B.R. Bates's Blog: From the social feeds ..., page 6

Meet the author of "The Crack City Strangler" ...

 ... or at least hear a few thoughts about one author's transition from slightly-zany pop-culture writing to researching true crime -- more specifically, the cases of two convicted Detroit serial killers. This video just dropped on my YouTube. I hope you'll like and subscribe, and there are plenty more videos linked up there that will tell you more about the recently released books on these two killers.

Killer Comparisons: Benjamin (“Tony”) Atkins and Douglas (Donna) Perry

They both killed prostitutes. They killed at around the same time, 1990 to 1992. Their victims were addicted to drugs. On the surface, Douglas (Donna) Perry and Benjamin (“Tony”) Atkins have some things in common.

One, however, was white, and the other was black. One transitioned to a female; the other did not. Atkins hid his victims; Perry left his in the open. Atkins strangled, but Perry, an avid gun collector, shot his victims. Perry took trophies; Atkins did not. Perry’s victims were varied, while Atkins hunted only black females. Whereas Perry reportedly was beaten by his father as a child, Atkins never knew his own father, instead facing the various boyfriends of his mother, some of whom he said were abusive. So yes, in many ways these two serials were dissimilar, as well.

What intrigues me, though, is another aspect of their personalities that would seem to tie them together: their views of women, and in particular their views of sex workers. And frankly, they both seem pretty conflicted in this regard. Once in custody, Atkins wavered back-and-forth. No, I don’t hate women. Yes, I do hate women. Perry was said to have an abnormal fixation on prostitutes and an intense hatred for him them because he felt they were squandering their gift of being able to reproduce by selling their bodies on the street. And that view really reminds me of Atkins, because he did tell one of the psychologists who examined him after his arrest that he wished he would’ve been born a female, because females are coddled and taken care of, and they have easier lives, as he saw it. He was resentful of that.

Interestingly, both Atkins and Perry at one time worked in the sex trade themselves, with Atkins being highly confused and guilted about his sexuality. Perry was diagnosed with something called "gender psychosis disorder." And playing into all of this in some way (because as FBI profiler John Douglas has said, many serials have mommy issues), both of these killers had a mother who was largely absent during their childhood.

So wow. A lot to think about with these two. It is also interesting to note that while Atkins claimed in the months after his arrest that he was hearing voices — one in particular named Tony, who had been telling him to do the crimes — and seemed to have sort of alternate personalities, Perry also appeared to exhibit a sort of split-personality state once in custody. At that time transitioned to female and named Donna, she adamantly refused to admit the crimes but would say that she had done some horrible things as a man, though she said Douglas Perry was now dead and gone. She continually spoke of her old self in the third person, as if she never was that person, but did make the interesting statement that she became female to stop the crimes. To police, Perry had essentially castrated himself — removed his male genitalia — to stop raping and killing. A psychologist would probably say that is oversimplifying things. And certainly there are other psychological aspects to consider in the case of Perry. But it's all so interesting, in the quest to answer the million-dollar question of what makes a person take human life.

Above photos:
Benjamin Atkins from Detroit Police files and Douglas Perry, from IMDb.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

To learn more about the Perry case, and see video clips of her being interviewed by police, catch S1E4 of "Making a Serial Killer." For a deep-dive of the Atkins case, see "The Crack City Strangler: The Homicides of Serial Killer Benjamin Atkins."

BRBates.com
wbp.bz/CrackCityStranglerMurders in the Motor City Series

Dropping today: A Study in Crime podcast episode on the Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins case

I tend to think of the Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins case as a bit of a sleeper case. Though his name comes up sometimes in conversations about serial killers, and people are aware of him (he does indeed have a Wikipedia page), there has never been an episode of true-crime television done about the case, as far as I can tell. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. But the only episodes of any kind of modern media done on the case are a handful of podcasts that read from newspaper articles found online from the time of the case.

So Scott Fulmer with his well-done A Study in Crime podcast is the very first person to interview me on the Atkins case and the book "The Crack City Strangler: The Homicides of Serial Killer Benjamin Atkins" just released from WildBlue Press, and since that interview was back in January 2025, he can be considered the very first person to produce an original-content modern media episode on the case. Scott, incidentally, was also the first podcaster to interview me and my collaborator for the first book, "The 'Baby Doll' Serial Killer: The John Eric Armstrong Homicides."

This was a great discussion, dropping today. Scott and I tackle a lot of topics around the Atkins case: the culture of inner-city Detroit and Highland Park, Michigan, where Atkins was raised, his horrifying childhood with a heroin-addicted prostitute mother, his jumps from foster home to foster home and even a home for boys, his own hustling on the street for cash for drugs, and his progression to taking human life. Did you know Atkins claimed to hear voices that influenced him to do the crimes? We explore that and much more. Check it out, and feel free to let me know what you think.

 45. The Crack City Strangler

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BRBates.com
wbp.bz/CrackCityStrangler
Murders in the Motor City Series

John Eric Armstrong: Did his family know?

