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9 terrifying TV shows based on real-life murders

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While serial killer-inspired shows like "Dexter" and "Criminal Minds" focus on fictional murders, other programs don't shy away from taking a closer look at real killers and their crimes.

Below are just a few of the many shows that have been inspired by real-life murders, and where you can watch them.

"Mindhunter" is a fictional show based on the unit at the FBI that helped establish criminal profiling by talking to serial killers.

According to Vulture, the show is based on the true story of former FBI agent John E. Douglas, who pioneered criminal profiling at the FBI. 

The Netflix series follows the fictional agent Holden Ford, played by Jonathan Groff, as he interviews serial killers who are based on real-life murderers. The infamous characters that appear on the show include BTK killer Dennis Rader, serial killer Ed Kemper, and "lust killer"Jerry Brudos.



Two infamous New Orleans murderers inspired parts of "American Horror Story: Coven."

Season three of the show "American Horror Story" features two infamous New Orleans-based characters: Madame Delphine LaLaurie and the Axeman. Vice reports that Madame LaLaurie was a wealthy white woman who is believed to have tortured and killed numerous slaves in the attic of her Royal Street home (she disappeared before she could be tried for the crimes). Her character was portrayed by Kathy Bates.

In the same season, the serial killer Axeman was featured. The Axeman terrorized NoLa in the early 20th century, killing four people and leaving others seriously wounded, according to Smithsonian Magazine. His character was played by Danny Huston.

This isn’t the only season inspired by real murderers, others include a killer clown based on John Wayne Gacy and even a dinner with killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and Aileen Wuornos. You can watch several seasons of "AHS" on Netflix.



"I Am the Night" is a new miniseries inspired by the Black Dahlia.

Formerly known as "One Day She’ll Darken," this TNT drama is a limited series that is directed by "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins and stars Chris Pine. The show is based on a true crime story that follows the daughter of suspected, though never formally charged, Black Dahlia murderer, Dr. George Hodel, as she discovers her family’s dark past.

The show will premiere in January 2019.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A suspect has been arrested for the murder of a former Playboy model, authorities say

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A suspect has been arrested in connection to the murder of former Playboy model Christina Carlin-Kraft, the — Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said in a press release.

Jonathan Wesley Harris was arrested in connection to Kraft's murder on Wednesday in Pittsburgh after fleeing the Philadelphia area, authorities said. 

Kraft and Harris met on August 22, according to police. According to the press release, Harris and Kraft took a Lyft together and surveillance shows that they entered her apartment around 3 a.m. that night.

According to authorities, a "violent struggle occurred in the apartment" that night, leaving Kraft beaten and strangled.

Around 5 a.m., the back door to Kraft's apartment opened, police said. 

Kraft's body was found in the bedroom of her Lower Merion apartment at 9:15 p.m. on August 22 after officers were called to do a welfare check on her, according to a joint statement from the Montgomery County District Attorney and the Lower Merion Township Police. Authorities determined that the cause of death was "ligature strangulation."

Authorities say it's unclear whether or not previously reported burglaries in Kraft's apartment are related to her murder, per the BBC.

Kraft had previously modeled for David Yurman, Victoria's Secret, and Vanity Fair, according to her Model Mayhem profile.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said Harris faces murder charges and is currently being held without bail.

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A South Carolina woman murdered her husband by poisoning him with eye drops, police say

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  • Authorities said they initially believed that Steven Clayton died on July 21 because he fell down the stairs at his South Carolina home.
  • But now police say his wife Lana Sue Clayton poisoned him with eye drops.
  • Steven's autopsy showed that poisonous levels of tetrahydrozoline were found in his body, police say.
  • Lana Sue admitted to adding the substance, which is commonly found in eye and nose drops, to his food without telling him, police say.
  • She has been charged with murder and unlawful malicious tampering of food. 


A South Carolina woman has admitted to poisoning her husband with eye drops, police say.

Initially, the York County Sherrif's Office believed that Steven Clayton, 64, died on July 21 because he fell down the stairs at his South Carolina home. His wife, Lana Sue Clayton, 52, told police that he had been suffering from vertigo before she found him lying facedown on the bottom of their staircase, according to a case report.

But his autopsy toxicology test changed everything, according to the Washington Post

According to a press release from the office, authorities found poisonous levels of tetrahydrozoline, which is commonly found in nose and eye drops, in his body. 

Lana Sue Clayton has since confessed to poisoning her husband with eye drops by adding it to his food without his knowledge, police say. 

According to authorities, the alleged poisoning happened between July 19 and July 21, 2018.

Trent Faris, the spokesperson for the York County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC News that the motive for the alleged poisoning is unclear at this time. 

"We don’t have a clear cut reason why she committed the crime that she did, or what kind of motive she had," Faris said. "She revealed that she used the liquid which is known normally [as] eye drops, and put it in his food, and she did that without his knowledge."

lana sue clayton

Tetrahydrozoline is used to reduce redness in eyes and nasal congestion. According to WebMD, this medication could be harmful and poisonous when ingested. Symptoms of overdose include fainting, trouble breathing, a decrease in body temperature, and sweating, among other things. 

Clayton has been charged with murder and unlawful malicious tampering of food. 

But the alleged poisoning wasn't the first incident between Clayton and her husband.

Authorities say in May 2016, Clayton told police that she had accidentally struck her husband with a crossbow while he slept. "She said he woke up yelling and he was bleeding from the wound," according to police. Her husband Stephen told officers at the time that she hadn't meant to do it.

Clayton also told police that her husband was "mentally abusive towards her" and "had mood swings," but he "never hit her," according to the 2016 case report.

During the investigation, which concluded in 2017, no intent to commit a crime was found. But in light of the alleged poisoning, police have decided to revisit the incident, the Charlotte Observer reports. 

The alleged poisoning remains under investigation and Clayton is being held without bond, per the Charlotte Observer. 

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'We do consider this to be a serial killer': A Border Patrol agent in Texas has confessed to murdering 4 women and abducting a 5th

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  • A Border Patrol agent in Texas was arrested Saturday on suspicion of killing four women and abducting a fifth, who managed to escape.
  • Juan David Ortiz fled from state troopers after the fifth woman escaped, and he was found hiding in the parking lot of a hotel in Laredo, Texas.
  • Ortiz has confessed to the four murders and one abduction, according to Eduardo Chapa, a spokesman for the Webb County Sheriff’s Office.
  • Investigators describe Ortiz as a serial killer, though they are still trying to determine a motive.


A US Border Patrol agent was arrested early Saturday on the suspicion that he killed four women and abducted a fifth, who escaped.

