It was the early morning, just one day after Christmas in 1996, when Patsy Ramsey made the 9-1-1 call to report that her daughter, 6-year-old JonBenet, was missing from the Ramsey’s home in Colorado. Left behind was a ransom note demanding that JonBenet’s family hand over $118,000.

Police arrived to the Ramsey’s home and were immediately greeted by John Ramsey. John claimed he had checked the doors and they had all been locked, meaning whomever had taken JonBenet may have gained access to the home through some other means. Police cased the home and determined there were no signs of forced entry. Several hours after the police arrived, John Ramsey emerged from the basement carrying JonBenet’s lifeless body.

Within the basement room was a broken window, but dust and cobwebs appeared to have undisturbed and there were no footprints leading from the home to be found in the freshly fallen snow. A friend of the Ramseys said he had checked the entire house, but saw nothing amiss in the small basement room JonBenet’s body was discovered. The police were convinced that JonBenet’s killer was none other than someone within her own family.

December 26, 2016 will marked the 20-year anniversary of the case that continues to captivate the imagination of the public and leaves so many unanswered questions. Was it her mother, Patsy, who killed her daughter in a fit of rage? Was it sibling rivalry gone too far, as some have suggested? Was it a terrorist organization, as the ransom note left in the family’s home suggested? Had John Ramsey been molesting his own little girl? Or was it someone else entirely?

It would be years before DNA evidence exonerated John, Patsy and son Burke of JonBenet’s murder. Patsy would die of ovarian cancer before that day arrived, and JonBenet’s killer has never been apprehended. John Ramsey exhausted every resource he had in order to clear his family’s name and find out the truth behind his daughter’s murder, but even that wasn’t enough to bring a child killer to justice.

Now private investigator Ollie Grey is stepping forward and says that he knows who JonBenet’s killer may have been.

In 2004, after the Ramseys were officially cleared of any wrongdoing, a new suspect’s name emerged. An electrician named Michael Helgoth was noted as making strange comments to a friend within the month leading up to JonBenet’s murder. He said he and and an associate were going to make a lot of money and made a comment that he wondered what it would be like to crack a human skull. A year after JonBenet’s body was found, police held a press conference suggesting that their suspect list was beginning to narrow. Two days later, Michael Helgoth committed suicide.

Grey believes that there is even more bizarre circumstances surrounding Helgoth’s death and says that evidence shows that this was no suicide. The right-handed man was found with a gun on his left side, and though reports stated there was wounds to his head, the bullet wounds were nowhere near the vicinity. Grey believes that Helgoth had at least one accomplice and, fearing that Helgoth would crack under the pressure of law enforcement, had him killed before he could speak with the investigators.

CBS now has a Making a Murderer-inspired mini-series in the works on the JonBenet Ramsey case. What sort of new light will be shed on the possible murder suspects, and will we ever really know who killed the child beauty queen once and for all?

In 1977 Robert Moormann was sentenced to nine years to life in prison for a kidnapping charge. After serving part of that time and having racked up a reputation for good behavior, the parole board determined that Moormann was eligible to participate in a “compassionate furlouge.”

For 72-hours Moormann would be allowed a 3-day pass in which he could stay outside of prison walls. Moormann’s adoptive mother, Roberta, agreed to come stay with Moormann in a hotel during his temporary prison leave.

Roberta and Moormann checked into a hotel in Florence, Arizona on January 12, 1984. The following morning, Moormann called a friend of Roberta’s and asked her to drive him to see a lawyer later that afternoon. She agreed to give Moormann a ride to his lawyer’s office. Immediately after the phone call to Roberta’s friend, Moormann then walked to a nearby store and purchased a buck knife, a steak knife, and some food items. Moormann also picked up a soda at a nearby pizza restaurant and told the owner, a former prison guard, that he was on a furlouge and that he would be back in for dinner with his mother later that evening.

Moormann returned to the hotel. He was there for approximately 45 minutes before approaching the front desk and asking the staff to hold any maid service or phone calls to the room because his mother was feeling under the weather. He also approached the owner and asked if he could borrow some disinfectant spray. The hotel owner described Moormann as having blood on his face and an awful smell emanating from him. Towels left by Moormann in the hallway also had a similarly awful smell and the maid service was forced to throw them away.

When Roberta’s friend arrived to pick Moormann up to drive him to his lawyer’s office that afternoon, he told her that his mother had stepped out for a while, but before she left she had asked him to dispose of some garbage bags. She refused to help Moormann with the trash bags. She also noted that the room was unusually cold and that Roberta’s purse was still inside the room when she arrived.

Moormann then set about disposing of the trash bags. He approached the hotel owner again and inquired on when trash pickup would be. He explained that his mother had purchased some spoiled meat and he needed it disposed of as quickly as possible. When the hotel owner told him that trash pickup wasn’t until Monday, Moormann left the hotel and went to ask a nearby liquor store clerk, as well as the pizza shop owner, if he could dispose of rotten meat or animal guts in their dumpsters. Both refused Moormann’s request.

Arriving at the hotel after receiving a tip about Moormann’s suspicious behavior from the pizza shop owner, Florence police knock on Moormann’s hotel room door and ask to do a welfare check on his mother. Moormann explained that his mother had left with another woman that evening and never returned. Moormann expressed a concern because she hadn’t taken her medication along with her. Several minutes later Moormann leaves the room and the police ask him for a description of his mother.

Moormann changes his story during his second conversation with police. This time he says that his mother had asked him to go to the store and purchase a knife for her friend and when he returned to the hotel she was gone. He also explains the garbage bags as “cow guts” a friend had given him that he had been attempting to dispose of, but eventually started flushing them down the toilet.

After the police take Moormann’s statements, he picks up the phone and calls a prison official to ask him to help him get rid of some spoiled hamburger meat and a box of dog bones his friend had dropped off. He claimed that the hotel dumpster was full and he needed to get rid of the stuff immediately. The lieutenant agreed and Moormann loaded up his truck with the box of “dog bones.” The official looked inside the box and could see some clean bones. He set it out by the prison dumpster without a second thought.

Nearly two hours later the prison lieutenant receives a call from Florence police explaining Moormann’s odd behavior and the reports of his missing mother. The lieutenant told officers about the box of “dog bones” Moormann had him dispose of and police were able to pick up the box, sending it to a local hospital for analysis. Moormann is placed under arrest for the suspected murder of his adoptive mother.

While in police custody Moormann confessed. He claimed that he had “lost his cool when his mother wanted him to “take his father’s place” and to perform things that he couldn’t handle. Police find garbage bags containing parts of Roberta’s dismembered body within the hotel dumpsters, in addition to the box of bones recovered from the prison dumpster.

A medical examiner determined that Roberta’s official cause of death was asphyxiation. After Moormann suffocated her, he spent roughly two hours dismembering the body and placing Roberta’s parts and pieces into the box and bags for disposal. Some of her fingers and smaller parts Moormann admitted to having flushed down the toilet.

The jury handed Moormann the death sentence for the brutal murder of his adoptive mother, Roberta. After having served the longest sentence of any Death Row inmate within the state of Arizona, he was executed on February 29, 2012.

Prior to the 1980s, reports of missing or abducted children had been primarily locally driven news. Child advocacy groups were concerned that because missing or abducted children were often only heard of through local news reports and newspapers that hundreds of cases were slipping through the cracks due to their abductors taking the children to other areas of the nation. In order to circumvent this, in 1984 the National Child Safety Council organized the first nationwide initiative to locate these children.

With photos and a short biography of the missing child provided free of charge, dairies across the country agreed to publish the information on milk carton side panels. It wasn’t long thereafter that the little faces of missing children were being broadcasted directly to the breakfast tables of Americans across the country. Within just a few months of the Council’s popular milk carton initiative, other businesses also agreed to adopt the practice.

One of the first of these little faces included that of 5-year-old Etan Patz.

Etan was on his way to a bus stop near his home in New York City, but little Etan never made it to school that day. At school a teacher marked him absent at roll call, but never reported Etan’s absence to the school’s principal. When Etan failed to return home that afternoon, Mrs. Patz feared the worst and phoned the police. It would take nearly four decades for the Patzs to discover what happened to their young son that warm spring day.

A former bodega clerk by the name of Pedro Hernandez confessed that he had strangled Etan and dumped his body in a bag in an alley. He would be the first and only suspect to be arrested in connection to the case. Due to Hernandez’s steadily declining mental health, his trial was ultimately ruled a mistrial as questions concerning a coerced confession were raised. Hernandez’s retrial is set for September of this year.

In addition to Patz’ photo were the photos of two other boys – Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin.

Johnny Gosch was a 12-year-old paper boy who was kidnapped near his Iowa home on September 5, 1982. His case has never been solved, but his mother believes that he is still alive and in hiding. The story of Gosch’s kidnapping would eventually be tied into a massive conspiracy involving government officials, financial institutions, and nationwide child prostitution rings.

