Gary Heidnik spent time in prison for a crime similar to the one that made him infamous and helped inspire The Silence Of The Lambs. So how did he end up a free man?

Gary Heidnik, who kidnapped women and tortured them inside his Philadelphia basement, committed crimes so heinous he helped inspire a popular horror movie character.

After kidnapping six women, Gary Heidnik’s ultimate goal was to impregnate them all in a twisted “birthing harem.” By that point, however, Heidnik already had multiple children.

Preacher Gary Heidnik kidnapped six women and held them captive in his basement, where he raped and tortured them for months in one of Philadelphia’s most horrifying crimes.