• US prosecutors are reportedly considering charging 'El Chapo' Guzman with the killings of US citizens in Mexico.
• Guzman currently faces a number of charges related to drug trafficking.
• Prosecutors are likely to call a number of drug traffickers and former cartel members to testify against Guzman.

US prosecutors are considering charging former Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman with the killings of six US citizens and a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent, according to Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA.

Three former Mexican police officers have told the US Attorney in Los Angeles that they saw Guzman take part in the killings in late 1984 and 1985. One of the officers, Jorge Godoy, who is now a protected witness in the US, told WFAA that Guzman "likes to cut the people."

The US Attorney in LA declined to comment to WFAA. A spokesman for the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where Guzman faces trial, also declined to comment.

Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, told Business Insider that prosecutors were considering adding those charges and "may link them to Chapo Guzman through drug traffickers that may testify" against him.

The killings came over a nine-week period between 1984 and 1985 and were reportedly in response to the DEA and Mexican federal police raiding and destroying the El Bufalo ranch in northern Chihuahua state in fall 1984.

The massive, 1,300-acre ranch's destruction likely constituted a multibillion-dollar loss for the Guadalajara cartel, then the most powerful in Mexico, and was particularly stinging for Rafael Caro Quintero, then one of the cartel's leaders.

The first killings came on December 2, 1984, when four Jehovah's Witness missionaries, two men and two women, knocked on the door of a drug lord. Godoy, who was then also working as a body guard for Ernesto Fonseca, another Guadalajara kingpin, said the missionaries were tortured and the women raped.

They "knocked on the wrong door," Vigil said, and the traffickers "believed they were informants or DEA agents trying to gather information."

Godoy told WFAA that Guzman shot the missionaries one by one, letting their bodies fall into an open grave. The bodies have never been recovered.

At the end of January 1985, two US citizens were killed after entering a Guadalajara restaurant where members of the cartel were eating. Godoy said he was guarding the front door when one of the Americans asked to go in.

"I said, 'It's closed and please you have to go. Please go," he told WFAA. The pair was "in wrong place at the wrong time," Vigil said.

The two began to walk away, but Caro Quintero saw them and ordered them brought inside, Godoy said, adding that he knew the Americans were likely mistaken for US agents.

The cartel members "erroneously assumed that they were DEA agents, so they took them to the back and they stabbed them to death, and the bodies were never recovered," Vigil said. Godoy claims to have seen Guzman cut one of the captive's throats and help wrap the bodies and bury them in a park.

On February 7, 1985, Guzman was dispatched to help kidnap Alfredo Zavala, a pilot who flew DEA agent Enrique Camarena to find the cartel's marijuana fields, according to Godoy. Camarena was abducted the same day, picked up off a Guadalajara street while on his way to meet his wife for lunch.

Camarena and Zavala were found a month later in shallow graves. Both showed signs of torture, and Godoy said he saw Guzman and others "jumping with their knees" on the captives, breaking their ribs.

Camarena's kidnapping and killing brought intense pressure from the US on Mexican authorities. Caro Quintero and Fonseca were caught before the end of 1985. Guadalajara cartel chief Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, for whom Guzman worked as a driver, remained on the run until 1989. (Caro Quintero, sentenced to 40 years in prison, was released on a technicality in 2013 and was recently added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.)

Guzman is not currently charged with the killing of US citizens.

Sources told WFAA that US prosecutors may have dropped previous murder charges against Guzman because the victims were likely Mexicans killed in Mexico, but they would more able to try Guzman for the killing of US citizens in Mexico.

While the Guadalajara cartel was in power, and as Guzman worked his way up its ranks, it was involved in a lot of homicides, Vigil said.

Both the Guadalajara cartel and the Sinaloa cartel, a successor group led by Guzman, were responsible for the killing of "untold Americans, directly or indirectly," he added.

"Whether Chapo Guzman was involved or not, it's anybody's guess," Vigil said of the killings prosecutors are considering adding to the case. "But they do have these drug traffickers who are willing to testify."

The US federal government has said a number of cooperating witnesses, including Colombian drug traffickers, will testify "to prove Guzman's power" and "astonishing illegal profits." Through the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act, prosecutors could link Guzman to the acts of others in his organization, Vigil said.

US prosecutors are "going to throw the kitchen sink and the entire bathroom at him," because they can't afford to lose the case, Vigil said, adding that may mean including "other traffickers whose credibility is not great."

SEE ALSO: The FBI just put the 'narco of narcos' on its 10 Most Wanted list

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• The captain of flight MH370 deliberately crashed the plane, investigators concluded.
• The Malaysia Airlines jet was on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board when it disappeared.
• Analysis of satellite data indicates it ran out of fuel and crashed in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia, thousands of miles from its intended destination.
• Captain Simon Harvey, a British pilot who has flown the 777 widely in Asia, said the mission was "planned meticulously to make the aircraft disappear."

Leading air-safety experts have concluded that the captain of flight MH370 deliberately crashed the plane. They include the man who spent two years heading the search, who now says Captain Zaharie Amad Shah carefully planned a murder-suicide mission.

The Malaysia Airlines jet was on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board when it disappeared.

Analysis of satellite data indicated it had run out of fuel and crashed in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia, thousands of miles from its intended destination.

Some debris from the Boeing 777 washed up on Indian Ocean beaches. But the biggest underwater search in history, coordinated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), was called off in January 2017 after two years.

The seabed search was led by Martin Dolan, who told a special edition of the "60 Minutes Australia" programme: "This was planned, this was deliberate, and it was done over an extended period of time."

Captain Zaharie, age 53, was accompanied on the flight deck by an inexperienced first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid – who was on his first Boeing 777 mission without a training captain overseeing him.

Six days after the plane disappeared, their homes in the Malaysian capital were searched and computer equipment was taken away. It contained evidence suggesting Captain Zaharie had used flight-simulation software to prepare for diverting the aircraft.

Captain Simon Harvey, a British pilot who has flown the 777 widely in Asia, said the mission was "planned meticulously to make the aircraft disappear," including flying along the Thai-Malaysian frontier to avoid either side taking action.

"If you were commissioning me to make a 777 disappear, I would do exactly the same thing," he told the programme.

A Canadian air-crash investigator, Larry Vance, said he believed that Captain Zaharie put on an oxygen mask before depressurising the plane to render the passengers and crew unconscious: "There is no reason not to believe that the pilot did not depressurise the cabin to incapacitate the passengers."

Dolan dismissed the possibility that terrorism was involved. "If this had been a terrorist event, it’s almost invariable that a terrorist organisation will claim credit for the event. There was no such claim made."

The panel disagreed about whether Captain Zaharie was in control of the aircraft at the time it hit the ocean.

