killerspectrum

[killerspectrum]

CRIME SCENES THROUGH THE DECADES

By the mid 60s, forensic developments included identification of firearm residues left on skin and clothing.  Breathalyzer tests to determine sobriety and post-mortem cooling techniques had been perfected. 

Looking back at death scenes from the 1960s.

1965, Indianapolis.  The well known murder of 16-year old Sylvia Likens. 

1966, Austin, Texas.  Margaret Whitman, mother of Austin Tower killer.

..And his wife. 

Manson Murders- 1969

Celebrity hair stylist Jay Sebring, below.

Coffee heiress, Abigail Folger.

Investigators at the Sharon Tate crime scene, Los Angles.

June 1960, Van Nuys shooting.  Valerio Street. 

1967 Ohio, 14- year old Eileen Adams dump site. 

1967, Michigan Co-ed Killer crime scene. 

January 1966 Bronx.  “Gambler”

Irene Garza crime scene.  She was murdered by a priest in Texas, 1960.

1966, over in the UK, Harry Roberts killed three police officers.

October 1969, San Francisco.  Zodiac Victim, Paul Stine.

#crime scenes #60s #nsfw #death #murder #vintage

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BOSTON’S MOST FAMOUS COLD CASE

Karina Holmer

A case that has plagued the city for over 20 years starts with happy origins and ends with her torso stuffed in a trash bag.  Karina Holmer was a friendly, happy Swedish girl who moved to the United States after winning the lottery.  She took her $1500 in winnings, moved to Boston and started working as an au pair.

Enjoying her time in America, the 20 year-old would often go out on the weekends with her friends.

On the last night of her life, June 21st, 1996, Karina and her friends danced the night away at the now defunct, Zanzibar Night Club in the Theater District of Boston, a popular hang out with the local au pairs. 

Around closing time, the intoxicated Karina ended up getting separated from her group.  From that point on, there was only contradicting witness statements and wild theories.  Some claimed that the young girl was last seen around 3 AM with a homeless man, dancing down the alley.  Another witness claims they saw her getting into various vehicles that night.  Yet another witness described a silver car Karina had supposedly gotten into. 

The search for the missing Swedish nanny only last 36 hours. 

A homeless man rummaging for cans on Boylston Street, found her upper body in a trash bag about a block away from where she was last seen alive. 

Karina’s body was cut in half with a saw and the torso had been wiped clean, removing most of the DNA or fibers that might have been found.  Visible rope marks on her neck suggested the manner of death was strangulation.

The lower half of the au pair was never found. 

Investigators believed she was severed in half for logistical or practical reasons, such as easier body disposal and transportation.  However, I suspect the killer was particularly interested in the lower half specifically and kept it for nefarious reasons. 

Despite a partial fingerprint found on the trash bag and plenty of potential suspects, including her boss and a local police officer, no one has been officially linked to the crime.

The current status of the case is summed up by Sgt. Thomas O’Leary, one of the first cops on the scene that day,  "I'm as puzzled as I was 20 years ago.”

#cold cases #murder #dismemberment #death #unsolved #boston

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CRIME SCENES THROUGH THE DECADES

Looking back at death in the 1950′s.

July 1953, unknown murder.

1951, Hollywood.  Mob hit.

Crime Scene 1955 The victim's husband shot her 3 times because, "It seemed the only way out".

The last phone call, July 1953

1953, Los Angeles.  Ruled a suicide. 

1950s, Germany.   Destitute mother kills all her children and then commits suicide.  

1953, Los Angeles.  Gunshot.

1950s, Another murder-suicide.

Two men discarded down an elevator shaft.  Mafia related.   More tripod legs. 

1950s, Uknown murder.

And of course, the infamous Ed Gein, Wisconsin. 1957.

#crime scene #1950s #death #murder #vintage #ed gein #tw

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NEVADA

After such dramatic claims of being a "deadly" state with a high rate of violent crimes, I assumed this was going to be a bloody post with some fascinating characters.

Nope.  Couple of mass murderers, sure, but I was hard pressed to find serial killers in this state.  In my desperate search for dirt on Nevada, I came across a hot lead on some 'serial killing'... and after 20 minutes of reading, I realize that someone's cattle is being picked off.  One by one.  Oh, fuck me.

Anyway.  There were only 33 victims attributed to serial killers during the 80's, which basically means they were unscathed by the SK epidemic rolling across the US at the time. 

Naturally, a transient state with mobsters and hit men, there's going to be plenty of dead bodies but hardly any confirmed cases of multiple homicide.  

Plenty of known serial killers have passed through Nevada (who hasn't) on their way to other murderous destinations, but the 7th largest state in the US has only one confirmed and convicted serial killer who sorta made Nevada their home turf.  

 Color me shocked.  You would think there would be a long history of serial killers given the opportune geographical perks of this mountainous state.

Maybe the 928 atomic bomb explosions in the area may have been a turn off. Or, maybe they all died of dehydration. 

SERIAL KILLER

CARROLL COLE

Las Vegas

Killed 14

1971-1980

Carroll Cole could’ve written a book about getting away with murder.

Prone to violence as a small child, Cole committed his first homicide at the tender age of 10 when he drowned his 7 year-old playmate in a pond for kicks. Declared an accident by local police, he had gotten away with his first murder before puberty.

As he grew older, he became a man of many nasty qualities.  Near genius-level intelligence, wicked alcoholic, necrophiliac, and murderer.   Real charmer.

Eventually, Cole moved to San Diego where he started killing again and continued to get away with it for nine years.

He preferred finding his victims walking in parking lots, where he would strangle them before bringing them home where he would act out necrophilia fantasies.   Mostly wasted during his crimes, he would capture what he would consider "loose" women to cope with his raging Mommy Issues. 

In addition to random strangers, Cole also killed his wife.  

Neighbors had heard some disturbing noises coming from the couple’s apartment, and when they didn’t see the wife for eight days afterwards, they called the police.   

Naturally, when investigators found Cole’s dead wife in a closet, rolled in a blanket, they decided she had drank herself to death and labeled it an ‘accidental death’.  Sounds legit, because most dead people I know, like to wrap themselves up in blankets before eventually found- a week later.

Cole was free to continue killing, and he did. 

Several in San Diego, several in Nevada before moving on to Texas, where he was finally apprehended. 

After being called to the scene of a disturbance, cops literally found Cole having a drink, relaxing next to a corpse.  Since there were no sigbs of violence, investigators in Texas declared another accidental death and he was free to go.

Before they could shut the door behind them, Cole stopped them.  He told them to have a seat and confessed to several murders across the country.  In addition to any corpses in his personal space.  

It’s unknown if he was just exhausted from all that activity or  just wanted to brag, as he went on to claim 35 victims.

Cole was taken back to Nevada where he was sentenced to death, as per his request.   He died in 1985 after waiving all appeals. 

UNSOLVED SERIAL KILLINGS:

LEMMON VALLEY

4 Killed

1971-1981

All four victims found in the dusty and rural community of Lemmon Valley had similar profiles:

Murdered by blunt force trauma to the back of the head.

All of them were in their Teens, with the exception of Julia Woodward, who looked young enough to be mistaken for a teen.

Hair styles and physical characteristics. 

Last seen hitchhiking, walking or otherwise on foot at the time of their disappearances.

Besides a couple ‘persons of interest’, a suspect has never been named or arrested.

THE SUSPECTED I-80 KILLER

In the Northern part of Nevada, runs the iconic I-80 freeway.  Spanning coast to coast, it has gotten investigators attention with a high number of unsolved disappearances and homicides over the last 20-30 years. 

Authorities have considered the chilling possibility that a serial killer (or a few) could be using their desolate stretch of highway for macabre purposes. 

While there are a lot of corpses sprinkled about the Nevada portion of I-80, in various stages of decay, however there are no connecting pieces, links or connections to tie them to any serial killers.  SMH Nevada.

Some victims were found inside their cars, others laying on the side of the road. A lot of times, only scattered bones remained.  

No suspect(s) has ever been identified as being the "I-80 Killer".   Sounds about right for this state!

MASS MURDERS:

EDUARDO SENCION

Carson City

Killed 4

September 6, 2011

At the peak breakfast hour of 9 AM, Eduardo Sencion walked into his local I-HOP pancake house with an AK-47.  He parked his bright blue mini van, complete with a yellow “Support Our Troops” magnet, and marched directly toward a table of uniformed National Guard members sitting down to eat.   Sencion killed all four sitting at the table together and wounded seven others in his line of sight.

Refusing to die among bacon grease and dirty napkins like his victims, the mentally disturbed man walked out to the parking lot and shot himself in the head.

It’s unclear why those specific troops were targeted, as he was never in the military before.  

PHILIP CLINE  

Las Vegas

Killed 8

February 10, 1981

One month into the job of ‘room service attendant’ at the Las Vegas Hilton, Philip Cline decided to smoke a PCP joint while on his break.  Inside an elevator. Around 8 o’clock that Saturday night, the 24 year-old model employee wanted off early for some reason, proceeded to light the curtains on fire in a drug fueled haze.  

Chaos ensued as the building went up in flames, with over a 1000 people trying to escape.  As helicopters were circling and people hanging off the side of the building with torn sheets, Cline was running through the hallways with a bucket of water trying to douse the flames, before escaping himself.

After a few suspicious interviews, Cline claimed it was an accident.  Although he couldn’t explain the four different points of origins, on four different floors of the hotel.  Total accident. 

The aftermath left 8 people dead and over 200 injured.  Luckily, most people were watching a show on the first floor and were able to easily escape.

Cline’s exact motive was never understood.  Some people think he was just high on PCP and thought it would be fun to burn a building down while he was inside. 

The hotel is known today as the Westgate Hotel. 

Click here for chaos

Cline is spending life in prison.

PRISCILLA FORD 

Reno

Killed 7

November 27, 1980

Frustrated at the court system for blocking her attempts to regain custody of her daughter, Priscilla Ford mentioned she was going to make Reno pay for all her troubles.

On a brisk Thanksgiving Day, Ford drove her Lincoln Continental up on the busy Casino Row sidewalk and plowed through 5 blocks of people, killing seven and injuring 23.

