criminal-liability

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Villisca axe murders

In the very early morning hours of June 11, 1912—sometime between midnight and 5 a.m.—eight people were bludgeoned to death with an ax inside the home of the Moore family, including all six family members and two friends of one of the daughters. Six of the victims were children.

The night of June 10, mere hours before the killings, the family had gone to church, which ended at 9:30 p.m., and arrived back at the house around 9:45 or 10. Cigarette butts in the attic led investigators to believe that the killer snuck into the attic while the family was out and hid there until they fell asleep. Like most people in Villisca at the time, the Moore family didn’t lock the doors to their house when they went to church.

The parents, Josiah and Sarah Moore, were the first victims. The killer only used the blade of the weapon on Josiah, who received the most brutal beating; the rest of the victims were murdered with the blunt side of the ax, which had belonged to Josiah. The family friends who were staying in the guest room—Ina Mae Stillinger, age 8, and Lena Gertrude Stillinger, age 12—were the last to be killed. All of the victims except Lena appeared to have been asleep when they died. Lena was the only one who appeared to have defensive wounds, and was lying across the bed.

The ax was left in the guest room, next to a four-pound piece of slab bacon. At some point, the killer had covered all of the mirrors in the house with blankets and clothes, and cooked himself a plate of food, which was left untouched in the kitchen. He also left behind a bowl of bloody water. There’s something so hauntingly intriguing about little details like this in unsolved murders.

The gruesome killings were discovered the next morning, when Mary Peckham, the Moores’ neighbor, noticed that the family hadn’t started their morning chores around 7 a.m. She called Russ Moore, Josiah’s brother, who let himself in with his copy of the house key. After discovering the bodies of the Stillingers, he called the local peace officer, who called in investigators.

There were plenty of suspects, but the murder was never solved. One suspect, Reverend George Kelly, was actually tried for the murders. Kelly was a traveling minister who was in town the night of the crime. He was at the service the Moore family attended before their deaths, but inexplicably left town between 5 and 5:30 a.m. the next morning. He showed a suspicious interest in the murders, though, and after being in and out of trouble with the law for sending obscene material through the mail and a stint in a mental hospital, he was arrested for the murders in 1917. He confessed, then recanted, and was eventually tried and acquitted. It seems that most people didn’t believe that he was mentally or physically capable of the murders.

Naturally, a house with such a dark and mysterious past quickly attracted rumors of a haunting. The house was lived in for years after the murder, although families never stayed for long. From what I can tell, there’s not a ghostly phenomena that hasn’t been reported at the house—disembodied footsteps, things moving, voices, apparitions, shadows, bad vibes. You name it, the Villisca Ax Murder House has it.

It’s been on basically every ghost hunting show, from Ghost Adventures to Scariest Places on Earth and all of the essential spooky podcasts, including Lore and My Favorite Murder. In 2014 after a man staying there on an overnight ghost hunt inexplicably stabbed himself, an event that made national news.  

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Alberto Soledad Gomez (28)

Nicknamed "Canninal of Las Ventas'"

In the 2019 Alberto Gomez (26 at the time) Was arrested for murdering and dismembering his mother after a dispute.

He had transferred his mother's body to the bed after strangling her and dismembered her body with a carpenters saw and two kitchen knives.

He then stored parts of her body in tupperwares and placed them in the fridge and around the house. Police received a call from a friend requesting a welfare check on Maria Soledad Gomez (68) after not seeing her for a month.

When detectives arrived on scene and knocked on the door Alberto answered and said " Yes, my mother is in here dead." Once Gomez had let the officers in the home he added " Me and the dog have been eating her bit by bit."

When detectives went through the Gomez residence they found bones shoved inside drawers around the home as well as remains left in a pot on the stove. Remain filled tupperwares were placed in the fridge and around the home.

Detectives also stated that Maria's hands, head and heart were found on her bed.

Her body had been cut up in over 1000 pieces and consumed over a period of time.

Gomez had thrown out bits of her body trying to dispose of it, he also consumed bits of her raw.

