Carroll Edward "Eddie" Cole[1] (May 9, 1938 – December 6, 1985) was an American serial killer who was executed in Nevada in 1985 for killing two women by strangulation.

His younger sister was born in 1939 and soon afterward, his family moved to California, where LaVerne found work in a shipyard.

"[3][4] As a teen, Cole committed several petty crimes and was frequently arrested for drunkenness and minor thefts.

Soon afterward, he called the police in Richmond, California, where he was living, and told them that he was plagued by violent fantasies involving strangling women.

At the last of them, Stockton State Hospital, a Dr. Weiss wrote: "He seems to be afraid of the female figure and cannot have intercourse with her first but must kill her before he can do it.

"[3] Weiss approved his release in April 1963, despite hospital staff having diagnosed Cole with antisocial personality disorder.

Cole's first victim as an adult was Essie Louise Buck, whom he had picked up in a San Diego tavern on May 7, 1971.

A suspicious neighbor called the police eight days later, but although they found Pashal's body wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a closet, they decided that she had died because of her heavy drinking, and Cole was released without charge after questioning.

The police then came to the conclusion that the victim had probably died of natural causes, and Cole was about to be ruled out as a suspect before he confessed to, along with this murder, all of the other killings.

Cole claimed that he had murdered at least fourteen women over the previous nine years, although he added that there may have been more and he couldn't remember exactly, as he was usually drunk when he committed his crimes.

[9] On the day of his execution, anti-death penalty campaigners, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the United Methodist Church of Reno, and fellow death row inmates tried to have his sentence commuted, but Cole protested.