Eugene Martin was another Iowa paperboy who disappeared along his route. The similarities between Eugene’s and Johnny Gosch’s disappearances lead many to believe that both cases were connected, and like Johnny, his case remains unsolved.

Eugene’s mother has since passed away from diabetes and his father is in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Though his memories are beginning to fade, the thought of his missing son occasionally floods back in and Mr. Martin flies into rages, at times resulting in violence. Since 1984 investigators have followed thousands of leads throughout the U.S. And Canada, but those leads turned out to be dead ends. To date there is no evidence to pinpoint any suspects in either of the boys’ cases.

The milk carton campaign would fizzle out within a few short years after it’s inception, blasted with criticism from child experts like Dr. Benjamin Spock who believed the practice incited too many irrational fears within children forced to view these pictures every morning. In spite of the criticism the program received, the campaign is credited with bringing the reality of child abduction to the forefront of public awareness and similar programs provided by junk mail advertisers continue on today.

This modern take on the successful milk carton campaign of the 1980’s urges customers to raise a glass to raise awareness. At least that’s what the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute hopes to achieve by launching their innovative charity fundraiser. Through a company called Benefit Wines, the institute offers six different wines, with all money collected going towards cold case research conducted by volunteer criminal justice students and experts. The non-profit organization has chosen four feature cases for their series launch.

The face of Allison Foy graces label of their Melbec. 10 years ago, Allison Foy vanished without a trace near her home in Wilmington, NC. Two years later her body was recovered along with the body of Angela Nobles Rothen. The family has since struggled to find the woman’s murderer.

Jessica Foster is the smiling face that looks on from their bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Jessica, known as “Jessie” to friends and family, disappeared near Las Vegas in 2006. Jessie was originally from Canada and was offered a trip to the U.S. by her then boyfriend. From there, Jessie made her way to Las Vegas and was lured into the world of prostitution. It wasn’t long thereafter that Jessie came up missing. It is believed that her disappearance may be linked to three other women who were murdered within the area around the same time, but no evidence has surfaced to suggest that Jessie was murdered. Her mother believes that Jessie was forced into sex slavery and there’s a chance that she could still be alive.

Another cold case victim, Annita Price, has been missing since she was only 26-years-old. On May 30, 1974 Annita left her home in Moundsville, WV to go to work. She would never make it to work that day. The car she was driving had been located the following day, but it took several days for anyone to report her missing. Inside the green Gremlin she was driving, her makeup and contents of her purse were found strewn across the front seat. It didn’t take long for the case to grow cold. In 2009 her case was reopened and new leads are being followed. The CCIRI has dedicated their benefit Chardonnay in honor of Annita’s case.

Chanda Turner is another case the organization has been diligently researching. In July of 2000, Turner was found dead outside of her home from an apparent gunshot wound to the chest. Her death was initially ruled to have been the result of suicide, but certain details raised suspicions and in 2009 her body was exhumed in order to conduct further testing. In 2012 her death was ruled as “undetermined” and since then investigators have reopened the case. The CCIRI’s Sauvignon Blanc was created to raise public awareness of her unsolved murder.

The fifth wine of the series, “Hero,” is a Merlot featuring the photo of retired Atlanta Police Capt. Cliff Strickland. Capt. Strickland had worked closely with the institute since his retirement and continued to work on cold cases up until his death.

Their Carmenere is the sixth wine offered by the organization, but unlike the others, it does not feature any high profile cases. This label was created for the purpose of raising general awareness for all cold cases around the country.

The wines run for about $20 a bottle, but bulk packages are available for a discount. All of the wines listed above can be found at the Benefit Wines website.

In nature, some parents are known to kill their young. Usually, of course, it is related to there being something fundamentally wrong with the newborn. Humans aren’t immune from this trend, but unfortunately the murders committed by people are a far cry from “nature”.

In the summer of 2015, a Cleveland cable installer was working in a home when he came upon the body of a dead baby in a crib. This happened in the home of a Medina man, age 34, who had been recently granted sole custody of the child because his wife was struggling from drug addiction. Not surprisingly, the man and his former wife had a child die of what was declared a SIDS case, back in 2013. The child, who was five months old at the time, arrived at the hospital in cardiac arrest, and died shortly after arrival. Apparently this time, the father didn’t see the need to take the baby to the hospital. Or perhaps he didn’t need to because it was a swift death.

Whether or not he killed the infant is a big issue, but the bigger issue is that he left the child decomposing in the crib for at least a month. To make matters worse, he placed garbage in the room to cover up the smell. Currently, the father is only being charged with abuse of a corpse, but the investigation is ongoing. He was held on a million dollar bond due to his increased risk of fleeing.

In other top stories of 2015:

-A woman was caught having sex with a dog because she apparently shared photos on social media.

-A couple went abroad for at least four months and left their 9-year-old twins home alone.

-A man who caught his wife cheating bit off the other man’s ear.

-A teenage girl who beheaded her own mother after purportedly watching ISIS videos online.

-A “vampire” who killed an innocent couple.

Crime is all around us, and while stories like those of H.H. Holmes and other great ‘mysteries’ of history might offer more suspense, thrill and novelty because of their age and status, the crimes of today are far more horrific, newsworthy, and far, far more likely to leave a legacy behind because of how bizarre they really are.

Every day law enforcement officials around the country patrol our streets, enforcing law and keeping order in the community. While the profession has always held a degree of danger, recent events have shone light on the overwhelming odds officers routinely face. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, one officer is killed in the line of duty every 58 hours. Given the recent brutality, I thought it fitting to share a similar story that has fallen from the spotlight of media attention, yet still remains unsolved to this day.

Jason Ellis, 33, was a seven year veteran of the Bardstown, KY police force and decorated K9 narcotics officer. In 2007 he was commended for his brave actions on duty, and in 2008 Jason was recognized as Officer of the Year in his department. While many of the tragic circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown, his death remains one of the few unsolved murders nationwide in which an officer was the victim.

His shift began on May 24, 2013, and seemed fairly ordinary. The only noticeable difference was the absence of his trusted partner, Figo, his K9 companion officer, as their assigned patrol car was in the shop for repairs. He texted back and forth with his best friend and fellow brother in blue, Andrew Riley, to pass the time between calls. Officer Ellis responded to a domestic disturbance early in the evening, and later escorted a drunk man to the hospital before booking him at Nelson County Jail. Officer Ellis left the jail and signed off with his badge number around 2 a.m. on May 25, 2013, before starting the 15 mile drive home.

He took his usual route, using exit 34 off of the Bluegrass Parkway. While rounding the bend, the officer noticed debris on the ramp, and swiftly took action. Pulling over, he blocked off the road to prevent other cars from passing until the road was clear. He flipped on the overhead lights and exited his cruiser, unaware that nestled uphill, a vicious predator had set a fatal ambush, waiting patiently for a victim.

Jason reached down to gather the fallen limbs, and clutched them to his chest. Before he reached the side of the road, a barrage of shots exploded from a shotgun barrel, slamming into his torso and arms. The swiftness and brutality of his attack left him no time to reach for his service pistol, as he was shot over and over again.

The discarded shells of the shotgun dropped to the ground, clamoring in the deadly silence of the night. Officer Ellis fell to the pavement, the tree limbs still in his grasp. His chest was bruised from the impact on his vest, his elbow shattered, and the flesh below his underarm bleeding profusely from the gap in his vest. The second series of shots penetrated his face and scalp. Blood trailed from his body, spider-webbing its way through the grooves and cracks of the pavement, as Officer Ellis closed his eyes, completing his final watch.

Half an hour later, a nearby worker pulled behind another car waiting at the roadblock. Chad Monroe exited his truck to see if he could help out, and found a family of three waiting in their car, unsure of the circumstances. He headed toward the cruiser, not seeing the officer in sight.

Upon reaching the other side of the car, he found the body of Officer Jason Ellis. He quickly ran to the fallen man, and checked for any signs of life; the tell-tale rise and fall of his chest, a pulse, shallow breaths, anything. He felt that the officer’s skin was cool to the touch and yelled for the family in the first car to contact 911 immediately.

Officer Andrew Riley, also of Bardstown Police Department, was one of the first to arrive on scene. He ran to his best friend’s side and removed his shirt and vest in a vain attempt to revive him. His first thought was that Jason had been hit by a car, as Chad Monroe had indicated over the radio. Upon closer inspection, he realized the small pellets beside his friend’s body were buckshot, not gravel. The realization that Jason was murdered began to set in, and the night dragged on as Officer Riley struggles to comprehend Officer Ellis’ last moments alive.

In the days following the brutal murder of Officer Ellis, a full-scale investigation was launched, involving all of the Bardstown Police force and a portion of the Kentucky State Troopers. In the small town of around 12,000, murder was not a common occurrence, and someone brutally assassinating a police officer was virtually unheard of.