Vance said he believed the pilot "ditched it deliberately to keep it as intact as possible," while Dolan said the evidence was that "the aircraft spiralled into the ocean and crashed."

There have been several confirmed cases of murder-suicide committed by pilots, including Germanwings flight 9525 in 2015.

All 150 passengers and crew on board the Airbus A320 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf died when the first officer, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps. He had previously been declared unfit for work by his doctor.

A second search of a wider area of the Indian Ocean seabed for the remains of MH370 began in January, conducted by a private firm called Ocean Infinity. The underwater search in an area north of the previous zone has so far found nothing related to the missing aircraft. The current search is likely to end in June.

In the absence of firm proof of what happened to MH370, many possible explanations have been proposed. A surprisingly popular theory is that the aircraft was downed by a missile from North Korea, even though the rogue state is 2,000 miles away from the area in which the aircraft was lost.

SEE ALSO: This computer model shows how debris from MH370 may have spread from Australia to Africa

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It's the kind of question that gets the conversation flowing at a dinner party — what would you eat for your last meal? Most of us will never have the opportunity to plan our final feast, but Lawrence Russell Brewer did.

The Texas inmate, who was convicted for the murder of James Byrd Jr. in 1988, requested quite the spread before his 2011 execution. Brewer ordered a triple bacon cheeseburger, two chicken fried steaks drenched in gravy with onions, three fajitas, a cheese omelet, a large helping of fried okra, a pound of barbecue meat with a half loaf of white bread, a pint of ice cream, three root beers, and a peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

He didn't eat a single bite.

The stunt ended the tradition of allowing inmates facing execution in Texas to select their last meal. Although the practice is still in effect in other states, price and availability restrictions have become more common.

But before recent limitations, the requests were vast, varied, and occasionally pretty strange. While some went for broke, others settled for simpler fare. INSIDER rounded up some of the revealing culinary choices of serial killers facing execution.

John Wayne Gacy ate KFC.

In May 1994, Gacy was convicted of and put to death by lethal injection for the murder of 33 boys and young men. He buried the victims under his home in Illinois.

Gacy's last meal included a bucket of original recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken, french fries, 12 fried shrimp, and a pound of strawberries. Prior to his incarceration, Gacy managed three KFC restaurants.

Aileen Wuornos had a cup of coffee.

Wuornos gained infamy as a sex worker who was convicted of killing seven men in Florida. Wuornos maintained that the killings were done in self-defense. Charlize Theron portrayed Wuornos in the 2003 biopic “Monster” and even won an Academy Award for the role in 2004.

Before Wuornos was put to death in 2001 for the first-degree murder of Richard Mallory, her lone request was a cup of coffee.

Timothy McVeigh wanted ice cream.

McVeigh killed 168 people and injured over 680 when he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995. This event is now known as the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Before his 2001 execution, McVeigh asked for two pints of mint chocolate chip ice-cream.

• A London couple have been convicted of killing and burning the body of a woman called Sophie Lionnet.
• The court heard they had been afflicted with folie à deux, or "madness of two."
• One of the pair became paranoid that Lionnet had run off with her ex, whom she was obsessed with.
• It is a rare psychological phenomenon but there have been several cases of shared delusions.
• Sometimes it can involve more than two people.

On Thursday May 24, a couple were found guilty of murdering their French nanny and burning her body on a bonfire in their London backyard.

After six days of jury deliberation, 35-year-old Sabrina Kouider and 40-year-old Ouissem Medouni were found guilty of killing Sophie Lionnet, a 21-year-old French nanny, after beating, starving, and torturing her over a bizarre paranoid delusion about Mark Walton — Kouider's ex-boyfriend and a founding member of the pop group Boyzone.

The court heard that the couple had been afflicted with a psychosis known as folie à deux, or "madness of two," which is where delusions are shared between people.

Kouider lived in a warped reality, allegedly due to her bipolar disorder and depression, and Medouni was a willing party in it. Kouider was apparently obsessed with her ex-boyfriend, reported him to police over 30 times, and falsely accused him of paedophilia on Facebook.

Other strange accusations included him hiring a helicopter to spy on her, and sexually abusing a cat.

Kouider also reported to the police that Lionnet had run off with Walton, which was the primary reason the couple locked her up. In the final days before she died, Lionnet was subjected to horrific abuse including being hit with an electric cable and being beaten so badly she had five broken ribs and a cracked breast bone.

In court, Kouider and Medouni blamed each other for Lionnet's death, still making accusations against her, which the judge concluded had "no truth whatsoever."

Folie à deux, or Shared Psychotic Disorder, can occasionally involve more people with close bonds known as folie à trois, folie à quatre, or folie en famille (family madness). It was first conceptualised in the 19th century by Charles Lasègue and Jean-Pierre Falret.

It is not listed as a separate disorder in the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-5, but is included under the schizophrenic spectrum and other psychotic disorders.

The first known case study appears in Enoch and Ball's "Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes," which involved a woman called Margaret and her husband Michael in the 19th century. Both were 24 years old, and were found to be sharing paranoid delusions about an intruder. They believed someone was coming into their house, spreading dust, and wearing down their shoes.

Essentially, Margaret and Michael got themselves into a feedback loop where they reinforced each other's delusions.

Folie à deux is most common between romantic couples, but it can also occur with siblings. For example, in one case involving three sisters, two moved into a house near the third to help her care for her children. Over time they all became closer and more heavily involved with religion.

The youngest sister then started thinking the Bible was full of inconsistencies and became determined to correct them. The sisters ended up praying nonstop for three days without sleeping, then were convinced God wanted them to have a particular house in the town that didn't belong to them.

They went round demanding to be let in, breaking down windows and attacking the owner until they police arrived. They were arrested, and put in the same holding cell where they continued to pray and sing while naked, and occasionally attacked the guards.

In 2016, there was a case of a family of five who disappeared on a road trip. Mark and Jacoba Tromp took their three adult children and fled their home, travelling over 1,600 km in a week across the US state of Victoria. They had been suffering from increasing signs of stress and paranoia, and were convinced someone was going to rob and kill them.

One of the sons, Mitchell, was apparently the only one not to succumb to the psychosis. He was the only member of the family to keep ahold of his phone, but as his parents became more delusional, they made him throw it out the window because they thought they were being tracked.

In the case of the sisters, all they needed was separation. Once they had some time away from each other, their psychosis vanished without any need for medication. But in some cases, like that of Kouider and Medouni, delusion can be more heavily imposed by one partner.

According to The Telegraph, Kouider was "the star of her own fantasy film noir — and she cast Sophie Lionnet as the enemy." She was described by ex-partners as manipulative, fickle, and a "lunatic," while Medouni was "weak" and "easily led."

In cases where separation isn't enough, doctors usually treat extreme cases of psychosis with anti-psychotic medications. It is unclear whether Kouider is being given treatment, but she was being held at a medium secure mental hospital before the trial.

