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Robert Herndon Davison and daughter Frances

Aunt Frances and the Strangler

Dora Davison recalls this story about Aunt Frances and the Cincinnati Strangler who terrorized the city between

1965 and 1966 when he raped and then killed seven mostly older women. The whole community was on alert,
with women carrying whistles to blow if they were in danger. As the police were closing in on the strangler,
news came that he was thought to be hiding in a wooded field behind Aunt Frances’ house. Earlier that day,
Aunt Frances saw a strange man coming to her door. She had been busy chopping food in the kitchen and took

her heavy duty knife with her as she answered the door. As she wielded the knife to punctuate her sentences,
she let the man know in no uncertain terms that he was not welcome. Dora had a piano lesson near where
Aunt Frances lived and her piano teacher had laid a gun across her piano, just in case they should have an un‐

wanted visitor that day.