truecrimeroyalty

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Between 1979 and 1981, in the city of Atlanta, over twenty African American children had mysteriously disappeared and their bodies would later pop up in various areas of the city. It appeared that most of these boys had been strangled to death. Police initially were in denial that a serial killer was on the loose, but as more bodies were showing up, they had no choice but to investigate it. The case became known as the Atlanta Child Murders. In 1981, the murders continued, but then the killer did something that is rare for a serial killer–he changed his MO and stopped killing kids, now moving on to African American adults. Police started surveillance on a bridge over the Chattahoochee River where many of the victims’ bodies were pulled from. After hearing a splash, police intercepted an African American named Wayne Williams in his car and took him in for questioning. Since they had no evidence that tied him to the murders, though, they set him free. However, he remained a suspect, and upon further investigation, carpet fibers and dog hairs from William’s home and car were found on victims. Police also found blood stains in his car. Wayne Williams was arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. To this day, he maintains his innocence, insisting that the Ku Klux Klan had framed him. 

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The backpacker murders were a string of serial killings that took place in New South Wales, Australia, starting in the late 80s. The bodies of young hitchhikers, some male and some female, were discovered partly buried in the Belanglo State Forest. The mystery killer had murdered his victims by shooting or frenzy stabbing–one of the victims had even been decapitated with some kind of machete or sword. Police suspected they had a serial killer on their hands and launched search groups to comb through the forest and the area around it. In the end, they stumbled upon a total of seven killings. What struck them as peculiar was the fact that a small brick fireplace could be found at each murder site. Police accumulated a list of suspects and brought them to the station. A man named Paul Onions, who had managed to escape the notorious Backpack Murder in 1990, flew to Australia and was shown a video lineup. He identified Ivan Milat as the man who tried to kill him. Police investigated Ivan and eventually gathered enough evidence to tie him to the murders. Ivan plead not-guilty, but in the end received six life sentences. 

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Murder of Miranda Fenner 

Around 8:15 pm on the 15th of November 1998, a motorist noticed 18 year old Miranda Fenner crawling out of a local video rental store in Laurel, Montana. She had been stabbed multiple times in the head and neck. The motorist stopped and dialled 911, and Miranda was rushed to hospital. She sadly died from her injuries within two hours. 

During the investigation, 700 people were interviewed about Miranda’s murder, but no suspects were named. The police could not find a motive for the murder but stated that a small sum of money had been taken from the cash register, meaning robbery could not entirely be ruled out. 

The case went cold and remained unsolved for nearly two decades until a breakthrough in 2017. Zachary David O’Neill was interviewed by the authorities regarding the sexual assault and attempted murder of a newspaper carrier in Billings, which occurred in September 1998. Whilst being questioned, Zachary confessed to the attempted murder and the murder of Miranda. The killer said that she killed Miranda after attempting to rob the video store. 

In 2019, Zachary pled guilty to murder and sentenced to life in prison.  

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Stevie Bates vanished in Queens, New York on April 28th, 2012. The then-19-year-old disappeared after taking a cross-country road trip. Stevie returned to New York via bus and was captured on surveillance footage at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Shortly after exiting the bus, Stevie called her mother and said she was going to visit her boyfriend at a property where he had been squatting. She was never seen or heard from again. According to Stevie’s mother, the NYPD was not very helpful when she first reported Stevie missing. The police reportedly told Stevie’s mother that she was an adult and maybe did not want to be found. However, Stevie’s mother knew it was uncharacteristic for Stevie to fall out-of-touch and she was immediately worried for her daughter’s safety. Years passed without any updates in Stevie’s case. Then, in 2020, human remains were found at a construction site on Cypress Avenue in Glendale, Queens. A construction worker noticed that there was a rolled-up blanket about five feet down a bank. When the blanket was removed by an excavator, the construction workers noticed that there were bones inside. It took months, but in March 2021, the remains were identified as that of Stevie Bates. Her death was classified as a homicide. Stevie’s mother said that the building where Stevie was found is the same building where she said she was going to meet her boyfriend on the day she vanished. Reports state that the boyfriend was interviewed by police, but he denied any involvement in Stevie’s disappearance. At this time, he has not been named as a suspect or even a person-of-interest. Stevie’s murder remains unsolved. If you have any information that could help convict her killer(s), please call 1-800-577-TIPS.

