Summary of Offense:

Thomas Creech was already serving two life sentences for two 1981 Valley County murders when, on May 13, 1981, he beat David Dale Jensen — a physically handicapped nonviolent offender — to death with a sock full of batteries.

Accounts of the incident differ, according to court documents. In some versions, Jensen — armed with a razor blade attached to a toothbrush — attacked Creech first. In others, Creech attacked Jensen at the behest of other inmates, who promised to pay him or help him escape.

Whatever the case, court officials decided, Jensen’s death was the last straw. Creech pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to death in Ada County court.

But, court documents suggest, more than three may have died at Creech’s hands. He confessed to at least 26 other murders, not all of which were ever substantiated. Some were dismissed by investigators as flights of fantasy. But a U.S. Supreme Court opinion filed by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 1992 paints a picture of a trail of death stretching across multiple states.

“The bodies of 11 of his victims who were shot, stabbed, beaten or strangled to death have been recovered in seven states,” O’Connor wrote. “Creech has stated repeatedly that, unless he is completely isolated from humanity, he will likely continue killing. And he has identified by name three people outside prison walls he intends to kill if given the opportunity.”