Elaine Antoinette Parent was an American[1] criminal known as "the world's most wanted woman" in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Elaine Parent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Died | April 6, 2002 |
| Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot |
| Other names | The "Chameleon Killer" |
| Details | |
| Victims | Beverly McGowan |
| Location(s) | St. Lucie County, Florida |
She was wanted for the murder of her potential roommate, Beverly McGowan, a 34-year-old bank clerk.[1][2] McGowan had placed an ad in the paper looking for a roommate. A woman named "Alice" answered the ad.[3] The woman was actually Parent. Soon after, McGowan disappeared; on July 19, 1990, her remains were found in a rural canal in St. Lucie County, Florida. She had been mutilated--a tattoo cut out of her stomach, she had been decapitated and her hands severed to hinder identification. [3] However, the killer had overlooked another small tattoo, which along with teeth left in her severed head, were enough to positively identify her.[2]
According to investigators, Parent was known to have traveled around the world using more than 20 different identities and was a master of disguise, even at times posing as a man.
The origin of Parent's nickname, the "Chameleon Killer," was a photograph of an oil painting of herself she sent to police with the message "Best wishes: your Chameleon" typed on the back, with the artist's name of Piper, which could have been another one of her aliases. The nickname was apt, as she stole the identities of her victims[4] and was found to have used McGowan's credit cards after she killed her.[2] She also scoured graveyards for names and dates of birth and stole the information of other potential roommates by telling them she was a numerologist, soliciting their Social Security numbers, driver's licences and even birth certificates.[3][2]
When Florida police caught up with her in Panama City, Florida, on April 6, 2002, she committed suicide by shooting herself in the heart as they stood outside her bedroom door waiting for her to get dressed.[4] There have been concerns that in her time on the run she is likely to have committed other crimes.[4][2] Many investigators have questioned if "Elaine Parent" was her actual, given name, or if her nationality was actually American or instead British, since no birth certificate for her has ever been found.[2] She had also claimed, for a time, to have been South African.[5]
In media
editBeverly McGowan's murder and the search for Elaine Parent were profiled on Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted.[1] In 2002, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom aired a special documentary on Parent's criminal career titled The World's Most Wanted Woman. In 2014, she was featured on the Investigation Discovery program Swamp Murders.[6] In 2024, the documentary series, The Hunt for the Chameleon Killer, began airing on True Crime in the United Kingdom.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c Tate, Tim (April 21, 2002). "'Chameleon Killer' cheats the Florida police by ending her many-faced life". The Telegraph. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Chapman, Matthew (March 20, 1999). "A Killer's Many Faces". The Irish Times.
- ^ a b c Pazdera, Donna (December 11, 1996). "'90 MURDER TRAIL LEADS TO WOMAN". Sun-Sentinel.
- ^ a b c "Murder suspect 'Chameleon' a suicide victim". The Ledger. April 12, 2002. Retrieved April 12, 2002.
- ^ Rawat, Kshitij (October 10, 2024). "'The Hunt for the Chameleon Killer' true story: Inside Elaine Parent's web of deceit". Lifestyle Asia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
- ^ "Swamp Murders : The Chameleon Killer (SEASON 2 • EPISODE 8)". InvestigationDiscovery.com. Investigation Discovery. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ^ "The Chameleon Killer: Real story behind new documentary on 'world's most wanted woman'". Manchestereveningnews.co.uk. Manchester Evening News. 28 August 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
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