When she was pulled out of the car she asked how many people she killed- she was curious. After being told several people have died, she replied  “Good, the more the better. They are all pigs and wild animals.” 

Ford received a death sentence, but died in prison from health issues in 2005.

ZANE FLOYD  

Las Vegas

Killed 4

June 3, 1999

Early morning shoppers had the shock of their life at their local grocery store.

An ex-Marine spent 7 minutes slaughtering people at an Albertson’s grocery store.  Dressed in Camouflage, Floyd walked the isles calmly picking off shoppers with a shot gun.   As he fled the store, I doubt he was anticipating the quick response from the authorities.  The cops were already waiting for him in the parking lot, where he was arrested after a short stand off with police.

Floyd claimed to have visions and basically wanted to know what it was like to kill people.  

He was sentenced to death and currently on Death Row.

INFAMOUS CRIME:

TUPAC SHAKUR

The 1996 shocking murder of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas reverberated around the world.  Shot four times at the intersection of E. Flamingo and Koval near the famous strip.  Plenty of speculations and conspiracies, but no arrests have ever been made.

Note:  Included are murderers with a minimum of three victims and that did the majority of their killing in the state of Nevada.

#nevada #united states of murder #death #strangestate #serial killer #mass murder #2pac

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VINTAGE CRIME SCENE PHOTOS

DEATH IN THE 1930s and 1940s.

Albert Fish, 1934

NYC, Mob hit, 1936

NYC, Mob related, 1937

Jumped out of a car, 1938

NYC, Murder victim, 1940

NYC jumper, 1941

1947, Bugsy Siegel

Murder-Suicide, L.A. in 1948

Murder-Suicide, Australia, 1948

#crime scenes #death #tw suicide #1930s #1940s #vintage #murder

[killerspectrum]

FAMILY ANNIHILATOR: BAD DADS

   Familicide: 

When the whole family is obliterated, usually in a single act, by a member of that family. 

Cases of fathers deliberately killing their wife and children is both shocking and increasing in frequency.   An overwhelming 70% of all family massacres are carried out by men.

Generally speaking, the act represents a last attempt to display a masculine role over the family.  I’m the father, so I decide!  

It has also been suggested that it’s a man’s general attitude to women and their reproductive nature.

Let’s see if we can understand a teeny bit of a very complicated and multifactorial crime.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS

More likely than a woman to kill themselves afterwards.

Usually successful men in their 30s, ranging from surgeons, executives and engineers. 

Will spend days, sometimes weeks planning and fantasizing down to the smallest detail.

Murders mostly occur in the family home.

Younger children are often murdered with a 'personal weapon’ using their hands; strangulation or stabbing.

Older children are usually shot.

Feel like their masculinity is being taken away.

Sundays and the month of August are popular choices for fathers who pulverize.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILES 

WHY DAD LOST HIS SHIT

FAMILY BREAK UP

Family disintegration is the #1 factor behind fathers who kill their own family, making divorce and separation a risky period for any potential household bloodshed.

UNDER PRESSURE

Even if a family is intact, other influences are overwhelming the individual with life duties to the extent they see death as the only way to alleviate the pressure.  Examples are health issues and financial ruin.  

SELF RIGHTEOUS

These type of killers are proud of what they have done and want to share details with others.  Convinced they are justified in some sick manner, this killer is known to call remaining family members or local media to make special announcements.  More recently, they are posting their deeds on Facebook.

DISAPPOINTED

This killer holds the mindset that his family let him down or he is unable to achieve his vision of ideal family life.

ANOMIC

This family is socially disorganized.  Alienated from family and support systems due to a move, loss of job or being generally secluded from others. 

PARANOID

Those who envision an external threat to the family.  This could be social services, the legal system or another family member which creates a twisted desire to protect the family from outside ‘forces’. 

MENTAL ILLNESS

People who commit spontaneous domestic homicides, are more often mentally ill or had a history of mental illness.  

JOEL SMITH

Murdered: (4)  Wife and three children.  Ages 12,7,4

Date:  July 12th, 2014

Location: Saco, Maine

Manner of death:  Shooting

The Smith family spent that last Saturday night having a BBQ outside their apartment complex and chatting with neighbors.   Described as looking calm and relaxed, the Smiths went inside their home around 9 pm. 

Just a few hours later, Joel shot his wife and three children with a shot gun, before killing himself.  Having recently moved from Arizona, Joel became despondent and depressed as the family struggled financially and a wife with substance abuse issues.  

Besides a previous suicide attempt, there was no history of abuse or noticeable signs of violence leading up to the slayings. 

ERVIN LUPOE

Murdered: (6)  Wife and 5 children, including two sets of twins.  Ages 8, 5 and 2

Date: January 27th 2009

Location: Wilmington, CA

Manner of death:  Shooting

Things started to unravel for the Lupoe Family when both parents were fired, simultaneously, from their job at the local hospital where they worked together as X-ray technicians. 

A few days after the loss of their jobs, he killed his wife and children in their upscale home with a revolver and spent the night with their corpses. 

The next day, Ervin calmly called the local news station to report the crimes and let them know he was sending over a fax: his suicide note.  He shot himself while the cops were en route.

In the note, Ervin explained that he and his wife were being investigated for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency to obtain child care.   With 5 young children, he felt their financial situation was hopeless. 

Further in the letter, Ervin even attempted to claim his wife Ana was responsible planning and demise of their family.  As for the kids...

"Why leave our children in someone else's hands?"

FERNANDO MANRIQUE

Murdered: (4)  Wife and two children age 10 and 11

Date: October 16, 2016

Location: Near Sydney, Australia

Manner of death:  Carbon Monoxide

Neighbors couldn't figure out what the hell Mr. Manrique was doing on his roof that last Saturday.

"He was up there replacing tiles, using power tools...Cutting and making all sorts of noise...."

Mr. Manrique was not replacing roof tiles, but something a little more sinister. He spent his last day alive installing an elaborate pump system to fill his house with carbon monoxide in order to kill his wife and two special needs children. 

Because running-cars-in-garages is so cliche, Mr. Fancy Pants Engineer spent months designing the mechanism.   In Mr. Manrique’s mind, gassing his family while they slept seemed like a reasonable solution to an upcoming divorce.

   DANIEL LYNAM

Murdered: (7)  His parents, his wife and two children, age 2 years and 5 weeks, and her parents  

Date: July 11-12, 1987

Location:  Tacoma, WA

Manner of death:  Shooting

Over the course of a weekend, Daniel methodically killed several members of his family leaving behind three grisly crime scenes in his wake.   

After killing his own parents at their house for whatever reason, he drove over to his wife's parents house, about three miles away, shooting them all in the head.  Eventually, he drove back to his own house killing his wife and two kids in the same manner. 

Police received an anonymous tip the following day from a man who said his brother had killed people and directed them to the house on Federal Way. 

When the cops came, Daniel was polite enough to warn them to stay outside so he wouldn't have to kill them too.  Ten minutes later, deputies heard a gunshot.

Daniel had a history of mental illness, but he didn’t leave a note of explanation nor was there any apparent motive for him to kill the majority of his extended family.

DR. ANTHONY PAUL

Murdered: (3): His wife and two children age 17 and 12

Date:  July 18, 1990

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Manner of death:   Sedatives

"We lived together, we loved together, we die together''

Highly regarded in the medical field as a specialist in gastro-intestinal cancers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, none of his colleagues could imagine the horrific development Dr. Paul was planning. 

Caring for his severely disabled daughter and a wife who suffered from chronic arthritis, Dr. Paul was distraught with the ongoing health issues and the inevitable financial stress.  The middle aged doctor was convinced there was no other alternative than to kill everyone.

Dr. Paul left work early on a Friday afternoon, casually mentioning an envelope he left on his desk.  Open it on Monday, he said.

As they read his suicide note that following Monday, his co-workers came to the shocking conclusion that there a house full of dead people they should probably do something about.  

Inside their 10-bedroom estate, investigators found the family in the master bedroom.  Each person was found holding their own empty IV bag. 

His suicide note detailed the reasons for his actions and even though his son was healthy, Dr. Paul did not want his only son to grow up in foster care and become an "outcast".  

Mark Short Sr.

Murdered: (4)  Wife and three children, aged 8, 5 and one year

Date:  August 6, 2016

Location: Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania

Manner of death:  Shooting

The Short family had been featured several times in the local media as they documented their struggles to care for their youngest child, who received a heart transplant when she was just a few days old.  

A shining example of perseverance and being strong in difficult times. 

Privately however, the couple were not getting along.  Soon after one altercation ended with the cops being called, his wife Megan decided it was time to get a divorce and started making plans to move out.

The day before the murders, Mark took his three small children to Hershey's theme park while Megan announced on Facebook that she was leaving her husband and needed help moving into her new apartment the next day.  She never made it. 

Her family became concerned when she didn’t show up on moving day with her belongings and called authorities.

Investigators found the whole family dead in the living room dressed in their pajamas with blankets spread out as though they were having a slumber party. Everyone, including the 1 year-old heart recipient and a family dog, were shot with a .38 caliber pistol.

Short left a note describing his emotional turmoil over the loss of his family. 

#bad dads #familicide #murder #father #true crime #Tw:sucide #twistedfuckers

[killerspectrum]

The Tragic Case of Rebecca Thomson and the Fremont Canyon Bridge

Sept 24, 1973

Near Alcova, Wyoming

Around 9 o'clock on that late summer night, 18-year-old Rebecca was headed to the store to get some snacks.  As she reached the door, she asked her 11 year-old sister, Amy, if she wanted to join her. 

The two headed to their local Thirftway for what was supposed to be a quick trip.  After leaving the store, Rebecca realized she had a flat tire.  Unfortunately for the girls, it was a trap set by two men watching from the other side of the parking lot.  Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Lee Jenkins suddenly appeared and asked if they needed any help.   After a few moments of friendly chit-chat, they shoved their two young victims in their car and zoomed off to the isolated roads of Wyoming.  

After driving for an hour toward Alcova Lake, they pulled over and parked.  Just a few feet from the Fremont Canyon Bridge, high above the North Platte River. 