Alberto claims he heard voices telling him to murder his mother. It's argued that he had suffered from a psychotic episode. Alberto had been admitted to Princesa Hospital on several occasions to undergo treatment in the past.

However, the courts denied that. When initially interviewed by detectives Alberto was asked why he killed his mother and his response was "because she made his life impossible."

Gomez will serve 15 years in prison for the brutal crime.

he claims he suffers from anxiety from the moment he wakes up and thinks of his mother and is absolutely heartbroken.

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“But I found Aileen very sweet, charming. Charismatic. I felt like I was in her living room rather than in a small room on death row. She was very excited to be able to talk freely and tell the truth. Her eyes had a light in them, which a couple of times clouded over with darkness.”

-Jasmine Hirst

DISCLAIMER: I’m in no way condoning what Aileen did nor do I agree with taking the life of another human being (unless it’s for self defense) but I found this woman’s encounter with her to be very  intriguing.

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The Murder of Catrine da Costa: Was She Dismembered In Front of A Child?

The murder

The murder of Catrine da Costa in 1984 has become one of the most famous murder cases in Sweden. Catrine, who was 27-years-old at the time of her death, was a drug addict and prostitute. She was constantly searching for men willing to pay for her services to afford her addiction. Catrine was also homeless and was staying with customers and friends to keep warm for the night. She was well-known in Stockholm, and she was often seen standing on Malmskillnadsgatan, which was an infamous street where prostitutes looked for their customers.

The last person that ever saw Catrine alive observed her on 10 June 1984.  Over a month later, a man discovered several plastic bags under a bridge that smelled terribly. He contacted the police, and body parts were found in the bags. They contained the legs and the lower part of a torso of a female. The police tried to identify the woman, but it was a hard task since they had no hands and therefore no fingerprints. However, other plastic bags were found a couple of weeks later. They contained both arms of a female, and the police could identify the woman as Catrine da Costa with her fingerprints. With the victim identified, two more questions had to be answered; who killed Catrine, and why?

The investigation

In December 1984, the police found a suspect; it was a man named Teet Härm who was working as a pathologist. However, he was released after just five days in custody because of a lack of evidence, but he was still considered a person of interest.

This might seem like a completely irrelevant happening, but it would turn out to be one of the most important parts of the murder investigation. A mother of a 17-month-old girl suspected that the father, a man named Thomas Allegén who was working as a doctor, to her child had molested the 17-month-old. The mother had the child examined four times by doctors, but they found no sign of molestation. However, the mother was convinced that Thomas was guilty since their daughter’s genitals were red and sore, and red bumps could be seen on her buttocks. The doctors determined that the child had simply rubbed her genitals at objects which caused the irritation. It is also common for children to have red bumps on their skin because of diapers. 1 and a half years later, the daughter was sitting in her mother’s lap while the mother read a newspaper. The paper showed pictures of murder victims whose murders had not been solved, and one picture was of Catrine da Costa. Suddenly, the child pointed at the picture and said: “Look! It’s her”. This was the start of a horrific story of a child witnessing a person being dismembered.

The daughter told her mother that she had seen her father and a man she called Tomt saw a lady into pieces. She stated that “the lady was whole, and then she was broken”. The child also stated that Thomas and Tomt had hit the lady in the head, drilled into her body, and consumed some of the body parts. She described the room where it had happened as white. The mother contacted the police, who took the lead seriously, and they soon had a new theory: Teet and Thomas had killed and dismembered Catrine in front of Thomas’ daughter, and the dismemberment had occurred at the hospital where they both worked. 

The daughter was taken to a room where autopsies were made to see if she recognized the surroundings. However, she showed no signs of being afraid or recognizing the room. Despite this, two child psychologists concluded that the child might be afraid to show that she had been there before because of the extreme trauma of witnessing her father dismember a woman. 