The agent, Juan David Ortiz, was captured after a woman whom he tried to abduct escaped, Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said at a news conference. Sheriff Martin Cuellar said Ortiz fled from state troopers and was found hiding in the parking lot of a hotel in Laredo, a border city about 145 miles southwest of San Antonio.

"We do consider this to be a serial killer," Alaniz said.

Ortiz has confessed to the four murders and one abduction, according to Eduardo Chapa, a spokesman for the Webb County Sheriff's Office. Customs and Border Protection officials have confirmed Ortiz is a supervisory Border Patrol agent.

Alaniz said investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the killings. He said all of the women worked as prostitutes.

Cuellar said investigators have "very strong evidence" that Ortiz is responsible for the deaths of the four women. But authorities declined to discuss the evidence or say how the women were killed. 

The Texas Rangers began investigating after the body of 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez was found September 4, according to the Laredo Morning Times.

Then, on Thursday, 42-year-old Claudine Anne Luera was found in critical condition just off a roadway, close to where Ramirez's was found. Authorities found the third and fourth bodies Friday night and Saturday afternoon, respectively.

Alaniz said authorities were planning on filing four murder charges and one charge of aggravated kidnapping against Ortiz. 

Andrew Meehan, CBP's assistant commissioner for public affairs, said in a statement that the agency is fully cooperating with investigators.

"Our sincerest condolences go out to the victims' family and friends," Meehan said. "While it is CBP policy to not comment on the details of an ongoing investigation, criminal action by our employees is not, and will not be tolerated."

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A Houston teen accused of killing his mother and NFL player father alleges his parents were shot during a home invasion connected to a prostitution ring

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  • Antonio Armstrong, Jr., was 16 when he was arrested and charged with capital murder for allegedly shooting dead his mother, Dawn, and father, Antonio Armstrong, in July 2016. 
  • Armstrong, Jr., claims his parents were killed in a home invasion connected to a prostitution ring. 
  • Now a family friend from Houston is expected to testify on claims of Armstrong Jr.'s father being part of a prostitution ring and receiving death threats, bolstering Armstrong Jr.'s claim.

A Houston teenager accused of killing his mother and former NFL player father has said his parents were murdered during a home invasion connected to a prostitution ring.

Antonio Armstrong, Jr., was 16 when he was arrested and charged with capital murder for allegedly shooting dead his mother, Dawn, and father, Antonio Armstrong, while they were sleeping on July 26, 2016, in Bellaire, Texas.

Now a family friend from Houston is expected to testify on claims of the older Armstrong being part of a prostitution ring and receiving death threats, bolstering Armstrong Jr.'s claim that the parents were killed in a home invasion, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Maxine Adams says she went to the Houston Police Department five months after the couple was murdered and revealed an alleged prostitution ring that she said the older Armstrong was a part of.

She told police that there had been death threats made against 42-year-old Armstrong, defense attorney Rick DeToto told the Chronicle.

Armstrong Jr.'s lawyers accused the Harris County Attorney's Office of concealing a recording of what Adams told police, saying they only heard the audio a year and half later.

"The reason the audio is so important is because she's very specific about this prostitution ring. She gives names, she gives phone numbers, she gives how it works, she talks bank accounts and Facebook stuff," DeToto told the Chronicle.

DeToto said the 18-month delay in finding out about the recording "could be considered obstruction of justice."

Antonio Armstrong — a former San Francisco 49ers player — and his wife, were fatally shot while sleeping in July 2016. The gunman had put pillows over their faces before firing.

The younger Armstrong called police at 1:41 a.m., saying he heard gunshots and saw a masked man in his home.

Police say they found a .22-caliber pistol in the kitchen alongside a note that said, "I have been watching for a long time. Get me."

Armstrong Jr. admitted to police that he fired a gun in his room shortly before his parents were murdered. Police found bullet holes in his comforter, pillow and the floor of his room.

Police found no forced entry, and Armstrong Jr. was arrested after police said his story did not make sense.

Prosecutors claimed Armstrong Jr. had recently been pulled from his private school because of low grades, and that he'd also recently been punished by his parents after being caught smoking marijuana.

Prosecutors told defense attorneys about Adams's claims of the prostitution ring three months after her interview, but they did not release the audiotape until the start of the trail in June, 18 months after she first approached police.

The audiotape led defense attorneys to ask for Armstrong's case to be dismissed, but the judge denied the request and pushed the trial to September.

Armstrong is standing trial as an adult and faces up to life in prison with possibility of parole if he's convicted.

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Police say the US Border Patrol agent who confessed to murdering 4 women and abducting a 5th shot all of his victims in the head

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Juan David Ortiz

  • Juan David Ortiz, 35, is accused of killing four women and abducting a fifth in Texas over a span of 10 days this month. 
  • He was arrested on Saturday after a woman whose he tried to abduct escaped in Laredo, Texas. 
  • An arrest affidavit accuses Ortiz of shooting each of the women in the head before leaving them on the sides of roads in the Laredo area.

The US Border Patrol agent accused of killing four women and abducting a fifth in Texas allegedly shot his victims in the head and left them on the side of the road to die, according to an arrest affidavit.

Juan David Ortiz, 35, was arrested on Saturday after a woman he tried to abduct escaped.

He was found by state troopers while hiding in a parking lot of a hotel in Laredo, Texas, a border city southwest of San Antonio.

Ortiz confessed to the four murders and one abduction, according to Eduardo Chapa, a spokesman for the Webb County Sheriff's Office.

"We do consider this to be a serial killer," Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said at a news conference over the weekend.

An an arrest affidavit obtained by The Associated Press reveals details about the killings, which police have portrayed as a ten-day string of violence.

The affidavit accuses Ortiz of shooting each of the women in the head before leaving them on the sides of roads in the Laredo area.

Police launched an investigation on September 4 after the body of 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez was found.

The arrest affidavit claims that Ortiz picked Ramirez up on September 3, and when he pulled over on a highway to urinate, the woman got out of the car.

Ortiz then shot Ramirez "multiple times on the head," police said in the affidavit, and drove away from the area.

Then on September 13, Ortiz picked up a woman later identified as Claudine Ann Luera. Luera knew Ramirez, and accused the Border Patrol agent of being the last person to see Ramirez alive, the affidavit said.

Ortiz pulled over, shot Luera "multiple times on the head" and drove away, the affidavit said.

Luera was found by a truck driver and was taken to a hospital where she later died.

On September 14, Ortiz picked up Erika Pena and tried to abduct her, police said in the affidavit.

Pena escaped his car while it was pulled over at a gas station in Laredo after Ortiz pulled a gun on her, police said.

Authorities found the bodies of two other women — one of whom was transgender — on the sides of roads outside Laredo on September 15.

The two have not been identified, but police said both had gunshot wounds to the back of their heads.

