Roxy Kalantari

Ira Einhorn, the “Unicorn Killer”, murdered his girlfriend, Holly Maddux, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Ira Einhorn, killer of girlfriend Holly Maddux, was a strong activist for Earth Day, despite the horrific crimes he committed.  That being said, Roxy and I wanted to give you all something to read today that you would not typically relate to Earth Day, April 22 this year.

Before:

On May 15th, 1940, Ira Samuel Einhorn was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with a degree in English in 1961. From there, he went on to teach an English class at Temple University from 1964 to 1965. He only taught there for one school year due to his discussions of cannabis and other drugs in his classroom which caused his contract for the next school year to not be renewed. 

During this time, Einhorn embarked on his journey to become a prominent activist in his community. He particularly acted on the topic of environmental issues and anti-Vietnam war movements. He was undeniably anti-war and anti-violence, which made him preach about love and peace to others in his speeches. At this time, he became well-known for his traditional hippie look; tie-dye shirts, long beard, and gap-toothed smile. He also nicknamed himself a “unicorn” because his last name translates to “one-horn”.

In addition, he claimed to have contributed to the idea of Earth Day, though it was denied by the event organizers, and was the “master of ceremonies” at the first Earth Day event. Due to his influential personality and background, many Fortune 500 companies, such as Walmart and Apple, recruited him to give advice on the future. When he was at the peak of his fame, in 1971, Einhorn ran for mayor for the city of Philadelphia. He ran in the democratic party, where he got 1,022 votes, and lost by a landslide with only 0.28% of the overall votes. 

In 1972, Einhorn met Holly Maddux, who would be his girlfriend and his first and final victim for the next five years. Throughout their relationship, they would constantly break up, and then get back together. This was until Maddux decided she could not continue the relationship, and broke up with Einhorn for the last time. She then left Philadelphia to move to New York City. When she returned to Philadelphia to collect the rest of her belongings, this would be the last time she came to this apartment, let alone left.

After:

Not knowing that she had died, Maddux’s parents and a few friends had become suspicious. She had never gone more than a few weeks without checking up on her parents and she had never come back from Philadelphia. Her parents decided to call the police, who did a courtesy check but had no reason to suspect any foul play happening. Unhappy with this, Maddux’s parents contacted two former FBI agents, hoping to solve the mystery of what happened to Holly. 

The agents contacted a couple that Einhorn and Maddux had gone to the movies with previously and discovered that this was the last time she was known to be alive. Over the next few months Einhorns neighbors had complained about a terrible odor and a mysterious red-brown liquid oozing into their apartments through their ceiling and Einhorns floors. It was later reported to the landlord, then the plumbers, and Einhorn refused to let anyone into one of the rooms in his house — a closet, locked from the outside with a padlock.

At 9 a.m., March 28, 1979, the two former FBI agents handed over the case to the police department who later got into the mysterious closet in Einhorn’s house. They immediately noticed the foul odors that the neighbors had previously complained about– an odor much like one of a decaying animal. The detective working on the case, detective Chitwood, found a steamer trunk in the closet filled with Styrofoam, air fresheners, newspapers, and after some digging, the mummified remains of Holly Maddux.

Einhorn was finally arrested for the murder of Holly Maddux and his bail was set at $40,000. After his hearing (and pleading not guilty), a wealthy socialite paid for his bail. Einhorns trial was set to take place in 1981 and fearing his freedom was in jeopardy, Einhorn immediately put his many followers and admirers to good use and fled to Ireland under a false identity. 

There were few sightings on Einhorn, but nothing was certain. Because of this, the court decided to continue with the trial in 1993, where his attorney tried to argue that the body was placed in his apartment. It only took about two hours for the jury to find Einhorn guilty and the judge sentenced Einhorn to a life sentence. 

Sixteen years passed and even though most investigators on the case had given up, there was still one detective who remained ever persistent — Richard DiBenedetto. After years of hard work, in 1997, Einhorn was finally found in a farmhouse in the southwest countryside of France under the name “Eugene Mallon”. He had a Swedish wife and his new neighbors were under the impression that he was a writer. 

After many years of complications, Einhorn was finally sent back to the U.S. in 2001 and dramatically tried to slit his own throat, which did not turn out to be very serious because he walked himself to the ambulance. During his trial, Einhorn stood his ground and continued with the defense that Maddux’s body had been planted in his apartment. In 2002, Einhorn was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Einhorn was in prison for 18 years before dying of “natural causes” on April 3, 2020.

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Hi everyone! It’s Roxy wishing you all a happy Earth Day. I hope you all enjoyed Ira Einhorn’s maddening story and did something to help the environment!