A thorough investigation of the crime scene and surrounding areas moved forward, but the only evidence police reported to the media was the discarded shotgun shells. A heft reward was offered for any information regarding the case of around, yet no one came forth.

Police Chief Rick McCubbin made a statement to the press, confirming that Jason Ellis was ambushed on the highway, by a person or persons that deliberately placed the debris on the road. It was believed that the intended target was a member of law enforcement, but they were still unsure as to whether Officer Ellis was personally the target, or if he was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Officer Ellis’ personal life was torn apart, searching for a motive behind the killings. No friends or family were named as suspects, and the investigation moved forward to his career. A local gang called the Bardstown Money Gang were examined closely. Officer Ellis had arrested at least three of its’ members, including the suspected ring leader, yet again, no suspects were named.

Within the next few weeks the Bardstown Police Department received threats that Officer Ellis was only the first victim, and more members of the town’s small police force would be targeted next. The FBI became involved, and examined the document, although they believed it was not written by Jason Ellis’ killer. The FBI increases the reward for information leading to an arrest, but to no avail.

On August 10, 2013, just two months after Jason Ellis’ death, a young man, Brant Sheckles, aged 24, is arrested for fighting at a local party. He alluded to the arresting officers that he was either involved in Officer Ellis’ murder, or knew who was responsible, stating that, “You saw what happened to one of you all when you crossed us.” Sheckles was a known member of the Bardstown Money Gang, and has been arrested on several charges previously, mostly pertaining to drugs and violence. The mayor of Bardstown, William Sheckles, is said to the Brant’s uncle.

Despite his outburst and threats against the arresting officers, Sheckles was not declared a suspect by the Kentucky State Troopers, the lead department investigating Ellis’ murder. As time goes on, fewer leads trickled in, and less and less man power is devoted to finding Ellis’ killer.

Over a year later, on July 8, 2014, an incarcerated inmate at Louisville Corrections, Danny Earley, 33, threatened a corrections officer. He alluded to the still unsolved murder of Jason Ellis and allegedly stated, “You will be pushing up daisies like Jason Ellis, the Bardstown cop that was killed.” It is later reported by ABC’s WHAS 11 that in early November 2014 Earley was put into protective custody for public intoxication, and mumbled references to Jason Ellis and the Cornbread Mafia, another crime ring reportedly into drugs and violence.*

Months go on and the investigative efforts dwindle further. Residents of the town have different feelings about the murder; ranging from terror, to grief, and everything in between. Rumors flew, and with each passing day grew more and more complex in theory.

Some people pointed out that it looked to be an inside job. Police Chief McCubbins had made a prior statement, admitting that a degree of tactical precision was required to shoot Jason Ellis based on the bullet trajectory. Whoever killed him had to be decently versed in firearms, and possess limited sharpshooting skills.

Other residents wondered why it happened on the one night his trusted K9 partner, Figo, wasn’t on patrol with him. The dog’s absence was information only a limited number of people would’ve known, and caused further unease through the town. Some even pointed out that since he was shot along his typical route home, it was a reasonable assumption that he was the intended target.

Many members of the community dismissed these theories of scandal and corruption in favor of the lesser evils. Perhaps Jason Ellis was killed for revenge by someone he had previously arrested, or one of their associates. Maybe the Bardstown Money Gang killed him for putting a dent in their drug trade, or otherwise contracted out the hit to a third party. There was also the possibility that the killer or killers had the intention of killing whomever stopped, be it law enforcement or civilian.

Officer Ellis’ K9 partner, Figo, saying his final goodbye

Whatever the reason behind Officer Jason Ellis’ tragic death, Bardstown has not forgotten him, and continue to hope that his killer will be brought to justice. Figo, his K9 partner was retired from duty, so he could spend time with the remaining members of the Ellis family. A local businessman and retired Texas Sheriff, Buddy Gulden, printed pictures of Jason to pass out to all of the local businesses in an effort to keep his memory alive. His mother-in-law is reportedly campaigning for a more honest and open office of publically elected officials, hoping to ultimately bring her son-in-law’s killer to justice. Several benefits and community events have been held in his honor, with the proceeds benefitting his surviving wife, Amy, and their two sons, Parker and Hunter.

As of February 2014, the reward for tips leading to an arrest in Officer Ellis’ murder is now at $135,000. Please contact Kentucky State Police at 1 (800) 222-5555, or e-mail Elliscasetips@ky.gov.

My thoughts and prayers are with Officer Ellis’ family, friends, and community, and I hope that one day justice will be served.

*While I conducted extensive research on all aspects of Jason Ellis’ murder, the facts surrounding Danny Earley were vague, and no connection is ever made in the media between the two separate instances in July and November of 2014, nor is there very much media coverage.

Facebook page in memory of Officer Jason Ellis

Heroes Memorial Foundation, Owner and copyright holder of all photos used

They say that desperate times call for desperate measures and it would seem like there isn’t many people who could claim to be more desperate than a killer looking to get rid of a victim’s corpse. Some killers flee the scene and leave the body behind, others look for a secluded location to dump a victim’s remains, but the killers we’ll talk about today seemed to go above and beyond when scouting for a prime location to hide the bodies of their unfortunate victims.

Hotel Water Tank

In January of 2013, the body 21-year-old Elisa Lam had been found in one of the water tanks of the Hotel Cecil after guests raised concerns about the odd taste of the water there. Lam, who was later learned to have been suffering from bi-polar disorder, could be seen on surveillance footage from the hotel’s elevator acting erratically and it was reported that her roommate had asked to switch rooms because of the alleged bizarre behavior Lam had been displaying within the days leading up to her death. It is unclear whether Lam had willingly climbed into the water tank located on the hotel’s roof or if someone had intentionally put her there. An autopsy revealed that Lam had no drugs or alcohol in her system, as well as no wounds to suggest that she was met with foul play. What is known is that her body had been inside the tank for roughly 19 days before anyone had a chance to discover it. Police continue to investigate the case as a homicide until more details emerge to suggest otherwise.

Apartment Walls

Raven Joy Campbell had been reported as missing from her apartment located within a Los Angeles-area public housing project in July of 2009. Almost six years to the day later her body was found within the walls of the apartment she had lived in after police received an anonymous tip. Tenant’s of the apartment had complained of the smell, but maintenance workers had been unable to locate the source of the odor prior to the discovery of the woman’s body. Raven had been bludgeoned with a hammer and placed within the walls. Her former roommate was arrested in February of 2016 and charged with her murder.

Two L.A. Sewage Plants

In yet another bizarre case out of Los Angeles, a woman’s remains were uncovered after parts of her corpse turned up in two different sewage plants contracted to service the city. Investigators believe that someone had dumped the body of 27-year-old Erin Lynn Cruz in a manhole near the San Gabriel Valley-area. The pumps within the sewer lines are believed to have pulled the body apart as it traveled through the sewage system, resulting in portions of her body being found at the two separate plants. Public records revealed that Cruz had been picked up on drug charges in the past, but authorities are still uncertain as to why anyone would have wanted to kill the woman.

A Backyard Toy Chest

In 2013, a landlord cleaning out the home of recently evicted tenants stumbled upon a gruesome discovery. Inside a toy chest located in a structure attached to the home contained the skeletal remains of a 3-year-old boy. The boy has tentatively been identified as Roman Berreras. The couple who rented the portion of the triplex – Raquel and Martin Berreras – allegedly forced the child to live in the attached structure. Children’s Services had previously been involved with the family after receiving reports of the couple’s older children frequently missing school, but no evidence had surfaced to suggest any form of abuse at the time. Three of the couple’s surviving minor children were placed into protective custody as an investigation on the toddler’s death continues.

Under a Cross

In 1955, construction began on the Holy Land USA amusement park. The 18-acre park located in Waterbury, Connecticut consisted of a chapel, reconstructions of Biblical locations, and featured a giant illuminated stainless steel cross overlooking the park. Eventually the park’s business model became unsustainable and in 1984 the park closed its doors to the public. Even after the park’s closure, the spot remained a popular spot for urban explorers and locals to gather.

In 2010, 16-year-old Chloe Ottoman agreed to accompany Francisco Cruz on a stroll around the abandoned park. It was under the glow of the illuminated cross that Cruz would rape and strangle Chloe to death. Cruz fled the scene, leaving Chloe’s body behind. Court officials tasked with sentencing Cruz to 55-years in prison for Chloe’s death called it the most sadistic and depraved murder they had ever encountered.

In 1970 Ira Einhorn was at the top of his game. The outspoken environmental and political activist worked closely with Philadelphia-area groups to designate April 22 as Earth Day – a day he would later claim he single-handedly founded. Einhorn, also known as “The Unicorn” due to the German translation of his last name, would go on to work with other groups and made a point to make an appearance anywhere he could make a spectacle of himself and could become a part of the spotlight. Quite the showman Einhorn must have been, because very few had suspected that behind Einhorn’s bearded unwashed hippy facade lied a dark and brooding man

.

