Stephen Marshall: Jigsaw Murders 2
Abstract
Stephen Marshall is a man who murdered several people, dismembered them, and scattered
pieces of his victims’ bodies across different areas. As a serial murderer, his crimes were labeled
the “Jigsaw murders”. Given this man dismembered his victims and scattered pieces of their
bodies, it is easy to see how he was coined “jigsaw”, and to see how the Saw Series movies are
partially based off this serial murdered and his crimes. Stephen Marshall is known to be a
vigilante serial murderer, as he targeted and killed individuals who committed crimes. He killed
his best friend, his landlord, and he also stated he killed four more men as well.
Stephen’s girlfriend, Sarah Bush, was found to have helped Stephen kill Jeffrey (landlord),
who was also allegedly his best friend, while they were both living with him. Research
demonstrates that several different criminological theories have been utilized to attempt to
explain why Stephen with help from his girlfriend, killed these men and then dismembered them.
Searching through research biological theories, general strain theory, and cultural theory are
utilized in the attempt to explain why Stephen Marshall committed the crimes he committed.
Jeffrey Howe was murdered between March 8th and 9th, 2009, while Stephen also stated he killed
four males between 1995 and 1998. And generally, during the investigation it seems that police
officers in the Major Crime Unit in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, had found pieces of bodies
spanning over 15 years that had been scattered.
In this paper the author will discuss how biological, general strain, and cultural theories
apply to this offender and the crimes that he has committed, and how these theories can be
applied. The author will also explore the concept of vigilante serial murder, as two of Stephen
Marshalls victims are known sex offenders. Just as the author will explore how cultural theories
can apply to this serial murderer’s path as a vigilante.
Stephen Marshall: Jigsaw Murders 3
Stephen Marshall: “Jigsaw Murders”
Stephen Marshall is originally American Canadian, who lived a lifestyle involving
spending a high amount of money on prostitutes and drugs. Through these activities he
developed criminal contacts, while being a professional body builder and a personal trainer. His
girlfriend Sarah was also a prostitute, and the two of them moved in with Jeffrey Howe in
November 2008. This couple murdered Jeffery just four months into living with him, and they
then dismembered him and scattered pieces of his body to avoid getting caught. Both killed
Jeffery for his money, while committing check fraud, and telling Jeffrey’s friends that he had
simply taken off.
Stephen and Sarah scattered the bodies pieces as their attempt to evade being caught and
captured, not for any other reason. As for Sarah, Stephen had blamed her for the murders and not
himself. Sarah was a prostitute at the time, a mother of two, and generally, she spent most of her
childhood in care facilities. This couple left blood behind in Jeffreys house, the car they used to
dump his body parts after dismembering him, and they were caught on CCTV while they drove
off to dump his body. Knowing all this the question becomes, which criminological theory or
theories best apply to the Jigsaw Murderer, who is essentially a vigilante serial killer. According
to Pettigrew (2020), “it is doubtful a unifying theory will ever account for all examples of serial
killing; how the offending behavior was created” (p. 69).
Stephen Marshall: Trial
When Stephen’s trial began during January 2010, it was generally known that in the
beginning he denied committing the murders, minimalized his participation in the crimes, and
put the weight of the blame on his girlfriend. The only thing he confessed to doing was helping
dismember and dispose of Jeffrey Howe’s body. Yet, to counter this, Sarah denied all
Stephen Marshall: Jigsaw Murders 4
involvement in the crimes and apparently declared herself as a drug user. Pettigrew (2020) made
a statement that applies to the interviews of this two, “even throwaway comments made by some
killers can reveal some personal sense of mitigation, excuse, or justification for the murder(s)
they have committed” (p. 70). Yet, witnesses from crime families that Stephen was both
associated with and had worked for in his past, had described what tools he utilized when he did
jobs for them.
For example, “a witness said that when working for the Adams crime family, Stephen
Marshall had used a meat cleaver, meat knives, a hacksaw, or a chainsaw to cut up bodies” (Fear,
2022). This demonstrates that Stephen Marshall was cutting and dismembering people prior to
meeting his girlfriend and killing Jeffrey Howe. This is relevant because he was known to
generally access sex offender registries to look up offenders and then he would target them as his
victim(s). He also initially plead not guilty during his trial, and then later he changed his plea to
guilty.
Stephen Marshall: “Saw Series” Analysis
The Saw Series is known to be a mixture of a horror and psychological thriller movie
franchise. This movie is based off Stephen Marshall in part, as well as based off other serial
murderers. Research indicates that part of the series is based off Stephen Marshall as he is a
vigilante serial killer who targeted known sex offenders because of the crimes they committed.
