Philip Joseph Hughes Jr.: The East Bay Strangler
Overview
Philip Joseph Hughes Jr., born on January 29, 1948, was an American serial killer who operated in Northern California during the early 1970s. Commonly called the "East Bay Strangler," Hughes was convicted of murdering three young women in and around Contra Costa County. His known crimes occurred between November 1972 and March 1975 and involved abduction, sexual violence, strangulation, stabbing and blunt-force trauma.
Hughes did not always act alone. His wife at the time, Suzanne Perrin, participated in aspects of his crimes and later became the prosecution's most important witness. Perrin said that she helped Hughes identify possible victims, assisted in at least one abduction and took part in concealing a victim's body. She eventually received immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying against him.
The Murder of Maureen Patricia Field
Maureen Patricia Field was a 19-year-old woman from Pleasant Hill, California. On November 14, 1972, she finished working a shift at a Kmart store and waited for her father to collect her. Before he arrived, Hughes offered Maureen a ride. When her father reached the store, he was told that she had already left.
Two days after Maureen disappeared, her family received a disturbing telephone call from a man who claimed that he had killed her. The caller provided no useful explanation and did not contact the family again. Maureen remained missing for approximately three months.
On February 15, 1973, her badly decomposed body was discovered beside Morgan Territory Road in a rural part of Contra Costa County. Investigators determined that she had been stabbed and strangled. Although her remains were not recovered until 1973, official records place her death on November 14, 1972, the date she disappeared.
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