Eddie Leonski

Edward Joseph Leonski (12 December 1917 – 9 November 1942) was a United States Army soldier and serial killer responsible for the strangling murders of three women in Melbourne, Australia, in 1942. Leonski was dubbed the Brownout Strangler, after the practice of dimming or restricting outdoor lighting to make the city less visible to potential enemy aircraft during nighttime raids. His self-confessed motive for the killings was a twisted fascination with female voices, especially when they were singing, and his claim that he killed the women to "get their voices". Leonski was initially arrested by Melbourne police, but was then transferred to U.S. military authorities for prosecution. He was court-martialed for murder under American military law, sentenced to death and executed. Leonski was the first and only citizen of another country to have been tried and sentenced to death in Australia under the law of their own country.