SEE ALSO: Sociopaths are hiding in plain sight — so we asked one how he does it

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When the Golden State Killer was caught in April— more than three decades after his crimes — the country was stunned. But these horrific murders are not unfamiliar to Americans. In fact, the United States has the most known serial killers than any other country.

As early as the 1800s, the United States has seen killers who murdered on a massive scale. Since then, the country has become captivated with true crime, particularly serial killers. Shows like Netflix's "Mindhunter"or books like"I'll be Gone in the Dark" try to get into the minds of these terrifying killers to learn about motives and tactics.

Here's a list of men, women, and, yes, even families who were serial killers in every state across the United States.

Editor's Note: Just a warning that these accounts can be upsetting to some and describe graphic details of real-life cases.

Alabama: Thomas Warren Whisenhant

In October 1976, Thomas Warren Whisenhant abducted Cheryl Lynn Payton from the convenience store where she worked. He drove her to a secluded area and brutally raped her in the front seat of his pick up truck. When he was finished, he shot her point blank in the head. He dragged her body into a wooded area. A few days later, Whisenhant returned to her body and mutilated it.

When he was caught, he told the police everything about Payton's murder and even confessed to other murders: the deaths of Venora Hyatt and Patricia Hitt. He was put to death in 2010.

Alaska: Robert Hansen

For some reason, Alaska has the highest number of serial killings than any state. So, although it's hard to choose just one killer that terrorized the state, Robert Hansen seems to leave a really bone-chilling scare.

Hansen appeared to be the model father, husband, and business owner — but he was harboring a terrible secret. He was hunting women like wild animals. In 1971, he started to abduct sex workers and strippers and bring them to his remote cabin in the woods where he would torture them. He'd let them loose in the woods of Anchorage and then he'd hunt them down for mere pleasure.

When finally caught, Hansen confessed to murdering 17 people but was only convicted for four. He died in prison in 2014 at 75.

Arizona: Mark Goudeau "The Baseline Killer"

Mark Goudeau became known as the "Baseline Killer" when he terrorized the Phoenix, Arizona, community in the summer of 2006. He would attack women during their daily lives. One woman he brutally raped and murdered when she was vacuuming her car. Another woman met a similar fate when she was just waiting at a bus stop. They were all found in pools of blood with their pants pulled halfway down.

In total, Goudeau was found guilty of killing nine people, most of them women. In 2016, his nine death sentences were upheld in Phoenix. He is still in prison.

• Warning: Graphic details.
• Sydney Loofe was killed after going on a date in Lincoln, Nebraska, last November.
• She had been with Bailey Boswell, a woman whom she met on Tinder and had gone on a first date the night before.
• Boswell and Aubrey Trail, a 51-year-old man, have been charged with strangling, dismembering her, and disposing of her body parts in trash bags in a field.
• They were caught on security camera shopping for tools that prosecutors say were used to kill her.
• Boswell and Trail are convicted con artists.

A man and a woman have been charged for the murder of Sydney Loofe, a 24-year-old woman who was strangled and dismembered while going on a Tinder date.

Loofe, who worked as a cashier, was last seen on a second date with Bailey Boswell, a 23-year-old woman at the time, in Lincoln, Nebraska on November 15, 2017.

The two women had met through Tinder and went on their first date the night before.

Loofe was not heard from or discovered until 19 days later, when officials found Loofe's dismembered body stuffed in multiple garbage bags in a field near Edgar, a Nebraskan city 90 miles from Lincoln, on December 4.

Boswell and Aubrey Trail, a 51-year-old man, were singled out as persons of interest in the case and arrested on November 30 in Branson, Missouri, on charges of fraud, which they have since admitted.

They have been held in jail since, and appeared in court via video cam this Tuesday.

Trail allegedly told investigators that he strangled Loofe with an extension cord, The Associated Press reported, citing court documents made public on Tuesday.

He and Boswell were also captured on store security footage, hours before Boswell and Loofe's second date, at a Home Depot store buying tools that prosecutors say were used to dismember her, the court documents said.

Nebraska's attorney general has charged Boswell and Trail with first-degree murder and improper disposal of human skeletal remains.

The motive for Loofe's murder remains unclear.

In the run-up to their arrest, Boswell and Trail posted multiple videos to a Facebook group, set up by Loofe's family, to claim their innocence. Although the videos have since been deleted from the page, some of them can still be found online.

In one of the videos, Boswell claimed that she had taken Loofe home after their second date. She said:

"I met her on a Tuesday, we drove around Lincoln, smoked weed, had a great time, we hit it off. I dropped her off at home, picked her up the next night at her house. We drove around smoked weed again. [...]

"I went to take her home, and she asked me to drop her off at a friend's house, so I did so. I gave her my number. We were planning to go to a casino that weekend. And then I haven't heard from her since.

"I don't really know what else to say. I'm seeing all this stuff in the news presses and the magazine and the news. I guess I just want the family to know that I'm truly sorry and I didn't have anything to do with this, and I hope that Sydney is found very soon. She is a sweet, amazing girl."

Loofe's mother had reported her daughter missing on November 16, one day after the date, after Sydney was found to have left her car and tabby cat at home. She also failed to show up to her cashier shift at Menards home-improvement store the next day, the Daily Beast reported.

Boswell and Trail's relationship is not entirely clear. Boswell referred to Trail as his girlfriend in phone interviews to local journalists, and the Daily Beast and Daily Mail have described the accomplices as a couple.

Boswell and Trail were charged with stealing gold coins from an antique auction, and transporting them from Nebraska to Kansas, last December, The Daily Beast reported. They pled guilty to one count and each face ten years in prison and $250,000 in fines for that crime alone.

If convicted of murder they face far longer prison sentences, and potentially the death penalty.

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• More than 10,000 people piled into a park in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday evening to honor a woman who was recently murdered.
• Less than a week ago, Eurydice Dixon, a 22-year-old comedian, was sexually assaulted and killed while walking home at night.
• A police chief then said people need to "take responsibility for their own safety" which many saw as victim-blaming.
• Dixon's death has spurred a wider conversation about changing the social and cultural factors that enable sexual assault.
• Business Insider attended the Melbourne vigil as hundreds more gathered around the country, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

More than 10,000 people piled into a park in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday evening to honor a young woman who was recently murdered, a crime which revived a nation-wide discussion on women's safety.

Eurydice Dixon, a 22-year-old comedian, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Melbourne as she walked home from a gig some time after 10:30 p.m. last Tuesday.

Dixon walked through Princes Park — a large, well-lit park in Melbourne's affluent Carlton North suburb — and messaged a friend around midnight: "I'm almost home safe, HBU [how about you]." 

Dixon's body was found in the park's soccer field around 3 a.m. the following morning. A man was charged with her murder the next day.

