Warren Harris (serial killer)

From February 14 to April 7, 1977, a total of five men were stabbed to death in New Orleans' French Quarter, all within a 20-block radius and near strip clubs or jazz parlors. Most of the victims shared many similarities: a majority of them were middle-aged, gay men who frequented the homosexual establishments in the French Quarter; all five had been stabbed to death; four of them were found slain in their own residences, and three had apparently died shortly after having sex. Due to the fact that most of the victims were known to be gay, this caused a panic within the New Orleans' gay community, which feared that they were being targeted by a single killer. The victims were the following:

The decision was eventually overturned, and Harris' trial began in October 1977. After less than a month, he was found guilty on three of the murder charges and sentenced to three consecutive life terms without the chance of pardon or parole.

Warren Harris, Jr. (born 1961), known as The French Quarter Stabber, is an American serial killer who, as a teenager, fatally stabbed four people, three of whom were gay men, in New Orleans' French Quarter from February to April 1977. Convicted for three of the murders, he was given three consecutive life terms without parole, which he is still serving to this day.

Little is known about Harris' upbringing. Born in New Orleans in 1961, he was presumably raised by his mother and his maternal grandfather, who was a well-respected Baptist minister in the city. From an early age, Harris started committing small-time crimes like purse snatching and thefts, and was incarcerated in 1974 for auto theft. Despite his criminal record, he was not considered a violent individual, and after dropping out of the eight grade, he moved in with a transsexual roommate in an apartment within the French Quarter.