WILLIAM KESSLER SAPP | “The Dreaming Demon” | Serial Killer, Rapist | Given 3 death sentences and execution date was set to September 1, 2000 | ALS

William Sapp. Autograph Letter Signed. #10 (4.125” × 9.5”) envelope: Handwritten, artistically stylized with drawings, and inscriptions on the obverse and verso: “The best and most beautiful things in the world/cannot be seen or even touched—they/must be felt with the heart.” and “Stay/Strong”. Mansfield, OH. Pmk: August 23, 2006. SEALED. Content unknown. Pristine.

• Classification: Murderer

• Characteristics: Serial rapist

• Number of victims: 3

• Date of murders: 1992 / 1993

• Date of arrest: September 1996

• Date of birth: March 22, 1963

• Victims profile: Martha Leach, 11, and Phree Morrow, 12 / Belinda Anderson, 31

• Method of murder: Battered in the head with an object picked up at the crime scene

• Location: Clark County, Ohio, USA

• Status: Sentenced to death on October 21, 1999

On 8/22/92, Sapp murdered 11-year-old Martha Leach and 12-year-old Phree Morrow near downtown Springfield. Sapp raped Martha and Phree and then beat them to death. Sapp was connected to the rapes and murders through DNA testing in 1996.

Between 1993 and 1995, Sapp murdered 31-year-old Belinda Anderson and buried her body in a garage floor. Sapp was also convicted for the 1993 attempted murder of Hazel Pearson. Sapp confessed to the crimes against Martha, Phree, Ms. Anderson and Ms. Pearson.

Sapp received a death sentence for the aggravated murders of Martha, Phree and Ms. Anderson. At the time of his trial in 1997, Sapp was serving a prison sentence for assaulting and attempting to rape another Springfield woman in 1993.ⁱ

The Murder of Phree Morrow and Martha Leach

On August 22, 1992, Phree Morrow, twelve years old, and her friend Martha Leach, eleven years old, had spent the day together playing near their homes in Springfield, Ohio. At approximately 5 p.m., Leach approached her mother, Jettie Whitt, and asked if she and Morrow could go to Shuler's Bakery, to which Whitt said yes.

Pamela Gooding and Neda Gillman, employees of Shuler's at that time, testified that Morrow and Leach had entered Shuler's, but their testimony conflicted as to what the girls had ordered. Gooding stated that the girls had entered the bakery with an unknown male and that the male had paid for their purchases. Gillman recalled the girls being by themselves. Several other witnesses placed the girls in the area around the bakery at approximately the same time. After leaving the bakery, Morrow and Leach walked to a nearby pond.

At approximately the same time, Sapp drove Jamie Turner, David Marcieszewski and his step-son John Balser, and Christopher Bibbs to get something to eat in the vicinity of the bakery. The group proceeded to the pond near the bakery, a location at which the group would occasionally gather.

At some point, Morrow called Turner "ugly" and insulted Balser by calling him a "fucking retard." Balser began shaking and stuttering, which quickly erupted into crying. Turner slapped Morrow, and Sapp quickly followed. Sapp continued to hit Morrow, and the others joined him.

During the incident, Marcieszewski's wife Wanda arrived at the scene with her nephew, Ralph DePriest. Wanda screamed at Marcieszewski for bringing her son, Balser, to the pond with the girls. At some point Wanda removed a necklace from Leach's neck. The necklace was later recovered from Wanda's home.

Morrow fell to the ground, and the group held her down while Sapp cut her flowered shorts with a knife by splitting the seams of the leg and the crotch and then cutting the fabric across the abdominal area from the zipper to the right lateral seam of the shorts. Marcieszewski removed Leach's clothes. Sapp instructed Morrow to lay on her stomach and had Leach lay on top of Morrow. Sapp raped Leach, then the group took turns molesting her.

The group then turned the girls onto their stomachs, faces in the dirt, and took turns throwing rocks onto the backs of the girls' heads. All of the men struck each girl with a rock one time, except Sapp, who hit Morrow with a rock a second time after realizing she was not yet dead. DePriest testified that he had watched Sapp hold a large rock high above Morrow's head and had thrown it down onto the girl with a great amount of force. Sapp then raped Morrow.

Sapp took charge of cleaning up the scene. Two wooden pallets were placed over the bodies, and the men gathered brush to cover the pallets. The men collected the girls' clothes, shoes, and bicycle, and drove the personal belongings to a nearby storm sewer commonly referred to as "the Lion's Cage." Marcieszewski and Sapp carried the belongings down into the sewer and left them there. Sapp carefully wrapped Morrow's shorts around a rock to ensure that the shorts would not emerge and be discovered. Before leaving the Lion's Cage, the men wiped down the bars leading into the sewer and were careful not to leave behind any other evidence. With Sapp in charge, the group discussed how they would handle questions in order to ensure that their stories were similar but not exactly the same. Additionally, DePriest testified that before leaving the group, Sapp had told DePriest that he would kill him if he ever told anyone what he had witnessed. Under the circumstances, DePriest believed him.ⁱⁱ

Archiving Protocol:

• Handled with White Gloves ab initio

• Photo Pages/Sheet Protectors: Heavyweight Clear Sheet Protectors, Acid Free & Archival Safe, 8.5” × 11”, Top Load

• White Backing Board – Acid Free

Shipping/Packaging: Rigid Mailer 9.5” × 12.5”. White, self seal, stay flat, kraft cardboard, no bend. Each rigid mailer is made of heavy cardboard, which has strong resistance to bending and tearing. Thicker that the USPS mailers. Shipping cost never more than it absolutely has to be to get it from me to you.