Seven years after his public speech during Philadelphia’s Earth Day observance, Einhorn’s life had begun to fall apart. His girlfriend of five years, Helen “Holly” Maddux, decided to call it quits on the relationship. Einhorn was furious that Holly had packed her things and immediately left for New York to begin a new life with a new boyfriend. He would stop at nothing to have Holly back, but deep down Einhorn knew she was gone for good.

Einhorn hatched a plan to get Holly to return to his apartment. He called her up and demanded that she come to pick up what was left of her possessions immediately, or else he would throw the items in the garbage. Holly agreed to meet with her former lover one last time and to collect the rest of her things at Einhorn’s Philadelphia-area apartment.

September 9, 1977 would mark the last time Holly Maddux would be seen alive. Several weeks later she would be reported as missing and Einhorn was the number one suspect in the case. Police came knocking on Einhorn’s door and asked what had happened to the young woman. Einhorn’s story was that she had told him that she was heading to a local co-op to pick up some tofu and sprouts, but she never returned to the apartment. With no probable cause, investigators tasked with the case were forced to let Einhorn go free.

18 months later the hunch that investigators had about Einhorn would turn out to be correct. The tenants below Einhorn’s apartment complained to management about a foul smelling brownish liquid leaking through the ceiling. Investigators were able to obtain a search warrant after receiving the tip from the apartment complex’s management and entered into Einhorn’s apartment. Inside the closet was the corpse of Holly Maddux.

The woman appeared to have been severely beaten before hastily stuffed into a trunk. Newspapers, Styrofoam and air fresheners were used in an attempt to help conceal the body and to mask the awful scent of the partially mummified body.

Einhorn was immediately arrested and charged with Holly’s murder. Several days later he would be back out on bail. In 1981, just days prior his trial proceedings were set to begin, Einhorn decided to flee the country.

For the better part of 23 years Einhorn zig zagged his way across Europe, always staying one step ahead of the law. In spite of his disappearing act, Pennsylvanian courts continued on with Einhorn’s murder trial. In absentina, Einhorn was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Holly Maddux in 1993.

Although he was on the run, Einhorn settled down and married a Swedish woman. The couple was found to be living in France in 1997, where Einhorn had taken on the name “Eugene Mallon.” It would be another four years before Einhorn was officially extradited and imprisoned within the U.S..

Complexities within France’s extradition laws allowed Einhorn’s defense team to postpone the convicted killer’s inevitable fate. Back in Pennsylvania, lawmakers wanted to make sure that once Einhorn’s attorneys had exhausted all of their efforts to avoid his extradition to the U.S. that they could make sure that Einhorn would spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.

“The Einhorn Law” was a bill proposed to the Pennsylvania Senate that would see to it that anyone convicted in absentia could request a new trial upon their capture, in order to appease French officials and ensure Einhorn could be extradited as quickly as possible. His defense attempted to call the bill’s constitutionality into question in order to further postpone Einhorn’s return to the U.S., but the French court’s hands were tied on ruling in regards to foreign laws. The bill passed and all of Einhorn’s attempts to contest his extradition were quickly shot down.

In 2001 Einhorn was handed over to the U.S. by the French government.

Acting as his own defense, Einhorn told the court he had been framed. He proceeded to weave an incredible tale eluding to the CIA using him as a patsy after discovering his damning cold war research. He claimed that it was the CIA who had killed Holly and stuffed her in Einhorn’s closet in order to make him pay for threatening to expose their secrets. A jury was not convinced by Einhorn’s elaborate defense strategy and was once again sentenced to serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He is currently housed in the Houtzdale State Correctional Institution.

New court documents regarding the Casey Anthony case have recently surfaced as part of Anthony’s bankruptcy suit. A private investigator hired by the Anthony’s provides damning statements that could prove not only what many of us had already suspected – that Anthony had killed her own daughter – but that she had been so desperate to get away with the murder that she had plotted to frame innocent people.

The 15- page document containing statements from the private investigator, Dominic Casey, made claims that not only had Anthony’s defense known that she had killed her daughter, but that he had been informed that he was not to discuss Anthony’s alleged involvement in the murder or why she would have been using duct tape. He was also forbidden from speaking about how Caylee Anthony’s body had been disposed of.

In the second affidavit filed with the bankruptcy court, Casey says that Anthony’s defense attempted to frame Roy Kronk, the man responsible for discovering Caylee’s remains, as the child’s murderer. Casey claims that Anthony had said to him, “maybe we could say Roy Kronk kidnapped Caylee.” Casey refused to go along with the false statements against Kronk because they both knew Kronk had nothing to do with Caylee’s murder.

The document then goes on to say that Anthony’s defense met with her parents in order to discuss their suspicions about Kronk and attempted to convince investigators of Kronk’s possible involvement of Caylee’s death.

The documents emerge five years after a jury found Casey Anthony not guilty in the mysterious death of her two-year-old daughter. Though the documents help to prove what many of those who followed the trial had already believed, there is little chance that Anthony could ever face a re-trial due to double jeopardy laws within the United States.

Since being acquitted of murder, Casey Anthony has attempted to live outside of the public eye. In spite of her efforts, she continues to be a person of interest within the media and new reports of the woman’s life since the trials seem to emerge every few months. This is just the latest of some of these reports.

In 2014, other reports suggested that Anthony’s lawyer, Jose Baez, believed that it was Anthony’s father George who had killed the toddler. During this time there was speculation that the case would be reopened in order to investigate whether or not George had orchestrated the toddler’s murder, but no new information on the possibility of investigators bringing up formal charges on George have come to light.

As these shocking details continue to emerge in the case, people are left wondering how the justice system could have possibly failed so badly and if Anthony didn’t kill Caylee, if her true murderer will ever be apprehended.

On April 27, 2016, 33-year-old Tricia Todd had been reported missing after failing to pick up her 2-year-old daughter. The Air Force veteran and hospice nurse was last reported to have been dropping off some medication for her daughter, whom had been visiting with her father and Tricia’s ex-husband Steven Williams. Security footage taken from a Publix grocery store on April 26 near Tricia’s recently purchased Hobe Sound home showed that the woman appeared to have been in good spirits.

Police were able to recover Tricia’s car near her home and less than a mile from the Publix she was last sighted. Inside the vehicle Tricia’s keys were found in the ignition and her purse had been placed on the front seat, but her cellphone and wallet were reported to be missing.

The news of Tricia’s disappearance came to a shock to her friends and loved ones. Family members described the devoutly religious mother as a person who loved life and couldn’t imagine her having a single enemy. But there had been one person who would hold a grudge against Tricia Todd.

According to records obtained through the Martin County courts, Tricia and her husband Steven Williams had finalized their divorce in February of this year. Very few details have come to light on the circumstances behind their divorce, but it would seem that Tricia had not been denying Steven visitation with the daughter the couple shared.

As investigators questioned Williams, one of the last people reported to have seen Tricia alive, search parties combed the densely wooded and swampy areas of the Southern Florida neighborhood in hopes of finding Tricia. Her family waited with bated breath, praying that their beloved daughter and sister would be returned home safe, while the Hobe Sound community at large did what they could in their city-wide manhunt.

On May 25 that manhunt would come to an end. After exhaustive interviews with Tricia’s former husband, Williams cracked under the pressure and confessed to killing the woman before dismembering her body with a chainsaw. Williams lead investigators to a wildlife refuge not far from Tricia’s home. Inside a shallow makeshift grave a drum full of acid and the undissolved remains of Tricia Todd were uncovered.

For some, the discovery of Tricia’s body offered closure. For others their worst nightmare was just beginning.

Upon Williams’ confession Tricia’s sister writes on a Facebook group her family maintains:

Our dear sister, Tricia Todd! A few weeks before she went missing Tricia had all the family over at her new home. She was so excited to finally host the whole family! She cooked a fabulous meal for us all. That was the last time we were all together! I cherish the memories we made night. This picture was taken that night while she cooked away.
Jon and I miss her dearly! As Believers we know that to live is Christ and to die is gain! Before the Lord gave Tricia life and breath He already had her days of life numbered. Our loving Lord in His perfect timing and perfect wisdom took Tricia home to be with Him. She is now completely satisfied in Christ with no pain or sorrow to bare. So now we grieve, yet we don’t grieve as those who have no hope for just as Jesus rose again
He’ll raise His own and we will be together again in our glorified bodies. Steven has taken taken the life of our sister. Jon and I are not bitter towards Steven. We forgive him and our hope is that the Lord will soften his heart and save his soul.
Tricia was a one of a kind. She was the life of the party and kept all the brothers in line. If it wasn’t for her I am sure we would have no family picture memories to cherish. She was the picture taker in the family! She was always smiling and laughing about something. She was a wonderful mother to Faith. Faith was her priority and within the last year as she was learning how to be a single mama, she never lost sight of what truly mattered, Her relationship with the Lord, her precious baby girl and her family. Tricia was a shinning example and with everyone she met you could be sure she would mention something about the Lord. She was a big encouragement to me in my own walk with Christ when it came to my prayer life. Tricia loved spending time in prayer with her Savior.
Jon and I are still caring for Faith. It is our desired to love her and raise her as our own. We are praying that the Lord works out all the details required to do so. We have both felt so strongly for the responsibility of Faith. Our prayer now is that the Lord’s will for Faith triumphs our desire for Faith. The Lord has had His arms around lil Faith. She is doing so, so well here in our home. She is a ray of sunshine just like her mommy was.

