"The UK's Jeffrey Dahmer" Lived With Dead Bodies & Boiled His Victims
46m 4s
Dennis Nelson, born in Scotland in 1945, became one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers, murdering at least 16 young men and boys between 1975 and 1983. His crimes began with a 14-year-old boy, Stephen Holmes, whom he strangled and drowned after luring him to his apartment. He repeatedly used similar methods—drinking, intoxicating, strangling, and drowning victims—before dismembering and hiding their bodies under floorboards or in storage. The discovery of human remains in his toilet by a plumber triggered a police investigation that uncovered a pattern of violence and disposal. Despite claims of insanity or memory loss, Nelson provided detailed confessions and was convicted of six murders and two attempted killings. His crimes were fueled by deep psychological disturbances, including loneliness, a fetish for corpses, and a belief in his own godlike right to choose who lives or dies. Survivors like Carl Howlett, who was nearly murdered and then revived by Nelson, testified against him. Nelson was sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole, served 34 years, and died in 2019 without remorse. His posthumous autobiography, *The History of a Drowning Boy*, reflects on a traumatic childhood near-drowning and may symbolize his twisted connection to drowning as a form of peace or control. The case remains deeply disturbing, highlighting the dangers of isolation, untreated mental health, and the abuse of vulnerable individuals.
What started as a routine day of work for one plumber hired to clean out some clogged pipes at an apartment quickly turned into something you'd only expect to see in the most disturbed works of horror fiction. What was clogging these pipes were human remains. The plumber had been called out to unblock the pipes after complaints about the smell. Inside he found what looked like meat, then overnight it vanished. I woke up and he was strangling me. Dennis Nelson is one of the worst serial killers in all of the UK, if not the worst serial killer, to come out of the UK in history. The most exciting part of the little command room was when I lifted the body, carried it. It was an expression of my power to lift and carry in half control. The dangling element of limbs was an expression of his facility. We're going to be discussing a deeply disturbed individual for this week's investigation, known as the UK's Jeffrey Dahmer. My name is Brianna and I'm hot on the case. 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Collecting all of these personalized insights and identifying ways to optimize my budget. And you can get started for free using my link RocketMoney.com/Briana, or you can scan the QR code or click the link in my description. Thank you again so much to Rocket Money, and now let's get back into this week's investigation. Dennis Nielsen was born on November 23rd, 1945, in Fraserburg, Scotland, appearance, Elizabeth, and Olaf. He was the middle child with one older brother and a younger sister. Dennis' father wasn't the greatest. He was a Norwegian soldier that met Dennis' mother while he was stationed in Scotland during World War II. And throughout his entire career in the military, he was never really home. He neglected his family, and it really did seem that he had no interest in being a father, a husband, and a family man. So his parents split in 1948 when Dennis was only a toddler. His mother got a lot of support from her parents, so Dennis was extremely close with his grandparents, and especially his grandfather. He was the only real father figure in Dennis' life, and he meant everything to him. Growing up, Dennis was really lonely. He had a really hard time making friends. For one, because people thought that he was really weird. And also because Dennis really didn't think anyone around him was all that interesting to begin with. So his grandfather wasn't just the only father figure in his life, but he was also kind of his only friend, which is why when he was seven years old and his grandfather unexpectedly passed away, it was extremely hard on Dennis. Not only was the passing of his grandfather extremely traumatic, but it was how he found out that his grandfather passed away that really screwed with him. Dennis Nilsson's grandfather was a deep sea fisherman, and sometimes would be a way for work for a few months at a time, and it was during one of these work trips that his grandfather passed away. Dennis knew when his grandfather left for these work trips, these fishing trips that he would be gone for a long time, and on this particular day, he wasn't expecting his grandfather to be home for quite some time, but Dennis came home from school one day. He's seven years old, so it's probably a second grader. He comes home, and his mother is there waiting for him, and his mother told him that his grandfather was in the other room if he wanted to see him. So a very excited seven year old Dennis runs excitedly into the other room to see his grandfather and his best friend, but instead saw his grandfather's dead body. And this was something that really messed Dennis Nilsson up, and he would later say that it was this moment when he was seven years old that turned him into the serial killer he would grow up to be. He completely withdrew pulled away and isolated himself even from the rest of his family. His mother would remarry and have six more children, so not only is Dennis really struggling and already feels extremely isolated, but now he's just like one of nine children in this family, so he's getting even more loss and loss in his own family. On top of that, Dennis really did not like his stepfather Adam. He thought that he was way too strict. He also just lost a father figure in his life with his grandfather, so it makes a lot of sense that when his stepfather comes into this new