Steven Washington

At each crime scene, Washington left his fingerprints, usually on the windows he had climbed through. Due to this, he was arrested on January 3, 1964, and charged with the killings. Not long after, he confessed, though claimed he was suffering from insanity. In November, Washington pleaded guilty to the murders, and the following month was sentenced to serve three life sentences. In 1969, he was denied a retrial. In 1970, Washington attempted to appeal his convictions through a federal court. However, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied reviewing his case.

On August 28, 1963, Washington attacked a 52-year-old woman during a home invasion. He choked, sexually assaulted, and beat her, but ultimately decided not to kill her. Six days later he broke into the home of a 72-year-old woman. As he did before, he raped and beat her, and left without killing her. The two women reported their attacks, and one described her attacker as a black man who had a grin on his face while raping her.

Steven Washington Jr. (July 27, 1948 – March 18, 2004), known as The Window-Screen Rapist, was an American serial killer who attacked five elderly women during home invasions in St. Petersburg, Florida between August and December 1963, killing three. At the time of the attacks, he was only 15 years old, with his victims ranging in ages between 52 and 80. Having been convicted and sentenced to life in prison, he died while serving his sentence in 2004.

Steven Washington Jr. was born in St. Petersburg on July 27, 1948. Little is known about his upbringing, but in October 1963, due to Florida's child marriage laws, he married a 15-year-old girl named Gwendolyn, whom he fathered one daughter with.