Joseph Baldi: The Queens Creeper

History's Biggest Villains

On September 19, 1970, Areti and Dimitros Koularmanis and their three children traveled from Toronto to New York City for a family reunion. They were staying with his parents in their ground-floor apartment in Jamaica, Queens. At 4:30 the next morning, an intruder broke into the apartment and grabbed Areti, plunging his knife into her throat. She staggered out of the room, waking her husband before she collapsed on the floor. Areti died from her injuries and her killer escaped without getting caught. The man continued to break into homes after this until he was approached by police. He pulled out a pistol and tried to shoot the officers but the gun jammed. The man, now identified as Joseph Baldi, had several drivers licenses on him and was charged with attempted murder and theft. He was placed into a mental hospital to undergo treatment before his trial, but then he was moved to another facility. However, his new institution was not notified of Joseph’s pending charges and he was mistakenly released a month later, and it was only a matter of time before he claimed more victims.