role that he would really not be into it, but he would later grow to respect his stepfather. Dennis did experience a great loss when his grandfather passed away, but at this point, there's not really any obvious signs that Dennis would grow up to become a serial killer. We typically see certain characteristics and children that grow up to become serial killers, cruelty to animals, bullying, abuse at home, but as far as I can find, there's not really any of that with Dennis. There was one major thing that he was struggling with though, and that was his sexuality. In his very early teenage years, Dennis really started to realize that he was attracted to other boys and being gay in the 1950s and 1960s was looked at a lot differently than it is today. In fact, it wasn't even legal to be gay at this point where Dennis was living. It wouldn't even become legal in Scotland until the 1980s, so another like 20, 30 years from where Dennis is growing up and living at this point. This was a huge secret that Dennis was keeping from everyone in his life, and he was really, really struggling with this. It was very confusing for him and his older brother actually started to accuse Dennis of being gay around this point, so it was just a really awful time for Dennis. He would join the Army Cadet Force in 1961 at 14 years old and would go on to have an entire career in the military traveling a lot. He might have wanted to leave home to escape his brother and to keep his sexuality a secret for longer, but there's another secret that Dennis was keeping that he also might have wanted to hide by running away. Dennis as a young teenage boy said that he tried to work through his confusing thoughts regarding his sexuality by molesting his younger siblings while they were sleeping. He might try to justify his horrific actions on his sexuality and just trying to figure it out, but I do not believe that that is the reason. Fully at least that Dennis was molesting his younger siblings, I do believe that Dennis Nelson is a pedophile and this is not the only time that he would sexually abuse children. Dennis Nelson would travel a lot for the military. He would work in the kitchens learning his skills as a butcher, does come up later, and during this time he started to heavily abuse alcohol. He was a big drinker and he would be throughout this entire case. Once while in Germany, he was out drinking with some of his buddies in the military and he actually got so drunk that he blacked out and he woke up on the floor of one of the rooms. Nothing happened sexually that night, but it was this night that would fuel this sexual fantasy for Dennis about having a non-consensual sexual encounter with someone that was not present. So either a sleep knocked out or dead. And after this moment he would go on to hang out with some of his work buddies in the military. They would go out get really really drunk and then Dennis would like pretend to black out and be knocked out in the hope that one of them would sexually assault him. And this is just the beginning of this extremely dark fantasy that he had. While in Yemen at 21 years old, it is reported that Dennis Nilsen lost his virginity. But I'm not really the biggest fan of that wording because the person that Dennis slept with was a young Yemen boy only 12 years old. Dennis 21, this boy's 12, so it might start to make sense what I'm saying about Dennis being a child abuser in this way because at this point the only encounters he's had of this nature have involved children and have been completely non-consensual even if this 12 year old boy said he was okay with it, he's 12 and cannot consent. And I actually saw it reported that this particular boy would only do these favors for these soldiers that came into Yemen because he wanted them to take him with them. He wanted out of his country. And unfortunately this abuse with children does not stop here. After 11 years with the military, Dennis left in 1972.
and he went back home to live with his family for a little bit until one day he got in a huge fight with his brother and this fight was regarding gay rights and the fight ended with his brother screaming for his mother to come in the room and then Dennis's older brother told their mother that Dennis was gay. Dennis ended up leaving his home after this and he never talked to his brother ever again and would really have little to no contact with the rest of his family ever again after this. He actually decides after this that he's just going to leave the country entirely so he leaves Scotland and he moves to London where the rest of our case takes place. In London this is terrifying. Dennis decides that he wants to become a police officer and he completes his training in 1973 and this would help him slightly in the crimes that he would go on to commit because at this time specifically and sometimes today the other officers wouldn't be so easy to convince that one of their brothers would be guilty of such terrible things. Which I do have to say does surprise me a little bit because Dennis was weird. He was caught multiple times obsessively going down into the morgue to look at the dead bodies and he had a particular obsession with the dead bodies that had just had their autopsies completed. So the fact that no one in Dennis's life would ever suspect that he could be a creep after everything that they know specifically at this point is kind of kind of confusing. London at the time was a lot more of an accepting place for members of the LGBTQ+ community so there were a lot of gay bars opening in the area because of this. Dennis is still a very heavy drinker and he would become a frequent patron of these establishments. He would also have quite a few one-night stands with men that he met at these bars but these were consensual encounters that he was having and because they were consensual they weren't fulfilling for