Just before Christmas in 1997, a fire started in the Philadelphia home of Luz Cuevas. Fighting through the smoke and flames, she ran into the room where her 10-day-old daughter, Delimar, was sleeping in her crib, but saw no sign of her. Suffering burns to her face and at risk of passing out from smoke inhalation, she got out of the house with her two other children.

Firefighters quickly put the blaze out, which was primarily contained to the baby's room. After an initial search for the newborn, authorities determined she had perished in the fire, which they said was caused by an overheated extension cord on a space heater. Human remains were never found in the debris, but investigators concluded any remains had been incinerated in the flames. Cuevas, however, insisted that her child had been kidnapped. But, because there was no evidence of a kidnapping aside from her desperate pleas, it was considered a closed case.

For six years, Cuevas mourned the loss of her child and wondered what had truly become of her. In 2003, at a birthday party for an acquaintance, Cuevas saw a little girl who looked strikingly like her other children and was the exact same age as her lost Delimar. She was able to obtain some of the girl's hair that day under the ruse of getting bubblegum out of her hair. With assistance from a state legislator, she had police open an investigation and test the hair for DNA. The test proved that 6-year-old "Aaliyah Hernandez" was actually her daughter, Delimar Vera.

The woman who kidnapped Delimar was Carolyn Correa, a cousin of the child's father, Pedro Vera. Cuevas and Correa had only met the day before the fire, when Correa came by the house. The following day, Correa returned, claiming she had left her purse upstairs. The blaze started as Correa left the house.

Delimar, still going by Aaliyah, was reunited with her parents the next year, who were both given custody. Her abductor was convicted of kidnapping, arson, and other crimes.

In 2015, a Florida woman named Cheryl Treadway was held hostage by her boyfriend, but she convinced him to let ger order a pizza using Pizza Hut app. In the space for special request, she wrote "Please help. Get 911 to me. 911 hostage help!" Police arrived at the location and she was released.

Dave Kroupa had been dating casually after his 12-year relationship ended and ended up meeting a woman named Cari Farver. They hit it off instantly and spent a lot of time together over the next few weeks. This was until Cari texted Dave at work and asked if they could move in together - this was a shock to Dave and he said no. Cari then sent a super nasty response.

Dave then started getting bombarded with texts and emails from Cari. The harassment, already relentless and almost daily, started to expand to include other people in Dave’s life, like his recent ex (sort of) girlfriend Liz Golyar. Liz became a constant target of Cari’s stalking and harassment. Things escalated - at one point Liz’s house burned down. (I suggest looking up this case for the full details because there’s so much more to this story).

As it turned out, Liz had k****d Cari - ostensibly out of jealousy of Cari’s quickly growing relationship with Dave. Liz then began impersonating Cari and sending messages pretending to be Cari. That’s right, Liz was the one behind all those messages.

In 2015, a prostitute/escort named Heather Saul met with a man named Neal Falls. They’d spoken online before, but this was the first time they met in real-life. However, Neal attacked Heather almost immediately after entering her house. It’s unclear if he was invited in or if he broke in. Either way, Heather ended up in a fight for her life.

Neal grabbed her neck and squeezed it hard, telling her that he’d k**l her if she didn’t do as she was told. With his other hand, he pointed a gun at her. Heather managed to slip away momentarily, and a fight ensued. As Heather fought with Neal, she realized that he wasn’t going to shoot her; he actually wanted to keep her alive, at least in the short-term.

Once Heather realized that Neal wouldn’t shoot her, she was able to fight back more effectively. She grabbed a small rake from her kitchen, the kind used to clean up dog poop. Heather swung the rake at Neal. This turned out to be the best thing she could have done, because Neal set down his gun so he could use both hands to grab the rake away from her.

As soon as she saw that, Heather let the rake get pulled away from her and dove for the gun instead. She immediately shot Neal in the head as soon as it was in her hands. The whole encounter, from the time Neal entered the house to the time he was shot, lasted less than a few minutes.

Many people in town would later call her "Heather the Hero" for her actions that night, but Heather didn’t feel like a hero; she felt sick. She’d never wanted to k**l anybody; she never asked for this. When police showed up, she was sobbing hysterically. She was also injured; she had a broken back and dislocated shoulder from her fight with Neal.

This was by far the most traumatic experience of Heather's entire life; she cried profusely throughout her interview with detectives.

When a police officer searched Neal’s deceased body, he found 4 pairs of handcuffs; right away that was seen as a red flag. A search of Neal Falls’ car revealed an enormous k**l kit. In Neal Falls' vehicle, police found an axe, a shovel, a sledgehammer, bowie knives, bleach, cleaning supplies, handcuffs, duct tape, guns, and a bulletproof vest.

