Hadden Clark: Evil from the Start

Hadden Clark was enraged as he stood in front of his brother's house on May 31, 1986. He had been having a bad year and the sweltering heat was not helping to improve his mood. One year earlier, he had been discharged from the Navy after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was not too broken up about his disorder, but he was pretty angry about being kicked out of the armed forces. A few months later, he was arrested for shoplifting women's undergarments from a nearby department store. It was a long-time habit of his to wear ladies' underwear when he was alone.

Although unfortunate, these events were not the reason that Hadden stood outside seething on that hot, humid day. As he wallowed in self-pity, he replayed his six-year-old niece's words to him over in his mind. Little Eliza had called him a "retard" the previous week and he was still furious about it. He stood there, growing angrier by the minute, swearing to himself that he would get revenge. To top off his streak of "bad luck," his brother, Geoffrey, had told him that he could not live at his house anymore. He did not understand why Geoffrey was so angry: all Hadden did was masturbate in front of his brother's kids... what was the big deal?

As he stood outside hating the world, opportunity came knocking. Geoffrey had taken his kids out for the day and Hadden was alone at the house. He was supposed to be picking up the last of his belongings, but that task was put on hold when he saw little Michele Dorr walking towards him. Michele's father lived down the block. Her parents were estranged, but she visited her dad on weekends. Michele and Eliza were close friends and played together often. As the young girl walked towards her friend's house, Hadden knew how he was going to get his revenge: he was going to kill Eliza's best friend.

Born to a prominent family in April 1951, Hadden was a troubled child. Both of his parents were alcoholics who often engaged in physical fights in front of their children, thus creating an unstable environment for them. The two were heavily abusive and all of their children suffered as a result. Geoffrey went on to be convicted of spousal abuse. Allison Clark ran away from home as a child and the eldest brother, Bradfield, is still serving time at Pleasant Valley Prison in California for killing and dismembering his girlfriend, Patricia Mark.

Although all of the Clark children suffered substantial abuse at the hands of their parents, Hadden received the worst of it. His parents had wanted a girl and were disappointed when he was born. His father referred to him as "the retard." His mother, Flavia, often dressed him in girl's clothing and called him "Kristen" when she was intoxicated. Hadden continued to dress in female clothing as an adult. From a very young age, he showed a disturbing desire to harm others and he did not take kindly to being crossed. Those who did dare to upset him often found their family pet decapitated on their doorstep. Killing and/or torturing animals is considered to be a warning sign for possible future homicidal behavior.

On the afternoon of May 31, Michele approached her friend's uncle and asked him if Eliza was home. He replied, "She's in the house. Upstairs in her room playing with dolls. You can go inside if you like." Not sensing any danger, Michele headed into the house and up the stairs to Eliza's bedroom. In the meantime, Hadden went to get a weapon from the back of his truck. He worked as a chef at the local Chevy Chase country club and had a large collection of knives. He selected a foot-long chef's knife and followed after the six-year-old.

No sooner than the little girl had walked into her friend's room, Hadden tackled her to the floor and slashed her chest with the sharp blade. When he tried to keep her quiet by putting his hand over her mouth, she bit him. That sent him into a blind rage and he stabbed the knife into her throat. He then tried to have sex with the girl's body, but was unsuccessful in his attempt.

The frantic 35-year-old left the room, gathered some supplies and then returned. He stuffed Michele's little body into a plastic garbage bag. He used some rags to clean the blood off of the floor and then threw them into a separate garbage bag. He examined the room... nothing seemed out of place. He put the bag containing Michele's body in a duffel bag and carried all of the evidence out to his vehicle and drove to work.

Geoffrey had returned home and was in his backyard barbequing with his children when Carl Dorr came looking for his daughter, Michele. He had been watching the Indianapolis 500 on television while his daughter played outside. He lost track of time, but was certain that Michele had wandered down the street and was at her friend Eliza's house. When Geoffrey and Eliza told him that they had not seen his daughter at all that day, Carl became very concerned. He drove to the local precinct and reported Michele missing.

Hadden left the evidence and body in his truck and finished his shift at the country club. After work, he stopped at a local hospital to have a hand wound dressed. He left the hospital around midnight and drove along a desolate road to a wooded area and stopped the vehicle. He dug a grave at the base of a tree and dropped the duffel bag into it. Before burying the girl, he ate a piece of her flesh and took great pleasure in exacting revenge for what Eliza had said to him. He then covered the gravesite with an old mattress that was lying nearby. After that, he walked back to his truck and then drove to his new apartment.