Williams has been charged with murder as well as child endangerment. He has plead no contest and hopes to work out a plea deal with prosecutors in the case. Williams’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 24, 2016.

Mahdi Hassan Ali was only a teenager when he and an accomplice entered into the Minneapolis Seward Market on January 6, 2010. Employees Osman Elmi and Mohamed Warfa had both been sitting behind the counter when a semi-automatic pistol had been shoved in their faces and Warfa was thrown to the ground. The store clerks immediately yelled for customers to call the police.

At the back of the store were an elderly man and a female shopper. Ali’s accomplice demanded their cellphones. They lied and said they didn’t have one. The woman pleaded in Somoli with the second robber not to hurt them because she had six children at home. Ali’s accomplice then beat the elderly man.

As this occurred, a third shopper, Anwar Mohammed, unknowingly walked into the robbery attempt. The moment he entered the store Ali shot him twice, one of those shots hitting him directly in the head. His accomplice yelled at Ali and told him not to kill anyone and the pair fled the store. Several minutes later they returned and Ali shoots Warfa. Elmi grabbed his cellphone and attempted to call for help when the robbers chase him around the store, knocking over a candy display in the process, before he was shot three times.

The woman and the elderly man at the back of the store had no choice but to hide in a storage freezer and call 911. The woman begged with the 911 dispatcher to have police at the store immediately. Police arrive a short while later to find the three bodies and to free the two customers hiding in the freezer.

Just days after the murders police had a solid lead on Ali being the suspect. Store surveillance, as well as surveillance footage from other stores in the area, were taken as evidence in the case. In order to analyze this footage, police called in the help of an outside agency.

This agency is one most of us, at least most of us here in the United States, are familiar with. It’s a little known fact that Target Corp., the big box retail chain, possesses one of the most sophisticated video processing labs in the country. When they’re not investigating shoplifters and other crimes that had taken place within their own stores, police and federal agencies contract the company for help in analyzing video footage taken in as evidence in other cases. Often Target agrees to take on these cases free of charge as a way to give back to the community.

Target’s video lab is one of roughly two dozen private organizations who have received accreditation from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. Their forensic analyst Jake Steinhour has worked on a number of high-profile cases around the country, including the Ali case. Using Target’s state of the art video labs, Steinhour was able to match a pair of light colored jeans in the footage of the masked suspects with a pair of jeans police found in Ali’s possession.

Steinhour later played an integral role in Ali’s conviction and testified during his trial. Ali has been ordered to serve life in prison without possibility of parole, though Ali’s defense is attempting to have that ruling appealed on the grounds of Ali’s young age at the time.

Ali’s ID said he was 17-years-old when he had been arrested several days after committing the fatal robbery. He now claims that the ID was fake and he had actually been 15-years-old. According to Ali’s defense, sentencing a young teen to life in prison without parole was, “cruel and unusual punishment.” Whether or not that’s the case, the perpetrators of this senseless crime may have never been found if not for the help of some vigilant citizens and Target’s forensic labs.

Michael Jace had been an actor for 22 years, but his big break wouldn’t come until 2002 when the FX network decided to cast Jace in their series “The Shield.” Jace, who was known for taking on roles in gritty police dramas, would find himself in the midst of his own real-life police drama, when he made a call to 9-1-1, as well as a call to his father-in-law, to confess to the shooting of his wife April.

Jace with Shield co-star Catherine Dent,

Jace had long been suspicious of April’s outings and had become convinced she had been having an affair. When she came home on the night of May 19, 2014 an altercation occurred. The couple’s two young sons, who were witnesses to the shooting, told a jury that Jace had been angrily waiting for April to return to their residence. When April walked through the front door Jace pulled out a gun and shot the mother of his two children in the back. Jace taunted her after the first shot, telling her, “If you like running, then run to heaven,” before shooting her in each of her legs.

Jace told investigators that he didn’t intend to kill April and only wanted to see her in pain. The couple had been at odds for some time prior to the fatal shooting and there had been talks of a divorce. After the attack, Jace claims that he considered shooting himself with the gun as well, but opted for calling the police instead. Jace turned himself over to police as soon as they arrived and April’s parents arrived a short time later to pick up the children.

Jace during his May 31st sentencing.

Two years after the senseless murder of his wife, Jace appeared before the court looking as if he had aged 20 years since that night. His hair had been thinning and what had been left turned an ashy shade of gray. The tall man sat slumped over in his chair as he awaited to hear his children’s testimony.

Though prison may not have been kind to the disgraced actor throughout the past two years, the courts showed no mercy when it was time to read the verdict. The jury found Jace guilty of second-degree murder. He’s been sentenced 40 years to life in prison.

“What if science one day discovered that all evil behavior has a biological cause? What if thieves and murderers were “fixable” with a few minor adjustments to their brain chemistry? Author Quantz asks these big questions and more in a daring if too brief graphic novel. Dr. Wolfe is an obsessed neuroscientist seeking to discover the root of evil in the human brain. With the help of a genius movie set designer and a voluptuous actress, he concocts an elaborate false reality to experiment on a convicted serial killer. Think of it as The Truman Show meets Natural Born Killers. The explicit discussion of morality gives the story a Greek tragedy feel, and the intriguing cast makes for a surprisingly character-driven story …”

The description Amazon gives for the graphic novel Syndrome – the latest graphic novel Canadian real estate heir Blake Leibel is credited with co-authoring – explores some of the darkest aspects of the human psyche. With the recent news of Leibel’s arrest for the torture and mutilation of his girlfriend, many are wondering if Leibel’s fascination with the criminal mind had been taken too far.

Leibel is credited as an award winning Halflife player, who decided to focus his energies on other forms of media. With the help of an $18,000 a month allowance, Leibel has written a number of graphic novels, screenplays and, according to IMDb, had acted as a creative consultant for the 2008 animated series based on Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs

Leibel was placed under arrest on May 26, 2016 after West Hollywood police entered into the couple’s barricaded apartment. Inside, investigators came across a scene that seemed to mimic Leibel’s notable graphic novels and screenplays. Iana Kasian, who had just given birth to couple’s first child three weeks prior, was found tortured, mutilated and completely drained of her blood according to a press release from the offices of district attorney Jackie Lacey.

According to an article written by The Washington Post the couple had been having trouble in their relationship after Leibel was picked up on charges related to a sexual assault. Friends say that Kasian was not the victim of the sexual assault, but Leibel’s arrest did not go over well with the new mother. She went to live with her mother, but had returned to the apartment to speak with Leibel. Kasian’s mother said she never returned.

Kasian’s mother called police and asked them to conduct a welfare check on her missing daughter. Police arrived to find furniture and other household items had been used to barricade the door. Leibel, as well as the mutilated body of Iana Kasian, were found inside.

More details on exactly how the woman died are sure to come out as Leibel faces charges including murder, mayhem, aggravated mayhem and torture.

Leibel has since plead not guilty to all charges. If convicted Leibel faces the death penalty.

It was the summer of 1799 when Gulielma “Elma” Sands had first met carpenter Levi Weeks. Both Elma and Levi had been living at a boarding house ran by her cousin Catherine and Catherine’s husband Elias Ring. Elma seemed to be particularly interested in Levi, and it wasn’t long thereafter that the rumors of Elma and Levi having a secret courtship and [gasp] fornicating out of wedlock began.

On December 22, 1799 Elma seemed to be in particularly good spirits. She finally admitted to Catherine that her and Levi had been courting and were planning to elope that night. Elma had spent the day preparing for the nuptials upstairs. Finally there was a knock on the front door of the boarding house. No one witnessed the couple’s departure, but when there were whispers heard downstairs, followed by doors opening and closing, everyone assumed that the couple had left for the alter.

A friend had spotted Elma walking down Greenwich Street and stopped to talk with her. She spoke with her friend briefly before someone else called out to Elma and said, “Let’s go.” Approximately half an hour later witnesses reported hearing a woman scream, “Murder!” and, “Lord help me!” from the vicinity of the Manhattan Well on Green and Spring Streets.

A one horse sleigh with a dark horse was seen leaving the area. The sleigh was determined to have fit the description of the one owned by Levi’s brother Ezra, a wealthy New York City construction tycoon. Witness testimony to police on who had been occupying the sleigh vary wildly, but all were able to place the sleigh within the vicinity of the well.