"It's likely that Mr. Falls is a serial k****r," said Steve Cooper, Charleston Police Department Chief of Detectives. "I believe she saved lives by shooting Mr. Falls, based on what he did to her and based on the items found in his car.”

It would eventually be confirmed that Neal Falls had kidnapped, tortured, and k****d at least several other women before he met Heather.

Whilst digging up the backyard, something in the dirt caught Aaron’s eye: a plastic bag. Something hard was inside. Upon pulling it out, Aaron discovered it was a coconut.

He was puzzled: Why would someone bury a coconut, especially this deep, in a plastic bag? A closer inspection of the coconut revealed a full set of teeth and eye sockets.

He was holding a human skull—not just any skull, but that of his mother.

It started in 1996 when Sally Snowden McKay, 75, and her nephew, musician Joseph ‘Lee’ Baker, 52, were found shot dead inside the historic property.

It was understood they’d disturbed a burglar and the suspect – 16-year-old Travis Lewis – had shot them in fright. He then, reportedly, set fire to the house.

Despite saying someone else had been involved, on April 7, 1998, Lewis pleaded guilty to the crime.

Tried as an adult, he was handed a 28-and-a-half year jail sentence of which he had to serve at least 70 per cent.

Sally’s big-hearted daughter, Martha McKay, believed he deserved to be rehabilitated.

When Lewis was eventually freed in 2018, after serving 22 years, Martha quietly gave him a job.

History was repeating itself as they quickly discovered a body. Martha, 63, was found at the top of the marble stairs wrapped in a blanket.

She’d been stabbed. Noticing a back door open, the two officers were searching for an intruder, when they saw a man jump from an upstairs window.

Running to a car, the man drove across the yard, but got stuck, and instead headed on foot for the lake.

‘He was observed going under the water and never came back up,’ Sheriff Allen said.

The man had drowned.

Specialist equipment was used to search the lake, and the body of the suspect was located and recovered.

The identification must have caused considerable shock. He was discovered to be Travis Lewis.

Short story of it is that she showed up at a hospital claiming a strange man had accosted her and her three children, tried to carjack her, then started shooting. One of her daughters was already deceased, her other daughter had a stroke, and her son was injured so severely that he was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Well, turns out what actually happened was that Diane had been involved with a guy at her work. The man was married, but had an affair with her; he had wanted just a casual fling and ended up reconciling with his wife, but Diane had become obsessed with him and wanted more. He had been pretty open/vocal about not wanting children, so Diane tried to "take care of the problem" by k*****g her kids, thus (in her mind) getting rid of any obstacle to them having a relationship.

Anyone Remember The Serial K****r Brothers Of Kalamazoo, Larry And Danny Ranes? One Brother Robbed And Shot Five Men In 1964; The Other K****d Four Women Eight Years Later. Only Family In America To Produce Two Serial Killers That Went On Independent Crime Sprees.
They committed their m*****s separately and independent of one another. Their MO’s & m****r weapons were also different. The only twisted similarity, they were married to the same woman!!!

Tore Hedin was a Swedish mass murderer and police officer. The act perpetrated by Hedin, commonly known as Hurvamorden, is infamous for being the worst known act of spree k*****g in Swedish criminal history, and for the fact that Hedin, as a police officer, had been assigned to investigate his own first m****r for an extended period.

Hedin also employed a medium, itself unique for a Swedish homicide investigation. The medium, Olof Jönsson, claimed to be able to "see" the k****r anywhere in the world by touching objects belonging to the victim. He could not.

The police officer, Tore Hedin, had k****d his friend after a game of poker and stolen his money. A year later he k****d 9 more people, including his parents, before finally k*****g himself.

The Phantom of Heilbronn, often alternatively referred to as the "Woman Without a Face", was a hypothesized unknown female serial k****r whose existence was inferred from DNA evidence found at numerous crime scenes in Austria, France and Germany from 1993 to 2009. The six m*****s among these included that of police officer Michèle Kiesewetter, in Heilbronn, Germany, on 25 April 2007.

The only connection between the crimes was the presence of DNA from a single female, which had been recovered from 40 crime scenes, ranging from m*****s to burglaries. In late March 2009, investigators concluded that there was no "phantom criminal", and the DNA had already been present on the cotton swabs used for collecting DNA samples; it belonged to a woman who worked at the factory where they were made.