The media quickly picked up the story, and Teet and Thomas became famous as “the pathologist and the doctor” in the papers. The gory details of the supposed dismemberment made the story a success, and it was written about almost daily. A couple read about the case in a newspaper and quickly contacted the police. They believed that they could provide information to help with the investigation. The couple worked with developing pictures, and they had had a customer in 1984 who introduced himself as a doctor. He said that he was working on a murder case with the police and had to develop pictures of an autopsy, and asked the couple to not tell anyone about it. They developed the pictures and gave them to the customer and never told anyone. Now they believed that the pictures might have been of Catrine and that their customer was Thomas. They were brought to the police station to try and identify the customer in a line-up. The couple failed to identify Thomas as the customer several times but finally managed to identify him.

Both Thomas and Teet denied killing and dismembering Catrine. Thomas also stated that he had never molested his daughter. 

The trial

Despite the “evidence” pointing toward Teet and Thomas being guilty of murder were only indications, both of them stood trial in 1987. The prosecutor had Thomas’ daughter as his main witness as well as the couple. He also stated that the daughter’s name for her father’s accomplice, Tomt, resembled Teet’s name. This indicated that Teet was the accomplice. He also informed the court that Teet’s first wife had committed suicide in 1982 by hanging, but that Teet had not shown any signs of being upset about it. In fact, he had acted indifferent to the fact that his wife was dead. Furthermore, a pathologist had concluded that the dismemberment of Catrine had been carried out by someone with general or even full knowledge about human anatomy.

The attorney claimed that the child was not a reliable witness. Firstly, a child that young could not possibly remember anything at all from that time period, and a child could definitely not tell a detailed story about it 1 and a half years later. The attorney also stated that the couple was also unreliable witnesses since they could not identify Thomas as their customer in a line-up. Regarding the daughter’s name for her father’s accomplice, the attorney presented a children’s book about gnomes that had been read to the child. The word for gnomes in Sweden is “tomte”, which is of course very similar to “Tomt”. According to him, saws were a part of the story. He claimed that the daughter had been inspired by the book when telling her story. Furthermore, the attorney stated that Teet’s reaction to his wife’s suicide was irrelevant and that her suicide had been investigated several times and it had been deemed a suicide all times. The wife had also suffered from mental illness and had tried to kill herself before. 

Thomas and Teet were found guilty of the murder and dismemberment of Catrine. However, the trial was declared invalid since the jury had talked to the press about their views on Thomas and Teet before sentencing. This meant that the trial had to be done all over again with a new judge and a new jury. This time, Thomas and Teet were found not guilty of murder. However, it was stated that they had, without a doubt, dismembered Catrine, but they could not be punished since the crime had been prescribed. Thomas was found not guilty of molesting his daughter.

Other suspects

The investigators have received massive criticism; they were so focused on Thomas and Teet being the killers that they ignored evidence suggesting that someone else had committed the murder. For example, the last person that had seen Catrine alive was one of her customers. He had stated that he had dropped off Catrine on 10 June after spending a couple of hours with her, but no one could confirm his story. This meant that he could have killed Catrine, perhaps accidentally or in a fit of rage, and simply made up his statement to the police. The investigators also failed to DNA-test a person of interest that had previously been convicted of killing and dismembering a woman. There have been several other suspects over the years, but no one has been convicted of the murder. 

Aftermath

The murder of Catrine da Costa remains unsolved. Her head, genitals, one breast, and her intestines were never found. It has been widely discussed if Catrine was even murdered since a cause of death could not be determined; she could perhaps have died of an overdose or something else, and “only” been dismembered. The death and dismemberment of Catrine da Costa remain a mystery.

Thomas and Teet wrote and published an argumentative text in a Swedish newspaper in 2011. They wrote the following (my translation from Swedish to English): “Our lawsuit against the state resulted in a verdict where the district court found that 27 mistakes had been made in the earlier legal processes. We have a verdict showing that we were not giving a fair trial, but we have despite this not been granted damages”. 

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The Murder of Chloe Hoson

Chloe Hoson was a 5-year-old girl living in Sydney, Australia. She was described as a happy, playful girl who loved animals.

In 2003, Chloe’s mother told her to play outside while she cleaned the family caravan. While outside, Chloe saw the man who lived in the neighbouring caravan, 22-year-old Timothy Kosowicz. Kosowicz lured Chloe into his caravan telling her that she could play with his new kitten. Kosowicz claimed that while inside Chloe knocked over a pot of cannabis and that he ‘lost the plot’ and choked her before suffocating her with shopping bags and abusing her body. He then put Chloe’s remains in a sports bag which he dumped at a nearby creek.

