Melvin Rees

Melvin David Rees (1928 – October 26, 1995) was an American serial killer who committed five murders in Virginia and Maryland between 1957 and 1959. He murdered and sexually assaulted (in that order) Margaret Harold, the girlfriend of US Army soldier Sgt. Roy D. Hudson, during a highway encounter near Annapolis. Two years later, he tortured and murdered the four members of the Jackson family near Fredericksburg, Virginia. After his conviction for the killings, Rees confessed to two other murders, and authorities believed he was involved in two more. Prior to his arrest and imprisonment, Rees was a lover of actress and topless dancer Pat Barrington and was a prominent jazz musician in the Washington, D.C. area. Little is known about Rees' childhood and upbringing and some rumors suggest he was born in the UK but disowned and sent away to live in America at a very young age. He attended Edwards Military Institute in Salemsburg, NC and the Woodward School for Boys in Washington, DC before graduating from Hyattsville High School in Maryland. He entered the army in October 1946, serving as a military musician in Europe until his discharge in 1953. After returning to the US, Rees attended the University of Maryland (UMD) in College Park, just outside Washington, D.C. Classmates at UMD would later recall Rees being a talented musician, showing skill with the saxophone, piano, and clarinet. Rees dropped out of UMD before he could graduate, ostensibly to pursue a musical career. He travelled around the D.C. area, playing at local jazz clubs. In July 1954, he married fellow UMD student Elaine Rachmaninoff. The marriage lasted 5 years and the couple had a son, Philip. In 1955, Rees was arrested on charges of assaulting an unidentified 36-year-old woman. Rees had tried to force her into his car, but she escaped. The victim, however, did not press charges, and the case against Rees was dropped. By 1959, Rees was living in Hyattsville, Maryland, with actress and topless dancer Pat Barrington, who was later identified in press reports as his wife.