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Kajavia Globe was murdered in December 2015. Her body was found stuffed in a trash can and found by a horrified homeowner a day later. These unsettling images of an unknown person driving her car and using her credit card were captured just hours before she was found. The vehicle was later found abandoned. Although her boyfriend was charged with the murder, he claims that this was not him in the skeleton mask and was said to be “freaked the fuck out” by this surveillance footage.

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Sol Pais

Sol Pais was an 18-year-old student from Miami, Florida. Described as a quiet and smart girl who kept herself to herself, Pais was allegedly obsessed with the Columbine High School Massacre and ran an online blog in which she posted increasingly extreme images of guns, drawings of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and wrote about loneliness and misery, in one entry she described herself as ‘on the verge of boiling over.’ Pais is also thought to have asked advice on message boards about how she could travel from Florida to Colorado and buy a gun.

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the massacre, Pais travelled to Littleton, Colorado, the place where the massacre had taken place. She then legally purchased a shotgun and ammunition. Pais made undisclosed but ‘credible’ threats to schools in the area leading to at least 140 Denver-area schools cancelling classes. Pais could not be located by police and was described as ‘armed and dangerous’ and ‘wanted in connection with school threats.’

After a two day manhunt, Pais was found dead from a self inflicted gunshot having committed suicide at the base of a mountain.

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Emmishae Kirby vanished in Houston, Texas on September 18th, 2020. The 28 year-old vanished just weeks after ending a relationship with her boyfriend, 29 year-old Javon Gilbert. Emmishae and Javon had been living together up until September 2020–when Emmishae ended their relationship after Javon reportedly sexually assaulted her. However, Javon showed up to the apartment unannounced on numerous occasions after their breakup. On one occasion, he broke into the apartment armed with a knife. Once Emmishae was reported missing, Javon became an obvious person of interest. He reportedly gave police conflicting statements, but did confirm that Emmishae had broken up with him earlier that month due to the sexual assault accusation. Still, Javon was not immediately charged with anything related to Emmishae’s disappearance. On October 3rd, 2020, searchers found Emmishae’s body near Bear Creek Pioneers Park in Harris County. An autopsy later confirmed that she had been strangled and shot to death. From that point forward, Emmishae’s case was shifted into a murder investigation. Detectives looked at surveillance footage from her apartment building to see if they could retrace her final steps before she vanished. The footage confirmed that Emmishae and Javon were together on September 18th. Earlier that day, the two were captured entering Emmishae’s car together and leaving the parking lot. They reportedly went to a gas station and a restaurant before returning to Emmishae’s apartment. Emmishae and Javon were then captured walking back inside the building. Hours later, at 1:40am, Javon is seen carrying a “heavy object” to Emmishae’s car. He then drives off in her car before returning an hour later. Javon was later captured making several trips back and forth between Emmishae’s apartment and the dumpster, where he threw away several items–including her sofa. After months of investigating, police finally arrested Javon on January 20th, 2021. He was charged with Emmishae’s murder, and with tampering with evidence. Javon did not show up to his initial probable cause hearing due to reported mental health reasons. He has yet to enter a plea. This case is unfolding and more updates are expected at a later date.

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Wife Swap Murders

Reality television was at its peak during the early 2000s, with a variety of shows documenting different aspects of people’s lives. One of these shows was called Wife Swap, where for two weeks, the wife of a family would swap with another who has different values and views. One of the contestants went on to brutally murder his family who starred on the show.

In April 2008, ABC aired the Stockdale/Tonkovic wife swap episode. The Tonkovic family from Illinois – Laurie, her husband John and their children T-Vic and Meghan – were an easygoing family. On the other hand, the Stockdale family from Ohio – Kathy, her husband Timothy, and their children Calvin, Charles, Jacob and James – ran a completely different household. The boys were kept relatively secluded to protect them from bad influences. They had to work for privileges such as listening to the radio, and their fun was the “wholesome family bluegrass band”. During the episode, Jacob told Laurie his parents said he would “burn in hell” when she tried to loosen the rules.