Ortiz is being held on $2.5 million bond on four counts of murder and charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful restraint.

Ortiz, who worked for Border Patrol for 10 years, continued to go to work every day throughout his alleged killing spree.

The motive behind the four deaths and abduction remain unknown, The Associated Press reported.

Webb County District Attorney Alaniz said the dead are all believed to have been sex workers. At least two of the victims were US citizens, while the nationalities of the others are not known.

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'They were loved': Relatives are mourning the loss of 4 Texas victims allegedly murdered by a Border Patrol agent

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  • Each of the four women allegedly murdered by a Border Patrol agent lived lives littered with hardship — but their relatives say they were much more than just the hardships they endured.
  • "They had families. They were loved. They were someone. They were human," the sister of one victim, Claudine Luera, said.
  • Authorities have described the agent as a serial killer, but said his motives for allegedly murdering the women remain unclear.


LAREDO, Texas (AP) — Janelle Ortiz dreamed of becoming famous. Melissa Ramirez imagined a day when the street wasn't home and drugs not her preoccupation. Claudine Luera just ached to see her children do better than she had.

All of these women, bound by difficulties in life, met an eerily similar death: They were shot in the head and left on rural Texas roadsides, allegedly by a Border Patrol agent who has been described as a serial killer. Relatives of the dead are now grieving for loved ones who, they say, were more than the troubles they endured.

"They had families. They were loved. They were someone. They were human," said Colette Mireles, a sister of Luera.

The suspect's motive remains unknown. Authorities said the three women and a fourth woman, Guiselda Alicia Cantu, whose name was released Wednesday, were sex workers, and that Border Patrol supervisor Juan David Ortiz knew some of them.

Each lived a life littered with hardship. Gracie Perez remembered her sister-in-law, 29-year-old Ramirez, telling her she was raped when she was 13. She dropped out of high school, experienced depression and eventually began living on the streets. Her five children were left in the care of others. She struggled with a drug habit.

Despite all of that, her relatives remembered someone always trying to make others laugh. Ramirez liked pulling up funny videos on YouTube, devouring whatever food was before her and enjoying TV at full blast as she fell asleep on the couch.

Perez said her sister-in-law frequently returned home to her mother's house, where two of her children live, typically staying a few days, vowing to get off drugs and improve her life before returning to the streets.

"She wanted to be a better mom, a better person," Perez said. "She didn't want to be running the streets anymore."

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'I'm sure she put up a hell of a fight'

Janelle Ortiz, 28, envisioned a future where her personality and gift for talking with nearly anyone transformed her into someone famous. Rosenda Ortiz, her younger sister, remembered the difficult childhood they shared, with them constantly being thrust into new homes. She said her sister was strong and had a big heart, always asking what others needed.

Rosenda Ortiz hoped that one day she'd be able to get a home of her own and invite her sister to come live with her.

"He was not known as a prostitute or a sex worker," she said, using pronouns she knows her transgender sister would have chided her for. "He was just a human being like the other victims. He was just living his life."

Mireles last talked to her 42-year-old sister two days before her body was found. She was "over the moon" upon hearing that one of her sons was doing well in school and was already ironing out plans for prom with his girlfriend.

As children, the sisters were at each other's throats. But Mireles marveled at her sister's ability to smile through her pain, even as her life spiraled downward the past few years. She always knew she might get a call with news of Luera's death, but she figured it would be an overdose. To hear she was found shot, clinging to life on the side of the road, was harrowing.

The suspect told police that Luera questioned him about being the last person to have seen Ramirez before her death, authorities said. Mireles takes some comfort thinking of her sister's bravery in confronting him.

"My sister was feisty, so I'm sure she put up a hell of a fight," she said.

'This is the last time you're going to see me'

juan david ortiz border patrolJoey Tellez, the attorney for the 35-year-old suspect, released a statement saying he would not be commenting on the case. Ortiz is a Navy veteran who had been in the Border Patrol about 10 years.

Back at the modest home Ramirez frequented, an American flag is tied to a front window of a faded green trailer, and toys are strewn across the yard. Her mother, Maria Cristina Benevidez, steps haltingly as she places a photo of her daughter beside the wooden box that holds her ashes, hanging rosary beads and a gold cross necklace from the frame.

Roosters are crowing, a Chihuahua named Mia is barking and Benevidez stands solemnly, her head bowed. Two weeks before Ramirez was found, she sat at the kitchen table in this home and shared a frightening premonition.

"I'm going to get killed. I'm going to be dead in less than a month," her brother Cesar Ramirez remembered his sister saying.

"Stop saying nonsense," he said his mother responded. "Stop saying those stupid things."

She persisted, insisting she would be shot in the head.

"They're going to kill me. They're going to kill me," she said.

Ramirez was drunk, her sister-in-law said, and she didn't offer any more details of her vision.

Later, Perez said, her sister-in-law pressed her to join her for a night of partying. Ramirez called her over and over, but she didn't answer. Now, she thinks she should have done something more, and she's haunted by Ramirez's parting words.

"This is the last time you're going to see me," she warned.

___

Sedensky reported from New York.

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The woman who narrowly escaped the alleged Border Patrol serial killer said he grew enraged after she mentioned her murdered friend

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  • The woman who escaped a Border Patrol agent and accused serial killer has spoken to police and relatives about how she survived the ordeal.
  • Juan David Ortiz, a supervisory Border Patrol agent, was arrested in Texas on September 15 and quickly confessed to murdering four women and abducting a fifth, Erika Peña, since September 3.
  • Peña said she knew Ortiz and agreed to accompany him to his home on September 14, but he grew angry after she mentioned her murdered friend, whom Ortiz would later confess to killing.


The woman allegedly abducted by Juan David Ortiz, a Border Patrol agent and accused serial killer, has detailed to police and relatives how she made her daring escape and put authorities on her captor's trail.

Erika Peña, 26, told relatives that she knew Ortiz for roughly four months, and that she agreed to accompany him to his house in Laredo, Texas, on September 14 after he offered her $500 for sex, Peña's aunt, Marcela Rodriguez, told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Peña at first believed nothing was amiss — she even described Ortiz as "cheerful" and "talkative"— until she mentioned her friend, Melissa Ramirez, whose body was found September 4 and whom Ortiz would later confess to murdering.

"Did you know Melissa was killed?" Peña reportedly asked Ortiz, who appeared to grow angry, Peña then began to feel sick, Rodriguez said.

"She felt a rush run from her feet to her head," Rodriguez said of Peña. "She started to get sick. She told him, 'I need to go outside to vomit.'"

