Maury Travis' house

This is the house where serial killer Maury Travis lived.

It is situated at 1001 Ford Drive in St. Louis, Missouri.

The authorities believe that Travis is responsible for murdering 12–20 women during the early 2000s.

Nicknamed "the Bi-State Strangler," he targeted sex workers and drug addicts, many of whom were tortured and then murdered at this address.

At the time of the killings, Travis was still on parole for a spate of shoe store robberies that he had committed back in 1988.

The detective who arrested him for those crimes stated that he wasn't your "typical criminal." Instead, he was quiet, respectful, and reserved.

This description was backed up by former neighbors and teachers, who remembered him as being "incredibly quiet" and "withdrawn."

During his robbery trial, Travis pleaded guilty and claimed that he had resorted to holding up stores with a toy gun in an attempt to fund his cocaine habit.

After being sentenced to 15 years in prison, he wrote a letter to the judge and pleaded with him to reduce his sentence. In his letter, he stated, "This whole situation is horrid and phantasmic." He then begged the judge to give him another chance in society.

However, his pleas for leniency fell on deaf ears, and he was forced to serve another five years in prison before he was eventually released on parole.

During the 1990s, he worked at several restaurants. He also served small stints in prison on drug-related charges.

It appears as though Travis started targeting sex workers in the early 2000s.

However, killing women wasn't enough for him. He was also eager to see his crimes covered in the media.

During one conversation with a news intern that he personally knew, he asked if her TV station had run any stories on the murdered sex workers. He also specifically mentioned the term serial killer. Notably, this was before any connection between the slayings had been made public.

Travis' killing spree came to an end after he decided to anonymously contact the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.

At the time, it had recently published a piece on one of his victims, Teresa Wilson.

After reading the profile about Wilson, Travis decided to print a map from the Internet, mark the location of one of his victims' bodies on it, and then mail it into the newspaper.

When the police discovered a skeleton at the site, they immediately started focusing on the origins of the map.

Upon learning that it had been printed from a Microsoft map on a website called Expedia, they sent a subpoena that requested a list of IP addresses that had zoomed in on the area.

A few days later, Microsoft responded with the type of news that every investigator likes to hear: Only one IP address had looked at that specific spot.

When the police showed up at Travis' house on Ford Drive, he didn't seem to wonder why they were there. Instead, he was more interested in finding out how they had tracked him down.

After being told that they had traced his IP address, he reportedly said, "F*ckin' computer. Damn Internet."

During a search of the basement, investigators found a makeshift torture chamber and ligatures that were stained with blood. They also discovered a hidden videotape of Travis torturing multiple women.

Following his arrest, Travis was adamant that he wasn't going back to prison.

Although officials at the St. Louis County Jail were told that he should be put on suicide watch, few precautions were taken.

On June 10th, 2002, Maury Troy Travis hanged himself in his cell.

Further information is available in the "Photos" section below.

Photos

Photos of the house and other related images.

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