Masked transient suspected in Cleveland "torso murders"

International News Photos (New York, N.Y.) · January 13, 1939

Larry Donovan, 28-year-old transient, is pictured a few moments after he threw the Hall of Justice into a turmoil by appearing in the building with a canvas mask over his head. Donovan told police a strange story of meeting Mrs. Laura Beckstrom, Reno socialite, just out of Palm Springs, Calif., and of hitch-hiking with her to El Monte. It was there that Mrs. Beckstrom was arrested after screaming in a service station. Later she was removed to a sanitarium. In Donovan's suitcase was found a large butcher knife, according to police. The man's strange actions, the knife and a letter which police received several days before led them to question Donovan concerning his whereabouts during the reign of the Cleveland "torso murders."