The Most Notorious Crimes in Every State in the U.S. a true crime thread (part 2):

New Mexico: The murder of Girly Chew Hossencofft
Girly Chew's husband Diazien Hossencofft claimed to be a surgeon and sold fake cancer treatments. While still married to Girly, Diazien got engaged to Linda Henning, a woman who shared his interests in conspiracy theories. (1/39)

They plotted to get rid of Girly so they could be together. Though Girly's body was never recovered, significant blood and forensic evidence ensured her killers will spend the rest of their lives in jail.
(2/39)

New York: David Berkowitz, aka the Son of Sam
Summer 1976, the shootings happened in Queens and The Bronx, all with a .44 caliber revolver. The terror increased when the killer began leaving notes claiming to be the "Son of Sam," a demon compelling him to kill.(3/39)

Upon capture, Berkowitz told police his neighbor's dog, Sam, was possessed by a demon and he was Sam's servant. Berkowitz later recanted that part of his story, admitting his killings were driven by a desire to get revenge on a world he felt had rejected him.
(4/39)

North Carolina: The Lawson Family Christmas Day massacre
On Christmas in 1929, tobacco farmer Charlie Lawson murdered his wife, six of his seven children and shot himself. The only survivor was his son, 16yo Arthur, whom he had sent on an errand before committing the crime.(5/39)

Lawson's brother Marion turned the murder house into a tourist attraction. A raisin cake Lawson's wife Marie had baked for Christmas dinner was displayed on the tour. No explanation ever surfaced for the sudden familicide. Arthur died in a car crash years later at age 32.
(6/39)

North Dakota: The Wolf family murders
Yet another family annihilation with one survivor. Jacob Wolf and his family, plus a son of a neighbor who did chores for the family, were found dead on their Turtle Lake farm in 1920.
(7/39)

Sole survivor, an 8mo baby girl, was in her crib, while other residents were found either shot to death or bludgeoned with a hatchet. It was later found their neighbor, Henry Layer, killed the family, all in a dispute over an attack by the Wolf's family dog on Layer's cow.(8/39)

Ohio: Ariel Castro kidnappings
Ariel Castro kidnapped three women between 2002 and 2004 keeping them in his Cleveland home until May 6, 2013, when Michelle and her 6-year-old daughter escaped and went to the police.
(9/39)

The women were subjected to a decade of unspeakable abuse and rape. Castro died by suicide in prison September 3, 2013, one month after he was sentenced to life. The house that served as his victims' prison has been demolished.
(10/39)

Oklahoma: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders
At Camp Scott Ok in 1977 three Girl Scouts between the ages of 8 and 10, were raped and murdered. Their bodies were found on a trail leading to the camp's showers.(11/39)

Authorities arrested an escaped convict, Gene Leroy Hart, but he was acquitted. Still, local sheriffs are convinced they had the right man. Hart died in prison in 1979, where he was serving a sentence for unrelated kidnapping and rape charges.
(12/39)

Oregon: Diane Downs
On May 19, 1983, Diane Downs turned up at the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield claiming that she had been carjacked and shot in the arm. The carjacker had also shot her three children.
(13/39)

After police conducted an investigation and none of the forensic evidence matched her story, Diane Downs was charged with murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1987, she managed to briefly escape, but was recaptured in Salem just 10 days later.
(14/39)

Pennsylvania: Charles Cullen
Cullen committed his first murder in 1988. Judge John Yengo, had been admitted to St. Barnabas Medical Center suffering from an allergic reaction to a blood-thinning drug. Cullen administered a lethal overdose of medication intravenously.
(15/39)

This nurse has one of the highest body counts in state history, with more than 30 confirmed. Cullen claimed he was helping end the suffering of terminal patients, other hospital personnel described the victims as having been on the mend when Cullen ended their lives.
(16/39)

Rhode Island: Craig Price
Craig was known as the "Slasher of Warwick" after a brutal series of killings in Rhode Island in the late 1980s. Believed to have committed his first murder when he was only 13. The victim was a white female from his neighborhood.(17/39)

He stabbed her to death with one of her kitchen knives after breaking into her house. Craig admitted to committing the murders without any persuasion and, according to the FBI, goes down in history as the youngest serial killer in US history.
(18/39)

