: The Britannica entry on the Garrote explains the device's origins in the Spanish Inquisition and its evolution into a handheld weapon.
To this day, the specter of the Red Garrote Strangler haunts cold case files. In 2019, a detective in Portland, Oregon, reopened a 1982 homicide after DNA technology advanced. The victim, a young man named Leo Petrov, had been found with a red bungee cord around his neck. The DNA did not match Harold Meeks, proving that either Meeks had an unknown accomplice or that a second, distinct "Red Garrote" killer existed. Red Garrote Strangler
"That’s a ‘Lover’s Hitch,’" she croaked. "Used to be used for tightening corsets in the old days. But this variation... only one man ties it like that. Benedict Vane. The Silk Weaver. He was a genius with a cord. Lost his mind when his wife passed. Said he was going to make the world beautiful again." : The Britannica entry on the Garrote explains