Following her death, Victoria Police Superintendent David Clayton said the park would receive an increased police presence, but warned that people still needed to "take responsibility for their own safety." 

"So just make sure you have situational awareness, that you’re aware of your surroundings,” Clayton told reporters Thursday. "If you’ve got a mobile phone, carry it, and if you’ve got any concerns, call police."

But many women in Australia felt the comments amounted to victim-blaming and lacked an acknowledgement of the broader issue of violence against women perpetrated by men. The sense was especially acute since a woman from Sydney, Qi Yu, was also killed in the same week. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that sexual violence is a "global health problem of epidemic proportions."

According to the WHO, one out of every three women has experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.

It recommends taking major steps to address the social and cultural factors which lead to women being disproportionately affected by sexual violence. 

The statistics are especially startling in the US. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 90% of sexual assault victims are women, and an American citizen is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds. 

The issue of sexual assault is has been highlighted by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. More women than ever are speaking out and demanding social change to prevent sexual assault.  

Mourning and frustration inspired many to attend vigils around the country on Monday night.

Organizers of the Melbourne vigil said the purpose of the event was to show support for Dixon's family, and also reclaim a public space that had been deemed unsafe.

Attendees held a 20 minute silence to remember women who have lost their lives to violence.

Across the country, hundreds came together at similar events.

At a solidarity event in Sydney, attendees read aloud the names of 30 women killed in Australia in the past year, with 30 seconds of silence for each of them. Similar vigils were held in dozens of major cities across the country.  

In 2015, more than 1,600 US women were murdered by men.

In the capital of Canberra, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten stood with candles at a memorial event at Parliament House.

"My own boys played soccer on the very oval where some of these scenes have taken place," Shorten said. "This vigil to me is a commitment to every other Australian woman, that you ought to be safe, and nothing less than that is acceptable."

Earlier in the day Turnbull said, "This is a heartbreaking tragedy but what we must do as we grieve is ensure that we change the hearts of men to respect women."

• Rapper XXXTentacion appeared to predict his own death in an Instagram video that was reportedly shared a few months ago.
• The rapper, real name Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, apparently shared a monologue with his followers where he talked about the eventuality of his death.
• The controversial rapper was shot dead in Florida on Monday.

Controversial rapper XXXTentacion foreshadowed his own death in an Instagram live video months before his untimely demise.

XXXTenacion, real name Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was shot in Florida on Monday. The Broward County Sheriff's Department later told TMZ he had been pronounced dead.

According to The Miami Herald, he shared a video monologue with his Instagram followers a few months ago, though it's unclear exactly when.

"Worst thing comes to worst, I f-----g die a tragic death or some s--t — and I'm not able to see out my dreams — I at least want to know that the kids perceived my message and were able to make something of themselves and able to take my message and use it and turn it into something positive and to at least have a good life," he said.

"If I'm gonna die, or ever be a sacrifice, I want to make sure that my life made at least five million kids happy — or they found some sort of answers or resolve in my life. Regardless of the negative around my name."

Citing witnesses, TMZ reported that the 20-year-old was shot in his car after leaving a motorcycle dealer in South Florida.

Tributes poured in for the young rapper, notably from Kanye West.

Onfroy was awaiting trial for a 2016 domestic abuse case. He faced charges of aggravated battery of his pregnant girlfriend, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness tampering.

SEE ALSO: Rapper XXXTentacion shot dead in Florida

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Although female serial killers are thought to be less common than male serial killers, they certainly exist.

They're also just as brutal as the men.

From the "Little Old Lady Killer" to the "soap maker of Correggio," these are some of the most prolific and horrifying female serial killers throughout history.

Editor's note: A warning some of these accounts feature graphic depictions of violence, sexual abuse, and murder.

Aileen Wuornos

Aileen Wuornos, who was working as a sex worker, was convicted and executed for the murders of six different men between December 1989 to November 1990. She confessed to shooting men who picked her up hitchhiking in self-defense after she claimed they beat or raped her, a claim that she later recanted.

Wuornos was sentenced to death in 1992 and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Her story was portrayed in the film "Monster," with Charlize Theron playing Wuornos.

Judy Buenoano

Judy Buenoano was known as the "Black Widow" and was executed in the electric chair in 1998. She had been convicted of poisoning her husband with arsenic, drowning her son who was partially paralyzed (who began needing leg braces after showing signs of arsenic poisoning), and attempting to kill her fiancé with a car bomb.

The motive appeared to be insurance money, as she received around $240,000 for the deaths of her husband, son, and a former boyfriend. Although Buenoano never admitted to any of the killings, she was nevertheless the first woman to be executed in the state of Florida since 1848.

Juana Barraza

Juana Barraza was dubbed the "Mataviejitas," or "Little Old Lady Killer" after 16 elderly women were found strangled to death in Mexico City in 2005. According to The Guardian, forensic profilers believe Barraza’s killings were to release the rage she had towards her own alcoholic mother, who gave her away at age 12 to a man who abused her.

She used objects such as phone cables, tights, or her stethoscope to strangle her victims. She became one of Mexico’s most prolific serial killers and was eventually sentenced to 759 years in prison for 16 counts of murder. She is still in prison today.

When you try to imagine a murderer, your brain likely conjures an image of a man. That's probably because, statistically as far as we know, women are responsible for around 11% of all murders. But that doesn't make the murders any less heinous.

The women on this list have gone down as some of the most terrifying killers of all time. 

Editor's note: A warning some of these accounts feature graphic depictions of violence, sexual abuse, and murder.

Countess Elizabeth Bathory killed over 600 young girls.

Elizabeth Bathory used her wealth and position to torture those she considered beneath her, according to The History Channel. Bathory came from a prominent noble family in Hungary, and she married into another one when she wed Count Ferencz Nádasdy in 1575.

Sources say she convinced her husband to build a torture chamber in the castle they shared. She is said to have killed over 600 girls, mostly aged 10 to 14, after torturing them by "jamming pins and needles under the fingernails of her servant girls, and tying them down, smearing them with honey, and leaving them to be attacked by bees and ants."

Her powerful position kept her out of prison until 1610 when she moved on from servant girls to targeting the daughters of local nobles. She was convicted for 80 counts of murder in 1611 and confined to a room of the castle that is said to have only had slits for food and air. She died three years later in 1614.

Andrea Yates drowned all five of her children.

The story of Andrea Yates, the Houston woman accused of killing her five children, captured America's attention in 2001. Yates was convicted of murder on five counts after she had methodically drowned all of her children one by one in the span of an hour, according to Time. The youngest was six months old, and the eldest was 7 years old.

A first trial in 2002 convicted Yates of two counts of capital murder, but an appeals court later reversed this decision and she was found not guilty by reason of insanity in her second trial in 2006. 

