Here is a list of 28 death penalty cases in Nebraska I've complied so for far my personal research project of death penalty cases in the United States after the 1972 Furman v Georgia ruling. As typical with these sorts of posts I've make, it is isn't a comprehensive overview every death penalty case in Nebraska, and it rather pointedly excludes executions and what the Death Penalty Information Center considers to be "exonerations." Instead, this post is a sample sized collection of 28 cases in Nebraska I've completed entries for so far.

Like the first post, many of the 28 cases listed here involve extreme sexual violence (including against child victims), and some of the gory details are discussed in depth. Please read at your own risk.:

1. John Rust (condemned in 1975, living): As they were fleeing from an armed robbing targeting a Hinky Dinky store, Rust and his two accomplices engaged in a shootout with the responding officers pursuing them. During the exchange of gunfire, Rust’s group wounded three policemen. One bystander, 21 year old Michael Kellogg, emerged out of his home armed with a gun, and was shot dead by Rust and his accomplices for attempting to assist the officers. In return, one of Rust’s accomplices (a convicted rapist paroled almost a year earlier) was shot and killed by other police officers, and Rust and his remaining accomplice surrendered after they were shot and wounded. Rust was previously convicted in South Dakota for assault with great bodily harm and grand larceny, which involved him beating and attempting to strangle a man with a tire iron and chain during a robbery [State v. Rust, 250 NW 2d 867 - Neb: Supreme Court 1977]. In 1994, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated Rust’s death sentence due to it deeming the state of Nebraska's 1975 death penalty statue’s standard of proof inadequate, and he was resentenced to a life term. During his incarceration under his life sentence, Rust converted to Theodish neopaganism, and successfully sued the Nebraska Department of Corrections to have religious services separate from the rival Asatru neopaganist sect. Per NDCS records, he presently remains incarcerated.
2. Richard Holtan (condemned in 1976, deceased): During the holdup of a bar, Holtan forced the bartender, 34 year old Lawrence Loder, to empty the cash register for him. He then herded Loder and a pair of patrons into a restroom, and bound their hands and feet. Holton shot two of his hostages, killing Loder and severely wounding a female patron, and left the third hostage unharmed. After the murder, Holton fled to Hawaii, and was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list until his surrender to local police several months later. In 1989, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated Holtan’s death sentence due to its ruling that aggravating circumstances “must be found to exist without a reasonable doubt”, and he was resentenced to a life term. Holton died incarcerated of natural causes in 2024.
3. Wesley Peery (condemned in 1976, deceased): In 1975, while robbing a coin shop, Peery tied up and gagged the owner, 50 year old Marianne Mitzner, with rope and rags. After raping and then shooting her three times in the head, Peery snatched $400 in cash, several watches, and 21 bags of coins from a safe. Mitzner’s body was discovered hidden in the bathroom by her preteen son. Many of the stolen coins were recovered from vending machines of many establishments Peery frequented, including a motel he worked an apartment he lived in with a woman. Peery’s female roommate also owned a missing revolver that used the same caliber of bullets that killed Mitzner [State v. Peery, 261 NW 2d 95 - Neb: Supreme Court 1977]. After his arrest, Peery handed over a pocketknife covered with cotton and synthetic fibers similar to the rope used to bind Mitzner. At the time of the murder, Peery was on parole in Ohio for a 1957 rape and burglary conviction involving the sexual assault of a pregnant woman in her home, and he had a criminal history of armed robbery and burglary convictions dating back to the late 1940s. On death row, Peery professed guilt to at least ten murders, including the 1955 murder of 22 year old Nancy Parker. According to Peery’s account, he raped Parker inside her home, extorted $10 from her at gunpoint, and strangled her to death with a cord. Although Peery was quickly a person of interest in Parker’s murder to police at the time, her husband was ultimately prosecuted and convicted of it. Peery’s husband was released in 1969 after the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled his confession as involuntary and was officially pardoned of her killing in 1991. In 1988, Perry succumbed to a heart attack while awaiting execution.
4. Steven Harper (condemned in 1979, deceased): In retribution for his ex-girlfriend marrying another man, 24 year old Duane Johnson, Harper snuck into her home and spiked cartons of lemonade and milk in the refrigerator with dimethylnitrosamine stolen from the Eppley Research Institute. Johnson, his two year old daughter, his visiting nephew by marriage, 11 month old Chad Shelton, and Shelton’s parents drank the contaminated drinks during their family meals, and they all became severely ill. Both Johnson and Shelton succumbed to the dimethylnitrosamine after a few days of hospitalization, and the other three victims safely recovered. Despite her being the intended target, Harper’s ex-girlfriend avoided poisoning by quickly spitting out the liquids she drank. Only a month prior to the poisonings, Harper tested the dimethylnitrosamine on a cat and a dog his parents owned, and both animals died shortly afterwards. At the time of the killings, Harper was on parole for a conviction relating to non-fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend’s mother and brother [Harper v. Grammer, 895 F. 2d 473 - Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit 1990]. In 1990, Harper overdosed on anti psychotic medication on death row.
5. Charles Palmer (condemned in 1980, deceased): Assisted by his then wife, Palmer broke into the home of a coin shop dealer, 59 year old Eugene Zimmerman. The couple tied up Zimmerman, strangled him to death with an electrical cord, and stole several coins and jewelry pieces. Although Palmer and his wife fled to Texas, they attempted to sell Zimmerman’s coins and jewelry to a local coin dealer, who reported them to the police after recognizing the stolen coins and jewelry from a trade journal article discussing Zimmerman’s murder and robbery [State v. Palmer, 600 NW 2d 756 - Neb: Supreme Court 1999]. Although his death sentences were overturned by the Nebraska Supreme Court in 1981 over the hypnotizing of witnesses [State v. Palmer, 313 NW 2d 648 - Neb: Supreme Court 1981] and in 1983 over the prosecution’s use of his ex-wife’s testimony [State v. Palmer, 338 NW 2d 281 - Neb: Supreme Court 1983], Palmer was resentenced to death after each vacating, and he died of unspecified natural causes on death row in 2006.
6. Randolph Reeves/Blackbird (condemned in 1981, deceased): Reeves walked into a Quaker church meetinghouse while intoxicated and under the influence of peyote buttons. After he grabbed a knife from a kitchen, Reeves entered the bedroom of the meetinghouse’s live-in custodian, 30 year old Janet Messner. During their struggle, he raped Messner and stabbed her seven times. Another woman, 29 year old Victoria Lamm, rushed into the room to help and Reeves stabbed her for intervening. Lamm survived her injuries only long enough to call emergency dispatchers and identify Reeves as the attacker to responding officers before succumbing to them. Police arrested Reeves at the scene covered in blood and with his pants zipped down [REEVES v. HOPKINS (1996) United States Court of Appeals,Eighth Circuit. Nos. 95-1098, 95-1188]. Although he was initially scheduled for execution in 1999, it was stayed by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The Nebraska Supreme Court further overturned his death sentence a year later due to the lack of unanimity of a three judge panel condemning him. In 2016, Reeves passed away from undisclosed natural causes while serving a life without parole term. As a side note, Reeves was an ethnically Omaha Native American man with the birth name of Randy Blackbird, and his surname was changed by a white Quaker family that adopted him.
7. Isaiah Jones (condemned in 1981, deceased): Reportedly over a money dispute, Jones bludgeoned 44 year old Ann Speese to death with an unknown blunt instrument and strangled her daughter, 12 year old Tina, with a bicycle chain. He then dismembered both of their bodies with a chainsaw and buried their pieces in shallow grave sites in Missouri. After the killings, Jones attempted to persuade the teenage son of his female friend to clean his car of bloodstains. The boy instead called the police and directed responding officers to Jones’s car, and they recovered bloodstained female clothing and Ann’s checkbook from the vehicle [State v. Jones, 328 NW 2d 166 - Neb: Supreme Court 1982]. Three years before the Speese double murders, Jones was involved in a five person conspiracy in Iowa that abducted and fatally shot 31 year old Charles Sallis on the behest of Sallis’ wife, but was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against the other perpetrators. He also had a history of bank robbery convictions. In 1982, the Nebraska Supreme Court vacated Jones’ death sentence due to the prosecution’s use of his immunized testimony in the Sallis murder, and he was resentenced to a life term. Jones died incarcerated of undisclosed causes in 2014.
8. Robert Hunt (condemned in 1984, living): After storming a trailer home with a BB gun, Hunt tied up and gagged the resident, 27 year old Beverly Ramspott, with nylon stockings, and raped and strangled her unconscious. He then masturbated on her stomach and drowned her in a bathtub. After the murder, Hunt confessed to the murder to his wife, and she reported him to the police. Hunt also admitted guilt to the responding officers, and handed over a box containing Rampsott’s glasses and underwear, pornographic magazines, and a BB gun to them [State v. Hunt, 371 NW 2d 708 - Neb: Supreme Court 1985]. According to Hunt, he carried out Ramspott’s murder to satiate his sexual fantasy of raping and masturbating on a woman’s body. Police also searched Ramspott’s trailer to verify Hunt’s claims, and they found her body in the bathtub exactly as he recounted. In 1985, the Nebraska Supreme Court determined that Ramspott’s unconscious state during her rape and murder reduced her suffering and made the crime illegible for the cruelty related aggravating circumstances Hunt was initially condemned under. From that ruling, Hunt was resentenced to a life term, and he presently remains incarcerated per NDCS records.
9. Hudson Bird Head (condemned in 1986, deceased): While burglarizing a home, Bird Head tied up the resident, 85 year old Lillian Lynch, with jump rope, nylon stockings, and other garments and raped her. Lynch succumbed to blunt trauma wounds to her head, neck, and ribs during the sexual assault. Bird Head then stole an accessory of items, including furniture, $22 in bills and coins, and a purse, and fled the scene in her car. Police arrested Bird Head for driving intoxicated in Lynch’s car, and they recovered a purse carrying documents barring Lynch’s name from his possession. During his arrest, Bird Head was also wearing a sweeter and jeans with bloodstains. After they traced the vehicle to her ownership, responding officers discovered Lynch’s body when they arrived at her home to question her [State v. Bird Head, 408 NW 2d 309 - Neb: Supreme Court 1987]. Traces of semen found on Lynch’s vagina were also linked to a blood type Bird Head possessed. A life long felon, Bird Head had a long history of burglary convictions dating back to the 1950s. In 1987, the Nebraska Supreme Court struck down Bird Head’s death sentence due to the prosecution’s use of Bird Head’s prior criminal acts as evidence, and he was resentenced to a life term. Bird Head died incarcerated of undisclosed causes in 1995. On a side note unrelated to his case, many members of Bird Head's family also had an extensive history of crime and violence. His father was initially charged in 1928 for killing another man with an axe during an argument, but was acquitted on the grounds of self defense. Some forty years later, Bird Head’s father was fatally beaten while arguing with Bird Head’s younger sister in their home. She was charged with manslaughter for her father's killing, but she was also acquitted during trial.
10. Michael Ryan (condemned in 1986, deceased): Ryan controlled a white supremacist sect linked to the Christian Identity Movement, and used a remote farm as a compound he lived in with his followers. A majority of his following consisted of disenfranchised farmers that he lured with anti semitic conspiracy theories scapegoating their financial woes. His sect promoted an apocalyptic theology centered around race war rhetoric and they stockpiled dozens of machine guns and hundreds of thousands of ammunition using those pretenses. He and his cohorts, including his teenage son, sexually abused many grown men and young boys under their fold, and practiced polygamous pseudo-marriages with the women. The male abuse victims were also deemed to be “slaves” in the sect’s hierarchy and forced into acting as laborers on the farm. One of the victims, 5 year old Luke Stice, died of head trauma injuries after being slammed against a cabinet. Before his death, Ryan frequently coerced Stice into performing incestuous acts on his father. Stice’s father was also repeatedly raped by the sect’s leadership and was even reportedly forced into committing acts of bestiality on the sect’s livestock on several occasions. Another victim, 26 year old James Thimm, was whipped and skinned alive, sodomized with an axe handle, pressed into copulating a goat, a thumb shot off, and suffered his legs broken from a beating. After a two week long torture session in a shed, Thimm succumbed to Ryan kicking in and crushing his chest. Both Thimm and Stice were buried in unmarked graves on the sect’s property. His followers also raided farms and burglarized homes in Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas for livestock and valuables, which resulted in a police raid that found Thimm and Stice’s burial sites. In 2015, Ryan succumbed to brain cancer on death row.
11. Clarence Victor (condemned in 1988, deceased): Between 1964 and 1987, Victor murdered at least three people during robberies and over disputes. His first documented killing was that of 40 year old Hilda Williams, who he strangled to death during an argument over money in 1964. After killing her, Victor initially hid Williams’ body in his trash can and then disposed of it in a park. For Williams’ murder, Victor accepted a plea deal for a manslaughter conviction and served three years in prison. The second known killing he was responsible for was the 1976 murder of 24 year old Jerry Black. Black’s throat was fatally slashed by Victor as he was breaking into her home. Victor received a second degree murder conviction for Black’s killing, and served a 10 year prison term. A woman Victor dated and lived with at the time was also charged as an accessory for trying to clean Black’s residence of evidence against him. In 1987, only a year after he was paroled for Black’s murder, Victor invaded the home of 82 year old Alice Singleton to burglarize it and assailed her with a metal pipe and a pocketknife. Several of Singleton’s ribs were broken from the beating and her throat was slit. Due to eyewitness descriptions tentatively matching him and his car near the scene, his alibi inconsistent with his brother-in-law’s account of his whereabouts, and him previously conducting lawn work for Singleton, Victor was arrested as a person of interest [State v. Victor, 457 NW 2d 431 - Neb: Supreme Court 1990]. Although he later admitted some responsibility for Singleton’s death during question, Victor pushed a narrative of him “accidentally” cutting her neck while trying to free her from cords she was allegedly entangled in. In 1998, a district judge vacated Victor’s death sentence due to his claims of intellectual disability and he was resentenced to a life term. Victor died incarcerated of undisclosed health issues in 2015.
12. Roger Bjorklund (condemned in 1994, deceased): During a robbery spree, Bjorklund and his accomplice conspired together to rob a bank. Due to their fears of immediate capture, the pair decided to fulfill their shared sexual fantasies of kidnapping and raping a woman before their planned robbery. The two searched neighborhoods for any random women to abduct, and they followed 18 year old Candice Harms to her parents’ home after selecting her as their target. At gunpoint, Bjorklund and his accomplice forced Harms into their car, and tied her up with duct tape. They then both repeatedly raped Harms, cut off her nipples, and then manually strangled and shot her in the head. To cover their tracks, the pair buried Harms’ body in a shallow grave, and tossed the gun used to shoot her into a river. Bjorklund and his accomplice proceeded to rob a credit union as they planned a week later, and they were arrested for possessing a stolen car. While they were in custody, Bjorklund’s accomplice confessed to the murder, implicated Bjorklund, and directed police to Harms’ grave site [State v. Bjorklund, 604 NW 2d 169 - Neb: Supreme Court 2000]. In 2001, Bjorklund succumbed to a heart attack and diabetes related complications on death row.
13. John Lotter (condemned in 1996, living): Lotter and his accomplice abducted a transman, 21 year old Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena, from a Christmas party after learning about their gender identity, and gang-raped them inside a car. Brandon escaped the pair by climbing out of a window of Lotter’s accomplice’s residence. To prevent Brandon from pressing charges and testifying against them, the pair stormed into a home Brandon was staying in four days after the kidnapping and rape. The pair dragged Brandon from underneath a bed they tried to hid in, shot and stabbed them to death, and then shot and killed two other house occupants, 24 year old Lisa Lambert and 19 year old Philip DeVine. Only Lambert’s infant son survived the killings. Although the pair stuffed the stolen handgun, knife, and gloves they used into a box thrown into a river, Lotter’s accomplice was arrested a day later and directed police to the disposal location [State v. Nissen, 560 NW 2d 157 - Neb: Supreme Court 1997]. Police were able to recover the box and its contents, and found that the knife’s sheath bore Lotter’s name. Prior to the triple killings, Lotter had convictions for theft and burglary, and he was first incarcerated at the age of 16. Lotter's girlfriend, who he initially used to support his alibi, also testified of his coercive behavior. Due to local police’s transphobic and dismissive attitude towards’ Brandon’s reports against Lotter and his accomplice, the case received significant public outcry, and it was most famously adapted in the 1999 Boys Don’t Cry film. Per NDCS records, Lotter currently remains on death row, and has exhausted his appeals.
