American guru and ’60s celebrity, once Philadelphia’s leading hippie and self-described “planetary enzyme,” later known as “The Unicorn Killer,” a moniker that comes from his surname Einhorn, which means “unicorn” in German.
Networking among activists, scientists and business people, he was the peace and love guru. He ran a comic mayoral campaign and Philadelphia’s first Be-In, managing to befriend the police despite his advocacy of the use of LSD. He was also a competent astrologer. In the ’70s he persuaded Bell Telephone to finance a networking scheme. With his wild laugh, bearded and bespectacled, he was the local answer to Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg.
A graduate of the University of Philadelphia, he lived near his alma mater, exercising his overpowering ego and domineering, sometimes violent relationships with women. There were two episodes in which he attacked women who rejected him, strangling one to unconsciousness and a few years later, hitting another over the head with a soda bottle. He wrote in his journal, “Violence often marks the end of a relationship.”
On 7 October 1972 he met Holly Maddux (b. 26 May 1947, Tyler, TX) in Philadelphia, a striking blonde and former cheerleader of her Texas high school. She was finding her way after college when she first visited him. He later boasted that “they were having sex an hour later.” She moved in for the next five years before leaving him in 8 September 1977. Einhorn pleaded and threatened until she returned the following day. The next night they went to a movie and it was the last that anyone ever saw Holly.
Neighbors later complained about the stench in Einhorn’s apartment, but it was probably attributed to his hippie lifestyle. Holly’s family hired a detective who worked on the case for a year before they had enough evidence to seek a search warrant. On 28 March 1979, they found Holly’s decomposing body in a trunk in Einhorn’s closet. She had been beaten to death, her skull so fractured that it was impossible to tell how many blows had fell. Her body was covered with a newspaper dated 15 September 1977.
Einhorn said he had been framed, and after a lifetime of not answering for his actions he had no intention of starting now. On the eve of his trial, 6 January 1981, he skipped his $40,000 bail (that had been secured by his mother’s house) and fled to Ireland, a country that did not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. at that time. He was a sophisticated traveler and had friends that ranged from the jet set to world-class scientists to rock stars. In Ireland he took the alias of Ben Moore and became a local guru to the university students.
In the Maddux family, Holly’s ailing dad took his own life in 1988. Two years later her mom died. But her siblings, Meg, 41, John, 49, Buffy, 38, and Mary, 35, (in 1990) kept hopes alive that some day Einhorn would pay for his crime.
In December 1986, Jean Marie Morrison, a five-year girlfriend, returned to the U.S. and revealed that he was in Stockholm with a new girlfriend.
In 1993, Philadelphia’s D.A. tried Einhorn in absentia, easily winning a murder conviction on 29 September, a hollow victory. Einhorn had been a fugitive for 12 years, keeping one step ahead of pursuers.
On 13 June 1997, Einhorn was finally captured in a charming village in southwest France, living with his wealthy companion, Annika Flodin, whom he had married in 1992. He claimed that the KGB or CIA set him up, putting Holly’s body in his trunk in his closet, putting a lock on the door and the key into his possession.
After six months in Gradignan Prison, despite the fact that Einhorn was an American citizen convicted of an American murder on American soil, the French courts refused to extradite him. Because the trial had been in absentia, Judge Michel Arrighi, after a one-minute hearing, set him free, “Ira Einhorn soit mis en liberté.”
The Maddux family were devastated as an exultant, blue-jeaned 57-year-old killer celebrated his good life, driving into Champagne-Mouton with his wife in her red Fiat.
On 20 January 1998, Pennsylvania agreed to a re-trial, the point that France insisted upon, and, upon a U.S. request, France scheduled a review of the case for 1 December 1998. In February 1999, he was cleared for extradition. His appeal was denied in May 1999 when France’s Supreme Court ruled that he was to be returned to the U.S. to stand trial in person. In March 2000, he was still dragging his feet in France, avoiding extradition on legal loopholes. The high court threw out an appeal in May 1999 and it was now up to Prime Minister Jospin to decide on the extradition decree.
In a related civil case, a Philadelphia jury ordered Einhorn to pay the family of his victim $907 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit on 28 July 1999. The verdict was intended not for the family to immediately receive cash, but rather to keep Einhorn from profiting off of a potential book or movie deal.
In July 2000, Jospin order his extradition with the specification that he be granted a new trial. With legal delays, the extradition order came through on 12 July 2001. Einhorn slit his throat in an apparent suicide attempt, though it was such a superficial wound that some said it was a delay tactic.
After 16 years on the run, his trial began on 30 September 2002. On 18 October 2002 he was sentenced to a mandatory life term without the possibility of parole.
Einhorn began serving his sentence at SCI Houtzdale. In April 2016, he was transferred to SCI Laurel Highlands, a minimum security prison that provides care for inmates with health needs.
Einhorn died in prison on 3 April 2020 at age 79 in Somerset, Pennsylvania.

Link to Wikipedia biography