John David Norman Weave of Activity (1940s–2011): Part 4 The Midwest Child Exploitation Pipeline
The Midwest Child-Exploitation Pipeline – Part 5John David Norman Weave of Activity (1940s–2011)
For nearly seventy years, one man operated in plain sight inside America’s civic clubs, churches, schools, and youth-service charities.
John David Norman (1927/28–2011) was not a hands-on serial killer like Dean Corll or John Wayne Gacy.
He was the quiet, mail-order backbone that kept the predators supplied — the largest known boy-exploitation and child-pornography distribution network ever uncovered in the United States.
He reinvented himself in city after city. With every new “pulse,” another region lit up.
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1940s–1956 | Houston Beginnings – The Respectable Mask
1943–1949 – Norman: Lamar High School leader, civic scholarships, children’s radio host on KTRH
1954 & 1956 – Twice arrested in Houston for molesting boys; both times walks with no lasting record
1960–1970 | Early Convictions – The Pattern Begins
1960 – California: contributing to delinquency; probation
1963 – Los Angeles County: lewd acts upon a child; prison time served
1970 – Federal: mailing obscene material; 15 months at McNeil Island
Jail → release → immediate rebuilding. Always.
1963–1969 | California Pulse (First Large-Scale Network)
Southern California (Long Beach, Orange County, San Diego)
Norman builds the prototype: tens of thousands of index cards cataloguing clients and “available” boys (personal preference 8–13; commercial material 10–16).
1970–1974 | Texas Pulse (Odyssey Foundation & the Corll Overlap)
1971–1973 – Dallas: Odyssey Foundation, a fake youth-welfare nonprofit masking a national trafficking and child-porn marketplace
Aug 8, 1973 – Dean Corll shot dead by Elmer Wayne Henley in Houston
Aug 9–10, 1973 – 27 bodies exhumed from Corll’s boat shed and other sites
Aug 14, 1973 – Dallas police raid Odyssey office → 30,000–100,000 index cards seized (35+ states)
1974 – Norman jumps bail and disappears
No proof Corll was a customer. Same cities, same years, same victim profile, same silence.
1973–1978 | Illinois Pulse (Norman → Paske → Gacy)
1973–1977 – South suburbs (Homewood, Park Forest, Chicago Heights); Chicago branch run under aliases
Jan 1977 – Arrested in Chicago Heights
Oct 1977 – Convicted of sodomy on a 14-year-old
1978 – Enters Stateville; dramatically expands the “Delta Project” from prison using outside operator Phillip R. Paske (b. 1953)
Feb 14, 1978 – Second massive Delta Project raid (Chicago) → another tens of thousands subscriber cards and photo sets seized
Parallel Chicago Predator Ecosystem (1968–1984)
John Wayne Gacy: 1968 Iowa conviction → 1970 parole → 1972–1978 murders 33 boys/young men
Phillip Paske: briefly on Gacy’s PDM Contractors payroll (rumor)
Robin Gecht (future Ripper Crew leader): loose, unconfirmed claims of odd jobs in Gacy’s orbit — no payroll record
1981–1982 Ripper Crew (Gecht, Kokoraleis brothers, Spreitzer): abduct and murder at least 18 women
No operational link proven between Ripper Crew and Norman/Gacy. Same hunting grounds, same runaway pools, same civic blind spots.
1976–1979 | North Fox Island (Michigan) Overlap
While Norman is incarcerated, the Frank Shelden / Gerald Richards “Brother Paul’s Children’s Mission” child-porn ring on North Fox Island uses the Delta Project mailing list for nationwide distribution. FBI-confirmed subscriber overlap; no evidence Norman physically participated.