Research has been conducted on TV shows and movies that portray crime, serial offenders, etc.,
because this type of media is known to influence people’s beliefs, fears, and perceptions of serial
offenders themselves; as well as cause people to think these crimes are more common when they
are indeed rare.
Stephen Marshall: Jigsaw Murders 5
Each film in the Saw Series demonstrates that the lead character, John Kramer’s (Jigsaw),
“victims are selected because they have engaged in crimes or immoral acts that have gone
unpunished” (Oleson & MacKinnon, 2015, p. 36). John Kramer is portrayed as a serial killer
who wants his victims to learn, to acknowledge what they have done, and to ultimately change
their ways. This suggests that this character is pursuing “doing society a favor by succeeding
where the criminal justice system has failed” (Ibid., p. 39). This part of research demonstrates
that this character is a vigilante serial killer, like Stephen Marshall himself. The other similarity
between the real serial offender and the serial offender portrayed via this movie series, is that
both in their own way created opportunities where their victims had been dismembered.
While puzzles, traps, and machinery caused Jigsaw’s victims to become dismembered in
some way, Stephen Marshall and his girlfriend deliberately dismembered his victims and
scattered the pieces to evade being caught. Stephen also targeted individuals who committed
crimes and caused harm to others, as he was “branded a vigilante after murdering two persons on
the Maine sex offender registry on Easter Sunday” (Spencer & Ricciardelli, 2020, p. 380).
Stephen took justice into his own hands, just as John Kramer’s “mission-orientated killings are
designed to ensure a society in which there is justice for crime, value for life, and a universal
human determination to survive” (Oleson & MacKinnon, 2015, p. 39). It is likely Stephen
Marshall had similar motives and intentions when he targeted sex offenders, however, research
demonstrates that he never spoke about this when questioned and interviewed.
The Saw Series helps individuals “establish a celluloid universe in which notions of good
and evil, crime and punishment, justice and redemption can be explored by viewers” (Ibid., p.
42). This is humanities opportunity to begin exploring good and evil, to explore what is right and
what is wrong, to reinforce what norms and values are and are not accepted, etc. Media just
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enables humanity to explore these things in a safe way, as John Kramer is just a character in a
movie and commonly seen across fictional media outlets, whereas the rare serial offender like
Stephen Marshall is quite rare. Thus, this media shaping a public perception of vigilante
offenders like Stephen Marshall will either sway in favor of these actions or against these
actions.
Vigilantism and Serial Offenders
Vigilantism has multiple components to it and even different definitions given by
different individuals who have conducted research on this type of serial offender. According to
Cubellis et. al. (2018), the components of vigilantism are the following:
“(1) premeditation by those engaging in it; (2) private citizens who engage voluntarily
without government support; (3) acts of vigilantism constitute a social movement; vigilantism is
a reaction to acts of crime or deviance and a perceived failure of the system to respond
adequately to them; and acts of vigilantism seek to control crime” (p. 3).
This research demonstrates that vigilantes, whether they be a serial offender or an
isolated offender, whether commit acts solo or in groups, research demonstrates that these types
of offenders have become a social movement. Perhaps they have even become a cultural
movement. It is no secret that the stigmas associated with all types of sex offenders continues to
make them a viable target in the modern day for vigilantes of all types. These stigmas also are
applied to the friends, family, and significant others who are associated with these offenders or
prior offenders. However, to understand the vigilante offender is to better understand Stephen
Marshall, and even the criminological theories that can be applied to why he committed very
specific crimes.
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Whether it be Stephen Marshall or another vigilante, when these types of offenders target
their victims, they often bring attention to issues at hand. Specifically, vigilantism is known to
bring to light when and how the criminal justice system and police forces have failed to obtain
justice for what was done, and concerns regarding recidivism from these offenders. According to
Bateson (2021), “vigilantism suggests the law does not go far enough in preventing and
punishing offenses” (p. 932). Hence, when a sex offender (like Marshall’s victims), goes
unpunished, a vigilante may take actions to correct this lack of justice and punishment. When
vigilantes act it is generally with the intent to extend the law’s reach, cause a more severe
punishment, or both.
Research suggests that John Marshall was known to be a vigilante who pro-actively looks
for individuals to punish, whether they are an existing threat to others or not. Research would
suggest that his killings may have been more offensive in nature. Offensive vigilantism becomes
“more persistent over time, regardless of changes in the local security context” (Ibid., p. 936).
While there may have been years between the sex offenders and his best friend that Stephen had
murdered, it seemed that overtime it is likely that he would’ve searched the registry and pursue
more victims. Or it could be the opposite where he may have more victims that the criminal
justice system and law enforcement have yet been able to link to these two.
Additionally, researcW