Kosowicz was not convicted of the crime due to being found mentally ill, he spent 15 years on a psychiatric unit before being released.

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Women Who Kill - Christine and Lea Papin 

On the cold night of the 3rd of February 1933 in France, Monsieur Lancelin was due to meet his wife and daughter for an evening meal at a friend’s home, but when they never arrived, he became concerned. Lancelin returned home but could not get in due to the locked doors and could only see the glimmer of a candle flame through the window in the maid’s room. He called the police, who managed to gain access into the home, but they were met with a gruesome scene. The bodies of Madame Lancelin and her daughter were found beaten to a pulp to such an extent that they were barely recognisable. Sickeningly, both women had their nails removed and their eyes gouged out. In the maid’s room of the house sat sisters Christine and Lea Papin, who confessed to the brutal murder. The murder weapons, including a hammer, knife and pewter pot, were found nearby.

The French press labelled this as the crime of the century, and there was mass speculation as to what could have driven the sisters to kill. Whilst in prison, Christine exhibited disturbing behaviour, with witnesses claiming that she was having hallucinations as well as bizarre reactions. Christine wanted to see her sister after being separated in prison; when they were reunited, Christine displayed sexual behaviour towards Lea, leading to speculations as to whether they had a sexual relationship. In addition to this, Christine had a manic episode in which she attempted to gorge her own eyes out, and she stated she had a similar episode on the night of the murders. It was also believed that the murders resulted from the maid’s exploitation of working fourteen-hour days.

Christine Papin was sentenced to death but had her sentenced reduced to life. She died in 1937. Lea Papin was sentenced to ten years in prison. She was released in 1941 and died in 1981.

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Australia's Unsolved Nail Gun Murder: On November 1, 2008, just after 6:00 PM, two children, aged 9-years-old and 14-years-old, were on a canoeing trip when they found the body of a 27-year-old Chinese immigrant, Chen "Anthony" Liu, in a marshland surrounding Georges River in the south of Sydney, Australia. His severely decomposed corpse was wrapped in carpet and bound with electrical wires. The children told their parents about their findings, and the police were called.

Authorities state Chen had been dead for approximately 12 days before being discovered. Investigators of Australia's Homicide Squad had been investigating the case in conjunction with the Hurstville Local Area Command, forming Strike Force Renfree. Despite this, they had few leads to make an official arrest. Officers suggest it's possible the killer worked in construction.

Post-mortem examination reports revealed Chen was shot over 30 times in the head and neck with a high-powered nail gun, firing 85mm (3.3 inches) long nails. Detectives with Strike Force Renfree believe he was murdered in a different location and driven to the marsh in his 2005 model blue Range Rover Sport 4WD. The murder weapon had never been recovered, nor has the vehicle.

Chen had migrated from China to Melbourne on a student visa in 2000. He moved to Sydney, where he married an Australian woman for a short time until they separated. He was reported missing by a friend before being discovered in the marsh two weeks later. Investigators canvassed associates of Chen; however, there was no evidence indicating that he was involved with a criminal group.

Chen "Anthony" Liu's homicide is still an active case, and after all these years, no official arrests have been made.

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Greta Tim (14) disappeared from her home in Irvington, New Jersey on July 27th, 2008. The teen girl had run away a few times in the past, but she always returned to her home on Breakenridge Terrace. Police in Irvington would always question Greta after she returned home, but she would not reveal much information about where she went or what she did while she was missing. Greta was reported missing again by her mother on August 1st, 2008–three days after she was last seen. Due to her history of leaving on her own accord, Greta was classified as a runaway by police. After more and more time passed without any sign of Greta, she was reclassified as an endangered missing person.

