s dress. She was in it, and she was dead.  
 
Nelson left for Regina but didn't stay long as the manhunt for him intensified. He tried to return to the U.S. and got as far as Wokapa, Manitoba, near Crystal City, when a store owner recognized him and called police.  
 
In all, Nelson was responsible for 22 murders, and suspected in at least 3 more. He was 29 years old when he hanged. Earl became the 13th person to hang at the Vaughn Street Gaol in Winnipeg.  
 
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earle_Nelson  
 
http://www.geocities.com/quietlyinsane5e/earle.html