On October 24, 2015, In Stillwater, Oklahoma, The OSU homecoming parade was being held around 10:31 A:M.
During this time, a sudden loud thud was heard, and a 2014 Hyundai Elantra came flooring into the crowd, hitting fifty parade-goers. The car came to a stop once it’s front tires popped out. Behind the wheel of the vehicle was 25-year-old, Adacia Chambers, a Freddy‘s frozen custard and steakburgers employee. Parade-goers took her out of the car and held her down on a picnic char before police took her into custody under the suspicion of being drunk.
Emergency responders came to the scene and saw the severity of the crash. Three people had died instantly from being hit. They were, Nikita Nakal, a 23-year-old Transfer Student from India, and a retired, elderly married couple, Marvin and Bonnie Stone, both 65. Over 47 people had been critically injured in the crash, with many suffering amputations and mental problems because of it.
At the hospital, one of the injured succumbed to his wounds and died - 2-year-old Nash Lucas. He was the youngest victim of the crash.
Authorities tested Adacia to see if she was drunk during the crash, and they showed she wasn’t, leading to the reality, she had intentionally rammed her car into the parade. This was further backed up by moments leading up the crash - she was seen driving around the barricades near the parade and crashed her car into a motorcycle used as a blockade.
A trial was inevitable, but before it could happen, Adacia plead guilty to four-counts of second degree and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole when she’s in her 70s.
The case remains one of the worst acts of mass violence in Oklahoma’s history. It was also the second tragedy Oklahoma faced the same year since the Bever family massacre.
The perpetrator- Adacia was a 25-year-old fast food employee who had a history of depression and emotional problems. She was known as being an introvert, usually keeping to herself. She would be seen running in and only coming out of her home when she went to work. She was also known as a Talented artist. Before the crash, she was seen as being distraught. People also saw her looking out the window with a smirk on her face, before she left her job in a hurry. That’s when the crash happened.
The motive for the crash was never given an answer or explanation, but theories had arose.
When people pulled her put of the car, she said she wanted to commit suicide. It is from that, her motive was suicidal ideation and wanted to crash her car into the parade?
I recall there was some discussion months back about the family of Rex Heuermann profiting from his crimes via their participation in content for sale. I found it odd because it was their own family member who caused the pain and suffering.
Similarly, there's now another high profile case where the family of the victim has been hired on as production consultants for an upcoming film.
Any ethical or moral issues with any of this? does it matter if the family member is a victim or related to the criminal?
Does it seem gory to you or anything? maybe this is just the way of the world?
I have been watching a lot of true crime based in England lately and there’s a lot of cases from near where I grew up (I’m English born and bred) and seeing how close these horrific cases are to where I lived at the time makes me slightly uncomfortable.
Does anyone else feel that way when watching or hearing something from their state/city/town? Or even just feeling any sort of way about crimes close to where you live or places you visit/have visited?
Just knowing that I may have walked past this person, either victim or perpetrator, sometimes gives me the chills.
(Mods - I truly apologise if this isn’t allowed. I read the rules but unsure if this fits or not - please delete if not, my intentions weren’t to break any rules.)
Here is a list of 22 entries for death penalty cases in North Carolina I've completed so far. North Carolina was requested by a commenter on a post I've made about Mississippi death penalty cases. As I haven't done as much work on North Carolina compared to California, Louisiana, and Ohio, I decided it was probably time to write some entries for its death penalty cases. All of these entries were written for 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 far removed from a comprehensive overview of North Carolina's death penalty cases, 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 22 cases in North Carolina that I've completed entries for so far, which I find tends to be limit for these types of posts that is allowed by Reddit's character counts.
Like the first post, many of the 22 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. Dock McKoy Jr. (condemned in 1985, deceased): Due to him shooting at a teenage boy that volunteered to help fix his window, McKoy’s neighbors reported him to the police. Responding deputies that arrived attempted to coax McKoy out of his residence for questioning, and he responded by further barricading himself inside and shouting death threats against the deputies’ lives. McKoy then fired his handgun at the officers standing next to their patrol car, striking and killing a deputy, 24 year old Kress Horne. The surviving officers tossed tear gas into McKoy’s residence and non-fatally shot him twice in return. Earlier that same day, McKoy’s neighbors also complained of him discharging his gun intoxicated in his backyard, and the responding officers left him with a warning. In 1990, the United States Supreme Court vacated McKay’s death sentence due to it ruling that the jury lacked unanimity in discerning mitigating circumstances. McKoy died incarcerated of undisclosed causes in 2004.
2. Rowland Hedgepeth (condemned in 1987, deceased): Reportedly under the influence of alcohol and armed with a gun, Hedgepeth confronted his estranged wife and a group of her friends at a restaurant they were dinning. Despite efforts by the group to calm Hedgepeth, he opened fire at them in a fit of rage. Hedgepeth’s estranged wife’s boyfriend, 36 year old Richard Casey, was fatally struck by the gunfire, and Hedgepeth’s wife survived a gunshot wound to her left ear. After the shootings, Hedgepeth quickly surrendered to the first responding officer that arrived at the scene. According to court records [State v. Hedgepeth, 409 SE 2d 309 - NC: Supreme Court 1991], Hedgepeth had a long history of petty offenses and misdemeanors involving “simple assault”, property damage, and disorderly conduct, which his defense asserted was influenced by a falling accident related brain damage. In 2018, Hedgepeth succumbed to undisclosed natural causes on death row.
3. Donald Brogden (condemned in 1988, deceased): Brogden held up a country store and fatally shot the owner, 58 year old John Walker, and snatched $200 from the cash register. He and his wife were reportedly seen fleeing the store by an eyewitness, and a police search of his trailer recovered a handgun deemed to be the murder weapon and .38 calibre bullets similar to the rounds left at the store [State v. Brogden, 407 SE 2d 158 - NC: Supreme Court 1991]. According to a Star-News article published in 1988, Brogden was previously convicted and paroled of kidnapping in Alabama, and he violated the conditions of his parole by possessing the handgun. On two occasions, the North Carolina Supreme Court vacated Brogan’s death sentences over reported improper of mitigating factors and juror selection errors, and he was resentenced to a 27 to life term in 1994 after the second sentence vacating. Although I cannot find any specific information on his passing, NCDAC records reported that Brogden died in custody in April of 2026.
4. Clinton Rose (condemned in 1991, living): In 1973, Rose shot and killed a motorist, 22 year old Gary Sitzlar, that picked him up hitchhiking. Police in Oregon arrested him for the unrelated abduction of another man, and he was in possession of Sitzlar’s identification papers at the time of his capture. For Sitzlar’s murder, Rose was sentenced to a life term by the state of Alabama. Rose escaped from the State Cattle Ranch in 1990 while serving his life sentence and fled to his native North Carolina. As a fugitive, Rose established a camping site near Mayo Beach, and burglarized many other campsites nearby. During one of his campsite burglaries, Rose fatally shot a sibling pair of campers, 39 year old Richard and 31 year old Larry Connor, using a shotgun stolen from other campers. He then cut off one of Richard’s fingers to steal a diamond ring, and he also stole clothing, a hatchet, fishing rods, a sleeping bag, tool kits, and a lounge chair. Police recovered many of the stolen items belonging to the Connor brothers from Rose’s campsite, and Larry’s girlfriend testified that the shoes and camouflage pants Rose wore during his arrest were owned by Larry [State v. Rose, 451 SE 2d 211 - NC: Supreme Court 1994]. Per NCDAC records, Rose currently remains on death row.
5. Carl Moseley (condemned in 1992, deceased): Moseley lured a woman, 35 year old Dorothy Johnson, from a dance hall to be raped and penetrated with a foreign object. He then beat her to death and left her body in a remote forest. Three months later, Mosely abducted another woman, 37 year old Deborah Henley, from a dance hall under circumstances near identical to Johnson’s kidnapping. After taking Henley to a cornfield, Moseley raped and repeatedly stabbed Henley, cut incisions into her chest and neck, sodomized her with a foreign object, and strangled her with his hands. Witnesses at the dance halls reported seeing both Johnson and Henley in Moseley’s company, and DNA testing of semen found on Johnson’s corpse implicated Moseley. Soil experts also testified that the mud found on Moseley’s boots matched the dirt of the cornfield Henley’s body was found in. According to court documents [Moseley v. Branker, 550 F. 3d 312 - Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit 2008], Moseley was previously convicted of attempted rape that involved him shooting the victim’s hand. In 2022, Moseley died of cancer related causes on death row.
6. John Elliott (condemned in 1994, living): Elliott broke into the trailer home of 77 year old Alice McCrimmon and raped her. During the assault, one of McCrimmon’s teeth fell out of her mouth and was lodged into her back. He beat and strangled her to death, and stole her truck and a bag of silver coins that he divided up with his accomplices. McCrimmon’s nude corpse was discovered lying on a bed covered with blood and feces by her grandson days later. Investigators found condoms and a cigarette butt that contained samples of Elliott’s DNA inside the trailer home and a neighbor testified of seeing Elliott driving McCrimmon’s truck [State v. Elliott, 628 SE 2d 735 - NC: Supreme Court 2006]. Although he was charged with possessing an allegedly stolen microwave, television set, and an AM-FM cassette compact disc player, he was acquitted of those charges in a trial that otherwise convicted him of McCrimmon’s murder. Per NCDAC records, Elliott is currently under a death sentence.