Police responded to a 911 hang-up call at the Stockdale home in Beach City, Ohio, on the 15th of June 2017. When they arrived, they heard a gunshot and upon entering the property, found 25-year-old Jacob with a gunshot wound to the head. As they searched deeper into the home, they came across the lifeless bodies of Kathy, 54, and James, 21. It was believed that Jacob killed his mother and brother before turning the gun on himself. He was rushed to hospital where doctors saved his life. The father and other siblings were not at the household at the time of the shooting.

Following the murders, Jacob pled guilty by reasons of insanity and spent two years at a psychiatric hospital, where he twice attempted to escape. After later being found sane at the time of the murders, Jacob was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

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Bryan Kohberger - What We Know So Far

In the early morning hours of November 13th, 2022, the bodies of four college students were found stabbed to death in their off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho. The students were identified 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, who were all studying at the University of Idaho. 

Forensic evidence and surveillance footage linked 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger to the quadruple homicide, a criminal justice PhD student at the University of Washington, leaving many to wonder what Bryan’s connection was–if any–to the victims. 

As it’s so early on in the investigation, not much is known about Bryan’s life before his arrest on December 30th. He grew up in eastern Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountain. He grew up with his father, who was a maintenance worker, his mother, who worked in the school system, and two older sisters. 

Former high school friends of Bryan say he was bullied for being overweight. In his senior year of high school, he lost 100 lbs. But with his physical transformation also came an attitude switch. He became more physically aggressive and arrogant toward others. Not long after, he developed a heroin addiction, which made him more secluded and self-destructive. 

Years later, Bryan tried to sober up and get his life back on track.He worked security for the Pleasant Valley School District and was attending Pennsylvania’s Northampton Community College, where he received his associate’s degree in 2018 before completing his undergrad at DeSales University in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2020. He graduated with a master of arts in criminal justice in June 2022 where he studied under forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and wrote a book on him.

During his master studies, Bryan made the following post on Reddit:

Hello, my name is Bryan and I am inviting you to participate in a research project that seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience.

After completing his master’s, he enrolled as a PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University in August, where he also worked as a teaching assistant. But it wasn’t long before Bryan ran into some trouble. Several times, meetings were arranged with faculty members to discuss Bryan’s misogynistic attitude in the way he interacted with women and graded their papers versus their male peers. Furthermore, Bryan reportedly had gotten into many altercations with one of his professors. Days before his arrest, Bryan was eventually fired as a TA for his behaviour. 

[truecrimeroyalty]

Bryan Kohberger - What We Know So Far

In the early morning hours of November 13th, 2022, the bodies of four college students were found stabbed to death in their off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho. The students were identified 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, who were all studying at the University of Idaho. 

Forensic evidence and surveillance footage linked 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger to the quadruple homicide, a criminal justice PhD student at the University of Washington, leaving many to wonder what Bryan’s connection was–if any–to the victims. 

As it’s so early on in the investigation, not much is known about Bryan’s life before his arrest on December 30th. He grew up in eastern Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountain. He grew up with his father, who was a maintenance worker, his mother, who worked in the school system, and two older sisters. 

Former high school friends of Bryan say he was bullied for being overweight. In his senior year of high school, he lost 100 lbs. But with his physical transformation also came an attitude switch. He became more physically aggressive and arrogant toward others. Not long after, he developed a heroin addiction, which made him more secluded and self-destructive. 

Years later, Bryan tried to sober up and get his life back on track.He worked security for the Pleasant Valley School District and was attending Pennsylvania’s Northampton Community College, where he received his associate’s degree in 2018 before completing his undergrad at DeSales University in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2020. He graduated with a master of arts in criminal justice in June 2022 where he studied under forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and wrote a book on him.

During his master studies, Bryan made the following post on Reddit:

Hello, my name is Bryan and I am inviting you to participate in a research project that seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience.

After completing his master’s, he enrolled as a PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University in August, where he also worked as a teaching assistant. But it wasn’t long before Bryan ran into some trouble. Several times, meetings were arranged with faculty members to discuss Bryan’s misogynistic attitude in the way he interacted with women and graded their papers versus their male peers. Furthermore, Bryan reportedly had gotten into many altercations with one of his professors. Days before his arrest, Bryan was eventually fired as a TA for his behaviour. 

