The Hair Fetish Killer (Part 1)

WILDCIDE

From 1992-1993, nine women and girls made complaints that someone in their town of Potenza, Italy was cutting off locks of their hair. The community only grew more tense as on September 12, 1993, 16 yo Elisa Claps went missing from The Most Holy Trinity church in Potenza's city center; she was seen going in but was never seen coming out. Danilo Restivo, who was known to have a fetish for women's hair, was the prime suspect but there was no physical evidence tying him to the hair cuttings or Elisa's disappearance. By 2002, feeling the pressure becoming too much, Restivo moved to Bournemouth, England for a fresh start. Coincidentally, from 2002-2004, fifteen women in and around Bournemouth would report an eerily similar experience that happened ten years prior in Potenza: locks of their hair were clandestinely cut. On September 12, 2002, 49 yo Heather Barnett had been viciously attacked, mutilated, and murdered in her own home in Bournemouth. She had a lock of her hair cut along with a lock of an unknown person’s hair resting in her hand. Were all of these crimes truly coincidental or the work of one sick dude? Tune in now, you don’t want to miss this wild case and how it took 18 years, one perplexing murder, one sensationalized disappearance, and countless women having locks of their hair cut to hone in on one weird dude with a killer hair fetish.

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​​Art for the podcast was created by Kelly Steen. Editing/Production for the podcast by Bltzwolff.

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References:

BBC News. (2011, May 31). Heather Barnett trial: Accused “cut hair in Italy cinema.” https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-13606767

Blanco, J. I. (n.d.). Danilo Restivo: Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. Danilo Restivo | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. https://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/restivo-danilo.htm

Chilling Crimes. (2021, June 17). Heather Barnett. https://www.chillingcrimes.com/blogs/news/heather-barnett#google_vignette

Crimewatch - How they caught: Danilo Restivo, retrieved 22 January 2024

Jones, T. (2012, April 13). Blood on the altar by Tobias Jones – review. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/13/blood-on-altar-tobias-jones-review

La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. (2016, February 2). “Vidi restivo che tagliave le ciocche”. da potenza in video testimonianza per il processo inglese. La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno.it. https://www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it/news/notizie-nascoste/279900/vidi-restivo-che-tagliave-le-ciocche-da-potenza-in-video-testimonianza-per-il-processo-inglese.html

Martin, A. (2011, June 30). Danilo Restivo: The social misfit who turned into a double killer. Bournemouth Echo. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9114510.danilo-restivo-the-social-misfit-who-turned-into-a-double-killer/

Morris, S. (2011, June 29). Timeline: Danilo Restivo trial. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/29/timeline-daniel-restivo-murder-trial