'I don't want the community to see her as just a hero'

melissa ramirez border patrol victimShe then convinced Ortiz to "go for a cruise" in his truck, according to Rodriguez. When they stopped at a gas station minutes later, Peña again mentioned Ramirez. Ortiz then withdrew his pistol and pointed it at her, a police affidavit obtained by CNN says.

"Erika tried to leave the vehicle. David grabbed her shirt to prevent her from exiting the vehicle. Erika began to scream for help," the affidavit says.

Peña then removed her shirt, fled the truck, and ran to a nearby state trooper who had been filling up his gas tank, all while Ortiz sped away.

Ortiz, a supervisory Border Patrol agent, was arrested September 15 after a daylong manhunt. Police said they found a stockpile of weapons in Ortiz's home, and eventually tracked him down to the parking garage of a Laredo hotel, where he was arrested after a confrontation.

"He was trying to commit suicide by cop," Chief Deputy Federico Garza of the Webb County Sheriff's Office said at a news conference on Monday. "He was going to try to use his phone to make it look like it was a weapon."

Peña, meanwhile, remains deeply traumatized by the ordeal, and has had difficulty eating and being alone, according to Rodriguez, who set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Peña's medical and legal expenses.

"I don't want the community to see her as just a hero," Rodriguez told the San Antonio Express News. "She is also a victim that thankfully was able to escape from the situation."

Ortiz is being held in the Webb County jail in Laredo, Texas, on four counts of murder, one count of unlawful restraint, and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bond has been set at $2.5 million, jail records show.

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Estranged husband is arrested in connection to the murder of a retired principal

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  • Alan DuPras, 58, was arrested Tuesday in connection to the murder of his estranged wife 55-year-old Jennifer DuPras and her mother 88-year-old Cynthia Houk, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Tuesday.
  • He was booked this week on two charges of murder, two counts of arson, a count of possession of assault weapons, and a count of vandalism.
  • During a press conference, the Fresno County Sheriff said this was "extremely personal"
  • His bail has been set for $3.142 million.

The estranged husband of a retired principal has been arrested in connection to her murder, authorities say. 

Alan DuPras, 58, was arrested Tuesday in connection to the murder of his estranged wife 55-year-old Jennifer DuPras and her mother 88-year-old Cynthia Houk, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Tuesday. Jennifer and her mother were found dead in Houk's Kingsburg, California, home on December 11, 2017, per the statement. Du Pras was booked on two counts of murder, two counts of arson, a count of possession of assault weapons, and a count of vandalism, say police.

Alan and Jennifer, who retired in 2017 according to People, were going through a divorce and not living together in December, authorities said.

"He said he knew Jennifer had a boyfriend, did not know the man, but was curious to find out," the statement said of Alan. "There was no probable cause to arrest Alan at this time." 

Police obtained a warrant, searched Alan's home on December 12, and found and seized multiple guns, the statement said. 

DuPras was also arrested in connection to two arson incidents, including one in which Houk's car was intentionally set on fire while parked outside of her home, according to authorities. Additionally, the L'Alliance Francaise de Fresno, where Jennifer served as president, was purposely set ablaze on December 4, police said. Du Pras had previously vandalized the building, according to police.

"What he did was extremely violent," Fresno Sheriff Margaret Mims said in a press conference on Tuesday, according to People. "It was extremely personal."

According to the statement released on Facebook, police said they were able to make the arrest this week thanks to "technology and digital data, obtained even as recently as this month."

He was booked this week on two charges of murder, two counts of arson, a count of possession of assault weapons, and a count of vandalism. His bail has been set for $3.142 million.

The couple has one daughter, Alison, together. 

"I feel very relieved," Alison, told the outlet of her father's arrest. "It was a good, happy surprise."

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Colorado man accused of murdering his wife and two daughters thinks that 'no one understands him'

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Christopher Watts

  • Chris Watts is charged with the murder of his pregnant wife, Shanann, 34, and his daughters, 3-year-old Celeste and 4-year-old Bella.
  • The 33-year-old had been sitting in Weld County Jail in Greeley, Colorado, since his arrest in August.
  • He is on suicide watch. Insiders have said he feels like "no one understands him."

Chris Watts, who is charged with the murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters, is on suicide watch as he awaits trial and feels like "no one understands him," an insider told PEOPLE.

Watts was arrested in August and charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife, Shanann, 34, and his daughters, 3-year-old Celeste and 4-year-old Bella.

The 33-year-old from Colorado told police he killed his wife by strangling because she had already killed their daughters, but investigators have found no evidence of his claims, according to a police affidavit released in August.

Watts, who is sitting in Weld County Jail in Greeley, Colorado, is now on suicide watch 23 hours a day and spends the other hour each day alone in a common room with only a communal newspaper.

"He feels like no one understands him, and nobody knows what happened," an insider told PEOPLE of Watts' current emotional state. "He thinks if they did understand, they'd realize he's not the monster everyone says he is."

Another source told PEOPLE that Watts is "not doing well at all" and that "depression is setting in."

Watts has not entered a plea deal in the case and is due back in court in November. He could face life in prison or the death penalty if he is convicted.

Shanann, Bella, and Celeste were reported missing on August 13, and their bodies were found three days later at an oil site where Watts worked.

Shanann's body was found in a shallow grave and the two children were found submerged in oil tanks.

According to a police affidavit released last month, Watts said Shanann strangled their children after he told her he wanted a separation.

Watts claimed he saw Shanann "actively strangling" their younger child on a baby monitor and that he could see their older daughter "sprawled" on the bed and that she was "blue."

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I covered murders during Chicago's deadliest year in decades – here's what I saw

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Chicago crime scene

In 2016, Chicago experienced 780 homicides, making it the deadliest year in the city in nearly two decades.

The first homicide of the year came at 2:20 a.m. on New Year's Day in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood on the South Side. Twenty-year-old DeAndre Holiday found himself on the wrong side of an argument half a mile from the edge of Washington Park when a man pulled out a handgun and shot him in the chest.

I got there just as the police were stringing up yellow tape around the scene.

I was a crime reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times then, tracking a never-ending string of shootings and violence. For more than a year, I had a police scanner near my desk and listened to the dispatcher say "we're getting a ticket of a person shot" and "shots fired," among other depressing crimes.

I was working the overnight shift that night, as I usually did, when the call went out over the scanner. "One of us should go," my coworker said.

When I got to the scene, it was silent, and a bitter wind ran through my overcoat. I walked up to the line looking for Holiday's body then saw it mangled in the street, partially covered by a white sheet.

One of the cops asked me to step back because the police were tying up an extra line. I walked to the darkened sidewalk and watched the tape blow in the wind and the blue lights bounce off the brick homes and disappear into abandoned lots.