She will likely spend the rest of her life in a Texas mental hospital.

Aileen Wuornos went on a killing spree in Florida.

Aileen Wuornos was responsible for the murders of six different men. Between 1989 and 1990, she later confessed to shooting men who picked her up hitchhiking in self-defense after she claimed they beat or raped her, a claim that she later recanted.

Wuornos was sentenced to death in 1992 and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Her story was portrayed in the film "Monster," with Charlize Theron playing Wuornos.

Songs about crime have been a popular sub-genre in the music world for years.

Murder ballads, as they were first called, aren’t anything new. These poignant songs have existed for as long as both music and murder have existed.

These eight examples show murder ballads in their prime and show the lasting impact that some deaths have on the public conscious. 

1. The Killers' "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" is written like an interrogation for a murder.

In the summer of 1986, 19-year-old Robert Chambers left a bar with his girlfriend Jennifer Levin. She was found the next morning in Central Park strangled to death.

Chambers was arrested but said that he had killed Levin by accident. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the case, and is now known as the "preppy killer." He was released in 2003.

This song by The Killers is just one of the three tracks said to be dedicated to this crime including "Midnight Show" and "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf." 

"Tell me what you want to know
Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on
There ain't no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
So come on, oh come on, oh come on."

2. Chad Mitchell Trio made a disturbingly 'humorous' track called "Lizzie Borden."

In 1892, Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her mother and father with an axe. This Fall River, Massachusetts double homicide made headlines at the time for the gruesome and despicable nature of the crime. Borden was the prime suspect, but was acquitted of all charges.

The Chad Mitchell Trio wrote this track in the 1960s depicting the murders, placing full blame on Borden and using a popular nursery rhyme.

"Elizabeth Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks
And when the job was nicely done
She gave her father forty one."

3. The Rolling Stones' "Midnight Rambler" is inspired by the infamous "Boston Strangler."

Between 1962 and 1964, Albert DeSalvo was believed to have strangled 13 women to death in and around Boston. He was known as the "Boston Strangler."

He was later arrested for a number of rapes and robberies and confessed to the killings to a fellow inmate, though his confession has been disputed. He was never charged with the murders and died in his cell in 1973. DNA evidence pinned him to the crime in 2003, according to ABC.

The lyrics of "Midnight Rambler" serve as a warning to the people of Boston. 

"Talkin' 'bout the midnight gambler
The one you never seen before
I'm talkin' 'bout the midnight rambler
Did you see me jump the garden wall
I don't give you a hoot of warning
A-dressed up in my black cat cloak
I don't see the light of the morning
I'll split the time the cock'rel crows."

• Chris Watts, 33, was booked into jail in Weld County, Colorado, early Thursday on charges in connection with the disappearance of his missing pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two young daughters.
• Shanann Watts and her two daughters, Celeste, 3, and Bella, 4, were reported missing by a friend on Monday, 9News reported.
• In television interviews, Chris Watts said he had an "emotional" conversation with his wife the night before she disappeared. 

The case of a missing pregnant woman and her two young daughters in Colorado has taken a tragic turn.

Late Wednesday, law-enforcement officials arrested Chris Watts on murder charges in connection with the disappearance of his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, 3-year-old Celeste and 4-year-old Bella, who had been reported missing since Monday, Denver7 reported.

Chris Watts, 33, was booked into the jail in Weld County early Thursday on three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of tampering with evidence, the Denver7 report said. No bond has been set.

Authorities said on Thursday that they had located what they believe to be the remains of Shanann Watts, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and had reason to believe they knew where those of her two children were. Shanann's body was found on propery owned by Anadarko, an oil company where her husband worked for an unspecified amount of time. The company has multiple properties in the area. 

"Please keep Shanann's parents and brother in your prayers," Shanann Watts' family said in a statement to CBS Denver.

A friend reported Shanann Watts and her two daughters missing on Monday afternoon after she hadn't heard from the woman, 9News reported, citing police sources.

Police went to Shanann Watts' house, but she and the kids weren't there — more troubling to investigators was that she left behind her keys, cellphone, purse, and medications for the children, according to the 9News report.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a missing/endangered alert for the three on Tuesday because of medical concerns with the children, 9News reported.

In a Facebook post late Wednesday, a man named Frankie Rzucek who identified himself as Shanann Watts' brother said she was his "one and only sibling."

"That piece of s--- may he rot in hell," Rzucek wrote of Chris Watts, adding that his sister had been pregnant with a baby boy she planned to name Nico.

Chris Watts told reporters after his wife and daughters went missing that he had an "emotional" conversation with his wife the night before she disappeared.

"It wasn't like an argument — we had an emotional conversation, but I'll leave it at that," he told Denver7, adding: "I just want them back. I just want them to come back. And if they're not safe right now, that's what's tearing me apart."

He also told 9News that the disappearance of his family had been traumatic for him.

"I'm just hoping right now that she's somewhere safe," he said. "Like, this house is not the same. Last night was traumatic. Last night was — I can't really stay in this house again with nobody here."

In that interview, he spoke lovingly of his two kids.

"Celeste, she's just a bottle of energy," he said. "I call her 'rampage' because she's got two speeds: go, or she's sleeping. Bella, she's the more calm, cautious, mothering type, and she's more like me — she's more calm."

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• New details have been released in connection to the murder of a pregnant Colorado woman, Shanann Watts, and her two daughters — 3-year-old Celeste and 4-year-old Bella. 
• Shanann's husband, 33-year-old Chris Watts, was arrested on Wednesday for the murders, but has not been officially charged yet. 
• On Friday, defense attorneys for Watts filed court documents suggesting the two girls may have been strangled before their bodies were dumped in an oil tank. 
• A friend told KDKA that the couple planned to reveal the gender of their unborn child at a party on Saturday, five days before Shanann Watts and the girls disappeared. 

The Colorado man accused of murdering his wife and two young daughters may have strangled the three- and four-year old girls, new court documents suggest.

The bodies of Shanann Watts, 34 and her two daughters — Celeste and Bella — were found Thursday on a Frederick, Colorado, oil field where the pregnant woman's husband worked.

Chris Watts, 33, was arrested in connection to the three murders on Wednesday, but has not been formally charged yet. Prosecutors say they plan to press the charges — three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of tampering with evidence — on Monday. 

In court documents filed Friday, Watts' defense attorneys requested that the pathologists performing the autopsies swab the girls' necks and hands for DNA. A Weld County District Judge, however, denied the request, The Denver Post reported.

In another grisly revelation, multiple sources told Denver 7 that the two girls' bodies had been dumped in a tank of crude oil — a tactic used to hide the smell of their decaying bodies. 

Since Watts is still awaiting charges, it's unclear how he will plead. Prosecutors have not yet revealed a motive in the crime. 

