Edmund Kemper: Co-ed Butcher

Edmund Kemper: Co-ed Butcher examines the chilling life and crimes of one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Standing nearly seven feet tall and possessing a high level of intelligence, Edmund Kemper terrorised Santa Cruz, California, during the early 1970s. Through interviews with law enforcement officers and mental health professionals, the documentary explores Kemper’s psychology, his calculated modus operandi, and the ways he exploited his size and intellect to gain his victims’ trust — often picking up hitchhikers near college campuses. It also delves into his disturbing post-mortem rituals and his audacious efforts to evade suspicion, including regularly socialising at a local bar frequented by police officers.

The film traces Kemper’s violent history back to 1964, when, at just 15 years old, he murdered his paternal grandparents. After the killings, he contacted his mother, who urged him to turn himself in. Kemper later told police he killed his grandfather so he would not discover his wife’s death and become angry with him. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Kemper was sentenced to Atascadero State Hospital, where he remained until his release into his mother’s care after turning 21. Deemed rehabilitated, his juvenile record was expunged in 1972. However, between May 1972 and April 1973, Kemper resumed killing, brutally murdering and dismembering eight more people — six college students, his mother, and her best friend — bringing his total number of victims to ten.