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10 Most Common Traits of Serial Killers 

1. Head injuries

70% of serial killers have reported experiencing some sort of severe head injury during their childhood or adolescence. Damage to the limbic brain, hypothalamus, or temporal lobe can cause unexpected bouts of violence and aggression. Some serial killers who received head trauma are Richard Ramirez, Bobbie Joe Long, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. 

2. Harming animals

99% of serial killers have admitted that they started by playing out their violent fantasies on animals, most commonly cats, before growing bolder and performing the same acts on human beings. 

3. Developing voyeurism and fetishism

From an early age, many serial killers have had an intense fascination with fetishism and voyeurism as well as other paraphilias. Many start off as harmless peeping toms before moving on to more relatively vile acts like house-breaking, rape, and murder.

4. Isolation

Many serial killers admitted to distancing themselves from social events, like parties, preferring to bask in their own company. They never formed intimate and romantic relationships as other teenagers do, instead resorted to masturbation and other auto-erotic activities such as pornography as a source of self-sexual pleasure.

5. Violent fantasies 

Serial killers like to fantasize about control and violation of another human being. During research, it was found that serial killers couldn’t remember any positive fantasies they had as children. A number of them had fantasies about mutilating themselves or their own genitals. 

6. Bed-wetting

About 60% of serial killers admitted to wetting their bed beyond the age of 12. Usually their parents would tease and belittle them for their uncontrollable habit, which would cause the child to act out against animals or use arson to channel out their frustration. Some examples of serial killers who suffered from this problem are John Wayne Gacy and Alton Coleman (Alton was even cruelly taunted with the nickname ‘’Pissy’’.)

7. Stressful sexual events

Accessible research shows that violent sexual events during one’s childhood could really take a toll on their mental health. More than one serial killer was forced to wear girl’s clothing as a form of punishment. Some serial killers were punished for masturbating as a child, or were sexually assaulted by a family member, which caused them to develop violent sexual fantasies that persisted into their adulthood. 

8. Emotional abuse

50% of serial killers admitted to having experienced psychological abuse and neglect during their childhood. This could impair a child’s ability to develop vital emotions and end up devoid of any empathy for others. This also causes them to have trouble forming healthy, intimate relationships and holding down long-term jobs.

9. Substance and alcohol abuse

70% of serial killers experienced problems related to substance abuse, however, not directly; very few actually engaged in excessive alcohol and substance use, rather grew up in a home where a guardian abused alcohol. 

10. Obsession with fire-starting

This ties into their lust for destruction, control, and power, a practice that they typically begin at an early age. Some of the most notorious serial killers were juvenile arsonists, like Ottis Toole, who was torching vacant houses since the age of 6.

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Peter Woodcock was a Canadian killer and child rapist who murdered children in 1956 and 1957 when he was just a teenager himself. Peter rode his bike around cities as he hunted for prey. When he came across a lone child, he would offer them a bike ride. When they accepted, he would ride out of the neighborhood and take them to a remote spot. Once there, he would force them to strip, then strangle them to death. Using physiology textbook that he’d gotten from school, Peter would examine the body. Then he simply dressed them up and left their bodies where they lay. Upon his capture, he was placed in a psychiatric facility where he was assessed a psychopath. In 1991, he killed a fellow psychiatric patient for rejecting his sexual advances. Peter died on his birthday in 2010, and it was then when he’d be dubbed by the Toronto Star as, ‘’The serial killer they couldn’t cure.’’

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America’s youngest serial killer was a 13-year-old boy named Jesse Pomeroy. Between 1871 and 1872 in Boston, Massachusetts, Jesse would entice younger children to secluded areas, tie them up, and brutally attack them in a number of different ways, from beating, to slashing, to knocking their teeth out. Jesse was eventually caught and sent to reform school where he was to remain until he was 21. However, he was released only after two years for good behavior. 