The silence didn't last. One by one, I watched Holiday's friends and family members arrive in disbelief, then see his body. Devastation and raw emotion quickly overwhelmed them.

chicago homicide

One woman kept screaming, "Who shot him? That's my baby's daddy!" A woman who appeared to be in her 70s wailed over and over "Wake up!" She shrieked and screamed in a way I'd never heard before, as did the dozen or so others. Sometimes it was as if everyone were screaming at once.

The cops moved an SUV in front of Holiday's body, and an officer took the older woman's hand and led her away. At one point, gunshots rang out a few blocks away. No one — not the police or the friends or family — looked surprised.

That wasn't the first shooting I went to, but it was the first where I had witnessed such devastation. I thought I knew how to handle myself after scenes like that, but when I got home, back to the world I'd known before, I felt numb.

A look I'll never forget

Last year, more than 4,000 people were shot in Chicago, and shootings have become so normalized that they rarely make the front page of the local papers, let alone the national news.

About a month after Holiday's killing, as the Super Bowl was playing and my friends were posting pictures of their parties on social media, I was in the Sun-Times newsroom listening to the scanner scrolling through police zones.

"All right, we're getting four people shot now," the dispatcher said. I pressed hold on the zone and listened. The dispatcher said the victims were all 15 years old. My editor told me not to go to the scene — no one was dead yet. But then I told her the ages.

I raced my car down the highway to the Englewood neighborhood, also on the South Side, where the shooting had happened. I found a woman who looked to be in her 30s standing on the sidewalk with a dazed disposition.

chicago crime homicide

She told me she ran outside after hearing gunfire and kids screaming and found eight or nine teenagers on a porch. Four of them — three boys and a girl — were shot, and all were crying. Some were throwing up. Thankfully, they all survived.

One of the kids told her that two men had walked up, asked "Are y'all good?" and then opened fire.

I could see fear and trauma in her eyes. As she talked to me, her kids peeked out from behind the white curtain of their first-floor apartment. They looked terrified too. I'll never forget that. I sensed that they were scared not only because of the shooting but also because she was talking to me, a journalist.

The neighbor seemed nervous to talk to me too. She asked me not to use her name, like most witnesses I talked to after shootings, and spoke quietly, as though she wanted to make sure no one heard her.

It was only later that I learned the hard way that even appearing to give information to a journalist could be dangerous.

'You tryna get me killed?'

A few months later, I was in the office very late one day, or early, depending on how you look at it. I heard on the scanner that a male had been shot in the head. The dispatcher didn't call it a 0110 — the Chicago police code for homicide — but it sounded like one. I drove to the scene to find out.

Chicago homicide

When I got there, a body was in the middle of the street, and there were only a few people around. I asked a guy walking down the sidewalk whether he knew what happened, and he told me something about where the shooters were standing.

"Over there?" I asked, pointing to a trash can.

"F--- you, man," he said. "You tryna get me killed?"

He stormed off. It dawned on me that, with one flick of the wrist, I may have put him, and possibly myself, in danger. I felt awful.

When I finally got to sleep that night, I dreamed that someone kept pointing a gun at me. I woke up screaming. I rushed to my computer, and there in my inbox was an email from a family member of the victim. The person was swearing at and threatening me.

I couldn't get the screams out of my head

By July, I was having trouble relating to my friends and family.

One night, I headed to a homicide scene in the neighborhood of Austin on the West Side. The trees were covering the city's notoriously golden street lamps, and it was really dark. The police had just taken the victim's body away and were taking down the yellow tape. I walked over to an older woman standing on the sidewalk.

chicago crime homicide

When she and I finished talking, I walked over to three men standing on the side of the house where the victim had been killed. I had my camera on my shoulder and motioned as if I wanted to ask them some questions.

One of the men took one look at me and said, "You better get the f--- out of here." Another put his hand in his pants as though he had a gun holstered there. I had a sudden realization that all of the police officers had left the scene. The three of them started cursing at me and walking forward.

My heart started racing. I said "All right" and turned and walked at a brisk but steady pace to my car, trying to show neither fear nor disrespect. When I got to my car, I looked back and saw them down the street, still yelling at me. I felt stupid as hell.

I had been feeling weird since the New Year's Day shooting. For a day or two after visiting a scene, I would feel this peculiar kind of tunnel vision. It was as though I were looking at the world through a foggy television screen. I couldn't touch or focus on anything.

I couldn't get the screams out of my head. While they were all different, they were also all the same: the pain of losing someone to violence.

Few people in my life understood what was going on.

The socioeconomics of murder

It wasn't just the screams or the violence that made the scenes hard to process. The causes of violence were readily on display at almost every scene.

chicago crime homicide

Most shootings in Chicago happen in about 10 of the city's 77 neighborhoods, on the South Side and the West Side. Poverty, racism, lack of opportunities, and more were apparent at every scene, even in the smallest details. It made the suffering harder to process.

When I'd drive from the Sun-Times office downtown to the crime scenes, it was hard to miss the contrasts. The skyscrapers, plush condos, and designer stores gave way to run-down buildings, boarded-up schools and storefronts, and empty lots.

At one crime scene, where a 28-year-old had been shot dead on a sidewalk, a young boy walked up and down the sidewalk along the police tape. No older than 7, he would stop and stare at the body every so often. As far as I could tell, it seemed normal to him.

Another shooting I covered happened at a memorial event. Nearly 100 people had gathered to remember a friend killed on the block a few years prior when a man pulled out a gun and killed a man and a woman and injured two more. A 16-year-old girl at the memorial had an asthma attack during the shooting and died later at the hospital.

At another, a 16-year-old boy was shot in his car after a man walked up and asked where he was from. "I'm not about that," the boy's friends told me he said. The man pulled out a gun and shot him in the head.

"I just bought him a plane ticket to Mississippi, and now he's dead," the boy’s mother told me.

It just felt as if bodies were piling up in my head.

Tired

This is just a small fraction of the scenes I saw in Chicago.

What's awful is that what I saw pales in comparison to what some reporters in the city have seen. And it certainly pales in comparison to what the victims, their families, and all those living in Chicago's hardest-hit neighborhoods have experienced.

chicago crime homicide

But by the time I put my two weeks in, I was tired of living in the dark.

I was tired of having to take two or three Xanax to fall asleep, only to black out and then suddenly wake up four hours later in a feverish sweat.

I was tired of the regular nightmares — my girlfriend at the time told me I would frequently scream in my sleep.

I was tired of hearing the dispatcher say, "We're getting a ticket of a person shot. Person shot."

I was tired of the constant guilt and I was tired of being threatened and screamed at by the people I was trying to help — though I certainly didn't blame them for their anger and emotion.

It's been about eight months since I quit, and I'm still processing what I saw. I still get flashes of bodies or hear screams when I see flashing police lights or a broken car window.