Shanann Watts and her two girls were reported missing on Monday, when a friend stopped by the house but got no answer. 

Initially, Chris Watts told cops that his wife and kids were asleep when he left for work early Monday morning. 

While they were still missing, Chris Watts gave several media interviews in which he said he loved and missed his family. He also admitted to Denver 7 that he had an "emotional" conversation with his wife the night before she disappeared. 

Two friends who spoke to CBS said that the couple were having marital issues and that Shanann Watts feared her husband was cheating on her. 

The relationship issues may come as a shock to those who followed Shanann Watts on social media, where she called him "my amazing supportive hubby" and "my best friend, my soul mate" in posts within the last year. 

Another friend told KDVR that the couple planned to reveal the gender of their unborn child at a party on Saturday, two days after Shanann Watts and the kids' bodies were found. 

According to another new report from the Associated Press, the couple were also dealing with financial issues. 

The couple reportedly filed for bankruptcy in 2015, when they were making around $90,000 combined but swimming in $70,000 in debt.

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• Prosecutors charged Christopher Watts, 33, with murder in the deaths of his pregnant wife and their two young daughters.
• Watts faces nine felony charges, including three first-degree murder charges, two counts of murdering a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
• Before his arrest last week, Watts lamented in interviews with local television stations about missing his wife and daughters.
• The bodies were found on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, one of Colorado's largest oil and gas drillers, where Watts had worked as an operator.

DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors charged a Colorado man with murder Monday in the deaths of his pregnant wife and their two young daughters, a crime that left loved ones searching for answers.

The charges against Christopher Watts, 33, come a week after a friend reported Shanann Watts, 34, and the girls missing from their home in Frederick, a small town on the grassy plains north of Denver.

Watts faces nine felony charges, including three first-degree murder charges, two counts of murdering a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.

Before his arrest last week, Christopher Watts lamented in interviews with local television stations about missing his wife and daughters. No motive has been released.

Authorities found Shanann Watts' body Thursday, buried in a shallow grave near an oil tank on property owned by the oil and gas company that her husband worked for. The bodies of 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste were later found inside oil tanks near their mother's grave.

Prosecutors have said they would ask a court to unseal the warrant for Christopher Watts' arrest after filing charges. He's being held without bail and will next appear in court Tuesday.

Family and friends said they were shocked by the slayings, saying the family seemed happy and Christopher Watts appeared to be a good father. The social media accounts for Shanann Watts, who was from North Carolina, are filled with photos of the family smiling and playing and posts praising her husband and expressing excitement about the couple expecting their third child.

But a June 2015 bankruptcy filing captured a picture of a family dealing with financial strain.

The family's two-story home is just outside Frederick, a small town outside Denver where fast-growing subdivisions intermingle with drilling rigs and oil wells.

The bodies were found on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, one of Colorado's largest oil and gas drillers, where Watts had worked as an operator. Court documents filed by defense lawyer James Merson said the girls had been submerged in crude oil for four days.

Autopsies have been completed but not released.

A judge on Friday denied a request by Merson to require the coroner to collect DNA from the necks of the children. The attorney's request suggested that the girls may have been strangled.

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• The suspect in 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts' murder used fake identification documents to work at an Iowa farm for years, despite being an unauthorized immigrant.
• The manager at Yarrabee Farms said 24-year-old Cristhian Rivera was a good employee, but was "not who he said he was."
• Rivera's arrest prompted a roiling debate over illegal immigration and border security, but experts cautioned that Rivera is an outlier — unauthorized immigrants commit fewer crimes and homicides than native-born Americans.

The man accused of murdering 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts used false identification to pass the Social Security Administration's employment verification system, his former employer said Wednesday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Tuesday that 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera is a Mexican national who lived illegally in the Iowa area for up to seven years.

Rivera has been charged with first-degree murder, and was arraigned in the Poweshiek County Courthouse Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities said Rivera admitted to following Tibbetts on July 18 while she was out for a jog, approaching her, and then blacking out and later discovering her body in the trunk of his car.

Rivera's employer, Yarrabee Farms, initially said Rivera had passed the government's E-Verify system, which is designed to flag unauthorized immigrants for employers. But manager Dane Lang told the Associated Press on Wednesday that they were mistaken, and had not used E-Verify.

Lang said Rivera was a good employee who worked for the company for four years.

"Our employee is not who he said he was," Lang said.

'A public policy cannot be based on terrible individual stories'

Rivera's lawyer, Allen Richards, argued in court documents on Wednesday that Rivera is in the US legally, though he didn't explain what type of work authorization Rivera had.

"Sad and Sorry Trump has weighed in on this matter in national media which will poison the entire possible pool of jury members," Richards said in a motion requesting a gag order.

Richards didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment on Rivera's alleged false identification documents.

Rivera's immigration status quickly became a national controversy on Tuesday, even prompting President Donald Trump to call current US immigration law "a disgrace" during a rally.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, weighed in on Tibbetts' death as well, calling the case "an unfortunate reminder of why we need to strengthen our immigration laws."

But immigration experts have urged caution in cracking down on illegal immigration and vilifying millions of unauthorized immigrants based on the alleged actions of outliers like Rivera.

Studies have shown that unauthorized immigrants are less likely to commit crimes— including homicides — than native-born Americans.

"A public policy cannot be based on terrible individual stories like these. We need to take a look at the big picture," Alex Nowrasteh, a senior immigration policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Business Insider.

"If we spend all these law-enforcement resources on identifying and deporting people who are less crime-prone than other people, then that means that there are less police resources to try to enforce real crime," he added. 
"And the likely result is that more people will get killed."

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• The Mollie Tibbetts murder case has sparked renewed debate over illegal immigration and crime.
• President Donald Trump and his allies have seized on Tibbetts' death to call for a crackdown on illegal immigration.
• But experts say there is no link between illegal immigration and crime — in fact, data show that unauthorized immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans.

The murder of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts and the revelation that her accused killer was living in the US illegally has once again triggered a roiling national debate on illegal immigration and its link — or lack thereof — to violent crime.

Already, President Donald Trump and his allies have leveled multiple attacks on unauthorized immigrants, castigated Congress for failing to pass their desired immigration-reform laws, and repeated their demands for a wall along the US-Mexico border.

"You saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman,"Trump said at a rally in West Virginia on Tuesday. "Should've never happened. Illegally in our country. We've had a huge impact, but the laws are so bad, the immigration laws are such a disgrace."

Though Rivera's lawyer argued in a court filing on Wednesday that Rivera was actually in the US legally, the only evidence he provided to support his claim was an earlier statement from Rivera's former employer, Craig Lang, whose company Yarrabee Farms has since said Rivera used false identity documents to gain employment.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has also said Rivera has been living in the US illegally for up to seven years. Rivera's lawyer, Allen Richards, did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment on Rivera's immigration status.

