Years earlier, at the age of 15, Kemper had murdered his paternal grandparents. Kemper was nicknamed the " Co-ed Killer ", as most of his non-familial victims were female college students hitchhiking in the vicinity of Santa Cruz County, California. Most of his murders included necrophilia , decapitation , and dismemberment.
Found sane and guilty at his trial in , Kemper requested the death penalty for his crimes. Capital punishment was suspended in California at the time, and he instead received eight concurrent life sentences. Since then, he has been incarcerated in the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Weighing 13 pounds 5. Kemper was known to harbor dark fantasies and have a morbid imagination. In his youth, Kemper performed rites with his younger sister's dolls that culminated in his removing their heads and hands.
Kemper also stated in interviews in his later life that some of his favorite games to play as a child were "Gas Chamber" and "Electric Chair", in which he asked his younger sister to tie him up and flip an imaginary switch; he would then tumble over and writhe on the floor, pretending that he was being executed by gas inhalation or electric shock.
Once, his elder sister tried to push him in front of a train. Another time, she pushed him into the deep end of a swimming pool, where Kemper almost drowned. Kemper had a close relationship with his father, and was notably devastated when his parents separated in and divorced in He was sent to live with his mother Clarnell in Helena, Montana.
Kemper had a severely dysfunctional relationship with his mother, a neurotic, domineering alcoholic who frequently belittled, humiliated, and beat him with a belt.