Every police officer is taught to carefully examine the parents/caregivers when a child is reported missing. In many cases, the parent(s) is/are either responsible for the disappearance or know(s) what happened to the child. Carl Dorr and his estranged wife, Dorothy, had been battling for custody of Michele for years. In anger, Carl had made several threats to kidnap his daughter. That having been said, it should come as no surprise that from the moment he reported Michele missing, he was the prime suspect in her disappearance.

Carl's life became a nightmare. The cops were questioning him repeatedly and he was being accused of abducting his own daughter. The situation was further exacerbated when Dorothy told the police that she believed her husband was responsible for Michele's disappearance. Under great stress, Carl suffered an emotional breakdown and began hallucinating. In a stupor, he admitted to kidnapping and murdering his daughter. He was sent to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

Although Carl had not kidnapped or killed his little girl, he did have something to hide. Ashamed that he left his daughter unattended for so long, he told the police that he last saw Michele at 2:15 on the afternoon of May 31 when in fact, he had last seen her at noon. Carl made a huge mistake by lying to the police. A mistake that would cause the man responsible for his daughter's death to walk free and kill again...

Over time, Hadden had earned himself a reputation as the town weirdo. As a precaution, he was brought to the local police station for questioning. When questioned about his activities on May 31, 1986, Hadden mentioned that he had clocked in at work at 2:46 p.m. When the police started asking specific questions about Michele, Hadden became violently ill and vomited uncontrollably. Naturally, the police officers found this extremely odd. Despite their suspicions, Hadden was released. His work records showed that he did in fact clock in at work at 2:46 in the afternoon on the day in question. Since Carl had claimed to see his daughter at 2:15, the police figured that it would be impossible for Hadden to kidnap/kill a girl and then drive 10 miles to work in 30 minutes. Michele Dorr's case would remain unsolved for 14 years.

During the next five years, Hadden continued to mentally deteriorate. He lost his job as a chef and had a very hard time finding another. He did odd jobs, earning minimum wage. He was evicted from his apartment by his landlord. Before leaving, he destroyed the property and killed the owner's two cats. From then on, he avoided rented living spaces. He alternated living in his truck and the local woods. Having close to no expenses, he saved $40,000 by 1990.

The legal system continued to focus on Carl Dorr as the prime suspect in Michele's disappearance and Hadden managed to stay out of trouble until 1988. In September of that year, he visited his mother in Rhode Island. Flavia caught her son stealing from her and a heated confrontation ensued. Hadden beat his mother and the following day, she pressed assault and battery charges against him. He was put on probation for one year. He later received a letter from his mother in which she told him that she did not want to have anything to do with him and she was going to pretend that he was dead.

The same year as the attack on his mother, Hadden was stopped by a police officer for speeding. He was in possession of an illegal firearm, but was free to walk after pleading guilty to a destruction of property charge for vandalizing the home of his former landlord a few months earlier.

Hadden was arrested in February 1989 on 17 counts of theft. He often dressed in women's clothing and stole coats, purses, and handbags from the cloakrooms of various churches. When he was found in possession of the stolen female accessories, the officer asked him if the items were his. Hadden replied, "Yes. I'm a woman."

After serving 45 days in jail, Hadden was released and again put on probation. His sentence was so minimal because his judge and public defender believed that he had serious mental issues and was going to seek psychological help. His public defender even went so far as to write a note for Hadden to show to police officers in the event that he was ever arrested again. The note stated that Hadden was not to speak to any law officials regarding any matter without his attorney present. The lawyer included his personal contact information at the end of the letter.

In 1992, Hadden was hired as a gardener by a woman named Penny Houghteling. He became very attached to the woman and came to regard her as a mother figure. Penny trusted her employee and gave him free run of the kitchen and bathroom in her home. He of course took advantage of her kindness and stole a necklace and her clothing and underwear from her bedroom drawers. She did not seem to notice that the items were missing.

In the summer of 1992, Penny's daughter, Laura, returned home after graduating from Harvard University. Hadden grew jealous of Laura. Penny paid more attention to her daughter than she did to him and he resented Laura for that. He vowed to get revenge.

In October 1992, Penny informed Hadden that she would be at a conference from October 17-25. Hadden decided to get his revenge while Penny was away and he headed to a local hardware store. He purchased duct tape, rope and nylon cord. He paid with a personal check and wrote "Laura" on the bottom left corner of the check next to the word "Memo."

Laura went to sleep shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Sunday October 18. She was completely unaware of what was about to happen to her...

That night, Hadden dressed himself in Penny's lingerie and clothing. He wore a wig, carried a black handbag and headed to the garden shed behind the Houghteling house. He found the spare key and let himself into the house. He quietly walked up the stairs to Laura's bedroom and nudged her awake with the .22 caliber rifle that he had brought with him. The young woman woke with a start. Hadden then asked her what she was doing in his bed and why she was wearing his clothes. The befuddled girl did not know how to respond. As she cried, Hadden said, "Tell me I'm Laura." The terrified woman did as he said.

