Heidnik started to develop psychological issues around 1962 after he joined the army. He was later released around 1963, because of his suicidal attempts: for example he tried eating a light bulb. Because of his issue he was in and out of mental hospitals about 21 times. Heidnik’s girlfriend in 1978 had a sister who was a mentally challenged black woman. Her behavior was as if she was a baby even though she was 34 years old. She lived in a mental institution when the girlfriend and Heidnik got permission to take her out for some time but failed in bringing her back. He later would rape and sodomized the girlfriends’ sister. This was his first arrest only serving 4 years for his crime.
After his release he married a mail ordered bride who would later have a son for him, but she would soon leave Heidnik. He used to force her to watch him have sex with prostitutes. Gary Heidnik later came up with a crazy idea of having a baby factory. This led him to abduct, incarcerate and impregnate 6 women.
His victims were African American woman. His first victim was Josefina Rivera, age 25 and was kidnapped on November 25, 1986. She was leaving the house after a fight with her boyfriend, when Heidnik pick her up in a silver and white Cadillac Coupe De Ville. She was a part-time prostitute. After having sex in the house of Heidnik, he then forced her into the basement where he chained her to a pipe leaving her half naked. His second victim Sandra Lindsay, age 24 and was kidnapped on December 3, 1986. He would later kidnap 4 more women to make his slave. All the women were brutally beaten rape and torture on a daily basis. He even became worse because he wanted to develop new way to torture the women. This made Heidnik use shock therapy and he would also shove screwdrivers into their ears to make them go deaf, so they wouldn’t hear him when he was coming. Sandra murdered in February 1987, because she couldn’t withstand his torture. Heidnik would later dismember the body which he uses to feed his dog. He kept some parts frozen but the head of Sandra was in a pot boiling.
Josefina somehow manages to sneak out; escaping from the mud pit Heidnik was keeping her in and ran to her boyfriend house, telling him everything that had happened. They call the police who at first didn’t believe they story but still checked it out. They were in disbelief of their eyes what they found.
On July 6, 1999, Heidnik was executed by lethal injection at SCI Rockview. He was found guilty on 18 counts including two counts of first degree murder. After his execution, no one came forward to claim his body.