Jake Bird

Who is Jake Bird?

Jake Bird was a convicted murderer and self-confessed serial killer who was tried and executed for the axe murders of Bertha Kludt and her daughter Beverly June Kludt in Tacoma, Washington on October 30, 1947. Bird may have killed as many as 46 people.

Criminologist Eric W. Hickey, Ph.D, Director of Alliant International University's Center for Forensic Studies, wrote about how the Bird case challenges stereotypes of serial killers, who are mostly thought to be Caucasian males, whereas African American killers typically are associated with urban violence. Hickey wrote, "Revelations that Jake Bird, a black man, had actually stalked and killed dozens of white women in the 1940s in dozens of states...continue[s] to challenge traditionally held profiles of serial killers."