On June 1 in Detroit, Michigan, boardinghouse manager Fannie May, along with boarder Maureen Atorthy, were discovered murdered in the boardinghouse May oversaw. Their bodies were found by the building owner, Leonard Sink, who had arrived to collect rent funds from May. May had been garroted with an electrical cord cut from a table lamp. Police determined that the cord had been cut while the electric current was still circulating, and that the knife with which it had been done would show visible burning as well as a nicked blade. Two days later, Nelson murdered 27-year-old Mary Cecilia Sietsma in Chicago, Illinois. Sietsma was discovered by her husband on the floor of their home, strangled with an appliance cord. Several articles of men's clothing were also stolen from the home.