7. Phillip Wilkinson (condemned in 1994, living): By his own admittance, Wilkinson was a prolific “peeping tom.” He was a United States Army soldier deployed to Fort Bragg, and he frequently snuck out his station to watch grown women and young girls of nearby homes undress through their windows. Wilkinson also had a penchant for sexual assault fantasies, and he broke into the bedroom of 19 year old Chrystal Hudson while looking for a victim to satiate his rape compulsions. After orally copulating Chrystal, he bludgeoned her to death with a bowling pin. He then searched for other occupants inside and redirected his attention to Chrystal’s mother, 38 year old Judy, and younger brother, 11 year old Larry. As Judy and Larry were both sleeping in bed, Wilkinson beat them to death with the bowling pin, and performed necrophilic acts on Judy and Chrystal’s bodies. Before fleeing, Wilkinson snatched one dollar bill and a handful of cigarettes, wiped his fingerprints from the screen door and bathroom faucet, and took the bowling pin and a lightbulb he used to vaginally penetrate Judy with him [State v. Wilkinson, 474 SE 2d 375 - NC: Supreme Court 1996]. Six months after the Hudson triple murders, Wilkinson surrendered himself to a police station and confessed to the killings. Per NCDAC records, Wilkinson currently remains on death row.
8. Archie Billings (condemned in 1996, living): While burgalizing his coworker's trailer home, Billings stabbed his coworker’s thirteen year old son 23 times for confronting him. He then turned his attention to the boy’s sister, 11 year old Amy Jackson, and forcibly grabbed her from her bed. At knifepoint, Billings dragged Jackson to a field, raped her, and slashed her throat. Despite his injuries, Jackson’s brother called emergency services after Billings left with Jackson, and he identified Billings as the assailant to responding officers. Police arrested Billings only hours later. Due to Billings’ history of peeping and assault convictions, the North Carolina senate passed the “Amy Jackson Law” that enforced convicted sex offenders to register themselves to a database. Although Billings was initially scheduled for execution in 2007, it was stayed over legal disputes pertaining to physician involvement in North Carolina’s lethal injection protocols. Per NCDAC records, Billings currently remains on death row.
9. Henry Wallace (condemned in 1997, living): Between 1991 and 1994, Wallace raped, stabbed, beat, and/or strangled at least eleven women between the ages of 18 to 35 years old to death with towels and his hands. His means of body disposals were entirely circumstantial, though many victims were found dead in their apartments and homes. He occasionally wrapped deceased victims, such as 21 year old Caroline Love and 18 year old Tashanda Bethea, in plastic bags and wrapping and discarded them in nearby forests and lakes. In one instance, he set a victim, 21 year old Valencia Jumper, on fire to cover his tracks. The infant son of another victim, 18 year old Brandi Henderson, also survived Wallace attempting to strangle him. After some of the killings, Wallace snatched valuables such as credit cards, television sets, and jewelry from victims’ apartments, and pawned the stolen items to pawn shops for money he spent on cocaine [State v. Wallace, 528 SE 2d 326 - NC: Supreme Court 2000]. Due to using social networking connections he established while working at Taco Bell and other fast food establishments to solicit victims, Wallace was dubbed “The Taco Bell Killer” by media outlets. Per NCDAC records, Wallace currently remains on death row.
10. Shan Carter (condemned in 2001, living): Carter and his accomplices were career criminals that targeted drug dealers for robberies to avoid police attention. One of their targets was a trafficker, 27 year old Donald Brunson, and they broke into his residence. At gunpoint, Carter and his two accomplices tied up Brunson, and they beat him unconscious in front of his fiancee and their children with a blunt instrument while demanding money and jewelry. After they extorted two gold watches from the couple, Carter and his group loaded an unconscious Brunson into the trunk of his fiancee’s car, shot him to death execution style, and dumped his body in an isolated forest. A month later, one of Brunson’s associates, 30 year old Tyrone Baker (was also who previously targeted by a robbery), attempted to ambush Carter near a commerce area in retribution for his murder. During their gunfight, Carter shot and killed Baker, and one of Carter’s stray bullets also fatally struck a bystander, 8 year old Demetrius Greene, sitting in his mother’s car. According to Greene’s mother, she was driving him to a toy store to purchase gifts as a reward for his good grades. Greene’s mother and other witnesses identified Carter as the surviving shooter, and a police search of Carter’s home recovered a shotgun, drug paraphilia, and handgun ammunition. Police also searched a motel room Carter stayed, and they recovered duct tape stained with blood linked by DNA testing to another man Carter and his group abducted and beat [State v. Carter, 584 SE 2d 792 - NC: Supreme Court 2003]. Per NCDAC records, Carter currently remains on death row.
11. Jason Hurst (condemned in 2004, living): Hurst and an associate, 25 year old Daniel Branch, made arrangements for a firearms sale, and the latter picked up the former. As they drove to a field, Hurst persuaded Branch to give him a shotgun on the pretenses of test firing some cans. Armed with the shotgun, Hurst shot Branch dead as he was setting up the cans for him and then stole his car. Branch’s wife reported him missing after he failed to return home and named Hurst as his last known companion to police. Eyewitness sightings of Hurst driving Branch’s car in West Virginia led investigators to his girlfriend’s family living in that state, and they tipped officers to the location of Branch’s body [State v. Hurst, 624 SE 2d 309 - NC: Supreme Court 2006]. West Virginia police also arrested Hurst at a grocery store, and he confessed to Branch’s murder after his capture. Per NCDAC records, Hurst currently remains on death row.
12. Erin Lane (condemned in 2005, deceased): Lane accosted 5 year old Precious Whitfield as she was playing with her male friend at her step-grandmother’s front yard. On the pretenses of allowing them to play on a swing set he owned, Lane lured both children to his residence, and let them inside to watch his pet eels and goldfish. After the boy was picked up by his mother, Lane raped Whitfield and shoved her inside a plastic trash bag that he tossed into a creek. According to autopsy reports, Whitfield choked and suffocated to death on vomit inside the plastic bag. As Lane roughly matched eyewitness sightings of a man riding a scooter he owned and carrying a tarp wrapped bundle in a basket near the creek where her body was discovered, he was an immediate person of interest to investigators. A police search of Lane’s storage shed recovered the scooter and basket that the witnesses described and plastic trash bags that resembled the plastic trash bag that Whitfield’s body was stuffed into [State v. Lane, 707 SE 2d 210 - NC: Supreme Court 2011]. Furthermore, DNA testing reportedly couldn’t “rule out” Lane as the contributor to a hair found in Whitfield’s anus. In 2022, Lane succumbed to undisclosed natural causes on death row.
13. Mario Phillips (condemned in 2007, living): Assisted by his girlfriend and another accomplice, Philips stormed a mobile home. They demanded money at gunpoint and shot and repeatedly stabbed four of the occupants, 21 year old Eddie Ryals, 20 year old Harvey Hobson, 19 year old Joseph Harden, and 18 year old Carl Justice, to death. Philips’ group stole $170 from the victims and set the trailer on fire as they left. Only Ryals’ teenage girlfriend survived the attack and she crawled out of the burning trailer despite suffering 22 stab wounds and a cut throat. Although she was also abducted by Philips and his accomplices after they noticed her crawling near the burning trailer, the group abandoned Ryals’ girlfriend inside their truck that was stuck in sand to flee the scene on foot. Ryals’ girlfriend identified Philips and his accomplices as the assailants, and Philips confessed to the quadruple murders in police custody [State v. Phillips, 711 SE 2d 122 - NC: Supreme Court 2011]. During the proceedings, Philips argued that he was emotionally impaired by the fatal shooting of his brother on that day, and he committed the murders under the influence of “extreme grief.” Per NCDAC records, Philips currently remains on death row.
14. Timothy Hartford Jr. (condemned in 2010, living): Intending to steal money for cocaine, Hatford and his girlfriend broke invaded the residence of a stroke paralyzed man, 64 year old Bob Denning, and beat him to death with a wooden object. They also ambushed a Meals-on-Wheels volunteer, 77 year old Anne Magness, that arrived to deliver food for Denning and shot her dead. Magness’ husband and partner in the delivery survived with six gunshot wounds. The couple then fled to Virginia and were arrested after a standoff with local police at a mall. According to a Winston Salem Journal article published in 2008, Hartford’s mother reported that Hartford was an addict that frequently stole from her, and she feared that his infant son inherited HIV from him. Hartford’s infant son was also present with Hartford and his girlfriend at the Virginia mall standoff, and authorities revoked Hatford’s custody over his son after his capture and charged him for child endangerment. Per NCDAC records, Hatford currently remains on death row.
15. Jonathan Richardson (condemned in 2014, living): As his girlfriend was deployed by the United States Army Reserve to New Mexico, Richardson was left alone to care for her daughter, 4 year old Teghan Skiba. For over ten days, Richardson repeatedly raped and routinely beat Skiba. During one of the beatings, Richardson violently shook Skiba and fatally struck her in the head. After he took Skiba to a hospital, doctors attending to her found burns, bite marks, and buttocks and vagina related lacerations on her body. The hospital staff contacted police, and responding officers that arrived at Richardson’s residence found bloodstains on a wooden board, a brown belt, and extension cords stained with blood linked to Skiba by DNA testing along with duct tape with strands of Skiba’s hair [State v. Richardson, 891 SE 2d 132 - NC: Supreme Court 2023]. According to Skiba’s mother, Richardson previously disciplined Skiba by hitting and slapping her. Per NCDAC records, Richardson currently remains on death row.