Ronald Clark O'Bryan nicknamed The Candy Man and The Man Who K****d Halloween, was an American man convicted of k*****g his eight-year-old son on Halloween 1974 with a potassium cyanide-laced Pixy Stix that was ostensibly collected during a trick or treat outing. O'Bryan poisoned his son in order to claim life insurance money to ease his own financial troubles, as he was $100,000 in debt. O'Bryan also distributed poisoned candy to his daughter and three other children in an attempt to cover up his crime; however, neither his daughter nor the other children ate the poisoned candy. He was convicted of capital m****r in June 1975 and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in March 1984.

Brittany Norwood - A former soccer star that worked at a Lululemon athletic clothing store in an upscale wealthy neighborhood. She had worked the nightshift with her manager and both were the victim of a brutal robbery/m****r. A co-worker arrived at the Lululemon store the next morning, discovered the scene and contacted the police. The manager, Jayna Murray, was brutally m******d and stabbed over 60+ times. Norwood suffered minimal injuries, her pants ripped and she was tied up. Norwood claimed an African-American man first k****d Murray, then approached Norwood, ripped her pants apart and raped her. The police initially believed Norwood's story and sent her home.

During the investigation, the police came across text messages of manager Jayna Murrary discovering Norwood had been stealing merchandise and she was going to confront her about the theft, then fire her. The police soon made Norwood a suspect, especially after discovering Murrary's car, with Norwood's blood inside, was parked 3 blocks away from the store. Norwood claimed the robber told her to move the car, then walk back to the store, or they will k**l her. The police believed this was absurd she would be allowed to leave , then return after being allowed to leave. She was arrested, charged with m****r, convicted and sentenced to life without parole. It was later revealed at her trial the entire m****r was overheard by several people who did not intervene. An Apple store employee overheard women fighting and assumed it was, "just drama."

Kathleen Megan Folbigg is an Australian woman who was wrongfully convicted in 2003 of m*******g her four infant children. She was pardoned in 2023 after 20 years in jail following a long campaign for justice by her supporters, and had her convictions overturned on appeal a few months later.

No direct evidence of the alleged crimes was ever found, but in the personal diary discovered by her husband and handed over to the police, several entries seemed to suggest she might have harmed, and indeed m******d, her children. She was arrested in 2001 and convicted in 2003, sentenced to 40 years with a non-parole period of 30 years. Folbigg maintained her innocence, however, claiming the four children had died from natural causes.

Scientific and medical research suggesting the daughters might indeed have died of natural causes was rejected by a judicial inquiry in 2019. Subsequent research published in 2020 led ninety eminent Australian scientists and medical professionals, in March 2021, to petition the NSW Governor to pardon Folbigg. The petition succinctly demonstrated that all four deaths could be explained as the effects of very rare genetic factors. On 5 June 2023, Folbigg was unconditionally pardoned by NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and was released from prison.

Mackenzie Shirilla, her boyfriend and another friend were involved in a crash that k****d the boyfriend and the friend.

She was a driver and she survived. At first it seemed like maybe there was some fault in the car or that she simply lost control of the vehicle, but as the investigation went on they realized she planned the crash and ran into that wall on purpose.

Sometimes it takes a long time before a twist is finally recognized, and in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, it took many years for his neighbors to realize the personal impact of Dahmer's violence. Pamela Bass was one of Jeffrey Dahmer's neighbors when he lived in Milwaukee. The two were congenial, so much so that when he offered her a sandwich one day before his arrest, she accepted it.

After it was discovered that Dahmer was a cannibal as well as an amateur mad scientist, Bass began to worry that she might have eaten human meat. In the film The Jeffrey Dahmer Files she said, "I have probably eaten someone's body part."

Colleen Stan Was Kidnapped In 1977 By Janice And Cameron Hooker And Held As A S*x S***e In Their Ca Home For Over 7 Years. They Tortured Colleen And Kept Her Locked In A Box Under Their Bed For 23 Hours A Day. In 1984, Colleen Escaped. Janice Was Granted Immunity And Cameron Was Sentenced 104 Years.

On May 19, 1977, 20-year-old Colleen Stan was hitchhiking from her home in Eugene, Oregon, to a friend's home in Westwood, California, where she was going to attend a birthday party. Cameron Hooker kidnapped Stan after picking her up along Interstate 5 in Red Bluff, California. Stan stated that she was an experienced hitchhiker and earlier had declined two rides before accepting Hooker. She reportedly "felt confident climbing into the blue van", because Hooker's wife, Janice, and their baby were in the car.

When they stopped at a gas station along the way, Stan went to use the restroom. "A voice told me to run and jump out a window and never look back," she recalled, but she calmed her fears and went back to the car. Around 20 minutes into the ride Cameron pulled off the highway, claiming to be interested in investigating some nearby caves. It was at this point, Stan said, that "Janice got out of the car and went down to a lake with the baby. They were playing when Cameron got into the back seat and held a knife to my throat. He tied me up and placed a box over my head." She was subsequently locked in a wooden "headbox" that was designed to prevent light, sound, and fresh air from entering.

Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found m******d in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized owing to the gruesome nature of the crime, which included the mutilation and bisection of her corpse.

Although he was never formally charged in the crime, George Hodel came to wider attention after his death when he was accused by his son, LAPD homicide detective Steve Hodel, of k*****g Short and committing several additional m*****s. Prior to the Dahlia case, George Hodel was suspected, but not charged, in the death of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding; and was accused of raping his own daughter, Tamar, but acquitted. Hodel fled the country several times and lived in the Philippines between 1950 and 1990. Additionally, Steve Hodel has cited his father's training as a surgeon as circumstantial evidence. In 2003, it was revealed in notes from the 1949 grand jury report that investigators had wiretapped George Hodel's home and obtained recorded conversation of him with an unidentified visitor, saying: "Supposin' I did k**l the Black Dahlia. They couldn't prove it now. They can't talk to my secretary because she's dead. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. K****d her. Maybe I did k**l my secretary."

Susan Smith. She was all over the news begging for the return of her two boys who were toddlers. Stating she had been carjacked. After several days, it was discovered that she had let her car roll into a lake with her babies strapped into their car seats.

The case gained international attention because of Smith's false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking. Her defense attorneys, David Bruck and Judy Clarke, called expert witnesses to testify that she had mental health issues that impaired her judgment when she committed the crimes.
Smith was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

Franklin Delano Floyd was an American murderer, rapist, and death row inmate. He was convicted of the 1989 m****r of Cheryl Ann Commesso, as well as the kidnapping of 6-year-old Michael Anthony Hughes, who he claimed was his son, from his elementary school in Choctaw, Oklahoma. Floyd was also considered a person of interest in the 1990 hit-and-run death of his second wife and kidnapping victim Sharon Marshall, mother of Michael Anthony Hughes. It was later discovered that before becoming his wife, Sharon had been raised by Floyd from an early age as his daughter and was kidnapped by Floyd as a child.

Marshall's true identity remained a mystery until 2014 when she was positively identified as Suzanne Marie Sevakis, the daughter of a woman to whom Floyd was briefly married. He disappeared with Sevakis, her two sisters, and infant brother Phillip (also known as "Stevie") while her mother was serving a 30-day jail sentence in 1975. Sevakis' brother remained missing until 2019 when a man came forward believing he was Phillip; DNA tests confirmed his identity in 2020.

On December 1, 1987, LaPlante entered the Townsend home of Priscilla Gustafson, a nursery school teacher. Gustafson, who was pregnant, was found face-down on her bed, her pillows covered in her blood. LaPlante had raped her and shot her multiple times at point-blank range. LaPlante drowned both of her children (7-year-old Abigail and 5-year-old William) in separate bathrooms.

LaPlante was questioned by police about two days after the m*****s but at the time there was not enough evidence to arrest him. Later the same day police went to LaPlante's home to interview him further and seeing the police approach LaPlante leapt off the porch and fled. A manhunt was launched involving police, police dogs and helicopters. Meanwhile LaPlante had made his way on foot to a home in the neighbourhood where he stole a van and briefly took the woman who owned the van hostage. He then drove towards Ayer where he was spotted and pulled over by a policeman. LaPlante left the vehicle and escaped into a lumberyard where he threatened the owner with a gun and then hid in a dumpster. LaPlante was then apprehended by two policemen who kept him under guard until reinforcement arrived at the scene- where LaPlante could be arrested and taken into custody.

A year later, LaPlante was sentenced to three life sentences for the m*****s of the Gustafsons. On March 22, 2017, a re-sentencing hearing for LaPlante was held at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts. LaPlante asked for a reduction in his sentence. At the hearing, it was mentioned that during his first appeal, previous court rulings were cited saying that juveniles convicted of m****r should be given a meaningful opportunity to re-engage with society. There was also a new law allowing “juveniles convicted of m****r with extreme cruelty and atrocity to ask for parole after they’ve been behind bars for a minimum of 30 years.” The judge, however, affirmed LaPlante's sentence of three consecutive terms of life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole after 45 years, after a forensic psychiatrist evaluated LaPlante and found that he was not remorseful for his crimes.

Jasmine Richardson, a 12 year old who helped k**l her parents and younger brother. She was originally thought to be kidnapped by the man who turned out to be her partner in the crimes. (Granted, she is in part a victim herself due to her age)

Three members of the Richardson family were m******d in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada in April 2006. The m*****s were planned and committed by the family's 12-year-old daughter Jasmine Richardson and her 23-year-old boyfriend Jeremy Steinke, now going by the name Jackson May. Richardson and Steinke were each convicted on three counts of first-degree m****r. Richardson, who had turned 13 before being convicted, is thought to be the youngest person in Canada ever convicted of multiple first-degree m****r counts. Her 10-year sentence was completed on May 6, 2016.