One question that comes up a lot in the case of #JohnEricArmstrong is whether or not his wife was aware of what he was doing. Armstrong was a family man. He had a wife and a baby son at home, he lived with his wife's family, and there was a second child on the way. Recently, I spoke with Ed Opperman about this aspect of the case and many others. My collaborator on the #BabyDollSerialKiller book, Gerry, also did an interview on the Opperman Report.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-opperman-report/id975926302?i=1000675663944
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-opperman-report/id975926302?i=1000675657631
Thank-you, Ed!
..............................
https://BRBates.com

A life of trauma: Discussing the Atkins case on True Crime Uncensored

What kinds of trauma were part of the childhood and upbringing of Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins? There are quite a few aspects of the background of this convicted Detroit serial killer that could make you shake your head, maybe wonder why he didn't get help. Did society fail him? And did his ethnicity factor into that? Check out this interview with True Crime Uncensored. I had a nice time chatting with Burl Barer and his co-host Mark Boyer. You can catch it on a variety of platforms, so choose your weapon:

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Podchaser
Podbean
TuneIn
iHeart

This podcast has been around for 17 years -- kinda like an eternity in web years! Erin Moriarty of "48 Hours" called Burl's podcast the best true-crime radio program on the air. Thanks again, Burl and Mark, for both the chat and the blog post linked above!

Nature vs. nurture on Benjamin Atkins -- and what about his brother? We chat about that and more on Mysterious Circumstances

A serial killer's background can be complicated, but for this one, Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins, it's really complicated. So what draws a writer into researching a criminal case such as this one? And how does the nature vs. nurture question of serials apply to Atkins' life, particularly since he had a brother he was close to, who shared his same life experiences, who did not go on to become a serial killer? Justin Rimmel and I discuss that and more on the latest episode of the Mysterious Circumstances podcast. You can catch this episode soon on the variety of platforms that hosts the podcast, but right now it's on YouTube:

A #lifeaffirming visit to Covenant House in Detroit

I had a truly wonderful visit to the Detroit campus of Covenant House Michigan on Friday. It was the third time I've been there, if I recall correctly, having been a supporter of the ministry for 15 years (can't believe it's been that long, but that's what they told me!). Seriously, if you ever have a down day and want to restore your faith in human beings, go to covenanthousemi.org and see the amazing work they do to help young people living at risk on the streets. Covenant House is a national ministry, so there's likely a location where you are, and I encourage you to support them as well. 

This is (from left) receptionist Carlotta, CEO Meagan, and exec assistant Amy, with me. (Thanks to CDO Tim for taking the pic.) I gave them a copy of the first book since it helps support their work, and since, with my research on these criminal cases and the females whose lives have been lost, I know that many, many other lives have been saved over the years by the work of this ministry.

Just dropped: More insight on the research into the Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins case

Just dropped this quick clip to explain a little more of my experience and approach to the research of this convicted Detroit serial killer. As always, you can email me with any questions or comments!

Murder Shelf Book Club concludes its weeks-long series on "The 'Baby Doll' Serial Killer"

Jill at the Murder Shelf Book Club has done such an amazing job in her series on "The 'Baby Doll' Serial Killer" book and the John Eric Armstrong case. As I've been talking about on this very blog, she has taken the facts of the case and blended them with her own touch of drama. It's something like listening to a vintage radio serial. And I've really gotten a kick out of the imagery she's used on social media, some of which I include below. Now, her series, which has been running the past few weeks, culminates with the interview she recorded with myself and Dr. Gerald Cliff, my collaborator on the book. You can catch it here:

Castbox
Spotify
Apple
YouTube

Benjamin Atkins: Out of obscurity and onto Darkness Radio and more

Over the years, particularly in the past decade or so when the true-crime genre has really exploded, there have been oodles of serial killers profiled on TV documentaries. "Dateline," "48 Hours" and "Forensic Files" were pioneers, but nowadays there are just a ton of shows on ID, Oxygen and the like that take a close look at criminal cases. This author has loved them. I eat them up. I also consume a lot of true-crime books. So can you believe there's been hardly anything at all done on convicted Detroit serial killer Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins? At the time of his arrest in August 1992, as police were sorting through the mess of this case that spanned less than a year, he was being called the country's fastest serial killer. Indeed, as far as I know, he still holds that unofficial title -- the most people killed in the smallest timeframe, 11 people in about 6-9 months.

Yet, until the release of "The Crack City Strangler: The Homicides of Serial Killer Benjamin Atkins," there was no book done on the case. There are a couple e-books on Atkins out there, but they are more of a memoir / reminiscing quality. I have read both, and they each offer an interesting perspective on this serial. There have been some podcasts done on the case in recent years, but they only pull facts from newspaper articles of years ago and maybe offer an opinion or two. Only since January of this year have there been modern podcasts produced that introduce new information on the case. But can you believe there has never been, to the best of my knowledge, a TV doc done on the case? John Eric Armstrong, another Detroit serial, by comparison, has had three (and a half) TV episodes devoted to him. And I would argue that followers of true crime out there actually know Atkins' name better than Armstrong's -- the serial they casually call Tony Atkins does come up in some true-crime conversation on Reddit, etc.

So why has Ben Atkins faded more into obscurity over the years? Is it because it's an older case? Is it because of the demographic of his victims? Maybe his own demographic? Who knows, but it's one of the questions we address in this latest interview I did with Tim Dennis of Darkness Radio, for his True Crime Tuesdays. We recorded only yesterday -- St. Patrick's Day (and hey, we're both wearing green, you'll see when the video YouTube version drops), and it was a great discussion.

You can listen in a variety of ways, so choose your weapon:

Apple
Spotify
Castbox
iHeart Radio
Goodpods

Thanks again, Tim -- really enjoyed it!