Directly after his release, Jesse would resume his old habits except this time his bloodlust gave way to another obsession: murder. He murdered a 10-year-old girl and hid her body in the basement of his mother’s dress shop. A month later, he murdered yet again, this time a 4-year-old boy who’s body was found mutilated so badly that he was nearly decapitated. Police arrested Jesse and although he was initially going to be sentenced to death, there was a giant outcry against sentencing a child to death, so he was instead given life in solitary confinement and spent the rest of his 58 years on earth there. 

A reporter would describe him as, ‘’A deadened creature gazing with lusterless eyes upon a world that meant nothing to him.’’

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The peculiar case of Lori Ruff forever raises the chilling question—how well do you really know your loved ones? In 2003, Blake Ruff met Lori in a Bible study class. One of the things he noted about her was that she was extremely secretive about her past. Despite this, Blake and Lori married in early 2004 and had a baby together. Lori was described as being overly-protective of her daughter and still refused to open up about her past. After multiple failed marriage counselling sessions, Blake moved out of the family home and filed for divorce against Lori. She allegedly became erratic after this. On Christmas Eve of 2010, Lori parked in the Ruffs’ driveway and shot herself in the head. Inside the car, two suicide notes were found, but neither of them contained any details about Lori’s past, only ‘’ramblings from a clearly disturbed person’’.  After Lori’s funeral, some of the Ruffs drove over to Lori’s house to see if they could find any sort of clue about her true origins. After digging around, they discovered a lock box. Inside the lock box contained documentation papers of Lori’s past, including a birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner and a judge’s ruling allowing Becky Sue Turner to legally change her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. After investigating Becky Sue Turner, it was discovered that she was a toddler who was killed in a house fire in 1971. That’s when it dawned on them—Lori was a successful identity thief. But why? Who was she?

They hired an investigator from the Social Security Administration, but even he was unable to crack the case. But finally, six years later, the mystery was solved after a scientist found a possible cousin of Lori’s after matching records of DNA from Lori’s young daughter. The SSA investigator, who personally went to his house and showed him pictures of Lori. Immediately, the relative exclaimed, ‘’My God, that’s Kimberly!’’ According to relatives, Lori was born Kimberly McLean in 1968 in Philadelphia. When she was a teenager, her parents got a divorce and after her mother remarried, she was unable to adjust. When she was 18, she got up and left, telling her mother to never look for her. She was never seen or heard from again. 

In the next two years, she requested the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner, which she used to obtain a state ID card in Idaho. She then went before a judge in Dallas to legally change her name to Lori Erica Kennedy and obtained a Social Security number, erasing her past for good. She worked as a stripper in the early 90s and she graduated from University of Texas at Arlington in 1997 with a degree in Business Administration.

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Chandler Halderson, 23, seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. At such a young age, he had already accomplished tremendous milestones. A recent college graduate in IT, he worked remotely from home for a local insurance company. He was also on the police suba diving team and, even more impressively, recently landed a job at Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX. Suffice to say–Chandler’s parents, Bart and Krista Halderson, were exceptionally proud of their son.

As of June 2021, Chandler was still living at his parents’ home in Windsor, Wisconsin. He planned to move to Florida with his girlfriend soon in order to accept the job at SpaceX, but something hindered that monumental move–a nasty fall down the stairs, in which he sustained a concussion and neck injury which required him to wear a neckbrace. The doctors warned Chandler that he may need brain surgery if his symptoms worsened and discouraged him from long-distance travel until he fully recovered. Due to this, he had to cancel his move to Florida, and tragically lost his position at SpaceX as a result.

But Chandler’s parents began having suspicions. Their son worked long, hard hours at his online insurance company job, yet he never seemed to have money. Chandler always had an excuse as to why he wasn’t being paid–once claiming there was a glitch with the payroll software. He showed his father email exchanges with his employer as proof. Chandler was also exchanging emails with his school’s administrators,  Alyssa Brandt and Daniel Speith, regarding his diploma and transcripts he was trying to obtain. 