I think sometimes about how that year affected me — how it made me feel numb, how I wore a scowl I couldn't seem to shake.

Then I think about what I might be like if I grew up in one of those neighborhoods I went to so often.

SEE ALSO: We spent 3 nights with a NYC crime reporter to see how safe the 'safest big city' in the US really is

SEE ALSO: 'The worst I've ever seen it': 11 shot dead, 63 more wounded in Chicago over the weekend

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10 terrifying murders committed on Halloween night

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Johnny Frank Garrett

Halloween is synonymous with horror. Whether you're attending a haunted house, dressing up as your favorite movie villain, or watching a horror flick, Halloween is a celebration of the macabre. 

For some, however, the horrors of Halloween night became all too real. From random, senseless slayings to passion-driven murders, All Hallow's Eve has been deadly in the past. 

Keep scrolling for gruesome murders that took place on Halloween. 

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

Ronald O'Byran has been called the "Man Who Killed Halloween" and the "Candy Man."

On Halloween in 1974, 8-year-old Timothy O'Bryan returned to his Houston home from a long night of trick-or-treating. His father, Ronald, gave him one last piece of candy: a Pixy Stix, which Timothy ate instantly. Within moments, the boy was vomiting, and he died on the way to the hospital. After changing his story multiple times, police learned that Ronald was responsible for his son's death as he had poisoned the candy with cyanide. Turns out, Ronald was in debt and had taken out a life insurance policy on his children.

A year later, he was found guilty, and he was given the death penalty by lethal injection

The murder left its mark, though: parents today still check their kids' candy to see if it's been tampered with.



William Liske also killed his family members on Halloween.

In 2010, 16-year-old Devon Griffin came home on Halloween to play video games after attending church and spending the previous night sleeping out. He noticed the Michigan home was too quiet, so he went to check on his family members, according to the Sandusky Register. Griffin proceeded to find his stepfather in bed, covered in blood. When police arrived, they found two more bodies: Griffin's mother and brother. Police eventually learned the murderer was Griffin's stepbrother, William "BJ" Liske.

Liske bludgeoned his older stepbrother Derek Griffin with a hammer, shot his father William Liske five times, and then raped and shot his stepmother Susan Liske.

Liske pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder to avoid the death penalty, but was found dead in his jail cell in 2015 from a self-inflicted wound.



Two friends — Leslie Ann Mazzara and Adriane Insogna — were stabbed late one Halloween night.

Leslie Mazzara, Adriane Insogna, and their friend Lauren Meanza were busy handing out candy to trick-or-treaters at their Napa, California, home on Halloween night 2004. At around 11 p.m., the three women went to bed, not knowing that there would be one more visitor that night.

Meanza awoke to a scream from the upstairs bedrooms, ran out of the house, and drove away, leaving her two friends behind. Mazzara and Insogna — both 26 — were stabbed to death upstairs.

Eric Matthew Copple, a friend of one of the victims, eventually turned himself in and confessed to the murders, though he never told anyone his motive. Copple is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. 



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As former NFL player Rae Carruth is released from prison after 18 years for wife's death, his son who survived the shooting is thriving

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Former NFL player Rae Carruth walks into the courtroom during his trial in 2001

  • Chancellor Lee Adams was delivered by emergency Cesarean section after his mother, Cherica Adams, was shot in Charlotte, North Carolina, in November 1999. 
  • His birth came after former Panthers receiver Rae Carruth hired a hitman to shoot and kill Cherica Adams so he wouldn't have to pay child support. 
  • Carruth was released from prison on Monday morning. 
  • Nineteen years after the shooting, Chancellor Lee is living with cerebral palsy and thriving. 

Nineteen years after he was supposed to die at the hands of a hitman hired by his NFL-playing father, Chancellor Lee Adams is thriving.

Adams' mother, Cherica Adams, died in December 1999, a month after former Panthers receiver Rae Carruth orchestrated a plot to kill her in Charlotte, North Carolina, to avoid paying child support.

Adams was pregnant when she went into a coma after being shot four times while driving her car in November 1999, according to The Charlotte Observer.

Her and Carruth's son, Chancellor Lee, was delivered via emergency cesarean section. The 19-year-old has cerebral palsy and permanent brain damage from being left with oxygen during his birth. 

But the teen, who lives with his grandmother, Sandra Adams, has persevered — and is even thriving — as Carruth leaves prison after serving 18 years for conspiring to murder Cherica.

Though Chancellor Lee will never be able to live on his own, there are many things he can do that doctors predicted would be near impossible for him, including walking with assistance and talking with everyone he meets.

"The neurologist told me all of the 'nevers,'" Adams told The Charlotte Observer last year. "He's never going to walk. He’s never going to talk. He won’t be able to sit up or ever feed himself. He will never live a normal life. Because of my strong faith, I heard what they were saying. But I said: 'I know there’s a miracle worker, and he is going to be my miracle boy.'"

Sandra Adams previously said she would be at the prison when Carruth was released on Monday morning, but she was not there when the former football player walked free.

Over the years, Sandra has said she forgives Carruth for killing his daughter, though recently she spoke with mixed feelings about his release.

"Part of me wants to be there the day he gets out so he can acknowledge his son," Sandra told the Observer ahead of his release. "Then there's part of me that just wants to be chilling on a beach somewhere on October 22 and not even thinking about it."

Carruth has never admitted guilt in Adams' murder, but said in February that he feels "responsible for everything" and that he wants "to be forgiven," according to The Associated Press.

He has repeatedly said he wants a relationship with Chancellor Lee, though in a letter to The Charlotte Observer, he said he would "no longer be pursuing a relationship with Chancellor" or Sandra Adams.

"I promise to leave them be, which I now see is in everyone’s best interest," Carruth wrote. 

 

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Man who once appeared on 'Wife Swap' has been arrested in connection to the death of his mother and brother

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Stockdale

  • Jacob Stockdale, who once appeared on "Wife Swap" has been arrested in connection to the death of his mom and brother.
  • Authorities believe that in June 2017, Stockdale shot his mother Kathryn and his brother Jacob.
  • On September 27, he turned himself in after a county grand jury issued a secret indictment.
  • He was booked on two counts of murder and a firearm specification.
  • The Stockdale family appeared on "Wife Swap" in 2008.

A man who once appeared on "Wife Swap" with his family has been arrested in connection to the death of his mom and brother, according to a press release from the Stark County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities believe that Jacob Stockdale, 26, shot his mother Kathryn, 54, and his brother James, 21, in their Bethlehem Township, Ohio,  home in June 2017. Then, police say, Stockdale shot himself. He has been recovering from the self-inflicted wound since.