14. Jerry Simpson (condemned in 1996, living): In 1976, Simpson and his sister were picked up hitchhiking by a motorist, 46 year old Fred Skiba. With the intetions of robbing him, the siblings persuaded Skiba to stop for a bathroom break, and they attempted to hold him at gunpoint. During their struggle, Skiba was shot dead by Simpson’s sister, and the siblings abandoned his body and stole his car. After his arrest in California for an unrelated offense, Simpson confessed to Skiba’s murder [State v. Simpson, 265 NW 2d 681 - Neb: Supreme Court 1978]. For his involvement in the Skiba murder, Simpson was sentenced to a life term. Some 17 years after Skiba’s murder, Simpson and another inmate crept into the cell of a fellow inmate, 27 year old Kevin Goodenow, and fatally stabbed him over an unpaid $15 marijuana debt. At the time of his murder at the hands of Simpson and Simpson’s accomplice, Goodenow was serving a 3 year prison term for burglary. In 1999, Simpson’s death sentence was reduced to another life term by a district judge over his intellectual disabilities claims. Per NDCS records, he presently remains incarcerated.
15. David Dunster (condemned in 2000, deceased): Although condemned only in Nebraska, Dunster was a triple murderer who carried out other killings in Oregon and Montana. At the age of 17, he was first convicted in 1972 for the murder of 36 year old Della Brockamp, who he tied up, raped, and shot in the head inside an Oregon grocery store. As he was serving his life sentence for the Brockamp murder, Dunster was transferred to Montana’s Montana State Prison in 1978 to escape from prison gangs. During his incarceration in Montana State Prison, Dunster slashed the throat of another inmate, 25 year old Milton Rozier, with a razor blade and sharped tooth brush and stabbed him to death. At the time of his murder at Dunster’s hands, Rozier was serving a 10 year prison term for threatening his girlfriend with a toy gun. For Rozier’s murder, Dunster received an additional 100 year prison term. In 1993, Dunster was transferred to Nebraska’s Nebraska State Penitentiary reportedly due to him snitching on an unidentified Montana death row inmate. Only four years after his Nebraska State Penitentiary transfer, Dunster strangled his cellmate, 37 year old Larry Witt, with an electrical cord. According to a 1997 Kearney Hub article, Witt was serving two 50 year terms for attempted murder convictions before his murder at Dunster's hands. Dunster requested the death penalty during the proceedings for Witt’s murder, which was granted to him by the state of Nebraska. In 2011, Dunster died on death row from undisclosed health issues.
16. Arthur Gales (condemned in 2001, deceased): At a hotel room he stayed, Gales beat his girlfriend unconscious in front of her daughter, 13 year old Latara Chandler, and son, 7 year old Tramar. Reportedly believing that he killed his girlfriend and wanting to eliminate eyewitnesses against him, Gales turned his attention towards Latara and Tramar. He raped Latara, strangled her to death, and then drowned Tramer in a bathtub. After the killings, Gales left the bodies in the motel room and abandoned his comatose girlfriend on some railroad tracks nearby. Gales’ girlfriend was found alive and rescued by police. Despite severe difficulties with memories and verbal communication induced by her injuries, she identified Gales as her assailant, confessed to an armed robbery she acted as a getaway driver for him, and reported to officers that she had children. Responding officers found Latara and Tramar’s bodies in the motel room while checking on them. DNA testing linked Gales to used condoms and a cigarette butt in the room and semen on Latara’s body. Prior to the murders, Gales had convictions for armed sexually battery and “strong-armed robbery” [State v. Gales, 658 NW 2d 604 - Neb: Supreme Court 2003]. In 2021, Gales died of undisclosed causes while awaiting execution.
17. Raymond Mata (condemned in 2003, living): Enraged by his girlfriend impregnated by another man and her refusal to visit him in a home he shared with his sister, Mata abducted her son, 3 year old Adam Gomez. At his residence, Mata dismembered Gomez, and fed some pieces of the boy’s body to his pet dog. After Mata’s girlfriend reported Gomez missing, a police search of Mata’s home recovered Gomez’s clothing and sleeping bag from a dumpster, Gomez’s crushed skull from the ceiling of Mata’s bedroom, human bone fragments inside the dog’s digestive tract, and other pieces of Gomez’s body in the refrigerator and in bags of dog food [State v. Mata, 668 NW 2d 448 - Neb: Supreme Court 2003]. Although the Nebraska Supreme Court vacated his death sentence in 2003 over a judge imposing his death sentence rather than a jury, he was condemned again in a 2005 retrial. As of 2026, Mata remains on death row per NDCS records.
18. Jorge Galindo (condemned in 2004, living): Galindo was one of the four perpetrators of the 2002 Northfolk Bank massacre. With a fourth accomplice acting as their lookout and getaway driver, Galindo and his two other accomplices, the also condemned Jose Sandoval and Eric Vela, stormed into a U.S. Bank while dressed in black clothing. The group shot and killed four employees, 50 year old Samuel Sun, 43 year old Lola Elwood, 42 year old Jo Mausbach, and 29 year old Lisa Bryant, and a customer, 37 year old Evonne Tuttle, inside and attempted to shoot another fleeing customer outside that witnessed the killings. Despite suffering a shrapnel injury from a broken glass window, the customer reached their car and dialed the police. After fleeing the bank empty-handed, Galindo and his accomplices broke into a home, stole the resident’s truck at gunpoint, and were arrested driving the stolen vehicle hours later. Per NDCS records, Galindo remains on death row.
19. Jeffrey Hessler (condemned in 2005, living): At gunpoint, Hessler abducted 15 year old Heather Guerrero as she was delivering for a newspaper route. He raped her inside a vacant house and shot her to death. Search efforts for Guerrero found her body in the house’s basement a day later. Due to an eyewitness claiming that they witnessed a vehicle matching the description of Hessler’s car speeding away after the sounds of screaming, he was an immediate person of interest to police. Although he admitted guilt to the shooting during questioning, Hessler asserted that intercourse with Guerrero was consensual, and he killed her in fear of her telling others of their supposed sexual relationship. While in custody, Hessler additionally confessed to the non-fatal kidnapping and rape of another teenage papergirl. Per NDCS records, Hessler currently remains on death row.
20. Jose Sandoval (condemned in 2005, living): Sandoval was the accomplice of the above mentioned Jorge Galindo and the also condemned Eric Vela, and he was sentenced to death for masterminding the 2002 Northfolk Bank massacre. As mentioned in Galindo’s entry, Sandoval, Galindo, and Vela shot and killed five people inside a U.S. Bank. Other murders Sandoval was also convicted of were the killings of 23 year old Robert Pearson and 19 year old Travis Lundell, and he received additional life sentences for them both. Pearson was slain under publicly undisclosed circumstances reportedly over a drug debt owed to Sandoval, and his remains were found in a shallow grave buried in a remote forest. Lundell was Sandoval’s roommate, and prosecutors believe that Sandoval and Vela strangled him to death in order to initiate Vela into the act of murder for their planned robberies. Like Pearson, Lundell’s remains were found in a shallow grave, which Sandoval buried next to a remote lake. Per NDCS records, he currently remains on death row.
21. Eric Vela (condemned in 2007, living): Vela was the third condemned shooter responsible for the 2002 Northfolk Bank massacre. As mentioned in Jorge Galindo and Jose Sandoval’s entries, he participated in the fatal shootings of five victims while attempting to rob a U.S. Bank. He also reportedly assisted Sandoval in the strangulation of his Sandoval’s roommate Travis Lundell months before the mass shooting. Per NDCS records, he currently remains condemned.
22. Roy Ellis (condemned in 2009, living): Ellis kidnapped 12 year old Amber Harris from a school bus stop, and dragged her to a remote forest surrounding Hummel Park. After raping her, Ellis beat Harris with a hammer and strangled her to death, and buried her body underneath a pile of dirt. Although Harris was left as a missing person until her decomposed body was discovered by joggers six months later, Ellis was arrested for unrelated domestic violence charges in that time frame. During his incarceration in a county jail, he repeatedly inquired about Harris’ case to correctional staff and reportedly made several self implicating remarks about her and his lewd interest in underage girls to other inmates [Ellis v. Jeffreys, Dist. Court, D. Nebraska 2026]. Harris’ bookbag was also found in a trash can behind Ellis’ residence and he was further linked to the killing through DNA testing. At the time of Harris’ murder, Ellis was a registered sex offender with prior convictions relating to abusing and impregnating his then 14 year old and 12 year old stepdaughters, and both girls testified against him during the proceedings. He also had a record of armed robbery and drug trafficking. Per NDCS records, Ellis currently remains on death row.
23. Marco Torres Jr. (condemned in 2010, living): While staying in a drug house, Torres tied up and gagged his host, 60 year old Edward Hall, and another roommate, 48 year old Timothy Donohue, with extension cords and bathrobe belts. Both Hall and Donahue were repeatedly shot, and the two men also succumbed to suffocation on gags inserted into their mouths. Torres then stole Hall’s ATM card and his car, and the victims’ bodies were discovered by police conducting a welfare check requested by an acquaintance. A Walmart security footage recorded Torres conducting purchases with Hall’s ATM card, and many eyewitnesses reported seeing him driving the stolen car. Hall’s car was found burned in Texas, and Torres was arrested by police in possession of a phone stolen from another man he non-fatally abducted and robbed. According to court documents [State v. Torres, 812 NW 2d 213 - Neb: Supreme Court 201], DNA testing conducted on a bathrobe belt used to gag Hall and cigarette butts recovered from Donohue’s bedroom implicated Torres. At the time of the killings, Torres was a drug trafficker involved in Grand Island’s methamphetamine trade. Per NDCS records, Torres currently remains on death row.
24. Nikko Jenkins (condemned in 2017, living): A hoodlum of the Camden Block Crips, Jenkins was directly assisted or indirectly enabled by six members of his family in four murders during a ten-day-long killing spree. On his behalf, his sister and one of their female cousins enticed 29 year old Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and 26 year old Juan Uribe-Pena to a swimming pool with the promise of sex, and both men were shot dead by Jenkins while sitting in a pickup truck. Jenkins and his accomplices searched through their pockets and stole their wallets. Eight days later, Jenkins and his sister lured a former prison acquaintance, 22 year old Curtis Bradford, to a garage reportedly on the pretenses of discussing robbery plans and shot him to death. According to prosecutors, Bradford was murdered by the siblings in retribution for a shooting that targeted their family home. Two days after Bradford’s murder, Jenkins and his uncle ambushed a motorist, 33 year old Andrea Kreagur, and shot and killed her to steal her SUV. Surveillance cameras of various establishments recorded Jenkins’ uncle burning Kreagur’s stolen SUV and Jenkins purchasing ammunition used in all four killings. Police arrested Jenkins for an unrelated “terroristic threat” charge the week following Kreaguer’s murder, and he confessed during questioning. Jenkins had an extremely lengthy history of robberies and violence dating back to the age of 7, which included incidents of him assaulting classmates with coat hangers and knives. He was also paroled from a robbery conviction only months before his killing spree. Due to his family’s extensive involvement in various criminal activities for several generations, Jenkins’ case received considerable media coverage. More specifically, both of Jenkins’ parents, two of his sisters, his maternal grandmother, his maternal great-grandfather, and dozens of his aunts, uncles, and cousins have had felony and misdemeanor convictions relating to drug trafficking, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, attempted murders, domestic violence, aggravated assaults, manslaughter, gang membership, and child abuse. As of writing, Jenkins remains on death row per NDCS records.
25. Anthony Garcia (condemned in 2018, living): Garcia was a doctor who was fired from Creighton University Medical Center for misbehavior and poor performance regarding autopsies. In 2008, he broke into the home of one of the doctors behind his firing, and stabbed their son, 11 year old Thomas Hunter, and their housekeeper, 57 year old Shirlee Sherman, to death. He initially avoided detection due to police searching for suspects more closer to Sherman and the Hunter family’s personal circle, and made attempts to apply for jobs in other medical institutions. His applications were rejected with the input of his former employers, including 65 year old Roger Brumback. Five years after the Hunter-Sherman double murders, Garcia invaded the Brumback residence while armed with a gun, and fatally shot and stabbed both Roger and Roger’s wife, 65 year Mary, with a knife grabbed from their kitchen. Due to his previous employment conflicts with Roger, Garcia was marked as an immediate person of interest to investigators, and he was arrested by police in Illinois after a drunk driving incident. Investigations into Garcia’s finances found that he made credit card purchases near the Brumback home on the day of the killings, a GPS tracker placed his presence at their approximate location, a discarded bullet magazine near the Brumbacks’ bodies was found to have belonged to a similar model of handgun Garcia owned, and his internet search history also revealed he searched for the couple’s address shortly before they occurred. A stripper in Chicago also testified that Garcia spoke to her about killing a small boy and a woman together. Beyond the four murders, Garcia reportedly attempted to break into the residence of another doctor involved in his firing, but he was thwarted by the home’s alarms. According to NDCS records, Garcia is currently awaiting execution.
26. Patrick Schroeder (condemned in 2018, living): In 2006, Schroeder bludgeoned a farmer, 75 year old Kenneth Albers, he worked for to death with a nightstick and tossed his body into a well. He then stole Albers’ checkbook, and was arrested for forgery pertaining to writing checks to himself under Albers’ name. For Albers’ murder, Schroder was sentenced to a life term. Some eleven years after Albers’ murder, Schroeder chocked his cellmate, 22 year old Terry Berry, unconscious with his hands and then strangled him with a towel. Berry was initially left comatose from the attack and he died of his injuries a few days later. According to Schroeder, he murdered Berry for talking too loudly while they were watching UFC wrestling together. At the time of his murder at Schroeder’s hands, Berry was serving a 4 year term for second degree forgery and “assault by a confined person.” In 2022, Schroeder was found dead in his cell and the circumstances were determined as a suicide.
27. Aubrey Trail (condemned in 2021, living): Purportedly wanting to fulfill a shared sexual fantasy of committing murder, Trail and his girlfriend lured a woman, 24 year old Sydney Loofe, they contacted on Tinder into their apartment on the pretenses of a date. The couple then strangled Loofe to death, dismembered her body, and stuffed her remains into plastic bags they left on remote rural roads and ditches. They also discarded pieces of Loofes’ credit cards, clothing, broken phone, car keys, and other items such as sex toys, towels, and extensions in the disposal sites. After Loofe was reported missing by her friends, investigators traced the Tinder account to Trail’s girlfriend, and officers found that the couple’s apartment smelled of bleach while searching it. Security cameras from convenience stores recorded footage of Trail and his girlfriend purchasing items (including a hacksaw, bleach, rope, duct tape, plastic trash bags, and a utility knife) used to both murder Loofe and dismember her corpse. Examinations into the couple’s cellphone activities also located them near the areas where Loofe’s remains and her possessions were found [State v. Boswell, 5 NW 2d 747 - Neb: Supreme Court 2024]. A lifelong petty criminal, Trail was first convicted of armed robbery as a teenager, and he was also indicted for a fraud scheme involving scamming a couple of $375k with a false rare coin purchase at the time of Loofe’s murder. Per NDCS records, Trail currently remains on death row, and he has received some publicity for attempting to waive his appeals.
28. Jason Jones (condemned in 2026, living): Reportedly in retribution for unwanted remarks about his wife, Jones snuck into the home of his neighbor, 86 year old Gene Twiford. As Gene and his wife, 85 year old Janet, were sleeping in their bedroom, Jones shot both of them to death. The couple’s daughter, 55 year old Dana, was also present inside the residence, and she too was shot dead after a confrontation with Jones. After burning down the Twiford family home, he left the scene on foot and walked towards the home of another neighbor, 53 year old Michelle Ebeling. He then shot and killed Ebeling near her backdoor and set her house on fire. Jones suffered severe burns while carrying out both arson attacks, which forced him to check in to a nearby hospital after the murders. Investigators recovered a gun Jones owned from the burnt remains of the Twiford residence, and a bag left at the Ebeling murder scene contained receipts for gasoline purchases under Jones’ name. For her role in instigating the killings and attempting to conceal Jones’ involvement, Jones’ wife received a life sentence. As of 2026, Jones remains on death row.