Bart’s suspicions only began growing from these emails. He took it upon himself to call Madison College, where his son graduated. Speaking directly with the enrollment coordinator, he identified himself as Chandler Halderson and explained he was trying to request his diploma and transcripts. He told the coordinator he previously exchanged emails with Alyssa Brandt and Daniel Speith regarding the issue. The coordinator did not recognize either of those names. To add to the confusion, he was told that he never graduated and had flunked out of college in the fall of 2020, still owing $2000 in tuition. 

After the phone call, Bart told Chandler he set up an appointment with school officials on July 1st to get to the bottom of everything, not telling him what he had just discovered over the phone.

Chandler knew his web of lies were about to be unraveled. Because it was true–he never completed his degree. Nor did he have a job lined up for him at SpaceX. Nor was he a volunteer for the police scuba diving team–such a thing didn’t even exist! Nor did he have an online job with an insurance company–that was just an excuse for him to stay at home playing video games all day. Those email exchanges with school officials and his employers were all fake. And his head injury? Also a sham.

When July 1st rolled around, Bart sent Chandler a text right before the appointment reading, I’m ready when you are. But this would be the last anyone’s ever heard from Bart. Chandler ended up shooting his father. When his mother returned home from work a few hours later, she met the same fate (it is not exactly known how she was killed). He then dismembered his parents’ bodies and attempted to burn their remains in the home fireplace. He then scattered his father’s remains around the property of a farm owned by his girlfriend’s family. He disposed of his mother’s remains in the forest by the Wisconsin River. 

Chandler reported his parents missing on July 7th, telling police they went up north to their cabin for the Fourth of July and never returned. Chandler was eventually caught in his lies and arrested for the murder of his parents and was sentenced to life in prison.

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On April 2nd, 2013, 30-year-old Desiree Sunford and her 31-year-old husband, Scott Sunford (pictured above) were terrified when they discovered their house was broken into through a smashed window pane in the back door. Their possessions were scattered throughout the home. A firearm and electronic items were among the valuables stolen. The couple felt vulnerable. This was their first home, their place of refuge, and already they were the target of a burglary.

They had only settled into their home in Yakima, Washington, six months ago, and now they were concerned for their safety. They decided to double down on security and invested in a home security system, which they promptly installed. To give them a chance to get used to the new system, Desiree and Scott opted to only have alerts sent to their own cell phones, not the police, whenever the alarm was tripped up.

This would prove to be a colossal mistake…one that would cost a life.

Just a few days after the security system was set up, Scott left town on the morning of April 6th, driving some two hours away to the Tri-Cities in order to attend his aunt’s funeral. After the funeral service, he called his wife to tell her he would be coming home the next day to spend more time with relatives.

At 3:24 AM, Scott received a notification on his form that the alarm had been triggered. Just three minutes later, at 3:27, he received another alert. And then another one a minute later. Assuming his dog tripped up the alarm, he went back to sleep.

Scott began his drive back to Yakima the next evening and attempted to call his wife multiple times, but was unable to reach her. Now panicking, he pulled over to call police and request a wellness check. He ended up arriving home before the police showed up. When he did, he noticed something startling: the back door had been broken in again.

Soon, police arrived at the scene as well. There, they found Scott Sunford standing just outside the house with his pistol drawn. They wondered why Scott, a 6’4 ex military man, hadn’t bothered to enter the home himself. But Scott claimed he was scared of what he’d find.

Police ventured inside the home where they found Desiree's lifeless body, riddled with bullets, in the master room. She'd attempted to crawl away from her attacker before dying on the floor. They also found a bloody shoe print.

Police took Scott in for questioning. As he explained the events leading up to the discovery of his wife's body, he seemed relaxed and unbothered. He didn't seem to be mourning, nor did he even ask how Desiree had been murdered. He told police he was spending the night at a mutual friend's house, 23-year-old Paige Blades (bottom left), in Warden, WA. Paige had briefly lived with Scott and Desiree, where they developed a threeway relationship Scott claimed they were all satisfied with.

Scott's DNA did not match that of the DNA found at the crime scene, nor were his shoes a match to the bloody footprint. They spoke to Paige, who confirmed Scott had spent the night at her house, and that they were in a threeway relationship. It was also discovered that Paige recently found out she was pregnant. Paige's DNA also wasn't found at the crime scene, and both of their phones were not pinged anywhere near the Sunford home on the night of the murder.

