I have never bought the theory that EAR/ONS and Mr. Cruel were linked. For one thing, the former was a sadist whose crimes were constantly escalating, culminating in a brutal series of murders. Cruel, on the other hand, was a classic pedophile in the sense that he didn’t seem intent on "hurting" his victims and probably sincerely believed he wasn’t doing so. In fact, he is only known to have killed once – Karmein Chan – in a deviation that scans as both unplanned and deeply regrettable to the offender, to the point where he is not known to ever have struck again. I believe Mr. Cruel was anything but what his moniker would suggest and that the act of killing was so traumatic to him that he ceased attacking strangers and, quite possibly, offending altogether.

There are some superficial similarities between the two cases, especially in the extreme level of organization, the hot prowl break-ins, the wearing of masks, but the differences are far too large to overlook. The victimology is radically different, the abductions in the Cruel case are a signature element not present in EAR/ONS (Cruel preferred the comfort of his own home while EAR/ONS got off on invading those of other people). The bondage elements in Mr. Cruel’s crimes also read as being born out of practical concern rather than of any kind of fetishism, unlike EAR/ONS, whose hog-tying is distinctly reminiscent of sadomasochism. Finally, Mr. Cruel is described by witnesses as having a mature voice with very strong Australian accent endemic to the region where his crimes occurred. We have recordings of EAR/ONS’ voice; his voice sounds adenoidal and unmistakably American.

Those are all excellent points. It also just occurred to me that, if my timeline memory is correct, it is even unlikely that EARONS would have been a significant inspiration to Mr Cruel due to the overall lack of solid links between many of the crimes until DNA evidence in the 90s/2000s. I would imagine that international press coverage linking many of the crimes therefore would have been minimal when Mr Cruel began his spree.
I was more alluding to the curious similarities which I argue seem more than superficial (not that they suggest the perps being one and the same). These may be natural results of the type of crime (or criminal mind) we’re dealing with here, but we don’t tend to hear of them in other cases that I know of and the sum together is definitely rare:
– Mr Cruel used specific knots in his ties on multiple occasions (apparently ones sailors would use), and the restraints described by the victims during their captivity suggested some sort of fetish fulfilment.
– He ate a meal in the kitchen during at least one attack
– He left false clues to put police off-track (particularly pretending to make a call from one victim’s phone, which reminded me of EARONS sometimes pretending – as far as we know – to be speaking to an accomplice).
– He went to obsessive levels of preparation of victim selection and attack timing
– His method of controlling the adults – how they were tied and retied, instructions and threats used – was very similar to EARONS but I accept this in particular is probably just a logical way of dealing with a couple in that situation.

For one criminal to cease these unusual signatures in the US only for another to take them up in Australia the following year is almost certainly down to the EARONS equivalent of Zynch – but it’s a chilling fact to know that the EARONS-esque criminal may not be as rare as we think.

For one criminal to cease these unusual signatures in the US only for another to take them up in Australia the following year is almost certainly down to the EARONS equivalent of Zynch – but it’s a chilling fact to know that the EARONS-esque criminal may not be as rare as we think.

Isn’t that the scariest thing about this whole avenue of interest? You start researching one serial killer and then find out how many other killers were walking around doing their thing in roughly the same place at roughly the same time, wholly independent of the case you’re investigating. This happens to me all the time regarding the Connecticut River Valley Killer, and it chills me to the bone.

I’m not trying to imply that Mr. Cruel and EARS/ONS is the same person but Ears/ONS youngest victim was Deborah Kent at age 13. EARS/ONS not being focused on younger victims may not be such a deal breaker. I think its a really interesting theory of what happened to ONS after the murder of Janelle Lisa Cruz but he had already evolved into murdering his victims. I don’t think the parents would have survived the attacks and EARS/ONS using dishes as an alarm is missing from the MR. Cruel MO.

I just watched a video on YouTube about Mr. Cruel a few weeks ago. Initially, I was really shocked about the parallels between EAR/ONS and Mr. Cruel. I almost posted then but decided to wait. My gut feeling is they aren’t the same offender. It would be convenient and explain some gaps if they were. EAR/ONS did attempt to abduct a child during one attack (if he was the Visalia Ransacker). Keep in mind that Albert DeSalvo was carrying out a series of rapes as the Green Man while simultaneously carrying out brutal serial murders as the Boston Strangler. So while we think serial killer behavior is very predictable there are definitely some head scratchers. I’m guessing criminals using ski masks was fairly common the 70’s and 80’s. Might explain why they are less popular now.

I agree that the signature is very different and that for me is the deal breaker. It’s an interesting case though and again I agree that there wasn’t really any publicity about EAR/ONS that would have influenced Mr. Cruel. I don’t know how different the eyewitness descriptions were from each other. There’s a quote in the yellow book from Donald Lunde that (and I’m paraphrasing) basically says you’d be shocked how similar sexual sadists are. Shocked and also appalled!