According to CBS, Stockdale's father Timothy was not home at the time of the alleged shooting. His older brothers were also not home and no longer live in the area, per CBS.

The Stockdale family appeared in an episode of "Wife Swap" that originally aired in 2008. The program features two families with different backgrounds who swap wives for two weeks. 

On the show, the Stockdale family was depicted as devoutly religious. At the time the show aired, the family had recently moved to Ohio and was homeschooling their children to keep them "away from violent language, sexual influences, drinking, smoking, drugs, rap music," according to the "family manual" they used on the show.

The family also had a gospel bluegrass band, which Jacob played the fiddle in.

Stockdale turned himself into police on September 27  after a county grand jury issued a secret indictment, according to a statement from the Stark County Sheriff's office. He was booked on two counts of murder and a firearm specification.

"It is our hope that this arrest offers some closure to the Stockade family and the entire community," Sheriff George Maier said in the press release.

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A man convicted of murdering his wife lead police to her body in exchange for an Xbox

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Douglas Stewart

  • Douglas Stewart, led police and medical examiners to a wooded area in Wakeshma Township in Kalamazoo County on Monday. 
  • Officials found remains believed to be of Venus Stewart, who Stewart was convicted of murdering in 2011. 
  • In exchange for showing authorities where the remains were buried, Stewart received an Xbox for his unit at the Saginaw Correctional Facility.

A Michigan man convicted of murdering his estranged wife eight years ago finally led police to the woman's body — in exchange for access to an Xbox in prison.

Douglas Stewart led police and medical examiners to a wooded area in Wakeshma Township in Kalamazoo County Michigan, on Monday, where officials found remains believed to be of Venus Stewart, buried in a five-foot-deep hole, according to The Detroit Free Press

Stewart was convicted of killing Venus Stewart in 2011, but her remains were never found.

Medical anthropologists are performing dental and X-ray tests at Western Michigan University to confirm the identity of the remains.

St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough said Stewart showed no emotion as he led officials to the burial site.

The remains were found about 15 minutes away from the murder scene at Venus' parents' house, in a tree-lined area that Stewart visited with his father as a teenager.

In exchange for showing authorities where the remains were buried, Stewart received an Xbox for his unit at the Saginaw Correctional Facility that inmates will be able to use during their free time.

The Xbox model will not have an internet connection, McDonough said.

Stewart will also be granted the privilege of supervised release to attend his parents' funerals in the future.

All privileges are contingent on continuing good behavior.

Stewart was 29 years old when he was charged with first-degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree premeditated murder in connection to Venus Stewart’s death, according to MLive.

A witness testified in Stewart's trial that Stewart put Venus in a headlock until blood dripped from her nose.

Stewart didn't admit to murdering Venus until last year, when Detective Sergeant Todd Petersen put Stewart's sister in touch with Venus' mother.

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Mother of murdered University of Utah student says she heard her daughter shout 'No!' on the phone before she was shot by her ex-boyfriend

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Lauren McCluskey and Melvin Rowland

  • Lauren McCluskey, a 21-year-old from Pullman, Washington, was shot and killed on University of Utah's campus on Monday night.
  • Her suspected shooter, ex-boyfriend Melvin Rowland, was found dead hours later.
  • McCluskey's mother, Jill McCluskey, was on the phone with her when she was shot.
  • The Utah student was walking home from a night class on Monday around 9 p.m. when her mother heard, "No, no no!"

The mother of a University of Utah track athlete who was killed on campus by her ex-boyfriend said she heard her daughter shout, "No, no no!" as they spoke on the phone on Monday ahead of the fatal encounter.

Days before she was killed, Lauren McCluskey, a 21-year-old senior from Pullman, Washington, had broken up with her ex-boyfriend, 37-year-old Melvin Rowland, on October 9 and filed a complaint against him after learning he was a registered sex offender.

McCluskey and Rowland had dated for about a month when she ended the relationship upon learning he had lied about his age, name, and criminal history, her mother, Jill McCluskey, said in a statement to KSL.

The Utah student was walking home from a night class on Monday around 9 p.m. when her mother heard her shout, "No, no no!" as they spoke on the phone.

"I thought she might have been in a car accident," Jill said. "That was the last I heard from her."

She added that she and her husband, Lauren's father, left the phone on and tried to hear what happened.

As Lauren's father called 911, another woman picked up Lauren's phone and told the McCluskeys that their daughter's belongings were strewn across the ground.

The shooting prompted a lockdown at the University of Utah as police searched for Lauren, who was found dead in the back of a parked car, and Rowland, who was later found dead in Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Rowland had spent nearly a decade in prison after pleading guilty to attempted sex abuse charges and enticing a minor online, according to court records seen by the Associated Press.

He was released from prison in 2013 and had recently left a halfway house, university police chief Dale Brophy said.

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Authorities said middle school girls planned to kill classmates and drink their blood

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police car in motion

  • Authorities said two middle school girls from Florida planned to kill classmates and drink their blood.
  • The girls, aged 11 and 12, were arrested on Tuesday. No one was harmed.
  • They were found hiding in the bathroom with a goblet, according to investigators.
  • The girls reportedly told authorities they worship Satan.

Two middle school girls from Bartow, Florida, were arrested on Tuesday in connection to a "plot to harm other students,"authorities said. Police believe the girls, aged 11 and 12, were plotting to kill other students and drink their blood, according to a statement from the Bartow Police Department, per ABC-affiliated WFTS.

School staff found the girls in a bathroom stall after they didn't show up for class. Authorities said the girls planned to wait there and corner potential victims.

"They wanted to kill at least 15 people and were waiting in the bathroom to find smaller kids that they could overpower to be their victims," Bartow Police Chief Joe Hall said during a press conference.

The girls, who are in sixth and seventh grade, were arrested on Tuesday. No students or staff were harmed.

"I believe that these two small children — I'm going to call them small children; they are only 11 and 12 — seriously sat down and plotted to do bodily harm to another student at the school," Hall said.

The girls were reportedly found with several items the police believe they intended to use to harm others, including a pizza cutter, butcher knife, paring knife, and sharpener. The middle schoolers were also reportedly found with what was described as a "goblet," which authorities believe they planned to use to drink victims' blood.

Detectives said they found messages after searching one of the girl's phones that said the girls planned to kill themselves after their alleged plan.

When asked about their motives, the girls reportedly told authorities that they worship Satan.

In a statement on Wednesday, Hall said he found the incident "troubling.""In fact, it shook me to my core when I was notified of it," he said.

Hall called the case an "isolated incident."