Dean Corll preyed upon young men in the Houston area between 1970 to 1973. What ultimately brought him down was not a police investigation, but one of his own henchmen. Corll raped and m******d at least 28 young men with the help of David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley - two teenage henchmen. It's likely Corll would have continued to a*****t men until police finally caught on, but when Corll attacked Rhonda Williams, a 15-year-old friend of Henley's, his spreed ended.

Henley invited Williams back to Corll's house after her alcoholic father attacked her. The two drank and did d***s before going to sleep. After waking up in a s****d stupor, Henley discovered that Corll had tied up Williams and a teen boy Henley had brought for Corll the day before. Henley himself had been tied up, but Corll let him go after Henley agreed to attack Williams. Instead, he shot Corll, ending his life.

He later went to the police detailing Corll's crimes and showing them where they had gotten rid of the bodies.

Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo were a serial k****r couple from Canada who raped and m******d 3 young girls and raped a 4th one between December 1990 and April 1992 including Karla's little sister Tammy.

Karla Leanne Homolka, the “Barbie” in “The Barbie and Ken Killers.” She was thought of as the victim of Paul Bernado’s abuse, being forced into participating in his rapes and m*****s.

She went to the police to report Paul after a particularly bad beating from him that left her in hospital. She was given a plea deal and her lawyer covered up the tape recordings that showed her willingly participating in the rapes and m*****s. Once this information was let out, it was too late. The plea deal was made, Paul was arrested and is still in prison and she got out and now is working around children in a school.

Shortly after her release she married her LAWYER'S BROTHER. They ended up having 3 children together and live a quiet life although several years ago Karla was volunteering at her children's school but after public outrage she couldn't anymore...

Christopher Lee Watts m******d his pregnant wife Shanann by strangulation, and their two children Bella and Celeste by suffocation. He buried Shanann in a shallow grave near an oil-storage facility, and dumped his children's bodies into crude oil tanks. Watts initially maintained his innocence in his family's disappearance, but was arrested on August 15, after confessing in an interview with detectives to m*******g Shanann. Months later he also admitted to m*******g his children.

On November 6, 2018, Watts pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree m****r as part of a plea deal when the death penalty (which was later abolished in Colorado in 2020) was removed from sentencing. He was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, three to be served consecutively.

Vamarah Mora Gutierrez, 9; Samantha Mora Gutierrez, 10; and Samia Mora Gutierrez, 13; and Nathaniel Kong, the church leader, are dead, along with the shooter. Nathaniel had welcomed him into the church to live after he was kicked out of his home. So he bit (and k****d) the hand that fed him.

He had a restraining order from his wife and had domestic violence and other charges against him. He had been arrested for a*****t on an officer just a week ago. He was not allowed to own guns but that didn’t stop him.

Also the money didn't exist. It was just an email scam.

In the mid '90s, Stanford graduate Sandra Boss was getting her MBA at Harvard when her sister introduced her to a man named Clark Rockefeller, descendant of the famous business family. He wore custom-made designer clothing, collected expensive art, and had an upscale New York apartment. Boss was charmed, and the two married shortly thereafter.

Boss and Rockefeller spent the next 11 years together. They enjoyed a stable life, thanks in large part to Boss's job as a consultant and personal wealth. The two had a daughter, Reigh Storrow Mills Rockefeller, lovingly referred to as "Snooks," in 2001. Rockefeller was a stay-at-home dad, and didn't hesitate to spend Boss's money to keep up his appearances. His stories, too, became inconsistent. And Boss was often baffled when Rockefeller would suddenly insist, seemingly out of the blue, that they needed to move. Again.

Boss served Rockefeller with divorce papers in 2007. Since her husband was jobless and a complete mystery, Boss was awarded full custody. In 2008, Clark Rockefeller was enjoying one of the three court-approved visitations with his daughter as his ex-wife waited in a Boston hotel room nearby. While walking through Boston Common, Rockefeller disappeared with his daughter.

As investigators attempted to track down Rockefeller, they found more questions than answers. He didn't have a Social Security card, a driver's license, or even a credit card in his own name. When his picture was shown on the news asking for leads, callers gave at least four different identities to go with the man shown on-screen. Investigators were flummoxed.

Then, a friend came forward with what would become crucial evidence: Rockefeller had had a glass of wine at his house the night before, and the glass had not been washed. Police lifted prints off the glass and got a match to one Christian Karl Gerhartstreiter, a German immigrant who had come to the United States almost 30 years earlier.