Nearly four years later, on April 12th, 2012, landscapers found human remains stuffed into a plastic bag in a desolate area of Parsippany, New Jersey–located approximately 20 miles from Irvington. Two months later, the remains were positively identified as that of Greta Tim. Her death was labeled a homicide. Police believe that Greta was killed in a different location before her body was dumped in Parsippany. Very little details about the investigation are available, and no suspects have been publicly identified. Greta’s murder case remains open today. If you have any information that could help the investigation, please contact the contact the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office at (973) 285-6200.

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The Murders of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth: The First Time DNA Profiling Solved A Murder Case

The murders

DNA profiling is one of the best methods to identify a person, especially when a murder, rape, assault, or any other crime has happened. The DNA profile shows gender, hair color, eye color, and which part of the world you come from. Your DNA is also not the same as anyone else’s DNA, which makes it a foolproof way to connect a person to a crime scene where their DNA is found. However, using DNA profiling in investigations is a new method. It was first successfully used in 1987 in Leicestershire, England.

On the evening of 21 November 1983, 15-year-old Lynda Mann was on her way home from work. She wanted to get home as soon as possible and decided to take a shortcut. Sadly, Lynda never made it home. Her parents became worried and begun searching for her. The next morning, Lynda’s dead body was found. The medical examination revealed that Lynda had been raped and strangled to death, and semen was found I her body. The DNA from the semen was examined, but there was not much information discovered. The only thing the DNA revealed was that the perpetrator had type A blood and a rare kind of enzyme. The case soon went cold, and it seemed like the killer would never be found.

Three years after Lynda’s murder, another 15-year-old girl was found dead. Her name was Dawn Ashworth, and she had last been seen when walking over to a friend’s house. Dawn’s dead body was discovered two days later, and she had suffered the same fate as Lynda. DNA was collected from her body, and the DNA revealed that the killer had type A blood, just like Lynda’s killer.

Finally, the police had a suspect in the two killings. They interrogated a 17-year-old boy named Richard Buckland, but they used questionable techniques during the interrogation. They pressured Richard to confess, but he soon retracted his confession. However, the police managed to get him to confess again, but Richard once again changed his mind and denied being involved in the crime. However, Richard told the police a remarkable thing that made him a probable perpetrator in the death of Dawn; he claimed that he knew where Dawn’s body had been dumped. Richard seemed like the perfect suspect, but there was one huge problem; Richard’s DNA did not match with the DNA found on the crime scene. Richard was released, and the search continued. The police decided to let people volunteer to give their blood or saliva to prove their innocence in the cases. Over 5000 gave samples, but no one matched with the killer’s DNA.

In August 1987, a woman contacted the police and told them about a conversation she had overheard at a bar. She had heard a man telling his friends that he had taken a blood test to prove that he had nothing to do with the murders but that he had lied about his identity. He explained to his company that a friend of his had previously been convicted of indecent exposure and wanted to do the blood test, but he was afraid of being harassed by the police because of his past crimes. The man offered to take the blood test for him in his name, and the woman even heard what the name was; Colin Pitchfork.

Colin, who was 27 years old at the time, was arrested in September 1987. He confessed to exposing himself to hundreds of women since his teens, but he also confessed to raping and killing Lynda and Dawn.

Trial and aftermath

Colin pleaded guilty to raping and killing Lynda and Dawn and also pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another woman. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and had to serve a minimum of 30 years before he could apply for parole. However, this was shortened to 28 years in 2009.

Colin will likely be released soon. He was granted parole in June 2021 but has to remain in custody in case the Secretary of State for Justice wants to review the decision. He will possibly be released in late July, 2021.

This case was one of the first investigations that used DNA profiling. It turned out to be the most important part of solving the murders, and most important of all; without the DNA, it is possible that Richard Buckland would have been sent to prison.

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A CT scan of a patient following a facial reconstruction. The woman had been in a near-fatal car accident and hadn’t been wearing a seat belt.

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In 2007, a body was found in Gary, Indiana. The body was of a young woman who had been tortured and abused. It took 8 years for the girl to be identified as Erika Hill. She was identified by her sister, Kiara Hill, who also told the police she was murdered by their adoptive mother. The adoptive mother, Taylin Hill, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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The Unsolved Disappearance of Jeannette Miller

Jeannette Rose Miller, spelt Jeanette by some sources, was a 17-year-old woman with long, brown hair from Washington. Popular and confident, Jeannette often babysat for local children to earn extra money. She had a distinctive three-tooth denture plate on the left side of her jaw.