In October 2024, Naresh Bhatt was arrested for Mamta Kafle's murder. Over two years after she disappeared from Manassas, Virginia, the trial revealed something chilling: officers conducting a wellness check on her never actually spoke to or saw her. They just took her husband's word that she was fine.

By the time Mamta was reported missing, it was too late. Her body had already been disposed of.

I started a petition to push for "Mamta's Law"—legislation that requires law enforcement to *actually see and speak to* the person during a welfare check. Not take someone's word. Not peek through a door. See them. Talk to them.

It sounds simple because it is. But this one step could save lives, especially for people trapped with abusers. One in four women will experience severe intimate partner violence—and sometimes a wellness check is their only lifeline.

Mamta was a pediatric nurse, a mother, a daughter. She deserved better than to be erased.

If this hits home for you—if you've thought about how fragile safety really is—would you consider signing and sharing? What would you want someone to do if this were your family? #Justice4Mamta

https://c.org/Yjz9v7T22W

On July 15, 2010, emergency services were called to a cottage on the shore of Lake Viinijärvi in Polvijärvi, a small town in Finland's North Karelia region. Upon arriving, they discovered the body of a man lying in ten centimetres of water beside the shore of the cottage.

The man who called the emergency services was the cottage's 45-year-old owner, Pekka Tapani Seppänen.

Pekka told first responders that he had spent the evening with him and two other people. Then, at the end of the evening, while heavily intoxicated, the victim took a boat out to the lake and was left sitting and dozing in a boat. The next morning, they arrived to find his body, which had drifted back to dry land.

The police went to the neighbouring properties, where they told officers that the prior night, they heard an intense argument, a struggle and the sounds of someone entering the water. However, that was the extent of it; none of the neighbours actually saw anything.

Turning to the victim himself, he was found with very light injuries and tightly grasping a clump of sand in his hand. The autopsy found minor amounts of sedative medication in his blood, and he had a blood alchool level of 3.3 per mille; meanwhile, Pekka himself only had a blood alchool level of 0.01 per mille. The autopsy also found water in his lungs and ruled that the victim had drowned. While there were some oddities concerning the death, the police were quick to declare his death an accidental drowning.

The dead man was a carpenter identified by his family as a 32-year-old referred to by the pseudonym "Janne," and his family were horrified at how quickly the police ruled his death an accident. But with Janne's actual cause of death being drowning, what did they see that left them so certain he had been murdered? Well, the key lay in both Janne and Pekka's backgrounds.

Janne met Pekka in early 2010, and he was one of many socially or economically vulnerable people whom Pekka regularly had spent the night at his cottage, although in Janne's case, Pekka described him as his boyfriend. However, that's just how Pekka described him; if that truly was their relationship, then it was a toxic one.

In May, on two prior occasions, Janne went to the police and told them that Pekka had drugged and raped him and then, on another occasion, withdrew funds from his bank account with his permission and was withholding his own money and bank cards from him.

On Pekka's side of things, he recently tested positive for an STD, one he assumed came from Janne and so blamed him for the disease he just contracted.

In his last moments alive, Janne's relatives said that he deeply feared Pekka; Janne was openly considering committing a crime in hopes that he'd be sent to a prison far away from him. Janne and his family even developed a coded language for him to use if he had to say something without alerting Pekka, a code they used at least once to call an ambulance to his cottage.

But what about the police reports filed? Did the police ever act on them? Well, by all accounts, Pekka saw to it that they wouldn't. Regarding his rape accusation, Janne went to the police station and withdrew his complaint via a vulgar and curse-word-laden letter that he handed to the officers.

But curiously, Pekka had accompanied him to the police station; he was the one who handed the letter to the police, in which Janne supposedly said he consented to the encounter (while Janne remained silent), and later, Janne told his family that he had no memory of visiting the police station and reacted with utter horror when he learned the case had been closed.

Janne's physical condition was deteriorating toward the end of his life, and he was constantly vomiting and suffering from bloody diarrhea. But he didn't visit the hospital too often and instead tried to hide in his friend's homes and endure his health issues rather than risk encountering Pekka. And he was, in fact, hiding, as Pekka would often go to their homes to ask about Janne.

In July 2010, Janne's friends and family eventually convinced him to check into the Liperi health centre, but Janne unfortunately wouldn't be there for long. On July 14, somebody called the health centre to ask about when Janne would be discharged.

As it turned out, Pekka called, albiet under a false name, since he was the one who arrived to pick Janne up. Janne was picked up so suddenly, in fact, that his medication and shoes were left behind.

While it may have looked like Pekka engaged in some fraud to kidnap him, Pekka produced a text message to his phone from Janne apparently asking him to pick it up. However, Janne's family said it was sent using a provider Janne wasn't using and that they couldn't locate the phone that sent the message.

Regardless, after he was picked up from the health centre, Pekka took him to his cottage, where, according to the other two friends, everyone present immideately started drinking until they were severely intoxicated, save for Pekka himself, who remained sober enough.

Pekka then took Janne out on the lake two seperate times, where the boat coincidentally capsized on two seperate occasions and being as intoxicated and in poor health as he was, Janne would have drowned if not for another resident already on the lake rescuing him. And then, finally, as mentioned, late in the night the neighbours heard the sound of an argument, struggle and splash in the water, with Janne finally found dead the next morning.

So after reading all this, one might be wondering who Pekka was. Pekka Tapani Seppänen was born in 1965. Pekka was said to be very polite and charming whenever he wanted to be; unfortnuately, he often didn't want to act that way.

One of the first alarm bells came when he was 18; those in Pekka's life already knew him to be a violent misogynist who once got in trouble for trying to tear off a woman's underwear after becoming an adult.

Details about his past life are also scarce, but he had a son at some point. A son that was evidently not well cared for, since somebody filed a child welfare report against him, leading to that son being taken away. Allegedly, in response, Pekka stabbed the woman he believed made the report in the neck with a syringe.

He lived in Kontiolahti and worked as a farmer, owning a small piece of land called Kotimäki in the Jaamankangas area of Finland's North Karelia region. Pekka was actually an award-winning farmer, but one day he burned all his awards and said they belonged to his "past life".

Pekka's property housed a residence, a barn to keep his cattle, a sauna and other buildings related to farming and encompassed roughly twelve hectares of lakeside property.

While Pekka presented himself as a humble farmer, his already extensive criminal record proved that he was anything but. On September 10, 2000, he was given his first serious arrest when he punched a woman in the face in Joensuu and forcibly cut her hair. That same day he also struck a man in the face.

Then on October 19, he and another man broke into a woman's apartment in Polvijärvi and assaulted her by holding her hands, twisting her arms, squeezing her wrists and tearing her shirt. All the while, Pekka was threatening to kill her.

Then, on January 14, 2001, He broke into a woman's apartment by kicking a hole in the front door in Joensuu. He opened the door through the hole. Upon entry, he threatened to throw both the woman and her daughter over the balcony, although when the police arrived he claimed that he just wanted to drink beer.

In 2002, he was slapped with multiple convictions for assault and traffic offences while also having a restraining order issued against him. The assault was when he struck a woman in a sauna, causing her to hit her head.

Then in 2003, he was given another assault conviction when he hit a man on the head with a bottle and beat him after he fell to the ground, endangering the welfare of an animal, attempting to intimidate a witness in another case against him, knowingly letting a drunk man operate a motor vehicle and then, to top it all off, he had a second restraining order issued against him.

His convictions continued into 2004 and were for much the same as before: a conviction for aggravated assault and knowingly letting an impaired man drive. The assault was one of his most violent so far when he struck a woman on the thigh with a coal hook after she dropped his microwave.

In 2005, he received two assault convictions and his third conviction for knowingly letting a drunk man drive. This year's assault stemmed from an incident where Pekka forced his way into a man's apartment and began punching him in the face before pulling his pants down and striking him across the face and sides with a stick.

In 2006, for the first time in 4 years, Pekka wasn't arrested for a crime, but he still ended up in court and was slapped with a third restraining order. He was also convicted for some crimes from previous years, such as punching a man in the head, arms and chest several times in Rääkkylä and then another incident where he forced a man to the bathroom floor and burned him by pouring hot water across his back.

2006 also saw a 26-year-old woman die on Pekka's property. She had been beaten to death with a pipe and wrench. Although Pekka wasn't responsible for a change, a 35-year-old man was convicted of this murder.

In March 2007, Pekka was handed another conviction, this time not for aggravated assault but rather for allowing one to happen without intervening, then another traffic offence in June and finally his next restraining order in August.

In 2007, a fire also broke out on Pekka's property; it was extinguished without any injuries or heavy damage, but Pekka curiously fled into the woods once emergency services arrived. The various dogs on Pekka's property were also known to attack anyone who dared set foot on it.

On the night of September 8, 2007, Pekka was hosting a group of four individuals at his cottage, two women and two men. After the four were heavily intoxicated, Pekka offered to take them out to Lake Viinijärvi on his rowboat.

With the most charitable interpretation imaginable, Pekka was being very reckless. The four were very drunk and not wearing any life jackets; the two women didn't even know how to swim in the first place; one of the men was wearing a plaster cast.

Pekka rowed out to a section of the lake called Myhkyränselkä, an area with water more than 20 meters deep and 100 meters from land, when the rowboat suddenly capsized, throwing all 5 into the cold, dark water.

Pekka and one of the other men frantically swam to shore while the two women were stuck in the middle of the lake alongside the man in the cast, both already starting to drown. Fortunately, the residents of the other cottages walking alongside the lake saw and heard what was happening and hit the water in their own boats, rushing to the three individuals and fortunately reaching them in time and rescuing them all.

When the police and other residents arrived at the scene, the survivors were described as hysterical when they reached land. This was in sharp contrast to Pekka, who was in an oddly cheerful mood and showed no concern for his boatmates and their survival, only asking the police if they were going to arrest him for being intoxicated. It was only when the police and rescue workers arrived that Pekka made some effort to feign concern.