16. Antwan Anthony (condemned in 2016, living): Although they initially intended to rob drug dealers and another grocery store, Anthony and his three accomplices eventually settled on targeting the Farmville Hustle Mart store due to their inability to find the drug dealers and too many customers inside the other grocery store respectively. Inside the Farmville Hustle Mart, Anthony fatally shot the three employees, 26 year old Nabil Al’mogannahi, 24 year old Gaber Alwai, and 16 year old Mokbel Almujanhi, present. According to a NBC article published in 2012, Almujanhi was also the owners’ son, and Al’mogannahi and Alwai were their nephews. Police recovered the burned bags of clothing that Anthony and his accomplices wore during the robbery [State v. Whitehead, NC: Court of Appeals 2018], and sized the 9mm handgun matched to the shootings by ballistic testing from his home. At the time of the Farmville Hustle Mart triple killings, Anthony was on parole from armed robbery related convictions in Connecticut, and reportedly had a long history of assaulting correctional officers and second degree assault convictions. Per NCDAC records, Anthony currently remains on death row.
17. Mikel Brady (condemned in 2019, living): Brady was incarcerated at the Pasquotank Correctional Institution to serve a 24 year sentence for the non-fatal shooting of a police officer. He masterminded a conspiracy with three other inmates, including the also condemned Wisezah Buckman and Jonathan Monk, to escape custody through brute force. All four conspirators armed themselves with scissors and hammers and attacked any correctional staff or other inmates in their path. Before they were forced to surrender with the arrival of police and firefighter reinforcements, Brady’s gang stabbed and bludgeoned four correctional officers, 50 year old Veronica Darden, 49 year old Wendy Shannon, 35 year old Justin Smith, and 31 year old Geoffrey Howe, to death and severely wounded twelve other officers and inmates. Prior to his incarceration at Pasquotank Correctional Institution, Brady had many legal troubles involving poaching and burglaries in his native Vermont. During one of his previous burglaries, Brady assaulted the homeowner, and the homeowner survived with severe brain injuries. Per NCDAC records, he currently remains on death row.
18. Seaga Gillard (condemned in 2019, living): Gillard solicited the services of a pregnant prostitute, 22 year old April Holland, online and the pair agreed to a session in a hotel room she stayed with her boyfriend, 27 year old Dwayne Garvey. Assisted by an accomplice, Gillard held the couple at gunpoint and attempted to rape Hollard. They then shot both Garvey and Holland dead, and were recorded fleeing by the hotel’s security cameras. After photographs of the fleeing assailant were publicized and distributed by media outlets, anonymous tips identified Gillard as one of the assailants to investigators. A police search of Gillard’s residence seized his iPhones, and found that his browser history contained many google searches for sex workers, the Holland-Garvey double shootings, and inquiries for legal penalties for committing double murders [State v. Gillard, 909 SE 2d 226 - NC: Supreme Court 2024]. Furthermore, at least seven sex workers reported that Gillard sexually assaulted and robbed them at gunpoint, and they testified against him during the proceedings. Per NCDAC records, Gillard currently remains on death row.
19.Joshua Burgess (condemned in 2022, living): As she was staying at his home for a weekend custodial visit, Burgess repeatedly raped his daughter, 15 year old Zaria. According to media coverages, Burgess sexually and “psychologically” tortured Zaria for over 22 hours before slitting her throat and strangling her to death. After the murder, Burgess surrendered himself at a police station and directed responding officers to Zaria’s body that he left inside his residence. A Oxygen True Crime article published in 2022 reported that Burgess had prior convictions for robbery and grand larceny. Per NCDAC records, Burgess currently remains on death row.
20. Wisezah Buckman (condemned in 2023, living): Buckman was the second participant in the Pasquotank Correctional Institution killings alongside the also condemned Mikel Brady and Jonathan Monk. As mentioned in Brady’s entry, the three men and a fourth accomplice stabbed or beat four correctional officers to death while trying to fight their way out of the Pasquotank Correctional Institution. All four perpetrators surrendered to police and firefighter reinforcements. At the time of the Pasquotank Correctional Institution killings, Buckman was serving a 32 year sentence for second degree murder, which pertained to the fatal shooting of a man, 36 year old Thurmont Davis, during a fight near a store. Per NCDAC records, Buckman currently remains on death row.
21. James McKamey (condemned in 2023, living): McKamey accosted his neighbor, 65 year old Carol Greer, as she was standing on her driveway and stabbed her to death. He then dragged Greer’s body to a shed in her backyard, non-fatally stabbed a female bystander walking past the residence, and fled the scene in Greer’s car. A few days after Greer’s murder, police arrested McKamey and his wife in possession of the stolen vehicle. Per NCDAC records, McKamey remains awaiting execution.
22. Jonathan Monk (condemned in 2025, living): Monk, a former army serviceman, was the accomplice of Mikel Brady and Wisezah Buckman, and he was also condemned for his involvement in the Pasquotank Correctional Institution killings. He assisted Brady, Buckman, and another inmate with fatally stabbing and beating four correctional officers and assailing a dozen other correctional staff and inmates for an unsuccessful bid to escape. At the time of the killings, Monk was serving a 16 year term for attempted murder. His attempted murder conviction involved the non-fatal stabbing of another serviceman’s wife while burglarizing their home. Per NCDAC records, Monk currently remains on death row.
Jury selection began Tuesday in the federal hate crime trial of a man who admitted to killing 10 Black people in a massacre at a New York supermarket in 2022, a case that could lead to a rare death sentence.
Payton Gendron is already spending life in prison after pleading guilty to state murder charges and tearfully renouncing his white supremacist views. He now faces a trial in federal court arising from the same mass shooting. The stakes are high: If convicted, the 23-year-old could face the death penalty.
Gendron mentioned Syracuse while discussing potential targets online before the shooting. He wrote that he was looking for an area with a larger Black population than his hometown region of Binghamton.
Eventually, he settled on the Buffalo Tops. In his manifesto, he states that it had the highest Black population percentage and “isn’t that far away.”
Anyone want to look into some of these to get more information if you're interested there is not alot of true crime stories coming out of this country despite it being the last European country that still has capital punishment.
Warning: some of these do involve sa and child abuse so if you are sensitive read at your own caution.
Sarah Wairimu Cohen, the widow of the late Dutch billionaire Tob Cohen, requested a land records search and actively tried to remove a caveat on his property few days before his death.
During the murder trial today at the Kibera Law Courts, a law firm clerk named Mary Mutisya testified that Wairimu paid her via M-Pesa to trace the land records and follow up on an application to withdraw a caveat registered against the multi-million-shilling Kitisuru property.
Shortly after these events, the Dutchman went missing. His body was later found bound and concealed inside an underground water tank/septic tank at their residence.
According to testimony provided today by Tob Cohen’s close friend and former Gatundu MP, Patrick Kariuki Muiruri, Cohen had discovered before his disappearance that Wairimu had stolen his land title documents and misappropriated funds from their joint travel company to construct a personal hotel project in Nanyuki.
According to court testimony and official evidence presented during the ongoing murder trial, After discovering that Wairimu had allegedly stolen his title deed from their safe, Cohen registered a legal caveat on their Kitisuru matrimonial home. This froze the property's status, preventing Wairimu from selling, transferring, or charging it.
This was the exact caveat Wairimu was trying to secretly lift by tracking land records through a law firm clerk just days before she allegedly killed Cohen.
Cohen then secretly drafted a will with his lawyer, Chege Kirundi, allocating 50% of his estate (including the KSh 400 million Kitisuru villa) to his sister, Gabrielle, and split the remaining 50% between his brother, nephew, and niece.
After leaving Wairimu with absolutely nothing, Cohen officially hired an advocate to file for a contentious divorce, citing prolonged marital cruelty, the theft of his property documents, and the misappropriation of funds from their joint company, Kenya Gold Safaris Travel Limited.
Witnesses testified that these combined legal counter-measures triggered severe hostility inside the home.
According to prosecution, Wairimu realized the impending divorce proceedings and Cohen’s secret will would completely cut her off from his multi-million-shilling estate, including the Kitisuru matrimonial home.
Because Cohen placed a caveat on the property, she could not sell or transfer it to secure herself financially. The prosecution uses the testimony about her paying a clerk to lift that caveat as proof of her desperation to bypass his blocks.
The state’s prosecution maintains that the motive for the murder was to gain control of Cohen's massive wealth, including their luxury matrimonial home valued at hundreds of millions of shillings.
During the trial, the prosecution presented witnesses and former employees who testified that after Cohen disappeared, Wairimu instructed workers to tell anyone who asked that Cohen had traveled abroad for medical treatment.
A close friend of Cohen, former MP Patrick Kariuki Muiruri, testified today that a terrified Cohen explicitly told him, "If anything bad happens to me, or I am found dead somewhere, tell them it is Sarah."
I’ve watched quite a lot of documentaries and i got to a conclusion: I am so happy I live in this day and age because back then when most “popular” cases happened, was absolutely ridiculous.
I’ve just been watching one of the Born to Kill documentaries recently and it got me thinking.. a lot of the cases in regards to serial killer we see documentaries about are quite old aka before the 2000s. Or at least the most “popular” and most knows ones. It flabbergasts me how after technology appeared, we (thankfully) didn’t really have that many serial killers anymore (almost nonexistent) and I think that might probably be related ?..
Now hear me out on this one. Take Ted Bundy for example, roaming the streets free as a bird, nobody couldn’t find him for so long??? Nowadays you couldn’t possibly go anywhere without being caught in 5 mins. I live in a major city, every single corner has a surveillance camera. Not to mention the sketch they’ve had, the only way you could see it is the TV and newspaper. Nowadays, it would be all over social media. There’s no way you can escape it lol.