Few details on Jeannette’s case are available, it seems she went missing in September 1970. Jeannette’s family say she was happy at home, had just got a pet horse and had no reason to run away. On 16th September, her mother was due to collect her outside her high school but could not find Jeannette at the agreed location. A search began and witnesses reported seeing Jeannette walking along the Lincoln Bridge nearby, she was walking in the direction of her home.

From then the case goes cold, no further evidence was found and it is unknown if Jeannette is dead or alive to this day. None of Jeannette’s family or friends ever heard from her again.

Different theories on what happened to Jeannette have been proposed- some feel she hitchhiked or ran away and began a new life somewhere else, no evidence has been found of this and she did not seem prepared to run away. Others suggest Jeannette came to some harm- it would have been easy to abduct the young girl by a vehicle on the bridge.

Some experts have suggested this may be an early crime of serial killer Ted Bundy’s. Bundy was known to be in the area and drove a Volkswagen Bug, some reports state this type of car was seen near to where Jeannette was last seen. Friends also said that Jeannette liked Volkswagen Bug cars and that they would not have been surprised if she had struck up a conversation with the owner of one. Bundy never confessed to harming Jeannette and this was before his first reported kill of Lynda Healy in 1974. There is no other evidence linking Ted Bundy to the crime.

What happened to Jeannette Miller remains unknown and she is still listed as a missing person.

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The murder occurred in Everöd, Sweden, and this is the old train station in Everöd. I chose to include this picture since there are no pictures of the perpetrators or the crime scene online.

Hungry Children Killed Their Neighbor

The murder

15-year-old Anna and her 12-year-old brother Helmer grew up in the 1940s in Everöd, Sweden. They belonged to the less fortunate in society; their mother Eva refused to work, which resulted in the family being extremely poor. Eva was disliked by most people in the neighborhood; she was known to be rude toward anyone she met. The family barely had enough food, and Anna and Helmer often went to bed hungry. This resulted in the siblings becoming more and more desperate over time. They started to steal food from their neighbor, 54-year-old Anna Persson, while she was at work. Persson pitied the children at first and gave them food, but she started to avoid them after she caught them stealing from her house. Persson had also heard nasty rumors about Anna and Helmer; people claimed that they often abused animals for fun. They poked out the eyes from kittens and stomped on baby birds, for instance.

On 4 February 1942, Anna and Helmer went over to Persson and knocked on her door. They had planned to murder Persson and then steal all of her food, but Persson refused to open the door. She decided to hide, hoping that the children would either believe that Persson was not home or simply give up. However, Anna and Helmer continued to knock. They decided to lure Persson to the door by saying that they had brought her a bottle of milk. Persson hesitantly opened the door, and Helmer gave her a bottle inside a paper bag. As soon as Persson had taken the bottle, the children barged inside the house. Helmer attacked Persson by hitting her in the head with a cudgel, and Persson fell to the floor. Anna continued to hit Persson with the cudgel while Helmer strangled her with his bare hands. After a while, Helmer decided to take a rope and strangle Persson in that way instead. When they were certain Persson was dead, they dragged her body to the staircase leading up to the second floor. They hoped that the police would think that Persson had fallen down the stairs and that her death was an accident. After placing Persson’s body by the staircase, the children ran into the kitchen and rummaged through Persson’s pantry and later fled the scene carrying as much food as possible.