Dennis. He was not satisfied having a partner that was actually willing to sleep with him. So these fantasies that he's had for years at this point he starts to try and fulfill. In 1973 shortly after becoming a police officer in London he hooks up with a man and this man wakes up after their hook up and sees that Dennis is taking photos of him and he's not wearing any clothes so this absolutely freaks out this guy as it would anyone I hope so he goes to the police to try and report this but the police these are Dennis's colleagues. So Dennis is questioned but he's never charged. And a year later Dennis leaves the police force because he just doesn't feel like it's for him anymore but a little bit after this Dennis appears to be living a very normal life. He's working at a job center in London he has a roommate for about a year named David before his roommate David moves out. He's renting an apartment at 195 Melrose Avenue and even gets a little puppy. An adorable little girl he names Bleep but this facade of this normal guy living a normal life would not last for very long. Over the next five years Dennis would go on to commit some of the most disturbing crimes imaginable and over the next five years a lot of young gay men in London visiting London would start to vanish. As Dennis continues to have this string of one night stands and casual hookups and very short relationships that go nowhere he starts to think that this life just really is in for him but he's lonely. He wants someone there but not these people these short relationships these these hookups and he still has these fantasies that we have touched on and he starts to feel like he's ready to indulge in them. Completely ready to live this life of crime and unthinkable acts against innocent young men. On December 20th 1978 a 33-year-old Dennis Nelson needs a 14-year-old Stephen Holmes at a bar. I'm assuming that he had a fake ID or maybe the bars in London at this point didn't ID because this is a 14-year-old boy in a bar. Stephen was actually at a concert that night and he wanted to keep the fun going out at these bars at this concert where he meets this monster Dennis. Dennis invites Stephen back to his home where he gives the young boy a bunch of alcohol getting him very very intoxicated. The next morning while this 14-year-old boy Stephen is sleeping Dennis is absolutely panicking because he's overcome by these feelings of wanting to keep Stephen there with him. He was desperate to not let this boy leave. He didn't want to be alone and he would go to drastic evil measures to ensure that Stephen would not be leaving his apartment alive. Dennis strangles the 14-year-old boy while he sleeps with a necktie and then when Stephen is completely unconscious he then drowns the child in a bucket of water. He is just committed murder but this is not the end of what will become Dennis Nelson's serial killer MO. After killing an innocent young man Dennis would bathe their bodies and then shave them of any body hair again odd considering his pattern with children. He would then usually put their bodies on his bed and then masturbate over them or on their bodies. He would later claim that he never committed full on necrophilia that he never penetrated his victims dead bodies but not sure if I believe that and just what he's doing alone is considered necrophilia so he's a killer, a child abuser and a necrophiliac. He would then live with his victims dead bodies for a very long time. He would sleep next to the bodies in his bed. He would prop them up in a chair with him and watch TV with them or cuddle them on the couch and then after a while he would hide their bodies under his floorboards up to months at a time before disposing of their bodies. With 14-year-old Stephen Holmes he lived with his body for eight months before bringing his body into the backyard of the apartment that he was renting and burning his body in the backyard. He would also disembowel and dismember his victims before or after they've been under his floorboards for four months and this goes back to his disturbing obsession with bodies after they have had their autopsies completed and his butchering skills that he learned well in the military and disemboweling and dismembering bodies after they have been dead for months. I don't even want to think about the conditions that these bodies were in at the time. He was so convinced that he wouldn't be caught that he was barely hiding his crimes. Sometimes he would just throw body parts organs flesh bones outside where anyone could stumble upon them just hoping that the animals would take care of the rest. In October of 1975 Dennis meets Andrew Ho a student from Hong Kong that was visiting London and lures him back to his apartment under the guise of a casual hookup. He suggests that they do some bondage play but then in the middle of it while Andrew's tied up Dennis attempts to strangle Andrew Ho to death. Luckily he's able to escape and report this to the police but for whatever reason and this is completely Andrew's choice he chooses not to press charges against Dennis. This might be because he wasn't out to his family or he was afraid of his identity being released in the public if he did choose to press charges against Dennis. London might have been a more accepting place for members of the LGBTQ+ community but it doesn't necessarily mean that Hong Kong was so you can't blame him for doing what's best for him it is unfortunate considering what Dennis goes on to do to many other young men but you would think even if he doesn't want to press charges after getting a report like that the police would still want to I don't know do their jobs and investigate maybe question Dennis maybe but no nothing happens. On December 3rd 1975 Dennis Nielsen would meet a 26 year old Kenneth Ackenden who was a student from Canada visiting family in London. When Dennis and