From 1996 to 1998, Kendall Francois who was a resident of Poughkeepsie, New York, committed eight murders as part of a serial killing spree. Francois was imprisoned at the Attica Correctional Facility following his conviction and sentence until he was transferred to the Wende Correctional Facility. It was revealed during his trial in 2000 that he had tested positive for HIV in 1995; however, it was not alleged that this was related to his passing.
In this article, we have shared everything about Kendall Francois House where he lived and committed murders of different women before getting arrested.
Who was Kendall Francois?
Born on July 26, 1971, Kendall Francois is widely recognized as a serial killer from New York. In the 1990s, he murdered eight women ranging from 25 to 51 years old.
Although the man himself passed away from cancer on September 11, 2014, while confined at the Attica Correctional Facility, his horrible actions were documented and dramatized for the 2007 film named The Poughkeepsie Tapes.
The Early Life of Kendall Francois
Kendall Francois, who was born in Poughkeepsie on July 26, 1971, played football in his high school years. Except for his smell, which led to his being referred to as “Stinky” by students and prompted complaints from parents. He was a gigantic 6’4″ and 250-pound veteran of the U.S. Army Kendall Francois who was an unremarkable student monitor for Arlington Middle School.
Where is Kendall Francois House Located?
Kendall Francois lived in a house located in Poughkeepsie, New York which is an area of a small town at a distance of only 2 hours north of New York City.
The residence is more than 1,000 square feet in size and contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Additionally, the house was constructed in 1920 and sits on a nearly 10,000-square-foot lot. Sadly, this insane man kept the bodies of the sex workers he murdered in this city in the attic of the house.
It wasn’t until one of the women he intended to kill managed to escape and alert the authorities. Fortunately, police officers located Kendall at this time and went into his house. One of the worst crime scenes ever to occur in their city was this case that was found at that time.
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Specifications of Kendall Francois House
The following are some of the features of Kendall Francois House that you might be interested in knowing:
- Address of Kendall Francois House: Fulton Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603
- No. Of Bedrooms: 3
- No. Of Bathrooms: 2
- Areas Covered by the House: 1,592 sq ft
- Cost of the House: $320,000
What Made Kendall Francois ‘The Poughkeepsie Killer’?
At Arlington High School, Kendall Francois, a Poughkeepsie native, participated in football. But after graduating in 1989, he chose to join the U.S. Army rather than continue playing sports because of his enormous stature. He completed basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1990, and then returned to his hometown to register in Dutchess County Community College the following year.
Francois declared a degree in liberal arts and persisted with his studies till 1998. He had already been employed as Arlington Middle School’s hall and detention monitor at that point. Teachers noticed his improper sexual jokes with female kids while caressing their hair while he was there between 1996 and 1997.
Unknown to anyone, he had already started murdering local women and storing their corpses in his home. However, no one was aware of his crimes and he continued murdering women without any fear.
Later, the police would report that his residence had “the smell of feces, soiled pants with human waste lining the fabric.” The fact that Francois’ parents and sister also lived there, and they either disregarded the smell coming from the attic or were scared to investigate, was arguably the most disappointing fact about the case.
How Did Kendall Francois Get Arrested?
Local police contacted the FBI after becoming as baffled as they were disturbed by the disappearances, but the federal agency said that a serial killer profile couldn’t be developed without a murder scene. After the killings of Audrey Pugliese and Catina Newmaster in August 1998, things started to direct Kendall Francois as the Poughkeepsie Killer.
Authorities discovered a clue and they created a plan to catch the killer of those missing ladies. Skip Mannain and Bob McCready, two detectives with the Poughkeepsie Police Department, spent the afternoon of September 1, 1998, distributing leaflets about the disappearance of New Master from October 13, 1998, in an unmarked automobile. Deborah Lownsdale, who had just stopped to obtain petrol, hurried to their car to inform them that a woman had just been abused close by.
She filed a formal complaint against Kendall Francois, who had been a frequent client on her street for years when they detained the woman in concern and brought her in for clarification. In the end, the suspect’s confession to killing Newmaster didn’t require much pressing. However, the police were yet to get a more significant revelation to prove that Kendall Francois was the Poughkeepsie Killer.
Investigators were able to search the “Poughkeepsie Killer’s” home on September 2, 1998, as they received a search warrant. When they discovered the attic cemetery he had created, it was just after midnight. Francois pleaded innocent a week later, though.
Nevertheless, on October 13, 1998, he was accused of eight charges of attempted assault, first-degree murder, and second-degree murder. Despite the district attorney asking for the death penalty, New York State law required that only a jury could administer it in this case.
Trial and Sentence of Kendall Francois
After confessing to eight counts of first-degree murder in August 2000, Francois received a life sentence without the possibility of release. He was spared from a potential death sentence because of the plea agreement. Francois was detained at the Attica Correctional Facility until just before he passed away.
On September 11, 2014, he passed away at the age of 43 in the Wende Correctional Facility. Francois had HIV, according to a woman who wrote to him while he was incarcerated.
Victims of the Case
- The victim named Wendy Meyers whose age was 30 years was killed by him on October 1996
- The woman named Gina Barone was 29 years old when she was killed in November 1996.
- A 31-year-old woman named Catherine Marsh was killed by him in November 1996
- In January 1997, a girl named Kathleen Hurley was killed whose age was 47 years.
- Later in February 1997, a woman aged 29 years named Mary Healey Giaccone was killed.
- A 51-year-old woman named Sandra Jean French was Murdered by him in June 1998
- A woman named Audrey Pugliese who was 34 years old was murdered by him in August 1998
- In August 1998, he killed a girl named Catina Newmaster whose age was 25.
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The Final Words
In this article, we have shared everything about the serial killer named Kendall Francois who was arrested for a charge of murdering eight women who worked as sex workers. The House of Kendall Francois is now known as the House of Horrors as he kept the bodies of the woman he killed in the attic of the house.
We hope that you found this article interesting and now you know everything about Kendall Francois House.