Native-born Americans commit more crimes than unauthorized immigrants do

But regardless of Rivera's immigration status, experts say there's no evidence that any law or policy to curb illegal immigration would have had an impact on the Tibbetts case, because data show that both legal and unauthorized immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans.

"There are 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. In any population of that size, there's going to be some bad apples, there's gonna be some murderers, and they are going to pop up every once in awhile, no matter what you do on the enforcement side," Alex Nowrasteh, a senior immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, told Business Insider.

Using data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, which breaks down the data by perpetrators' immigration statuses, Nowrasteh has published research showing that among arrest rates, criminal conviction rates, and homicide conviction rates, unauthorized immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than those born in the US.

'Evil comes in EVERY color'

Nowrasteh also cautioned that dramatically ramping up immigration enforcement and deportations in an effort to curb murders and other violent crimes could easily have the opposite effect intended on public safety.

"There's nothing that really could have prevented this, and anything you could do to try to stop it, would result in more people dying," Nowrasteh said. "You are enforcing these laws against people who are just less crime-prone than other Americans. It'll be a waste of resources."

He added that none of that information will console Tibbetts' family, but he urged the public to look at the bigger picture regarding illegal immigration and crime.

"It's a brutal murder. But the thing we need to realize is we should at least be happy that this stuff is relatively rare," Nowrasteh said. "A public policy cannot be based on terrible individual stories like these."

His message appears to be getting through — some of Tibbetts' family members have tried to downplay the link between Tibbetts' death and illegal immigration in recent days.

"We are not so f---ing small-minded that we generalize a whole population based on some bad individuals," Tibbetts' cousin tweeted in response to the right-wing commentator Candace Owens.

"Evil comes in EVERY color," Tibbetts' aunt, Billie Jo Calderwood, wrote in a statement.

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There's no denying the popularity of true crime stories in our culture. Whether we're drawn out of morbid curiosity or the sensationalism of brutal acts, Hollywood has taken notice that there is a massive appetite for these stories.

From "Monster" to "Zodiac," here are nine movies that have been based on true crime.

Charlize Theron transforms into a killer for an award-winning role in "Monster."

In the 2003 film "Monster,"Charlize Theron stars as Aileen Wuornos, a real-life Florida sex worker-turned-serial killer.

Wuornos would later confess to shooting men who picked her up hitchhiking in self-defense in 1989 to 1990 after she claimed they beat or raped her, a claim that she later recanted. Wuornos was sentenced to death in 1992 and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.

Theron won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a SAG award for her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos, though it's worth noting that some of the events in the movie are fictionalized.

California teens plot to steal from the stars they love in "The Bling Ring."

Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, "The Bling Ring," is based on the true story of celebrity-obsessed California teenagers who embark on a high-profile crime spree.

In the movies, the teens keep tabs on their celebrity victims' whereabouts online and subsequently rob their homes of money, clothes, and jewelry.

Although some events in the film were fictionalized, the true story in 2008 involved big-name celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, and Rachel Bilson. Each of the teens was charged with at least one out of the 10 instances of burglary. All pleaded not guilty and were sentenced to varying amounts of time in prison. 

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a teen who forges checks and gets millions in "Catch Me If You Can."

In "Catch Me If You Can," Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale Jr., a real-life con man who posed as a pilot, doctor, and lawyer in order to forge checks and make lots of money during the 1960s. Tom Hanks plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty Jr, who eventually tracks Abagnale down and brings him to justice.

The movie is based on Abagnale's book of the same name in which he recounts his now infamous crime spree. Today, Abagnale uses his criminal past for good, consulting with banks, corporations, and government agencies on various aspects of crime and fraud.

• Autopsy results on Thursday revealed 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was the victim of a homicide and died from "multiple sharp force injuries."
• A state medical examiner said the finding means a sharp-edged or pointed object such as a knife was used to attack Tibbetts.
• The man charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts's death, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, allegedly led investigators to her body early Tuesday in a cornfield outside of Brooklyn, Iowa. 
• Earlier this week, investigators said they were uncertain how Tibbetts was killed or whether she was sexually assaulted.

The Iowa college student who was allegedly abducted by a stranger while running last month in a small town died from stab wounds, a medical examiner says.

Authorities announced Thursday that preliminary autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office show 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was the victim of a homicide who died from "multiple sharp force injuries."

State medical examiner Dennis Klein said in an interview that the finding means a sharp-edged or pointed object such as a knife was used to attack Tibbetts.

He declined comment on the details of her injuries, and said that his office would hire consultants, including forensic anthropologists, to analyze her remains further and make additional findings.

The man charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts' death, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, allegedly led investigators to her body early Tuesday in a cornfield outside of Brooklyn, Iowa, the town where the University of Iowa psychology major was last seen one month prior.

While investigators were confident then that the body was that of Tibbetts, the autopsy definitively confirmed her identity.

Prosecutors allege that Rivera abducted Tibbetts while she was out for an evening run in Brooklyn on July 18, killed her and disposed of her body in the secluded location.

A criminal complaint alleges that Rivera confessed during a lengthy interrogation that began Monday to following Tibbetts in his car, getting out on foot and chasing after her.

Rivera told investigators that he panicked after Tibbetts threatened to call police on her cellphone, he blacked out and later came to when he was unloading her bloody body from the trunk of a car, it says.

Rivera worked for the last four years at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts was last seen.

He and Tibbetts have no known connections other than that Rivera allegedly told investigators that he saw her running previously.

Investigators zeroed in on him as the suspect after obtaining footage from surveillance cameras showing a vehicle connected to him circling the area of Tibbetts' running route.

Earlier this week, investigators said they were uncertain how Tibbetts was killed or whether she was sexually assaulted. They've made no mention of recovering a knife or other weapon linked to the death.

Rivera, a native of Mexico who is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, made his initial court appearance Wednesday and is being jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond.

He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

Within hours of the arrest, President Donald Trump seized on the news that Rivera was allegedly in the country illegally to call for stricter immigration laws.

And in an interview that aired Thursday, he said on "Fox & Friends" that Tibbetts was a "beautiful young girl" killed by a "horrible person that came in from Mexico, illegally here."

Trump has claimed that people living in the U.S. illegally often commit crimes, but studies by social scientists and the libertarian Cato Institute reject that assertion.

The studies show that states with higher shares of people living in the country illegally have lower violent crime rates.

The president also said the suspect was "found by" agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, an agency that some liberals have called for abolishing because of tactics they view as overly harsh.

An ICE spokesman said Thursday that its agents worked with state and local investigators in "identifying, locating and interviewing the suspect."

Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman Mitch Mortvedt agreed that ICE played a "significant role" in the case, particularly in helping confirm Rivera's identity and immigration status.