And so many other cases where, to me, probably because I’m quite young and live in this day and age where technology is everywhere, it seems ridiculous they couldn’t find these people… sometimes I watch these documentaries and I’m thinking to myself “how the hell did this person walk around freely on the street” but then obviously I think and I realise “oh wait, they actually didn’t have cell phones etc”.
And watching this documentary and the sketches and everything, I was actually thinking of this whole AI era. You know how a lot of us send photos of ourselves to the AI apps (whatever everyone is using) surely if there would be a serious case, there would be a way to find them through a search engine in the AI’s database, isn’t it? I know this might be against GDPR rules or whatever but surely it has to come in handy somehow.
Also, a lot of people joke around social media saying “what was in the air between 60s and 90s” because most cases happened during that period of time but I think it might have to do with overall mental health awareness. Nowadays, I feel like everyone is a lot more aware of their traumas, depression, etc than they were back then. Watching these made me genuinely grateful that I live in this day and age because I feel like everything is a lot safer. And yes, I am aware that crimes still happen and so on but to THAT level, doesn’t happen as often exactly because they’re caught before they get to a huge number.
What does everyone think?
Also, if I am wrong in any shape or form, feel free to let me know. I am not aware of such horrible cases lately. If there are, then by all means let me know.
It is my first time posting here and I did read the community rules before posting. However, if anything in my post is inappropriate, I do apologise in advance.
Summary: Chicago police have identified former officer and homicide detective Thomas Francis McInerney as the suspected killer of 8-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz, who was abducted and shot while walking to church in 1960. After more than 65 years, investigators used DNA evidence, genetic genealogy, and fingerprint analysis to link McInerney to the crime. He served on the Chicago police force for 28 years and died in 2006 without ever facing prosecution.
Chicago police have identified former officer Thomas Francis McInerney as the man they believe killed 8-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz in 1960, bringing new answers to a case that remained unsolved for more than 65 years, the Chicago Tribune reported on 11 October 2026.
McInerney was 24 when Gloria was killed on 12 November 1960. According to the outlet, investigators cited DNA evidence, a fingerprint match, and records indicating that McInerney had owned three Colt revolvers of the type used in the killing. An Army veteran who served on the Chicago Police Department for 28 years, McInerney died in 2006 without being prosecuted for the killing.
Investigators also noted that McInerney had owned three Colt revolvers of the type used in the killing. Police said the DNA evidence, fingerprint comparison, and firearm information led investigators to identify McInerney as the man they believe killed Gloria.
On the morning of October 28, 1972, 38-year-old Ho Ning-fong left her Hong Kong home for a walk with her 16-year-old son, Chau Kin-keung.
Ning-fong had lung disease, and her doctor had recommended regular exercise. Walking near Shek Lei Pui Reservoir had become a familiar part of her morning routine.
That evening, her husband, Chau Chung-ming, came home to a dark, empty apartment.
His wife and son still hadn’t returned.
He went from door to door, asking neighbors whether they had seen them. He contacted Kin-keung’s school and classmates, too, but no one could help.
Growing desperate, Chung-ming went to the police and pleaded with them to find his family. Officers searched the reservoir with him into the early morning.
By 6 a.m., he was back with friends and neighbors. They kept looking until 3 p.m., but there was still no trace of either of them.
On October 30, their photographs appeared in the major newspapers. Police appealed for information and searched the surrounding hills, bringing in helicopters to help.
Then, on November 5, a woman walking near the reservoir noticed a foul smell coming from farther up the hillside.
She approached a Water Supplies Department worker and told him she thought there might be a body in the brush.
The worker headed up the trail, where he came across three plainclothes officers already searching for Ning-fong and Kin-keung.
They went with him.
About 40 minutes later, the worker and one officer climbed a small, overgrown slope beside the water channel.
Hidden in the brush were two bodies.
A teenage boy was bound to a tree, his hands tied behind his back and a nylon cord around his neck.
He was still wearing his clothes. His head was injured, and he may also have suffered broken ribs.
The cord raised a disturbing possibility:
he may have been hanged while still alive, slowly suffocating as it tightened around his neck. The exact sequence of his death was unclear.
Only a few feet away lay a woman, naked except for her bloodstained shoes.
Her clothes were scattered around her. She had injuries to her head and neck, and there were signs of a sexual assault.
A wooden branch, roughly three feet long, was pressed into her neck. The injury may have been severe enough to leave her nearly decapitated.
Police initially suspected that someone had held her down and forced the branch against her throat until she suffocated.
Strangely, the surrounding brush showed no obvious signs of a struggle despite the victims’ injuries.
There was no indication that the bodies had been dragged through it, either. Investigators believed they had been killed where they were found.
Both were badly decomposed. The medical examiner estimated they had been dead for about a week.
Nearby were broken glasses, an empty shopping basket, a wallet, and a bloodstained envelope from St. Paul’s, the school Kin-keung attended.
Police also found a broken wooden stick and a shattered glass bottle, which they suspected had been used in the attack.
There were no identification documents, but the victims’ ages and belongings pointed to the missing mother and son.
Chung-ming was called to the morgue.
Despite the condition of their faces, he recognized his wife and son almost immediately. Their build and teeth helped him identify them, including Kin-keung’s two chipped front teeth.
For eight days, he had searched for his family. Now he had to identify both of their bodies.
There were signs that Kin-keung had fought back.
His father believed he had been desperately trying to save his mother and that the attackers had killed him for intervening.
He may have tried to stop the sexual assault, only to be overpowered and tied to the tree himself.
At a press conference on November 5, police said they believed two to four people had been involved.
They suggested the attackers might have entered Hong Kong illegally from mainland China, though their identities were still unknown.
But another part of the statement was strange.
Police said both victims had suffocated and had no obvious injuries. But both had head injuries, and the woman’s shoes were covered in blood.
Why those details didn’t match was never explained.
Soon, someone came forward claiming to have seen several people force Ning-fong and Kin-keung into a car and drive away.
Police didn’t comment.
An even more unsettling claim involved a threatening letter supposedly sent to Chung-ming on October 29, the day after his family disappeared.
It demanded HK$5,000 (about US$7,000 in today’s money) and threatened to kill his wife and son if he didn’t pay.
If that date was correct, the letter had arrived before their photographs appeared in the newspapers. But neither police nor Chung-ming publicly confirmed that it existed.
Meanwhile, the familiar walking paths around the reservoir had grown quiet.
Many regular visitors stopped coming, leaving police officers among the few people still moving through the area.
Officers handed out leaflets in Chinese and English and questioned anyone passing through.
The reward reached HK$60,000 (roughly US$84,000 today), with police officers personally putting up two-thirds of the money.
Several morning walkers eventually came forward with a more specific lead.
On the morning Ning-fong and Kin-keung disappeared, they had noticed four unfamiliar men near the water channel.
The men were on a path leading toward the place where the bodies were later found.
About an hour later, they came back along the same path, hurrying toward Tai Po Road.
None of the witnesses had seen them in the area since.
Police tried to track them down.
Anti-triad officers questioned young men with criminal records around Shek Lei Pui, but they couldn’t identify the four men or establish whether they had been involved.
On December 21, police launched a massive search involving around 2,000 people. Over the following weeks, officers searched more than 600 villages across the New Territories and questioned thousands of residents.
On January 19, 1973, sketches of the four suspects appeared in the newspapers. Witnesses had initially described them as young men, but the revised descriptions put their ages between 18 and 42.
The first was around 40, thin, and about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches tall, with long hair. He may have been carrying a screwdriver.
The second was between 18 and 22, slim, and just 4 feet 9 inches tall, with a round face and dark complexion.
The third was between 24 and 28, around 5 feet 6 inches tall, with long hair parted on the left and a Huizhou accent.
The fourth was between 35 and 42, about the same height, and of medium build. He spoke local Cantonese with very little lip movement and was thought to be from Hong Kong.
Police also revisited another violent attack near the reservoir, less than two months before the murders.
At around 1 a.m. on September 3, 1972, a man and a woman were talking in a parked car when a man approached them with a knife.
He demanded their valuables, but they had only a little over HK$2 between them.
The attacker pushed the man out of the car, removed his glasses, and ordered the woman to undress.
The man managed to flag down a passing car and went to the police. But by the time officers arrived, the car was gone.
So were the woman and the attacker.
Police later found the woman alive. She said she had escaped while the attacker was trying to make her undress, then taken a minibus home.
The similarities were troubling, but investigators couldn’t establish a connection. The robber was never caught, and the four sketches brought no arrests either.
It’s also unclear why the two were subjected to such brutal violence if this was supposed to be a simple robbery.
On May 23, 1973, an inquest into Ning-fong and Kin-keung’s deaths was held at Tsuen Wan Magistrates’ Court.
The medical examiner attributed Kin-keung’s death to his injuries and Ning-fong’s to suffocation. The jury unanimously ruled that both had been murdered by a person or persons unknown.
Little is publicly known about any progress after the inquest.
No breakthrough has been publicly reported since 1973.
News coverage revisited the case in 2021 and 2023, but offered no new developments.
The extensive searches, witness appeals, and substantial reward, no one has ever been brought to justice for Ning-fong and Kin-keung’s murders.
Chung-ming had lost his wife and his only child after they left home for an ordinary morning walk.
As of October 2026, more than five decades later, their murders remain one of the best-known unsolved cases in Hong Kong’s criminal history.
This happened in Beaverton, Oregon, on January 16, 2021.
A man stole a woman's SUV, only to discover that her 4-year-old son was in the back seat. He reportedly drove back, returned the child to his mother, scolded her for leaving him unattended, and even threatened to call the police on her… before driving off in the stolen SUV again.