Kenneth meet Dennis offers to show him around the city be his tour guide so they have this entirely normal day together before inviting Kenneth back to his place where he gives him a bunch of drinks this is what he always does. Dennis also shows Kenneth some of his music so while Kenneth is listening to music with a pair of headphones that are wired headphones because it's the 1970s Dennis comes up behind him and strangles Kenneth to death with the wired headphones that he was wearing and then after killing this innocent young man for no reason Dennis just sits down in front of Kenneth's dead body he puts the headphones in his own ears and he listens to the music for a while. The next morning Dennis poses Kenneth's body for Polaroid photos that he took and then he cuddled on the couch and watched TV with his corpse before moving his body underneath the floorboards. Dennis would purposefully choose a victim he thought that no one would miss or bother reporting missing he picked Taurus really vulnerable people young men that lived on the streets children but even with Kenneth not being from the UK he was still quickly reported missing but the investigation enters as a parents would sadly go cold quickly. On May 17th 1980 Dennis Nilson met a 16-year-old runner
who was living on the streets of London named Martin Duffy. He offers the boy to crash at his place and he would feed him and give him shelter for the night. But back at his apartment after Martin fell asleep, Dennis strangled him until he was unconscious, he drew a bath, and then he drowned the boy in his bathtub. He was only 16 years old. He then washed his body, he shaved him like he typically did, and after pleasuring himself over Martin's body, Dennis would say that he had quote the youngest looking body he had seen so far. Unquote. He then met and lured back to his apartment a 26 year old sex worker and father named William Sutherland, who Dennis strangled to death in his apartment. There are also quite a few unidentified victims of Dennis Nelson in this case, which is very very very very sad. These are men that Dennis killed that have not been identified through DNA or dental records or from Dennis being able to remember anything about them. Dennis's fifth victim he said all he can remember about him was that he was a laborer who was in his mid to late 20s, but he would later claim that he made up this victim after being pressured by police to give them more information. His sixth victim he claimed he killed in October 1980 and he was a sex worker that was between the ages of 20 and 30. His seventh victim he claimed he killed in November 1980 and he was also in his 20s. He believed this man was homeless and clearly had lived a hard life and he said that killing this innocent young man was as easy as taking candy from a baby. And then at some point during the 1980s, Dennis claims he took the life of a man around 25 to 30 years old. This man had long hair. He kind of looked like a hippie. They met at a bar and then Dennis brought him back to his apartment where he killed him. He hid his body underneath the floorboards for a while before removing his body, dismembering his body, then putting his body parts into different plastic bags and then storing them back under his floorboards. But he would also later claim that this is one of the big names that he made up because the police wanted more information from him and he felt pressured to give information to them. On January 4th, 1981, Dennis claims that he met his eighth victim at a bar. This boy was 18 years old with bright blue eyes. Dennis lured him back to his apartment where he killed him. A month later, he claims that he killed a man in his early 20s, but he couldn't remember really anything else about this boy. It just shows how little he actually cares. Like obviously he doesn't care because he's killing these men. But he doesn't even care enough to remember anything about them. Sometimes he can't even remember how old they are. Maybe they're 20, maybe they're 30. That's an entire 10 years. I don't know. This case really gets to me. It makes me actually feel sick to my stomach. In April of 1981, he claims he killed his 11th victim, a man again in his early 20s. He brought him back to his apartment where he killed him. But then he claims that he hung this victim's naked body in his apartment for an entire 24 hours before moving his body underneath the floorboards. But this again would be another victim that Dennis would later claim that he made up. In November, 1980, Dennis lured a man named Douglas Stewart back to his home, Douglas fell asleep in Dennis' apartment. And then when he woke up, he realized that his ankles were tied to a nearby chair. And Dennis was on top of him, straddling him with his knee in his chest trying to strangle him. Luckily, Douglas was able to overpower Dennis and escape. But during the struggle, Dennis started screaming out things like take my money, just take my money. Dennis is very quick on his feet. I will give him that. At least, I guess. He lives in the apartment. So he's screaming out, take my money, take my money because of any of his neighbors were to hear the struggle. And if Douglas tried to report him to the police, then Dennis would have his neighbors, these witnesses that would be able to testify that that night sounded like Dennis was actually the victim of an attack and a robbery. And Douglas would try to go to the police, but again, the police really weren't any help at all. The police completely dismissed Douglas claiming his report of nearly being murdered was just a lover's quarrel. At this point, Dennis has at least a dozen, but probably over a dozen dead bodies hidden underneath his floorboards. And as you can only imagine, the smell was horrific. It is said that the smell of human decomposition is the worst smell in the entire world. And there's really