Amy was removed first, while Rebecca anxiously waited in the car.  Jenkins and Kennedy took the girl and disappeared into the dark.  They were only gone a minute or two, long enough to throw her little sister over the side of the bridge, head first, before quickly returning to the car.   Amy's spine was driven into her brain, killing her instantly.  The two men took turns raping Rebecca before cruelly tossing her too, off the bridge.  

She smashed into a ledge, then tumbled 112 feet to the river below. Miraculously she survived and swam to shore.  Naked below the waist and a hip fractured in five places, Rebecca still managed to inch her way up the slippery embankment in a desperate attempt to live.  At dawn, she flagged down an elderly couple driving by.   

As Rebecca recovered, she was able to identify her attackers, who were known around town as troublemakers.  Kennedy and Jenkins were convicted and sentenced to death.  The punishment was later overturned when Wyoming abolished the death penalty, which deeply troubled the surviving victim. 

As one can imagine, her recovery was slow physically and mentally.  Rebecca suffered from nightmares and other emotional trauma as a result of the survivor’s guilt she felt burdened with.  With the endless appeals and court dates for both defendants, she lived in constant fear they would be released or granted a new trail.   

But as time went on, Rebecca quit drinking, got married and started a family. She appeared to be doing extremely well.

By the summer of 1992, she was a divorced, single mother to a 6-year-old daughter.  She was dating someone new and started drinking again.

The evening of July 31st started out normal enough.   Rebecca, her boyfriend and her daughter went out to eat.  

After dinner and several margaritas, Rebecca decided to she wanted to return to the Fremont Canyon Bridge for the first time in 19 years.  Right then. Now, she said.

Her boyfriend, who remains unidentified, had this to say shortly after the incident:

"She just said she had to go there,”

"The more I told her not to go out there, the faster she went. When she hit 70 m.p.h., that's when I shut up."

As soon as the three of them parked and walked onto the steel bridge, Rebecca began to cry.  She pointed out where the men had raped her, where she was tossed over and where she landed down below.   

Her boyfriend didn't think it was a good idea for her daughter to see her so upset, so he walked the child back to the car.  As he walked away, Rebecca was sitting on the ledge, her legs dangling over the side.  While he was gone, she fell off the bridge a second time.  She died instantly. 

Rebecca's mother thinks the alcohol gave her a false sense of confidence to face her fears and it backfired.  Maybe she lost her balance and accidentally fell over, as her step-father would like to believe.  Her former husband presumes she jumped off the cliff impulsively.  "She always said she should have died there." 

#cruel #tragedy #true crime #murder #wyoming #tw:sucide #survivor #bridge

[killerspectrum]

THERMAL DECOMPOSITION

DEATH BY HEAT

Figuring out which manner of death would be the worst 'way to go', as it turns out, is subjective. But according to a NYC coroner, burning alive provides the most suffering in it's final moments. 

It's actually worse than it sounds.  Most people in the midst of their demise, are eased into death with the relief of unconsciousness.  Not here, your eye lids burn off, offering a front row view to your own cremation. 

When the human body is lit afire, every nerve ending is searing in pain to the point you may die of shock at this point.   Any clothing becomes an igniter.   If you’re inside a small room, all the smoke and gases fill up, you choke on carbon monoxide, if you're lucky.  If you’re outside, in the open air, you will burn longer.   

After five minutes under a flame, the thicker layers of skin begin to peel and split open.  If the victim is still alive at this stage, they will more than likely die of heat stroke.  

The heat is so intense, the bones automatically break due to the intense heat. Investigators are still able to determine if the burn fractures are different than those you would sustain from a fall or being hit by a car.  If you burn long enough, all that is left of the victim is ash, broken bones and maybe some teeth.

Such an act of depravity is chosen for any number of reasons.  Of course, the typical rage-induced jealousy or revenge is a common theme but the most popular reason is an attempt to cover up the crime.  It doesn’t hide all your secrets, but it really does distort evidence and makes identification difficult.

Most arson murders know their victims in some capacity, and this type of death gives the killer great satisfaction as they suffer.  Most of these perpetrators are drug users with self-esteem issues and a criminal history.  

Favored locations for igniting a victim are inside a home, trash dumpsters, along roadways and wooded areas.

Inferno deaths are usually a conclusion another crime:

Burglary 32%

Sexual Assault 17%

Kidnapping 8%

Prostitution & Hired Killings 1%

SUZANNE CAPPER

Manchester, England 

December 1992 

16-year-old Suzanne was a lonely teen who ended up befriending a group of junkies living a few blocks away.  A collection of six drug addicts gathered from around the neighborhood.   As with any group of shitty friends, paranoia, jealousy and accusations eventually build up and sometimes lead to extreme consequences.

In a brutal act of revenge, Suzanne was lured by her 'friends' and tortured. Lead by ringleaders, 26-year-old Jean Powell, her ex-husband Glyn Powell, and Bernadette McNeilly, who accused the teen of stealing an ugly pink jacket and supposedly spreading bed lice to everyone.  

For seven days, the teen was subjected to a deranged form of crackhead justice, starting with having her head shaved.  Suzanne was kept chained to a filthy bed in an empty house as she endured the astonishing abuse which included: teeth pulled with pliers, cigarette burns and beaten with objects.  

Visitors to the home were allowed come in and laugh at her as she lie naked and battered.  A total of 6 people were involved in her kidnap, torture and her eventual death.  

Unsure what to do with their hostage, the gang, lead by instigators Jean and Bernadette, drove Suzanne to the woods where they doused her with gas and flicked a match on her before driving away.

Despite her injuries and burns, Suzanne was able to crawl up an embankment and stagger a quarter of a mile on a road before finding help and being rushed to the hospital.  Before she slipped into a coma, she was able to name her attackers. Four days later, Suzanne died of massive organ failure.

All six characters involved were arrested and sentenced to 'life' in prison.  But that's just jolly ol' England speak for a polite 12-20 years.   Which means every single one of these sadists have been released and currently roaming the streets.

Jessica Chambers

Courtland, Mississippi

December 2014

On a whim, Jessica decided to grab some food and clean out her car.   surveillance cameras show her at the gas station, alone, before driving south down the main road to town.   

After stopping at the gas station, the nineteen-year-old was next found by fire department covered in 98% burns among her body.

As firefighters responded to a car on fire, they found the nineteen year-old walking along the side of the road, smoldering.  She was able to whisper a telling clue to the firefighters before she fell into a coma and died a few hours later.  Covered 98% of burns, she died a few hours later.   It has never been revealed what she told investigators in her last hours. 

Because of a huge gash on the top her head, investigators were able to surmise that she was struck and knocked unconscious in her car.  The perpetrator soaked her in lighter fluid, including down her throat and up her nose, lit a match and walked away leaving the small community baffled. 

After 14 months of mystery, an arrest was finally made.  Quinton Verdell Tellis, 27, a friend of hers.   Not many details have been released as it has not been to trial yet, but it was a personal crime, not related to drugs or gangs.  

Tellis is currently being tried for another murder he committed after he killed Jessica.  No conclusion yet. Angela Palmer

Auburn Maine

October 27, 1984

Not quite a fire death, but definitely a nasty case of thermal decomposition. 

Charming little story about Cynthia Palmer's live in boyfriend, John Lane.   A raging alcoholic and drug addict, who cooked a 4-year-old child. 

Just before Halloween, Lane beat little Angela in their Main street apartment before stuffing her in the oven and clamping the door shut with a  chair.  He turned it on as high as it would go and sat there watching her scream for help. During this time, Angela's mother lay drugged and incoherent in the living room.

The deranged Lane claimed that child turned into the devil and he was just doing the world a favor by getting rid of it.  Cynthia Palmer was acquitted based on abused spouse syndrome and Lane was imprisoned for life. After over 30 years in prison, this man who baked a child, is asking for a new trial.  Perhaps if you were in England.... 

Deloris Gillespie

Brooklyn, NY

December 2011 

The surveillance video captured Gillespie carrying groceries at her apartment building on a Saturday afternoon.   The 73-year-old rides the elevator up to her floor, as the video shows, standing there quietly.  Completely unaware she will never make it out alive.  As the doors open, the path is blocked by a man wearing gloves, a protective mask and container on his back.  

48-year-old Jerome Issac, a homeless handyman, had been waiting specifically for her in a calculated act of revenge.  Convinced that Gillespie owed him money for previous work done around her apartment, he decided to avenge himself, dressed in his finest pest control uniform.

In the video, Issac can be seen stepping up to Gillespie and spraying gas in her face before methodically squirting his victim from head to toe.  She tried to protect herself, with the grocery bags still hanging off her wrists.

The video flashes white: the woman is on fire.

While the elderly lady was pronounced dead at the scene, Issac went to an area hospital to receive treatment for his massive burns to his face (see above), and was arrested when doctors became suspicious.  He never showed remorse, claiming the devil made him do it.  

Issac was sentenced to 50 years in prison. The video was never made public.

ROBBIE MIDDLETON

Splendora, Texas 

June 1998

On his 8th birthday, Robbie was tied to a tree, splashed with gasoline and purposefully set on fire.   Unable to move, Robbie was burnt over 99% of his body, leaving his scorched outline into the tree. The maniac was a 13-year-old neighborhood kid named Don Collins.  He raped Robbie two weeks prior; this was his attempt to silence his victim. 

Nobody expected him to survive due to the horrific nature of his injuries, but in a miraculous turnabout, he lived.  Sorta.  For the next 12 years, Robbie subsisted in a burn unit.  Enduring over 200 surgeries and suffering from night terrors about being burned over and over again.  He eventually died of skin cancer in 2011.

It’s unclear why Collins wasn’t apprehended soon after the attack, but only a decade later when his victim died.  Unsurprisingly, he was a registered sexual predator for other assaults when he was finally held responsible for the slow death of Robbie Middleton.

#burn #fire #murder #melt #death #sinister

[killerspectrum]

THE SCALE OF EVIL

Helpful guide for anybody with a life inundated with psychopaths.

This fun 22 point scale will help identify any deranged neighbors, co-workers or in-laws you may suspect to be a potential deviant. 

This three tier scale is based on data from the 20th Century.  Not say...the 18th Century when it was legal to kill your wife’s lover or a burglar caught in the act.