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A mafia hit man who ‘hated rats’ is reportedly the prime suspect in Whitey Bulger's death

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Whitey Bulger.JPG

  • Fotios "Freddy" Geas, 51, is reportedly under investigation in the murder of notorious Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger. 
  • Bulger was found beaten to death in a West Virginia prison on Tuesday morning, the same day he was transferred to the facility. 
  • Geas is serving a life sentence after being convicted of the 2003 murders of a Massachusetts mob boss named Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno, and his associate, Gary Westerman. 

A mafia hitman from Massachusetts who "hated rats" is believed to be a suspect in the murder of notorious Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, who was found dead in a West Virginia prison on Tuesday, according to reports.

Fotios "Freddy" Geas, 51, is being eyed as a suspect for allegedly instigating a group of men to beat 89-year-old Bulger to death just hours after he transferred to the USP Hazelton, according to The Boston Globe.

A Federal Bureau of Prisons official told The New York Times on Tuesday that Bulger was killed by fellow inmates, but did not reveal any further details.

Sources close to the investigation told the Globe that Bulger's body was beaten and his eyes were nearly gouged out.

Geas, formerly of West Springfield, Massachusetts, is serving a life sentence at the Hazelton federal penitentiary.

He was convicted of the 2003 murders of a Massachusetts mob boss named Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno, and his associate, Gary Westerman, MassLive reported.

Private investigator Ted McDonough told the Globe: "Freddy hated guys who abused women. Whitey was a rat who killed women. It's probably that simple."

Bulger was serving a life sentence after being convicted of a number of crimes in 2013, including participating in the killings of at least 11 people.

Read more: Notorious Boston gangster Whitey Bulger was reportedly beaten to death by two inmates with ties to the mob

The former leader of the Winter Hill Gang was convicted of killings in Oklahoma, Florida, and Massachusetts, and for years served as an FBI informant.

Bulger had recently been moved from Florida to a facility in Oklahoma City before moving to West Virginia, according to The Associated Press.

It remains unclear why Bulger, whose health was deteriorating, was moved from facility to facility, and officials from the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on the moves.

An insider told The Times, however, that Bulger was transferred to Hazelton after threatening a staff member at the Coleman prison complex in Sumterville, Florida.

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2 married Marines went to the Corps' birthday ball. Now one is charged with murder.

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Marine Corps Birthday Ball Quantico VA

The police have arrested a man accused of murdering his wife sometime after they attended their unit's Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Virginia last Friday, Task & Purpose has learned.

Arlington County police officers found Marine Lance Cpl. Natasha Rivera, 20, dead inside a hotel room in Crystal City on Saturday at about 9:40 a.m. Her husband, Cpl. Rodolfo Rivera, 24, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with murder.

Cpl. Adolfo Rivera, 24, has been charged with the murder of his wife, Lance Cpl. Natasha Rivera.

The arrest was announced as a "domestic-related homicide,"according to a police statement. Rivera is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Facility, the police said.

Both Marines lived in Stafford, Virginia, and were assigned to Headquarters and Service Battalion in the legal-services support section at Marine Corps Base Quantico as legal-services specialists. They attended their base's birthday ball together last Friday evening at the Crystal Gateway Marriott hotel, a source familiar with the matter told Task & Purpose.

The victim, whose maiden name is Soto, had just given birth to a boy in September and was still on maternity leave, according to the source.

"We are shocked and saddened by this tragic loss," Maj. Ken Kunze, an MCB Quantico spokesman, told Task & Purpose in a written statement. "Our deepest sympathies are extended to the Marines and families involved."

Kunze added that base officials were notified of the death and arrest on Saturday and were cooperating fully with the investigation, which is being carried out by the Arlington Police Department and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

According to Marine Corps records, Quantico was both Marines' first duty station and neither had ever deployed. Their only awards were the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Rodolfo enlisted from Cook County in Illinois on March 14, 2016; Natasha enlisted from Brooklyn, New York, on April 17, 2017.

A friend of Natasha's who went to boot camp with her has started a GoFundMe campaign for her family to pay for expenses and to help raise her infant son. "She had such a great presence," Olivia Golden wrote. "Anything you can offer will help immensely."

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8 notorious couples who committed murder together

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Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka

Though we frequently think of murderers as lone predators, there have been multiple killer couples over the years.

Here are some of the most notorious couples from the past century who committed heinous crimes as a pair.

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

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady were some of the most infamous serial killers in Britain.

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are the infamous perpetrators of the "Moors murders" of Lancashire, England.

Together, Brady and Hindley abducted, sexually assaulted, and killed five children during the 1960s, according to The New York Times. In 1966, they were convicted in three of the deaths, and the couple later confessed in the 1980s to killing two other children during that time. 

Their victims ranged in age from 10 to 17. The couple tortured their victims before killing them and disposing of their bodies on Saddleworth Moor in northwestern England. The brutality of the crimes led the couple to become two of the most reviled individuals in Britain.

Brady died in high-security psychiatric hospital in 2017 and Hindley died in 2002 while still incarcerated



Cynthia Coffman and James Gregory Marlow were convicted of killing two women in California in 1986.

Cynthia Coffman and James Gregory Marlow met in 1986 and very quickly fell in love and into a life of crime.

Marlow called himself the "Folsom Wolf" for how much time he spent in Folsom Prison. He met Coffman after she left her husband, and they began traveling around California and Arizona together, during which time they murdered two young women in California: 20-year-old Corinna Novis and 19-year-old Lynell Murray.

At trial, Coffman's lawyers tried to argue she was abused by Marlow and was too battered to leave him. Marlow's attorneys, meanwhile, tried to shift the responsibility of the murders onto Coffman. Both were eventually found guilty of murder as well as kidnapping and robbery, among other charges, and both were sentenced to death in 1989 in San Bernardino County.

It was the first time since California had reinstated capital punishment in 1977 that a woman had been sentenced to death. They are both still in prison.



Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were known as the "Ken and Barbie Killers" due to their appearances.

The crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka transfixed Canada. The pair married in 1991 and appeared to outsiders to be a happy pair, but their relationship was fraught with sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, according to Homolka's testimony.

Before Christmas in 1990, Homolka and Bernardo drugged, raped, and killed Homolka’s 15-year-old sister Tammy. They were able to convince her family that Tammy's death was accidental. 

The couple went on to rape and murder two other teenaged girls, 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy. Some of the sexual assaultswere videotaped and both Homolka and Bernardo were on tape abusing the victims.

In 1993, Karla Homolka was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murders of the teenagers and the death of her sister as part of a plea deal. Homolka testified in Bernardo's trial and said she was abused and a reluctant accomplice in the killings.

Paul Bernardo was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated sexual assault in 1995 and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. He also confessed to raping 14 women prior to the murders. He was denied parole in 2018.

While in prison, Homolka graduated with a degree in Psychology. She wasreleased from prison in 2005. Since then, she has remarried and had three children.



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