not that much competition. And that's just one die body. Okay, he has at least 12, probably more hidden underneath his floorboards right now. It smelled terrible. The apartment was completely just covered in swarms of bugs and flies in maggots. And his neighbors, again, like I said, he lives in the apartment. They start to notice all of this and they start to complain. So Dennis spends an entire day trying to get rid of all the bodies that are underneath his floorboards. Some of these innocent young men's bodies had been underneath Dennis Nelson's floorboards for eight months. The decomposition at this point would have been severe. The maggots would have made it a lot worse. And that's not even mentioning the smell. Dennis first starts by dismembering his victims. He said that it was so disgusting. He would have to take breaks to go throw up and was heavily drinking during the entire process just so he could get the root. But he would still masturbate on top of their corpses during this process. He would then boil some of his victims dismembered body parts and their heads to try and remove the flesh from them like their skulls and whatnot. And then he would carry all of their remains into the backyard of his apartment. On a weekend, I would so pull out the floorboards and I finally told him pleasant and get blinding drunk so I could face it and start this section on the kitchen floor. What's going to be going out garden? He's sick outside in the garden, pull the body out, punch the floorboards, put it on the sheet and then cut it out. The most exciting part of the little common ground was when I lifted the body, carried it. And the dangling element of limbs was an expression of his facility. Yes. The apartment that he was renting, it looks like a house but it's separated into different apartments and the backyard was supposed to be a communal space that everyone could use. But when Dennis moved into his apartment, he was able to convince his landlord to give him full and soul access to the backyard. And in the backyard, he set up a fire pit and then he burned his victim's bodies while simultaneously burning a tire, hoping that the smell of burning rubber would cover up the smell of burning rotting flesh. Neighborhood kids would even pass by on their bikes and whatnot and would stop and watch this huge fire in this backyard having no idea the true horrors behind what they were seeing. And once Dennis was done, he started to feel bad. You would later admit that sometimes he felt really bad for what he was doing, but his sadness rarely was felt for his actual victims. No, he felt bad for himself. But he didn't feel bad enough to stop killing. Dennis Nelson would say that he felt better, having his victims bodies in his home with him. Without them, he felt very lonely. So even though Dennis has just gone through a lot to try and remove all his victims' bodies from his apartment, he almost immediately goes out and starts looking for another victim. Dennis Nelson met 23-year-old Malcolm Barlow while walking around London one night. Malcolm at this point had lived a very hard life. He was an orphan that suffered with severe epileptic seizures since he was a child and was currently on new medicine to treat his seizures. But unfortunately, this night he suffered a really bad reaction to his new medicine. And on that fateful day, he was salumped over on a building when he met Dennis Nelson. Dennis during different parts of this case shows a very odd hero complex. I wonder if he has maybe a god complex where he enjoys choosing who lives and who dies. Because after Dennis was just walking down the street and he finds Malcolm in this very vulnerable state, he actually goes to get him medical help and to get him to a hospital. And Malcolm was in the hospital for an entire day before being released. And the only thing he could think about was the stranger who saved his life. And I'm guessing when Dennis brought him to the hospital, he had to sign in and give some of his information because Malcolm got Dennis's address and went over to his apartment to say thank you for saving him. But it was this choice, the thank a man that saved his life that will ultimately end Malcolm's life. Dennis invited Malcolm inside where he gave him a lot of alcohol, got him very drunk and then strangled him to death. The day before Dennis chooses to save this young man's life and then the very next day he chooses to end it. Shortly after this, Dennis would lose his apartment. His landlord had plans so
renovate the property, but Dennis was really adamant about not vacating his apartment, and the landlord actually had to bribe him with a thousand pounds just to get Dennis to agree to leave. Any eventually does agree to leave. Part of them was thinking that if he left this apartment, then maybe he would stop killing. So before he leaves, he dismembers and burns Malcolm's body. The next apartment he moves into is an attic apartment on 23 crannly gardens, and shortly after moving into this new apartment, he lures 23-year-old John Howlett to his apartment that he met at a bar. After John fell asleep, he strangled him, but John woke up and he fought for his life. Something Dennis would do is he would strangle his victim, not enough to kill them, but until they lost consciousness. And then sometimes he would let them wake up, and then he would strangle them again, and he would repeat this process a few times. And this is torture. There's no other way to put it. This is Dennis enjoying himself, enjoying the kill. After strangling and reviving John Howlett over and over again, he kills him by drowning him in a bathtub, and then he dismembers him. Dennis no longer has his burn pit. He doesn't have a backyard anymore. So he's brain-sorming ways to dispose of his victim's body, and he settles on throwing them in the trash, and/or flushing them down the toilet. In 