Victor Licata
American mass murderer who killed his own family members with an axe
Victor Licata (c. 1912 – December 4, 1950), also known as the Dream Slayer, was an American mass murderer who used an axe to kill his family in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, on October 16, 1933. The killings, which were reported by the media as the work of an "axe-murdering marijuana addict", were adduced as prima facie evidence that there was a link between recreational drugs, such as cannabis, and crime. This led to the killings being used in 1930s anti-drug campaigns against marijuana.
Recent research has revealed that marijuana was never referenced in any of Licata's psychiatric reports nor was it considered a contributing factor in the homicides. Instead, it has been confirmed that Licata had been diagnosed with a mental illness and measures were being taken to institutionalize him prior to the murders.
Two weeks after the murder of his family, 21-year-old Licata was declared unfit to stand trial for reasons of insanity and committed to the Florida State Hospital for the Insane. He escaped, was later recaptured and hanged himself in prison in 1950.
Murders
On October 16, 1933, 21-year-old Victor Licata used an axe to murder his parents, two brothers, and a sister while they were asleep. All died from blows to the head. The next morning police discovered a confused Licata in a bedroom of the family home.
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This entry incorporates text from “Victor Licata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.