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Maury Travis was an American serial murderer whose activities in the early 2000s had a lasting impact on St. Louis and neighboring communities. From 2000 to 2002, Travis preyed on vulnerable women, who were primarily prostitutes, after he invited them into his residence and tortured before killing them.
He was associated with at least 12 murders, although he took credit for up to 17, with some of the investigators estimating that the actual number might be larger. Travis's crimes were particularly horrific in that he videotaped the same, stored records of his activities, and even taunted the police and the media.
His offenses only came to light after he posted an anonymous letter and a map to a local newspaper, which ultimately resulted in his arrest. Travis died by suicide in jail before he could be tried.
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The circumstances of Maury Travis's offenses tell an appalling pattern of premeditated violence and manipulation. The episode about Maury Travis in the series Unknown Serial Killers of America is scheduled to air on June 15, 2025, on the Oxygen network.
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Five of the most appalling features of Maury Travis's offenses
1) Secret torture chamber and videotaped crimes
As per ABC News, when police raided Travis's house in Ferguson, Missouri, they found a secret torture chamber in the basement. The secret room had bondage equipment, a stun gun, and other devices used to bind and torture his victims. Videotapes were also found by investigators that featured Travis binding, torturing, and murdering women.
One of the tapes, entitled "Your Wedding Day," started off with a wedding ceremony before suddenly cutting into images of Travis battering his victims. The material was so horrific that officers watching it were told to consider undergoing psychological counseling.
2) Targeting vulnerable victims
As per the Factual America Podcast, Travis specifically targeted women who were already vulnerable, such as prostitutes. He baited his victims with money, and once he had them under false circumstances at his residence, he killed them.
He commonly dumped their bodies on city streets and rural roads in and around St. Louis, which frustrated authorities' efforts to identify and link the cases.
3) Taunting law enforcement and the media
As per the Factual America Podcast, similar to other infamous serial killers, Travis bragged about his crime. He wrote an anonymous letter and a computer-generated map to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, stating where one victim's body could be found and suggesting there were more bodies yet to be found.
The letter contained such phrases as, "I'll tell you where many others are," and "To prove I'm real, here's directions to number seventeen." That message allowed authorities to track the map to Travis, who was eventually arrested.
4) Recording his crimes
Maury Travis carefully recorded his activities. Aside from the videotapes, police also discovered newspaper articles regarding his crimes in his residence, which indicated he tracked the media stories closely.
He also maintained records of his victims and their agony, showing even more that he wanted to relive and maybe get some form of satisfaction out of his actions. This amount of record-keeping gave the investigators firsthand proof of his culpability but also showed how meticulous and organized he was in planning.
5) Suicide before justice
Maury Travis was detained in a St. Louis County jail after his arrest on June 7, 2002. Only days later, on June 10, 2002, he took his own life by hanging himself in his cell before he could be brought to trial or convicted of his offenses.
His suicide took a lot of questions away and deprived the families of his victims of an opportunity to witness him face justice in court. The scope of his wrongdoing may never be revealed, as Travis took so many of them to the grave.
Watch Unknown Serial Killers of America on Oxygen for more details about Maury Travis's offenses.
