Megan Hutchinson
Staff Reporter
This article does contain mentions of rape and the murders of women. Reader’s discretion is advised.
Harvey Louis Carignan was born in Fargo, North Dakota on May 18th, 1927. Like so many other serial killers, Harvey Louis Carignan grew up never knowing his genetic father. His mother Mary was a 20-year- old ill-equipped mother who failed to care for her sickly boy. In 1930, the lowest point in the Great Depression, she began to give him out to anyone who would watch him. In his early years, he developed a facial twitch and began bed-wetting until he was 13 years old. As a preteen, he was sent to a reform school at Mandan, North Dakota where he remained for seven years according to his FBI Rap Sheet. There, he was constantly bullied and, allegedly, was sexually abused by a female teacher constantly.
On the early morning of Sunday, July 31st, he murdered 57-year-old Laura Showalter, following an attempted rape in a small park in Anchorage, Alaska. He smashed her head, causing brutal brain injuries. Her face was destroyed from her chin to forehead bone, the tissue was crushed to a pulp under a battering under his massive fists. According to the police officer on the scene, “This killer was so strong, with one punch he blasted a hole through her skull like a rocket slamming into a tank”.
Friday, September 16th, 1949. Carignan had attempted to rape Dorcas Callen, who luckily managed to escape his brutal assault. Dorcas frantically fought in the ditch she was left in. In later descriptions given by Dorcas, Carignan was arrested later the same day. He stood trial on the charges of first-degree murder of Laura Showalter in 1950 in the District Court for the Territory of Alaska, Third Division, Judge George W. Folta presiding. Unfortunately, Carignan escaped the noose and was served a 15-year sentence. Prisoner #22072 was transferred from Seward Jail in Alaska to the U.S. Penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington State. On September 13th, 1951 Carignan was transferred to the U.S. Prison Alcatraz in California, he would live there for the next nine years. On April 2nd, 1960 at thirty-two he was paroled.
April 20th, 1965, he was sentenced to fifteen years in Walla Walla. There he obtained a high school diploma and took many college courses in sociology and psychology. Constantly, he read, obtained top grades, and studied journalism. Yet, he was never as good as he seemed. Carignan fantasized about nubile, young girls, and had a fixation on young girls.
Upon release from prison, he met and married Sheila Moran, a divorcee with three children. She had soon seen Carignan's evil side. Following his vicious assault on her elderly uncle, Sheila packed up her things and took her children. Carignan decided he was going to kill her, he waited an entire night with a hammer clutched in his hand. She never returned home.
Harvey Carignan would marry again on April 14th, 1972. Alice Johnson was a woman in her mid-30s who thought she had met a hard-working man. Alice had a son, Billy, age 11, and a daughter Georgia, age 14, whom Harvey had taken a particular interest in. By now, Harvey was leasing a gas station, Sav-Mor, from the Time Oil Company. Eventually, it came to Alice’s attention that Harvey had always had a string of young girls working at his pumps. When Alice had challenged this odd noticing, Harvey had screamed in her face, beating her son, and throwing glances at her daughter, this made her noticeably uneasy. Unshockingly, their marriage fell apart shortly after.
On October 15th, 1972, Carignan raped and killed Laura Brock near Mount Vernon, Washington State.
A want ad was placed in the Seattle Times on May 1, 1973. This caught the attention of 15-year-old Kathy Sue Miller, but the job was not for her but her boyfriend, Mark Walker. She had called the number and was surprised to find out that he was interested in girl employees; he agreed to meet with her after school. When Carignan saw Kathy Miller walking his way, his heart had skipped a beat. She was a tall, brunette, athletic, and strong girl. Kathy Sue Miller was never seen alive again after entering his car. He was watched for 24 hours a day but there was insufficient evidence to charge him with abduction and murder.
On Sunday, June 3rd, two sixteen-year-old boys found the body of Kathy Sue Miller while driving their motorbikes through the Tulalip Reservation. She was wrapped in black plastic while naked. Her body was so badly deteriorated it was initially impossible to identify her body, she was later identified by her dental records. It was evident to police she suffered a severe battering.
Carignan continued to escape the police. He moved from Colorado to Minneapolis and later to Minnesota, where he would later murder Eileen Hunley on August 4th, 1974 and her body was discovered on September 18th in Sherburne County.
On September 8th, 1974, a female hitchhiker was picked up by Carignan and driven to a rural area near Mora, and was sexually assaulted. She was beaten in the head with a hammer and sexually assaulted with the end of a hammer handle. She survived this attack after being left in a field to die. In the hospital, she was able to give a description of her attacker and the vehicle he was driving.
On September 14th, 1974, Roxanne Wesley was having car problems in a south Minneapolis parking lot when she was picked up by Carignan. She was sexually assaulted with a hammer handle and beating her head with a hammer and leaving her to die. She survived and was able to crawl to a road for help.
A week later, Carignan was arrested. He was arrested on September 24, 1974, on charges of rape and homicide. Harvey Louis Carignan currently lives in the deep walls of the Minnesota Correctional Facility.
Image Credit: Etsy
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