Three days after the murder, a carpenter knocked on Persson’s door. He had been hired by Persson a couple of days before the murder and became extremely worried when she did not open the door. He looked through the windows and discovered Persson’s lifeless body laying by the staircase. He contacted the police and told them that he believed that she had fallen down the stairs, but the police were not convinced. Persson had several injuries to her neck that indicated that she had been strangled. They talked to people in the neighborhood and noted that several people suspected that Eva could have something to do with the murder. As previously mentioned, Eva was often mean toward people in the neighborhood, and Anna Persson had not been an exception. The police decided to interrogate Eva and went over to her house, but she was not home. However, Anna and Helmer were at home and opened the door. The police noted that Anna seemed to be nervous and was shaking uncontrollably. They sat down in the living room and asked the children if they had any idea of what had happened at Persson’s house. Helmer stated that he was certain Persson’s death had been an accident while Anna nodded in agreement. The police became more and more suspicious toward the siblings and decided to talk to them individually. As expected, Anna and Helmer told different stories about what they had been doing at the time of the murder. The siblings were taken to the police station a couple of days later, and both of them were interrogated. Anna soon confessed to killing Persson, but she claimed that it had been Helmer’s idea. She never wanted to kill Persson, but her hunger had driven her to participate in the killing. Helmer confessed to the murder shortly thereafter.

Aftermath

Helmer could not be punished for his crime since he was just 12 years old at the time of the murder, but he was placed in foster care. A psychiatric evaluation showed that Helmer showed signs of psychopathy and that he was likely to continue down the path of crime. Anna on the other hand had reached the age of criminal responsibility and could therefore stand trial. However, a psychiatric evaluation showed that Anna was mentally ill and was sent to an asylum.

Anna was later released, but she spent at least eight years at the asylum. She got married to a Danish man but became widowed in 1980. She is now deceased. Helmer also got married and had several children. Helmer died in 2013.

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24 year-old Brianna Vibert has been missing since July 15th, 2017. The night she vanished, she was seen at a Marathon gas station in Genesee County, Michigan. Surveillance cameras from the gas station show her getting into a man’s red Pontiac Aztek around 1am. Police have since come into contact with that man; he has apparently cooperated with the investigation and is not considered a suspect at this time.

Brianna’s loved ones do not believe she is voluntarily missing. She left behind four children, which is uncharacteristic of her. Brianna’s family members did not recognize the man who owns the Pontiac that she was seen getting into at the gas station, which is why they initially suspected that he might’ve had something to do with her disappearance. When investigators eventually stated that this man was not a suspect, it seemed as if Brianna’s family had very few leads to work with. The identify of this man has still not been publicly identified, nor has any information about what happened after this man and Brianna left that gas station.

It was later revealed that Brianna was seen at another gas station about an hour and 45 minutes later. The final known sighting of her was around 2:45am, as she was walking away from that gas station on Saginaw street. While at that gas station, Brianna was reportedly seen talking to a person in a green or teal Ford Ranger or S-10 style pickup truck in the parking lot. Investigators urged the occupants of that vehicle to contact them, but it is unclear if that ever happened.

Brianna remains missing today. If you have any information that could lead to her whereabouts, please contact the Flint Township Police Department at (810) 600-3250.

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Stalked to Death: The Killing of Amie Harwick

"If I ever disappear or if anything ever happens to me… you know it's him."

On 15th February 2020, LAPD responded to a call just after 1am which reported a woman screaming at a residence in Hollywood Hills, California. When police arrived, they were met by another resident who informed them that a woman was being assaulted inside her apartment.

Unfortunately, by the time authorities reached the scene, the body of 38 year old Dr Amie Harwick was already slumped lifelessly on the ground outside. She had been strangled and thrown over her third storey balcony. Amie was still alive whilst being transported to a nearby hospital, but later died.

Formerly a model, Amie went on to earn a PhD and establish herself as a family and sex therapist, who often worked in the public eye by offering her expertise on podcasts and TV shows. She had also written a successful book entitled "The New Sex Bible for Women: The Complete Guide to Sexual Self-Awareness and Intimacy."

Investigators quickly learned that Harwick had been experiencing some trouble with a scorned ex-partner named Gareth Pursehouse (pictured bottom). Despite previously taking out restraining orders against him, Amie still felt afraid and intimated. In 2011, Amie kept written documentation of the abuse she had suffered at his hands, including choking, suffocation, being kicked and punched, and also being pushed forcibly against a wall.