Additionally, wartime evildoers were intentionally left out, because holy fuck of all the complicated factors like culture, history and religion.

NOT EVIL

1. Justified Murder

The least malevolent: Those who have killed in self-defense and do not show psychopathic features.   Regular people forced to kill.

Example:  Cheryl Pierson

IMPULSIVE MURDERERS

People who are not really psychopaths, but ordinary people that get caught in a terrible situation.  Driven to a single act of murder in a moment of rage or jealousy.   These people lack extreme psychopathic features, but may be psychotic — clinically delusional or out of touch with reality

2. Jealous Lovers, non-psychopath

Passion provocation.

Self absorbed and insecure, killers in this category committed their crimes in the heat of the moment.

Example: Jean Harris

3.  Willing Companions Of Killers

Still far from psychopathic, this type of killer will have antisocial traits and are often able to depart from an accepted standard of social behaviors in order to please another person.

Example: Cindy Campbell

4.  Provocative "Self-Defense"

These people kill in self-defense, but they aren't entirely innocent themselves. They may have been "extremely provocative" toward their victim.

Example: Susan Cummings

5.  Desperate Measures

These are traumatized, desperate killers of abusive relatives or others — but they lack “significant psychopathic traits” and are genuinely remorseful.

Example: Susan Wright

6.  Hot Heads

Killers who act in a flash, but no outward psychopathic features or rage tendencies.   May feel remorse after the fact, but not during.

7.   Narcissists

Highly narcissistic killers, someone who feels entitled, are often possessive and usually kill loved ones or family members out of jealousy.  Not exactly psychopathic, but they often display " a psychopathic core."  

Example:  Tommy Gilbert Jr.

8. Fit of Rage

Non-psychopathic people, who live with an underlying, smoldering rage, then kill when that rage is ignited into a large fury that often leaves more than one dead. This type of killer could be suicidal.

Example:  Charles Whitman

SEMI-PSYCHOPATHS

Those who offer a decent sized collection of psychopathic traits — narcissism, superficial charm, or general lack of remorse, but not full blown.

9.  Jealous Lovers, Psychopathic

The scale's first foray into psychopathic territory, these killers are jealous lovers but with marked psychopathic features.

Example:  Paul Snider

10.  "In The Way" Killers, Not Fully Psychopathic

Killers of witnesses or people who are simply "in the way". Common victims in this category are immediate family.   Egomaniacs, but not totally psychopathic. 

Example:  John List

11.  "In The Way" Psychopath

Also killers of witnesses or people perceived to be in their way, but with clearly defined psychopathic traits.

Example:  Christian Longo

12.  Power-Hungry And Cornered

Power-hungry psychopaths who kill when "cornered," or placed in a situation they wouldn't be able to escape with their power intact.

Example:  Jim Jones

13.  Inadequate And Full of Rage

Murderers with shortcomings that follow them throughout life, who also express psychopathic impulses and are prone to rage.

Example:  Karla Faye Tucker

14.  Schemers

Ruthlessly self-centered and psychopathic, schemers stop at nothing to deceive, con and steal. 

Example:  Sante Kimes

15.  Cold-Blooded Spree

Murderers who kill multiple people calmly and with a psychopathic motive. Often pathological in their denials of guilt and inability to confront reality.

Example:  Charles Manson

PSYCHOPATHS

Cunning, manipulative, and completely lacking remorse.  Profoundly psychopathic.

16.  Vicious Psychopaths

Those who commit multiple vicious acts that may include rape, mutilation, intimidation and murder.

Example:  Miyazaki Tsutomu

17. The Sexually Perverse

Serial killers with some element of sexual perversion in their crimes. In males, rape is usually the primary motive and the killing is an attempt to hide the evidence. Torture is not a primary motive.

Example:  Ted Bundy

18. Torturing Murderers

Though psychotic, they do not typically prolong their torture.  Murder, not torture, is their primary motivation.

Example: Gary Ridgeway

19. Non-Homicidal Psychopaths

Psychopaths who fall short of murder, yet engage in terrorism, subjugation, intimidation or rape on a fairly large scale.

Example: Gary Steven Krist

20.  Murdering Torturers

Psychotic (legally insane) and primarily motivated by their desire to inflict pain.

Example:  Joseph Kallinger

21.  Pure Torturers

Not all torturers murder. These psychopaths (evaluated to be in touch with reality) are preoccupied with torture "in the extreme," but never convicted of murder.

Example:  Cameron Hooker

22. Psychopathic Torture Murders 

Defined by a primary motivation to deliver prolonged, diabolical torture. Most in this category are male serial killers and usually ends in the victims death.

Example:  Jeffery Dahmer

#scale of evil #death #psychopaths #evil #serial killers #narcissists #50 shades of death

[killerspectrum]

CONNECTICUT

Most serial killers hail from the west coast, so it’s interesting to see how the northeast handles the business of death and mayhem.  The 48th largest state in the US, Connecticut attracts more mass murderers than sadistic, organized serial killers.

Home to one of the largest fire disasters in US history.  The 1946 Hartford Circus tent went up in flames and 148 people burned to death when someone carelessly disposed of a cigarette.  

Not many loose ends in this state as most of the serial killers are caught, including one last year and about to head to trial.

SERIAL KILLERS SOLVED:

AMY DUGGAN  “The Devil’s Rooming House”

Windsor

Killed 5+

1908-1916

Taking advantage of the lack of care for the senior set, Amy opened the "Archer Home for the Elderly and Infirm” in the early 1900s.  She sought out the desperate and frail to come live out their short golden years in her home...for a small price.  All residents were required to sign over their life insurance policies to one Miss Amy Duggan.   What she didn’t mention, was her huge ‘rat’ problem and was known to buy massive amounts of arsenic from her local chemist.

The rats residents would endure a few weeks of hell before dying a ghastly death.

In 5 years, Amy had amassed a body count of 48 victims before an insistent family member became suspicious of her greedy ways and disappearing clientele.  She was eventually arrested and charged with just five of the murders, due to limited forensic testing at the time.  Inspired the Frank Cappra tale 'Arsenic and Old Lace’.  

Sentenced to death, but was eventually declared insane and put in a mental hospital until she died in 1962.

JOSEPH ‘MAD DOG’ TABORSKY

Hartford

7 Killed

1956-1957 

Dubbed the “Mad Dog Killings” in the press for a string of brutal robberies and murders in the late 1950s.  During a two month period in 1956, five business owners, mostly liquor stores, were killed as they closed their stores.     

The only inmate in Connecticut history to be sentenced to death row two different times, for two different murders.  How and what the fuck you may ask? 

First time, he killed a liquor store owner in 1951 during a robbery and was put on death row for his crime.  Three years later he was released due to a technicality.   Instead of retrying Taborsky, they let him go on his merry way.

Actual Quote:

"You can't beat the law. From now on, I'm not even going to get a parking ticket."

Just two years later, instead of thanking his lucky stars, this fucker runs back to the road that leads to the electric chair and begins his ‘Mad Dog’ killing spree.

Eventually captured and sentenced to death row- again.

This time, he was quickly executed in 1960 at the age of 36.  He donated his eyes.  Not sure who’d want those crispy things, but there you go.

MICHAEL ROSS  “Roadside Strangler”

Griswold

8 Killed

1981-1984 

This happy fella would pick up hitchhikers along the highways and bi-ways of Connecticut.  Driven by sexually violent fantasies, he would brutally rape and strangle his young victims.  

His downfall came because Ross never switched vehicles as he preyed on his victims.  Over time, people identified a blue Toyota as the deathmobile snatching hitchhikers.  

Naturally investigators did a cross search on all blue Toyota registrations and voila!  Ross used his real name -in case anyone needed to find him- and he was invited in for an interview.  He gave subtle hints and clues before offering a full confession for his crimes.   

After spending 18 years on death row, Ross was executed in 2005 for being the brightest crayon in the box murder at the age of 45.

 WILLIAM DEVIN HOWELL

New Brittan

Killed 7+

2004-2007

Howell loved to refer to himself as "The Sick Ripper".  That's nice.  But we're going to refer to him as "Pork Chop" for purposes of this story.

Using a disgusting combination of a creepy '85 Ford Econoline van and the promise of drugs, Pork Chop was able to easily lure his victims to their death.   

After raping them, he would beat, strangle and stab his victims inside the van. Afterwards, most would be buried in a swampy area behind a shopping center, which he called his ~garden~.   

One lucky corpse was chosen to be his girlfriend for a few days and was wrapped in plastic.  Porky snuggled with it at night and even called it his ‘baby’. 

epitome of  a creeper van stabbin cabin

Finally, in 2015, after almost a decade of rotting behind a shopping center, a hunter came across a human skull which lead to the unearthing of all the victims. 

Since the Other White Meat was already in prison, serving 15 years on a 

-brace yourself-  a murder charge, he was easy to find.  He was scheduled to be released in 2019, but now he’s expected to stand trial in the near future.

He is currently being held on a $10 million dollar bond as he awaits trail.

MASS MURDERS:

THE  PETIT FAMILY MURDERS

Cheshire

Killed 3

July 23, 2007

One of the most deranged crimes I've ever heard of, also one of the more frustrating.

Dr. William Petit and his family enjoyed their final day together on July 22nd, hanging out and cooking dinner.  Mrs. Petit and her 11 year-old daughter Michaela had spent time at the grocery store that evening picking up things for dinner when they were noticed by Joshua Komisarjevsky, who was also shopping at the time.  

A con artist and burglar, Komisarjevsky watched his victims at the store before following them home.  Once he saw their big, beautiful home Komisarjsdfkjsi decided to rob them later that night and he would bring an accomplice: Steven Hayes.

Just after midnight, the two men broke into the family's house, armed a baseball bat they found in the yard.

They saw Dr. Petit sleeping on the couch and bludgeoned him with the bat before tying him to a pole in the basement.  His wife Jennifer and two daughters were all tied to their beds, leaving them all separated.

Supposedly, this was just going to be a robbery and not a sick, twisted mass murder, or so the killers claim.  But things took a darker turn when they decided their haul wasn't good enough and wanted cash...$15,000 from their bank account.  