Later that evening Weeks returned to the boarding house. He spoke with Catherine and asked her where Elma was. Catherine grew extremely suspicious and questioned Weeks about the secret marriage ceremony that he and Elma were supposed to have that evening. Weeks appeared to have been distressed by the question.

Several days after Elma’s disappearance a boy was drawing water from the well and pulled out a woman’s muff. The muff was determined to have been Elma’s. It would be nearly a week before Elias Ring as well as a few other locals probed the well for Elma’s body. When Elma was pulled from the well it was evident that she had been savagely beaten prior to having her body thrown in there. She was also found to have been pregnant.

Her body was put on public display both within the Rings’ boarding house and on the street directly outside of the building. The public was outraged and within a week of the body’s discovery Levi Weeks was indicted for her murder.

The trial would become the first murder trial to ever be covered by the media. It would also claim its place in history as the first true American murder mystery.

With the help of his brother Ezra, Weeks was able to secure the city’s best legal defense team – Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton and Henry Bockholst Livingston. The trial would only last two days. During that time, the defense did their best to smear the name of Elma Sands by portraying her as a “loose woman” who had a number of affairs out of wedlock and suggested that it was a jealous former suitor who had wanted her dead upon learning of her relations with Weeks.

Weeks also had an alibi. According to Ezra Weeks, Levi had been with him and other friends that evening. Some witnesses claimed that Ezra’s sleigh had not left that evening and neither Weeks nor his entourage been anywhere near the vicinity of the Manhattan Well.

Chief Judge John Lansing, Jr. instructed the jury that the evidence against Weeks had been purely circumstantial and stopped just short of directing the verdict. After five minutes of deliberation the jury returned to the court and told the judge they had reached their decision. Levi Weeks was found not guilty.

The angry mob that had formed outside the courtroom during the two days of Weeks’ trial were in a frenzy. Though the courts had found Weeks not guilty, the court of public opinion had different thoughts on the matter. Weeks was run out of town, never to return. He moved to Mississippi where he became a well respected builder and architect.

Two of Weeks’ defense lawyers would go on to play prominent roles within American history. Alexander Hamilton, already known as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States who had served under General George Washington, would go on to serve as the first Secretary of Treasury. Andrew Burr would go on to become the third Vice President under Thomas Jefferson. Interestingly enough, both Burr and Hamilton would become embroiled in a duel and Burr would shoot and kill Hamilton.

Chief Judge John Lansing, Jr. would become the subject of his own mystery 30 years later, when he stepped out to mail a letter and was never to be seen again.

If you’ve been looking for some short documentaries you can pop on during your lunch break or to watch as you’re jogging on the treadmill, then look no further. We dug up five documentaries you can watch for completely free on Youtube to get you through your mid-day true crime fix.

This is the Zodiac Speaking

If you’re new to the Zodiac Killer case then this film could serve as an excellent 45 minute primer on the killings that rocked Northern California throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the cryptic clues that the killer sent to the press. Every aspect of the investigation is covered and includes interviews with the original investigators and the victims who were lucky enough to survive their encounters.

The Boneyard: Serial Killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng

A simple shoplifting charge turns into a murder investigation after police pull over Leonard Lake and Charles Ng in 1985. The remote ranch the pair had been living at turned out to be the worst crime scene investigators have ever stumbled upon and nearly 50 pounds of bones were removed from the property. Walk through this gruesome story step-by-step as investigators seek to find out who these victims were and see to it that justice is served.

Jonestown

If you’ve already listened to Episode 50, but you’re left with wanting more on the story then this PBS documentary is for you. Considered by many to be the most comprehensive coverage of the case on the years leading up to the construction of Jonestown and the most horrific mass suicide (though some say murder) in world history that was to follow, to say that this documentary will leave you chilled to the core would be an understatement.

James Bulger: A Mother’s Story

Make sure you have a box of tissues handy for this one. James Bulger was only two-years-old when he was abducted from a shopping mall in February 1993 and later found murdered. In this exclusive interview, James’ mother tells the story from her perspective and her journey to come to terms with her son’s tragic fate.

The Craigslist Killer: Seven Days of Rage

A mysterious killer had been targeting women offering “adult services” on the popular classified website Craigslist. This documentary recaps the crimes and details how investigators were able to track down medical student Philip Markoff.

Apps like Periscope and Snapchat are connecting people in ways we would have never imagined 20 years ago. Social media apps are allowing us to take a glimpse into the everyday lives of ordinary people, but there is a dark side. We are now seeing more incidents of crimes being captured live, a feat formally reserved for news crews who happened to be filming at the wrong time.

This latest story is coming out of Chicago.

28-year-old Antonio Perkins had been enjoying a rare day off from his job at McDonald’s. The Facebook stream starts out fairly mundane, showing Perkins, along with several friends, sharing some drinks and complaining about the heat outside of a Chicago residence. Perkins doesn’t say much, but suddenly turns to look at something off camera and says “Boy, stop playin’.”

Roughly a dozen pops are heard as the shot goes fuzzy. Bloodied blades of grass can be briefly seen just before the view goes dark. Panic can be heard in the background as friends rush to Perkins’ side and terror in a female’s voice urging someone to “call 9-1-1.”

Prior to streaming services like Facebook’s, news agencies who obtained such footage would be responsible for editing the material to avoid complaints from viewers who didn’t want to see the footage. Though Facebook does have policies against videos glorifying violence, they will keep up videos that draw awareness.

In this case, the video offers a raw and real glimpse into the horror of gun violence that impacts Chicagoans on a daily basis. It shows how in an instant friends can be sharing drinks on a porch and complaining about the summer heat, and the next moment they’re dead.

With thousands of people broadcasting their lives in real-time daily, there is sure to be more incidents like Perkins’ in the future.

Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus of Quarryville, Pennsylvania have been accused of “gifting” their teenage daughter to Lee Kaplan after helping the ex-Amish family when financial difficulties struck and their farm was at stake. The girl was only 14-years-old when she was forced to go to live with Kaplan and, as a result of the inappropriate relationship, the girl bore him two children.

Lee Kaplan, accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a minor and baring two children with the girl.

After receiving an anonymous tip, investigators arrived to Kaplan’s Bucks County home to find nine children living at the residence. The Stolzfuses said that the children were there’s, except for a 3-year-old and 6-month-old who were their grandchildren. According to the Bucks County District Prosecutor The Stolzfuses think Kaplan is “a wonderful man.” and feel they did nothing wrong with giving their daughter to him as a wife and allowing the couple to care for their other children.

The children in the home were very sheltered and some were scared to speak with investigators. Officials are now working with the Amish community in hopes that they can get the children to speak more freely in order to determine if there had been any other abuse going on in the home. None of the children had birth certificates or social security cards, nor did any of them attend school. Investigators are attempting to determine the paternity of the children in order to ensure that they are, indeed, children of the Stolzfuses.

Kaplan’s home, where investigators found 11 children plus the teenage girl (now 18) who had been living as Kaplan’s wife.

The Stoltzfuses were ex-communicated from the Amish community in 2009, after church elders frowned upon their decision to conduct business with Lee Kaplan, a Jewish man. A 2009 complaint against the church, which was later dismissed, stated that they had 11 children and operated a metalworks from their home.

The children have all been placed together in protective custody. The Stolzfuses have both been charged with endangering the welfare of children and Kaplan is facing charges related to statutory sexual assault.

Father’s Day was the last time Jeff Davis had seen or heard from his son Jeff Hagler. When Hagler left Davis’ home at approximately 1:30 am, he had no idea that it would be the last Father’s Day they would spend together.

That following Monday, a photo had begun to make it’s rounds on social media. It was a picture of a white Buick with an arm of an African American man hanging out of the trunk. Several reports were made about the photo, but Facebook administrators dismissed the picture as a hoax. That’s how Jeff Davis would learn that his son was brutally murdered.

Police arrived on the scene after a 911 call was placed at approximately 10:30 am. By that time several other relatives had come across the photo through social media. It didn’t take long for them to recognize the car and the arm haphazardly dangling from it. Davis told Detroit’s Fox News affiliate

“It’s sad to find out your son you’ve just seen… and the next thing you know he is in the back of a car.”

Davis would later have confirmation from police that day that it had been his son, Jeff Hagler, inside of the trunk of his Buick. Hagler had been beaten and shot before being abandoned on the side of the street in Detroit, Michigan.

According to Hagler’s family, he had been brought in for drug charges in the past, but he had since cleaned up his life. He was a father of three children, with his youngest child only a few months old. Hagler was not known to hang out in the area his body had been discovered and his family believes that he may have been the target of a robbery.

Police are still continuing to investigate this case. Anyone with information can contact Detroit police at (313) 596-5200.

