When twenty-seven-year-old James Bullock was shot and killed in St. Louis in the winter of 1958, investigators immediately focused their attention on Bullock’s wife, Edna, who was the beneficiary of her husband’s large life insurance policy. Witnesses recalled seeing the victim being chased by a man with a gun on the night of the murder, and detectives suspected Edna had arranged for her husband to be killed so she could collect the insurance money. They didn’t know it at the time, but St. Louis investigators were investigating what was to be the first victim in a decades-long career of a most unlikely hitman and serial killer.

Although they had their suspicions that Edna Bullock had enlisted the help of her ex-husband, Glen Engleman, in the murder of her new husband, it would take many more years before those suspicions were confirmed. And by that time, Engleman, a successful suburban dentist had taken the lives of several more people, all to satisfy his own interest in calculated and carefully planned assassinations.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

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References

Bakos, Susan. 1988. Appointment for Murder. New York, NY: Putnam.

Bryan, Bill. 1987. "Case closed." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, october 18: 77.

Ellis, James. 1976. "Killing of Kirkwood man may have been accident." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 7: 5.

Ganey, Terry. 1999. "Convicted killer Glennon Engleman dies at 71 in prison." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 4: 11.

Kansas City Star. 1958. "Shot, run over near museum." Kansas City Star, December 18: 1.

Mathes, Bob. 1979. "Clues sought in Madison County killing." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 6: 3.

McReynolds, Becky. 1980. "Many questions in new bomb killing." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 15: 1.

Reynolds, Becky, and Geof Dubson. 1980. "Dentist charged in 1976 killing." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 25: 1.

St. Clair Chronicle. 1976. "Shot to death in woods near Pacific." St. Clair Chronicle, September 8: 1.

St. Louis Post-Dipatch. 1958. "Mrs. Bullock's first husband won't talk at killing inquest." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 19: 1.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1980. "Car bomb linked to earlier one at victim's home." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 16: 3.

—. 1958. "Dentist and his friends questioned further in James Bullock killing." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 21: 1.

—. 1977. "Motive unclear in farm couple's killing." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 6: 18A.

—. 1958. "Police question wife of man shot to death in Forest Park." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 18: 1.

Wehling, Robert, and Robert Kelly. 1977. "Double killing stuns neighbors." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 5: 3.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

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Glennon Engleman: The Killer Dentist

Morbid

Glennon Engleman: The Killer Dentist