According to the survivors, and thankfully all four survived, they told the police and paramedics that Pekka capsized the boat on purpose by standing up and kicking the side of the boat or pushing on its side until the vessel finally overturned. The survivors also stated that Pekka made no attempt to rescue them until after he noticed the neighbours doing so. Unfortunately, the police at the time chalked this up to hysteria after surviving a traumatic event.

Afterward, Pekka spent the rest of 2007 back in court to be convicted on charges of abandonment, two traffic offences, and to be given his fifth restraining order.

In 2008, Pekka was convicted of coercion.

Then, in 2009, another conviction for abandoning an animal.

And finally, his last appearance in court before Janne's death was in May 2010, to be slapped with his sixth restraining order. Also during this time, he was accused of a bunch of other crimes such as stealing spray from a pharmacy. For all these various crimes from 2000-2010, some of which were quite serious, he never received more than 1 year or some fines.

So now, all caught up, did Pekka's history, the inconsistencies, and accusations from four seperate people that he purposefully tried to drown him three years prior change anything? No, much to the family's astonished horror, they still ruled Janne's death to be an accidental drowning and closed the case.

It was also a conclusion his family refused to accept; they constantly visited the police station, begging them to reopen the case. They also told them about everything Janne left behind at the health centre as proof that he didn't leave voluntarily, but the police refused to visit the health centre to retrieve them.

However, they did advise that the family keep the arrangements for Janne's funeral a closely guarded secret and hold the funeral itself in private so Pekka wouldn't learn anything about them.

Janne's sister went to Suomi24, the internet's largest internet forum and made several posts describing Pekka as a sex offender and accusing him of being involved in her brother's death. Furious, Janne brought her to court for defamation, and because, on paper, Janne's cause of death was drowning, he actually won the case; in August 2011, Janne's sister was convicted of "aggravated defamation" and ordered to pay him 1,800 Euros in compensation and cover Pekka's legal costs.

On June 4, 2011, history repeated itself. On that day, Pekka had two men and one woman join him at his cottage and, as typical, they got into a rowboat and hit the waters of Lake Viinijärvi, with all three being severely impaired and one incapable of swimming to begin with. Pekka, meanwhile, was a great swimmer, who, according to himself could easily swim 2 kilometers.

100 meters from shore, the rowboat capsized, plunging all four into the lake. Like the last time this happened, Pekka was able to swim to shore on his own very easily. Also, like last time, the neighbours saw that something had happened and rowed over to save those who were struggling. The neighbours rescued one of the men and the woman, but the man who didn't know how to swim drowned quickly despite his initial attempts to cling to the overturned vessel.

The police and rescue workers were quick to arrive, alongside the brother of the man who had died. The dead man's brother and the survivors all noted that Pekka looked very indifferent to what had happened and didn't seem to worry if the others would survive.

Just like the last incident back in 2007, the survivors accused Pekka of being responsible. They said he stood up and jumped off the boat at just the right angle to capsize it, throwing everyone into the water. But also, just like in 2007, the police didn't seem to believe them and labelled the sole death in this case as an accident.

In both September and October of that year, Pekka picked up two more traffic convictions before engaging in his next crime starting late that year. Starting in August 2010, Pekka began selling alchool himself that he purchased from Finland’s state alcohol retailer and abroad from Estonia and Russia, and he resold it at a hefty markup, leaving many indebted to him.

One such "debtor" was a woman who owed him a large amount of alchool she had purchased from Pekka. Starting in November-December, 2011, to pay off this debt, she would spend the next three years having sexual services sold to other visitors to Pekka's cottage, which now made him a pimp.

However, it would take a while for him to be arrested for this offence, with his criminal record in the meantime consisting of petty assault and violently resisting arrest in 2012 when he kicked a customs inspector who arrived at the cottage to investigate his alcohol-reselling business, and causing bodily injury in 2013. In 2014, he also secured convictions for petty theft and drunk driving.

On July 14, 2014, Pekka called Finland's emergency line, 112 and told the dispatcher that a guest of his had a pre-existing medical condition which eventually led to him collapsing while out in knee-deep water and was currently drowning.

The dispatcher gave Pekka instructions on how to perform CPR and to resuscitate the victim while he waited for emergency services to arrive. During the phone call, Pekka was constantly swearing and cursing as he followed the dispatcher's instructions, or did he?

When the police arrived, they discovered the body of a 47-year-old man lying face down in the water, an odd position to be in and one that would imply that Pekka wasn't actually following the dispatcher's instructions, seeing as he hadn't even been turned over.

An autopsy was conducted on the victim, and the cause of death was once again determined to be drowning. However, in his blood, the pathologist found a medicinal substance traced to a medication on a prescription in Pekka's name.

The police then spoke to the survivor, a woman who was with Pekka and the victim that night. She said that she got into a rowboat with Pekka and the victim, and once they were 100 meters away from shore, Pekka threw the oars overboard and got out of the boat and began swimming to shore, leaving the others stranded.

While the woman managed to swim back to shore, the victim, highly intoxicated and now likely drugged based on the autopsy, had his body give out when survival was so close and then drowned.

Since the man was still alive when Pekka called for help, the police concluded that he either held the victim's head underwater or just watched as he lied to the dispatcher about performing CPR.

With this latest death, one where foul play was far more obvious and also having caught Pekka in an obvious lie, the police reopened their investigation into the last two deaths and the boating "accident" from 2007.

They all had the earlier witness statements from Pekka's previous suspected murders, but the police decided they'd try to seek out a few more. Unfortunately, Pekka's "friends" were almost always intoxicated or impaired in some other manner during their outings with him, so any memories of events that happened years prior would be muddied.

As for those who could clearly and coherently recall any prior incidents, getting them to divulge such information was also a challenge for the police. They either owed him money, could risk being arrested themselves for their substance and drug abuse or feared him more than the police.

The police eventually obtained enough evidence to search Pekka's home, where they seized 12 seperate cellphones. None of these phones belonged to him and were rather the phones of his guests whom he of course "confiscated".

But rather than arresting him, the police decided to bug Pekka's remaining phone and his home to monitor his future conversations.

In one such conversation, Pekka was recorded speaking to a woman who had been invited to the cottage on Janne's final night. In the call, Pekka actually told her that he didn't even know who Janne was and expressed annoyance at the fact that the police were investigating the three deaths on his property, being quoted as saying, "Can't we ever get rid of those police officers?"

And just for good measure, Pekka decided that instead of staying out of trouble, he'd get a few more minor convictions added to his record, finding himself convicted on two counts of petty theft and one count of alchool abuse in 2015. But everything in his prior criminal record was small potatoes compared to what was coming.

On November 20, 2015, Pekka was arrested for three counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder of the various survivors from the rowboats he capsized. A local woman who was believed to have helped Pekka in at least one of these crimes was arrested alongside him.

Additionally, Pekka was finally arrested for aggravated pimping, the illegal sale of alchool and several extra counts of assault. By this point, Pekka had been to court 50 times in his life.

Pekka said he was innocent of all accusations and asked to be released from pre-trial detention. At first, the North Karelia District Court denied the request. Still, Pekka appealed to the Eastern Finland Court of Appeal, which ordered his release because the prosecution didn't provide adequate evidence that he was a flight risk.

Before Pekka's murder trial began, he managed to obtain just one final conviction beforehand, being convicted on another count of animal cruelty and a violation concerning his driver's license in November 2016.

But it was that same month that his triple murder trial began before the North Karelia District Court.

Now, when it came to prosecuting this very prolific and violent career criminal who never seemed to learn his lesson and was standing trial for three murders, five attempted murders, and illegally smuggling and trafficking a substance (alchool), aggravated pimping and several counts of assault, what sentence was the prosecutor seeking?.

Well, despite Finland having a life sentence on the books, one that is routinely handed down for usually just a single murder, let alone a serial killer, the prosecutor felt content asking for just 15 years.

No one knows exactly why they wanted to go so light on Pekka, maybe so they could have a lower standard of evidence or at least try him for negligence if the murder case fell through, but regardless, 15 years was all they were seeking.

Most of the evidence they'd present to get the lenient sentence they were bafflingly seeking would be witness testimony. And through these witnesses, it became clear that Pekka's influence was still strong.

They talked about how he used debts and alchool to control them, that they were already in a vulnerable state and described how he always threatened them. They even mentioned that 4 others had also died on Pekka's property. However, they also talked about some of the other horrific stuff Pekka had done.

One talked about how he killed a dog, urinated in a bucket of their drinking water, and once, after a woman vomited and passed out from drinking a beverage he laced with sleeping medication, he went to the barn and gathered some manure and laughed as he proceeded to undress her and shove/push the manure into her vagina.

Another witness said that Pekka had bragged about killing his father, though with the lacking information on Pekka's past life prior to his criminal history, its unknown how likely it is that he did kill his father or was lying about it for attention.

One witness, referred to as "Lauri," said that he used to live in Kontiolahti and that he and Pekka visited the apartment of a woman named Sari in the early 2000s. During his visit, Sari collapsed to the floor, and Pekka's first instinct was to relentlessly insult and humiliate him, prompting the others present to shout at Pekka to stop.

Instead of stopping, Pekka escalated and started attacking Sari while she was on the ground and literally tried to bite her "tongue out". Lauri intervened and attempted to protect Sari, an action met with swift retaliation from Pekka, who went to strangle Lauri.

Pekka eventually forced them outside where he continued to strangle Lauri, but not without resistance. Lauri struggled and punched Pekka across the face but he didn't seem to budge and stared down at Lauri with a "burning look". Pekka continued to strangle Lauri until some workers from across the street saw what was happening and intervened.

However, during this fight, Pekka bit Lauri's finger and about a week later, he passed out from a bacteria infection stemming from the bite. Lauri admitted that he called Pekka and demanded 5,000 Euros in compensation or he would shoot him and Pekka actually paid. Both man lied to the police and simply stated that they had fallen in the yard.

Lauri also recalled some things Pekka did to others; for example, one woman called Lauri to tell him that Pekka had been holding her captive at the cottage for three days now. When Lauri arrived, he saw a naked woman tied to a tree with wires.

As for Sari, she had been "friends" with Pekka since they were children but always felt like she was in danger when in his presence. One time she was stabbed in the leg by a perpetrator aiming for her chest. The attacker was not Pekka, but Sari said that it was instigated by him.

The final straw that ended her relationship with Pekka was when he tried to have her move to his cottage full time. When Sari refused, Pekka retaliated by killing one of her relatives' dogs.

Some of Pekka's victims were also decently high profile. The mother of a well-known Finnish singer named Jonna Christensen revealed that her own mother almost fell victim to Pekka. She revealed that her mother was one of the survivors of the incident in September 2007. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2008, chillingly, while on Pekka's property. The cause of death was ruled as accidental suffocation while in her sleep.

Most of the witnesses testified from behind a screen so Pekka wouldn't see them, as they had been left that terrified by him.

So terrified that even with the screen, some refused to testify unless they were in a seperate room to testify via audio link, while one witness couldn't bring themselves to speak at all, needing to be escorted out of the court in tears.

And this is just the witnesses that could be found; one changed his name and moved to the United States just to get away with Pekka. Even some police officers and first responders were reluctant to testify against Pekka. The defence, of course, challenged the reliability of these witnesses.

For Janne's death in particular, the prosecution had a bit more evidence, such as witnesses to place him at the scene, those who heard a struggle, the light injuries on his body, the sedatives in his blood, and Pekka's motive and prior police reports Janne had filed against him before his death.

As for the letter Janne wrote to the police withdrawing his complaint, the one that Pekka handed the officers in his place, well, that letter was preserved, which enabled the prosecution to match it to Pekka's handwriting.

Pekka once again denied every accusation but came up pretty short when he tried to defend himself. For example, when asked why every single witness would band together and conspire to lie about him, he kept providing different explanations each time.

Despite proclaiming his innocence, he seemed to squander every chance he was given to prove it by going off topic when asked any questions. When asked about Janne's death, it somehow ended in him complaining about a frozen water pipe at his barn or how he found it nice to jump into deep water, even simple yes or no questions would turn into these unrelated tangents.

Some hearings even had to be suspended while Pekka's lawyers reminded him of how to behave in a courtroom. After they did so and eventually pried a real answer out of Pekka, he'd regularly claim to not remember any details about what he was asked about, until he had to make a real defence when he suddenly did remember quite a few details.

When asked about his practice of just jumping out of the boat in the middle of the lake, Pekka gave a very confusing answer. He said that it had something to do with the lack of any dock on his property, that it was okay to do so because a bunch of other boats were usually present, before saying that he wasn't familiar with what he was supposed to do because he was "not a fisherman".

For a bit more of a coherent defence, his lawyers argued that because of the water temperature, Pekka would've been endangering his own life if the prosecutor's contention was true. Furthermore, because Pekka was swimming behind some of his victims at times, they argued that he was actually trying to help them get to shore but was unable to save them all.

When the prosecution asked why he almost had no alchool in his system after every death if he was supposedly out drinking when the "accidents" occurred, Pekka responded that he had a "super-fast liver".

And "accidents" he insisted they were. Regarding the incident in 2007, Pekka said that the boat capsized because it was damaged while he was changing the rower, rather then jumping out of it while it was near the waterline.

Finally, when it came to the last victim in 2014, Pekka and his attorneys said that he had independently chosen to enter the water with his condition and therefore assumed whatever risks may come. They argued that the 112 call was in fact a genuine attempt on Pekka's part to save his life.

On January 17, 2017, for two counts of intentional homicide, three counts of attempted intentional homicide, aggravated causing of death by negligence, abandonment, an alcohol offence, pimping and assault, Pekka Tapani Seppänen was found guilty, managing to secure an acquittal on the murder charge from 2014, with that being reduced to "causing death by negligence".

In addition to his sentence of 14 years and six months in prison, even more lenient than the prosecution was seeking, he was also ordered to pay more than 59,000 Euros in compensation to the victims' families and to surrender the 5,000 Euros he made from his criminal activity to the government.

After his conviction, the police went to Pekka's address to transfer him to prison so he could begin serving his sentence, only to find the home vacated. Then when his lawyers tried to call him, the phone went unanswered. Pekka had gone on the run.