Before the bank opened, Hayes filled a gas can with $10 worth of gas at a station down the street. 

At 9:00 AM, Jennifer walked into her bank to withdraw money, but also alerted the teller about her family’s ordeal.  She is calm because the assailants were being 'nice' and they 'just want the money', she thinks.  

Naturally, the teller calls the authorities to report the crime and that sets off a baffling, inexplicable thirty minutes of hell for the Petit family.

For some reason, it took the police 30 minutes to form a plan and place a “vehicle perimeter”.  They also did silly things like, turn down S.W.A.T. assistance and hostage negotiators.... 30 minutes, it turns out, is also enough time for a crime to escalate into a horrific mass murder.

The police, who chose to remain unseen instead of making their presence known, were woefully unprepared for the situation.  As that half hour tick-tocked away, Jennifer was raped and strangled.  Makayla was sexually assaulted.  Both girls had pillowcases placed over their heads, doused with lighter fluid and burned alive.  The oldest daughter Haley made it to the top of the staircase before succumbing to her injuries.  

While all this was going on, William Petit was drifting in and out of consciousness in the basement.  He used a burst of adrenaline to break out of his restraints after he hearing it will all be over soon.   The doctor was able to run to a neighbors house, but they didn't recognize him because the severity of his facial injuries.

While everyone is literally gasping for air in those last desperate moments, the cops are just outside the home "assessing situations".  Sickening.

Now I understand that Cheshire is a smaller town, not accustomed to such savagery in their neighborhood, but damn. 

After lighting the house on fire, Hayes and Komigofukurselfy fled the scene in the family's car.  To add to the mayhem, they crashed into the two cop cars blocking their way out in an attempt to get away, but were promptly arrested. That was nice of the police to help out like that.  

The whole invasion lasted seven hours.

LORNE ACQUIN

Prospect

9 Killed

July 22, 1977

On the evening of July 22nd, while Fred Beaudoin was at work, his brother Lorne stopped by his house for a visit.   It was not unusual for him to stop by, as all eight children loved their “Uncle Lorne”.  He stayed for an hour or so, rough housing and playing with the kids, but he had plans to return.  

Just after 4 AM the next morning, neighbors of the Beaudoin family smelled smoke and called the fire department.  When the fire was snuffed out,  after removing only a few of the bodies, investigators quickly realized it was not an accident.  

Fred’s wife Cheryl and all eight children, ranging between 12 and 4 years old were bludgeoned in their beds, some of them had their hands tied together.  

There is no clear motive as to why he would slaughter a bunch of his nieces and nephews with a tire iron in the middle of the night, only speculation. 

Within 24 hours, police interviewed more than a hundred witnesses, including Lorne, where he ultimately admitted to being at the home at the time of the murders.  One minute, Lorne claimed, he was talking to Cheryl in the kitchen and the next minute there was blood and bodies all over....so he lit it on fire and left, which is exactly how I like to handle my problems. 

Until the Sandy Hook massacre, the death of the Beaudoin family was considered the most prolific mass murder in Connecticut's history.

Sentenced to life in prison.

OMAR THORNTON

Manchester

August 3, 2010

Killed 8

Thornton, aged 34, was called into his place of employment for disciplinary purposes. Which is a fancy term for being fired.  He had been recorded on surveillance video in the Hartford Distributors warehouse stealing beer and kegs on a previous occasion. 

Thornton agreed to sign the resignation papers and was being escorted out of the building when he changed his mind.  Instead of leaving peacefully, he grabbed a gun from his lunch box and started shooting at everyone in the room.  Called 911 on himself, claiming he was fired because of racism and then took his own life.

JONATHAN MILLS

December 26, 2000

Killed 4

Guilford 

On the evening of December 26th, Jonathan Mills crept into Katherine Kleinkauf’s waterfront home to steal money for a drug habit.  He was familiar with the house and it’s easy target:  His aunt and two cousins, just four and six years old.

Kleinkauf, who was 43, woke up and confronted him after he broke in, Mills confessed.  He stabbed his aunt 40 times and her children 10 times each, leaving them to die in a blood-soaked bedroom, while he ran off with her ATM card.

The murders were discovered the next morning when Katherine’s oldest daughter, 10 year-old Alyssa returned home from a slumber party. 

During his confession, Mills figured he may as well tell them about 20-year-old Mindy Leigh, one of his neighbors he also killed. Mills led police to the decomposed body of Leigh, whom he says he strangled during an argument following sex.

Fun Fact:  Mills later testified in the trial of another serial killer whom he shared a jail cell with.  Serial Killers tend to be competitive with each other and want to ‘show off’ in front of the only other person who would be impressed. 

HAROLD MEADE

New Haven

August 1970

 Killed 3+

The infamous case of Harold Meade is another excellent example how crazy Connecticut crime and punishment unfolds. 

In 1970, Meade was found guilty of murdering three mentally handicapped people, ages 15 to 23, while they were out on a walk through a local park.  All three were bludgeoned to death with rocks.  He was sentenced to life in prison for those heinous murders.  You know, because he should be off the streets for the REST of his life! 

But since Connecticut allowed, at the time, furloughs to any inmate regardless of crime, Meade had amassed 184-one day passes and 84 weekend passes after 13 years in prison.  

A predator who preyed on the most vulnerable, was granted access to the public.  

Here, you haven’t killed anyone in a while, go enjoy yourself for the weekend! Go mingle!

While on his furloughs, Meade got married and even went on a vacation to the beach!  The same weekend, in fact, a woman was found with her head crushed in by a rock in the remote part of Hammonasset Beach State Park.  The same park Meade was renting a cabin. No way!   Although he admits to being at the same place, same time, he denies killing her.  This promptly ended the negligent program.  Which sufficiently pissed him off.

``I would like to get out,'' Meade said. ``Thirty years is 30 years. I'm not making light of what I did, but there are those who did worse when they came in and they're all getting out.''   

Officially a suspect in every homicide of death by rocks, but no conclusive evidence exists that he was responsible for the beach murder or the little girls also found dead by rocks. 

Died in prison in 2007, with his last two unused weekend passes from the 80s under his pillow.

UNSOLVED SERIAL KILLERS:

While there are plenty of cold cases, there doesn't appear to be any concrete evidence of a serial killer going unsolved in Connecticut.   

There is a cold case of four little girls found murdered in the woods, skulls beaten with rocks.  Because of the MO, Meade ^^ is often mentioned as a suspect.  However, there is no further evidence that suggests the girls murders are even linked as the work of a singular serial killer. 

INFAMOUS CRIME:

SANDY HOOK SCHOOL SHOOTING

Comment unnecessary.

Note: Crimes of Serial Killing and Mass Murder listed are dated between 1900-2010, with at least 3 victims.  Included are murderers that did the majority of their killing in the state of Connecticut.

#united states of murder #true crime #connecticut #death #thistookforever #TLDR

[killerspectrum]

The Case of Teryl Lynn Steel Orcutt

Middleburg, FL

Unsolved for 27 years. 

In the early morning hours of January 21, 1990 authorities found an empty 1989 red Ford Thunderbird idling on the shoulder of Clay County Road 218, just south of Jacksonville.  The engine was running, head lights on, and it was parked perfectly on the side of the road.  There was no damage to the car nor any signs of it being disabled.  A woman’s purse on the passenger seat. 

On that January night, Teryl Lynn was expected to return to the home she shared with her mother, but never arrived.  The 26 year-old bank manager had spent the day in Jacksonville visiting her boyfriend.  Teryl simply vanished after parking her car.

A week later on January 28th, her partially clothed body was found by children playing along the creek bank, just five miles from where her car was found. Teryl was stabbed several times the chest.  Because of decomposition, the 1990 authorities could not make a firm determination if she was sexually assaulted. She only had on a pair of panties (rolled down to her knees), socks, and sneakers.  And since money was not missing, it was assumed to be a sexually motivated murder.

The community perception was that it was law-enforcement related or someone posing as a fake cop.  Rampant rumors around town included a witness who lived close to the crime scene, reportedly heard a woman screaming "I didn't do anything".  All deputies and police officers working at the time had their alibis checked and verified. 

There’s a cold case unit currently working on solving this crime and are trying to find someone who may have been pulled over in that area or if someone were in law enforcement and heard about any complaints of fake cops pulling people over, could be the key to solving this crime. 

. 

#cold cases #true crime #death #mystery #florida

[killerspectrum]

Case of Suzanne Bombardier 

Antioch, CA 

Unsolved for 36 years

On the June 22, 1980,  14 year-old Suzanne was babysitting for her older sister Stephanie while she worked at a local restaurant.  Sometime during her shift, she called her sister to have her bring an article of clothing.  About 8:30 pm, Suzanne , with both kids in tow, walked a few blocks to the Mexican restaurant where Stephanie works.  It was a quick trip, and they turned around and went back to the apartment.

Suzanne put the kids to bed and watched TV.  She was talking to a friend on the phone when around 1:30 in the morning when she mentioned she was ‘really beat’ and going to bed. 

When her sister arrived home in the early hours of the next morning, the kids were tucked in bed sleeping but Suzanne was not there.   There was no sign of struggle or break-in at the home, she simply vanished. Just 5 days later, her nude body was recovered from the San Joaquin River.   She had been sexual assaulted and died of a single stab wound to her heart.  

It's believed that someone in or around the restaurant had noticed her walking with the children and followed her home. Possibly someone she knew. Investigators have not named any potential suspects in the case and it remains unsolved. 

#cold cases #murder #true crime #california #unsolved

[killerspectrum]

KILLER POISONS

In 2011 there were 12,664 murder victims in the United States.  Of those, only 5 were classified as as homicidal poisoning.  In 2014, there were only 7 deaths were officially listed as murder by toxin.   Even with new testing methods and awareness, many more deaths are still going undetected or unproven.

THALLIUM

Referred to as “Inheritance Powder”, thallium is a rarely used poison in a murder plot because it’s easily detected.  It’s also not as final as other toxins, as there is an anti-dote called Prussian Blue.   

Commonly found in pesticides until 1975 when it was banned for household use, but around 70% of the annual global production of thallium is still used by the electronics industry.