1982, Dennis means 21-year-old Carl Stodder and invites him back to his apartment. Carl spends the night, but he's sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor of Dennis' bedroom. And then in the middle of the night, he's he wakes up. And at first, he's very groggy and he's confused. He doesn't really know what's going on. It feels like he can barely breathe, and for a second, he thinks that maybe he's wrapped up in his sleeping bag. But actually, Dennis was on top of him, strangling him. And then it all goes black. When he wakes up, he's still really out of it. He's very confused, but then he hears running water. Dennis is running a bath. And before Carl can do or say anything, Dennis is shoving his head underneath the water. He keeps trying to fight back. He would be able to fight enough to get his head above water just long enough to beg Dennis for his life before having his head shoved back under the water again. And then Carl stops fighting back. And he stops moving all together. Dennis then moves what he believes is Carl's dead body to a chair in his living room so they can watch TV together. But Carl, he's not dead. Miraculously, he survived. And he wakes up again to Dennis' dog bleep, licking his face. But Carl is still very, very weak. He's alive, but barely. And then this goes to show Dennis' weird god complex. He has where he likes to decide who lives and who dies. Dennis doesn't choose to kill Carl in this moment. He sees Carl is still alive and he helps fully revive Carl. And when Carl starts to come too, Dennis wraps his arms around him and he gives him a huge hug. Carl is terrified because the last thing he remembers is Dennis trying to murder him. And now, Dennis is hugging him. And he tells him that he's confused. Dennis tells Carl he's confused. And he actually almost did suffocate in his sleeping bag. And Dennis was just trying to splash water on his face to wake him up. He's just completely gaslighting him. And it works. I mean, most people would probably want to believe this story rather than believe that the person in front of you that you are now alone with that is hugging you was just trying to murder you a few minutes ago. It might have even been Carl's mind trying to protect him, that convinced him that what he knows to be true and what he remembers isn't actually true. Dennis, for some reason, I can't even begin to try and explain. Then nurses Carl back to health for two days. And then when Carl is strong enough, Dennis opens up his door and he lets Carl leave. Later that same year, Dennis invites 27-year-old father named Graham Allen back to his apartment. Graham was a tourist visiting London and he actually stopped Dennis to ask him for directions. And after Graham goes back to Dennis' apartment with Dennis with the promise of a home-cooked meal, he strangled to death. Dennis then kept his body in his bathtub for three days before dismembering him and disposing parts of his body by flushing them down his toilet. Later on in 1983, Dennis alers a 20-year-old boy named Stephen Sinclair back to his apartment. Stephen was unfortunately very addicted to the hard drug heroin and had actually recently tried to take his own life. Dennis and Stephen met on the streets of London. Dennis could see how vulnerable and desperate Stephen was and he offered him a meal. And then back in his apartment, he gave Stephen a lot of alcohol and he let Stephen use heroin in his apartment and then he strangled him to death. He washed his body and then posed him on his bed surrounded by mirrors. He then lied naked next to Stephen's body and just looked at him and Stephen threw all the mirrors that were surrounding his bed. He then dismembered Stephen and put his body into different plastic bags and then hid them away in his dresser and in the drawers in his bathroom. Now as I'm sure a lot of you can imagine, the plumbing and Dennis Nilsen's attic apartment wasn't necessarily the best and him trying to flush human remains down his toilet started to cause a lot of problems. The pipes were completely clogged. And I guess Dennis doesn't know how this possibly occurred because he calls his landlord to complain about it and then the landlord sends over a plumber. This plumber was a man named Michael Catherine. He thinks it's just gonna be another day on the job but while he's taking a look at the pipes and pulling out what's clogging it he realizes that he's pulling out flesh and bone. Could you even imagine? When he brings this up to Dennis, Dennis who was very quick on his feet tries to come up with a story and he says that he had some KFC Kentucky fried chicken and he decided to flush the chicken bones down the toilet. Weird, right? Super weird. Well Michael thinks so too and he has a terrible thing about this. You know human bones and chicken bones they definitely look really different but try to put yourself in this guy's shoes. He's just a plumber coming to work a job and he's pulling bones out of this guy's toilet. No one would want to believe that they're finding human remains down some random guy's toilet. So he has a terrible feeling about this but he really does try to push all of these thoughts away. Realizing that this is gonna be a bigger job than expected Michael finishes up for the day and tells Dennis who will be back tomorrow to finish up the job but when Michael returns the very next day and goes to look at the drain all of this flesh and bones that were just there the day before are completely gone. Dennis had gone into the pipes himself and he had cleaned them all out. Now Michael is extremely suspicious and as he's looking through the pipes further back he finds even more and more bones and flesh and he knows now for certain this isn't this isn't fried chicken and he goes out to the police with some of what he found flushed down at Dennis Nilsen's toilet and they run some tests and they