Ira Einhorn | Biography

Living in Philadelphia during the 1970s, Ira Einhorn was a well-known hippie who immersed himself in the drug culture and referred to himself as the Unicorn. Einhorn became a self-proclaimed leader of the anti-war movement and was against purportedly corrupt political institutions. Einhorn also preached in favor of saving the environment. Einhorn taught at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960s and at Harvard University in the 1970s.

In 1972, Einhorn met Helen Maddux, who went by the name Holly. The oldest of five children, Maddux was born and raised in Texas and attended Bryn Mawr College, a small liberal arts institution for women. After her graduation, Einhorn and Maddux began dating and eventually lived together in Philadelphia. Theirs was a rocky relationship plagued with open infidelity by Einhorn. In 1977, Holly told her younger sister, Elisabeth, that she planned to leave Einhorn when they arrived home after vacationing in London, England.

Maddux's sister was the last family member to see Maddux alive. In early 1977, Maddux disappeared. Friends who asked Einhorn about her whereabouts were told that she left the apartment one day to go to a food co-op and never returned. After family members did not hear from Maddux for a few weeks, they became suspicious. They reported her missing to the Philadelphia police, who stated that they did not find any evidence of foul play. Unsatisfied, the Maddux family hired a private investigator who eventually led authorities to discover Maddux's death.

The investigation revealed that a student living in the apartment below the couple heard screams coming from the apartment sometime in the fall 1977. Some time later, a pungent, dark-colored liquid dripped down into the student's apartment from the ceiling above. The student called the landlord, who was refused entry by Einhorn when he tried to investigate the problem. After being informed of this chain of events by the private investigator, on March 29, 1979, homicide detectives entered Einhorn's apartment and discovered the body of thirty-year-old Holly Maddux in a trunk in the closet.

Einhorn was arrested on the charge of murder, a charge he refuted by claiming that he was set-up by the Central Intelligence Agency. Einhorn's trial was set to begin in January of 1981. Out on bail for a mere $40,000 paid by a Montreal socialite politically aligned with him, Einhorn disappeared. It was not until 1997 that Einhorn was discovered to be living in the French countryside with his wife, under the name Eugene Mallon. During his many years as a fugitive, Einhorn was convicted in absentia for the Maddux murder, and the Maddux family had won a $907 million wrongful death judgment against him. Despite an extradition treaty between the United States and France, officials in France initially refused to return Einhorn, where he would serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. In August of 2000, however, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin finally signed the extradition order, but Einhorn appealed the extradition order and as of 2000 had not returned to the United States.