Joseph Clark
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Joseph Clark, AKA The Bonebreaker Killer, is a Wisconsin man responsible for the murder of Chris Steiner and the kidnapping, torture and attempted murder of Thad Phillips. Clark's nickname was derived from his M.O. of breaking the bones in his victim's legs, the sound of which he enjoyed.
Biography edit
On 4 July 1994, the then 16-year-old Clark abducted 14-year-old Chris Steiner from his Baraboo home. He then proceeded to slowly break his leg bones before throwing him in a pond, where he drowned due to his injuries leaving him unable to swim. Steiner's body was found six days later. Police suspected it was a murder but were unable to find enough evidence to prove it and the cause of death was written off as accidental drowning.
On 29 July 1995, Clark broke into the house of 13-year-old Thad Phillips and abducted him while he was asleep, taking him back to his house. When Thad woke up, Clark lured him into his room, tackled him onto his bed and twisted his ankle until the bone snapped. Despite his injury Thad was able to get up and attempted to run away, but was caught by Clark and beaten and kicked until he could no longer run.
Over the next few days Clark continued to torture Thad by breaking his bones, at one point bending his leg until his thigh snapped. In addition to this he broke Thad's knees, jumped up and down on his chest and even attempted to smother him with a pillow. After breaking Thad's bones he would place him in leg braces to allow him to walk around the house. Whenever Clark left the house he would lock Thad in a cupboard until he got back. During this 43-hour period Clark also admitted to having done the same thing twice before: once to Chris Steiner and once to an unidentified person whose existence has never been verified.
Thad eventually escaped after Clark left him alone to go to a party one day, allowing him to throw himself down the stairs, crawl over to a phone and call 911. The police arrived that the house and called an ambulance for going round to the party and arresting Clark. A search of his house revealed a notebook in which Clark listed the names of numerous local teenagers he planned to kidnap and torture, including several upon whom he intended to use "the leg thing". Thad's testimony that Clark had admitted to doing the same thing before also lead to the re-opening of Chris Steiner's death.
Clark was convicted of kidnapping, murder and attempted murder and sentenced to 100 years in prison. He was also successfully sued by Thad Phillips, forcing him to pay $21 million in damages. A 1998 appeal against his conviction was rejected by the district court.