FORM:  A soft, heavy metal. Thallium can also exist as metallic salts.

COLOR: White crystallized powder, salt like.

ODOR: Odorless.

TASTE: Tasteless.

SOURCE: Mostly pesticides. 

ADMINISTERED: Skin, lungs, food, drink and medication. 

SYMPTOMS APPEAR:  Few hours to a few days, depending on dosage.

SYMPTOMS:  Savage.  Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea,delirium, labored breathing, hair loss, seizures, coma, and eventually death.

TICK TOCK:  Depending on how large of the dose.  There is an anti-dote, if administered within 6 hours of contact. 

FALSELY ACCUSED DISEASES:  Viral disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Examples of Nefarious Use of Thallium 

GEORGE JAMES TREPAL

October 1988 Alturas Florida.  

What are you going to do when your neighbors are obnoxious fucking beasts?  

Do you wait for them to move out? Noooo... Do you call the cops and complain about noise? Useless.  If you are George Trepal, the best plan is to poison the whole family for some peace and quiet.

The 42 year-old Trepal would sneak into their carport and lace a 12 pack of Coke with thallium. 

For four grueling months, the Carr family suffered "stomach bugs”, taunted by anonymous notes demanding they move away and hospitalizations.   Peggy Carr, the wife and mother of the family, died before they discovered the deadly conspiracy.  

But the fed up neighbor couldn’t keep his mouth shut.  When investigators asked Trepal why someone would want to kill the Carr family and he replied “They must have wanted them to move away.”  

George Trepal is currently on Death Row....where he enjoys shitty neighbors, people screaming and noise 24 hours a day.

AUNT THALLY AKA CAROLINE GRILLS 

1947-1953 Australia

Aunt Thally, spiteful old biddy, killed four people, all related to her by marriage. Targets of her rat poisonings included a 90 year old step-mother, a sister-in-law and a brother-in-law.  Three additional relatives survived her death attempts. 

After 5 years of dusting people’s lives out, Caroline Grills was arrested after a suspicious family member witnessed her dropping something into a cup of tea she was about to serve  . 

ANTI FREEZE

Ethylene Glycol, the deadly toxin in Antifreeze, enjoyed a wave of popularity with cold blooded killers in the early 2000s.  Sensationalized in the media by popular shows like Forensic Files, which highlighted a case in Georgia of Lynn Turner who poisoned two of her significant others with EG.  In addition, her eventual trial was broadcast live on Court TV, light bulbs went off in minds across the globe. 

The fact it was sweet tasting and accessible, at the time, to anyone with legs and $2.39 in their pocket turned antifreeze into a sort of green nectar for cunning killers. (Nowadays, the Antifreeze on store shelves have been designed to taste bitter, to deter the toxicomaniacs.  However, you can still buy the sweet tasting sort online.)   Even the Amish community decided to participate.  

Suspected malicious intent homicides increased from 2 cases in 2000 to 14 cases in 2004.

FORM: Syrupy liquid.

COLOR:  Fluorescent yellow-green.  

ODOR:  Sweet, like syrup.

TASTE:  Sweet. 

SOURCE:  At the store.

ADMINISTERED:  Food and drink. 

SYMPTOMS APPEAR:  30 minutes -12 hours.

SYMPTOMS: Kidney failure, convulsions, coma, cardiac issues. 

TICK TOCK:  3.5 fluid oz, will kill an average size man in 24-72 hours.

FALSELY ACCUSED DISEASES:   Diabetic shock, alcohol poisoning.

Examples of Nefarious Use of Ethylene Glycol  

STACEY CASTOR  

2005-2007 Upstate, New York

It’s no big secret that poisoners are among the most cold blooded and heartless of all killers, but even in this category the case of Stacey Castor is horrifying look at the lengths they will go to avoid being caught.

Michael Wallace, her first husband, died on Jan. 11, 2000 from what appeared to be a heart attack.  No questions, No Autopsy, No problem.  Stacey enjoyed the insurance money before getting married again to David Castor, 48.    

He was murdered on Aug. 22, 2005 with a cocktail of vodka, orange jucie, Sprite and antifreeze.    And when he no longer able to finish the cocktail, she shoved the rest down his throat with a turkey baster to finish him off.  

Stacey convinced the authorities that David locked himself inside his bedroom for two days and committed suicide- with a cocktail of antifreeze.    

It wasn’t long before suspicion fell on Stacey after investigators found her fingerprints all over the antifreeze glass and a turkey baster in the trash.

When there was a court order to dig up her husband’s corpse, Stacey attempts to frame her daughter Ashley for both murders.  “A 12 year old confessing to murdering her step-fathers!” probably sounded better in your head.  

But she decides to whip up a fake suicide note/confession and spike her daughter’s drink with a fatal mix of narcotics.  Instead of dying, Ashley was found unconscious the next morning by her younger sister and rushed to the hospital.  She woke up pissed off and Momma went to prison, where she ultimately died in 2016.

DIANE  STAUDTE 

2012-2013 Missouri

A more recent case of EG poisoning is Diane Staudte.  Of Mrs Staudte’s four children, she had a favorite.  The chosen one, Rachel, enjoyed her mother’s glowing admiration and darkest secrets. 

This is Diane smiling confidently, believing she is the smartest person in the whole world.  

Diane beaming with her favorite daughter, who coolly stood by as her family dropped like flies.  Luckily for her, it was more of a personality thing instead of a beauty contest. 

In April of 2012, her husband Mark was the first to be poisoned after drinking a Coke laced with antifreeze. He died simply because Diane “hated” him.  Without an autopsy or further testing, his death was ruled due to natural causes and he was cremated. .  

 Just five months later Shawn, 26, was also poisoned to death by his mother.  For the unimaginable crime of being a pest.  Not just any pest, but worse than a normal pest, according to Diane. She convinces the medical examiner and family that he was suffering from seizures, and they agreed without any further testing. 

And finally Sarah Staudte, the daughter who lived through an attempt on her life.  How did she survive the most clever woman that ever lived, you may ask? 

Well, after several deaths in the house, Diane had grown tired of the lingering stench and horror of death. 

“...houses are nasty when someone dies there.”  

To offset any potential nastiness, Diane orders an ambulance so Sarah will die at the hospital!  Genius.  Except hospitals do more than store dead bodies.  They also save lives and that’s what they did with Sarah, whose offenses included “unemployment and student loans”.

But Sarah had no idea her mom was trying to off her.  It was the Priest who became suspicious of Diane when the grim reaper was making extra trips to the Staudte family.  Every time he offered his religious comfort to the devout church goer, she was unfazed that her children were dying.  When Sarah was struggling to live in the hospital, Diane claimed she had a vacation to Florida in a few days, and she wasn’t going to miss it for anything.  The Priest called the authorities and she was eventually arrested for the murder of her family.  Along with her favorite daughter.    

They are both in jail.

#poison #death #murder #part3 #antifreeze #thallium #rat poison

[killerspectrum]

MURDERERS PICK THEIR POISON

ARSENIC

Considered the King of all Poisons

Used in numerous murders since its popularity in the Victoria era due to easy accessibility.  Women used to bathe in it for christ’s sake.  Arsenic is still used in murder this day and age, although not quite the free for all it was back in the 1800s. 

Considered a silent killer, it’s practically odorless, tasteless and discreet.

FORM:  Brittle metal, white powder, salt-like or oily liquid.  It can also exist as a arsine gas. 

COLOR: Metal, steel gray; salts, white.

ODOR: Odorless, but could give the victim garlic breath. 

TASTE: Almost tasteless.

SOURCE:  Household items.  Pesticides, rodent poison, ant poison, homeopathic medications,weed killers, marine and other paints, ceramics, livestock feed.

ADMINISTERED: Often in food or drink.  Either a one time event or over an extended period of time to suggest death from a chronic illness. 

SYMPTOMS APPEAR: In just hours to days.

SYMPTOMS:  Hard core.  vomiting, bloody diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, burning esophageal pain,metallic taste in the mouth. Later symptoms include jaundice, kidney failure,and finally, destruction of the nervous system.

TICK TOCK: Death can occur within 1-4 days. 

FALSELY ACCUSED DISEASES: Gastroenteritis or a neurological disease. 

ARSENIC MURDER:

Mary Ann Cotton is a classic example of a poisoner who enjoyed cooking with arsenic and considered one of Britain’s first female serial killers.

This grim reaper has had so many people die around her, you could call her the human Roach Motel.  During her first marriage back in 1864, she lost all seven of her children in infancy, blamed on ‘natural’ deaths.   Not one of them survived.  Eventually followed by her husband, William Mowbray.   

Mary Ann went on to marry two more times,  poisoning one of the husbands for insurance money and one more daughter. 

Her luck finally ran out in 1872 when she was discovered to have killer her most recent husband and his three healthy sons when suspicion was cast on her. All three step children and her husband tested positive for arsenic, unfortunately for her, a few years before cremation became a widespread practice.   She was pregnant with her 80th child, so they waited until after she gave birth before hanging her the following year. 

POLONIUM

Radioactive, this poison is extremely potent in small doses.  Just one gram of vaporized polonium can kill over a million people in just a couple of months.  

Popular among the astrophysicists, politicians, and people with access to uranium, polonium is an extremely rare toxin used for murder.  

Mostly used to send “messages” from powerful political parties.  

FORM:  Crystallized or powdered form or diluted bottle of liquid.

COLOR:  Silvery

ODOR:  None.

TASTE: None, unless combined with meat to get a burnt-hair smell.

SOURCE:  Uranium core, or at home with your nuclear-reactor. 

ADMINISTERED:  Food and drink, contaminated air and open wounds.

SYMPTOMS APPEAR:  Slowly, as the radiation in the body builds.  Week maybe two.

SYMPTOMS:  Vomiting, achy, hair loss, diarrhea, organ failure, 

TICK TOCK:  Few days or a few weeks.  There is no cure. 

FALSELY ACCUSED DISEASES: Cancer, Leukemia. 

The spy who was poisoned twice.  The first time not enough poison, the second time was enough to kill him after a few weeks of agony.  drank tea.

