The end of the party
We examine the shocking real-life crimes given the Hollywood treatment
In the groovy 70s, she looked for love – and sex
The daughter of a business executive, Roseann Quinn, was a happy child, living in New Jersey with her family.
The move they’d recently made from the Bronx, New York, seemed to be a good one, setting up young Roseann for success.
Graduating from college in 1966, she started working as a teacher at St Joseph’s School for the Deaf.
A few years later, she flew the nest and rented a flat on the west side of Manhattan, where she lived with her cat.
She was often seen curled up on a sofa in nearby bars, sipping a glass of wine and reading a novel.
Her favourite bar seemed to be WM Tweeds, a boozer just across the road from her home.
Living in the midst of the groovy 70s, Roseann, like many independent young women, was looking for love – and sex.
Often seen by her neighbours, on the arm of a handsome stranger, she met and bedded numerous men. No-strings-attached fun! But it wasn’t all harmless, according to her neighbours.
Roseann was often heard arguing loudly with her gentleman callers.
Once, she was even found in the corridor of the block of flats, sobbing, with a black eye.
Her night-time escapades seemed a life apart from her daytime job, where she was adored by her 8-year-old pupils.
Roseann even brought her students breakfast because they had such a long bus journey to school. With her blouses and tidy skirts, she was a real sweetheart.
On New Year’s Eve 1972, Roseann joined the celebrations at WM Tweeds.
There she met stockbroker Danny Murray and his lover John Wilson.
They’d lived together for almost a year.
When Danny left the bar, John stayed with Roseann to carry on the festivities.
But as the night drew in, it seemed the duo didn’t want the celebrations to end just yet.
At around 2am, they headed back to Roseann’s. On 3 January 1973, the new school term began. And with memories of the Christmas celebrations fading fast, teachers and children filed into St Joseph’s School for the Deaf, expecting Roseann to join them. But she didn’t show up. Not a teacher to take a sick day, let alone stay away without calling in, her colleagues started to worry. Later that day, one of them travelled to West 72nd Street and made her way up the staircase to the seventh floor, where Roseann had her studio flat. Knocking on the door, she tapped and tapped again, the
only noise coming from Roseann’s mewing cat.
Feeling scared, Roseann’s colleague summoned the building manager, who opened the door.
Inside, was a scene of horror. Roseann’s body was sprawled naked on the bed, covered in blood and stab wounds.
Crimson splashes lined the walls. Furniture had been upturned, the flat completely ransacked.
The 28-year-old teacher was dead. Murdered.
A medical examiner counted 18 stab wounds in her stomach, neck, head, chest and throat.
The bloody murder hit the newstands as Roseann’s family struggled to come to terms with their girl’s horrific demise.
A spokesman for St Joseph’s told the New York Daily News that she was ‘a friendly, pleasing personality, not only with the children, but also with the other teachers’.
Detectives gradually began to piece together the information.
Soon, they released a sketch of Danny Murray to the papers.
After seeing the portrait, Danny went straight to the police and said he knew his lover John Wilson had gone to Roseann’s apartment in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
On 9 January 1973, Wilson, 23, was found at his brother’s home in Indiana and arrested on suspicion of murder.
Despite being in a relationship with Danny, Wilson had previously been married and was the father of two girls. But he was no family man. He’d been jailed for disorderly conduct in Florida and then again in Kansas City on larceny charges. A year before Roseann was murdered, Wilson had escaped from a Miami jail and moved to New York, where he met Danny. Giving a full statement to police, Wilson confessed to Roseann’s murder. He said they’d smoked pot together. But the atmosphere had turned sour when Roseann made fun of him for not being able to perform sexually. Wilson had become enraged. Turning on Roseann, he’d launched a brutal attack, stabbing her to death. Despite his confession, justice would never be served. Four months after his arrest, on 5 May 1973, Wilson committed suicide in his cell. There could never be a happy end to this horror story.
The door of the flat opened to a scene of horror