Hadden then forced Laura at gunpoint to get undressed and take a bath. He made her lay on her stomach while he bound her wrists and ankles with the duct tape. He intended to kidnap her and take her back to his campsite in the woods. While taping her mouth to prevent her from screaming, he got carried away and Laura suffocated. He used a sharp pair of scissors to cut the tape off of her mouth. His hand slipped and he cut the girl's neck, causing her to bleed onto the bedding. He decided that he liked her earrings and wanted to keep them for himself. He had difficulty getting them off of her ears, so he cut her earlobes off with the scissors.

Hadden watched and touched Laura's body for nearly an hour before wrapping her in a sheet and carrying her remains out to his truck. He made a second trip into the house to gather the evidence and some personal accessories of the victim. He carried the items out to his truck and then went back into Laura's bedroom and slept on her bed. He left the house at 8:00 the next morning, dressed as a woman. He drove two blocks to a church parking lot and took a nap in his truck with Laura's dead body next to him.

Meanwhile, Laura's employer called the Houghteling house several times. It was not like Laura to miss work without as much as a phone call. When no one answered the phone, Laura's boss became very concerned and sent a friend/colleague of Laura's to the house to look for her. The woman rang the doorbell multiple times, but got no answer. She called Laura's brother, Warren.

Warren searched the house, but found that nothing seemed out of order. He then decided to trace the route that his sister usually took to go to work. While doing this, he spotted the family gardener driving towards him in his truck. Hadden was heading back to the Houghteling house to steal a few more items. Warren flagged Hadden down to see if he knew anything about his sister's whereabouts. Hadden slowed down, but at the last second, sped off like a bat out of hell. Warren thought this was odd, but not more so than his usual erratic behavior. Warren called his mother and then the police to report his sister missing.

Spooked by his encounter with Warren, Hadden decided to bury Laura's body that night. He drove to a secluded area on Interstate 270, dug a grave and placed the body in it. He dropped off the bloody sheets and other evidence at his self-storage space in Rhode Island, but he held on to the blood-covered pillowcase so he could relive the murder.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, Warren and Penny were at the local police station. They mentioned Hadden's name in conversation and the officers immediately recognized him as the man who had once been a suspect in the still unsolved disappearance of Michele Dorr.

The officers called Hadden's voicemail line. Hadden called back soon after, saying that he was going to bed and that the police would have to wait until the following day to meet with him. After his conversation with the cops, he retrieved the bloody pillowcase from his truck and dumped it in a nearby wooded area. He returned to his truck and went to sleep.

The next day, Hadden was escorted to the police station by Sue Snyder, the head of a local homeless organization. Hadden claimed to have been asleep in his truck at the time that Laura was killed. When he left the station, he started to cry. Sue asked him why he was crying and he replied, "I feel so bad for Penny and Warren."

The police decided to do a thorough search of the area in hopes of finding some clue as to Laura's whereabouts. One of the dogs from the canine unit led the police to a wooded area near the Houghteling house. There they found Penny's bra, a high-heeled shoe, a woman's shirt and Laura's bloody pillowcase. The pillowcase had a single fingerprint on it.

The police again summoned Hadden for questioning. They told him that the fingerprint on the pillowcase matched his and demanded to know what happened to Laura. At that point, the officers were bluffing and hoping to get some sort of reaction/confession out of Hadden, but their attempt was unsuccessful. Having nothing to hold him on, the officers reluctantly released Hadden again.

Over the next week, the police officers obtained a search warrant and examined the suspect's bank account. They came upon the check that he had written to the hardware store: the one that had Laura's name written in the space next to "Memo." They searched his campsite in the woods, but there was no sign of Laura. Soon after, the lab results showed that Hadden's fingerprint matched the one found on the pillowcase.

Although Laura's body had not yet been found, the evidence against Hadden was overwhelming. He pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 1993. Several days after he was sentenced, Hadden led the police to Laura's body.

While serving his sentence, Hadden bragged in great detail about the murder of Michele Dorr as well as several others. Many of the convicts hated child killers and hoped that the information that they had would earn them early parole. In 1999, Hadden was tried two more times: once for theft and once for Michele's murder. He was convicted of both crimes and received respective sentences of 10 and 30 years. In January 2000, Hadden led police to Michele's body.

Between January and April 2000, Hadden led police on a series of fruitless searches for other people whom he claimed to have murdered. The only piece of evidence that suggests that Hadden may have killed others was a bucket of women's jewelry found near his grandfather's estate. Some of the items in the bucket belonged to Laura.

Hadden remains in prison as of the time of this writing.