Gerhartstreiter grew up in a middle-class family in a small town in Germany. He moved to the US as a teenager, where he stayed with a Connecticut family while claiming to be an exchange student at a local h**h school. He later got married and divorced, landing a green card, and moved to Los Angeles under the name of Christopher Chichester. He made himself at home in an upper-class neighborhood, weaving a tale of royal English ancestry and proclaiming himself a TV producer. He lived in the back house of a woman named Didi Sohus. Her son and daughter-in-law, John and Linda Sohus, lived on the property, as well. The two went missing in 1985, and Christopher Chichester disappeared shortly afterwards.

The skeletal remains of the couple were discovered in the backyard of the house in 1994, but by that time, Christopher Chichester had become Christopher Crowe. Crowe worked at (and was fired from) a number of h**h-level jobs on Wall Street, with no degree, no experience, and no Social Security number. As people began to catch wind of his act, and investigators tracked Sohus's missing truck back to him, he disappeared again, later turning up in Sandra Boss's life as Clark Rockefeller.

After a five-day manhunt for him and his kidnapped daughter, Clark Rockefeller had become Chip Smith. But his newest alias didn't last long; the owner of the carriage house he rented called investigators, and Snooks was safely returned to her mother while Christian/Christopher/Clark/Chip was finally taken into custody.

Gerhartstreiter was convicted of kidnapping his daughter as well as the m****r of John Sohus (Linda's body has never been found). He is serving a sentence of 27 years to life in prison.

The story of Charles Manson, his life, and his "family" is full of more strange twists than an M. Night Shyamalan retrospective, but one of the weirdest twists is the mystery of Bernard Crowe. Before his infamous actions, Manson was in a dispute over drug money with Crowe. Worried about the money and Crowe's affiliation with the Black Panthers, Manson went over to Crowe's apartment and shot him.

Manson thought he took Crowe's life, and when he was arrested for the m*****s of Sharon Tate and the LaBiancas in 1969, he included Crowe as one of his victims. However, Crowe was still alive. He had never gone to the police about the shooting, never told any of his fellow Black Panthers about it, and never retaliated against Manson, leaving the cult leader to believe Crowe was dead.

Susan Atkins - a member of the Mason family - wrote in her book The Myth of Helter Skelter that Manson didn't realize Crowe was alive until he was arrested for a crime unrelated to Manson.

Usually, criminals aren't apt to tell the police about their crimes. Not Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River K****r. In a weird twist on the typical interrogation story, Ridgway was so excited about being able to revel in the glory of being "accomplished" that he immediately gave the police information about everyone he hurt.

During his confession, while police were trying to pin him for 49 different attacks, Ridgway one-upped them and admitted to ending 80 victims' lives.

Edmund Emil Kemper III is an American serial k****r convicted of m*******g seven women and one girl, between May 1972 and April 1973. Years earlier, at the age of 15, Kemper had m******d his paternal grandparents. Kemper was nicknamed the "Co-ed K****r", as most of his non-familial victims were female college students hitchhiking in the vicinity of Santa Cruz County, California. Most of his m*****s included necrophilia, decapitation, and dismemberment.

Serial k****r Ed Kemper befriended the very police officers investigating his m*****s, and would socialize with them at a bar called the "Jury Room". They called him "Big Ed" and never suspected him. When he initially confessed, they thought he was pulling a prank.

Prosecutors argued that David Camm k****d his family and staged the scene, leaving his wife's shoes neatly lined up on top of her Bronco. Five years later, DNA from a felon who attacks women and steals their shoes was found at the scene.

David Ray Camm is a former trooper of the Indiana State Police (ISP) who spent 13 years in prison after twice being wrongfully convicted of the m*****s of his wife, Kimberly, and his two young children at their home in Georgetown, Indiana, on September 28, 2000. He was released from custody in 2013 after his third trial resulted in an acquittal. Charles Boney is currently serving time for the m*****s of Camm's wife and two children.

On May 11th 2012, a house in Osmaston, Derby in Derbyshire, England went up in flames. The home belonged to 56-year-old Mick and Mairead Philpott. Five of Mick Philpott’s children died in the fire and another later died in hospital from his burns. The children were all asleep in their rooms upstairs whilst Mick and Mairead were downstairs.

It was confirmed that the fire was started deliberately via petrol being inserted below the letterbox. Mick and Mairead had a press conference in which they appeared to weep for the death of their children however upon further inspection, Mick was feigning sadness and pretending to wipe his tears with a tissue. Suspicion began rising against the Philpotts.

