Free Serial Killers: Confessions of a Cannibal by Robert Keller

and again confirmed the known facts. A visibly emotional Albert Budd was next. Speaking softly, in a voice that appeared close to breaking, Mr. Budd recounted the events of that dreadful day. When it came time for him to identify his daughter’s abductor, Budd told the judge that his eyesight was poor and that he could not see that far. He was then instructed to leave the stand and approach the defense table.
     
    Fish, who had thus far appeared bored with proceedings, suddenly came alert when Albert Budd stood before him. “This is Frank Howard,” Budd said, raising his hand as though to strike. Fish immediately shrank back in his seat, throwing up an arm to protect himself. A deputy stepped forward to intercede, but Albert Budd had already turned away and was walking back to the witness box. On the way there, he threw his hands up to his face and began to weep bitterly.
     
    The final witness on that second day was Albert Fish’s nemeses, Detective William King. King’s testimony focused on the clues that had identified Albert Fish as the killer of Grace Budd, and on Fish’s arrest and subsequent confession. On redirect, Dempsey tried to get King to admit that the confession had been beaten out of the old man, a claim that the detective vehemently denied. Court was recessed at 5 p.m. with the jury sequestered to the nearby Roger Smith Hotel.
     
    King was back on the stand on the morning of the third day, Wednesday, March 14. This time he focused on the initial visit to the house in Wisteria, Fish’s reenactment of the crime, and the discovery of Grace Budd’s skull and other bones. At this point two bailiffs marched into the courtroom carrying Grace’s bones in a cardboard box and drawing loud protests from defense counsel Dempsey. The judge overruled him. Dempsey then called for a mistrial, which was promptly denied.
     
    With this mini-drama played out, Dempsey began his cross-examination of Detective King. Almost immediately he zeroed in on the issue of cannibalism. It was quiet obvious what Dempsey was doing. He wanted to establish beyond doubt that Fish had eaten parts of Grace’s body, something that surely must prove that the old man was insane. King, however, was unflappable. While he admitted that Fish had mentioned cannibalism in his letter, he insisted that there was no evidence that he had indeed consumed Grace’s flesh. Dempsey continued to probe, King to rebuff him. Eventually, in frustration, the attorney asked King if Fish’s children had spoken to him about their father’s strange eating habits. King admitted that they had. Fish apparently enjoyed eating raw meat.
     
    The rest of the third day and all of the morning of the fourth was taken up with Greenburgh detectives and forensic experts, including a dentist who testified that the skull found at Wisteria cottage was undoubtedly that of Grace Budd. Finally, at 11:53, the State rested its case.
     
    Gallagher had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Albert Fish was the killer of Grace Budd. It was now up to defense counsel Dempsey to convince the court that Fish should not pay with his life for the crime.

Chapter Sixteen:

The Trial: Part II
     
    Defense counsel Dempsey had already hinted at the shape his defense would take and he wasted no time, calling a succession of Fish’s children to the stand to testify as to their father’s particular brand of madness. The stunned courtroom heard of Fish’s self-mutilation with whips, nail-studded paddles and sewing needles; it heard of his preference for eating raw meat, his religious mania, and his efforts to trap a non-existent black cat; it heard of the dreadful nightmares he suffered and how he often woke up screaming. It heard also of Fish the devoted parent, who had fulfilled the role of both father and mother in his children’s upbringing and who absolutely doted on his grandchildren.
     
    The final witness on the first day of defense testimony was Dr. Roy Duckworth, who had X-rayed Fish