Allyn Kemper, Ed Kemper’s younger sister, testified at his trial about an incident that happened in February 1973 between her brother and their mother:
“She came to me in March, no, February, because they had a real bad argument one night. They used to argue a lot. They also used to like to get into these intense conversations.
“My mother, just because of the kind of people she was around and the work she did, she liked to get in to people. She liked to get to know the real person. She liked real people and she could be real harsh. When she’d get uptight or mad, she could really cut to the bone. She did that a lot to my brother. She’d just strip him down and say, “You’re just like your father.”
“Just cutting. Just cutting right to the bone. She really did talk a lot when she should have shut her mouth. I mean there’s a point where you just don’t push people. She’d always go past that point.
“She had a lot of warmth and a lot of strength and a lot of heart, but I think she misguided it. Like, she could never openly—she admitted this. Also, she couldn’t express her love to somebody openly and say, “I really love you.” I can’t ever remember her saying that. She’d kind of go around, kind of beat around the bush.
“That’s when they would start fighting, when she was drinking and when he was drinking.
“She came over one time because my brother had hit her. She said he only hit her about three times but he’s pretty big. He says he hit her once, but he strung the glasses all out and she had bruises on her arms. This was about February. She said she kept herself in the house all weekend and didn’t answer the door because she didn’t want anybody to know. But she was telling me, and she was crying. She was afraid. She was scared. I told her right then, “Get him out of the house.”
“I said, “I’ll pack his stuff right now and put it on the porch.”
“I said, “Just get him out because next time might be too late.”
“I had a fear about him just because he had committed a murder before and if he got uptight and drank you never know. To me, he had emotional problems. I went home and talked to her for a couple of hours. Sue [Susan, their older sister] tried to calm her down a bit. I really tried to encourage her to get him out. She said, “Well, where would he go?”
“I said, “He’s twenty-three, twenty-four years old. He’ll find a place to go. That’s no problem. He’s a big boy now. Just get him out.”
“She said, “Well, I’ll talk to him tonight. We’ll have a talk about it.”
“I told her that I’d call her later to see how things were.
“I called her later and she said everything was fine. He said he was going to straighten up and they had a little session and everything was all right. Then he got on the phone.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but it made me really mad. But I also wanted to see if he’d say anything to me to see where his head was at.
“I told him, “I really love you.”
“I don’t know why, I just wanted him to know that I loved him and ask him how he was doing. He said, “Why don’t you quit playing games?”
“I said, “I’m not playing games.”
“Because I really did mean it at the time.
“He said, “I know that you know I hit mom.”
“He told her not to tell me. I said, “So?”
“He said, “That’s between me and her.”
“I said, “I really love you, but I don’t think you should stay there.”
“I knew they were having problems whenever they were together.
“He wouldn’t accept the fact that I was saying I loved him. It was really hard for him to ever accept anybody loving him or really really caring about him. So, we discussed that for a little bit.”
Sources: Murder Capital of the World by Emerson Murray, 2021 / Images are from the documentary The Co-Ed Killer – Mind of a Monster (2021)