The squalid crime spree of British delinquent Elizabeth Jones (AKA ‘Georgina Grayson’) and US Army deserter Karl Gustav Hulten in wartime Britain isn’t notable for many things. It lasted only a few days before a few petty thefts and attempted muggings resulted in capital murder, but it did inspire one of George Orwell’s best-known essays (‘The Decline of the English Murder’), aroused great bitterness against both defendants (especially Jones) and roused the ire of no less a figure than Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It also caused the US Army to waive their right to try Hulten themselves under the 1942 Visiting Forces Act and turn him over for trial under British civilian law to try and pacify the anger among the British people.

Elizabeth Jones AKA ‘Georgina Grayson.’

It would, in any case, have made no difference. For the shooting of cab driver George Heath, had Hulten faced a US Army court martial the sentence would have been the same (death by hanging), he would have hanged in a British prison on a British gallows (the civilian prison at Shepton Mallet in Somerset ws loaned to the US Army for the duration of the war) and hangings at Shepton Mallet were performed by British executioners. For Hulten, the only difference in the end result would have been where he was buried in an unmarked grave within prison walls, such was the British custom at the time.

Jones and Hulten met in a London café on October 3, 1944. Jones, calling herself ‘Georgina Grayson’ and a juvenile delinquent with ambitions for fame and excitement that her talent and circumstances would never fulfil, was enchanted by a young US Army officer, 2^nd Lieutenant Richard ‘Ricky’ Allen of the 501^st Parachute Regiment. The 501^st Paras did exist, but 2^nd Lieutenant Allen didn’t. He was figment in the fertile criminal imagination of one Karl Gustav Hulten who, at that time, wasn’t even a soldier because he was a deserter. In the eyes of his former US Army comrades (aside from the Military Police) he was, therefore, nothing and nobody.

Karl Gustav Hulten, gangster wannabe and army deserter.

Their six-day spree began with the assault and robbery of a nurse, continued with the robbery and attempted murder of a hitchhiker (who narrowly survived being dumped right beside a roverbank while unconscious) and culminated in the armed robbery and fatal shooting of cab driver George Heath who the pair then robbed and drove off in his cab. Not exactly master criminals to start with (Hulten claimed that he was well connected with various Chicago bigshots despite the fact that they’d never heard of him), they kept the cab and drove round in it even though police already had a description of the vehicle and its registration number. It wasn’t too smart for ‘2^nd Lieutenant Allen’ to have kept various small items of Heath’s property and the .45 Remingon automatic he’d used to murder him either, come to think of it. But the British police were certainly far more pleased than Hulten that he’d been so utterly witless.

Their final crime before their arrest came on October 8, 1944, also the day they were arrested. Having a taste for life’s finer pleasures, Jones demanded Hulten provide her with a fur coat. Hulten, being a man of light fingers and a willingness for violence, tried to oblige by attacking a woman to steal her fur coat. The fact that the £8 they thought it worth murdering George Heath for had already been lost in an evening at a local dog track probably made robbery more feasible than purchase, anyway. In any event the woman fought Hulten off and Jones promptly fled and turned herself. She confessed all to the police hoping, she claimed , to ese her guilty conscience. The distinct possibility of substituting her nice clothes for a noose and a casket probably provided a cetain inspiration as well. But that’s for later…

Their victim, cab driver George Edward Heath.

The police had a simple job. Despite his bold claims and gangland pretensions Hulten had more ego than criminal skill, was an underworld bottom-feeder at best and it was simply a matter of finding the cab and waiting for him to show himself. On October 8, with Jones already telling all and safely under lock and key, that was exactly what the witless wannabe did. He was immediately arrested.

Under questioning Hulten held at first to his alias, which was as easily blown away as George Heath when British detectives and US Army investigators soon had his real name and rank (or lck thereof). Hulten didn’t confess to anything but, with his pet canary singing a grand opera about how their entire spree (and especially the small matter of a count of capital murder) was all his fault, he didn’t need to. In order to appease an angered British public the US Army waived its right to court martial him for murder, instead handing him over to British civilian authority. Not, as we’ve already discussed, that it would have made any practical difference except to where Hulten’s corpse would be buried.

The press and public interest in the ‘Cleft Chin murder’ (Heath did indeed have a cleft chin) was immense. It caught the public eye when Heath was murdered, but that was nothing compared to the trial and appeals of his murderers. Their trial began on January 16, 1945 at the world-famous ‘Old Bailey.’ Mr Justice Charles presided, the case was prosecuted by Mr L.A. Byrne, Hulten was defended by Mr. J. Maud while Jones employed Mrs Lloyd Lane and distinguished lawyer Mr. J.D. Casswell.

As expected, both defendants ran what lawyers call a ‘cut-throat defence.’ Jones placed the blame entirely on Hulten’s malign influence having ld her astray. Hulten, on the other hand, portrayed Jones as being an active, willing participant in the crime spree including the murder. Especially the murder. Perhaps he was hoping that, if both were convicted, then the British authorities would be reluctant to hang him while reprieving a woman and co-defendant. He was right about the British authorities not being fond of hanging women, generally speaking. He was fatally wrong about everything else.

On January 22 the jury delivered their verdicts. Guilty as charged with a mandatory death sentence. Mr. Justice Charles immediately placed the traditional Black Cap atop his judge’s wig and solemnly intoned the following:

“Karl Gustav Hulten and Elizabeth Jones, the sentence of this Court is that you be taken from this place to a lawful prison and thence to a place of execution where you shall be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and that your bodies be afterwards buried within the precincts of the prisons in which you were last confined before execution. And may the Lord have mercy upon your souls…”

“Take them down.”

Hulten walked relatively steadily down the stairs to the holding cell that would keep him securely locked away until his transfer to the Condemned Cell at Pentonville Prison. Jones, however, became hysterical upon hearing the death sentence. She shrieked uncontrollably, having to be half-dragged and half-carried down to the holding cells before her transfer to the Condemned Cell at Holloway, London’s principal prison for women.

Meanwhile, Tom Pierrepoint (uncle of famous fellow-hangman Albert and also the US Army’s hangman of choice, made a brief note in his diary. Granted, he wold officiate at Pentonville instead of Shepton Mallet (Hulten was in fact the ailing, aging hangman’s last job at a London prison). He would be assisted by long-time assistant Walter Critchell.

Their appeals having failed, the game was about up for the plastic gangster and his deluded moll. At least until two days before their scheduled hangings. Despite the jury having not given a recommendation for mercy and her appeal having been denied by a three-judge panel, the Home Secretary (today the Minister of Justice) exercised his right to issue a reprieve anyway. Jones was informed only 48 hours before hand that she would in fact serve life imprisonment. She in fact served only nine years before being paroled and drifted, presumably gratefully, into total obscurity.

The decision angered many people for different reasons. In her hometown of Neath (where she had long been known and heartily loathed as an uncontrollable teenage tearaway) chalk graffiti made local feeling abundantly clear to her. It could hardly be misunderstood, seeing as it consisted of the words ‘SHE MUST HANG’ beside a scribbled sketch of a woman dangling from a gallows. Wherever she went after her parole it probably wasn’t back to the Welsh valleys.

Hulten wasn’t so lucky. His appeal was denied and the Home Secretary had no qualms about denying clemency, given public feeling about the murder itself and Jones’s reprieve. The fact that the Home Secretary was a Minister in the War Cabinet headed by Winston Churchill (himself a former Home Secretary) whose fury at Jones’s reprieve was of typically Churchillian proportions and that he had to face Winston on a daily basis might have also hinted that one of them had to hang. In the end it suited the British to make an example of Hulten and the Americans to openly support Hulten’s hanging. International relations are serious business (especially between wartime allies) and so is murder. People can easily become casualties of both.

Tom Pierrepoint, uncle of Albert Pierrepoint and the US Army’s hangman of choice.

With Jones serving a life sentence the case drew to its inevitable conclusion. Tom Pierrepoint and Water Critchell arrived at Pentonville on March 7, 1945 as per regulations. They arrived quietly and set to work testing and preparing the gallows. They worked as quietly as possible, the Condemned Cell being connected to the gallows room with only a locked door separating the two. At 9am the next day, at a silent signal from the prison Governor, Pierrepoint and Critchell entered the cell, pinioned Hulten’s arms and marched him the seven steps between the Condemned Cell and the exact center of the trapdoors. Critchell bobbed down behind Hulten, strapping his legs together with maximum speed while Pierrepoint whipped the white cotton hood over Hulten’s head and carefully positioned the noose so it would move round under his chin as he dropped, snapping his neck and instantly knocking him out when he reached the rope’s end. With a quick look to ensure Critchell had left the trapdoors, Pierrepoint darted to one side, removed the safety pin from the lever and pushed it over. With a deafening boom the trapdoors dropped and Karl Gustav Hulten was immediately dead.

Orwell (perhaps rather snobbishly) referenced the case as showing the decline in the standards of murder in general and the end of the ‘Golden Age’ of murder (if there ever was such a thing). To Orwell, the case showed how murder had become a squalid, tedious, tiresome affair. It was now mundane and dull, lacking the colour, emotion and human drama one might associate with the likes of Doctor Crippen. Murder, in short, had ceased to be the ultimate crime and, people’s senses being somewhat deadened by the endless slaughters of the 20^th century, had become rather passe.