confirm that these are human remains. When will you call to the house? First instance choose the evening 615. That's just many estate agents. Yes, that's correct. Because of a block toilet. Block pipe between the toilet and the main the main sir. It was then that you made a discovery. After initial investigation yes. What did you find? A mass of flesh should we say. Which of first you know what you found? Heavenly suspected. I have a limited knowledge but very heavily suspected that it wasn't some animal should we say. Did anyone express any particular interest in what you found? Certainly. Most of them were quite interested should we say. There was some talk about calling the police but how often does one find remains of a body down a drain. Chances are it could have been deep freezer meat and any food stuff remains but they're just in to be too much of it. It was an awful lot of it. It was very enough there for more than one body. Quite possibly. Quite possibly. They now finally for the first time in this case actually go to Dennis's apartment to talk to him and the second they are inside they're hit with this disgusting smell and they know as police officers that this is the smell of human decomposition but Dennis is denying everything and everything. He has no idea what's coming on but he's very calm throughout this entire thing but at this point police know that a murder definitely took place in this apartment but that's important to remember they think they are dealing with one murder not a serial killer so imagine their shock when Dennis just calmly walks over to his dresser he opens it up and inside are multiple dismembered body parts coming from multiple different people but it all the officers see right now are just plastic bags that are tied up in this dresser so they asked Dennis what are we looking at here how many people have you killed how many bodies
Are we going to find one or two and Dennis just calmly says neither I think maybe 15 or 16 he gives a full detailed confessions of the horrors that took place in both of his apartments 15 or 16 murders in the past five years and when police asked Dennis why you know what was your motive he only replied I was hoping you would tell me so he doesn't even know or understand why he has murdered 16 innocent people he just wanted to Dennis was charged with one murder originally but it was later upgraded to six murders and two attempted murders it was extremely hard for them to identify all of his victims and to get an official count on how many people he actually killed because they couldn't find evidence of all of their remains at this point and if you're maybe wondering what happened to Dennis Nilsen's dog his loyal companion belief that he had during his entire time as a serial killer well after his arrest authorities decided that it would be best to euthanize his eight-year-old dog bleep and this is something that I absolutely do not agree with at all bleep was healthy nothing was wrong with her and she was completely innocent and she only died because of the terrible evil actions of her owner she didn't do anything but she was killed just because she was owned by an evil person Dennis Nilsen's trial began on October 24th 1983 and he would attempt to plead not guilty by reason of insanity or diminished responsibility claiming that he had no memory of his murders he was in a trance the entire time and he would just wake up each time next to a dead body and he also put a lot of blame on his alcohol abuse this again doesn't make a lot of sense because most people in a situation like that if you got drunk and woke up next to a dead body of no idea what happened the night before would probably call the police but also it doesn't make sense because if your member Dennis gave extremely detailed confessions of each murder so my opinion this is complete BS and Carl during the trial was able to testify against Dennis Nilsen if you remember Carl he was the man that was almost murdered by Dennis but then was nursed back to health by Dennis with the claims that he didn't try to kill him he actually was trying to help him and I bet this at least was very validating for Carl he was completely ghastly into thinking that this man wasn't actually trying to murder him when he knew he was so I bet it was you know very helpful for him to know that he can trust himself and trust his own memories and what he remembered happening is actually what happened on November 4th 1983 Dennis Nilsen was found guilty in all charges and the judge sentenced him to life with the possibility of parole after 25 years but in 1994 his sentence was increased to life without the possibility of parole and even Dennis himself accepted this sentence and said that he believed it was the correct punishment for all the terrible things that he did Dennis Nilsen had an okay time in prison he would play a lot of keyboard he had like a keyboard in his cell but he was once attacked in prison he was stabbed and slashed by another inmate in the face and in the chest and actually had to get 89 stitches after this attack but he did survive and then in May 2018 he got really really sick and on May 12th 2019 he passed away at the age of 72 years old after serving 34 years of his life sentence he never once expressed remorse for his victims or his victims families and in fact said that he never lost sleep over the terrible things that he did and he would have kept killing until he was caught he would have kept killing until he had 150 victims while behind bars Dennis Nilsen recorded a lot of tapes and wrote a manuscript for his autobiography that he wanted published but the prison guards actually took this away from him and did not want this being published but it was later published three years after he died in 2021 and his autobiography was called the history of a drowning boy and I think I didn't read this putting