INFAMOUS POLONIUM MURDER

The most recent case of polonium poisoning is that of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.   An unknown person tampered with his tea– with a dose 200 times the amounted needed to kill someone.  He was dead in three weeks.

STRYCHNINE

A rare poison mostly used in suicide.  Not very popular with the toxicomaniacs because of it’s bitter taste and dramatic death.  Still found in rat poisons and other pesticides, but also a banned performance enhancing(!) drug for competitive athletes. 

Nothing says “I hate you so much” than a shot of this poison. 

FORM:  Powder or seeds.

COLOR:  White powder, seeds are grayish-green.

ODOR:  None.

TASTE:  Extremely bitter.

SOURCE: Pesticides.

ADMINISTERED: In food, booze or medicine that already have a bitter taste.

SYMPTOMS COUNTDOWN: 5-30 minutes.

SYMPTOMS:  Fucking brutal.  The face is drawn into a forced smile like the joker, frothing of the mouth, lock jaw, muscle contractions, cramps, convulsions and this lovely arch position.

TICK TOCK:  Respiratory failure in about 6 hours after consumption, but can recover with treatment.

FALSELY ACCUSED DISEASES:  Grand mal seizures, tetanus.

BIG FANS OF STRYCHNINE: 

Ethel Major

Ethel spent the spring of 1934 trying to kill her husband.  I guess she wasn’t very good at it, because there were so many attempts lacing his sandwiches that her husband finally became suspicious of the bitter tasting sandwiches.   One day at work, his co-workers claimed he spat out his lunch and said “I bet my damned wife is trying to kill me”.  

Inexplicably, he continued to eat the nasty tasting food she served, so eventually, Ethel’s scorned beef hash dinner did the trick.  Man was dead the next day.  

She may have gotten away with it.  One of his co-workers sent an anonymous letter to the police ratting her out, which is appropriate for someone who loves rat poison.  She was arrested the next day and hung a few months later, because they just didn’t have time for all the poisoners back then. 

Patsy Wright

The eerie case of the NyQuil poisoning in Arlington, Texas back 1987 remains unsolved.

Known by her friends and family to take a nightly dose of the cough medicine to help her sleep, the nasty taste was the perfect disguise.

Few hours after taking her final dose of NyQuil, Patsy called her sister claiming something is “very, very wrong”.  By the time her sister arrived at her house, Patsy was unresponsive and died an hour later.  

Investigators couldn’t imagine why a healthy 43 year-old woman would just drop dead. Finally after eight days, the testing on the NyQuil bottle confirmed high amounts of an almost pure form strychnine.  

Besides the sizzurp, also found in her bedroom were two plates of half eaten food on a TV tray.   A husband, ex-husband and a slew of other suitors were questioned, but the case still remains disturbing and unsolved.

Read more here.

#poison #murder #part2 #death #nyquil

[killerspectrum]

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF POISONERS 

POISONERS ARE A DIFFERENT BREED OF KILLERS

Since the dawn of time, poison has been a very easy way to end a relationship, getting revenge or ending your own life.  With careful planning, you could dispatch an unwanted spouse and get rich. 

In 1830, life insurance became available putting a monetary value on human life.  Besides greed, other motivating forces for intentional poisoning are attention, Munchausen by proxy for example, revenge or jealousy. 

Poison is appealing for murderers looking to clear an obstacle.  A silent act, that allows the perpetrator to kill at a safe distance.  Poisoning has room for trial and error.  If your calculations are wrong, it’s possible to have multiple attempts without causing too much suspicion. Another convenience of poisoning, is the ability to reduce responsibility or guilt. Hey, I just left the coke in the fridge, HE DRANK IT.

So, for the type of person who loves to resolve conflict without direct confrontation, tainted food or medicine would seem like a logical idea. 

But for other determined poisoners, they may try other....creative ways to infect a victim.  For example, there’s a recent case of “Cunning Cunnilingus”, the Brazilian woman who laced her vagina with a toxin in order to kill her husband.  Crafty, yes....smart, fuck no.  Her husband was so disturbed by the smell, he rushed her to the hospital and she almost died.  Along with any self esteem she may have had. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF A POISONER

Scorn for authority 

A need to control situations

Tend to have a sense of inadequacy

Methodical

Sneaky, covert

Emotionally immature

Amazingly skilled at pretending to be caring, or devoted

Will work alone, won't confide in others 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CRIME

90% of their victims are people they know.  

Believe they are so clever and will get away with the crime, which is always premeditated.  

Generally younger than their victim.  

Not shy with that poison either, almost half have multiple victims.  

Will have knowledge of their victims routine, personal habits and favorite foods.  

THE TOXICOMANIAC

A rare mental condition when an individual is obsessed with poisons and their reactions on living things.  One such fellow is Graham Young from England. 

Young’s parents gifted him with a chemistry set when he was 13 years old.  A year later, he used his extensive knowledge of toxins to convince a local chemists to sell him arsenic and thallium for ‘study purposes’.  Soon after, Young was starting his experiments on his own family, testing their reactions to the various poisons by spiking their tea.  It was a great thrill for him to roam the house, taking detailed notes about their conditions.

Eventually the testing took a toll on his mother and she died in agony as he curiously looked on.   Eventually, the young man was sent away to a mental hospital, although never charged for her murder. 

For those nine years in the hospital, the enjoyed tormenting the staff and other patients with tainted soap and food. 

Amazingly, before he was discharged from the hospital, he told the nurse he was going to celebrate by poisoning one person for every year he spent locked up.  Recent poisonings?  Promise of future poisonings?  Enjoy your freedom!

Released back into the world at the age of 23, Young started a new job and quickly began his scientific experiments on his co-workers!  A whole lot of people to mass poison.  Eventually, his dastardly deeds were discovered before he was able to kill anyone again and this time, he was sentenced to life in prison.

It’s claimed he never considered himself a criminal, only a budding scientist.  I call bullshit, that bitch knew the experience wasn’t going to be akin to a champagne bubble bath. 

The chap died in prison at the age of 42.  Unknown causes.  

#murder #poison #dontpoisonanyone #part1

[killerspectrum]

RESTAURANT MASSACRES

FOOD AND MASS MURDER

After a very unscientific and crude google search,  I would like to make a dramatic assertion that McDonald’s parking lot seems to be the most deadly of all eateries.  This could just be a mathematical probability given there are just under 2.3 billion golden arches littering the states, but there’s even a website to confirm my suspicions.  Over 141 customers McMurdered!

McMurder website.

Before I get McSued....I can reassure the GP that most restaurant massacres are robberies.... It’s quite rare for an angry-at-society-lone-wolfer to annihilate everyone and their whoppers.  The most common victim of a restaurant murder spree is an employee.  

So enjoy those burgers in peace.  Just don’t linger in the drive-thru, eat at closing time, work there, or develop diabetes and you should be fine.

Of the non-fast food variety, southern-based Cracker Barrel chain appears to be the deadliest sit down chain restaurant, with two incidents of mass murder, so let’s start with them.

CRACKER BARREL 

Naples, FL

November 15, 1995

3 Killed

Robbery

Two former employees, Brandy Bain Jennings and Charles Jason Graves, were determined to rob the Cracker Barrel restaurant where they met working together.  

There had been two previous attempts to pinch money, but this time they were determined to succeed.  That morning, just before Thanksgiving, the pair walked in and bound three employees, all people they knew. 

Once the victims were taken to the cooler in the back of the store, their throats were cut, one by one.  The killers probably hadn’t thought far enough ahead to realize that a small enclosed place, combined with the pooling of three jugular veins, causes a huge, slippery mess.  Jennings slipped and fell in the blood, leaving his footprints at the scene.

Jennings and Graves made off with $6,000 and spent three weeks in Vegas before being apprehended.

Both convicted of murder in separate trials, Graves received life in prison, while Jennings, received the death penalty. 

#2 CRACKER BARREL

Brooklyn, OH

April 12, 2012

Family of 4 killed

Domestic Murder

A family celebrating their child’s 10th birthday at her favorite restaurant ends in horror as the father shoots and kills his whole family inside the gift shop. 

Katherina Allen made a 911 call saying she was having ‘spouse issues’ at their local Cracker Barrel.  She told the dispatcher that over dinner, in the safety of a crowded restaurant, she informed her husband, Kevin Allen, she wanted a divorce.  He became belligerent and started circling the parking lot in his truck. 

Before the police could arrive, Allen walked back into the restaurant with a shotgun and shot his wife and 9 year old daughter in the face, killing them both. Carefully avoiding strangers, Allen hunted down his other daughter in the bathroom, shooting the girl in the stomach on her birthday.     

After a small shootout with police, Kevin was shot and killed by responding officers.  No bystanders were killed in the incident.

WENDY’S 

Queens, NY

May 24, 2000

5 Killed

Robbery

Another disgruntled,  ex-employee familiar with the night shift routine, John Taylor devised a plan to steal money from his former job at Wendy’s.   He walked in just before closing and asked to speak to the manager.   

A short while later, the rest of the employees were called downstairs to the basement for a ‘meeting’ where all seven of the workers, including the manager, were tied up and shot execution style.   The deadly duo hastily grabbed $2,400, mostly in change, and ran for the hills, not realizing they left two survivors clinging to life.  

And by “running for the hills”, I mean they took a bus home.  Public transportation.  Probably the only pair of assholes to commit mass murder and then leave the scene on the city bus.   With bags of quarters.

With the eyewitnesses, they were able to identify the killers and both of them were arrested after just 48 hours on the lam, presumably spent rolling coins.

Taylor, the mastermind, was sentenced to death(later commuted to life).  His accomplice, Greg Godineaux, is serving life. 

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN

Kilgore, TX

September 23, 1983

5 Killed

Robbery

Ahh that dangerous time of night for any fast food diner....a few minutes before closing.....practically reserved for losers who can’t tell time, drunks who enjoy stale french fries and predators looking for distracted employees.   

It was during those last few minutes of operating hours at a Texas KFC when three employees and two people waiting to give them rides, were abducted from the store.  

They were taken to an abandoned field on a country road and executed with a shot to the back of their head.  One victim was found some distance away from the others.   It was suspected that she tried to run away from her captors, but evidence showed that she was raped before death. 