The case languished in obscurity until the movie ‘Chicago Joe and the Showgirl.’ Despite starring Hollywood heavyweight Kiefer Sutherland and English rose Emily Lloyd it was a somewhat forgettable picture, certainly not one of Sutherland’s finest. It is, in fact, somewhat dull and lacking the colour of even the case itself.

Even considering the snobbish tone of his essay on the subject, perhaps Orwell might have had a point.

Murderers come in all kinds. Whenever people say “Oh, they never seemed the type.” It usually indicates their lacking an understanding of that fact. Granted, most of them aren’t people of a particularly artistic or creative bent, but some are. Some are artists, writers, poets, painters, playwrights or musicians and it’s a few of them that we’re going to look at.

Popoular band-leader ‘Spade’ Cooley.

We’ll start with band-leader ‘Spade’ Cooley. Cooley was born in Oklahoma and, like so many Oklahomans, his family headed West to California when weather conditions and bad farming practices turned the Oklahoman landscape into a dust bowl. He had a natural talent for music and, over time, established himself as a leader on California’s Western Swing circuit. He added to his resume by doing some acting and also forged a successful career as a TV personality.

Divorced once already, Cooley’s marriage to second wife Ella Mae Cooley ended in murder. Cooley became increasingly paranoid that she was being unfaithful, ironic considering his well-founded reputation as a Lothario. In March, 1961 matters came to a head when she admitted her infidelity and asked Colley for a divorce. Cooley filed for divorce, sought custody of their three children and, things having worsened in the meantime, murdered her.

He was indicted for first-degree murder in Kern County, California on April 3. At his trial his daughter Melody testified that she saw him repeatedly slam her head against the floor of their California ranch, repeatedly stamp on her stomach and then stub out a lit cigarette on her skin to see if she was actually dead. According to Cooley her injuries came as a result of slipping in the shower.

Not surprisingly, on August 21 he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. By 1969 the Californian parole authorities had voted to grant him parole from July 22, 1970. Cooley never livd to see it, dying of a heart attack on November 23, 1969.

Christian Vikernes AKA ‘Count Grishnackh.’

Next up is Norwegian Christian Vikernes AKA ‘Varg’ Vikernes AKA ‘Count Grishnackh.’ A leading member of Scandanavia’s ‘black metal’ music scene, Vikernes held racist and neo-Nazi tendencies from an early age In 1992 he was alleged to be involved in burning three Norwegian churches —  arsons that he has always denied, but openly supported. In 1994 he murdered fellow black metal musician and guitarist with the band Mayhem, Oystein ‘Eponymous’ Aarseth by the simple expedient of stabbing him to death. Convicted of the murder and the church burnings, Vikernes spent the next fifteen years behind bars.

He used his time in jail to affiliate with far-right political group the ‘Heathen Front.’ Espousing an especially noxious blend of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and ‘blood and soil’ extreme nationalism, the ‘Heathen Front’ are a fairly unpleasant bunch and Vikernes, a hardened neo-Nazi, racist and general bigot, probably fitted in with them perfectly well.

He didn’t stay out of trouble for very long. Having married a French national and moved to France to be with her he and his wife were arrested in 2013 on suspicion of plotting terrorist acts. The charges were dropped, but the French authorities substituted alternative charges of inciting racial hatred toward Jews and Muslims. Convicted in 2014, he received six months probation and an 8000 Euro fine.

Ben Jonson. Playwright, Shakespeare’s drinking buddy and duellist.

Ben Jonson is a name relatively few people are familiar with today but, to theatre-goers in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, he was a star. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, Jonson was a playwright and noted for his hot temper and regular scrapes with authority. One scrape of a more personal nature resulted in death.

Actor Gabriel Spenser was equally quick with both his temper and his sword. Not that Jonson had ever been slow. Elizabethan gentlemen carried swords both for protection and as a mark of their social status. A long-running feud between the two resulting in Spenser marking Jonson with a rapier while Jonson faced trial for murder.

Their feud ended in a duel fought on Hoxton Fields, now part of the Shoreditch neighbourhood in London. Initially Spenser, whose rapier was some 13 inches longer than Jonson’s, drove Jonson further and further backward, wounding him in his arm and seemingly being about to finish the job. Jonson had other ideas. He flew into a rage and his anger fuelled his attack. Spenser soon fell mortally wounded, run through the heart by Jonson. Jonson was arrested, charged with murder and would have faced the gallows but for a curious quirk of Elizabethan law.

The Church of England had its own ecclesiastical laws running, in some ways, parallel to the laws of the State. Jonson knew that if he pled what was called ‘benefit of clergy’ then he would be tried before a Church court and the worst that could happen was his having to forfeit all his property and be branded upon one thumb, thereby cheating the hangman. All he had to do was prove his literacy and religious knowledge by reciting a particular Bible passage known cynically as the ‘neck verse’ on account of its regular use by people seeking to avoid execution. This he did, successfully avoiding a State trial and execution at the expense of losing his belongings and earning a burnt digit.

Caravaggio, whose general unpleasantness matched his artistic talent.

The Italian painter Caravaggio was a star in his native Italy. Born in Milan on September 29, 1571, he would die in mysterious circumstances in Tuscany on July 18, 1610 aged only 38. His talent, however, was far eclipsed by his constantly aggressive and confrontational nature. Quick-tempered and always ready to resolve any dispute with violence, if there wasn’t any trouble brewing then he was perfectly happy to start some. Not surprisingly, his life was blighted with regular acts of needless violence.

His violent nature eventually saw him kill a man in on June 29, 1606 and the Pope himself, who in those days had legal powers that his successors have long since lost, personally passed sentence of death upon him. Other notable incidents included a vicious brawl on the island of Malta in 1608 and another especially violent incident in Naples. It’s been speculated that the Naples fracas was in fact a deliberate attempt to murder him, an attempt that left him seriously injured and from which he was lucky to escape with his life and for which his attackers were never identified let alone punished. He wouldn’t escape for very much longer.

He was travelling through Tuscany, headed for Rome where he intended to seek the Pope’s pardon and the rescinding of the Papal death sentence for the 1606 murder. Strangely for a 38-year old man in generally good health, he was suddenly taken ill and, on July 18, 1610, he died. There exists considerable speculation that his behaviour in Malta had made him enemies who had finally caught up with him. Given that he suddenly died of lead poisoning and had made more enemies than most 38-year old’s will ever have, this ranks as a distinct possibility.

Kenneth Halliwell (right) with his collaborator, lover and victim Joe Orton (left).

Kenneth Halliwell is another name that, today, few people will recognise. He was a British writer, artist and collagist who met young writer and playwright Joe Orton when they both entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London in 1951. Halliwell, 7 years older, took a liking to the relatively-uneducated Orton, seeing in him a rough diamond whose talent (if sufficiently polished) would sparkle. It did and, ironically, was to seal both their fates.

The two were also gay at a time when, until 1967, indulging in gay sex was still punishable by up to two years imprisonment even between consenting adults. They became lovers as well as collaborators although by no means all of their collaborations were artistically successful or, for that matter, especially smart. They survived largely by spending as little as possible and it would be fair to say that they existed mainly on Halliwell’s money while they struggled to build artistic careers. They also had a penchant for artistic pranks that saw them rapped over the knuckles. In 1962 they both received six months in prison for obscenely defacing books in public libraries, leaving them back on the shelves to offend anyone who picked them up. They served their sentences in different prisons and, when they were released, Orton’s career at last began to pick up. And that was where their problems started.

Halliwell found it increasingly hard to accept that he, the teacher, was increasingly being outshone by his protégé. He became withdrawn and depressed, being regularly prescribed anti-depressants and becoming less and less easy to live with. Orton, meanwhile, found his star rising higher and higher (to Halliwell’s increasing jealousy and discontent) and Orton’s promiscuity and habit of picking up strangers in public restrooms certainly didn’t help matters much. Orton too was becoming increasingly tired of Halliwell and confided to a friend that he’d met someone else and wanted to leave his mentor and lover. His major mistake was finally confiding this to Halliwell himself August 9, 1967.

Halliwell’s response was simple and homicidal. He beat Orton to death, striking him nine times over the head with a hammer before swallowing 22 Nembutal tablets. According to the post-mortem it’s likely that Halliwell died of his overdose before Orton expired from the beating. It’s also bitterly ironic that their bodies were discovered the next day by a chauffeur, sent by the legendary Beatles to bring Orton to discuss a screenplay he’d written for them. Even in death, the apprentice had outshone his mentor.

There are many, many more cases of artistic and creative people turning to a destructive path for one reason or another. It just goes to show that, regardless of public adoration, celebrity, success and people putting them on a pedestal, artists of any kind are as human as the rest of us.