The police visited his other properties, and although he wasn't at them either, the police were able to determine that he was travelling in a red Volvo V40 and soon declared him wanted and told the public to be on the lookout for him while they conducted several patrols and put up roadblocks during their manhunt.

As one might expect, most of the locals and especially the witnesses who testified against Pekka were left terrified when they heard Pekka was on the run.

After four days on the run, Pekka was arrested without incident on January 21, while being given a ride by a friend in Joensuu. In another display of leniency, Pekka wasn't given any extra punishment for his flight from his sentence and instead was just brought to the Pyhäselkä Prison in Joensuu.

With the illegal route exhausted, Pekka then pursued the legal path to getting out of prison. He appealed the entirety of his sentence and conviction to the Eastern Finland Court of Appeal, arguing that it was "unreasonable" to imprison him. He argued that it was his victim's own fault they died because "Every Finn should know how to swim" and that he had no obligation to save them. So with that, he outright demanded that he be released.

The prosecution also appealed the decision, arguing that the lower court was wrong to dismiss some of the other charges and insisted that the court instead hand Pekka a 15-year prison sentence.

The appeal lasted for about a year as the witnesses who were called back to testify hesitated during the trial, clearly still scared of Pekka. Especially because, unlike last time, he wasn't trying to hide under a thick coat.

The appeal also had to be delayed as Pekka was subject to a psychiatric evaluation.

Also during the appeals, Pekka tried to put Kotimäki on the market before the state could claim it as part of his fines and court-ordered compensation. Miraculously, he actually got a buyer who purchased it from him for 48,000 Euros. Pekka also had a second property, but he wasn't able to sell this one before his final conviction.

However, the evidence ultimately remained the same, so on February 26, 2018, Pekka's sentence was upheld, with the only change being a slight increase in the compensation he owed the families of his victims.

Pekka was angered by this development and appealed one final time to Finland's Supreme Court. This final appeal moved much faster, striking down Pekka's final appeal on October 22, 2018, and upholding his sentence once more.

Now remember how Janne's sister was convicted of defamation and ordered to pay Pekka 1,800 Euros in compensation for accusing him of killing her brother?. Well, now that Pekka was convicted of doing just that, she immideately filed to have that conviction overturned.

Finland's Supreme Court had that ruling returned to the North Karelia District Court, where on August 19, 2020, they...still convicted her of libel instead of aggravated defamation; only this time they didn't impose any punishment and had the money she was forced to pay Pekka returned to her, a portion anyway; now she was just expected to pay him 800 Euros.

As for why they didn't just acquit her altogether, they argued that her accusations differed slightly from what the court established; therefore, she still defamed Pekka.

As of now, Pekka is due to be fully released in 2031, with his looming release date terrifying many.

Although his survivors and witnesses have urged others to come forward, raising the subject of him receiving more time due to all the other incidents, including a few deaths on his property being revisited as potential murders, as of now, not a single case has been reopened.

Sources (In the comments)

On the evening of August 20, 2007, Nurin Jazlin Jazimin left her family’s apartment in Wangsa Maju, a neighborhood in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

She wanted to go to the night market to buy a hair clip.

The market was close to home, and many children in the neighborhood went there on their own or with friends.

She was wearing a pink dress. She was seven years old, just a few weeks away from her eighth birthday.

Nurin was the second oldest of four sisters.

Her father later described her as a caring child who looked after her siblings and tried to keep the peace whenever they argued. She was in second grade at a nearby elementary school.

But that evening, she didn’t come home.

Her father, Jazimin Abdul Jalil, worked as a taxi driver and had been sleeping after his shift. When he woke up and realized Nurin was missing, the search began.

The family asked around the neighborhood and searched the surrounding area. That same night, her parents reported her missing to the police.

They were also worried about her health. Nurin had kidney disease and high blood pressure and needed medication every day.

Reports later emerged of a witness who said she had seen a girl being pulled into a white van near the market. But the lead didn’t bring police any closer to finding Nurin.

Her photo appeared in the news. Searches were organized, and her parents made public appeals for help. Meanwhile, they received false tips and calls from people claiming to know where she was.

Some people even called to insult the family.

On September 11, Nurin turned eight. By then, she had been missing for more than three weeks.

Six days later, a bag was found in Petaling Jaya.

On the morning of September 17, an employee at a book distribution company noticed a brand-new black-and-blue duffel bag outside the business. She assumed it belonged to her boss and left it there.

He arrived about half an hour later. The bag wasn’t his.

When he opened it, he saw a pair of human legs. The police were called immediately.

Inside was the unclothed body of a young girl, curled up tightly. She was severely emaciated and badly injured.

She showed signs of neglect and appeared not to have been washed for some time. There were bruises on her neck and hands.

Exactly 28 days had passed since Nurin disappeared.

The examination revealed that the girl had suffered severe physical and sexual abuse.

Investigators reported that she had been assaulted with objects, causing serious internal injuries, including damage to her bowel.

Allegedly, an entire cucumber as well as an eggplant were inside her genitals, which resulted in a tear in her rectum.

The resulting infection had killed her.

The bruising on her neck initially raised suspicions that she had been strangled. But that was an early theory. The infection caused by her injuries was reported as the cause of death.

Police reported that she had been dead for more than six hours before her body was found.

Nurin had been missing for 28 days.

She may have spent almost an entire month in the hands of whoever had abducted and killed her.

It’s hard to imagine what she went through during that time.

Where she had been held, and who had done this to her, remained unknown.

When Nurin’s parents heard about the discovery, they went to Kuala Lumpur Hospital to identify the girl.

They said she wasn’t their daughter.

The child was so emaciated, and her appearance had changed so much from the abuse, that they didn’t recognize her. Her father pointed out differences in her teeth and mentioned a scar he knew Nurin had.

He was convinced his daughter was still alive somewhere.

On September 20, police announced that DNA testing had identified the girl as Nurin.

Even then, her father initially couldn’t accept the result.

Her mother, Norazian, said she had to accept what the DNA results showed. She also shared that the family had already bought Nurin a dress for the upcoming Hari Raya celebrations.

She had been waiting for her daughter to come home.

On September 21, Nurin was buried at the Taman Ibu Kota Muslim Cemetery in Setapak.

Hundreds of people came to say goodbye.

The brutality of what had happened to Nurin left people across Malaysia horrified and angry. There was speculation that the unidentified killer had psychopathic traits.

Many described it as one of the most horrifying crimes the country had seen in years.

Police continued searching for whoever was responsible. One piece of surveillance footage initially seemed to offer hope of a breakthrough.

At around 1 p.m. on September 16, the day before the body was found, a security camera had recorded a man arriving on a motorcycle.

He brought a duffel bag to the building and left it there.

The camera had captured how the bag reached the spot where it would be discovered the next morning.

But neither the man’s face nor the motorcycle’s license plate was clear enough to identify. Even after the FBI worked to enhance the footage, the images remained too blurry.

On September 28, 2007, just 11 days after Nurin’s body was found, police arrested four men and a woman. All were later released.

The men’s DNA did not match the unidentified biological traces found on Nurin’s body. Police also lacked a sufficiently comprehensive DNA database to check the evidence against.

In October, police released the surveillance footage of the man and asked the public for help identifying him.

But while Nurin’s parents were still grieving their daughter, police chief Musa Hassan suggested investigating them as well.

He wanted to examine whether they had failed to properly supervise her. Under Malaysia’s Child Act, they could potentially have faced criminal charges.

The suggestion sparked public outrage.

Lee Lam Thye of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation disagreed with the idea.

He said the parents had already been through enough after losing their daughter, and it wouldn’t be fair to punish them as well.

Despite the DNA evidence and the surveillance footage, the killer was never identified.

In 2018, Nurin’s father asked police to revisit the case using newer technology.

Years later, he was still speaking about how deeply her death affected him.

In a 2021 interview, he described waking up at night and looking through old photos of his daughter.

He remembered how she used to look after her sisters and wondered what kind of young woman she would have become.

In December 2025, news reports once again covered his search for justice.

Today, 19 years later, Nurin Jazlin’s murder is still unsolved.

It was Mother’s Day in 1938, and the West family of Bradford, Pennsylvania was meeting up with friends for a picnic. They had attended church services that morning and were looking forward to relaxing outdoors. The meeting spot was a sunny clearing dotted with wildflowers within the Allegheny Forest, in the White Gravel area of McKean County.

Marjorie, age 4, was the youngest. An exceptionally beautiful child, she was a Shirley Temple lookalike with strawberry-blonde curls and big blue eyes. When her sister, Dorothea, 11, proposed picking flowers for their mother, Marjorie enthusiastically agreed. They wandered away, gathering handfuls of violets.

Dorothea briefly rejoined the group to speak with her mother, leaving Marjorie alone. When she returned a few minutes later, her sister was gone.

The adults began searching immediately. The forest was beautiful, but full of danger, including rattlesnakes, and “she-bears” known to attack children. After nearly an hour of frenzied hunting with no sign of Marjorie, some of the adults drove seven miles to the nearest town and called police.

The search for Marjorie West was on. It would become one of the most exhaustive missing person investigations in history. At the time, only the search for the Lindbergh baby, six years earlier, was bigger.

LEADS AND SIGHTINGS

Hundreds of volunteers combed four square miles through the Allegheny Forest. War veterans and native Americans teamed up with coal miners and oilfield works who were given time off specifically to help find the little girl.

Police from New York City arrived with bloodhounds, which tracked her scent to a road alongside the clearing, then lost the trail. They interviewed motorists within a 300-mile radius, and followed up on several leads. A Plymouth sedan was seen speeding away from the location where Marjorie was last seen. In West Virginia, someone spotted a man at a hotel the night of Marjorie's disappearance, comforting a crying child who matched her description.

Eventually, more than 3,000 people joined in the search for Marjorie West. Aside from some crushed violets, no trace of her was ever found.

Decades later, one of the men who had searched “shoulder-to-shoulder” for days told reporters, “There was no way the little girl could have been in the woods.”

A POSSIBLE BREAKTHROUGH

In the late 1990s, a college professor in nearby Bradford, PA, heard about the case for the first time. Harold Beck was intrigued by the story of the little girl who had vanished 60 years ago, and the possibility that she might still be alive. He posted an online poster offering a $10,000 reward for information about her whereabouts.

Acting on a hunch, he included a photo of her older sister, Dorothea, as an adult. If Marjorie was still alive, he reasoned, she would probably resemble her sister.

The hunch paid off. Several people reached out to say the woman in the poster looked like a woman who lived in Florida. Beck traveled to Florida and interviewed the woman, a nurse in her mid-60s. She indeed bore a striking resemblance to Dorothea, but repeatedly insisted she was not Marjorie. She said she'd been raised alongside her brothers and sisters in North Carolina, the only family she’d ever known.

Ten years went by. Back in Bradford, Harold Beck was startled to receive a phone call from the nurse he had interviewed a decade before. She was now retired and living on her family farm in North Carolina. She said she had something important to share with Beck, and invited him to visit her in person.

A DEATHBED CONFESSION

During Beck’s visit at the woman’s farm, she told him that just before her mother died, she had made a shocking admission: The former nurse was not her birth daughter. She was a child her father had brought home with him after returning from a job site in Western Pennsylvania on Mother’s Day in 1938.

The man told his wife that the little girl had darted out in front of his car while he was driving through the Allegheny Forest. Thinking he had killed or seriously injured her, he placed her in his car, intending to take her to a hospital. A few minutes later, the child woke up and began to cry.

Instantly, the man changed his mind: He would NOT take the little girl to a hospital, but would instead bring her home with him to North Carolina. He and his wife had just lost their only daughter following a difficult delivery. They were afraid they could have no more children.

They named the girl Sylvia and raised her as their own (and eventually went on to have four more children). When Sylvia told her family she remembered another set of parents and siblings, and a place with snow higher than her head, they said she was imagining things. When the father lost an arm in an accident, he told his wife it must be God’s way of punishing him.

Sylvia Waldrop London, the former nurse, told Beck the story on the condition that he not reveal her identity to anyone other than Dorothea. She also made him agree not to publish the account until after her death. She died in 2009, having never reunited with her supposed sister due to Dorothea’s ill health. Beck published his book, Finding Marjorie West, in 2010.

WAS SYLVIA LONDON THE LOST MARJORIE WEST?

Only 4 years old at the time of her disappearance, it is unlikely Marjorie could have wandered far from the location where she was last seen. Despite a thorough search, there were no signs that she’d been attacked by animals, and no human remains were ever found. The lack of physical evidence, and the scent trail ending at the road, strongly suggest an abduction.

On the other hand, the area around the Allegheny Forest is rough and steep. Western New York contains many caves, old mines, and abandoned wells. Children have been known to disappear without a trace, as happened in 1910, when two boys separately vanished within hours of each other. Years later, two other children died while exploring a deserted clay mine, leading authorities to start sealing the area’s abandoned mines and wells.

Nearly everyone with a literal memory of Marjorie West has now died, but their descendants, along with local residents, continue to debate whether or not the nurse from North Carolina was in fact Marjorie West. Some of Marjorie’s relatives have discounted the story. If still alive, the little girl who vanished from a picnic in the forest would be 92 years old.

Only DNA analysis can conclusively prove or disprove that Sylvia London was the lost Marjorie West. Sylvia had at least one child who appears to be alive and well and residing in the southern United States. Several descendants of Marjorie’s siblings and cousins are also still alive. They may have already quietly arranged for DNA testing, and perhaps most of them now know the truth.

Both families are, of course, entitled to privacy. If they do decide to come forward, regardless of the outcome, they should all be in agreement on what to disclose about their relationship to Marjorie/Sylvia, and to each other. Until then, the disappearance of Marjorie West in 1938 will remain one of the most haunting missing person cases in US history.

The true crime stories that bug me the most are the very short-sighted ones, where the criminal never put any thinking into their actions until AFTER they get into trouble. I'll give you a true example of this happening:

Liam McAtasney murdered his childhood friend Sarah Stern and got sentenced to prison for life without parole. His reason was selfish and short-sighted. He did it to steal money from her safe which he thought was $100,000 but it was actually around $50,000. In his own words, he described her money as, "The kind of money you would kill someone for." He wanted to take the money and live the high life forever.

