Terry Jessup was a suspect in the rape-murder of five-year-old Susie Marshall, and the abduction of five-year-old Nina Tremain.
History[]
Jessup was obsessed with dolls and possessed a collection of them that he inherited from his deceased mother. In his childhood, he was verbally and physically abused by his mother, who was severely mentally ill and never trusted him in taking care of the dolls. Despite her finding him a boy "needing discipline" too often that kept him away from the dolls, she sometimes allowed him to maintain them when she was in a good mood. She once burned his hand when she disapproved of him handling the dolls, and along with having sex with numerous men in the neighborhood, she was both violent and seductive with Jessup, which permanently imprinted on his mindset. His mother's death pushed him over the edge and caused him to end up more isolated and unhinged.
Jessup liked to fix toys and worked at a local community center, where he came in contact with Susie and Nina. He especially cared for children who had troubles with their families, and not only did the girls both have mothers struggling with drug addictions at the time, but he was crushed when they were done playing with his dolls. Jessup dressed up as a social worker to abduct the girls and dressed them up as dolls, keeping them captive in an abandoned house where he had them play with and take care of his dolls while making them follow strict rules like his mother made him.
Jessup was furious when Susie broke one and punished her that one time. Eventually, since his urges were partly pedophilic, Jessup raped Susie, leaving her "impure" from his perspective. Projecting blame onto Susie, Jessup strangled her to death and kept her remains for longer to possess her while she was posthumously preserved. When Jessup was finished, he threw Susie's remains in the dumpster and set his sights on Nina, holding her captive to repeat the cycle.
Jessup never raped Nina, as when her mother Violet pleaded with him to let her return and that Violet wanted to care for her like family, he confessed to her where Nina was, and the detectives rescued her in time. Jessup was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping, but after disclosing the location of Nina, he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in Susie's death and second-degree kidnapping in Nina's abduction. He was sentenced to the maximum for each charge to be served concurrently.