The child was unharmed, and the SUV was recovered a few hours later. Police were searching for the suspect, but I couldn't find any reliable updates confirming whether he was ever caught...
I'm particularly interested in older cases where someone committed multiple serious crimes over a period of years, but never became widely known outside their own country. What cases do you think deserve a much closer look?
On October 3, 2026, 16-year-old Persephone Berger was struck and killed by a St. Francois County sheriff’s deputy in Missouri.
I’m local to the area and have been following this case closely. I’m sharing it because there are several unanswered questions about the circumstances of her death and how the investigation was initially handled.
What happened, according to the sheriff’s department:
At approximately 3:43 a.m., deputies were responding to a report of an unresponsive person lying in the roadway.
The sheriff’s department says the responding deputy saw the reporting person’s vehicle with its hazard lights activated but did not see Persephone in the road before striking her.
The department says the deputy remained at the scene and immediately notified his supervisor. Officials have stated that the collision was not the result of a vehicle pursuit.
What the family says happened afterward:
Persephone’s aunt, Kimberly Cabuchola, has publicly stated that the family was initially told Persephone had been killed in a hit-and-run involving an unknown driver.
The family began seeking information publicly, and witnesses reportedly contacted them about a deputy being involved.According to her aunt, the family did not receive confirmation from the sheriff’s department until Monday afternoon, more than two days after Persephone died.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol was not consulted until Sunday, the day after the collision.
The witness interview:
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a video interview with Jamie Fitzwater discussing what he heard that night.
I think this interview is worth watching alongside the official statements and the family’s interviews.
Hearing something happen is not necessarily the same as witnessing the impact, so I don’t want to misrepresent what he personally observed.
First Alert 4 reported that the deputy previously worked for the Missouri State Highway Patrol as a probationary trooper earlier in 2026.
MSHP is now responsible for investigating the collision, while the sheriff’s department is separately investigating the circumstances leading up to Persephone being in the roadway.
That employment history does not automatically establish a conflict of interest, but I think it’s reasonable to ask whether any prior professional relationships were assessed.
Other questions include:
Why was MSHP not contacted until the following day?
Why does the family’s account of what they were initially told differ from the sheriff’s public explanation?
Was the scene fully documented before independent investigators became involved?
What evidence establishes the deputy’s speed, visibility, and opportunity to avoid the collision?
How will the investigation account for the witness statements and any available camera footage?
Why I’m sharing this:
What has also been disturbing is the public reaction in our community.
I’ve seen people blaming Persephone and attacking her grieving parents, including comments suggesting her death was a consequence of being outside at that hour.
Meanwhile, some of those same people insist the deputy should receive the benefit of the doubt until the investigation concludes.
I’m not claiming a cover-up has been established. I’m asking for transparency, accountability, and an investigation that examines all the available evidence.
When a law enforcement officer is involved in a fatal collision, what independent investigative procedures should be followed, and what would you consider the most important unanswered questions in this case?
I just got a kindle for my birthday & im interested in reading some true crime novels. also any novels involving crimes throughout history (such as the salem with trials) i’d also be interested in.
For those of you who aren’t familiar w/ the case: The Lake Bodom murders is an unsolved 1960 homicide case in which 3 teenage campers were brutally killed & another seriously injured in Finland. 4 decades after the murders, the lone survivor, Nils Gustafsson, was arrested & tried for the murders. He was ultimately found not guilty, w/ the State of Finland paying him €44,900 for his pain & suffering. Despite extensive investigations, the perpetrator was never identified and various theories on the killer's identity have been presented over the years. The case is 1 of the most notorious crimes in Finnish history. I'm under the impression that it’s like their answer to Jack the Ripper or Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance.
Here are the 2 best videos I’ve found on the case (I’d love to hear about your recommendations for any other good videos or books on the case): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoorMBrfw_4&t=1257s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUWygZRt9SA&t=3395s
My Theories & Observations:
I don’t think if Hans Assmann was a KGB agent and a murder that he would be showing up at a hospital with bloody clothes the day after a brutal triple homicide. Chances are he’d be a far more efficient killer (unless I’m really over-estimating the KGB efficacy). I know that plenty of murderers are narcissistic, love attention and flirting with being caught, but something doesn’t add up about those details…
I feel like the chances of this being the killer’s first murder(s) are unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. The sheer brutality of the killing, the focus on 1 victim as the primary target of his wrath, and the efforts taken to avoid being caught seem to point to me that this was someone who had committed murders like this before.
Given the fact that the police didn’t cordon off the site, and his (probable) appearance at the funeral, I feel like the killer might have later returned to the scene of the crime, for personal gratification, and to try and further hide his tracks.
Gustafsson didn’t do it. He probably got to pee (possibly surprising the attacker) and was attacked first (hence his injuries were different (he also wasn’t the primary focus of the attacker)) and left to die. He also was lucky to be alive, and ended up with a broken collarbone and cerebral fluid leaking out his nose (amongst other things (ask the medical professionals who treated him, and later testified at his trial)).
Judging from the fact that a pillowcase was found with traces of semen on it, and that Maila Björklund was attacked more savagely than the others, makes me think that this was a lust murder, with Björklund being the primary target. Based on that assumption, that makes me think that Valdemar Gyllström, while a dangerous lunatic, probably didn’t commit the murders. Different types of violence, different motivations.
The killer took the victims keys and shoes as souvenirs (and to prevent them from getting help sooner). He may also have used Nils’ shoes to avoid leaving shoeprints (kinda like wearing gloves to avoid fingerprints), but I’ll admit that this is a bit of a stretch…
I know this is really anti-climatic, but I think the killer was someone who hasn’t been named as a suspect yet. My money’s on that mysterious man at the funeral, the one who resembled the police sketch (whoever he was). That resemblance is just too difficult for me to ignore.
Questions:
Does anyone else think that Hans Assmann doesn’t look that much like the mysterious man at the funeral? Similar-ish features, yes, but I just don’t see the resemblance the way many people online do…
Has anyone from the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) ever publicly commented on the case? I’d be curious to know what they have to say about it.
Have any other noteworthy suspects been proposed throughout the years, besides what I call ‘the big 4’ (Assmann, Gustafsson, Gyllström & Soininen)? I’ve heard murmurs about a construction worker who supposedly quit his job the day after the murders, in complete panic and a rush to get away from the area… Is that true? If so, I’d love to hear more details about that person, if they’re available.
I know it’s an old picture, but are there any ‘retouched’ versions of the pic of the mysterious man at the funeral?
Is it true that the year before, there was another camping murder in Finland of 2 girls, with their belongings scattered/hidden around the campsite?
Is Nils Gustafsson still alive?
Was it ever confirmed that Hans Assmann was a guard at Auschwitz, or a KGB agent, or that any of the seemingly outlandish tales he told were true? Everything I hear about the guy just feels like people are trying to make him out to be a “boogeyman”, and that he was more than likely just another bullshitter looking for his 15 minutes of fame (or infamy in this case). Maybe xenophobia from the locals had something to do with it. Bottom line: Assmann was probably full of shit (sorry had to!). Unsolved cases like this really get you thinking about how many weirdos, lunatics, and potential murderers are out there!
There's a brutal case in Vietnam (Dong Nai Province) that people have been arguing about. I wrote something about the social and psychological factors behind it, mostly because I wanted to understand how something like this happens and whether any of it could be useful for prevention.
A lot of people took that as me defending him. I wasn't. What he did was wrong, and he should be held responsible. I don't know him personally. I'm only going by what's publicly available.
I later found a Psychology Today article by Elizabeth A. Segal called "Empathy Does Not Mean Acceptance". This part stood out to me:
“Certainly, we can have empathy for people who behave badly. We can even have sympathy for them. But those feelings should not lead us into excusing their behaviors. Bad behavior, no matter how much insight we may have about what causes it, is still bad behavior.”
In the article, Segal describes testifying in a stalking case where the defendant's difficult upbringing and personal struggles came up. She acknowledged that his life had been hard, but that didn't mean his behavior should be excused.
I'm not saying someone's background predicts whether they'll commit a crime, or that understanding the causes will automatically prevent anything. I just don't see how we can discuss prevention if every attempt to look at possible causes gets treated as support for the person who caused harm.
Has anyone else run into this when discussing violent crime? Does it happen with other kinds of cases too, or is it worse with violent cases? How do you usually handle it?
Just in case you don't know, the case of Grant Amato is quite famous and extremely bizarre. Grant Amato was a 29 year old unemployed nurse who murdered his Dad, Mom and one of his Brothers on January 24, 2019. He did it for the one of the dumbest and craziest reasons you can imagine. Because his family was stopping him from contacting a cam-girl named Silvie in Bulgaria. A country he had never visited, and he didn't really have the means to go there either.
He stole over $200,000 from his family and spent it on Silvie. Experts agree that he suffered from extreme psychological obsession and most people say he murdered his family for the cam-girl. But I would like to propose another theory, because I think he did it for revenge. Let me explain my theory and you can tell me what you think of this theory?
After his family found out, they forced him into Rehab for obsession issues. They also contacted the cam-girl and told her the truth about him. Grant told her he's super rich and successfully and he's the perfect dream guy for her. His family told her, "Grant is basically a loser who sits at home all day and steals money from everybody, push him away if he ever contacts you again." In other words, his family destroyed his fantasy world and burst the bubble. The illusion was gone and he couldn't get it back. The conversation between Grant and his older brother Jason in the interrogation room captured this moment, because the conversation basically went like this:
Jason asked - "Are you still obsessed with that girl, and why do you feel the need to still contact her?"
Grant said - "Yes but it's not the same, because she knows about me now."