Rivera's defense attorney, Allan Richards, has denounced Trump for prejudging his client's guilt, saying the president's comments would make it hard for Rivera to get a fair trial.

"Let's let the process go," he said Thursday. "The process is about truth-finding in a rational, peaceful and efficient manner. We're only at the very preliminary stages."

SEE ALSO: Autopsy reveals 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was killed by 'multiple sharp force injuries'

DON'T MISS: Trump and his allies are seizing on Mollie Tibbetts' murder to crack down on illegal immigration, but data show native-born Americans commit way more violent crimes

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• The man charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year old Mollie Tibbetts reportedly made repeated unsolicited advances on social media towards local young women. 
• One woman told The New York Times that she once rejected Cristhian Bahena Rivera's advances, but he repeatedly messaged her over social media.
• She said she discussed Bahena Rivera with female friends, and they said he messaged them, too.
• "Something about him was off," said a 20-year-old Iowa woman who turned him down for a date. 

The man charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year old Mollie Tibbetts made repeated unsolicited advances on social media towards local young women, according to a New York Times report. 

Cristhian Bahena Rivera was a familiar fixture in Brooklyn, Iowa, where he worked for the last four years at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts was last seen.

Brooke Bestell, a local 20-year-old woman, told the Times she once turned him down when he asked her out on a date, but he repeatedly messaged her on Facebook late at night though they didn't speak in person.

"He would just stare. He wouldn't really like talk," Bestell said. "Something about him was off."

Bestell said he would message her "just over and over, like every week or so." She said the most recent message from Bahena Rivera came June 13 at 3 a.m.

After Bahena Rivera was arrested, two of Bestell's friends told her that he had also messaged them and Bestell said she wondered "how many other girls he probably was trying to talk to."

Bahena Rivera is jailed on a $5 million cash bond after prosecutors allege he abducted Tibbetts while she was out for an evening run in Brooklyn on July 18, killed her, and disposed of her body in a cornfield.

Preliminary autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office found Tibbetts died from "multiple sharp force injuries."

Law enforcement officials and Bahena Rivera's employer told the Times that the suspect seemed like a hardworking and law-abiding presence in the community, who was often seen in the local park and grocery store.

Authorities said Bahena Rivera and Tibbetts have no known connection beyond that he allegedly told investigators that he had seen her running previously.

The case has rocked the small town and dominated political discussion after President Donald Trump jumped on the news that Rivera was allegedly in the country illegally and called for stricter immigration laws, calling current laws a "disgrace." Tibbetts' family has hit back at the illegal immigration discussion surrounding the case. 

The heavy coverage of Tibbetts' case has sparked online discussion over a recorded minimum 48 Iowa juveniles who went missing in July. Though the nervewracking statistic circulated online, officials told USA Today it was within expected rates. 

SEE ALSO: Trump calls on Republican leaders to fund US-Mexico border wall following the death of 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts

DON'T MISS: 'This is a murder story, not an immigration story': Longtime Fox News commentator lashes out at network for Mollie Tibbetts coverage

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In the 1970s and '80s, the Golden State Killerterrorized California residents. He broke into homes, murdered nine people, and raped 45 women. Afterward, he’d taunt victims with horrific phone calls and threats. For more than four decades, the serial rapist managed to evade capture.  

Then, last April, 72-year-old former police officer James DeAngelo was arrested in connection with the decades-old crimes. Investigators managed to track their prime-suspect down by matching crime scene DNA to the online genetic profile of one of DeAngelo’s relatives.  

Though it took investigators years to make headway in the Golden State Killer case, it isn't the only one that evaded authorities for years. INSIDER took a look back at some of the toughest cold cases that took years to crack. 

Editor's note: These stories contain graphic descriptions of violence and crime and could be upsetting.

Kenneth Hansen was sentenced to 200 years in prison.

For nearly 40 years, police could not track down the Illinois horseman who murdered three young boys in a stable. In 1955, the man picked up Robert Peterson, John Schuessler, and Anton Schuessler Jr. when they were hitchhiking after a day of movies and bowling. He took the boys to his stable, sexually abused at least one of the children, killed them, and then threw their bodies into a forest preserve ditch, according to The New York Times.

Investigators questioned a whopping 43,740 people but weren’t able to track down the killer, according to The Chicago Tribune. Then, in 1994, during an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of heiress Helen Vorhees Brach, several people had apparently implicated 61-year-old Kenneth Hansen in the disappearance of the boys. 

He was arrested on arson charges in connection to a 1972 fire. Later the same day, he was charged with the killings of all three boys, according to The Times. He was convicted the following year and was sentenced to 200 years in prison. He died in 2007.

"It closes it," John Rotunno, one of the special agents who helped convict Hansen, told The Chicago Tribune. "I just hung up with [special agent] Jimmy Grady. He said this is a fitting end to all this heartache. I'm glad he's dead."

John List died while incarcerated.

Police knew that John List killed his mother, wife, and three children. They just didn’t know how to find him. The killer shot his entire family in 1971 and left a confession note for his pastor, according to ABC.

In it, he explained that his financial struggles had become too difficult to handle and he thought he was doing his victims a favor by killing them. "At least I'm certain that all have gone to heaven now. If things had gone on who knows if that would be the case," he wrote.

Then, List fled the state. He changed his name to Robert P. Clark, took a job as an accountant, got remarried, and lived as a free man for 18 years in Colorado, according to ABC News.

It wasn’t until a former neighbor recognized a forensic sculptor's bust of what he would look like decades later on "America’s Most Wanted" that he was caught in 1989. List was convicted of murder and sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison. During his sentencing, he didn’t specifically mention his family but rather apologized for "the tragedy that happened in 1971."

List was incarcerated until 2008 when, at the age of 82, he died of pneumonia.

Clarence Wayne Dixon was given the death sentence.

On January 7, 1978, 21-year-old college student Deana Bowdoin was found murdered in her Tempe, Arizona, apartment. There was a belt around her neck and stab wounds on her chest. Police discovered male DNA on her underwear but couldn’t find a match.

There were no leads for the next 23 years, according to ABC News. Then, Detective Tom Magazzeni took charge of the case and found that the DNA from the crime scene matched Clarence Wayne Dixon, a 52-year-old former gas station attendant who was already serving a life sentence for another sexual assault and had lived 500 feet from Bowdoin’s apartment.

Dixon was brought back to court on charges of murder and sexual assault. He was convicted of the crime and it took jury members a total of 20 minutes to decide that he deserved the death sentence, according to ABC. As of the 2017 article in ABC, he was still alive and serving his sentence. 

"We're very pleased," Bobbie Bowdoin, Deana's mother, told The East Valley Tribune. "We're very relieved, and it's something that at times we began to think would never happen."