It was soon discovered that Mick and Mairead along with Paul Mosley (45) who the Philpotts were friends with had planned the fire to pin the arson attack on Mick’s ex who wanted custody of his other children (that didn’t live with the Philpotts). Originally the ex was arrested but later released. On May 29th, Mairead and Mick were arrested for the m****r of their children. On November 5th Mosley was arrested. These charges were later lowered to manslaughter. Petrol was discovered on Mick Philpott’s clothing. All three were found guilty. Mick was sentenced to life imprisonment on April 4th with a minimum of 15 years. Mairead and Paul Moslely were sentenced to 17 years.

Early Life and Previous Crimes – Mick Philpott (before the arson attack)

Mick had an extremely inappropriate view of underage/teenage girls and would often groom/abuse them into being in ‘’relationships’’. He attempted to m****r Kim Hill (15) by shooting a crossbow into her groin as he believed her dress was too short and then c*****d her kneecap with a hammer when she paid too much attention to a baby she was looking after more than him. Kim attempted to escape from Mick’s abuse and wrote him a letter saying she was leaving him. He then stabbed her multiple times whilst she was lying in bed. Kim’s mother attempted to help her daughter, Mick then turned on her and began stabbing her. Kim and her mother survived the attack but Kim suffered collapsed lungs and other injuries. Mick was convicted of attempted m****r and sentenced to 7 years however only served three years and two months.

He married Pamela Lomax who he had three children with. He began grooming Heather Kehoe (14) who gave birth to two boys. Mick beat Heather savagely because he wanted a girl instead. Mick taught his sons to engage in violence towards their mother. Mick also caused bodily harm by head-butting a colleague and received a conditional discharge for two years.

Mick then shown interest in Mairead (then 19) and they married in 2003. Mick then met Lisa Willis (16) who became his mistress. In 2010, Mick was cautioned for dragging Mairead outside by her hair and slapping her.

Mairead was released in November 2020 and has since expressed ‘remorse’ for her part in the arson attack.

Linda Laura Hazzard, nicknamed the "Starvation Doctor", was an American quack, swindler and convicted serial k****r noted for her promotion of fasting, pummeling and hours-long enemas as treatments. In 1911, Hazzard was found guilty of manslaughter in the state of Washington and was sentenced to 2 to 20 years of hard labor for k*****g at least 15 people for financial gain at a sanitarium she operated near Seattle in the early 20th century. She was released on parole after only serving two years and later, on the condition that she move to New Zealand, received a full pardon from Governor Ernest Lister in 1916. Hazzard died at 70 after subjecting herself to her treatment methods.

Dennis Rader, also known as the BTK K****r, was cocky - so cocky that he would send taunting messages to the police officers investigating him. Police used one of those messages to trace Rader to his home and arrest him.

Rader acted maliciously over a period of 17 years, taking lengthy breaks between casualties. He was obsessed with being considered the best and scariest criminal and getting credit for his work. He taunted the Wichita Police Department, sending them poems about victims and snapshots of the bodies. He left cereal boxes around town with information that only he could know.

In 2004, The Wichita Eagle wrote an article speculating that the unnamed criminal had either died or been put in jail, since there hadn't been a BTK attack in a decade. Angered by this, Rader began sending the paper letters telling them he was still alive and free. In a message left at a hardware store, he asked whether a message left on a floppy disk could be traced. Investigators said no, and Rader sent a floppy disk with a document saved on it.

Also saved on the disk was the name "Dennis" and a location of where the disk was used - Rader's church. He was arrested, and DNA evidence from the scenes matched Rader. Some believe Rader knew exactly what he was doing and that he wanted to be caught. Others believe he wasn't as smart as he thought he was and ended up telegraphing his final play completely on accident.

In April 2018, the public was shocked when authorities announced they had apprehended a suspect in the Golden State K****r (GSK) case. The criminal terrorized California during the '70s and '80s in a spree of multiple rapes and 12 suspected fatalities, but he abruptly ended his reign of terror in the late '80s, leading to widespread speculation that he died and his identity would never be revealed.
The suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, was identified via complex DNA profiling, though. Investigators compared DNA found at various GSK crime scenes to DNA publicly available via genealogical websites. This led them to a connection via a family member of DeAngelo. 
What makes this twist even more bizarre was that DeAngelo was living a relatively normal life near Sacramento, CA. A retired police officer, he was a regular at a local diner where his only notable trait was being grouchy. It remains unclear why he decided to end his crime spree and resume a normal life. 