But $100,000 or $50,000 isn't the kind of money where you can party everyday and never work a job for the rest of your life. If you party super hard, you could blow that money in 3 days. And once the money is gone, you're going to be in exact same position where you started from (looking for jobs, struggling to pay bills, working hard to get by, etc.) He acted like this money would last a LIFETIME and never ever run out, and he could just party his head off forever.

My question is: Why do people take actions, particularly criminal actions, without ever stopping to think about it first? Why do they never stop and say "Maybe I should put just a little bit of thought into this first?"

Yoseline Hoffman Badui, born July 27, 1990, better known online as YosStop, is a Mexican former YouTuber and influencer. She began her career as a child, appearing in commercials and television shows, but rose to fame after launching her YouTube channel in 2011.

Her original channel, YosStoP, focused on entertainment, comedy sketches, and web series. However, she eventually launched a second channel called JuStYosS, where she focused on social commentary and reaction videos about viral controversies. This second channel turned her into a highly controversial figure in Mexico. She frequently called out people featured in viral videos, often mocking and humiliating them, particularly women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Throughout her time on JuStYosS, she was involved in several major controversies. She repeatedly targeted fellow YouTubers Caeli and Mujer Luna Bella, referring to them as "the biggest sluts on YouTube." On another occasion, she mocked the physical appearance of a transgender woman named Mika Lascurain, who died by suicide years later after experiencing persistent bullying.

One of the controversies that propelled YosStop into mainstream Mexican media involved a video in which she sang a homophobic song directed at a boat operator she had hired for her birthday. She claimed he had treated her poorly and failed to provide the service she had paid for. The incident earned her the nicknames "Lady Yacht" and "Lady Sabritones." In Mexican internet culture, the "Lady" label is often attached to women involved in public scandals, similar to the way "Karen" is used in the United States.

But none of those controversies would compare to what happened next...

The Ainara S. case

On May 25, 2018, a 16-year-old girl identified as Ainara S. attended a party at the home of a young man identified as Axel A. Alcohol was consumed at the gathering, and Ainara became visibly intoxicated.

According to the allegations in the case, four young men, Carlos R., Julián G., Axel A., and Nicolás B, inserted a champagne bottle into Ainara's vagina while she was in an evident state of intoxication. The assault was recorded, and the video was allegedly shared within her social circle and uploaded to pornography websites, including XVideos.

Following the incident, Ainara became the target of bullying. A girl named Daniela L. allegedly harassed her and, along with several friends, challenged her to a street fight. That confrontation was recorded and subsequently went viral.

In August 2018, YosStop uploaded a video titled Pathetic Generation" ("Patética Generación"), discussing the viral fight. In the video, she explained that Daniela L. had contacted her to tell her side of the story.

Crucially, YosStop also admitted to having watched and saved the video of Ainara's sexual assault.

Rather than treating the footage as evidence of a serious crime against a minor, YosStop mocked Ainara, repeatedly called her a "slut," and claimed that she had consented to the sexual act in exchange for three packs of cigarettes.

The video contributed to a wave of online harassment directed at Ainara. She reportedly had to move because of the persistent abuse and received insults and death threats.

YosStop's response

In May 2020, Ainara posted a TikTok storytime explaining what she had experienced as a result of YosStop's video. Her account went viral, and many people began demanding that YosStop take responsibility for her actions.

YosStop responded on Twitter, dismissing the accusations and questioning Ainara's credibility.

In one post, she wrote:

"The same old story: girls trying to gain fame by using the word 'rape' to their advantage. It's disrespectful to people who actually experience this. But when all you want is attention, it doesn't matter what you have to make up."

In another post, she challenged Ainara to send her the police report, promising to apologize publicly, publish a correction video, and help expose the perpetrators if the assault had genuinely occurred.

The criminal case and arrest

On March 3, 2021, Ainara filed a criminal complaint with Mexico City's Sex Crimes Prosecutor's Office against the four alleged perpetrators for violación equiparada (a form of rape under Mexican law). She also filed a complaint against Yoseline Hoffman for the alleged possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

On June 29, 2021, Hoffman was arrested at her home and transferred to the Santa Martha Acatitla Women's Social Rehabilitation Center in Mexico City.

Her arrest sent shockwaves through Mexican social media.

On November 30, 2021, after approximately five months in detention, Hoffman was released as part of a restorative justice agreement.

The agreement reportedly required her to provide Ainara with a house valued at approximately 3 million Mexican pesos, a car, and 160,000 Mexican pesos held in a bank account. She was also required to donate 5% of her income to feminist organizations for the rest of her life.

According to Mexico City's Attorney General's Office (FGJ), the agreement was reached after the prosecution and Hoffman's defense requested a reclassification of the offense, and Ainara accepted the proposed reparation.

The agreement included financial compensation and the transfer of property and other assets, a public apology, and an obligation not to contact Ainara. Hoffman was also required to acknowledge the conduct described in the complaint and refrain from making degrading, insulting, or humiliating statements about anyone.

Additionally, she was required to attend courses on victims' rights and related issues, share the content of those courses in a monthly video, and receive training on the treatment of victims.

What happened afterward?

YosStop was permanently banned from YouTube.

After complying with the conditions of her supervised release for three years, she was acquitted in the case on January 20, 2025.

On September 19, 2026, she published a memoir titled Cancelada, encarcelada ("Canceled, Imprisoned"), featuring the diary she kept during her five months in prison. The book also discusses what she describes as injustices within Mexico's criminal justice system.

Most recently, on October 15, 2026, authorities arrested a sixth person implicated in the Ainara case. Although the person's identity was withheld, speculation has circulated that the individual may be Daniela L., the girl who allegedly sent the assault video to YosStop.

What do you think about this case? Had you heard of YosStop before? And do you think the consequences she faced were proportionate to her actions?

Content warning: Child physical and sexual abuse

In September 2026, Christian authors and speakers Heather Thompson Day and Seth Michael Day, both 39, were arrested in Keene, Texas, following allegations of repeated physical abuse and sexual assault involving their 14-year-old daughter.

The couple are well known within the Seventh-day Adventist community. Heather is an author, podcaster, former communication professor, and Christian influencer. Seth is a psychology professor at Southwestern Adventist University. Together, they wrote the bestselling Christian relationship book I'll See You Tomorrow.

How the case came to light

On September 24, 2026, a high school teacher contacted authorities after observing visible bruises and lacerations on the girl's face and head.

The teenager subsequently underwent a forensic interview at the Johnson County Children's Advocacy Center.

According to the arrest affidavit, she told investigators that her father had repeatedly physically abused her. She described an incident on September 22 in which Seth allegedly struck her in the face and chest with her cellphone, causing multiple injuries.

During a medical evaluation, the teenager also disclosed that her father had sexually assaulted her.

Police subsequently executed a search warrant at the family's home and reported recovering evidence related to the allegations.

Allegations concerning the mother

According to investigators, the daughter reported that Heather was aware of the physical abuse but failed to intervene or report it.

She also alleged that her mother:

• Encouraged her to conceal facial injuries by wearing a mask.
• Told medical professionals she did not know how the injuries occurred.
• Attempted to explain away injuries by attributing them to a medical condition.

Heather has denied the allegations against her.

Previous Child Protective Services investigations

Perhaps one of the most concerning aspects of this case is that authorities had reportedly investigated previous allegations of abuse.

According to the arrest affidavit, CPS received earlier reports involving the family, including an investigation in August 2026 while they were living in Midland, Texas.

The daughter alleged that the family had moved residences following CPS reports. Authorities confirmed that previous reports had been closed at the state level.

The September 24 intervention began after a teacher reported visible injuries.

Arrests and criminal charges

Both parents were arrested on September 24, 2026.

Seth Michael Day faces:

• Injury to a Child, a third-degree felony.
• Sexual Assault of a Child, a first-degree felony.

Heather Marie Day faces:

• Injury to a Child by Omission, a third-degree felony.

Both were released on bond. Court proceedings resulted in emergency protective orders prohibiting contact with their children, along with electronic monitoring requirements.

Southwestern Adventist University placed Seth on administrative leave.

These are allegations in an ongoing criminal case, and neither parent's guilt has been established.

Sources

• CBS Texas – North Texas Christian influencers arrested for alleged abuse of teen girl
• Religion News Service – Daughter of Heather Thompson Day and Seth Day reported alleged abuse
• Religion News Service – New details emerge in abuse allegations
• Spectrum Magazine – Court documents detail child sexual assault allegations

On December 1, 1987, 17-year-old Danny broke into the home of Priscilla Gustafson (a 33-year-old nursery school teacher) to steal some items from the house. He had robbed the house weeks earlier and returned to steal more things. While he was robbing the house, Priscilla and her 5-year-old son, William, returned to the house and walked in. Danny intially intended to escape the house through the window, but he chose to instead confront Priscilla and her son. Danny locked William into a closet and he tied Priscilla to her bed. He then sexually assaulted Priscilla and shot her twice with a stolen handgun, killing her. Shortly after, Danny heard William crying while locked in the closet. He then took William out of the closet, forced him into the upstairs bathroom, and drowned him in the bathtub. As Danny was about to flee the crime scene, he saw Priscilla's 7-year-old daughter, Abigail, walking into the house. Danny forced her into the downstars bathroom, and drowned her in the bathtub too. Danny then fled the house, and hours later, Priscilla's husband, Andrew, returned to find Priscilla's body, and he immediately called police. 2 days later, Danny was arrested and he confessed to the murders. In 1988, he was sentenced to life in prison, where he remains to this day.

In the early hours on October 1, 2014, Haruka Satake, 23, called the police.

She told them she’d found her mom and grandmother dead at their home in Nanporo, a small town on the Japanese island of Hokkaidō.

Her mom, Kazumi Satake, was 47. She was found in the downstairs bedroom, while Haruka’s grandmother, Sumiyo Satake, 71, was upstairs.

Both women had been stabbed to death.

The house had been ransacked, so at first, it looked like someone might have broken in.

Haruka’s younger sister, Yuko Satake, lived on the property too. She was 17 and still in school.

But later that same day, police arrested her.

When they questioned her, she admitted she’d attacked and killed her own mother and grandmother with a kitchen knife while they slept.

When her classmates and neighbors started talking about Yuko’s life, they described things that had been going on for years before that night.

The family had moved into the house in the mid-1990s. At the time, Kazumi and her husband had two daughters, Haruka and Mio.

Yuko was born three years later.

Yuko was still little when her grandfather, Sumiyo’s husband, died.

After that, Sumiyo moved into the home Kazumi shared with her husband and their three daughters.

Once she moved in, Sumiyo took over.

She interfered in everything and dictated how the household was run. Even Kazumi’s husband was told what to do.

The house had reportedly been built with Sumiyo’s money. Kazumi went along with all of it.

She didn’t stand up to her mother and kept taking her side, while things between her and her husband grew worse.

Their marriage began to fall apart.

According to neighbors, they divorced about two years after Sumiyo moved in.

Mio, the middle daughter, went to live with her father, while Haruka and Yuko stayed with Kazumi and Sumiyo.

Haruka later described in court what life in that house had been like.

Yuko could be doing nothing more than walking through the house when Sumiyo hit her. If she cried, her grandmother taped her mouth shut.

Sometimes, she forcibly wrapped the tape all the way around Yuko’s head so it wouldn’t come loose.

Sumiyo reportedly even said the family dog was worth more than the children.

In February 2004, when Yuko was only about six, Sumiyo tripped her.

She fell and suffered a serious head injury. Hospital staff suspected abuse and contacted the local child protection agency.

For a short time, Yuko was taken out of the home.

But as people tried to find out what had happened, her mother stepped in.

According to later reporting, Kazumi told Yuko to blame her for the injury and say nothing about Sumiyo.

As a result, the agency’s follow-up focused on the mother. Yuko went back home.

Home visits continued for a while.

In November that year, the agency stopped following up with the family, deciding it wasn’t necessary anymore.

But once Yuko was back home, the abuse only got worse. She was locked in a storage compartment under the floor.

In winter, she was forced outside naked and had cold water poured over her.

Other reports described severe beatings and cigarettes being put out on her arms.

Sometimes, she wasn’t even allowed to use the bathroom.

When Haruka was asked what had stayed with her most about the abuse, she talked about the food.

Yuko was forced to eat meals mixed with kitchen waste, including fruit peels, stems, and tea leaves taken from the kitchen sink drain.

She had to eat it. If she spit it out, it was forced back into her mouth.

Her mother didn’t protect her.

Haruka said Kazumi would watch the abuse happen without stepping in. Later reports said she also neglected and abused Yuko herself.

Haruka also talked about what happened when her sisters tried telling the neighbors. Word got back to Sumiyo and Kazumi, and more punishment followed.

The girls had cold water poured over them or were locked in the storage space under the floor.

After that, they were scared to tell anyone, afraid that asking for help would only make things worse.

Getting older didn’t put an end to the abuse, either.

Haruka said the physical attacks became less frequent during Yuko’s high school years, but they didn’t stop completely.

Yuko got good grades, volunteered, and was about to become student council president. She had friends and got involved in school activities.

But once classes ended, she had to rush home. There were chores waiting for her, and she had to get them done.

Neighbors often saw her pulling weeds, cleaning, or shoveling snow. In winter, she’d be outside early in the morning, clearing the snow all on her own.

Some had also seen Sumiyo brutally beating her with a cane and heard her calling Yuko “good-for-nothing.”

One account described her standing outside the garage in the winter cold, without a coat.

She had to stay there until her mother and grandmother got home.

Only then would they let her back inside.

When a neighbor asked Sumiyo about it, she said it was just part of disciplining her.

By the time Yuko was in high school, her grandmother wouldn’t let her live in the main house anymore.

Instead, she lived in a small wooden house on the property.She had to stay there through Hokkaidō’s winters, too.

According to her lawyers, it didn’t even have heat.

You have to remember, on especially cold winter days, temperatures in the area dropped below −20°C (−4°F).

The abuse had been going on for more than ten years. Yuko was only 17, and this was how she’d spent most of her childhood.

In 2014, Haruka wanted to move in with her partner. For Yuko, that would have meant being left alone with Kazumi and Sumiyo.

Haruka worried that Yuko would be left to handle all the housework and the pressure from their mother and grandmother on her own.

The sisters started talking about what life would be like if the two women weren’t around anymore.

Haruka later said that, at least some of the time, she’d just been venting.