Jason replied - "And that hurts, doesn't it? Because you can't carry it with you anymore?"
MY THEORY IS = He didn't do it just so he could contact her again, he mostly did it for revenge. Because his family destroyed the fantasy world he was obsessed with. It would never feel the same with Silvie because she knows he's a gigantic loser now. Killing his family was payback for losing his fantasy, that's just my theory on it. Your thoughts?
(Thanks to LoydoRedi2910 for suggesting this case. If you'd like to suggest any yourself, please head over to this post, which asks for case suggestions from my international readers, as I focus on international cases.
I actually do not have any sources in the local language for this case. Couldn't find any Khmer sources here, just English, often from foreign newspapers. So, seeing as the only sources are largely from other countries and in a language that country doesn't speak, a lot of sources have contradictory information.)
Maxim Michalik was born in May 2003 to Slovakian immigrants with dual citizenship in Victoria, the capital of Canada's British Columbia province.
Maxim Michalik and his parents in a family photo shortly after his birth
His parents considered his birth to be a dream come true and dedicated themselves to making sure their son could grow up comfortably. Maxim's father worked in the hospitality industry near Victoria at the Aerie Resort and managed food and drink for guests, a position he had held since April 2002.
Meanwhile, his mother used her time at home raising Maxim to study interior design. In July 2003, they moved to the Bahamas to manage a luxury hotel and then to Prague, Czechia, for another temporary management position.
In April 2005, Maxim's father was offered an oppertunity to be the permanent full-time manager of the new Hotel de la Paix, a luxury hotel catering to tourists that was due to open its doors in Siem Reap, the second-largest city in Cambodia. The pay was good, and he'd likely never get such a chance if he turned it down, so Maxim's father accepted the offer, with his family moving to Cambodia almost that same day.
Maxim's parents had him enrolled in the Siem Reap International School, a school located one kilometre outside central Siem Reap on the road toward the airport with around 70 children enrolled.
The Siem Reap International School
Although some local Khmer children studied at the school, a majority of the children were foreign: the children of expats, those in the tourism industry and aid workers, with the students coming from Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Furthermore, the lessons were conducted in English.
Outside the school grounds lived 23-year-old Chea Sokhom, a local Cambodian. Chea worked as a "secruity guard" for a South Korean restaurateur operating in Cambodia, though in practice, most of his job entailed driving his employer's two daughters to the Siem Reap International School. Chea did not like his employer and believed he looked down on him and was quick to anger.
He arrived late to work just one time and, in response, his boss slapped him, struck him twice and insulted him. For Chea, this was the final humiliation he could bear, and he told his boss that he quit. After his resignation, a bitter Chea returned to his home in the Kandal province, which was a village of 200 named Samrong Thom.
As one might expect based on what he'd go on to do, Chea's childhood wasn't the most stable. His mother died when he was just 10 years old, while his father suffered from a severe mental illness and had a habit of disappearing for months. It was a mental illness his family feared had been passed down to him, as Chea was seen acting strangely and talking to himself in recent days.
Chea also wouldn't listen to anyone for the most part; if there was something he wanted to do, he would do it. It was an uphill battle for his family to convince him to move to Siem Reap for work, which he eventually did, being hired by the South Korean restaurant owner in August 2004. And according to Chea's family, his boss was more merciful than he let on; despite many firable offences and mistakes, he kept giving Chea second chances.
After returning home, Chea's anger began to fester, and he eventually began plotting his revenge, something he regularly discussed with others. But when Chea somehow managed to acquire a pistol, it became clear that it was a plan he was committed to. Chea obtained the K-54 pistol via his cousin, a secruity guard named Un Ny whom himself illegally purchased it from a military police officer. Un Ny had moved to Poipet in 2003 and had a long history of petty crime.
Chea scouted his home village for anyone who would help him, and eventually recruited 20-year-old Thim Chem, 22-year-old Vanti Sopheak and 22-year-old Sin Tha. These three all had prior arrests for getting into bar fights, but nothing more serious ever appeared on their criminal records.
Thim and Vanti both had a prior history with Chea, having once been his co-workers at a secruity company as well as long-time friends. Meanwhile, Sin was a cement factory worker who agreed to the plan for the money.
And money was going to be a big part of Chea's revenge, as one thing all four men had in common was how they were virtually penniless, unlike all the expats they regularly came into contact with.
Having driven them there several times, Chea's plan was to target the Siem Reap International School and abduct the daughters of his former South Korean boss and ransom them for around $1,000, or outright kill them depending on just how vengeful Chea was feeling that day.
But if by some chance they weren't at school that day, the gang would just kidnap a child for ransom, since Chea was under the belief that the parents of any student were all universally wealthy, so they'd just ransom off a different foreign child if Chea's revenge plan fell through.
With the details of their plan now ironed out, it was time to execute it. First, they had to make their way from Samrong Thom back to Siem Reap, a 370-kilometre journey they all had to make themselves with little to no money; Vanti even had to ask his mother to lend him some money to make the trip. Sim also had to ask his mother for money to fund his travels, though he told her he'd be getting a job at a restaurant in Sihanoukville
Due to that factor, they decided to make a stop along the way in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh for some rest.
While in Phnom Penh, they decided to make some last-minute preparations, obtaining knives for all four and two extra guns: a second pistol and an AK-47. Now well rested and well armed, they continued on with their journey, finally arriving back in Siem Reap on June 15, 2005; however, school was out by the time they arrived, delaying their plan by just one more day.
On June 16, the four finally got ready, arming themselves and adorning face masks to obscure their identity. They arrived at the school and stormed the building at 8:30 a.m., right as class was starting. Firing off a few shots so everyone would know they were serious.
At first, they took all 70 children and staff hostage before releasing 30 of them right off the bat. In the confusion, the older children ran, hid, and some managed to escape the school and run away, while others escaped when the four gunmen went to another classroom, further reducing their hostage count.
Why did Chea seem so uninterested in securing his hostages? Well, he still had a specific target in mind. He went from classroom to classroom, searching for the daughters of his Korean employer, but to no avail.
Eventually, Chea noticed the parents gathering outside and abandoned his search, retreating into a classroom with his three accomplices and herding whoever didn't leave the building into that classroom. With all said and done, Chea and his gang now had 29 hostages on their hands, 26 of whom were children between the ages of 2-6, two teachers and one secruity guard.
Now, as one may have noticed, despite forming a plan, it wasn't one they thought through, and with their loud, brazen entrance and all the hostages they either released immideately or lost because Chea didn't think to watch them during his single-minded quest for revenge, the police naturally became aware of what he had done and surrounded the school within 15 minutes.
And the police's response was very heavy-handed. Every officer was armed with automatic weapons; they came in with three armoured personnel carriers and cordoned off the entire surrounding street, assisted by soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. The police even had fire trucks brought in just to block off any escape routes.
The only expense the police did spare was not calling in Cambodia's elite anti-terrorism unit from out of Phnom Penh, which was seen as the nuclear option, the absolute last resort. Though some also said that the police viewed it as a "small case" and didn't believe terrorism to be involved even before showing up.
The police outside the school
Needless to say, Chea and the gang could say goodbye to any chance of leaving the school with one of the children.
Additionally, the cordon was being swarmed by the parents of the children still inside whom mostly consisted of wealthy foreign businesspeople and those who worked in the tourism sector, one of Cambodia's biggest industries and aid workers who arrived in Cambodia to try and improve the lives of those in their country.
And unfortunately, they could hear the sounds of the hostages crying from outside. But they couldn't see anything, so whenever Chea or one of the others fired a warning shot into the floor or ceiling, they'd have no way of knowing if one of their children had just been killed.
Additionally, journalists and foreign outlets also set up just outside the cordon. Although storming the school guns blazing wasn't their initial plan to begin with, the media from the United States to Ireland to Taiwan were now watching them, so the police knew there would be hell to pay if they bungled their response.
As Chea was the mastermind, he was the only one the police negotiated with while Thim, Vanti and Sim focused on controlling the hostages. At first, Chea demanded 3,000 USD and that the police provide them with a getaway vehicle. At first, the requests were "reasonable" enough, all things considered, but Chea kept asking for more and more until eventually reaching a point where the police couldn't even pretend to entertain granting them.
Chea asked for six AK-47 assault rifles, six shotguns, hand grenades, grenade launchers and B-40 rocket launchers. He then requested the getaway vehicle be a 12-seater minivan so the four of them, accompanied by some hostages, could drive across the border into Thailand with a police escort.
Obviously, they weren't going to provide them with additional firepower, especially not explosive weaponry, but just to stall Chea and lure him into a false sense of secruity, the police began collecting the ransom money, so Chea would think the police were compliant.
The negotiations didn't last long until Chea escalated, especially when he pieced together how the police had no intention of providing him with the extra weapons. So Chea decided that he needed to show the police that they were serious, and to do so, Chea decided that it was time to kill one of their hostages.
When it came to deciding which hostage to kill, Chea's decision-making process was as petty as it was evil. 2-year-old Maxim was one of their hostages, and because he was crying slightly louder than the rest of them, Chea decided it would be him who died.
So, Chea aimed his pistol toward the boy and personally shot the 2-year-old in the head, killing him instantly and bringing the hostage count down to 28.
Chea then told the police that his death was a warning and retaliation for them not providing him, Thim, Vanti and Sim with AK-47s and Grenades. He then repeated his demand for extra firepower, a 12-seater minivan and a police escort across the Thai border or else he'd start killing more hostages one by one.
