Richard Benjamin Speck was born on December 6th, 1941 in Kirkwood, Illinois to parents Benjamin Franklin Speck and Mary Carbaugh Speck. He had a sister named Carolyn that he was close with and four older sisters and two older brothers.

Childhood, home life and young adolescence:

Speck’s mother was religious, a stay at home mother, and a teetotaler, [which is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from alcohol. ]While his father worked as a packer at Western Stonewear in Monmouth after having previously working as a farmer and a logger.

Richard and his father had a very close and loving relationship. To Richard, his father was the ideal man to look up to; a real man, leader, provider, strong, everything Richard admired at the time.

Tragically, at only the age of six, Richard lost his father Benjamin in 1947 to a heart attack when he was only 53 years old.

Speck and his sister Carolyn stayed with their married sister Sara Thorton in Monmouth for a few months so Richard could finish the second grade before moving in with their mother and stepfather in Texas, where Richard finished the third grade.

The impact of his fathers his death was further intensified when his mother re-married a man who was the polar opposite of Richard’s father. And since his mother was a non consumer of alcohol, she married an alcoholic.

Three years later, on May 10,1950, his mother married Carl August Rudolph Lindberg in Palo, Pinto, Texas. They met via a train ride to Chicago. Lindberg worked as a traveling insurance salesman from Texas, with an extensive 25-year criminal record that ranged from forgery to several DUIS.

Lindberg was a hardcore drinker despite Speck’s mother being against alcohol.

Unfortunately, this would spark an unstoppable and violent spree for Richard. Having a step-father as an alcoholic took a toll on Richard’s behavior as he began drinking at the age of 12.

Richard ended up dropping out of school at the age of 15, only completing the eighth grade.

In part 2, we will get into the nitty gritty of the ruthless path Richard Speck chose to go down.

Until next time! L.W.