Murder Mansion

Hadden Clark

Hadden Clark's Childhood Years

Hadden Clark grew up in an affluent home in Troy, New York, with alcoholic parents who were abusive to their four children. Not only did Hadden suffer the abuse that his siblings suffered, but his mother, when drunk, would dress him in girl's clothing and call him Kristen. His father had another name for him when he was drunk. He would call him "retard."

The emotional and physical abuse took its toll on the Clark children. One of his brothers, Bradfield, murdered his girlfriend, cut her into pieces, then cooked and ate part of her breasts. When he sobered up he confessed his crimes to police.

His other brother, Geoff, was convicted of spousal abuse and his sister, Alison, ran away from home when she was a teen and later denounced her family.

Hadden Clark showed common psychopathic tendencies during his childhood years. He was a bully who seemed to enjoy hurting other kids and also found pleasure in torturing and killing animals.

Unable to Hold Down a Job

After leaving home, Clark attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where he trained and graduated as a chef. The credentials helped him gain employment at top restaurants, hotels and on cruise liners, but his jobs would not last due to his erratic behavior.

After going through 14 different jobs between 1974 and 1982, Clark joined the U.S. Navy as a cook, but apparently his shipmates did not like his propensity to wearing women's underwear and on occasion would beat him. He received a medical discharge after being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

Michelle Dorr

After leaving the Navy, Clark went to live with his brother Geoff in Silver Springs, Maryland, but was asked to leave after he was caught masturbating in front of Geoff's young children.

While packing up his belongings, six-year-old neighbor, Michelle Dorr, came by looking for his niece. No one was home, but Clark told the young girl his niece was in her bedroom and followed her into the house where he butchered her with a knife and cannibalized her, then buried her body in a shallow grave in a near-by park. The child's father was the key suspect in her disappearance.

Laura Houghteling

In 1992, Clark was working as a part-time gardener for Penny Houghteling in Bethesda, Maryland. When Laura Houghteling, Penny's daughter, returned home from college, Clark resented the competition it created for Penny's attention. As a result, he murdered her and buried her in a shallow grave near a campsite where he was living.

He was arrested within days of the murder and received a 30 year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second degree murder.