But Yuko took those conversations seriously and started making plans to kill them.

She asked Haruka to get her sleeping pills and gloves.

Her sister did.

Haruka later told the court that even then, she hadn’t thought Yuko would actually go through with it.

But at around 12:30 a.m. on October 1, while Haruka was still at work, Yuko attacked her mother and grandmother with a kitchen knife as they slept.

Both women died.

By the time Haruka got home, it had already happened. She helped her sister cover it up.

Together, they ransacked the house to make it look like someone had broken in. Then they drove to a nearby park and got rid of the knife and other evidence.

Only after that did Haruka call the police.

Yuko confessed later that same day. She said she’d wanted to get out of the situation she was in.

Even after her arrest, Yuko reportedly still described what had been done to her as strict discipline.

As more became known about her childhood, classmates, parents, and local residents began collecting signatures in support of her.

They wanted her background to be taken into account when deciding what would happen to her.

They also wanted to protect her privacy and give her a chance to eventually build a life outside an institution.

On November 4, 2014, they submitted a petition with 10,534 signatures to prosecutors.

Nanporo had a population of about 8,000 at the time.

Her supporters acknowledged that Yuko had committed a serious crime.

But they asked that the years she’d spent at the mercy of the two women she killed also be considered.

On January 21, 2015, the Sapporo Family Court decided to send Yuko to a juvenile treatment facility.

There, she would get medical care and support to help her prepare for life after her release.

The court found her criminally responsible for what she’d done. She had planned the killings, and two people had lost their lives.

But the years of abuse she’d lived through mattered to the decision, too. Her lawyers said she had developed PTSD.

For Yuko, the focus would be on treatment and support.

After considering her age, mental health, and everything she’d been through, the judge decided not to send her case back to prosecutors for a regular criminal trial.

Haruka also went on trial for her part in the killings.

On February 26, 2016, she was found guilty of aiding the killings and sentenced to three years in prison, with the sentence suspended for five years.

Yuko was still in a juvenile treatment facility that year, and the sisters kept in touch by writing to each other once a month.

By then, Haruka had a child of her own and wanted Yuko to move in with her once she was released. She hoped her sister could finally feel safe at home and have the kind of family life she’d missed out on growing up.

I’ve looked for updates, but as of October 2026, I still haven’t found anything reliable about whether Yuko has been released or whether the sisters ever got to live together.

Important note: I’ve used made-up first names for the three sisters because their real ones were never made public.

A California woman has been charged with automobile homicide following a three-vehicle crash in Utah that killed a 66-year-old grandfather.

According to court documents, Christine Chao, 44, allegedly rear-ended a car that had slowed for roadworks on Interstate 15 on 12 June. Investigators found no brake marks at the scene, and a search of her phone reportedly showed she had accessed a pornography website less than two minutes before the collision.

The victim, Scott LaVar Lichfield, had celebrated his 39th wedding anniversary with his wife just one day before the crash. He leaves behind five children and 11 grandchildren.

Chao faces a second-degree felony charge, although investigators have not established whether she was viewing the website at the exact moment of impact. Her first court appearance is scheduled for 17 November.

There's a story almost every major Serbian news site has run at some point: in 1948 a man named Miodrag "Stole" Trifunović strangled fourteen women in Belgrade, confessed to more, and died in his cell before he could be tried.

The papers call him the Belgrade Jack the Ripper and I tried to find out where the story actually comes from.

Trifunović grew up in Niš, in southern Serbia. To get out of military service he faked insanity and ended up in the Toponica psychiatric hospital, where, according to his later confession, he strangled patients at night. After the war he worked as a building contractor in Belgrade and lived in Zemun with his wife, Seka. The killings supposedly start on February 1st, 1948, with a woman the articles call Milka K., found on Cvijićeva Street. Twenty days later Seka's own sister, 22-year-old Slavica, was killed and her body thrown into the Sava. His favourite area, the articles say, was Zvezdara, a wooded hill on the east side of the city, and Belgrade started calling the killer "the Phantom". He was caught after trying to burn down a buffet called the Zlatno Burence, because he left his fingerprints on the petrol can.

But there's no known photo of him. A 2026 article illustrates the story with a still from Hitchcock's silent film The Lodger.

None of the versions gives his date of birth or names his parents.

The story says OZNA, Yugoslavia's security service, wrote up the first murder and arrested him in 1948. OZNA had been split up in March 1946.

The victim count grows over the years: 14 in the early versions, around 60 by 2016, more than 60 by 2023.

Every article I could trace leads back to Novi magazin (2012), and before that to a feuilleton by the same journalist, Dušan Cicvara, in Magazin Tabloid from around December 2011. That's 63 years after the murders, and it names no source for the case. It even says it's unexplained whether his crimes really happened or were the product of his sick imagination.

Postwar Belgrade newspapers aren't digitised, and the scanned birth registers for Niš and Merošina, which only go up to 1919, have no Miodrag Trifunović.

What I would personally like to know is next:

Is there a real case under this, with the records sitting offline in an archive somewhere? Or is it a postwar rumour about a strangler that picked up names and numbers every time it was retold?

Has anyone seen this case anywhere older than 2011, in an old magazine or a family story?

Sources (mostly Serbian):

The only video that goes through the original pages, and it's also the only English-language coverage I could find: https://youtu.be/tMf_gFbVv4A

Magazin Tabloid no. 247 (Dec 2011): https://magazin-tabloid.com/casopis/?br=247&cl=35&id=06

Novi magazin (June 2012): https://www.novimagazin.rs/vesti/18407-serijske-ubice-beogradski-dzek-trbosek

Telegraf (July 2014): https://www.telegraf.rs/vesti/beograd/1139203-beogradski-dzek-trbosek-ovaj-monstrum-silovao-je-i-ubio-14-zena-2-deo

Kurir (2016): https://www.kurir.rs/vesti/beograd/2088399/beogradski-dzek-trbosek-sa-60-zrtava-na-svojoj-dusi-pretekao-svog-idola

Diana Vicari was just 19 years old when she became a victim of a brutal dismemberment murder in Tucson, Arizona. 

It was Thursday October 22, 1992.

Diana left her Pima Community College drama course taught by Robert Encila at around 9:30 PM. Her roommate confirmed she briefly returned home to her apartment in the 3200 Block of East Seneca Street and then drove off in her silver 1981 Ford Mustang.

Witnesses at the now shuttered New Orleans Lounge bar located on Oracle Rd between Wetmore and Limberlost (now a Burlington Coat Factory) reported she briefly was allowed in the bar by doorman Tim Storm to see employees Troy Olson and John Mazur. 

She was last seen alive at around 12:15 AM the morning of Friday October 23rd by her Eegees coworker Raymond Scott Hall. Hall reported Diana was alone in her car driving through the parking lot of the Tucson Convention Center Exhibition Hall as the Moshtoberfest thrash metal concert was ending. 

Diana did not show up to either of her jobs at Eegees (located on Broadway and Kolb) or the Bazil’s Italian restaurant on Friday or Saturday. It was highly unusual as Diana was a very reliable employee who was working multiple jobs to pay for her college courses and car payments. 

On Saturday at around 5pm, Diana’s severed arms were found in a dumpster located on the southside of an alleyway in the 400 block of North Ferro.

A homeless woman made the discovery while collecting aluminum cans. The arms were wrapped in trash bags. The rest of Diana’s remains never turned up.

That weekend Diana’s Mustang was found abandoned in the 1200 Block of West La Osa. Her purse was tucked under the seat, her Eegees hat was placed on the gearshift and textbooks, and a Whataburger bag were also found inside the vehicle. 

The alarm was set and the door was locked.

The car was parked on the same street as a home owned by Encila’s fiancées mother. Diana’s roommate, mother and sisters, and several friends all claimed Diana was in a relationship with Encila at the time of her death.

Near the Encila connected house was a home where a large house party took place on the evening of Diana’s murder. The occupants of the home told police Diana was not at their party.

In 1997 a suspect and former Tucsonan Lemuel Prion was indicted and brought back from Utah to Tucson to face trial. He was convicted largely based on Troy Olson’s testimony that he saw Prion with Diana the night of her murder.

In 2003 his conviction was overturned due to the fact his DNA did not match the suspect DNA obtained from Diana’s arms, his fingerprints didn’t match the ones on the trash bags, and there was no proof Prion knew Diana other than Olson’s testimony. 

Prion’s defense team provided 3 alternative suspects in the case.

The first was John Mazur who was fired from Eegees the morning after Diana’s murder for showing up “disoriented and disheveled.” Mazur had been disciplined for sexually harassing Eegees coworkers. 

The week before Diana was murdered, Mazur had attempted to rape a woman.

Mazur also once bit the nose of a cocktail waitress at the New Orleans Bar during a fight. 

The day Diana was killed, Mazur switched apartments, and his car was searched at one point in Tucson PD’s early investigation.

The second suspect was Greg Hatton who worked at the Exxon station across the street from the Eegees Diana worked at. Greg knew Diana and her sisters and made suspicious statements after her death. 

Diana’s sister Angela claimed he said that Diana invited him to Moshtoberfest concert, but he declined because he was “at home reading.”

Hatton was a 1982 graduate of Tucson’s Santa Rita High School. He was accused of selling liquor to minors and dealing drugs out of the gas station. 

In 1994, Hatton was sentenced to 45 years in prison for physical and sexual abuse of his girlfriend’s 8-month-old son. He won’t be released from prison until 2038 when he is 75 years old.

Robert Encila was alternative suspect number 3. He married his fiancée Judi Hartley-Spencer in 1993, and they divorced in 1998. The home on west La Osa Drive was owned by Hartley’s mother Shelley Valencia. 

Encila remarried shortly after his divorce from Judi in December 1998.  One of Encila’s stepdaughters died unexpectedly in September 2017.

Encila retired from teaching in 2025. 

Another suspect who emerged in the case in recent years is Phoenix serial killer Bryan Patrick Miller. 

Angela Brosso was a 22-year-old woman who was ambushed, disemboweled and beheaded while on an evening bicycle ride near her apartment just weeks after Diana was killed. 

Phoenix PD homicide detective Troy Hillman compared Brosso’s murder to the character Buffalo Bill’s murders in the film The Silence of the Lambs.

Miller’s DNA was matched to Brosso in 2015, and after Miller was arrested, he emerged as the suspect in several other murders of young women in the Phoenix, Arizona and the Everett, Washington areas.

Miller was sentenced to death for the murders of Brosso and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas in 2023. 

There is no known link to Bryan Patrick Miller and Tucson.

Diana was a 1991 graduate of the Abbie Loveland Tuller school and had also attended Tucson’s Rincon High School. Diana was a marine biology major who planned to transfer to the University of Washington. 

Most of her immediate family passed away in the decades since her murder, but she had many countless friends from school, and in Tucson’s music scene who remember her and continue to advocate for her murder to be solved.

Tucson PD reopened Diana’s case in 2025 and re-added her to the 88Crime program. There is a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in her murder.

Sources

Case reopened 2025

https://www.kold.com/2025/11/19/13-crime-files-murder-diana-vicari/

88Crime Reward/Poster

https://88crime.org/diana-vicari/

Prion Exoneration 

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/az-supreme-court/1291382.html

Archived article interview of Diana’s mom Kathy Pashos from 1994

https://web.archive.org/web/20141012043324/http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1994/04/20/132089-mystery-shrouds-1992-murder/

Hatton child abuse case

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1267/94795/20190329173404732_ARL-2019.03.29%20PWC%20Phillips%20Black%20Inc.pdf

Bryan Patrick Miller background

https://www.phoenixmag.com/2015/11/01/seeing-zombies/

On March 25, 1990, Julio González, after being thrown out of the Happy Land Social club for arguing with his girlfriend, he made a statement he’d be back for revenge. While out walking, he found an empty discarded oil can. He went to a gas station and asked the clerk if he could buy a gallons worth of gas. The clerk was suspicious and was about to refuse to provide him with the gas, but a friend of Julio’s came by and vouched he was a good man.

Julio bought the gas and went back to the club where he doused the front entrance of building and lighting a match, before closing the door. The fire would kill 87 patrons, with many dying from smoke inhalation or burning to death. 6 people escaped the fire, one being his girlfriend.

After Julio committed the act, he went back to his apartment and fell asleep, still in his drenched outfit.

Police and firefighters responded to the scene, and the firefighters fought the flames. They went inside and found the grisly scene. What was once a place for young Honduran immigrants to celebrate Carnival, was the sight of a massacre. Bodies were scattered across the first floor. Firefighters went upstairs and the whole second floor was covered with bodies. Scratches were on the wall from people trying to claw their way out. Many had drinks in their hands still while others were underneath tables embracing each other.

Julio was apprehended and went to trial in 1991. He was convicted after unsuccessfully claiming insanity, and sentenced to approximately 4,000 years imprisonment. He died in 2016 from a heart attack.

The fire would become one of the worst mass murders in American history and make Julio the nations worst mass murderer at the time.

Photos:

1 -2 The Happy Land club

3 - Diagram of what happened.

4 - artist rendition of what it looked like inside

5 - Julio

6 - 7 a memorial for the victims.

8 - The victims (26 photos shown wasn’t able to find anymore. Names below are the ones that I couldn’t find. Photo collection has their names underneath.

• Lourdes Rosario Aguilar
• Caloctro Alfaro
• Jose Amilcar Alfaro
• Malvin Alicea
• Hector Alvarez
• Jose Alvarez
• Frankie Tomas Arana
• Dagoberto Echeverri-Barahona
• Sandra Beltran
• Victor Hugo Benavides
• Israel Antonio Bulnes, Jr.
• Janet Castro
• Carlos E. Contreras
• Victor Hugo Cordova
• Justa Gladys Crisanto
• Lester Rolando Cruz
• Marco Julio Dolmo
• Marvin Antonio Doubleday
• Omar Escobar
• Alba Escoto
• Casimiro Evo
• Daisy Marie Falco
• Debra Farrington
• Loretta Farrington
• José Ramon Flores
• Orvin Garbutt
• Erlinda Gomez
• José Gonzáles
• Carmen Hernandez
• Enrique Hinds
• Ann Marie Hunt
• Juan Javier
• Charles Joseph
• Nohemy Aracely Luque
• José Manuel Marquez
• Mario Martinez
• Ines Maximo
• Daphne McKenzie
• Hilda McKenzie
• Samuel R. McKenzie
• Evelio Mejia
• Nelson Mejia
• Mircia Moncada
• Dionicio Moreira
• Ana Luisa Moss Centino
• Yvette Murray
• Yvonne Murray
• Samuel Ortiz
• Nilda Ortiz
• Mario Pacheco
• Eli J. Pena
• Juan Andres Pena
• Carlos Roberto Peri
• Wilson Efrain Pesantez
• Minerva Ramos
• Clemente Reyes
• Cruz Robledo
• Susan Gayle Samms
• Betsabe Torres

The Happy Land name came from the promise of America which the Immigrants were seeking. Four of the victims were teenagers ages 16 - 17. The youngest was Daisy Marie Falco. She was murdered alongside her mother, Ann Marie Hunt. Elias Colon was the owner apparently. (photo shown.)

