William Michael Dennis — The Murderer in the Wolf Mask
On Halloween night, 1984, in San Jose, California, William Michael Dennis would don a wolf mask and turn up at the home of his ex-wife, armed with an 18-inch machete. What happened next is one of the most brutal crimes in Californian history.
10 min readOct 31, 2021
William and Doreen met in 1975, William worked as a technician at the Lockhead Factory, which happened to be next door to where Doreen worked as a Physical Therapist.
Doreen was described as being “generous and cheery” whereas Michael was described as being “depressive and confrontational.” Despite this, it seemed to be a classic case of opposites attract and, after only a few months of dating, they married.
On 17th April 1976, Doreen gave birth to their first and only child, a son, who they called Paul.
The marriage, however, was doomed and Doreen filed for divorce in 1977.
She gained full custody of Paul but Michael, who loved being a father, saw his son every weekend, despite the marriage not ending on good terms.
