Elaine Parent: the Chameleon lesbian con artist and serial murderer

FF to 27:40 for the segment.

Wikipedia article.

There was another Unsolved Mysteries that I remember from the 1990s involving a similar case (it must be the same case, but I’m not 100% sure) where a woman who had been stealing people’s identities showed up at a friend’s house dressed as a man, frantic, and was soon followed there by police. When she went into the friend’s bedroom after speaking to the police, she shot herself. I never forgot this episode. This must be the case, but this episode cuts off before that point and only has a text update with that info.

Was she a lesbian, though? From the Unsolved Mysteries segment, it sounds like at least one male was "working" with her. She might not have been the most feminine woman, but looking at the few photos of her, I highly doubt anyone would mistake her as a "male" in a wig attempting to disguise himself as a woman. I do believe the person who flew to Heathrow was a man, not Elaine Parent.

Creepy lady for sure. What a psycho.

Yes, she was a lesbian. There is more info online. You haven’t remember that the Unsolved Mysteries segment was done waaay before she was caught.

R3, this is the same case. They believed that a man dressed as a woman was with her. Some think it was actually her. They were wearing a Cleopatra wig. lol

I just find it fascinating in small part because she was a lesbian but in large part - it’s just so fucking crazy, this case. She was arrested for having multiple identities and they let her go when she posted bail.

How she was able to brutally dissect the bodies is beyond me.

Reddit found her yearbook photo through Ancestry. Her name was definitely Elaine Parent.

Here is Reddit’s great write up.

Aldi, Sitcoms Online has followed the case for 20 years. They even have the address of the house she shot herself in. A person on Reddit claims that their friend is the owner of the house and they have the keys to it.

Here the house. You can take an inside look.

MY GOD! Is the OP's pic of Janeane Garafalo.?

I always love how this sketch rendering still pops up randomly online all the time. lol

When police found her she handed them a military ID. One of the officers was former military and could tell that the card was tampered with. Then she shot herself in the heart. It’s amazing that a psychopath and a narcissist would actually commit suicide. Apparently her father was distant but her mother was a doting housewife. This was simply a case of psychopathy.

Elaine’s first big crime was in her 40s. She was part of a jewel heist!

Apparently, it’s very rare that a person turns to a life of crime suddenly in their 40s.

[quote]It’s amazing that a psychopath and a narcissist would actually commit suicide.

One more lifeline for democracy.

R6: "How she was able to brutally dissect the bodies is beyond me."

Another reason why I'm convinced a male was involved. It's very, very rare for a female killer to do this, and it's not just a matter of depravity, but of physical strength as well.

^^^ she must have used a chainsaw

That, of course, means that there’s another killer on the loose. I love all her different screwball looks. I wonder if the other victims they she conned but didn’t kill didn’t come forward because they didn’t want to be outed as gay.

Never even heard of her.

"She would befriend lesbians"

Her Wiki says she found the woman she killed through a roommate wanting ad. Nothing about the victim being a lesbian

She looks like Linda Dano.

R18, she targeted gay bars and her victims were lesbians.

R20 None of that is mentioned on her wiki page

This is the documentary to watch. All the women, women showing up in Elaine place, an international manhunt. Crazy.

R21, what’s your point? There is more than Wikipedia.

Before Beverly was murdered Elaine met an English woman in a bar in Florida. They became romantically involved and Elaine lived with this woman in England for over a year. They had a messy break-up and Elaine left for the states. Shortly after the murder Elaine showed back up in England on this woman's doorstep. They reconciled, only to break up again. This woman feared for her life as Elaine mad threats to do all kinds of things to her, including kill her.

Another woman in the US met Elaine in a gay bar. She said Elaine looked way too classy and refined to be in that bar, and the woman was shocked that Elaine wanted to talk to her. Elaine bought her a drink. Then she did her numerology stuff with her. At some point a man walked into a bar, Elaine said it was her brother and that she had to go (could this be "Sam"?) and took the woman's phone number. To the woman's surprise Elaine did call her. It sounds like they went out a few times. Then a fair time later, Elaine showed up at this woman's house in the middle of the night dressed as a man, claiming she had been hospitalized, escaped, and people were after her. She asked to borrow the woman's ID so she could pretend to be her and escape whoever was chasing her. The woman agreed and a could of months later she got a letter along with her passport from Elaine. The letter thanked her and she never heard from Elaine again.

Reddit lesbians remember the Florida gay bar. It’s apparently no longer there.

I wonder who the woman Elaine was with when they found her.

Elaine stole 2 dogs from London, went to the US and sent threatening letters stating that she would kill them if they didn’t do what she wanted.

So she only killed one person?

Not interested in Lesbianity.

Someone write me a script..

R28 They think she killed others whose identities she stole. But they can't prove it.

It was bob durst in a wig all along

How this isn’t a movie is crazy. It has everything. I wonder who the good-looking blond man helping her was. I loved that they opened her closet and she had a million wigs, men and women’s, books on theater makeup and learning French. They still can’t figure out what led her to do any of this.

The video at r22 is the best one I’ve seen yet about the case.

I can only imagine what the women who got away alive from her thought after her suicide.

She probably would have had an even easier time now what with the internet. She would have been in her element.

Who the fuck let’s a person into their home after telling you that they just escaped from a mental hospital they their brother placed them in? lmao. Then agreeing to lend them your identity so that they can get away. Christ. It goes to show that a fake British accent will get you far in America.

1996 article.

R33 "I wonder who the good-looking blond man helping her was."

Boyfriend? Lover?

R27, what did she want the dogs to do?