1981–1984 | Post-Illinois Parole Pulse – The Final Free Years
Late 1981 – Paroled from Stateville
1981–1982 – St. Louis / East St. Louis: major Delta Project mail hub
1982–1983 – Tampa, Florida: short-lived front shut down quickly
1983–1984 – Rural Adams County, Pennsylvania: produces “Handy Andy” boy-exploitation magazine
May 31, 1984 – Raid; Norman flees again
1988 | Colorado Pulse
Convicted of child molestation; imprisoned
1995–2011 | Final California Pulse – Locked Away for Good
1995 & 1998 – Two federal child-pornography convictions
1999 – Declared sexually violent predator; civilly committed (Atascadero → Coalinga)
2008–2009 – Brief outpatient release revoked after contacting a minor
May 22, 2011 – Dies in custody at Coalinga State Hospital, age 83
The National Backbone (1963–1998)
Odyssey Foundation • Delta Project • Creative Corps • pen-pal clubs • mail-order “youth services”
Peak active clients: tens of thousands of names...
Names ever investigated: ≈1,000 (?)
Operational pulses in Texas, California, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, Michigan (via list), Pennsylvania, Colorado — mail routes touched all 50 states.
All throughout Norman's trek across the country, other scandals popped in spikes. Churches and those organizations that were a feeding trough for the depravity of his were busting with victim stories from within - While absolute direct connections are not clearly evident, it shows just how skilled Norman was at shapeshifting and how easily the candy store was for him to find.
The Week Texas Finally Looked
August 8–14, 1973
Six days.
Twenty-seven dead boys in Houston.
One hundred thousand index cards in Dallas.
Same state. Same summer. Same kind of boys.
No one connected the dots in real time.
No evidence Norman ever personally handed a boy to Corll, Gacy, Hansen, or the Ripper Crew.
The pipeline never needed collaboration.
It only needed no one looking.
Norman walked free for most of five decades.
The boys, once touched by his wake, never did. Nor did any girls - yes, there were girls damaged by him and his network. I am one.
Author's Note: I am disabled survivor using assistive technology, which changes day by day pending health - (#zebralife). For resources : RAINN or Support for Men at 1in6.org are lifelines.
I am a collateral victim of John David Norman - we are healing together.
I do hope this helps others realize they were not ever alone.
If any information is incorrect pls contact me or leave a comment. These are complex cases and a lot of bad information is already out there.
Next is
For nearly seventy years, one man operated in plain sight inside America’s civic clubs, churches, schools, and youth-service charities.
John David Norman (1927/28–2011) was not a hands-on serial killer like Dean Corll or John Wayne Gacy.
He was the quiet, mail-order backbone that kept the predators supplied — the largest known boy-exploitation and child-pornography distribution network ever uncovered in the United States.
He reinvented himself in city after city. With every new “pulse,” another region lit up.
.jpeg)
1940s–1956 | Houston Beginnings – The Respectable Mask
1943–1949 – Norman: Lamar High School leader, civic scholarships, children’s radio host on KTRH
1954 & 1956 – Twice arrested in Houston for molesting boys; both times walks with no lasting record
1960–1970 | Early Convictions – The Pattern Begins
1960 – California: contributing to delinquency; probation
1963 – Los Angeles County: lewd acts upon a child; prison time served
1970 – Federal: mailing obscene material; 15 months at McNeil Island
Jail → release → immediate rebuilding. Always.
1963–1969 | California Pulse (First Large-Scale Network)
Southern California (Long Beach, Orange County, San Diego)
Norman builds the prototype: tens of thousands of index cards cataloguing clients and “available” boys (personal preference 8–13; commercial material 10–16).
1970–1974 | Texas Pulse (Odyssey Foundation & the Corll Overlap)
1971–1973 – Dallas: Odyssey Foundation, a fake youth-welfare nonprofit masking a national trafficking and child-porn marketplace
Aug 8, 1973 – Dean Corll shot dead by Elmer Wayne Henley in Houston
Aug 9–10, 1973 – 27 bodies exhumed from Corll’s boat shed and other sites
Aug 14, 1973 – Dallas police raid Odyssey office → 30,000–100,000 index cards seized (35+ states)
1974 – Norman jumps bail and disappears
No proof Corll was a customer. Same cities, same years, same victim profile, same silence.
