Bio

William P. Hanson was born in 1949 and lived in San Francisco, California. Contemporary reports identified Hanson as the son of psychiatrist Dr. Karl Hanson. At the time of the murders, William Hanson was in his early twenties and reportedly lived with his parents in the Forest Hill area of San Francisco.

According to later crime references and newspaper archive summaries, Hanson had a serious psychological disturbance connected to a reported sexual assault involving someone close to him. Some sources describe the victim as his sister, while other accounts refer to a former girlfriend. Because the sources conflict, the exact relationship should be treated as uncertain.

Authorities believed Hanson developed a delusional belief that he was avenging the rape by killing men who resembled the alleged rapist. His defense later argued that he was living in a fantasy world and believed he was trying to correct a wrong.

Before the murders, Hanson had reportedly been accused in February 1973 of attacking a businessman with a knife. That charge was reportedly dismissed when the alleged victim did not appear in court.

Murder Story

In 1973, San Francisco police began investigating two attacks later connected to William P. Hanson, who became known in press accounts as the “Paper Bag Killer.” The first confirmed killing occurred on October 16, 1973. Lorenzo Carniglia, 70, was attacked in San Francisco. Witnesses reportedly saw a young blond man carrying a gun inside a brown paper bag. The assailant fired at Carniglia and fled in a white van. Carniglia died several hours after the attack.

The unusual detail of the gun being carried in a paper bag led newspapers to refer to the unknown assailant as the “Paper Bag Killer.” The second killing occurred on December 20, 1973. Ara Kuznezow, 54, was killed in San Francisco while waiting at a mission for a free breakfast. Like Carniglia, Kuznezow was described as resembling the man Hanson believed had raped someone close to him.

On January 25, 1974, a friend of Hanson reportedly contacted police after Hanson confessed that he had been trying to kill the rapist of a young woman. According to reports, Hanson believed he had killed the same person more than once, but that the man kept coming back.

Detectives compared Hanson to the description of the killer and quickly focused on him as a suspect.

On January 26, 1974, police went to the home where Hanson lived with his parents. Hanson did not resist arrest. Reports state that he showed investigators the rifle used in the Kuznezow killing. The revolver believed to have been used in the first killing had already been discarded, but police found another revolver under his mattress.

Hanson reportedly confessed to the crimes. In 1974, Hanson was declared legally insane. Instead of receiving a prison sentence, he was committed to Atascadero State Hospital, a California psychiatric hospital for mentally disordered offenders.