This case remained unsolved for over 22 years before two men were arrested for the crime, Darnell Hartsfield and his cousin, Romeo Pinkerton.  Both were sentenced for the crime in 2008.  

It was a controversial conviction, with questions raised over weather the real killers are behind bars.  The DNA found at the crime scene doesn't match either suspect, but the police insists it belongs to a ‘third’ individual. 

Short documentary here on the KFC murders.

MCDONALD’S 

San Diego, CA

July 18th, 1984 

21 Killed

Mass Murder

In a suburb just North of San Diego, 41-year-old James Huberty made his way to his local McDonald about a block away.  He carried an UZI in one hand and a semi automatic shotgun in the other as he casually walked down the street. One neighbor called the police to report him, setting the scene for the largest mass casualty event of it’s time.  The McDonald’s massacre held that distinction for 7 years, until the Luby’s Cafeteria in 1991.

Huberty shot indiscriminately at customers and employees.  Inside and outside. People lay dying as he continued his assault for over an hour.  People died with napkins in their hands and clutching plastic trays.

He was there to punish society.  He had offered warning signs for weeks prior to the shooting, saying things such as “I want to shoot as many people as possible”, yet nobody took him seriously.

Within 2 minutes of the 911 call, there were over 150 responding officers just outside the McDonald’s, and yet Huberty’s massacre continued for a stunning one hour and 17 minutes.  He killed 21 people, and injured 19 more, before a  police sniper shot him through a window from across the street. 

The police faced criticism as to why it took so long to take down the shooter. They claim the reflections off all the broken glass shards prevented them from getting a clear shot of the shooter.  

Short Documentary on the McDonald’s Massacre.

MCDONALD’S #2

Nova Scotia, Canada

March 1992

4 Killed

Robbery

An employee concocted a plan, with two other accomplices, to rob his job for some quick cash.  Wearing rubber Halloween masks, the trio shot all five people closing that night. 

Nineteen-year-old Derek Wood and 23-year-old Freeman MacNeil said they never wanted to use violence, yet all five of the workers were shot in the head at close range and left for dead.   One survived, only to become a paraplegic. The restaurant was eventually torn down after the tragedy.

Both of them, along with the third suspect, 18-year-old Darren Muise, were charged and convicted of first-degree murder..

PAUL REID  

Nashville, TN

February-April 1997

7 Killed in total

Robbery

The Bob’s Big Boy of all food killers, Paul Reid was very comfortable and familiar with the inner workings of a fast food joint.   At 40 years-old, he spent his adult life working the fast food chains for a living, while trying to be a country western singer. 

When not pursing fame, he murdered people for money.

During a three month spree in early 1997, Reid slaughtered employees at three quick food places in the area, killing mostly teens at their first jobs. 

Captain D’s Fish:

Under the guise of wanting to apply for a job, he was granted early access to the restaurant while two employees did the morning prep work.  They were shot execution style in the storeroom. 

McDonald’s:

After closing, Reid confronted two employees in the back of the store as they took out the trash and forced his way inside.  He executed three of them, but the fourth victim was stabbed 17 times instead when the gun jammed.  He was the only survivor of the fast food murders.

Baskin-Robin’s:

Changing his MO, to possibly mislead investigators, Reid abducted the two late night workers, slit their throats and dumped them in nearby Dunbar Cave State Park.

His rein of terror over Nashville ended when he brazenly showed up at the home of a manager who recently fired him over his temper.  Under the guise of wanting his job back, Reid attempted to kidnap the Shoney’s manager with a gun.  

Luckily, the quick thinking manager escaped and ran back in the house where he called 911.   As he was driving away, Paul called him to apologize for the attempted abduction and ask for his job back again.  Naturally, the manager agreed if he would just come on back to the house.  

For unknown reasons, Reid went back to the house where he was quickly arrested by awaiting police.  I guess he really wanted his job back.

Previously Mentioned Food Massacres:

Chuck E. Cheese-  Colorado, 4 employees murdered by ex employee.

Luby’s Cafe- Texas, 23 killed, lunch hour mass murder.

Brown’s Chicken-  Illinois, 7 employees killed at closing time, robbery.

Yougart Shop- Texas, 4 killed at closing time, robbery.

#Food #restaurant killers #true crime #mcdonalds #death

[killerspectrum]

WHEN YOUR CHILD KILLS YOU Cases of Parricide

What a strange development it must be to actually spend 12-18 years raising your own murderer.  You fed them, kept them safe only to be snuffed out in cold blood by that same child. 

 How does your own child decide to wipe you off the face of the earth?

Elements of deep resentment or animosity causes a certain detachment where murder becomes a possibility or ‘solution’ to a child. 

Biological make-up and social experiences also contribute to the equation.

Children 18 and younger kill a parent or step parent about 114 times a year, but even more rare for a child to kill both parents. 

Here is a list of some of those teenage killers.

ROSS MICHAEL CARLSON

Littleton, CO

Motive: Possible Mental Illness, Possible Greed

Cold blood greed or a genuine case of Multiple Personalities?

The bodies of Rod and Marilyn Carlson were found on the side of an isolated road in Douglas County,  just south of Denver.  They were shot execution style.

The next morning, investigators arrived at the family home to ask about the discovery on the side of the road.  They found Ross happily eating breakfast without a care in the world.  The younger Carlson was polite, yet puzzled.  He didn’t know where his parents were, he said. Maybe they went shopping.

Ross, was a 19 year-old college student and part time model at the time of the killings. The couple’s only child, he was often described as a personable and verbally sophisticated.  There were no domestic issues or intense battles being fought.  So, of course there was no hesitation when their son asked to go for a ride in the country that hot August evening in 1983.

The police arrested him on suspicion of murder. Ross admitted to the crime but claimed he was suffering from Multiple Personalities. He blamed the murders on his alternate personality, Justin.  He did it!

In addition to ‘Justin’, there was there was the 40 year-old ‘Steve’ and the tough talking ‘Norman’ from New York.  Ross even developed a new personality in the hospital, named ‘Holden’, who would smoke cigarettes, when Ross claimed to be allergic to smoke.

A few psychiatrists agreed with the legitimacy of his diagnosis, while others, including the judge, disagreed and thought he was faking it to avoid trial. 

After 6 long years in a mental facility, three things happened.  Ross was broke because the state used every last penny of his inheritance on his treatment. 

Next, he was finally declared competent to stand trial.  His personalities managed to ‘fuse’ together enough for trial.  Fascinating, his cure coincided with the empty bank account.  And third, he was diagnosed with leukemia and died 12 days later, before ever making it to court.  

Plot Twist!  Ross was arrested the previous year trying to make his house explode for financial gain.  Supposedly, it was to help his parents get out of debt. 

SARAH JOHNSON

Bellevue, Idaho

Motive: Revenge, freedom.

Only four girls have been charged with killing of their parents within a 24 year time span, Sarah Johnson is one of them.

16 years-old at the time of the murders, she was having an acrimonious relationship with her parents, especially her mother. The biggest point of contention was her older, drug dealing boyfriend, Bruno Santos.  

After finding out Sarah had spent the night at Santos' apartment, the Johnsons flipped out and told their daughter she would never see the man again.  In fact, they were going to the police station the next day to press statutory rape charges against Santos.  

Well, that didn't sit well with the teenager.  Nobody was going to tell her she couldn't see her boyfriend.  

On the morning of Sept 2nd 2003, the day of the police visit, Sarah shot her parents with a rifle she found in the guest house.  Her mother was shot while she slept and her father killed as he stepped out of the shower.  The mother's head wound was described as an 'explosion'.  

Sarah changed clothes and ran to the neighbors house claiming an intruder killed her parents.  The cops originally suspected Santos was responsible, not an intruder, or the self proclaimed "Daddy's Girl".  But...friends and family quickly became suspicious of her behavior and ever changing story of an ‘intruder’.

The police didn't need to speculate for long- they already found the murder weapon and bloody robe she oh-so-cleverly discarded in her trash, outside the murder scene.   She was arrested the following month when DNA evidence proved Sarah was the shooter, not Santos.

Sentenced to two life terms.

William James Bresnahan Jr.

Colorado Springs, Co

Motive: Heat of the moment.  No evidence the murders were planned.

Vintage Parricide!

Back in 1964, William James murdered his parents on what was supposed to be a happy, summertime camping trip.     

After a heated argument, things took a dark turn when the 16 year-old beat and stabbed both inside their tent.  It’s not clear if he continued his camping trip or how soon he was arrested afterward.  But when he was arrested he admitted it the crime and was sentenced to life in prison.

Most of the details available about William James center on his life after sentencing.

After spending just ten years in prison, he was released. Taking into account the history of abuse Jr. suffered and the rehabilitation he received in the excellent Colorado juvenile program.   William James received a full pardon and went on to become a licensed doctor for a small town in California.  That little life-saver!

JOHN CAUDLE

Rio Grande, Co

Motive:  Felt bullied at home.

Frustrated about family chores and his father calling him names, 14 year-old John shot and killed his mom and step father on the evening of October 26, 2009. 

Considered an odd duck by classmates, he was often caught sucking his thumb on the bus to school, but it was actually his parents that seemed to upset John the most.  There was intense fighting over routine housework and more defiance from John, because he claimed he felt more “like a slave than a son”.

After school that day, he came home to find his mom was railing on him for not doing his chores again.  She called him names such as ‘A-hole’ and ‘Jackass’. Instead of taking out the trash, he retrieved a gun he stole from his stepdad and shot his mom 9 times, until she stopped screaming.  

An hour later, ol' pops comes home and finds blood on the floor.  As he’s searching for his wife, Mr. Caudle is ambushed by the teen and shot in the head twice.  

Spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the crime scene (the irony) and watching movies on the big screen TV.  

The next day, John drove his parents truck to school, where students described him as happy, calm.  

Afterwards, leaving his parents to rot in the house, he takes the truck on a road trip.  John was escaping all his troubles by moving in with his his uncle, who lived a few hours away.  Reality caught up with him and he was arrested half way there.

Serving 22 years in prison.

#Murder #true crime #child killers #sleep with one eye open #death #parricide