Although Amie had ended her relationship with Pursehouse over 10 years prior, he tracked her down at a professional event in January 2020 and began shouting that she had ruined his life. When later discussing this frightening experience with her best friend, Amie stated: "If I ever disappear of if anything ever happens to me … you know it's him."

Unfortunately, Amie's biggest fears were to be lived, and the worst possible thing did cruelly happen to her in her own home, just one hour after Valentine's Day. Pursehouse lay in wait, strategically planning his attack and waiting for the perfect time to intimidate and overpower his victim.

Amie made her positive mark in the world by working passionately to help those who have endured experiences of domestic violence, as well as providing counselling to victims of sex trafficking and people battling other issues within their romantic relationships. It is tragic that she devoted her career to helping people who had been subjected to traumatic experiences, sometimes at the hands of their own partners, yet lost her own life to a violent former lover.

41 year old Gareth Pursehouse was arrested and charged for murder as well as residential burglary in February 2020, with the added allegation of 'lying in wait' - which is considered an aggravating circumstance and enables harsher sentencing, due to the premeditation implied. In April of the same year, he pleaded not guilty, however still remains incarcerated and is yet to face court proceedings. If convicted, Pursehouse faces the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole.

Although they had amicably split at the time of her death, Amie had been engaged to American actor and comedian Drew Carey, who paid a loving tribute to his ex-fiancé and described her as: "A positive force in the world and an unapologetic champion of women."

Since her death, Drew began supporting an online petition calling for tighter stalking laws, which to date has gained over 308,000 signatures and is still increasing. The 'Justice 4 Amie' petition can be accessed and supported by clicking here.

[criminal-liability]

The Unsolved Murders of Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins

Lyric Cook, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, were schoolgirls living in Iowa. The girls were cousins and good friends who spent a lot of time together.

On Friday 13th July 2012, the two cousins were last seen riding their bikes downtown at around 12.20 pm in a crowded area. Just after 2 pm, their grandmother could not find them and reported them missing. The local area was searched and at 4pm the girl's bikes and Elizabeth's purse were found at Meyers Lake Park. No other signs of the children were found despite a huge search including cadaver dogs.

On 5th December 2012, the bodies of the two girls were found near a river about 30 minutes away from where their bikes were found. No cause of death or details have been released, this is thought to be to help the investigation. The site the bodies were found at is close to a highway exit and it has been speculated that the girls may have been seen by someone driving by. The park is also largely unused and surrounded mostly by desolate fields which has led to theories the murderer was a local or had local knowledge. Similarities have been drawn between this case and the February 2012 double murder of Liberty German and Abigail Williams in Indiana, police have stated at present the cases are not connected.

The case remains unsolved.

[criminal-liability]

The Murder of Rachel McLean

Rachel Margaret McLean was a British student living in Oxford, England. She was a second-year and was studying English Language.

On the evening of 13th April 1991, Rachel went to meet her boyfriend, John Tanner, at the train station. His train had been delayed so she went home, Tanner got a taxi to her house. The next day Rachel studied in the front room while Tanner watched football on television. The couple were seen outside the house at around 4.30 pm, this was the last time Rachel was seen alive.

Later that evening Tanner strangled Rachel, forcing her head down and tying a ligature around her neck. He then hid the body in a gap in the floorboards and the back of a cupboard under the stairs.

Tanner left the house the next day to return to Nottingham where he was studying. While waiting for the train he wrote a love letter to Rachel which he later posted, in the letter, he said how lucky it was she had met a long-haired man who had offered her a lift home from the station when he left. He also tried to call Rachel's home and asked her housemate if they had seen her.

Rachel's housemates, who originally thought she may have been visiting family, began to wonder where Rachel was. She was reported missing and the house was searched.

On 2nd May, Rachel's body was found, it was covered in pieces of carpet but due to the low temperatures, there was little decomposition. Tanner was arrested at a pub in Nottingham. Details emerged that Tanner had felt increasingly threatened by Rachel living away from him and was very jealous and obsessive.

Tanner was found guilty of murder on 6th December 1991 and given a life sentence. He was early released in 2003 after serving only 11 years. In 2018, Tanner was jailed for assaulting his girlfriend.