John Eric Armstrong and Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins: How do they compare?

June 24, 2025

John Eric Armstrong and Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins: How do they compare?

Armstrong in his most
recent prison photo.

Both hunted prostitutes on the gritty streets of the Motor City. Both killed in the 1990s -- one on the earlier side and one on the later side. Both strangled -- almost always manually, though sometimes with a ligature. But other than that, how do convicted serial killers Benjamin Atkins and John Eric Armstrong, the two subjects (so far!) of the Murders in the Motor City book series, compare?

Beyond the obvious difference in ethnicity, these two serials are of the same generation -- one born in 1968 and the other 1973. One died in prison and the other is still with us.

But where their cases diverge most strikingly is in their childhoods. Atkins' upbringing was a sad jumble of misfortune: a heroin-addicted prostitute mom who was largely absent, no father, a string of foster homes and a rather-harrowing stay at an inner-city home for boys, school truancy and some petty crimes as a juvie, alleged sexual abuse, early drug usage, and even his own "hustling" -- working prostitution at an early age. Add to that the confusion and guilt over his own sexuality: Atkins was in practice bisexual, but as far as his true sexuality -- whether or not it was homosexuality (he did rape the women he killed), the jury is still out. Only he really knew. Or perhaps he really didn't, according to the varying reports of law enforcement and psychiatric professionals who spoke with him after his arrest. Another interesting aspect of the Atkins case: After his arrest, he claimed to hear voices, or to have sort of alternate personalities, one of which -- the dominant one, Tony -- goaded him on to commit his crimes.

Benjamin Atkins, from
Detroit Police files.

None of those things were true for Armstrong's childhood. On paper, it was a normal one. There may have been some things going on there that we just can't confirm, according to the comments of a couple interviewees that could not actually be used in "The 'Baby Doll' Serial Killer" book. He had a biological father who left the family, but he has had a stepfather for almost all of his life that he calls Dad. His demeanor, his behavior -- all normal, according to those who knew him growing up. Maybe a little shy, but normal. He never got into trouble. And he spent most of the 1990s in the U.S. Navy and never raised any eyebrows there. He settled in Michigan in 1999 and worked normal jobs, a family man with a wife and toddler son and another child on the way at the time of his arrest. So what went wrong? While we can point to the awful circumstances of Atkins' childhood and nod our heads, in Armstrong's life, besides the unfortunate death of his baby brother in the crib when little Eric was only 5, there's not really any visible trauma to blame for his path to taking human life.

Both of these serials raise interesting points in the eternal question of nature vs. nurture when it comes to the motivations of a killer. For one, it almost seems cut and dried. For the other, not at all. So where does the truth lie? You can tell me what you think.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .