Barbara Kussow

Barbara Kussow’s short stories have appeared in The Storyteller. Her poetry has been published in ByLine, Main Channel Voices, Kaleidoscope (Akron, Oh.), Red Owl, Dos Passos Review, Danse Macabre, and Hospital Drive. Book reviews, book columns, and essays have appeared in local newspapers and Ohioana Quarterly. Ms. Kussow is editor and publisher of Still Crazy (<a href="http://www.crazylitmag.com">www.crazylitmag.com</a>). She blogs at <a href="http://www.bkussow.blogspot.com">www.bkussow.blogspot.com</a> and <a href="http://blog.crazylitmag.com">http://blog.crazylitmag.com</a>. Email: editor@crazylitmag.com

The Case of Rapist Dr. Edward F. Jackson

Dr. Edward F. Jackson

The case of Dr. Edward F. Jackson combined the elements of a lurid crime novel with an almost Shakespearean theme – a brilliant, prideful physician brought down by a fatal flaw. He was a man with a Jekyll-Hyde personality. By day, he was a respected internist. At night, he was a rapist, breaking and entering women’s apartments.

by Barbara Kussow

Dr. Edward F. Jackson’s respectable life began to unravel shortly after 6 a.m., on September 5, 1982. Jackson, a 38-year-old, prominent black physician in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested in the home of two women who were not at home at the time. In Dr. Jackson’s possession were a flashlight, ski mask, rope, gloves, pry tool, and a plastic bag. He was charged with possession of criminal tools and aggravated burglary. He was held in the Franklin County Jail on $75,000 bond, and then freed on a reduced $25,000 bond.

Three days later, local papers reported that Dr Jackson was being investigated in connection with a number of rapes occurring throughout Franklin County since the mid-1970s – rapes attributed to the so-called “Grandview Rapist,” who had worn surgical gloves during some of his attacks. (Grandview is a suburb of northwest Columbus.)

The next revelation was even more damning. Dr. Jackson was said to possess a list of 65 women and dates in his own handwriting. Many of the names on the list were known rape victims. (In a later report, the Columbus Dispatch (July 10 1984, 1B) reported that the list was disguised as a list of patients with the heading “P.I.D non GC (pelvic inflammatory disease, no gonorrhea).”