out there I did not read this I didn't even bother reading like the synopsis but I do believe that this title is in reference to a near death experience that Dennis had when he was a little boy I think he was 10 years old and he almost drowned but before he was saved by another boy he claimed that he made peace with the fact that he was about to die and just this like wave of peace went over him and it was very very peaceful in that moment and I'm wondering while researching this case if he chose to end his victims lives or at least most of his victims lives by drowning them he would strangle them till they were unconscious and then he would drown them I wonder if in his sick twisted mind he thought that he was doing his victims a favor to let them go in a peaceful way like he remembers almost drowning but let me know all your thoughts about that and that is all I have for this very sick twisted disturbing case really interested to hear all of your thoughts and opinions in the comments but while you're there please always remember to be respectful there are a lot of victims in this case there's a lot of victims families and loved ones and friends that are affected by this case and a lot of families that were affected by Dennis Nelson that never even got closure because their loved ones were never even identified and are still missing and that is really really really hard so please always remember to be respectful while you're in the comments please let me know a case when you see me cover next I read every single comment that comes through and I take case suggestions directly from the comments so if you have a case you want to see covered on hot in the case please drop it down the comments and then it's all I have for this week's investigation I will see you guys all next Friday when we are hot in the case once again
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Dennis Nelson, a British serial killer, committed at least 16 murders between 1975 and 1983, primarily targeting vulnerable young men, including minors.
He killed his victims through strangulation and drowning, often after luring them to his apartment under false pretenses, and then dismembered, hid, and disposed of their bodies in various ways.
A plumber discovered human remains in Nelson’s toilet, leading to a breakthrough investigation that revealed the scale of his crimes, including body parts hidden in drawers and under floorboards.
Nelson displayed a disturbing psychological profile
He denied any guilt, claimed a lack of memory, and argued for insanity or diminished responsibility, but his detailed confessions and the testimony of survivors like Carl Howlett disproved these claims.
After being convicted of six murders and two attempted killings, Nelson was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole, serving 34 years before dying in 2019.
He showed no remorse, believed he would have killed more than 150 victims had he not been caught, and wrote an autobiography titled *The History of a Drowning Boy*, referencing a near-drowning childhood trauma.
Summary:
Dennis Nelson, born in Scotland in 1945, became one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers, murdering at least 16 young men and boys between 1975 and 1983. His crimes began with a 14-year-old boy, Stephen Holmes, whom he strangled and drowned after luring him to his apartment. He repeatedly used similar methods—drinking, intoxicating, strangling, and drowning victims—before dismembering and hiding their bodies under floorboards or in storage.
The discovery of human remains in his toilet by a plumber triggered a police investigation that uncovered a pattern of violence and disposal. Despite claims of insanity or memory loss, Nelson provided detailed confessions and was convicted of six murders and two attempted killings. His crimes were fueled by deep psychological disturbances, including loneliness, a fetish for corpses, and a belief in his own godlike right to choose who lives or dies.
Survivors like Carl Howlett, who was nearly murdered and then revived by Nelson, testified against him. Nelson was sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole, served 34 years, and died in 2019 without remorse. His posthumous autobiography, *The History of a Drowning Boy*, reflects on a traumatic childhood near-drowning and may symbolize his twisted connection to drowning as a form of peace or control.
The case remains deeply disturbing, highlighting the dangers of isolation, untreated mental health, and the abuse of vulnerable individuals.
FAQs
Dennis Nelson murdered young men, often vulnerable or homeless gay men, by strangling them and then drowning them. He would hide their bodies under floorboards, dismember them, and dispose of remains in trash or down the toilet, sometimes burning bodies in his backyard.
A plumber discovered human remains in the pipes of Nelson's apartment while cleaning clogs. The remains were later confirmed as human, leading police to investigate and find multiple dismembered bodies hidden in his home.
He claimed no clear motive, stating he simply wanted companionship and felt lonely. He believed being in possession of the bodies made him feel less isolated, though he showed no remorse or empathy for his victims.
Alcohol was a consistent part of his life and may have contributed to his criminal fantasies and actions. He often drank heavily, especially during moments when he was engaging in or planning crimes.
He dismembered the bodies and stored them in plastic bags, hiding them under floorboards, in drawers, or in the bathroom. He later disposed of them by flushing down toilets or burning them in the backyard.
No, he never expressed remorse or regret. He claimed to have no memory of the murders and stated he would have continued killing until caught, believing he had 150 victims in his mind.
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