Back inside the classroom, the teachers were trying to do whatever they could to save the rest of the students from sharing Maxim's fate. The teachers gave them some chocolate, whatever toys were around, softly sang to them and tried to play with them to keep them calm, stop them from crying and therefore avoid attracting Chea's wrath, all while instructing them to keep their eyes shut.
Meanwhile, the police found no relief from the constant pressure they faced. During the siege, the Cambodian National Police and the Siem Reap Provincial Police were besieged by phone calls from foreign governments constantly checking on their progress and urging them to bring about a quick resolution and rescue their citizens.
Eventually, the police arrived with a getaway vehicle and $30,000, which they threw to Chea and the gang through a window. While the police finally met these demands, Chea was still unhappy about the missing extra weapons and kept demanding them before he'd get into the getaway vehicle parked outside.
However, Chea eventually cut his losses and decided to make their getaway. Chea, Thim, Vanti and Sim left the classroom behind albiet still with ten other children and one teacher as hostages, while the others were allowed to go free. After the four loaded their four hostages into the van, they prepared to leave, only to find that the police locked the school gate, and then a bunch of officers swarmed their vehicle.
The police broke the windows and attempted to literally drag them outside the vehicle through the windows. One problem with this approach is that it gave the others time to shoot at the police, injuring one of the officers and forcing them to fall back and return fire despite there still being 10 children inside the car. The police tried to shoot at the vehicle's tires to immobolize them rather than shooting at Chea and the other three directors to avoid accidentally striking one of the children.
Gunfire continued for about 1 minute until their AK-47s jammed, allowing the police to drag Chea, Thim, Vanti and Sim outside through the windows.
In one dramatic scene, a father managed to breach the police cordon and take his son away while the police escorted the other three children to safety.
The children being rushed to safety
Initial reports suggested that police gunfire killed at least two of the hostage takers, though this was later proven false. While one had been hit and injured, the police arrested all four alive.
The police standing over two of the arrested hostage takers
However, their injuries didn't stop there. As they were being led away, parents and a crowd of angry locals managed to wrestle three of the four away from the police and started to drag them across the ground, beat and kick them, sometimes on the head, until the police, with reinforcements, finally intervened and took them away, albiet heavily bruised once they arrived at the police station to be presented to the media. Well, three of them at least; the parents managed to knock one of them unconscious.
One of the suspects at the police station being presented to the pressAll four the next day posing with the weapon they used
At 3:30 p.m., after 7 hours, the crisis finally ended, with Maxim as the only casualty. But even one death was considered a heavy price to pay.
The police leaving the school after the siege's conclusion
Maxim's father broke past the cordon after the hostage takers were subdued so he could enter the school and eventually discovered his son's body and carried him out of the school.
Afterward, he was seen wandering outside the cordon in a daze, asking a teacher from France, employed at another school in Siem Reap, to find his wife. Maxim's mother was eventually found, and the two eventually needed an ambulance to take them away, even before the news was broken to them.
Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, then opposition leader Stephen Harper, the French Embassy and Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, all offered their condolences to Maxim's parents as they accompanied his body to Phnom Penh International Airport, where he would be flown to his father's home country, Slovakia, to be buried in the capital, Bratislava, in a private funeral service.
The other parents also gathered for a more public memorial service that was held outside the Hotel de la Paix, the workplace of Maxim's father.
According to one of the teachers, there was a time when the police and Chea's gang exchanged fire while they were still in the classroom and that Maxim was killed by police gunfire when he got caught in the crossfire while looking for his favourite book to calm him down; according to witnesses, the police did open fire on the classroom from the outside, much to their horror.
Maxim's father, upon hearing this account, came to believe that the Cambodian police had accidentally killed his infant son, insisted and had a second autopsy performed by a Slovakian pathologist once his son's body returned home.
The results confirmed that Maxim had been killed via a single gunshot wound delivered from close range, with the shooter standing approximately 20 to 25 centimetres away when he pulled the trigger, although with the evidence still in Cambodia, the Slovakian pathologist was unable to determine the calibre of the murder weapon. His report seemingly confirmed the conclusion reached by the Cambodian police.
As for the surviving yet traumatized children and their families, the local population, aided by Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross, got to work providing care to them while the school was closed. A restaurant with a garden in central Siem Reap was commandeered as a temporary care centre where Cambodian NGOs provided counselling for the survivors. Around 30 children and 20 parents attended the first session.
Doctors Without Borders also opened a blood-donation centre at Siem Reap Provincial Hospital for any children who may have been caught in the crossfire, although thankfully, their services were not required.
Meanwhile, the police extensively interrogated Chea, Thim, Vanti and Sim in the aftermath. While the police and the Cambodian government at large were quick to declare that terrorism or any politcal motivation was not a factor, that didn't mean their work was done.
Chea, chillingly, told the police that he killed Maxim because: "I needed money as soon as possible so I shot this boy and also because this kid was crying a lot, more than the other kids." Eventually, he would offer up some less horrific and more worthwhile information, telling them about a fifth man, a 29-year-old security guard employed at a souvenir shop who, several months earlier, proposed a robbery with Chea. Although this man denied Chea's allegations, the police were quick to arrest him.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Hun Sen commented on the crime once more, calling it a "Lesson for the government" and announcing that the police's response and training would be upgraded to prevent any similar incidents; additionally, a higher police presence was stationed at other tourist sites in Siem Reap such as hotels, restaurants, monuments, ancient ruins, etc.
However, to some, there were no lessons to learn. A local member of parliament hosted a lavish party in the aftermath with about 500 police, military police and government officials in attendance for him to thank them for a job well done. None of the parents knew the party was even happening until after the fact and found the display to be quite distasteful.
In the meantime, the police arrested three additional men accused of being accomplices who provided Chea, Thim, Vanti and Sim with some of their firearms. These individuals were Chea's cousin Un Ny, who was arrested in Poipet on June 18, and two military police officers. In addition to providing the gang with their weapons, Un Ny was also supposed to aid them in their flight to Thailand.
Meanwhile, one of the two military police officers confessed that he sold his service pistol for just $150 when he met Un Ny at a Buddhist ceremony in their home village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
The police also arrested the school's secruity guard, Sam Mao, on June 19 as he left the school gate unlocked, enabling the four to gain entry. Furthermore, he wasn't at his post at the time and was across the street speaking to the owner of a barbershop. However, he was more so arrested for his negligence, as nothing indicated he was in on their plan.
With these arrests, the total number of those charged now stood at 7 (the secruity guard Chea named was released), with the four main defendants, Chea and his gang, charged with premeditated murder, kidnapping, illegal detention for ransom, and illegal use of a firearm.
On December 9, 2005, the 8 defendants (someone who knew of but didn't report the plan was later arrested), while handcuffed and under heavy secruity were brought to the Siem Reap Provincial Court in two seperate vans to stand trial.
Chea and Vanti being escorted to court
Maxim's father returned to Cambodia to attend the trial, accompanied by a diplomat from the Canadian embassy. He had actually returned to Cambodia for work several months earlier, and his attorney made a statement on his behalf that the tragedy hadn't tainted his feelings of the country and its people, both of which he still loved, making sure to say: "So, the crime of a few doesn't change our opinion on the rest of the people"
They weren't the only foreigners to attend the trial, as the media was also packing the courthouse for one of Cambodia's most high-profile trials.
Al 8 defendants during the trial
Most of the defendants were without legal representation, with Un Ny, who wasn't even one of the hostage takers, being the only one to have a lawyer. However, even if they did have attorneys, it wouldn't have done them much good since, beyond the undeniable evidence, Chea decided to confess.
Un Ny and Chea during the trial
Chea told the court what everyone already knew: that he wanted to target the daughters of his South Korean boss and ransom them off in retaliation for being smacked by him, that he was the mastermind who recruited Thim, Vanti and Sim and that the attack had been in the making for a long time. The only accusation Chea did reject was that he personally murdered Maxim to silence his crying.
Chea must've heard of the widespread belief that the police had accidentally killed Maxim because Chea's defence in court was that an AK-47 round fired from outside the school struck Maxim in the head, killing him instantly and prompting him, Thim, Vanti and Sim to take cover. His exact words were: "I did not kill that Canadian boy. He was killed by government forces when they sprayed bullets at us."
When the judge pointed out that he confessed to everything after his arrest, he told the court that the police threatened to beat and torture him if he didn't admit to Maxim's murder.
The police officers who responded to the crisis were called to the stand to testify, and after being questioned about why they fired into the classroom, they stressed that they shot in an area where they knew nobody was standing to distract and disorient the four hostage takers, creating an oppertunity to storm the school and rescue the hostages, even if such an event unfortunately didn't come to pass.
However, Chea countered that he had picked up Maxim during the hail of bullets and tried to move him, but that no one ever had his own weapon pointed at the child's head and insisted that an outside bullet killed Maxim.
When Vanti took the stand to testify, he backed up Chea's story and said that an AK-47 bullet from outside the school killed Maxim, while Thim and Sim said they were looking away at the time and didn't witness Maxim's death.
However, both the autopsies done in Cambodia and Slovakia, as well as the testimony of the two teachers who were among the 29 hostages, both confirmed that Chea, or at least one of the four hostage takers, had killed Maxim. A six-year-old Cambodian-Australian girl who was hiding in the library also backed up Chea's initially stated motive when she said Maxim was targeted, "because that little boy just yelled"
While this was a high-profile trial, it was also a very short one. On December 10, the very next day after the procedings opened, Chea Sokhom was found guilty of raiding the Siem Reap International School, holding 26 children and 2 teachers hostage and murdering Maxim Michalik.
