When Philadelphia police made a grisly discovery in the closet of Ira Einhorn's apartment in 1977, they promptly arrested the self-proclaimed environmental activist and Earth Day master of ceremonies for murder. However, before the authorities were able to prosecute the accused murderer for viciously ending the life of a young woman, Einhorn fled to Europe and evaded law enforcement for more than two decades.
Einhorn - who referred to himself as the "Unicorn" because his last name means "one horn" in German - was dubbed the "Unicorn Killer" by the media, and investigators worked tirelessly to find the mystical guru turned murderer. When Einhorn was finally captured while living in France, the people in his hometown of Philadelphia were overjoyed to learn the hated Unicorn Killer was finally going to be held accountable for beating his former girlfriend - Holly Maddux - to death more than 20 years earlier.
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He Hid Her Body In His Home For 18 Months
After killing Maddux, Einhorn placed her lifeless body in a large trunk, surrounding her corpse with Styrofoam packing peanuts and newspaper. Einhorn also put air fresheners in his former girlfriend's makeshift casket, presumably to disguise the unmistakable odor of decomposing human flesh. His deadly deed went undiscovered until March 28, 1979 - approximately 18 months after Einhorn killed Maddux - when Einhorn's neighbors called the police to complain about a foul smell coming from his home and a reddish-brown liquid leaking through Einhorn's floor into the apartment below.
When investigators opened Einhorn's bedroom closet, they discovered the trunk containing Maddux's partially mummified corpse; her remains weighed just 37 pounds. An autopsy revealed multiple skull fractures, indicating Einhorn had most likely bludgeoned her to death with a blunt object.
He Killed His Former Girlfriend
On September 9, 1977, 37-year-old Ira Einhorn's former girlfriend visited his Philadelphia apartment to retrieve some of her belongings following the end of their five-year relationship. Shortly after 30-year-old Helen "Holly" Maddux entered Einhorn's home, her former boyfriend attacked her, ending her life.
Following Maddux's disappearance, Philadelphia police questioned Einhorn about the whereabouts of his former girlfriend, but he told investigators the last time he saw her, she was leaving his home to go grocery shopping. Without any solid evidence to arrest Einhorn in connection with his ex-girlfriend's disappearance, Maddux's location remained a mystery for more than a year.
He Had A History Of Violence Towards Women
After investigators discovered the body of Einhorn's former girlfriend hidden in a trunk in his closet, officers started looking into his past relationships with women. While they determined Maddux was probably the first person he'd ever killed - most likely beating her to death by hitting her in the head with a blunt object - he'd physically abused at least two of his ex-girlfriends.
One of the women had to seek medical attention after she tried to end her relationship with Einhorn and he responded by nearly strangling her to death. Another one of Einhorn's former girlfriends went to the hospital after he broke a glass bottle over her head when she tried to break up with him, indicating he often reacted violently when he was rejected by women.
He Was Sexist
Despite his poor personal hygiene and his many personality flaws, Einhorn was very successful with women, even though he treated his girlfriends in a sexist and chauvinistic manner. According to people who know both Einhorn and Maddux, he ordered his girlfriend to do his bidding, demanding that she brush his hair and tend to his every need.
He also expected Maddux to be faithful to him, but he openly cheated on her during their relationship. According to a friend who knew the couple, Einhorn went to a party with Maddux, but when he met a new woman that evening, he arranged for another guest to give his girlfriend a ride home so that he could have sex with his new friend, all in front of Maddux.
He Was Interested In Sadism
Einhorn had sadistic tendencies, writing in 1962, "[I] contemplate with joy the pain of others." According to one of the women he dated, not only was he violent towards his girlfriends - he choked her into unconsciousness - but Einhorn also enjoyed tormenting small animals. Einhorn's former girlfriend said he liked to take cats into the shower simply to listen to them "scream," indicating he got a perverse pleasure from the pain and suffering of other living beings.
Perhaps Einhorn best summed up his own attitudes towards women and animals when he wrote, "Beauty and innocence must be violated for they can't be possessed."
He Had Very Bad Hygiene
Einhorn considered himself to be a radical hippie, causing him to eschew societal norms like bathing regularly and using deodorant. As a result of his attitudes towards personal hygiene, the people who knew Einhorn said he emitted an unpleasant odor one friend described as "a hoagie with onions."
In addition to his distinctive body odor, Einhorn refused to regularly groom his long hair and beard, giving him a decidedly unkempt appearance. While he was a teacher at the University of Pennsylvania, Einhorn reportedly removed his clothing in front of his students, and those who knew him said he sometimes greeted visitors to his home wearing nothing at all.
He Said His Girlfriend Had Been Killed By Government Spies
After Maddux's badly decomposed body was discovered in a trunk in his Philadelphia apartment, Einhorn told his friends he had nothing to do with his former girlfriend's death. According to Einhorn, Maddux had been killed by the CIA or the KGB (a security agency in the Soviet Union) because he had discovered evidence of secret mind control experiments performed by the government.
Einhorn claimed that his former girlfriend was murdered by one of the large intelligence agencies and her body was placed in his apartment in an effort to frame him for her killing. He insisted that the CIA or the KGB wanted to make him look like a murderer so that people wouldn't believe him when he revealed the classified information he had uncovered about covert government activities.
He Said He Helped Organize The First Earth Day
On April 22, 1970, Einhorn - who claimed to be an environmental activist - was the master of ceremonies at the inaugural Earth Day event in Philadelphia, seven years before he murdered his former girlfriend in his apartment. Many people - including Einhorn himself - have identified the convicted killer as one of the founders and organizers of the first Earth Day event.
However, the event was actually the brainchild of Gaylord Nelson, a United States senator and former Wisconsin governor who established the holiday to bring attention to the need for environmental protection laws and regulations. While Einhorn hosted the first Earth Day event, people who participated in establishing the holiday have said he had very little involvement its organization, going on to refer to him as disruptive and "a fraud."
He Was A Fugitive For 20 Years
After staying in Ireland for a short period of time, Einhorn went on to live in a number of European countries, including Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark, and France. During his European travels, Einhorn met Annika Flodin, a Swedish woman, and the couple got married and moved to rural France in 1993.
Einhorn - who used the alias "Eugene Mallon" - lived as a fugitive in Europe for more than two decades, successfully avoiding apprehension with the help of his wife, who knew her husband was wanted by the authorities for killing his former girlfriend. According to Flodin, she didn't think Einhorn had murdered Maddux, which is why she knowingly supported the wanted fugitive.
He Fled The Country Shortly After Her Corpse Was Found
Confronted by his former girlfriend's severely decomposed corpse, Einhorn reportedly told an officer simply, "You found what you found." Einhorn was arrested for killing Maddux, but his lawyer convinced the court to set him free on just $4,000 bail - a fee that was paid by one of Einhorn's many wealthy and influential friends. The accused killer repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, telling his friends that his trial would prove he wasn't the person responsible for his ex-girlfriend's death.
However, less than a week before his trial was scheduled to begin, Einhorn fled the United States in January 1981, going first to Ireland - most likely because the two countries didn't have an extradition treaty at that time - and then on to other countries in Europe.