"Headless Body in Topless Bar" convict says he's innocent

It's one of the most famous headlines in modern journalism, courtesy of the New York Post. Charles Dingle, the man convicted of the crime, is fighting to be paroled and tells the paper that he didn't commit the crime. According to investigators, Dingle was drinking at a strip club when he shot the owner in the head. He held four women hostage and raped one of them.

At some point, he learned that one of the women was also a mortician and tried to get her to remove the bullet from the owner's head, the Post reports. (No bullet, no way to tie him to the crime, right?) She wasn't able to, though, so Dingle allegedly made her cut off the man's head with a steak knife.

After terrorizing the women in the bar for hours, he released two of them and then hijacked a gypsy cab and took the other two with him -- along with the severed head in a box. He drove to Manhattan and parked on Broadway and 168th Street, where he passed out behind the wheel.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, cripjak!

Comments

[feels like Pat]

Drinking in a strip club, just minding his own business?

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Uh huh. No head in a topless bar. Figures. Vice squad would have busted the bar had there been head in the joint. I mean the club.

[Unbelievable]

Sounds like a horrific story.