1973–1978 | Illinois Pulse (Norman → Paske → Gacy)
1973–1977 – South suburbs (Homewood, Park Forest, Chicago Heights); Chicago branch run under aliases
Jan 1977 – Arrested in Chicago Heights
Oct 1977 – Convicted of sodomy on a 14-year-old
1978 – Enters Stateville; dramatically expands the “Delta Project” from prison using outside operator Phillip R. Paske (b. 1953)
Feb 14, 1978 – Second massive Delta Project raid (Chicago) → another tens of thousands subscriber cards and photo sets seized
Parallel Chicago Predator Ecosystem (1968–1984)
John Wayne Gacy: 1968 Iowa conviction → 1970 parole → 1972–1978 murders 33 boys/young men
Phillip Paske: briefly on Gacy’s PDM Contractors payroll (rumor)
Robin Gecht (future Ripper Crew leader): loose, unconfirmed claims of odd jobs in Gacy’s orbit — no payroll record
1981–1982 Ripper Crew (Gecht, Kokoraleis brothers, Spreitzer): abduct and murder at least 18 women
No operational link proven between Ripper Crew and Norman/Gacy. Same hunting grounds, same runaway pools, same civic blind spots.
1976–1979 | North Fox Island (Michigan) Overlap
While Norman is incarcerated, the Frank Shelden / Gerald Richards “Brother Paul’s Children’s Mission” child-porn ring on North Fox Island uses the Delta Project mailing list for nationwide distribution. FBI-confirmed subscriber overlap; no evidence Norman physically participated.
1981–1984 | Post-Illinois Parole Pulse – The Final Free Years
Late 1981 – Paroled from Stateville
1981–1982 – St. Louis / East St. Louis: major Delta Project mail hub
1982–1983 – Tampa, Florida: short-lived front shut down quickly
1983–1984 – Rural Adams County, Pennsylvania: produces “Handy Andy” boy-exploitation magazine
May 31, 1984 – Raid; Norman flees again
1988 | Colorado Pulse
Convicted of child molestation; imprisoned
1995 & 1998 – Two federal child-pornography convictions
1999 – Declared sexually violent predator; civilly committed (Atascadero → Coalinga)
2008–2009 – Brief outpatient release revoked after contacting a minor
May 22, 2011 – Dies in custody at Coalinga State Hospital, age 83
The National Backbone (1963–1998)
Odyssey Foundation • Delta Project • Creative Corps • pen-pal clubs • mail-order “youth services”
Peak active clients: tens of thousands of names...
Names ever investigated: ≈1,000 (?)
Operational pulses in Texas, California, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, Michigan (via list), Pennsylvania, Colorado — mail routes touched all 50 states.
The Week Texas Finally Looked
August 8–14, 1973
Six days.
Twenty-seven dead boys in Houston.
One hundred thousand index cards in Dallas.
Same state. Same summer. Same kind of boys.
No one connected the dots in real time.
No evidence Norman ever personally handed a boy to Corll, Gacy, Hansen, or the Ripper Crew.
The pipeline never needed collaboration.
It only needed no one looking.
Norman walked free for most of five decades.
The boys, once touched by his wake, never did. Nor did any girls - yes, there were girls damaged by him and his network. I am one.
Author's Note: I am disabled survivor using assistive technology, which changes day by day pending health - (#zebralife). For resources : RAINN or Support for Men at 1in6.org are lifelines.
I am a collateral victim of John David Norman - we are healing together.
I do hope this helps others realize they were not ever alone.
If any information is incorrect pls contact me or leave a comment. These are complex cases and a lot of bad information is already out there.
Next is
Serial Killers orbiting the Midwest Child Exploitation Pipeline
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