South Carolina: Susan Smith
In 1994 Susan Smith went in front of news cameras claiming a black man had carjacked her at gunpoint and drove off with her two sons, 14mo Alex and 3yo Michael, inside the car.
(19/39)

She later confessed to the crime stating she parked the car atop a boat ramp at John D. Long Lake and released the parking brake which caused the car holding her two sons to submerge. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
(20/39)

South Dakota: Robert Leroy Anderson "duct tape killer"
Anderson was convicted of kidnapping and killing Larisa Dumansky of Sioux Falls in 1994 and Piper Streyle of rural Canistota in 1996. Third potential victim, Amy Anderson, escaped before she could meet a similar fate.
(21/39)

He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1999, but took his own life on death row in 2003. Police believe he was a serial killer who would have taken more victims had he not been captured.
(22/39)

Tennessee: The assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel. Ray hinted at a conspiracy and tried to withdraw his guilty plea, but spent the rest of his life in prison for the murder.
(23/39)

Texas: Dean Corll, AKA The Candy Man
Dean Corll raped and murdered at least 28 male victims. Two teenage accomplices would lure other boys to Dean's house where the victims would then drink themselves unconscious. Dean would then tie them up, molest them, then kill them.
(24/39)

The bodies were disposed of in two different spots, a remote spot near the Sam Rayburn Reservoir or a rented boat shed in southwest Houston. Deans accomplice, Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr., shot Corll to death in the midst of the torture of two victims.
(25/39)

Utah: The Elizabeth Smart kidnapping
Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City at 14yo and held captive for 9 months by Brian Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. Mitchell claimed to be an angel needing vigrin brides accompanying him kill the Antichrist
(26/39)

Elizabeth testified against both her captors in court, detailing daily rape, abuse, and threats that kept her from fleeing. He often forced her to take drugs, starved and fed her garbage. Mitchell and Barzee were charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, and burglary in 03
(27/39)

Vermont: Gary Lee SCHAEFER
In 1979, Schaefer kidnapped, raped and murdered 13yo Sherry Nastasia. Theresa Fenton suffered an identical fate in 1981. 17yo Deana Buxton survived an attack in Brattleboro, during1982 giving police a description on Schaefer
(28/39)

Hard evidence was still lacking in early 1983. On April 9 of that year, Schaefer abducted young Catherine Richards in Springfield, driving her to a remote location where she was forced to fellate him before he crushed her skull with a stone. Schaefer faced 30 years to life(29/39)

Virginia: The Virginia Tech massacre
On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho shot 49 people on campus with two semi-auto pistols, killing 32 and wounding 17. It remains the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
(30/39)

Washington: Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert Bundy was wanted for questioning in as many as 36 murders in Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Florida and Washington. In June 1977, the FBI initiated a fugitive investigation when he escaped from a courthouse where he was on trial for murder.
(31/39)

He was recaptured but escaped again, in December 1977, in Colorado. He was then placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list. Bundy was executed by the state of Florida 30 years ago, yet he remains one of the most intriguing serial killers of all time.
(32/39)

West Virginia: The murder of Skylar Neese
In 2012, 16yo Skylar Neese snuck out of her home and disappeared. Six months later, her body was found with 50 stab wounds, and two "friends" who decided they no longer liked Skylar confessed to plotting and executing her murder.
(33/39)

In 2013 Shelia Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Rachel Shoaf also pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 30 years in prison, and will be eligible for parole after 10 years.
(34/39)

Wisconsin: Jeffrey Dahmer
Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Murders involved rape, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. Usually picking up his victims in gay bars and having sex with them before killing them, he kept the skull of his victims.
(35/39)

They could've caught the killer much earlier. 14yo Konerak S. managed to escape but Dahmer convinced police they had a minor dispute. Dahmer killed him and at least four others before he was caught. In 1994, a fellow inmate beat Dahmer to death in a prison bathroom.
(36/39)

Wyoming: The murder of Matthew Shepard
Matthew was a student at the University of Wyoming who was attacked by two assailants, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. They pistol whipped him tied him to a fence in freezing weather and set fire to him before leaving him to die(37/39)

The horrific killing of Matthew Shepard in 1998 is widely seen as one of the worst anti-gay hate crimes in American history. In 2009, President Obama signed into law the "Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act" with Matt's parents present.
(38/39)

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