With Cambodia being one of only two countries in Southeast Asia (the other being the Philippines) to abolish the death penalty, Chea was slapped with a life sentence.
Despite not being one of the four hostage takers, Un Ny was also given a life sentence for supplying Chea with the pistol and agreeing to help him and the others flee to Thailand.
His life sentence was seen as even more strange by some when Thim Chem, Vanti Sopheak and Sin Tha, who actually were the three remaining hostage takers, got off with sentences of just 20-years-imprisonment. Another defendant who knew about their plan and failed to alert the authorities also received 20 years.
The two military police officers who sold Un Ny the pistol that he gave to Chea, 34-year-old Loek Soeun and 45-year-old Mam Chandara, were also found guilty and slapped with fines of $250 and 2-years-imprisonment.
The disgraced officers, Loek Soeun and Mam Chandara during the trial
With no appeal filed by any of the defendants, these statements became final. Now that it's been nearly 21.5 years since the hostage crisis at the Siem Reap International School, Thim, Vanti and Sim were likely released last year.
Texas Executes Inmate After Christa Pike Survives Botched Lethal Injection
TEXAS INMATE EXECUTED DAYS AFTER CHRISTA PIKE'S BOTCHED EXECUTION
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Texas has carried out an execution days after Tennessee inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal injection ... with the condemned killer's final words directed at his victim's family.
Jamaal Howard was pronounced dead Wednesday night at a Texas prison after receiving a dose of pentobarbital ... the same drug used during Pike's botched execution last week.
Howard was convicted of fatally shooting convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout during a 2000 robbery in Texas. Surveillance video showed Howard shooting Swartout in the chest before stealing $114 and a carton of cigarettes.
Before the execution, Howard apologized to Swartout's family, who watched from a viewing room near the death chamber.
"I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness," Howard said. "I'm sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.”"
Howard's attorneys had asked courts to halt the execution, arguing Texas' supply of pentobarbital could be degraded and pose risks similar to those allegedly involved in Pike's failed execution.
Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during her September 30 execution in Tennessee ... her attorney says they believed she was brain dead Monday night, only for her to unexpectedly wake up and begin speaking. Her lawyers blame blown veins, deteriorated drugs and a lack of emergency medical care, while Gov. Bill Lee has halted the state’s remaining execution for the year.
As the drug took effect Wednesday, Howard gasped, coughed and made snoring sounds before all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 19 minutes later.
On October 6, 2026, an attack took place at Şeyh Şamil Imam Hatip Middle School in Başakşehir, Istanbul. The suspect was a 15-year-old girl identified as F.M. It is reported that she entered the school early in the morning wearing the school uniform and blended in with the students. She reportedly took knives from her bag and attacked students inside the school.
Eight students were injured, and one of them, 10-year-old Eslem Sare Bulut, later died in the hospital. The suspect was taken into custody, and an investigation is ongoing.
According to her mother, F.M. was not doing well mentally and wanted to do something that would make people in Turkey and around the world know about her. Her mother said that she had told the teachers at her school about these concerns.
It was also reported that F.M. had been bullied because of her appearance. She had also reportedly planned the attack beforehand in Telegram groups.
Breaking news: Christa Pike is awake and speaking according to NBC News after a botched execution by the state of Tennessee. At age 18 , Pike and two other teenagers tortured and murdered a girl back in 1995 and received the death penalty. She is now age 50. On September 30, she received two lethal injections of Pentobarbital, but survived the attempt and was rushed to Vanderbilt Hospital in critical condition and placed on a ventilator. Her recovery is medically unprecedented.
What’s your thoughts/opinions?
A 23-year-old man, Walter Kipkoech, has been arrested after allegedly killing his 18-year-old girlfriend, Joy Wangui, a Form Four student, following claims that he suspected her of cheating.
Armed with a knife and an axe, Walter reportedly stormed Joy’s home while she was preparing for her KCSE examinations. Joy was tragically killed, while Walter fled the scene before he was later arrested.
In a disturbing twist, he was reportedly arrested wearing a T-shirt bearing Joy’s name.
A young life has been cut short in heartbreaking circumstances. May Joy’s family find strength during this difficult time, and may justice take its course.
On April 4, 2026, Paul Balzrano was murdered in his Stratford, CT home. Although an arrest was made 24 days later, many questions remain lingering regarding his homicide as well as questions of people involved. At approximately 11:48PM on 04/04/2026, police responded to 437 Woodstock Ave for reports of a cardiac arrest. Police found Balzarano's ex-girlfriend, Nicole Tucci, (who still lived in the home with him) in the living room. Paramedics pointed out gunshot holes in the stairwell, which police went upstairs to investigate. They found Balzarano, 43, suffering from 9 gunshot wounds and he was pronounced deceased at 11:59PM on 04/04/2026.
13 gunshots were heard on neighbor's doorbell camera's at 11:32PM. There were 16 minutes between when gunshots were heard and when the initial 911 call were made. His ex-partner, according to the arrest warrant, was extremely intoxicated and uncooperative. She stated Balzarano "just dropped in her arms and she didn't know how" even though there was obvious blood stains on her feet and clothing. She made no official statement before being whisked away by her father.
On 04/08/2026, Stratford PD received an anonymous tip as to where the murder weapon was dumped. They searched the area and could not recover it. On 04/09/2026, an additional anonymous tip was made to the Stratford PD with a more accurate location of the murder weapon. The weapon was recovered and DNA from Balzarano's ex-partner's son, Robert Kopasz, was identified on the murder weapon. It was noticed in surveillance footage that his girlfriend, Joelle Carbone, was with him before, during, and after the murder. She also refused to talk to detectives in the days after the murder.
On 04/13/2026, Nicole Tucci was recorded on a neighbor's doorbell camera telling the neighbor that her son "just came in and shot up the place and killed Paul." She also stated that she didn't know why her son wasn't arrested yet. When the neighbor asked Tucci if her was protecting her, Tucci responded "no." Prior to this interaction on 04/12/2026, Tucci had flagged down a Stratford PD officer for a ride home after experiencing a flat tire. During the car ride Tucci stated to the officer "I wish we met under different circumstances because my son killed my lover."
Friends of Balzarano stated that he had plans to leave Tucci and leave Stratford, CT to return home to Long Island, NY. Tucci had a history of drug and alcohol abuse dating back to 2023. She had been in multiple rehabs, hospitals, and treatment facilities. Balzarano supported her through the entire process and financially supported her during this time, as she was not employed. There had been multiple wellness checks to the home during this time, resulting in at least 2 arrestsof Tucci and at least 1 protective order against Tucci, with Balzarano being listed as the victim for both arrests as well as for the protective order.
Robert Kopasz was arrested on 04/28/2026 and has since pleaded not guilty. He has not made any statements regarding his charges or any allegations that his mother made. His mother overdosed and died in the home in June of 2026. His case remains pending and his family and friends continue to hope for justice.
Thomas Evans came from a very normal, rather secular British family.
At only 21 years old, Thomas' mom received a call from him that he has gone to Somalia to fight with al-Shabaab. He had been radicalized, and people only knew once it was too late.
Thomas Evans spent about three and a half years in Somalia, working with the terrorist group, until he died in an airstrike. Before he died though, he had operated as a cameraman, recording multiple clips of innocent civilians being slaughtered, attacked, and bombed. He had also married a local 13-year-old Somalian girl, who had similarly been brainwashed by the militant group.
Since Thomas has passed, his mother, Sally Evans, has been outspoken for the prevention of radicalization in British youth. Sally has another son who seems the complete opposite of Thomas, and has also actively condemned his actions.
There's a really good documentary on YouTube about this, called "My Son the Jihadi".
This case shocked me at the time, but I didn’t comment on it here because, as far as I remembered, one of the community rules was not to talk about tragedies that had happened too recently. So I think now is finally an appropriate time to discuss it.
On April 20 of this year, 27-year-old Julio Cesar Jasso Ramírez visited one of Mexico’s most iconic tourist sites, the beautiful pyramids of Teotihuacán. He arrived carrying a .38-caliber handgun. (One thing you have to understand is that in Mexico, despite being the neighbor of the U.S., we don’t usually have these kinds of attacks carried out by ordinary civilians.
Most of the violence is perpetrated by organized crime, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t any security checks in the area, allowing this individual to enter with a revolver.) He killed a Canadian woman and injured twelve people.
There is a video showing him becoming the center of attention and terror among the tourists, who threw themselves to the ground in an attempt to protect themselves. Finally, the man grabbed his revolver and shot himself in the mouth, bringing this tragic day to an end.
Among his belongings, they found, besides the ammunition, a pamphlet about the Columbine massacre. As more details about the perpetrator became known, people gradually learned more about his private life, and it was eventually discovered that this terrorist attack was supposedly a “celebration of the fascist right” by this “admirer” of criminals.
It’s going to sound ironic, because although Mexico is much more violent than the U.S., at least when it comes to organized crime, we aren’t accustomed to suffering attacks carried out by civilians acting entirely on their own. So an attack like this was deeply shocking for Mexicans. It gave us a lot to think about, and it was difficult to process.
What makes me the angriest is the Canadian woman. I say this because of the enormous number of xenophobic foreigners who have looked down on my own country for being part of the developing world. That’s why I appreciate it when people from other countries—whether first-, second-, or third-world countries, such as the U.S., Canada, Cuba, or Argentina—visit my country. It feels like they are giving us “an opportunity to show them the good side of the country.”
And this poor woman, who was interested in Mexican culture and simply wanted to spend her vacation here, was murdered far from her homeland. It’s a genuine tragedy, and it made me wonder how Americans manage to cope with this kind of thing.
