NOTORIOUS MURDERS > MASS & SPREE MURDERS

Mark Essex

Tracking A Killer

On Tuesday, January 2, at around 6 p.m., Essex strolled into Joe's Grocery Store at the corner of Erato Street and South Gayoso. The grocery store was three blocks from the church on South Lopez. Essex had a bloody bandage covering his left hand. The owner, Joseph Perniciaro, had heard on the news that law enforcement authorities were looking for a suspect in the rash of police shootings who might have an injured hand. Essex bought a Schick razor and asked for lipstick and makeup. Joe's Grocery didn't carry cosmetics. Essex paid for the razor with a $20 bill and left.

An hour later, Perniciaro and his 14-year-old stock boy went to police headquarters and told detectives about the man. They described him as average size and said he wore "army clothes" and a "safari jacket." The man had kept his bandaged left hand in his pocket almost the entire time. Perniciaro said he had been worried the man was going to rob him.

The stock boy told detectives that after the man left he'd seen him walking down Gayoso in the direction of Clio Street. From Clio it was just two blocks to the church on South Lopez.

The next day, Wednesday, January 3, the police got another tip about their suspect. At 7:30 p.m., a woman called the police department and said that the shooter they were looking for was hiding inside a church on South Lopez Street.

Detectives raced back into Gert Town and searched the church. On the walls and on the floor they found bloodstains. Inside the bathroom, they discovered a bag filled with .38-caliber cartridges. Near the altar, they found a note, later proven to have been written by Mark Essex, which apologized to the pastor for breaking into his church. But again, the sniper was gone.