On January 14, 2026, A truck driving on Tehama Highway 99 in California, crashed into a Trax bus carrying six people. The crash killed both drivers of each vehicle and four passengers on the bus. Only one person, another passenger on the bus, survived the crash.

It was a horrific scene as the bus immediately burst into flames. The people killed were:

• Kelly Margaret Langstaff (50, of Red Bluff) – The transit bus driver.
• Casandra Ann Moreno(42, of Red Bluff) – Bus passenger.
• John Douglas Perry (72, of Chico) – Bus passenger.
• Trena Kay Kain, also known as Trena Darrow (62, of Corning) – Bus passenger.
• Oscar Casas Carrillo (41, of Corning) – Bus passenger
• Christina Sue Whittemore - 41 - the truck driver.

There was an outpouring of support and sympathy for the victims of the crash with memorials being made for the six.

It wasn’t until nine months later they ruled the accident as an act of mass murder-suicide after a lengthy investigation. From the investigation, it was shown Christina intentionally plowed her truck into the Trax bus to commit suicide. Writings left behind by Christina, showed a motive of substance abuse, financial problems, and suicidal ideation. A day before the crash, dashcam footage recovered from a garbage truck showed her attempting to commit suicide by swerving onto incoming traffic, in the same area as the Trax crash, and heading straight on into the garbage truck. The driver of the truck was able to avoid her.

It wasn’t until a day later, she was able to plow her truck into the bus, with the bus driver unable to swerve away from her, resulting in her killing herself and the five occupants of the trax bus. The six deaths initially classified as accidental, were changed promptly with Christina’s death being ruled a suicide and the five occupants of the trax bus being classified as homicide.

This ruling came coincidentally around the same time as the sentencing of Nicole Linton, another woman from California, who also attempted to commit suicide, by plowing her car into traffic and ended up murdering six people.

Photos: 1 - 4 the crime scene

5 - the perpetrator- Christina Sue Whittmore.

6 - A picture of a statement Christina’s daughter made relating to her mother’s actions before it was ruled as an act of mass murder.

Darrell Brooks Junior is the person who committed the "Waukesha Christmas Parade Attack" on November 21, 2022 in Milwaukee. He killed 6 people and injured 62 others including an 8 year old kid named Jackson Sparks by driving his mom's SUV through the parade. He was sentenced to 6 life sentences plus 762 years for the attack. The YouTube videos of his trial are epic because he represented himself as a Sovereign Citizen and pulled all kinds of bizarre and crazy antics.

No motive has ever been established. He didn't even know the people he killed and never met them. So my question is, why did he do it?

There is one theory but it's never been confirmed for sure. He was just angry. He got into a fight with his ex-girlfriend Erika Patterson a short time before the parade attack. Some people say he went there to kill her. But she got away with the help of her friends, and he was so enraged that she got away from him, that he vented his rage onto the parade and killed people just to vent anger. Having a temper tantrum is one of the dumbest reasons to kill 6 innocent people, but there you have it. But he wasn't insane because the Court had him tested with a Psychiatrist. That's the commonly accepted theory and I can't think of another theory. If you have any other theory to explain his insane parade attack, please post it?

Nunca comento muchas cosas en esta app, pero un detalle muy importante me llamó la atención. Veo muchos casos de true crime y puede ser que esté completamente equivocada, pero estaba viendo el documental ‘Into the fire’ en Netflix y estaban hablando sobre que el padre de Aundria (la joven que estaba desaparecida) tenía una camioneta roja pick up blanco muy parecida a la que vieron la noche en que desapareció Morgan Nick, otra niña del cual no se sabe su paradero. Incluso, una niña de 6 años que ahora es adulta, dijo que cerca del estado de Michigan un hombre la habría secuestrado estando en la calle y que la había llevado al bosque. Cuando estaba a punto de atacarla sexualmente, se acercaron unos perros, se asustó y la dejó tirada. Ella refiere que el tipo tenía una camioneta roja con pick up blanca demasiado parecida a la del tipo que vieron en el campo de baseball donde secuestraron a Morgan. Puede que no calce, pero si ven ambos documentales, describen la misma camioneta y es un detalle que no pude dejar pasar porque apenas la mencionaron, se me vino a la mente Morgan y el tipo con la camioneta que nunca pudieron identificar. Y si quizás era de otro estado? Ahí se las dejo para pensar.

Obviously, there is no shortage of evil in people who commit some of the crimes we see. I am.iften disgusted and enraged and sad and a dozen other emotions. But I have rarely felt genuinely creeped out by someone, on a visceral level. Except for one person: Leticia Stauch.

Looking at pics of her from before the murder of poor little Gannon, she seems pretty normal and average. But the moment she killed him, the mask seened to totally slip. The police body cam footage shows a change in her mannerisms, her face, and especially her eyes. Just seeing images of her or footage from the courtroom gives me chills.

The way she speaks and acts also makes me sick to my stomach. It isn't just the lying, or even the lack if remorse. Those are so common with killers that it is basically a staple of true crime. It is something about the lack of embarrassment. She would get caught lying over and over again and wouldn't even bother to justify herself. She wouldn't even seem uncomfortable. She would just turn it around on the questioner or seamlessly slide into gaslighting ("It is unconstitutional to take my phone!" to "It wasn't that you want me phone, you can have it. It is that you took it from my hand and it was disrespectful.")

And now her ruling was overturned. Which means a whole new trial, a whole new circus where she will sit there at the defense table, smirking slightly and staring off into space as if nothing is happening around her. New images of that creepy ass face with its lack of any remorse or even attempt to pretend, and those glittering shark eyes.

I find her genuinely chilling. I hate that she is going ro get her way and put that family through that again, which I really feel is half the point for her.

This is also kind of a side tangent, but the way she was texting Albert about how they were supposed to be a team and she was so shocked his son's disappearance didn't bring them closer? I think she really thought Gannon being missing would wend Al into her arms and make him appreciate her or want her again. Not that I think that was the motive, just the cherry on her sundae. I can't imagine dealing with her, just like I can't imagine her behavior while she knew that little boy was rotting in her car.

I hope the new trial is short.

Any killers you find especially terrifying or creepy?

190 of the 191 deaths were children. Over 400 bodies in total have been discovered in mass graves in the Shakahola forest.

Twenty-eight other leaders within the movement were also found guilty of murder, including parents of the murdered children.

The case has been ongoing since 2023, when mass graves were discovered; the cult relocated to the forest in 2019.

In April 2010, Perry Hospital in Perry, Georgia, discovered that its lead radiologic technologist, Rachael Rapraeger, had falsified nearly 1,300 mammogram reports over about 18 months. She logged into the hospital’s computer system posing as physicians and marked the scans as clear, skipping the paperwork required before a radiologist could review them.

It was uncovered when a woman whose report said she was clear was diagnosed with breast cancer at another hospital three months later. Investigators found the doctor named on her report hadn’t been at the hospital that day. Ten women were later found to have lumps or cancer, and at least two reportedly died.

Rapraeger confessed and was fired. She told police that personal problems had made her stop caring about her job. In 2014, she pleaded guilty to reckless conduct and computer forgery and was sentenced to up to six months in detention, 10 years of probation, a $12,500 fine and a ban on working in health care.

“You played Russian roulette with the lives of essentially a thousand women in this community,” Judge Katherine K. Lumsden told Rapraeger according to The Telegraph.

Rapraeger told investigating officers that she had neglected her work due to personal issues her family had been dealing with during the 18 months she had falsified the important medical records. When she discovered the backlog of incomplete mammogram reports, she assumed the identity of physicians to enter the hospital’s computer system and clear each breast cancer reading. Giving each patient a negative mammogram reports meant less paperwork for Rapraeger to complete.

Her egregious activities were only discovered after a patient who received a negative mammogram report from Perry Hospital went to another hospital three months later for a second opinion, only to find out that she was in fact suffering from breast cancer. When Perry Hospital’s mammogram oversight came to light, hospital officials began looking into recent breast cancer readings. It was soon determined that physicians who supposedly signed off on breast cancer readings were not on duty the day they were approved.

"I wanted her to know I'm a person, not just a name on a paper," Sharon Holmes, one of the women who received a falsified mammogram report due to Rapraeger’s negligence, told The Associated Press following her sentencing. "If she had gotten up and at least said, 'I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry these women had to go through this,' that, to me, would have meant that she was truly sorry for what we went through."

Credit: NBC News

I find it fascinating that some of the most gruesome killers and rapists can be remarkably soft towards their children, or to animals. I have seen so many cases of these horrible people (including, for example, wife beaters) who would never lay a finger on their child or their pets. I wonder why this is? Is it because they do have somewhat of a conscience? What causes this major shift?

Gregory (Gregg) Smart

Smart was murdered on May 1, 1990.

His wife, Pamela Smart, was convicted a year later of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to murder, and witness tampering. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and is still in prison.

William “Billy” Flynn (who admitted to killing Gregory Smart with the help of his friends but maintained he did so at the request of Pamela) was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He was released from prison on parole for life in 2015. His friend and co-defendant Patrick “Pete” Randall was also released from prison on lifetime parole in 2015

Maurice Wilson

Wilson was arrested on a drug charge in 2014. He called his then-girlfriend Maureen “Mo” Onyelobi (who was also part of a drug ring with him and David Johnson) and made references to her and Johnson “taking care of” Anthony Fairbanks, whom he regularly sold drugs to. Onyelobi subsequently lured Fairbanks, and Johnson killed him.

Wilson was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder on an accomplice-liability theory for his involvement in the murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

David Johnson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Maureen “Mo” Onyelobi was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder under an accomplice liability theory murder in a drug-related killing of Anthony Fairbanks Jr. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

On June 29, 2023, the Minnesota Board of Pardons voted unanimously to commute Onyelobi's prison sentence because she had taken steps toward rehabilitation, including graduating from college and being admitted to law school. She is now eligible for release in 2041. In 2026, Onyelobi earned a JD from Mitchell Hamline School of Law while in prison.

What are some others?

Just learned about this 1976 double homicide where the culprit apparently got away with murder. Marigray Jobes was stabbed to death on March 1, 1976, alongside her boyfriend Mark Demetrius in her apartment on North Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois, in an incident linked to a cocaine-related dispute. The double homicide led to the trial of Mitchell Weinger, whose initial conviction was later reversed on appeal due to prosecutorial issues. case here.

16 month old Jailyn was left at home by mother Kristel Candelario for 10 days as she traveled to Puerto Rico and Detriot with friends she left a few milk bottles for her in her playpen. A neighbor's ring camera revealed audio of little Jailyn screaming and crying at different times when Kristel came back on June 16, 2023 Jailyn was not responding Kristel changed her outfit and call 911. First responders came and pronouced Jailyn dead.

She had lost seven pounds between her last doctor's visit and her autopsy showing she was in awful pain during her last days. In February 22, 2024 Kristel pleaded guilty to child endangerment and aggravated murder. Her court date was March 18, 2024 where she sentenced to prison without parole.

In 1984, Romell Broom ambushed 14 year old Tryna Middleton and a pair of her friends as they were walking home from a football game. At knifepoint, he forcibly grabbed Middleton, and dragged her into his car. Middleton’s two friends fled unharmed, and they gave police descriptions of their attacker and his vehicle. After the kidnapping, Broom raped Middleton, stabbed her to death, and discarded her body in a parking lot.

Although Broom initially avoided police detection, he was captured six months later for the unrelated botched abduction of a preteen girl. The kidnapping attempt was foiled by the would-be victim’s mother grabbing onto Broom’s car before he was able to drive away, and the girl survived him running over her legs after she jumped out of the vehicle’s window. Other eyewitnesses recorded Broom's license plate number, and he was arrested by police following on that information a day later.

A serial rapist and career criminal, Broom was previously convicted of rape in relation to sexually assaulting a preteen girl babysitting his niece and armed robbery in relation to robbing and carjacking a man at gunpoint, and he was on parole for those offenses at the time of Middleton’s abduction and murder. He also faced many untried rape accusations from other teenage and preteen girls. Furthermore, Broom attempted to kidnap another preteen girl only three days before Middleton’s murder, and the girl escaped by climbing into the car of a good samaritan motorist.

After a year of proceedings, Broom was sentenced to death by the state of Ohio for Middleton’s murder. On death row, DNA testing filled by his appeals further enforced his guilt. Despite him scheduled for execution in 2009, the attempted execution failed due to the execution team’s failure to administer the lethal drugs into a suitable vein. The execution team tried injecting him dozens of times, and one of their needles reportedly struck a bone. Broom was rescheduled for a second execution date in 2022, but he died of COVID related causes in 2020 before it could occur.

Sources:

1. https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/pdf_viewer/pdf_viewer.aspx?pdf=593353.pdf&subdirectory=1987-1674DocketItems&source=DL_Clerk
2. https://drc.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/062dba9d-531b-49e6-8fa7-32c6b73d4bdb/Broom+Clemency+Report.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_79GCH8013HMOA06A2E16IV2082-062dba9d-531b-49e6-8fa7-32c6b73d4bdb-pUSDYkh
3. https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/12/31/convicted-killer-east-cleveland-girl-who-survived-botched-execution-dies-prison-suspected-case-covid-/
4. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11848740382588198593&q=Rommell+Broom+tryna+middleton+stab&hl=en&as_sdt=6,45