The investigation hit a dead end, until a year later, when an anonymous tipster submitted information naming the culprit. The tipster was none other than Paige Blades. Quickly, police arranged an interview with her, where she explained her friend, 26-year-old Marty Grismer (bottom right), had just confessed to being responsible for Desiree's murder.

She described Marty as someone who was obsessed with Paige. Marty claimed he decided to kill Desiree for her after Paige fell pregnant, so that she and Scott could be together. Ironically, the baby was not Scott's.

Police began looking into Marty Grismer, a man with a squeaky clean record. Not only did they find the pair of shoes that matched the bloody footprint, gun parts were found in his workplace office. The gun barrel was the same one used to end Desiree's life.

Marty denied any involvement, claiming Scott and Paige were trying to set him up. Since the evidence placed him at the scene of the murder, he was charged for Desiree's murder. He entered an Alford plea, meaning he wasn’t necessary admitting to the murder, but he was acknowledging the prosecution had more than enough evidence to convict him.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

To this day, people still suspect Paige, Scott, and Marty all conspired Desiree's murder. Due to lack of evidence, Paige and Scott remain free.

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Chandler Halderson, 23, seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. At such a young age, he had already accomplished tremendous milestones. A recent college graduate in IT, he worked remotely from home for a local insurance company. He was also on the police suba diving team and, even more impressively, recently landed a job at Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX. Suffice to say–Chandler’s parents, Bart and Krista Halderson, were exceptionally proud of their son.

As of June 2021, Chandler was still living at his parents’ home in Windsor, Wisconsin. He planned to move to Florida with his girlfriend soon in order to accept the job at SpaceX, but something hindered that monumental move–a nasty fall down the stairs, in which he sustained a concussion and neck injury which required him to wear a neckbrace. The doctors warned Chandler that he may need brain surgery if his symptoms worsened and discouraged him from long-distance travel until he fully recovered. Due to this, he had to cancel his move to Florida, and tragically lost his position at SpaceX as a result.

But Chandler’s parents began having suspicions. Their son worked long, hard hours at his online insurance company job, yet he never seemed to have money. Chandler always had an excuse as to why he wasn’t being paid–once claiming there was a glitch with the payroll software. He showed his father email exchanges with his employer as proof. Chandler was also exchanging emails with his school’s administrators,  Alyssa Brandt and Daniel Speith, regarding his diploma and transcripts he was trying to obtain. 

Bart’s suspicions only began growing from these emails. He took it upon himself to call Madison College, where his son graduated. Speaking directly with the enrollment coordinator, he identified himself as Chandler Halderson and explained he was trying to request his diploma and transcripts. He told the coordinator he previously exchanged emails with Alyssa Brandt and Daniel Speith regarding the issue. The coordinator did not recognize either of those names. To add to the confusion, he was told that he never graduated and had flunked out of college in the fall of 2020, still owing $2000 in tuition. 

After the phone call, Bart told Chandler he set up an appointment with school officials on July 1st to get to the bottom of everything, not telling him what he had just discovered over the phone.

Chandler knew his web of lies were about to be unraveled. Because it was true–he never completed his degree. Nor did he have a job lined up for him at SpaceX. Nor was he a volunteer for the police scuba diving team–such a thing didn’t even exist! Nor did he have an online job with an insurance company–that was just an excuse for him to stay at home playing video games all day. Those email exchanges with school officials and his employers were all fake. And his head injury? Also a sham.

When July 1st rolled around, Bart sent Chandler a text right before the appointment reading, I’m ready when you are. But this would be the last anyone’s ever heard from Bart. Chandler ended up shooting his father. When his mother returned home from work a few hours later, she met the same fate (it is not exactly known how she was killed). He then dismembered his parents’ bodies and attempted to burn their remains in the home fireplace. He then scattered his father’s remains around the property of a farm owned by his girlfriend’s family. He disposed of his mother’s remains in the forest by the Wisconsin River. 

Chandler reported his parents missing on July 7th, telling police they went up north to their cabin for the Fourth of July and never returned. Chandler was eventually caught in his lies and arrested for the murder of his parents and was sentenced to life in prison.