Joseph Augustus Zarelli, previously known as the "Boy in the Box", "Boy in a Box" or "America's Unknown Child", was an American 4-year-old male whose nude, malnourished, beaten body was found on the side of Susquehanna Road, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957. Joseph appeared to have been cleaned and freshly groomed, with a recent haircut and trimmed fingernails, although he had suffered extensive physical attacks prior to his death, with multiple bruises on his body. He was also severely malnourished. His body was covered with scars, some of which were surgical (most notably on his ankle, groin and chin). Authorities believe that the cause of death was homicide by blunt force trauma.

Despite the publicity and sporadic interest throughout the years, the boy's identity remained unknown for over half a century. On November 30, 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department announced that detectives had determined the boy's identity using DNA and genealogical databases. On December 8, 2022, more than 65 years after his body was found, he was publicly identified. Despite the identification, the exact circumstances leading to his death are uncertain and the case is still considered an open homicide investigation.

Ana Julia Quezada She was dating a divorced man who had an 8 year old son. One day, the kid goes missing and the news started interviewing the parents. She would always stand next to the dad crying and begging the kidnapper that, if they're watching, to please give back the kid. Turns out, there was no kidnapping. She'd k****d the kid the very first day of his disappearance and played her part around her boyfriend and the news. People believe she did it out of jealousy and in hopes of convincing her boyfriend to move to her country to get over his kid. Her 4 year old daughter had also died in 1996 in some strange circumstances.

Cruz disappeared while travelling from his grandmother's residence to his cousins', only 100 metres (330 ft) away, and remained missing for twelve days. A search and rescue operation consisting of over 5,000 people, including 3,000 volunteers and 2,000 professionals, was established. It was the largest coordinated search for a missing person in Spanish history.

On 11 March 2018, Cruz's body was found in the boot of a vehicle belonging to Ana Julia Quezada. Quezada had k****d and buried Cruz on a farm owned by his father's family in the town of Rodalquilar, and had dug up and transported the body to her home in La Puebla de Vícar when she was detained by the Civil Guard. She confessed to the crime two days later.

Caylee Marie Anthony was an American toddler who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, Caylee was reported missing in a 9-1-1 call made by Cindy, who said she had not seen the child for thirty-one days. According to what Cindy told police dispatchers, Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before eventually saying she had not seen her daughter for weeks. Casey later called police and falsely told a dispatcher that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny on June 9. Casey was charged with first-degree m****r in October 2008 and pleaded not guilty.

On December 11, 2008, Caylee's skeletal remains were found with a blanket inside a laundry bag in a wooded area near the Anthony family residence. Investigative reports and trial testimony varied between duct tape being found near the front and mouth of the skull. The medical examiner listed Caylee's cause of death as "homicide by undetermined means".

The State of Florida sought the death penalty in its case against Casey. Relying largely on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution alleged Casey wished to free herself from parental responsibilities and m******d her daughter by administering chloroform and applying duct tape to her nose and mouth. Casey's defense team, led by Jose Baez, chiefly focused on challenging the prosecution's evidence, calling much of it "fantasy forensics". The defense stated that Caylee had drowned accidentally in the family's swimming pool and that George had disposed of the body.

On July 5, 2011, a jury found Casey not guilty of first-degree m****r, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter of a child, but guilty of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer. With credit for time served, Casey was released on July 17, 2011.

Blood is thicker than water, unless your brother is the Unabomber. Ted Kaczynski, more commonly referred to as the Unabomber, wrote a manifesto that he wanted published by the biggest US media outlets in 1995. In it, he stated that if his demands were not met, he would continue his bombing campaign.

Unfortunately for Kaczynski, his life's work was also his life's undoing. His brother David read the manifesto, recognized his brother's handwriting and turned him into the federal authorities. To hear David tell it, he never planned on reading the manifesto, even after recognizing similarities between the bomber's theories and his brother's letters that were written while he was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Despite Ted's arrest, David had trouble believing his brother was the Unabomber: "I had never seen him violent, not toward me, not toward anyone. I tended to see his anger turned inward."

Laci Denise Peterson was an American woman m******d by her husband, Scott Lee Peterson, while eight months pregnant with their first child.

On December 24, 2002, Scott reported Laci missing from their home in Modesto, California. Four months later, Laci's body and the body of her unborn son, whom the couple had planned to name Conner, were discovered on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Scott Peterson was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of m****r. In 2004, Scott was found guilty of the first-degree m****r of Laci and the second-degree m****r of Conner.

The nationwide media coverage produced several tips and possible sightings, one of which was from a woman who identified herself as Scott's girlfriend. On December 30, 2002, Amber Frey informed detectives she had met Scott on November 20, and he said he was single. Additionally, Frey told detectives Scott said on December 9, he was a widower and this Christmas would be his first without his wife. Based on the dates and information Frey provided, detectives now believed Scott began planning to k**l Laci two weeks before Laci's disappearance.